Illuminated Embers

by Jasmine Flowerday

  "My name is Principal Haymer," he said, before leaning back.

  She could barely see him and was starting to wish she was back on the wooden bench in the other room. "It's nice to meet you," she said, trying to pull herself up again.

  "Congratulations on finishing your tests," he said. "To be honest the results are a little confusing."

  "How so?" she asked, knowing full well why they were confusing. She had very little public education in the past, and Samuel's tutoring had helped things click into place for her.

  Principal Haymer raised his eyebrows. "Well, to be honest, most don't take so long on testing. After the first few, we have a pretty good idea where to put them." Standing up, he walked around to the other chair and sat on the arm. "Your initial results were all over the place." He picked up a stack of papers from his desk that she recognized as her latest exams. "During lunch, I had Mrs. Plattmouth run these through the machine three times, just to make sure. It says that you are capable of advanced Senior work. I have a few other students here that test this way, but they don't put the work in. So I am unsure what to do with you. Your initial tests tell me that you will give about the same amount of effort. I also see that you have the minimum requirements completed from your transcripts." Shaking his head, he sat down in the chair, and Savannah squirmed in her seat. "What kind of future are you looking for, Ms. Thomson?"

  This question took her by surprise. "What?"

  "What do you want to be when you grow up?" he asked, as though it were a simple question.

  "I don't know. I guess I've never really thought about it," she said. It was probably the most honest thing she had ever said to a Twitchie.

  "Well, think about it. You are obviously a bright girl, and if you put the effort in, you could have a future that matches your brains," he said.

  Savannah thought she would be happy if she had a future, period. She was being hunted, and the local Humans were paying the price for it. She didn't know how long it would be before it was her turn. Inwardly, she smacked herself for thinking that way.

  "I think, for now, I am going to put you in Junior classes and see how well you do. There isn't much time left in the school year, but if you do well, then we can move you up to the Senior class in the fall. If not? Well, depending on the results, I'll make you a Junior or maybe even a Sophomore next year." Principal Hayman stood up and opened the door, indicating that their meeting was over.

  Nodding, Savannah stood up and walked past him into the stark white of the office.

  "Ms. Thomson?" he asked.

  She turned to look at him.

  "You need to ask yourself how bored you want to be next year, and what you want to be in the future," he said, then he shut the door.

  Mrs. Plattmouth printed out a new schedule for her and escorted her to her first new class. She was pleased to see Samuel in her Physics class and equally dismayed to see Jen sitting next to him. Sliding into the only remaining seat, which happened to be in the front, she tried to pay attention while coming up with a plan to save the Humans from the Siphon attacks.

  **********

  Sitting at the long table across from Samuel and Harry, Savannah sat sandwiched between Chrystal and Michael. All of them had their books out, working on homework. Samuel had to keep reminding her to put her name and the date in the upper right corner of the paper. She vaguely remembered having to do that before. Johnna had set up snacks and drinks for the kids. She had also put piles of extra pencils, paper, erasers, and pencil sharpeners on the table, so they wouldn't have an excuse to leave until they were done.

  "So? What did you come up with for a plan?" whispered Harry, trying to stifle a yawn.

  Savannah shrugged. Honestly, she hadn't come up with much. Every situation she could think of would put them in mortal danger, and she wasn't strong enough to fight off so many. She wished that she could just tell the Humans to run away. Far away! But they had no idea of the dangers that surrounded them. Savannah thought that maybe it would be better for ALL of the Supernaturals to live on the Arc. The Twitchies would probably be better off, and she might get more sleep. As it was, she was running off less than fumes and certain that Harry was in the same boat. Her plan had been to take a nap as soon as she got home, but without knowing how to fix their current problem, she couldn't bring herself to sleep.

  Eamon and Lanie walked into the kitchen. They seemed oblivious to the kids.

  "I don't know. It would probably work, but we don't know how fast they travel, Lanie! What if one of them catches up to you?" he said, pouring himself a glass of orange juice.

  "I can take care of myself, Eamon! The killings have to stop!" she said adamantly. "Don't forget, I'm a Kite, and we swore to protect the Humans! I can't just stand by and let them die!"

  Standing up quickly, Savannah let her chair topple over, and it got the attention of her mother and Eamon. "What are you doing? What plan?" she asked, anxiously.

  "Savvy! You're home! How was school?" Lanie asked.

  Recognizing the sugary sweet tone her mother was using, Savannah became suspicious. "Momma! What plan?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

  "Your mother has an idea to draw the Siphons away from Greenhaven," said Eamon. "It would probably work, and I would get a decent meal. But it's risky."

  Savannah crossed her arms and gave her mother a hard stare.

  "Don't look at me like that, Savannah Embers! I'm your mother, and this would help protect you. That's my job!"

  Nodding once, Savannah said, "Fine! But I'm going with you!"

  "No!" Lanie said, glaring at her daughter. "You will not! You saw what happened last time you were out after dark. We are not going through that again!"

  "My guess is that you are going to wait by the forest edge until dusk, then lead a trail to somewhere else, am I right? Eamon will be there with a car to pick you up?" Savannah said.

  "Maybe," said Lanie, frustrated by her daughter's intelligence.

  "It might actually work, if you had the trail of the people they are looking for. Maybe a Wizard to help conceal the getaway car," said Savannah. She knew that Eamon and her mother wouldn't be able to argue the logic behind her statement.

  "Don't be ridiculous!" Lanie shouted. Gesturing to the two boys, she said, "They wouldn't even be able to keep up!"

  "What are you talking about? I'm speedy! You can't even see me, I'm so fast," said Harry. Tipping his chair back he lazily rocked it back and forth on the rear legs. Savannah whipped her head around and gave him a look that made him set the front legs down and get back to his homework.

  "How are you going to find it anyway, Momma? You haven't navigated anything for years!" Savannah said. She knew that she was being disrespectful, but her mother was being careless.

  Lanie bristled at the edges, and it took a lot of self-control to keep her power in check. "Eamon said that my phone will show me the way."

  Glaring at Eamon, Savannah said to her mother, "Do you know how to use it? Because I can't seem to figure those things out!" she said gesturing to Samuel's phone that was laying on the table.

  Samuel grabbed it up and swiped his thumb a few times until he found what he wanted. Pulling up the GPS app, he showed it to the women. "I can help with that!"

  "I appreciate the offer, but you can't keep up!" Lanie said, dismissing him.

  "I'll become a Kite! Then I can use the Kite speed!" he said excitedly. He couldn't believe that he'd never thought to try it before. It sounded like fun, and then maybe he would know what it felt like to be Savannah. After he said it, his Morphling curiosity kicked in, and he felt an intense need to try it out.

  "No!" a resounding female voice said. They all turned as Johnna entered the room. "You are NOT changing into a Kite! They are the very race that has been oppressing our people for centuries."

  Lanie turned on Johnna, and the two women started bickering about the prejudices against Kites and Morphlings.

  Ignoring them, Eamon walked over to the table with the t
eens and sat at the head of the table. Savannah took her seat next to Chrystal again. They all hadn't lived long together, but they both knew to leave the two moms alone when they were like this.

  "So? How was school?" Eamon asked Savannah.

  "It was good! I finished testing, and they finally placed me. Having that tutoring session with Samuel definitely helped. He showed me what they wanted; after that, it was easy," she said.

  "Good. Good," Eamon said. He was thinking about what Samuel had said. He knew that Johnna wouldn't go for it, but the boy was going to be eighteen in the fall. In Malia, he would be done with training, expected to have a job and start a family of his own soon. So, he didn't feel too bad in considering Samuel's suggestion. He was still in the doghouse as far as Lanie was concerned for his slipup the night before, but Savannah had proven time and again that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, at least physically. Unfortunately, she was right. The plan had a better chance of success with the scent trails that the Siphons were tracking. It was extremely dangerous but had the potential to do long-term good. If they were able to make the monsters believe that they were in a different forest, they were likely to stay there for awhile, at least a few weeks. After that, maybe they would give up and go home. Either way, the chances were infinitely better if the kids helped out.

  "You know I'm right," Savannah whispered to Eamon.

  Eamon nodded and looked over his shoulder at the moms, who were still going at it. "When you all are done with your homework, why don't you go to the park for an hour or so. I'll work on them."

  Chapter 11

  Samuel and Savannah stood in a meadow in the middle of Pontac Park. It was located in the west part of Greenhaven. Springtime had brought forth beautiful flowers and budding trees. The magnolias trees were in full bloom, and for the first time in weeks, Savannah was able to breathe in the sweet scents and be at peace. Harry, Chrystal, and Michael were chasing each other around the park, disguised as large dogs. Samuel and Savannah pretended to be their owners, whistling at them when they got too far away and throwing a ball every once in awhile to keep up the farce.

  They watched as the three dogs rolled in the fresh clover and tumbled over each other, having a blast. Even though it looked like fun and they wished they could join them, they knew the dog catchers were on a rampage since the pack had started their runs at night. Every time the newscaster would talk about the struggle of animal control, everyone at the apartments would laugh. Savannah was sure that it was probably in the dog catcher's best interests not to catch any dogs at the moment. Samuel picked up another ball and launched it, before squaring off with Savannah.

  "Okay, I'm ready! The student has become the master!" He said to her, putting his hands on his hips and striking a superhero pose.

  "Huh?" she looked at him curiously.

  "How will I know when I've made the Kite transformation?" he asked, relaxing his stance. "With Werewolves and Vampires, it's easy, but Kites and Wizards look Human! How am I gonna know that I'm not just in my Twitchie form? Ya' know, without being able to use my powers here."

  "Oh! Well, I'm not sure, but I know when Kites are born, their hair is clear. It doesn't get color until their skin touches flora for the first time. That's why I told you to stand on the boulder. I don't know how your cells are going to react. They might go off the first flora you've ever touched in your life, or you might end up with clear hair. Either way, your eyes should end up gray, and you should be able to tangibly feel the energy around you," she said.

  He looked at her like she had lost her mind, "Gray eyes and feeling energy? That's it? There has to be more to it."

  Savannah thought about it. She hadn't been using her Morphling powers long, and each change brought about different sensations. Usually, she focused on what she had gained and not what she was missing. "Color!" she exclaimed.

  "Color?"

  "Yeah! When I change into something else, I don't see the haze around the energy anymore! And I don't feel the humming or vibrations," she said.

  "You see energy? In color?" he asked.

  "Yeah! When we manipulate it, we magnify it, bringing it out for a while. That's why we leave a trail," she said, throwing a ball towards Chrystal, who nabbed it in her mouth, midair.

  "Okay, I guess that makes sense," said Samuel. After growing up a Morphling, he couldn't believe how overwhelmed he was getting over this one change. Being a Kite suddenly sounded very complicated. He realized that every change he had ever made in the past had instinctive power, not voluntary power. He had never changed into anything that could use magic and suddenly wasn't sure if he could pull it off.

  "Oh! Remember to try to base it off my mother and not me," she said.

  "Why? What's wrong with you?" Samuel said, suddenly worried. He was searching his memories to see if he had ever touched her mom. Then he remembered the squirrel incident in the cabin and relaxed.

  "Because she is a full-blood Kite. Not sure what will happen if a Morphling changes into a Kite who is already half Morphling," she said.

  "Good point! Here goes nothing," he said, stepping onto the boulder in the middle of the park. He tried to focus his cells on the contact he had made with Lanie in the past.

  After five minutes of staring at Samuel, unsure of his success, Savannah decided to leave him alone and let him concentrate. Michael trotted over to her with a ball, and she played fetch with him. He was just as sweet and lovable in puppy form. He had changed into a mastiff puppy so that the other two didn't look as large as they were next to him and could be confused as some sort of wolf hybrid. When she saw them change in the park, Savannah finally found out why Harry and Chrystal wore spiked leather belts. They had undone the belts and looped them around their necks before walking into the nearby copse of trees to change. When they came back out, the belts fit perfectly around their Werewolf necks, giving the illusion of a dog collar.

  Samuel felt broken, trying repeatedly to feel the hum of the earth and see a rainbow haze when he opened his eyes. He knew that some piece of information was missing, but he couldn't figure out what. There was always something special that triggered each change.

  "Whoa!" Savannah heard Samuel say. She threw the ball one more time and turned around to a wide-eyed Samuel. His eyes were now gray and, to her satisfaction, his hair was clear. "Don't move!" she ordered him.

  "I don't think I can! I feel like I'm on acid or something. All the colors! And this power is intense!" he said, his voice wavering.

  "What color do you want your hair?" she asked him, gazing around at the local flora.

  "Um...I don't know. I know I don't look good in lime green," he replied. "Maybe blue?" Waves of dizziness washed over Samuel as he desperately tried to stay upright. The input of new information that his brain was getting was overwhelming and unexpected.

  "You've tried the green, huh?" she asked smiling. She turned and looked around for a blue flower for him to touch. She found a beautiful periwinkle-colored flower. Sure that Samuel would look good in that color, she grabbed up the flower. But before she could even turn back around, she heard a funny crash and Samuel's muffled scream.

  Michael had accidentally run into his brother, and knocked him into a nearby gladiola bush!

  By the time Savannah got to him, Samuel's hair had become a dark magenta! Well, so much for the blue. Throwing the flower on the ground, she went to help the brothers up.

  Samuel spent the rest of their time in the park trying to reset the clear hair, so he could start over. He wasn't successful, though now he was confident in his ability to change back and forth between his Kite and Human forms.

  **********

  After dropping Chrystal back at her house, Harry drove the other three back to the apartments. It was almost seven o'clock, and any plan they were going to execute tonight would have to happen soon. They found Eamon and Henry standing in front of the moms, who were sitting on the couch looking very unhappy.

  "We are just trying to protect
them!" Johnna insisted.

  Lanie nodded emphatically. "At least we can agree on that!"

  "You know as well as we do that this is the best way to keep them safe!" Henry said, running his hand through the blond mop on his head. In the last hour, they had gone in circles in this argument, and he felt that they weren't getting anywhere. "Samuel is seventeen now! If you keep hovering over him, he is never going to learn to take care of himself!" he said to Johnna. He loved his wife and hated being put in this position. It was a good thing that he sold a house today and was still running off the positive adrenaline that brought. Otherwise, he would have given into Johnna's argument forty-five minutes ago, out of pure exhaustion. The previous night of worrying about Harry, Savannah, and Eamon, while trying to get a handle on Lanie made for a caffeine-filled day, complete with a venti cappuccino with multiple shots of espresso.

  "It's not like I'm trying to save him from a bully at school," protested Johnna.

  "You wouldn't need to save him from a bully at school! Besides, Lanie and Savannah will be there!" he said, putting his foot down.

  "Um, I haven't signed off on Savannah," Lanie interrupted.

  Savannah stepped forward, hands on hips. "It's not about whether or not I'm going, Momma! It's about whether or not you are going to help me!"

  "You cannot talk to me like that, Young Lady!" Lanie said, standing up.

  "We can deal with how angry you are later, but I'm going!" Savannah said, firmly.

  "Of course you are!" a voice chimed in, filling the room and followed by Thalia's entrance. "It was in my tea leaves," she said, as though it settled any dispute on the matter.

  "Leaves? I'm supposed to listen to your hot water remnants?!" Lanie demanded.

  Thalia stared at the woman with long teal hair. No one had ever discounted her leaves before. "Yes," she said simply, before turning and walking back towards the door. "I will wait by the limo, Eamon. If this is going to work, you all need to be there in ten minutes so that Harry has enough running time and Eamon can eat. One more thing," she said, as she turned to face the group of dumbfounded Supernaturals staring after her. "Be sure to watch out for the red bush!" Then she left.