Gifts of the Living Phoenix

Chapter 9

Gifts of the Living Phoenix

The whole school was buzzing with news about what had happened to the first year student.

It was starting to sound like an urban legend by the end of the Sunday after Faith had woken up.  All the outsiders knew was Faith had changed in some way, but those rumors were only half truths and truly not even believable.  However, those closest to Faith knew the truth.  They knew she was the Living Phoenix.  This led to some serious questions about the prophecy itself or who her father was.  In the meantime however, Professor Geniason knew he had to prepare his great niece for some changes that was going to make the classes she had been taking seem like child’s play compared to what she needed to learn. 

“Ah, Faith my dear, how are you feeling this morning?”  asked Professor Geniason.

            “I’m well.  Thank you for asking, sir.”  Faith calmly replied.

            “I’m glad to see that the events of the past few days have not sullied your perspective about life?  Or are you too stunned to even realize what is going on here?”  Professor Geniason looked at her inquisitively.

            “I’m not 100% sure what is going on, but I do know that I will just be taking one day at a time to discover what is happening and what I’m supposed to do,”  Faith replied. “I’m assuming there was no manual of how left behind for me?” 

Professor Geniason chuckled.  He was glad to see that she had not lost her sense of humor and wit.  He was quite proud this girl was his great niece, and even prouder that she was the Living Phoenix no one had believed would ever return.  However, he also knew he now had a difficult task of ensuring that she fulfilled her greatest potential of helping with humanity’s migration back up to the surface.  He also knew he needed to have a more direct conversation with his nephew, Colvine in the coming days.  It seemed Colvine was the only person who thought something like this might actually happen.

            “Get some more rest my dear, I think the coming days are going to be busy,” Professor Geniason said matter of factly.  “In fact, your parents are coming by tomorrow to make sure you’re alright.” 

            “My parents?  Oh!  Of course.  I would be happy to see them.  Do you think the healers would let me go back to my room though?  These white gowns are rather…”  Faith looked at her white robe in distaste as she looked down at the clothes she was wearing. 

            “I think as your vitals are down and back to normal, it would be permissible for you to return to your room and get some regular food into your system.  I will talk with you again soon, niece,” Professor Geniason said affectionately. 

            Faith looked at him with surprise.  It was the first time she had ever heard him sound remotely emotional, much less even acknowledge the fact that they were related. 

As soon as the Professor left the room, she made her way to the old clothes she found tucked away and quickly left the room.  They didn’t have to tell her twice that she could go.  She wondered where her things were but figured that she could worry about all that later.  She just wanted to go shower and change. Faith was feeling great!

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            “OH my god!  They let you out?!?”   Melody squealed in surprise.

            “Yeah, Professor Geniason made it happen I think,” Faith said giving Melody a hug.

            “Everett has been going nuts since your transformation.  We all saw him kiss you too!” 

Faith hadn’t forgotten about that, but she frowned as she remembered the feeling that she was doing something wrong.  It felt peculiar to think of Everett without thinking about Edric and when Everett kissed her, she automatically felt guilty.  Faith didn’t want things to change between them.  They were her best friends, did she want something more?

            “Faith!  I’m so glad you’re ok!”  Everett hugged her tightly and wrapped his arms around her.  Edric came and wrapped his arms around the both of them making all three of them burst out in laughter at the gesture.  

            “We both missed you a lot,” said Edric his eyes twinkling.

            “Faith!!!”  Jacob and Kyle came running down the hall glad to see their friend finally make an appearance. 

            “Let’s go eat guys!”  Faith was glad to be back to normal.

            -----

            “So?  Do you feel any different?”  Asked Jacob, looking at her with awe.

            “Um, no?  It’s not like I have fire shooting out of my fingertips or anything,” smirked Faith.

            “Yet…” said Melody assuredly - as if knowing it was bound to happen sooner or later.

“You guys have active imaginations.  I’m not sure what these “gifts” are supposed to be but I’m sure it’s not anything major.” said Faith, this time with her mouth partially full of chicken.

“Oh roomie, my turn to say, eat now, talk later,” smirked Melody rolling her eyes.

Faith laughed in response. “Touché.  I will stick to eating for now.”

            From another table, Dante and his friends were peering over at Faith and her group in a curious manner.  Dante wasn’t sure when he was going to have to explain who he was to her as the Living Phoenix, but he was pretty sure she was not going to be that excited about having more people following her around. 

It seemed she already had a group of friends/followers keeping close tabs on her.  The twins were always around her, but he knew that was because they were infatuated with her.  Melody – the roommate – who was probably just a plant to watch Faith and keep an eye on her, and then the two shapeshifters he knew little about. 

The elf shapeshifter had a sister he was a little concerned about.  Seemed Selena wasn’t too happy about losing Everett to Faith, though he didn’t think there was ever any competition there.  Selena didn’t seem to realize she had just been a temporary distraction for Everett and that anyone could see his heart belonged firmly with Faith. 

            He felt he had little choice in the matter but to simply say who he was and insist on being her guardian, whether she liked it or not.  One thousand years ago, the last guardian group had screwed up and let the Living Phoenix die, he wasn’t about to make that same mistake.  Of course last time, the guardians were regular humans and not shapeshifters. 

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            “Father!  Mother!”  Faith called out her parents excitedly when she saw them.

            “Faith, I see you’re in one piece and well,” her father said with humor in his voice.

            “Yes, I’m not exactly sure what is going on, I don’t really feel any different, so I’m not sure I can really believe all this talk about the living Phoenix.” Faith said simply.  Worry laced her tone and betrayed her true emotion bubbling underneath.  This was her parents, who else could she be completely honest with? If not them?

            “We’re not exactly sure what is going on either, but we only know what the prophecy said about the Living Phoenix.  You restore order to the outer world, making it habitable for us to live up top again.”  Her father explained.

            Her mother spoke up, “There is nothing that you have to figure out right now.  We’re just glad you’re ok and we wanted to make sure you didn’t need us.”

Faith shook her head.  “No, I’m actually good.”  She hesitated, “Is Hope ok? She hasn’t had any premonitions about me, has she?”  

            Her parents looked at one another, but shook their heads.  “No, nothing about you.”

Faith knew they were holding back something but she didn’t know what.  Sometimes it’s not in your best interest to push for answers.  She knew answers would reveal itself when necessary. 

            “Would you like a tour of my room and the school?”  Faith said eagerly, changing the subject.

            “Absolutely dear, we don’t have to leave for a few hours yet.”

Faith was happy to see her parents again and didn’t have the feeling of loss she felt when they left her the first time at school.  She had actually wanted some time to herself so she could go into the restricted section of the library and do more research on the Living Phoenix.  Not that she didn’t trust Melody, but she felt like something was missing and that she wasn’t seeing the whole picture.

            The restricted section of the library was old and immense.  She could smell the musty stale odor of some manuals that had not been able to be saved from the effects of time.  Some manuals appeared to be holding well, but she noticed that it was truly the older manuals that held up better than time.  Seemed the more advanced civilization got, the lesser the quality in the things that they had created.  Faith took out a massive book that was slightly pungent with the odor of mold. 

Yuck, she thought to herself.  I hope I don’t catch something trying to read these old manuals.

            Faith was just about to drop the book on the reading vessel when she heard someone creep up behind her.  She quickly turned around, her body at the defensive, when she spied Dante, right in front of her.

            “Are you following me?”  Faith demanded.

            “Well… define following?”  Dante said with a little strut.

            “Did you just strut in front of me?”  Faith said with shock.

            “Nah, just playing around.  What are you doing here anyway?”  Dante inquired.

            “Not that its any of your business… but I’m doing some research.” Faith said impatiently, “So go away!”

            “Uh, no can do Princess, I’m here to stay,”  said Dante with a snicker.

            “Well, suit yourself, but I have things to read and research,” Faith said shrugging him off.

Dante did not expect her to be so indifferent to his charms.  All the girls were susceptible to his charms.  Was he losing his touch?” 

He must had stood there for a minute with his mouth agape because he heard Faith chuckle and say, “Hey, pick your chin off the floor,”  she sniggered.

Faith continued giggling and Dante broke out into a wide smile.  She had the cutest little giggle, he thought. “oh s**t, he was in trouble.”

            “Ok, so what are you researching?” Dante asked curiously.

            “I’m looking for more information on the Living Phoenix, anything on the Living Phoenix actually.” Faith sounded exasperated.

            “Let me help. There might not be a lot because she died before she was able to do much for the outer world, but maybe we can find something together.”  Dante said in earnest.

            “Why?”  asked Faith.

            “Why what?”  Retorted Dante.

            “Why are you helping me?”  Faith said suspiciously. 

            “Look, I wanted to make up for being a jerk to you on your first day. I know you don’t easily trust me because of that and I wanted to apologize.”

Faith looked at Dante for a long time before smiling at him.  Staring at him, her eyes widened in surprise as she realized how handsome Dante was.  She never noticed it before.  Realizing this made her cheeks tinge and blush so she dropped her eyes to the ground.

            “Well that’s a surprise.  Who would have thought you could blush?”  Dante said in jest.

            “Shush you, I’ll accept your help only because you seem sincere.  But that doesn’t mean I completely trust you yet,” Faith said with a husky voice.

            “Yet…  princess, yet,” Dante said, too softly for Faith to hear.

Faith and Dante spent the next few hours trying to find any mention of the Living Phoenix.  Oddly enough, whatever they found always seemed to be cut off right where Melody had last read.  Feeling like her back was going to be cramped in a bent over reading position, Faith straightened up and stretched.

            “I think I need to call it a night,” Faith said.

            “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll find anything this evening,” Dante agreed.

They could hear the sound of rain in their part of the building since part of the school was underground while the training grounds and other parts were outside. 

            “Let’s go to the kitchens, I bet they still have some dinner left over,” suggested Dante.

            “Ok, I know the staff so they’ll probably give us something,” Faith agreed.

Dinner of small chicken sandwiches having been consumed, Faith and Dante found themselves surrounded by an awkward silence.  Faith sensed he wanted to say something to her so she waited.

            “Faith!”  Everett sounded exasperated.

            “We were looking all over for you,” chimed in Edric.

            “We saved you some dessert,” said Everett, much quieter, seeing Dante for the first time.

Faith looked up at the twins and broke out in a wide smile, the warmth reaching her eyes. 

            “I’m sorry, we were doing some research and lost track of time,” said Faith apologetically.

            “No worries,” said Edric, “The gang wanted to chat more about your gifts, let’s go to the Gallows!”

Faith looked across at Dante, about to form an apology but he stopped her.

            “Go, we’ll chat again,” Dante said with a little disappointment, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            “Ok, have a good night!  And thank you for your help!”

Dante watched as the twins held out their hands for her which Faith immediately grabbed and walked off briskly to the Gallows.