Emerson’s Story

Chapter 16

Sixteen

I spend an hour or two that evening in my room with Junie, the elf Jack mentioned earlier, trying not to stare at her ears while she creates linen for the bed and curtains for the windows, and changes the chair from a hard wooden thing into a soft armchair with flower-patterned fabric. Bandit takes an immediate liking to the new armchair and promptly curls up on it and falls asleep. Junie asks if I want anything else, and when I ask about getting a clock so I won’t be late for breakfast in the morning—no more cell phone alarm to wake me up—Junie paints the time onto my wall. A minute later, when the number magically increases by one digit, I suck in a breath. Even after several days in this world, magic continues to surprise me.

While the room is more rustic than the one I had at Chevalier House, I prefer this one. When I’m finally left alone, I spend a while at the window, staring at the tiny lights in the trees and the millions of stars visible through the dome layer. But eventually my eyelids become too heavy, and I climb into bed.

I sleep better than expected, waking to the sound of singing coming from the direction of the painted numbers on my wall. After using the pool in my little garden-themed en-suite bathroom, I head down the many stairs on the outside of the tree to Violet and Ryn’s house. I tap on the half-open door before pushing it open and walking into what appears to be their kitchen. The scent of something baking fills the air.

“Oh, morning, Em,” Violet says, smiling at me over her shoulder. She’s standing at a counter where the contents of a jug seems to be stirring itself, and a knife is neatly slicing through an apple. Her hand hovers above three mugs, and though I can’t see inside them, I assume something magical is going on. “You can take a seat at the table,” she says. “Coffee?”

“Oh, thank goodness. I was worried coffee might not exist in this world.”

She laughs, picks up the three mugs, and carries them to the table. The jug carries on stirring itself behind her. “It isn’t quite the same as the coffee you’re probably used to, but hopefully you’ll like it.”

Jack runs into the kitchen, shouting, “Morning, Em! Did you bring Bandit with you?”

“Jack, please,” Violet says. “You don’t have to be so loud indoors.”

“Sorry,” Jack whispers with a mischievous grin as Ryn walks into the room behind him.

“Hey, Em,” he says to me. Then to Violet: “Sorry, I got distracted. I was going to finish the coffee.”

“All under control,” Violet tells him. She gives him a quick kiss as he slips his arm around her waist. “Can you get the muffins out?”

“So did you bring Bandit?” Jack asks again, climbing onto a chair.

“Actually, he went back to sleep after I got up. He’s probably still upstairs in my room.”

“Oh.” Jack deflates, then perks up when his mother places a small glass of something brown in front of him. “Ooh, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.”

“Hey, can I join you guys for breakfast?” The question comes from the direction of the door, and it’s Calla who’s peering around it. “Chase isn’t back yet.”

“Of course.” Violet motions to one of the empty chairs. “Are you worried about him?”

“No, I’m sure he’s fine. Things sometimes take longer than he expects, that’s all. Hey, Em,” she adds with a wave in my direction. “Ooh, are those muffins?” She slips quickly into a chair, rubbing her hands together as Ryn places a plate of steaming muffins in the center of the table. Violet adds a plate of sliced fruit beside it—at least half of which I don’t recognize—while I try to remember if Chelsea, Georgia and I have ever eaten anything that doesn’t come out of a cereal box at breakfast time. I don’t know how to bake, and I doubt they do either.

“Something to drink?” Violet says to Calla.

“No, don’t worry. I’ll help myself to something in a minute.”

Violet joins the table, and Jack proceeds to tell Calla all about Bandit, the ‘new Filigree,’ while everyone helps themselves to food. He then turns his attention to me and gives me a detailed outline of what Bandit’s diet should include and how many times a day I should feed him. “I can help you, if you want,” he adds.

“Thanks. You can actually keep him if you—” Violet cuts me off with a quick and vigorous shake of her head. I backpedal quickly. “I mean, um, you can keep visiting him. As much as you like. And I’m sure he’d love it if you bring him food.” I risk a glance in Violet’s direction, hoping I’ve successfully fixed my blunder. She smiles and gives me a brief nod.

Beside her, Calla mutters something and lowers her amber onto the table beside her plate. “Everything okay?” Violet asks.

“That was a message from Perry. He says there was an attack at a faerie boarding school last night, and another one at that village near Twiggled Horn. That’s the second one at that particular village this week. Something bad is going on out there.”

“I think I heard about that,” I say, at which Calla looks across at me in surprise. “Well, the first one,” I add. “Not the one that just happened. I only remember because the name of the place is so strange.”

“It’s the name of an oddly shaped mountain,” Ryn says. “What did you hear about the first attack?”

I try to recall the details Jewel passed on to Dash when she received the message. “They said five people were killed, I think. Oh, and they said it was a Griffin attack. I remember now. That was the first time I heard about Griffin Abilities.”

Calla’s mouth drops open. “What? That’s one of the stories the Guild is spreading around? But we were nowhere near Twiggled Horn. And we don’t kill people. Ugh, the Guild makes me so mad sometimes. I can’t believe they pinned that on us.”

Her amber buzzes briefly across the table again. She picks it up and reads it. “Oh, brilliant.” Her hands fall to her lap in exasperation. “The Guild’s official message is that no one has claimed responsibility for these recent attacks, but they have reason to believe they were carried out by Griffin rebels.”

I watch Violet’s hands clench tightly around her knife and fork. Ryn’s expression darkens. “Such lies,” he grinds out between his teeth. “They know it isn’t us, so they’d damn well better be doing whatever they can behind the scenes to figure out who’s really responsible.”

“Sounds just as messed up as our law enforcement system,” I mutter.

“Dad,” Jack says uncertainly. “I thought we weren’t supposed to say ‘damn.’”

A small smile breaks past Ryn’s frown. He reaches across and ruffles Jack’s hair. “You’re right. Thanks for reminding me.”

“Yeah, I guess we shouldn’t let this get to us,” Calla says, pushing her amber away and selecting another muffin. “The Guild’s been spreading lies about us for ages. This is hardly any different.”

“True,” Violet says. “Although they definitely need to find out who’s behind this.”

“Hopefully they can manage without our help,” Ryn says with a superior smile that reminds me, just for a moment, of Dash.

Calla’s amber shivers yet again. She frowns at the latest message. “Perry says there’s something extra weird about the way these fae were killed. Says I should meet him so he can explain properly.” She stands. “I guess I’d better get going. Oh, but I want some of that chocolate cinnamon stuff Jack loves so much first.” She hurries to the counter.

“Morning, everyone.”

We all look toward the door. At the sight of Dash, I suppress a groan. “Dash?” Violet says. “Can you use the faerie paths again?”

“No, but I have other friends here who are happy to help me out.”

“Don’t you have a job you should be at right now?” Calla asks.

“Yeah, I’m heading to work in a few minutes. Just stopped by to say hi.”

Calla places a hand on her hip. Behind her, the jug that was stirring itself with a spoon earlier pours some of its contents into a glass. “You stopped by to ‘say hi?’ Why don’t I believe you?”

“I don’t know. I’m a friendly guy. I’m not sure why you’d doubt my desire to wish everyone a good morning.”

She shakes her head as she picks up the glass and moves toward him. “Well, good morning, then. And goodbye. I’m heading out now.”

“Stay alive,” Dash calls cheerfully after her as she leaves.

“Stay alive?” I repeat. “Is that a common greeting around here?”

Violet throws a quick glance at Jack before quietly saying, “It’s a common sentiment, even if we don’t always say it out loud.”

Dash walks into the kitchen. “How nice of you to welcome Em to the oasis with baked goods.” He leans past Violet and grabs a blueberry muffin. “I approve.”

“Dash,” I say, deciding to be civil. “Do you know what happened to Aurora after I got away from the Guild yesterday?”

He leans his hip against the table. “Aurora?”

“The other new girl from Chevalier House. The one who showed up at the Guild and helped me escape. Guardians got hold of her before she could get into the faerie paths with me.”

“Oh yeah.” Dash chews and swallows. “They put her in a detainment cell for a few hours. Then they sent her back to Chevalier House after questioning her.”

Guilt twists in my gut. “Questioning her?”

“They wanted to know why she’d come to help you. As far as they knew, there was no connection between the two of you.”

“There wasn’t—isn’t,” I say. “I have no idea why she came to help me.”

“Who is this girl?” Ryn asks.

“She arrived at Chevalier House the day before yesterday. She seemed super suspicious of the whole setup. She said she’d heard that people disappear from there sometimes—which I suppose makes sense now that I know Azzy helps Griffin Gifted people.”

“Do you think this girl also has a Griffin Ability?” Violet asks.

I lift my shoulders. “No idea. I suppose Azzy will let you know soon enough if she does. Anyway, what’s weird is that she was supposedly a slave to a bunch of witches who never taught her how to use magic. But she somehow got to the Guild on her own, used magic to cut my ropes, and opened a way to the faerie paths.”

Ryn considers my words. “Maybe she picked up some basic magic skills around the witches. Although,” he adds with a frown, “witches don’t travel through faerie paths.”

“So witches are real? That part wasn’t made up?”

Ryn exchanges a look with Violet. “Witches are very real.” He pushes against the table and stands. “I’ll contact Azzy now. She can tell me if there’s anything we need to be suspicious about.”

We start clearing up then, partly with the use of magic and partly—at least for Jack and me—by hand. He and I are drying the dishes washed by one of Violet’s spells when I realize Dash and Violet have gone into the next room. I think I hear my name mentioned, and my anger flares up immediately. Hasn’t Dash told these people enough about me and my personal life already?

“… can help her, right?” Dash is saying. “Come on, you can find anyone.”

“No I can’t, and I don’t want you telling her that. You know how it works. I need to touch something that belongs to—”

“To her parents, right. I’ve thought about that. She belongs to her parents. So just touch her, and you’ll be able to find them.”

“Dash, she hasn’t belonged to her birth parents for a very long time,” Violet says. “That isn’t going to work. Besides, she’s not interested in finding them.”

“Exactly,” I say, loud enough to startle them both. They look around with guilty expressions. “So thank you, Dash, for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, but as you can see, I don’t want your help.”

He opens his mouth as if to argue, but then he sighs and raises his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I thought I was helping. I’ll stay out of it.”

“Probably best,” Violet says quietly.

“Cool, well, I guess I’ll head to work then.” He raises his hand and makes a fist, holding it in the air in front of Violet as he grins at her. “Have a good day saving lives.”

She rolls her eyes and bumps his fist with hers. “You too.” She watches him leave, then turns to me. “I’m sorry about that. I hope you know I wasn’t going to do anything without your permission.”

I nod hesitantly, wanting to believe her. “What were you guys talking about? Being able to find someone … Is that your Griffin Ability?”

She nods. “Yes. I can find people. If I know the person I’m looking for, it’s easy. The connection’s already there. If I don’t, then I need to be holding something that belongs to that person.”

“That’s so weird,” I murmur. No less weird than being able to speak things into being, a tiny voice reminds me. “Hang on,” I add as something occurs to me. “Is that how Dash found me yesterday after I escaped the Guild? And the other night when I ran away from Chevalier House? Did you tell him where I was?”

She nods, looking guilty once again. “Azzy sent a message to say you’d run. I searched for you, then told Dash where to find you.”

“That’s …” I shake my head. “I … I don’t even know how to feel about that.”

“Like your privacy’s been violated?”

“Kind of, I guess. Like I can never truly hide anywhere, even if I want to.”

She nods. “I know. I hate making people feel like that. I only do it when it’s necessary. In your case, we were worried for your safety.”

“Wait, how did it work if you didn’t have anything that belongs to me?”

She closes her eyes for a moment and rubs the back of her neck. “Now you’re really going to think we violated your privacy.” She opens her eyes. “I have a hairband that belongs to you. Dash took it off your wrist the night he brought you home after you passed out at that party. He figured we might need to find you at some point.”

I cross my arms and stare at the floor. “Yeah. This is all very weird.”

“I should probably tell you about Ryn too. Get all the weirdness out of the way in one go.”

“Oh dear. That doesn’t sound good.”

“And just so you know, none of these abilities are a secret. We don’t want people to think we’re hiding things from them, so we’re very open with those who live here.”

“Okay, so what can Ryn do?”

“He can sense your emotions.”

I blink. “That’s … not cool. At all. What if I don’t want him knowing what I’m feeling?”

She shrugs. “Try to not feel what you’re feeling?”

“Is that even possible?”

“Not really. Trust me, I have years of experience in this area.” She looks briefly over her shoulder as Jack calls for her. Something about a book he can’t find. “Anyway,” she says, turning back to me. “It isn’t such a big deal. Most of the time, people’s emotions are evident in their expressions and actions. Ryn’s ability just makes him a little more intuitive than most, that’s all.”

I bite my lip and frown some more at the rug on the floor. Perhaps she’s right, but that doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable about being around him.

“I’m sorry, Em. I know this is all quite overwhelming. There’s plenty more I want to explain, but I need to help Jack get ready for school, and then I’ve got some work things to deal with. I thought you could take today easy—just look around, hang out in the hammocks, practice whatever Azzy taught you before you left Chevalier—and tonight we can talk about the best way to teach you everything you need to know, including your Griffin Ability.”

Fabulous. Sounds like you’ve got everything perfectly worked out. I push my sarcastic, bitter thoughts aside. “Okay. I guess that’s a plan. And … can I ask one more thing?” Now’s probably the best time, while she’s still feeling guilty about using her Griffin Ability on me. I swallow and peel my gaze from the floor. “Can you take me to visit my mother?”