Chapter Text
As we wait for Michael to arrive I look around the main room. A large kitchen and living room. The whole group is here. Celeste is taking a nap on the couch and Sophie studies on the wooden coffee table in front of her. Rhiannon sits next to the fire reading through her spell book while Keigan draws next to her. When Michael finally arrives our mentor walks out of her office.
“Now that you’re all here, I have some important news.” We look up at the elderly women and help her to her chair. She sighs content with the warmth of the fire.
“What is it, Ada?” Michael inquires.
“I have been informed that the palace is looking for a new gift. The king's old gifted, Molideon, has past away. As of next week he will be taking auditions for a new gift.” Though she smiles her tone is stiff and formal.
“So? What does that have to do with us?” Sophie asks indignantly.
“I want all of you to go.”
“Us? Really?” Celeste starts.
“Why us? We’re just children, what makes us special enough to be accepted anyway?” I feel excitement bubble in my stomach but at the same time dread and fear sneak into my thoughts. What would we do? Do we have to come up with some crazy act? What if we have to perform in front of a large crowd?! What if we're not all accepted?! I don’t like this.... Thoughts run whirl through my head.
“You are not just children. You are amazing young souls, with more potential in you than you could ever imagine. I know you can do it!”
“But what if we can’t...” Keigan speaks my thoughts. Ada rests her fragile hand on her head. Her eyes sparkle with warmth as she pats her head.
“You will.” Suddenly she out of her chair and walking towards our rooms. “Now time to pack. It’s a couple day trek so you will part tomorrow morning at dawn. No complaining.” And with that she enters the first room. We sit in silence. She pokes her head out of a room.
“Well come on! I’m not your maid! Get packing.” I laugh silently and get up, followed by my other friends.
It’s funny somehow. We were all raised by Ada since we were little but she never treated us like the average parent. She made sure we knew how the world worked at a young age and never pitied us. But she was kind and loved us like her own. For example, were only young teenagers yet she’s sending us out on a long journey to the city, and when we doubted ourselves she reassured with strong kind words.
I begin with packing all the essentials; clothing, toiletries, camping material since we’ll be hiking for a few days, and money. I have no idea if we’ll need any but we are going to the king's palace. I glance into the hallway and see Ada checking in on our progress.
“Ada?” I ask.
“Yes my dear?” She hums as she ambles over.
“What else do we need to pack?” I step aside as Ada walks into my room to look at what I have.
“Hmmm, let’s see.” I step next to her and watch her think. “Ask Sophie for some medical potions and pack those. Don’t forget parchment and ink to write down your journey.” I nod and get to work finding the parchment first. I find two containers of ink and grab a handful of parchment. Next I head to Sophie's room. Though her actual power is plant manipulation she has a great interest in potions. Her room is generally dark. Dark walls, dark wooden floors, and for the most part dark furniture of varied colors. When I find her she’s digging around in her potion chest. How convenient.
“Hey Sophie?” She pops her up in surprise hitting her head on the propped open lid.
“FUCK that hurts!” I chuckle quietly. She grumbles and stands up “So what can I help you with G?”
“Ada said we should pack some medical potions just in case.” A smile spreads across her face.
“Sure thing! I just made a batch yesterday, and it’s a good thing too.” She digs around her potions for a bit before standing back up with three small containers. She hands me the bottle with red liquid.
“A drop or two of this should heal any cuts or scratches. A bit more if it’s big.” Then the green one.
“For injected or breathed in poison consume two drops. For absorbed poison apply a cloth soaked in water and one drop of this to poisoned area and consume one drop.” Complicated. She hands me the last one. Blue.
“For any internal injuries and/or sickness. Drink a capful. If that doesn’t work within one day drink another.” My head buzzes with the overload on information.
“How... How do you remember all this?” Sophie laughs.
“I dunno, I just do. Now pack those away carefully. You don’t want any broken bottles.” I thank her for the potions and head back into my room. Celeste lies on my bed reading a green book. Wait. Is that.... I squeak and snatch the book from her hands.
“Hey! I was reading that!” She appears thoroughly offended but I can hear the mockery in her voice.
“That’s personal!” I shout clutching the journal to my chest. She laughs.
“Oh my! Did I uncover someone’s secret diary? I am so sorry for invading your personal space.” She says in fake sympathy.
“It’s not a diary... It’s a journal.” I set the book into my pack, including the potions.
“Same difference. Either way it’s juicy! You’re not just recording these things. Who are you writing all this stuff to? A secret crush?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. I blush.
“No, I just - I thought that - maybe I could - NO! It’s just a journal.” I stutter. Celeste snickers but drops the topic.
“Soooo, what are those potions you just packed?” She hops over peeking into my pack.
“Medical potions. I got one for cuts, poison and internal damage. Ada said I should pack them. Got any extra cloth I can borrow? I can’t risk these braking.”
“Sure. But why didn’t she tell me to pack any?” Her eyes turn a starry black, and momentarily similarly colored fabrics appears over my bag before turning back to normal and falling.
“Thank you.”
“She told me to pack my disguise art supplies.” She lays back levitating herself with star strewn black magic.
“Well I can’t exactly pack something that isn’t mine y’know.”
“Ya I guess.” We sit in silence as I continue to search my room for anything worth packing. I decide to break the silence.
“Did you finish packing?”
“Nah just taking a break.” I look at her.
“For twenty minutes?”
“Hey, twenty minute breaks are very healthy!” I roll my eyes but drop the topic. Once I finish packing and sorting out anything unnecessary I manage to get the large backpack to a reasonable weight. I look up and find that Celeste has left to either continue packing or goof off with someone else. I stick my head out into the hallway. The hallway’s silent except for a gentle hum resonating from Rhiannon’s room. I creep up to doorway and see Rhiannon packing while dancing around her room.
Timidly I step into the room. Music blasts my ears the moment I past the threshold.
“Can you still hear anything?!” I shout over the loud music. She turns around and turns down the music.
“Ha, yeah. What do ya need?” She continues packing moving with the upbeat music.
“Nothing, just checking in.” We sit in silence for a while before I break the silence. “So, a sound barrier, eh?”
“Yeah, if I didn’t Ada would get angry again.”
“Ah, ok.” We fall back into silence and Rhiannon turns back up her music. When I leave I notice the shimmering pattern along the border of her room, the spell almost invisible against the pale birch floor. The hallway is a deathly silent.
* * *
“HEY! Hey wake up!” I open my eyes, blurry from sleep.
“What time is it?” I roll over to look out my window. The sky is black.
“Just before dawn. Remember?” I roll over and face Keigan.
“How are you awake?”
“Never fell asleep, that’s how.” I laugh quietly.
“Is anyone else awake?” She nods.
“Yeah, Rhiannon is yelling at everyone else to wake up.”
“K, I’ll be out in a minute.” Keigan leaves the room and I head to my closet. I put on my usual loose shirt and jeans shorts along with an old hoodie. My dark outfit contrasts with the bright red in my awkwardly short cut hair. I give it a brush before grabbing my old pack for the trip. I go into the main room and spot Ada reading an old book in her rocking chair.
“Good morning Ada.” I give my old mentor a hug and walk to the kitchen counter.
“Good morning, Gillian. How did you sleep?”
“Good. What about you? How did you sleep?” I grab Ada’s homemade granola and poor into into a wooden bowl.
“Good good. Is everyone else up?” I nod.
“There doors were closed but I think so. Rhiannon was yelling at everyone to get up earlier.” Ada laughs
“Ah, yes. She has a very strong voice.” We lapse into silence except for the sound of paper turning, granola crunching and rustling sounds from the other rooms. I look up at the sound of a door opening. Rhiannon stops in her tracks.
“Seriously? No one else is up?” I shake my head. She turns around and opens up everyone’s doors, much to their disapproval. Then she shouts,
“Get yo lazy ass up and out of bed or i’ll drag you out myself!” I hear Celeste grumble in response and Sophie shouts some colorful words back. Michael just stays silent, sleepily walking out into the main room.
“But fam!” Keigan pokes her head out of her room.
“Don’t you fam me! You were supposed to be up with me!” She retorts with false sass. Keigan half laughs half sighs and momentarily goes back into her room.
“Well that worked well.” I say as my friends start sauntering out of their rooms. She nods in approval and leaves to make herself some breakfast.
“It’s not fair! Why do we have to get up in the middle of the night?!” Celeste groans.
“It’s not the middle of the night.” I say in a sing song voice.
“I know but still!” She wines terribly.
“I didn’t get any sleep so stop your complaining.” Keigan bumps Celeste on the shoulder, shutting her up. I obverse the usual breakfast routine from the fire. Rhiannon sit’s next to me.
“Hey fam.”
“Hey, how’s I goin?” I drone the question, only half paying attention.
“Oh nothing, just the usual trekking out to our brutal death’s in the middle of the night.”
“Mhm, great.” I space out completely before Rhiannon’s answer fully registers. I jump once it does. “Wait what?! Death? No dieing on my watch sister!” She laughs.
“Wow, you really don’t run well on little sleep do you?” I shake my head smiling.
“What you’d expect? I’m not as much of a night owl as you are.” We fall into a comfortable silence.
“Ok sweet hearts.” Ada stand slowly, using her cane for support. “I’m afraid it’s time to leave.” I glance out the window, a pale purple hue burns on the horizon. “I’ll finally get the peace and quiet I deserve once you mongruls are gone.” She jokes. “Now come and say good bye to Ada.” She gestures for me and Rhiannon to hug her. I stand up, setting down my bowl on the fireplace mantle, and give Ada a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“I love you Ada, see you in a few weeks.” I back away to let the others say their good bye’s and grab my heavy backpack.
“Look out adventure, here we come!” Michael poses dramatically at the door using his map as a sword, pointing it at the sky. Sophie shoves him telling him to stop being such a child. They laugh and walk out the door. I leave last waving goodbye to Ada and closing the old wooden door behind me.
* * *
We walk through the forest in silence, studying our maps and checking our compases. I wonder near the back of the group, listening. I jump a few times when I hear a twig snap, startlingly loud with the hearing power of mellonella moth.
“You ok there?” I snap out of my trance and look up at Michael.
“Yeah, yeah i’m fine. Just listening.” He stares for a second before shrugging his shoulders and dropping the topic. Though I like using the eagles power to soar through the sky I will never like walking through an overgrown forest. The bugs freak me out and I keep on hearing strange noises from unidentifiable animals. Suddenly I hear something that doesn’t belong to an animal. Bells. I pause for a second concentrating but I don’t hear it again.
“Hey! You coming or what?” Celeste shout’s from a few yards ahead. I nod my head but say nothing slowly following. I take on the power of an eagles sight as well. A few times a hear the bells again but their fainter, farther away. I go against my instinct and ignore it, concentrating instead on the conversation of my friends. I regret it. The bells sound suddenly hit my enhanced hearing and I turn around just in time to see a blur of black flash past me. I scream and fall backwards. The figure winds between my group of friends until everyone of them have fallen over.
“Hahaha!” The figure comes to a halt, laughing. I stare at him. His black hair drapes an inch over his ears, or where his ears should be. Dark grey ears poke out of the top of his head, flicking in amusement. His grin is mostly normal spare the sharp canine teeth and a tail wags behind him. His dark skin and mostly black clothing makes it hard to see him in the weak morning light.
“What the fuck man!” Sophie shouts at him, scrambling to her feet. He flinches but doesn’t step away.
“Woah, calm down. I’m just fooling around.”
“ABYS?” I turn to my right and see Keigan staring at the wolf hybrid.
“Keigs? What are you doing here?” He walks over to Keigan and helps her to her feet, much to Sophie’s dismay.
“Were heading the palace! Did you hear that the King is looking for a new Gift?” The hybrid shakes his head in response.
“Gift? What’s a gift?” His ears twitch to the side when Michael snorts.
“You don’t know what a Gift is? Really?” I shove him.
“Stop it, that’s rude.” He shrugs but shoves me back, making me smile. We stand.
“A Gift is someone who has some sort of special power. His last Gift died so we're all going to try and audition to be the next Gift.” I stop Michael from making another snarky comment by shoving him back to the ground.
“Ooooh, could I come too?” He smiles, excited. Keigan bumps his shoulder with hers.
“Ya, sure!”
“Woah, waoh, woah.” Sophie interjects. “We don’t even know this guy. Some hybrid can’t just come with us.” Keigan steps between Sophie and the hybrid.
“His name is Abysmal, and he is coming with us.” Sophie laughs.
“No wonder that’s his name. He really is appalling.” Abysmal attempts to interject but both Keigan and Sophie shout at him to shut up. Sophie has never really been the best of friends with Keigon. They care for eachother but can get into a fight real easily in the right circumstances.
This time Rhiannon steps in. Shoving them away from each other.
“Obviously Abysmal is a friends of Keigs and any friend of her’s is our friend too. Now stop fighting and get along!” Sophie and Keigan cool down and say sorry to each other. They also apologies to Abysmal. He shakes his head and tells them not to worry.
“Now, I feel that we have skipped a step in our introductions. Let us introduce ourselves. My name Is Rhiannon. And are our dork friends!” She gesture to all of us. Sophie nods at him
“Sophie.” Is all she says. He glances at me and I smile kindly.
“My names Gillian, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiles back. Michael sticks out his hand for a handshake.
“My names Michael.” They shake hands and seem to suddenly get along well. Celeste jumps up next to him.
“The names Celeste! Don’t wear it out.” She jokes and walks over to stand next to me. He stays silent and Keigan elbows him in the ribs to make him talk.
“Oh-uh. Hi, my names Abysmal but you can call me Abys. Nice to meet you all.” He smiles and we smile back.
“Well, now that we're all buddy-buddy and such let’s get going!” Keigan marches ahead followed by Abys and the rest of the group. Chatter starts to fill the forest as my friends start to talk. I still stay near the back, preferring to stick to my own thoughts. The day passes slowly as we become too tired to walk. Celeste gave up a long time ago and just levitated. I tried restoring to the humming bird's wing power so I don’t get too far ahead but I can only use my powers for a few hours before I tire.
About noon we stop at a stream to take a break. We drop on the shore under the shade of a tree, too hot to expose our skin to the unshaded heated sand. I shed my hoodie and tie it around my waist. I walk over the the edge of the stream and dip my hands in, relishing the cold water against my skin. Filtering the water through my hands and when there’s no residue I take a sip and decide the water’s safe. I turn to tell everyone when someone shouts,
“Cannonball!” and jumps into the water, soaking me. I squeak in surprise. I turn back to the river and find Michael surfacing the water. He smiles cheekily. I laugh and splash him with water before walking back to the group.
“Oooh, you ok?” Rhiannon asks as I walk up.
“Yeah, just really wet.” She pats my shoulder before going after Michael to yell at him. I drape my sweatshirt over a low hanging branch and take off my shoes and socks. I sit next to Celeste and Keigan who are talking about drawing technics. I take out my journal and start to write. I write about what has happened and how I felt about it, y’know the usual junk. I also include how I’ll be updating more frequently to make sure I get everything from the trip. A cold and wet hand pats the back of my neck. I shriek and jump away dropping my journal and looking up at the culprit. Michael smiles at me.
“Hey, come and swim.” He beckons towards the water. I looked over and realized that without realizing it I tuned out everyone allowing them to go into the water without me noticing. Everyone is in their shorts and tshirts. Why, i’m not sure but I oblige and leave the sand to join my friends. The water’s cold but satisfying against the smoldering heat but I don’t go too deep for my lack of swimming strength. We play for hours.
We play in the water like kids, splashing around and pulling each other under water. When we grow tired we dry up on the bank and pack up our things. Rhiannon glances up at the sky, the sun is just starting to disappear under the trees but there is still a good hour left before it get’s to dark.
“OK, let’s continue for a while and then we’ll set up camp ok?” We all agree and continue our trek through the forest. The rest of the night is mostly uneventful. The excited chatter dies down to nothing but the sounds of the forest, signaling the weariness of the group. So once the stars start to scatter across the sky we look for a decent place to sleep. Abys finds a small clearing of grass only a handful of yards off our path. We set up a small pile of wood and use one of Rhiannon's spell to light the fire and block it from spreading to a full on forest fire.
Everyone gets out their sleeping bags and used their packs for pillows after determining who’s on night watch. I take first shift. I sit next to the fire using it for warmth against the cool night air. The silence of the forest is unnerving, without the sound of animals and insects scuttling around the forest sound dead. So of course with every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves I jump a mile. I must not have been as quiet as I thought I was because one of my friends turned to face me.
“Are you ok? You sure are jumpy.” Michael turns on his stomach and props himself up with his elbows.
“Yeah, i’m fine.” I say settling closer to the fire.
“Are you sure? Cause I can take your shift too if you’d like.” I shake my head vigorously.
“I’m sure. I can handle myself y’know.” I cross my arms with mock indignation. He chuckles at my actions but turns around anyways. I wish him good night and turn my attention back to the forest. I stay awake for a few hours, only feeling sleepy once the fire was dampened by night's mist and blown away by a strong burst of wind. At first I worry that it’ll be pitch black but as the embers stop glowing I notice the gentle glow growing above. I look up to the sky above my head. My eye’s widen at the wonderful view.
Stars fill the clear sky. The moon is full and glows a beautiful white-blue color across the grass. The mist shines in the sky’s glory making the clearing feel like a magical land never seen before. I stare at the stars soaking in the view in an attempt to make it last forever. I start to spot constellations and different starry clusters that show the nearby galaxies. I have got to show someone. I study the position of the moon and decide that it’s close enough to midnight to wake up Michael for his shift. I reach over and poke his head. When he doesn’t stir I shake his shoulders. This time he wakes.
“Is it my shift?” He asks rubbing his eyes. I nod and he looks around the clearing.
“Woah.” He whispers in awe at the view.
“Isn’t it amazing? I had to wake you up a bit early to make sure that at least you saw this too.” I lie down on grass ignoring the dampened grass. We stare at the sky in silence for a long time.