by Indie Gantz
Poor sport. I set myself up to throw my last knife.
Ever since we both began hitting the bull’s eye more often than we didn’t, we started going by the rule that a perfect throw didn’t count unless you did it twice in a row.
I take my time throwing the last one, squaring my shoulders and balancing my weight on my feet properly. When I release the knife, it feels good the instant it leaves my hand. A smile spreads across my lips before the knife even lands in the tree. Another bull’s eye, right beside the first.
Counts.
Tirigan shrugs. My turn.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Bombs & Bombshells
An hour later, we follow signs for half a bêru, until we reach Kor and Vi’s campsite, which is three times the size of ours. Four tents are set up around its edges, and a fire burns in a pit towards the middle.
“Morning Charlie, Tirigan,” Vi greets with Cyra in her lap. She’s helping the little girl with spreading jam over her bread. “Have you had breakfast?”
We shake our heads no.
“Well, help yourselves,” Kor says, “What’s ours is ours.” He shrugs. “Which is now yours, too.” He smiles brightly up at us from his spot near the fire and I do my best to return it. It’s hard not to feel incredibly out of place when we all but forced ourselves on this family. They may be gracious and accepting, but that doesn’t make this any less awkward.
“Thank you,” Tirigan says from beside me.
I nod in agreement. “Yeah, thanks.”
The rest of the family trickles out of their tents over the course of the next half hour, Avias complaining about Oleander’s snoring habit and cursing Bo’s ability to sleep through it. Oleander completely ignores the harassment, aside from buttering Avias’ toast for him. Bo doesn’t say a thing when she appears, her face still rough with sleep. She doesn’t seem to be a morning person, considering this is the quietest she’s been since we met.
Tirigan and I eat mostly in silence as well. A pretty normal occurrence for Tirigan, but a cowardly move from me. I want to ask Kor about Pacoa and Calla, but Tirigan’s comments this morning stop me. Calla didn’t explicitly lie to us, but she did omit a pretty big detail. She told us not to explore Pacoa, she told us to just buy a ticket and go. She didn’t say a thing about it being where she came from. Was she protecting us? Or was she hiding something from us?
“Well,” Avias’ voice cuts into my inner turmoil. He’s sipping the last of his tea and rising from his place around the fire. “I have some Eidikos stones to trade. Anyone else?”
Bo’s head snaps up. Her eyes dart to her mother.
“No,” Vi says firmly, only glancing at her daughter for a moment. “Next year.”
“Oh, come on, woman!” Bo says sharply. “I’m fifteen, not a bloody infant!”
“Eidikos casts can be incredibly powerful. There’s a reason there’s a recommended age attached to them.
“I have good control over my element and I was able to pull casts from three different Eidikos’ that Ollie and Avias gave me.”
Vi shoots her son a reproachful look, but Kor is fighting a smile.
“Avias!” Vi says sharply. “She’s too-”
“Mother, honestly, she is far more advanced than you give her credit for.” Avias gives the toddler what’s left of his bread and rounds the campfire to be closer to his mother. “I wouldn’t let her do anything she wasn’t ready for, and I was with her the whole time.”
“Oh and that’s supposed to settle me nerves?” Vi replies with a scoff. “You are only three years older than her! You’re practically still a child yourself!”
Kor grabs Robin, who is just emerging from his tent, and wrestles him playfully. Between the boy’s squeals I hear Kor saying something about Vi keeping her children young forever.
“That’s enough out of you,” Vi says with a reluctant smile, looking over at Kor and her son. “You really think she’s ready?”
Kor stands near the smallest tent with the boy in his arms. “What do you think, Robin? Is big sister ready to make this decision for herself?”
The little boy looks between Kor, Vi, and Bo then throws his hands up and cheers. “Go Bo! Go Bo!”
The campsite bursts into laughter and Kor sets the child back down on the ground with a smug smile. “The child has spoken.”
“Fine,” Vi says, waving her hand in Bo’s direction. “You can go, but don’t you dare trade for one of them explodin’ ones.”
“I won’t!” Bo says cheerily, jumping up from her place around the fire, her food forgotten. “Let’s go!”
I eye Tirigan, who’s taking all of this in with careful glances. We should probably go with them, right?
“What about you?” Oleander asks us as he stands and stuffs the rest of his banana into his mouth. “You two need to trade up?”
“Sure, sounds good,” I reply. Tirigan nods.
Avias starts to head off in the direction of the festival, Bo and Oleander right behind him. Tirigan and I stand, but I look over to Kor and Vi instead of following our new friends.
“I-uh, just wanted to say thanks,” I blurt out quickly, not really sure where I’m going with this but feeling like I need to say something. “I mean, for what you’re doing for us. You don’t have to, and-”
Vi holds up her hand and shakes her head. “Nonsense. Thrilled to have you, love, honestly.”
Kor nods and smiles. “Besides, we have a rather large garden, thanks to Oleander. We could use a few extra hands to tend to it.” His words are meant to tease me, but his eyes tell me how genuine his smile is.
“Oh, right,” I reply, nodding back. “I can definitely help with that.”
“Wonderful dear.” Vi grins. “Now run along, enjoy the festival. It’s the last day. We head home tomorrow morning.” She gets up with the toddler in her arms. “This one needs a change.” Vi disappears into one of the tents, Cyra complaining loudly as she goes.
I turn to start heading to the festival, but Tirigan still faces Kor.
“Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Lark.” Tirigan says, effort in his voice. Kor looks genuinely surprised when he looks back up at us, a curious but soft expression on his face.
“Oh, no.” His gentle face mutates into one of disgust. “Please, call me Kor. Mr. Lark is my cat.”
Tirigan lets out a small sound of amusement at the joke, which is high praise to say the least. We say our goodbyes then follow our new friends down the path away from the campsite and towards the already bustling festival. Bo is talking a bêru a minute while Oleander hums along and nods occasionally to show that he’s listening.
I take this opportunity to talk to Tirigan about something that’s been bothering me. This is going too well. I mean, it’s too easy, don’t you think? How all of this is working out for us?
Yes. We have been incredibly lucky so far.
So, we should be ready for when it all blows up in our face. Hopefully not literally, considering what Vi had mentioned about the stones just a minute ago.
We only need to stay with this family long enough to find out information that could help us find Calla. We’ll continue on with our cover story and...Tirigan’s thoughts trail off for a moment as Avias pulls lightly at the tips of Bo’s hair. We would do well not to form any attachments.
“So, what are you in the market for?” Oleander asks me when Bo finally stops talking. He slows enough to walk next to me. We all follow Avias as he leads us down the path between two rows of booths. The booth owners are shouting out their wares to the people passing through the aisle. It draws my attention every which way while we walk.
“Um, I’m not sure yet,” I reply, inspecting a booth that has ornately painted glass bird feeders hanging from its poles. “What about you?”
“Well,” Oleander sighs. “I’ve been having a lot of trouble with a transmutation cast, but I bet I could get it to work with an Eidikos. Carbon’s a tough one to crack. There’re so many different types out there, you know?”
A ball rolls in our path and Avias and Bo both wrestle for control of it with quick and controlled moves with their feet. It’s obviously something they’ve practiced a great deal. Avias eventually manages to keep it out of Bo’s reach, and then kicks it away to the side where a group of children are playing.
“Why’d you do that?” Bo pouts. “Coulda started up a proper game with that one.”
“Here?” Avias replies with a laugh. “What do you suppose would be the goal?”
“I bet between the two of ‘em, Ollie and Charlie could pull something together,” Bo says, nudging me with her elbow. “You could twist together a goal outta some roots, couldn’t ya?”
Not having a clue what she’s talking about, I wait and hope Oleander answers for the both of us.
“Why don’t you wait on showing off your skills until we get home, Bo?” Oleander teases, messing up her hair with his obscenely large hand. “Do either of you play?”
“Um, play what exactly?” I cringe with an embarrassed smile.
“Football,” Oleander answers, completely unaware of the mild stroke I’m having at my own ignorance. “Although, the Aplos on this side of the world used to call it something else. Never made much sense to me, though.”
“Oh,” I reply dumbly, giving Tirigan an inquiring look. “No, we haven’t played that before.
Soccer, the other name for football is soccer. I read about it. Also, if I remember correctly, Aplos is what Calla said Téssera call the humans that existed before. The ones without elemental power.
Right. I remember that too.
“Don’t play? Shameful,” Bo says with a mock disgust. “We’ll have to fix that straight away. Won’t we, Ave?”
“We do play a lot of football,” Avias acquiesces. “Any interest in learning?” He looks at me for a second, then settles his gaze on Tirigan.
My brother shrugs, but gives Avias a polite smile. “Sure.”
When Tirigan doesn’t elaborate, I add on, “That’d be fun.”
“Great!” Oleander exclaims with a wide smile. “When we’re done with you, you’ll be good enough to join the team next season. Just you wait.”
“Looking forward to it,” I say with embellished enthusiasm. The joke has its intended effect, making Oleander laugh, but I can’t help but feel bad about it.
We aren’t going to be sticking around long enough to learn to play football. We won’t be joining a team or going to the festival with them next year. Once we learn what we can from Kor, we are going to leave to find my mother. Kor and Vi may be accepting us into their family, but we already have a family, and it needs to be put back together. I can’t fool myself into thinking any of this means anything. As painful as it is to admit, Tirigan and I are just using these people and getting close to them will actually make things harder on us when the time comes to leave.
When I open my mind to say as much to Tirigan, he agrees before I can even get out the rest of my thoughts.
While I am grateful that they are so accepting of us, it doesn’t make my resolution falter. We will say and do what we need to in order to gain the information necessary to find Calla. He pauses a moment, and then adds, After this morning’s incident, it’s never been more important for you to learn how to separate and control your emotions.
Despite how irritated I am that Tirigan has brought up my shortcomings, I decide to take the high road and let it go. You’re probably right, but I still feel like we are doing something wrong here. Don’t you feel bad, using them this way?
I do. That doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary.
Oleander and Bo lead us towards one of the larger booths on the right side of the aisle. It’s toward the middle of the entire row, a large wooden sign hanging above it.
Eidikos Trading Station
Trades are subject to approval by the
owner and may be denied for any reason.
Stone availability varies.
All trades are final.
“What do you even have to trade, Bo?” Avias asks from beside me, pulling his own leather satchel open and looking inside.
“I was kind of hoping you or Ollie would float me a couple, get me started?” Bo asks innocently, grabbing Oleander’s arm and looking up at him from under her long lashes. “I have to start somewhere, yeah?”
Oleander gives her an unconvinced look, but I can see a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. “One,” he finally says, and then looks back at Avias. “Each.”
Avias immediately balks. “I do not-”
Bo turns around abruptly and puts her hands together in a pleading motion. “Oh, come on, Avias, please? I’ll take your chores for a week and continue to lie to mum and dad about all those times you sneak out and think I don’t notice.”
Avias eyes go wide, and he stops walking. “Excuse me? I haven’t-”
“You heard me,” Bo interrupts, smile widening. “Although you haven’t done it in a while... Or you’re just getting a lot stealthier.”
Avias eyes his sister with a mixture of shock and embarrassment.
“Fine,” he agrees begrudgingly, pulling a stone from his bag and tossing it to Bo. “It’s a silencer. Five-foot radius, ten-minute duration. Should allow for a decent trade.”
“Thank you, brother,” Bo says with another smile, as if she didn’t just blackmail him into his generosity.
“Mmhm,” Avias replies back, his lips pressed together in a frown. He looks over at me and Tirigan. “She’s a bloody menace.” Tirigan laughs and shares a look with Avias that makes me feel like I’m not completely in on the joke.
Oleander is the first to get to the counter and pulls out a handful of stones from his pocket. He hands one to Bo and splays the others on the counter in a few different piles.
“Good afternoon,” he tells the vendor jovially.
“Whatcha got, boy?” The man behind the counter asks, harsh in his greeting but kind in his eyes. Oleander is unfazed by the man’s less-than-polite greeting and smiles wider.
“Two biological nitroglycerin, three decomposition accelerators, and five stones each of three different types of trees; Lemon, Apple, and Fig.”
All the blood in my face drains, and I suddenly feel very faint.
We are way out of our depth. How did we think we could get away with this? Most of what Oleander just said went right over my head. I understand the words he used, but in this context I’m struggling to put them all together.
“All right,” the man says, looking behind himself at a wide table. “What are you looking for in return?” He takes a step back and gestures towards his wares.
There are three different rows of silver bins, each of them labeled and filled with stones. Some of the labels are easy enough to understand, stones for growing plants or throwing fire, but there are others that cause me to furrow my brow in confusion. The ones I recognize as words in my biology books make me wonder a great deal about what these people are capable of. There are also certain labels, like trinitrotoluene, that send a chill down my spine. That one is usually referred to by its abbreviated name: TNT. That’s certainly something I wasn’t expecting to see sitting among stones that make wildflowers grow.
Oleander makes a show of taking a careful glance at the items displayed on the table and then clears his throat. “How about three melting stones, four dehydrators, a carbon transmutation, and a water shield.”
“A water shield?” The man laughs. “That’ll cost you more than a few trees, kid. How about I get the others for you and throw in a couple heat absorbers.”
Oleander sighs then shrugs. “Fine.” There’s a carefulness to his expression that makes me feel like I’m missing something.
Bo steps up to the counter next and puts the stones Oleander and Avias gave her down in front of her. “A silencer, and a...” She stops and looks at Oleander. “What is it?”
He takes a look at the stone then answers, “Carbon bond levitation, up to about thirty kilos.”
“Very nice,” Bo chirps, ch
eerily looking back at the man. “That’ll get me something good, right?”
“What’s the silencer range?” the man asks, giving Oleander the stones he asked for and putting away the ones he had traded.
“Five foot radius and ten minute duration.” Bo replies proudly, as if she’d cast it herself.
The man looks at her for a moment, obviously trying to figure out her age. Then, deciding it doesn’t matter, he shrugs. “And what can I get you?”
“Air pressure manipulator. One strong enough to let me fly for a bit.”
Avias chuckles beside her. “If you wanted to fly, Bo, I could-”
“No, I don’t want you in control. I want to do it meself.”
“For what you’re giving, I’ll give you a couple of ‘em,” the man tells her, turning to get the stones.
“Thank you,” Bo says as soon as the stones are in her hand.
“See?” She turns to Avias and gives him a smug smile. “I know what I can and can’t handle. I don’t need you lot trying to control everything I do.”
“I see that,” Avias placates. He looks at both of us and gestures forward, as if to tell us we are next. My heart starts to beat wildly in my chest. “Charlie? Tirigan? What would you like?”
“Um,” I mumble, shaking my head and looking over at the bins of stones again as if deciding. Not only do we not have any Eidikos stones to trade, we wouldn’t even know what to ask for. I stall for another moment, and then reply, “You know, I think I’m good. Tirigan?”
“I am fine as well.” He steps back to let Avias take his place at the counter. Avias looks at us with a slightly confused expression, but it doesn’t last very long. He turns to the counter after a second and pulls out his stones to trade with.
“Five helium, three silencers- all with the same duration and width as the one my sister just handed over, two oxygen removals, and a nitrogen influx.” He says it confidently, already looking past the man and at the available stones to trade for behind him. “Can I please have three flamethrowers, two molecule accelerators, a hundred meter transporter, and a Biotin infuser?”