Cadarn crossed his arms. “Real-life friends are too much bother. It’s much more efficient to just do electronic social networking.”
Haylwen looked at her brother. Two years older, his face was still similar enough to hers, with big lips and high cheekbones, to prove they were related. Regardless, sometimes he said things that made him sound like an alien.
“I want to have real friends! I just want to be normal.”
“Us? Moving as much as we do is not normal, might as well face it,” Cadarn said softly.
“Speak for yourself,” Haylwen griped, regretting the words as soon as they left her lips. He was just trying to help.
Cadarn’s hazel eyes went hard. “Yes, I'm not normal like Amanda.” He leaned forward to whisper. “I don’t mock my friends on the internet for the world to see.” He stood, giving her a parting smirk as he left.
Haylwen fumed at her stupid brother and his know-it-all attitude. Friends, she sneered in her head, like he had more than just CJ. But she didn’t even have one real friend, yet, maybe. She had checked online, and had seen what Amanda was saying, but Kim hadn’t posted anything yet. Maybe I could talk to Kim after I am done spying.
The thought jolted her back to what she was doing on the couch in the first place. She scrubbed her damp face with the back of her hand and focused on listening again. Her mother was starting to get loud, which meant she could understand more of what was going on, but it also usually meant they were almost done fighting. Oh no, she thought. Did Cadarn make me miss anything important?
“She hasn’t shown any signs!” Mrs. Rightad said.
That was clearly about her. Had they gotten to her punishment already? Her father’s response was too low to hear, but her mother interrupted him before he could have said much.
“Well, no, but there is no way…” something not quite clear enough to hear. She strained, and her father’s response came through muffled, something about Cadarn? Her mother’s response was clear.
“No, I'll talk to her, you have to go out tomorrow and this can't wait.”
Haylwen’s stomach clenched even tighter. She tried to listen, but couldn't really hear anymore. Were they finished already? She must have missed a lot arguing with her stupid brother.
She sat back and tried to think. Well, she thought, at least I found out it was Mom who was going to talk to me about punishment. Her father was iron, cool, and calm but so firm once he set his mind to something there was no room for negotiation. Her mother, on the other hand, had a temper, but also a soft side, and there might be a chance to soften the blow— if she wasn’t too mad. It didn’t sound like she was mad, more like she was defending me. Maybe. Hopefully.
Haylwen felt a little better knowing she would be talking to her mother. She had a chance.
She heard the office door open and her mother walk to the kitchen and start cleaning. She always cleaned after a fight. Their tiny apartment had the cleanest kitchen in the whole building, she was sure. Haylwen sat there, waiting for her mother to finish, thinking to herself.
I am going to talk to Mom. She considered blaming Amanda and Kim. But that would never work. No, if I am going to be punished anyway, I have to at least defend Kim. An idea struck, and she sat up, heart racing.
Yes, that’s it—make Kim out to be a good influence! This whole thing could be the best thing that ever happened to me! Maybe, finally, she had come up with a good enough reason to prevent their next move! Yeah, Haylwen imagined saying. Kim is a good influence on me, will keep me out of trouble, a stabilizing influence. Moving as much as we do disrupts my development, gets me into trouble. But Kim is such a good person, so rare. That might just work.
And… if she was going to talk to her mother, she could start on her first. She and her mother were a lot alike, in some ways. Her mother would understand, she is always complaining that her friends and family are too far away. Maybe if Haylwen and her mother teamed up, they could convince her dad not to move whenever he was planning on doing it. Yes, if she and her mother started now, they might just convince him that this was the place to finally stay for a while. She smiled. She could take any punishment if it meant they would finally stay in one place long enough for her to actually have a real friend.
Chapter 4
Talk
“Haylwen Dearfale, suspension is not a vacation.” Haylwen groaned silently at her mother's nagging, abandoning her drawing to stare somewhere near the homework in front of her. That's the millionth time I've heard that, she thought, and it isn’t even lunchtime. Why doesn't she just talk to me and get it over with? Haylwen couldn’t decide if her mother thought of her as a prisoner under guard or a baby in time-out. Either was insulting, and Haylwen tried to sneak a glare at her mother.
Her mother caught her glaring, suddenly stopped puttering, and sat down at the table across from her. “Well, if you are not going to do your schoolwork, we need to talk.” Uh oh, here it comes, finally. Haylwen clenched her teeth and set her face. “So, what happened yesterday?” Her mother waited, her hands folded neatly in front of her. She sat straight up, properly, on her chair. Her mother was always proper.
Haylwen looked up from her textbook and fell into her mother's blue-gray eyes. She explained how she and her friends were just talking between classes, and how she was trying to fit in, and one thing led to another, and then there was a fire. She didn’t mean to say so much, or so fast, and her notions of making up a plausible, but fabricated, story slipped away. Her mother only interrupted once, to ask Amanda and Kim’s last names for some odd reason. That must be it, there was something about her mother just sitting there looking at her that had the words pouring out of her mouth. It felt kinda good, though. Right up to the point where she mentioned her period.
“Your what?” Her mother’s eyes went from calm to knife-like instantly.
Haylwen slumped further in her chair and could see why her father had lost so many arguments. “Um, my period? I got my period yesterday, and I asked Kim if she had something and she just gave me her bag, which had a lighter…”
“Lighter?” Her mother’s unwavering gaze pinned the word to Haylwen.
Haylwen cringed. Kim’s purse did have a lighter, but Haylwen hadn’t meant to mention it. She was trying to show how Kim was helping her and it just slipped out somehow. In fact, she still felt like talking, like telling her mother her theory that Kim and Amanda had set her up somehow. She struggled against the urge to take the easy way out and just blame them. It was the most logical explanation. But it wasn’t true, or at least it wasn’t what she wanted! She felt her anger rising, felt the usual tenseness as she started to suppress it.
“So it was one of them!” her mother nodded. “Well, your father and I will take care of this. We’ll just handle them.”
Something in Haylwen let go. Maybe something broke, or maybe she just stopped caring. Maybe it was the fact that her mother just glossed over the fact that she had finally gotten her very first period without even a word! She sat up and looked her mother right in the eye, interrupting loudly. “No, we won’t! They are my friends! I don’t know who started the fire! Amanda was teasing me about my period, my first period, Mother, and the wall behind her just exploded on fire! I don’t know how, just like I said! Kim was the only one who cared that I had to wear a sweatshirt around my waist and had to go to the nurse for history class and had wet pants for the rest of the day and probably smelled!” For the first time, she yelled and glared right back at her mother. Kim was going to be her friend, never mind the fact that at first she was teasing her as badly as Amanda. She really was nice, when Amanda wasn’t around, most of the time. It didn’t matter, though—Kim would never be her friend if Haylwen’s mom did anything.
They sat there for a moment, eye to eye. Haylwen could feel her mother’s temper through her stare, but didn’t care. Her own anger mixed with all the horrible circumstances over the past day, growing with each heartbeat. All at once, it burst into flames inside her. She felt the fi
re ignite other hurts she thought were long forgotten, and poured it all out of her eyes. What did her mother know about being a freak, she yelled in her head, the only girl without her period? What did she even know about anything! She should talk!
For the first time that Haylwen could remember, her mother looked away. Haylwen blinked, astonishment stealing some of her anger away. She had never seen her mother lose a staring contest, not even with her father. Not ever.
“Well, that’s something, isn’t it?” her mother said. Haylwen blinked again as her mother started talking like a faucet turned on full. “Your first period, you said? I thought you had, well, never mind, that’s big stuff. Both your grandmother and I were late bloomers too, as far as that goes. Gran never cared, but it wasn't so late when she was a girl. When I got mine I was your age, last of the girls just like you, and even I got some teasing for it. It runs in the family, like rebelliousness and a temper. You got that from both your father and me though. Boy, did our rebelliousness cause problems.” She paused to take a breath, tried to cover her mouth to stop talking, and failed. “Yes, we had problems. I remember how everyone would whisper behind my back, thinking I didn’t know. I knew, but it just made seeing him better.” Haylwen's eyebrows could climb no further as she watched as her mother just kept talking through her hands. “The period is a hassle, though. Wait, do you need me to get you pads? I have some, but you might want your own. Do you want me to call your father and have him pick some up? I know this is a big deal. I just don’t want you to have the same problems I did. If I could have done things differently…” She stopped abruptly, with an odd look on her face. In an instant, her hands fell back to her lap and she was in complete control again.
Haylwen gave up trying to figure out what just happened. “What? Dad? No, please, I mean, yes, I need some… You don’t have to tell dad, right? Oh, please don’t tell Cadarn!”
Her mother looked at her, her eyes soft and vulnerable. “They are going to find out soon enough, dear.” She held up her hands to stop Haylwen's protest. “No, I won’t tell, and I will go get you some pads today.” She paused for a moment, then said softly, “Do you have any questions? I know we talked about menstruating, but it has been a while…”
“No! I mean, no thanks, Mom, but it’s no big deal.” She kept her eyes on her mother, who looked away. Odd, she thought, the talk of the fire and punishment just seemed to be forgotten. Should I push to make sure there wasn't going to be any other punishment? Her mother suddenly got up and bustled around, asking about her pants for the wash, and gathering her purse. She was going to go right now? What about the punishment? Did she forget?
Her mother was out the door before Haylwen remembered her plan to prevent them from moving. She had some time before her father dragged them off, she'd have time to try again later. That was the most her mother had ever talked about her past, maybe her mother was feeling especially lonely. If her mother and father both forgot about the “punishment,” she could talk to her mother tomorrow or the next day. With her mother “hanging out” while she was suspended, there would be a lot of time to say how much she liked it here, how nice the teachers were, how great of an influence Kim was, stuff like that. She had a strange feeling her mother would agree. Maybe this suspension was a good thing.
Chapter 5
Failed Test
Crystyn pounced on Abrennin the instant he came in the front door. He caught a glimpse of his daughter lost in a book, like usual, but not much else. The light in his wife’s eyes, and her steely grip on his arm, convinced him to follow her without protest into the office. She let go of him and waited for him to sit down at his desk. She remained standing in the spot she usually stood during their discussions.
“Yes, sweetie? How was the day with Hayl?” he asked. “Did you find out her friends' last names?”
She waved off his questions. “We have a problem. I think we have to move,” she said.
He blinked. He wasn’t done with his current contract, wasn’t even close. She talked to Haylwen, didn't find out names, and now we have to move? Possibilities clicked into place and his surprise vaporized. “Oh?” he said.
“Haylwen got her period yesterday.” She paused, waiting to see if he would say anything. Her period, he thought. That might mean something, but might not. He didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow.
“And…” she said as she answered the implied question, her voice dropping to a whisper, “she broke me in a Gaze Challenge.”
Not many things surprised Abrennin Rightad, and he never let his surprise show. Almost never. This time, his jaw dropped wide open. Crystyn crossed her arms, conflicting expressions of pain and pride made war across her face as Abrennin recovered.
“They were Tested. Twice, right?” he said flatly. It wasn’t a question and not really an accusation.
“They failed both times, and neither Cadarn nor Haylwen have shown a single sign since,” she agreed. Neither voiced what they were thinking. “Have you felt anything from them?” she finished.
“Not my place,” he said gently enough to defuse a bit of her defensiveness, “but, no. She broke you…” he continued slowly. “So she did cause that explosion?” This was also not an accusation.
“Moving won’t solve anything once she fully Awakens, especially if she is that powerful,” she said.
He nodded, slowly, his mind busy in a far-off gaze.
“But it might buy us some time,” she finished reluctantly.
“Yes, I think we need to take steps to give the kids some transition time and enough room to cover our tracks,” he said, his gaze still far away. “Yes, we can move, for starters. I'll have to do all the fieldwork up front, sort the data later... it will be messy and take a lot more time. We'll have to tighten our belts until I can find new work... if I can ever go back.” He shook his head and looked at his wife. “But it won't matter if they catch her using magic. And there is only one way to even suppress a magic user.” He gave her a rueful smile. “Short of an Oath, that is.”
She sighed. “I know we discussed it in theory, but does it make sense? Now that I know, I can cloak her energy. We don't really need to poison our own child, do we?”
Abrennin's eyes snapped back to his wife's face. “It’s not poison, just suppresses a part of her energy. It doesn’t cause any permanent damage, and you know it. And… there is no way you would be able to keep the cloak on without being near her at all times.” He tried and failed to keep his fear from sounding like anger. “Let’s suppose it was possible for me to reestablish contact with the Rogues. They could protect us.” He knew it was a sore point, but he had to try.
Her only response to the unasked question was to tighten her lips.
“Well then, until we are ready to risk having our daughter taken away from us, we can’t chance the Conclave' monitors sensing her,” he said. “What choice do we have?”
“I know, we talked about this, but it seemed so far away, and after they failed Testing, I thought we were safe,” Crystyn said hesitantly. She shook her head. “It’s going to take me a while to find the ingredients, and you will need to Cast them, and we have to figure out how to get the poison, I mean, potion into her. It is going to take some effort...”
“I know.” Abrennin slumped a little, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I can cast them in the middle of the night, and for starters, we'll put it in tomato sauce. Her first dose can be in one of your special lasagnas that she loves so much. She'll never know.” He let his hand slide forward, along his jaw and then fall limply. “We’ll all eat it. Even though Cadarn isn’t showing signs, it’s not a bad thing for him, just in case. You and I can take the counter-potion right after eating.”
She nodded, hesitated, then asked, “It won't last forever, and we can't keep doing this. What is our long-term plan? Are you sure it’s better this way?”
His eyes never wavered, but his voice did. “I don’t know.”
“If you want me to consider going to the Rogues,
maybe you should consider…”
The doorbell startled them into silence. A moment later, a familiar voice sprang their eyes wide. They scrambled for the office door, their look to each other exchanging the same question and answer. Did you know? I didn’t know.
Crystyn made it out of the door first. Looking past his wife, Abrennin saw Haylwen standing there, holding the front door partially open.
“Chuck!” Crystyn rushed forward and scooted Haylwen aside. “Chuck, come in, what a surprise!” She stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick hug, careful to not wrinkle his expensive suit.
“Yes, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I would pop in,” he said, still in the doorway. “My, my, Haylwen, you have grown!”
“Of course you remember your Uncle Chuck,” Crystyn supplied for Haylwen, turning to further move her aside. Noticing him as his head popped out the door, she included Cadarn. She gestured for him to come out, but he was already on his way. His door left open, his music became a pounding background noise.
“Uncle Chuck!” Cadarn ran forward and slapped Chuck’s offered palm.
“Yep, that’s a zinger,” Chuck said, pretending to be in pain and shaking his hand.
“What brings you by?” Abrennin asked, leaning against the office door frame, arms crossed.
“As I said, I was just in the neighborhood. It’s been a long time, and I thought I would bring Cadarn’s birthday present myself this year. You don’t mind that it’s a bit early, do you?” he said, turning to Cadarn.
“No way!” Cadarn said, eyes gleaming.
Chuck disappeared into the hall as he bent to pick up something from just outside the door, reemerging with two large boxes. “Of course, I brought a little something for my little Hay bale, too.”
Ushered in by Crystyn, he looked around the small apartment for somewhere to put the boxes. Abrennin shut the office door and stepped forward to take the boxes from him. He led the several steps into the living room, putting the boxes on the table in front of the couch.
One is Come (Five in Circle) Page 3