Twin Sparks

by Katie Low

  Twin Sparks

  The Children of Mythic Reservation

  Katie Low

  Acknowledgements

  This book is an introduction to a new series entitled Mythic Reservation. The genre for the main series will be Romance (ages 18+), however, I wanted to write something to introduce the world and also pay homage to the young-folk in my life. This book (and possibly/eventually others like it) are more appropriate for younger readers. If I publish any others of this nature, they will also be under the series name of The Children of Mythic Reservation.

  Laela, Tyler, Giulz, Gabby, Darren, Blake, Savannah, Evie, Penny and James. I love you guys more than you’ll ever know! You make this world a better place, and being able to watch you grow into the amazing young people that you are gives my life meaning. This book is for you. I hope that you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Liliana and her twin brother Thaddeus Sparks were inquisitive children. One of their favorite things to do, besides getting themselves into trouble, was listening to the town council as they discussed important matters—which also seemed to get them into an impressive amount of trouble.

  Even now, the council was sitting around Uncle Ruarc’s office as the twins took up their favorite position at the air vent that was tucked under the kitchen cabinet. When they were younger, the twins used to try to sneak into their uncle’s office and hide inside, which had gotten them caught every single time. Then, they found the vent.

  Even before they had developed their enhanced senses from being Shapeshifters, the twins could hear just about everything that happened in the next room from this vent. With their superior hearing, they didn’t miss a word.

  Today, the council was discussing a topic that was sure to bring Thad’s mood down fast: the start of school. While Liliana loved being back in school, and learning new things, Thad would rather be at home playing his Nintendo Switch, or running in the woods. School was one of Liliana’s favorite things to do. Aside from getting to be closer to the main streets of town, and closer to the other children her age, this school year was going to be the year that Liliana and Thad would learn which animals they would shift into.

  The twins were lucky in the sense that they knew that they would either shift to a dragon or a griffin. Their father and uncle were dragons and came from a long line of dragon shifters. Their mother was a griffin, who was also born from two griffins. Either way, Liliana would end up in the skies flying above this tiny town that she was bound to live and die in.

  The town that they resided in was call Fabled. Its location was in the western region of Maine, but you would never find it on any map. Uncle Ruarc and the leaders of the four other reservations just like theirs had paid the witches an obscene amount of money—according to him—to put magical barriers around the towns to keep humans from finding them. These barriers not only hid their locations from satellites, but it also cloaked the town from human eyes. If a human were to approach the border, they would feel an overwhelming urge to turn back and go the other way. If they continued to approach, they would become physically ill until they turned back, spewing the contents of their stomachs.

  Liliana had never seen it happen, but she just knew that it would be awesome to witness. In the time that she and Thad had been alive, there had never been a human close enough to their borders to cause any concern. She just hoped that she would get the chance to see it in her lifetime. In her imagination, she saw a man hunched over in the woods, spraying vomit all over the trees as if from a watering hose.

  She covered her mouth with her hand to keep the adults in the next room from hearing her snicker at the thought. As good as her hearing had gotten to be, she knew that her Uncle Ruarc’s was even better, and if she could hear him, he would definitely hear her.

  Thad must have caught her struggle to keep from laughing out loud, because he gave her a swift elbow to the ribs and a glare that was the perfect facsimile of their father’s. At thirteen-years-old—soon to be fourteen—he already looked so much like their dad that Liliana knew that if cameras had been around back when her dad was young, his younger self would be an exact replica to her brother in those photographs. From their tan, golden skin tone, to the dark waves that fell into their face, and the piercing green eyes, there wasn’t a single feature that Thad possessed that he didn’t get from their father. Uncle Ruarc had even started teasing Thad and calling him Baby Faolan. Looking at him now, Liliana felt the overwhelming urge to call him “dad,” just to see if he would laugh or if his glare would intensify as her dad’s would have.

  Faolan had always been what the other residents of Fabled politely call “severe,” which Liliana took to mean that they thought that he was incapable of letting loose and having fun. While that may have been the case in most situations, he was different when it came to his kids. When Thad was playing his video games, their dad could often be heard yelling at the television screen right alongside him. When Liliana had wanted to learn gymnastics, Faolan and a few of her uncles had found everything that they could get from the internet in order to teach her, and then they even found a woman from one of the other Mythic towns who was willing to travel to Maine just so that she could learn. He was the best dad that the twins could ever ask for, even if he was overly serious toward others.

  With his scowl still in place, Thad put a finger to his lips and pointed to the vent. Liliana settled herself and listened just in time to hear her uncle’s deep baritone of a voice.

  “We need more teachers,” he proclaimed. “We have more children starting school this year than we’ve ever had before, not to mention Margaret’s passing over the summer.”

  She knew that her uncle was using the term “passing” to be kind. Miss Margaret had been a siren, and being a siren, she had a need to be around humans. Her dad had told them that sirens not only inspire creativity in humans, but that they also feed from the creative energy that humans give off. One night, the border sentries had found Miss Margaret’s body in the woods between the ski resort and the Fabled border. Dad had never shared with them the state that her body was found in, but when they had heard their uncle tell the rest of the council, Thad’s face had gone white as a sheet, and it had been all Liliana could do not to lose the meager lunch that she had consumed that day.

  Even before losing Miss Margaret, the teachers had been overwhelmed. Without her, there was no way that they would be able to pick up the extra workload. Her uncle was right, they needed more teachers.

  “I have reached out to the other reservations to see if they have any to spare. Storied had just sent several of their residents out to attend University for education. Two of their women just came back and one has agreed to relocate to help us. Lore is also low on teachers, according to Xylander. Chimeric and Legend have also each offered us one of their teachers on the condition that we send a few of our unmated women to their towns in exchange. If any of you know of women in your clans that have expressed a desire for relocation, please have them come see me.”

  After several mumbled agreements, the council—which is made up of the clan leaders for each of the town’s supernatural species,
or Mythics as they called themselves—had begun to disperse. As the twins tried to follow suit and come to their feet, a pair of boots stepped in front of Liliana. Her gaze tracked up the legs in those boots, passed the massive chest with powerful arms crossed over it, to see her Uncle Ruarc’s face with a glare in place that would put both Thad and Dad to shame.

  “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

  Liliana looked her uncle directly in his eyes before answering. “Well, if I get a vote in who gets relocated, my vote would be for Ornery Orla. That crotchety old Elf is always yelling at Thad and me for no good reason.”

  Uncle Ruarc’s cheek twitched before he let out a bark of laughter. “Crotchety, eh? Besides, I wouldn’t call you and Thad uprooting her favorite rose bushes and relocating them ‘no good reason.’”

  “You would if you were to see how crazy she is about those dang flowers. Thad stopped to smell one when we were walking home, and she chased us through the trees with a broom.”

  “Well, I’ll keep your recommendation in mind,” he said, extending his arm to pull Liliana to her feet. “However, I was more so looking for an explanation as to why you were eavesdropping on another one of my council meetings. These meetings discuss things that are not always appropriate for young ears.”

  She knew that fact all too well. The two of them had listened in on a few meetings where the topic that was being discussed was one that had them practically running from the house with their fingers jammed into their ears. Even with those moments, though, the information that they gathered from listening in was worth the discomfort of hearing some of the less savory topics that the council deliberated over.

  “What else would we do while we wait for you and Dad? It’s not like we can go outside and fly around.”

  A warm, gentle finger lifted Liliana’s chin so that her gaze was locked onto her uncle’s. His emerald green eyes bored into hers, seemingly searching the very depths of her soul. She could feel the weight of that gaze, and while others found his “alpha stare” disturbing, to Liliana it felt like a comforting hug.

  “My Liliana,” Uncle Ruarc started. “I know that you’re getting restless, but you don’t have much longer to wait. I can sense that your shift is close.” He dropped his finger from her chin, and his face changed from the soft, loving look to one of stern chastisement. “However, your shift is in no way going to be used as a cop out for this. Your da and I have warned you both before about listening in during these meetings. As punishment, you’ll both be helping me with showing our new teachers around town and also assisting them with anything that they might need during their transition. Understood?”

  Liliana’s jaw dropped and she was about to protest when an elbow was jabbed into her ribs. “We understand, Uncle Ruarc,” Thad answered for the both of them. “Let us know when you need us to be available, and we will be there.”

  Liliana wasn’t stupid. She knew that her uncle was going easy on them. Did that mean that she had to be happy about the punishment? Certainly not.

  Their uncle placed a kiss on Liliana’s forehead and then ruffled Thad’s hair before turning on his heel and retreating to his office.

  “Babysitting duty?” She said to her brother, letting her dismay color her tone.

  Thad just shrugged. “It could have been much worse.”

  After getting caught eavesdropping on the council meeting, the twins decided to lay low for the rest of the evening until their father came home from his shift at the police station. Faolan was the chief of police of their town and often worked obscure shifts.

  Liliana never understood how there was a need for a police station in such a small town, where everyone knew absolutely everything that there was to know about everybody else, but the station kept their dad busy enough. A good portion of the calls their dad received were neighborly disputes that needed his mediation, or sometimes teens breaking into houses for something to pass the time. On occasion, however, he was forced to deal with more extreme cases, which, if you asked Liliana, could probably explain his “severe” attitude.

  The job as the town’s police chief was also beneficial to Faolan in his other role, which was as the second in command of their clan of dragon shifters. Their uncle was the alpha of not only their clan, but he was the leader of the entire town. As such, a lot of work fell onto their dad as his second. He was able to use the police station as a neutral meeting ground for inter-species disputes, and he also managed to work in some of his other duties during his shift at the precinct.

  While both positions kept their dad busy, it wasn’t anything you would ever hear Faolan complain about. He also didn’t let it get in the way of spending time with Liliana and Thad. It was almost as if their dad was determined to make up for the fact that their mother had left them behind by being there as much as possible for them. Some might say that he let it go a little too far, almost to the point of overindulgence, but in actuality, Faolan always held the twins accountable for their actions.

  A perfect example of this, was when he found them in one of the spare bedrooms playing games on their cell phones, after having spoken to his brother in his office.

  “Thaddeus, Liliana,” Faolan started, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the door frame. Immediately, Liliana compared her father’s stern look to her uncle’s. While most people in their clan would agree that no matter how severe he was, Faolan was more approachable than Ruarc. However, it has always been Liliana’s experience that when mad, she had a better chance of getting her uncle to loosen up than her father. As she saw the furious look in her dad’s eyes, she hung her head in shame. “I know that your uncle and I have both yelled at you enough for listening in on council meetings. So, instead of yell again, I’ll just say this: from now on, when your uncle schedules these meetings, you will be staying with someone else if I am working. I’ve even chosen the perfect person for you to stay with. I’ll be calling Orla in the morning to see if she is willing to take you on.”

  Liliana gasped, but rather than voice her objections to her father, she snapped her mouth shut and just nodded in understanding. She knew that if she objected, he would only make their punishment more severe. She just hoped that Orla offered to be one of the women that decided to move to the other reservations instead.

  “In addition,” her father said, holding out his hands to the two of them, “you’ll be handing over those phones for the rest of the evening. You can have them back tomorrow when I leave for work.”

  She slapped her smartphone into his palm, and without saying a word, marched past him, through the house, and right out the front door. Their house wasn’t far, so Liliana decided to walk there by herself. Technically, they were Uncle Ruarc’s closest neighbors, but out here on the edge of the border, the houses were spaced a few acres apart.

  As she made her way home, her enhanced hearing was able to pick up her dad’s truck driving slowly along the gravel road to her right. He and Thad were giving her the space that she needed, while also keeping an eye on her as she strolled through the woods at night.

  Honestly, she couldn’t wait until the start of school. Perhaps with something to do in this town, she wouldn’t keep getting herself, and her brother, into trouble. Uncle Ruarc thought that the reason Liliana was restless was because she hadn’t had her first shift yet. While that was partially to blame, she mostly felt restless because she was afraid. Afraid that she would get to be like Orla if she stayed in this town, or one of the other reservations, forever. Even worse, forever for someone like her was an eternity, and she didn’t mean that in the way that most teens overexaggerated things, she meant it quite literally. Her father and uncle, for instance, were over a millennium in age. Orla was at least twice their age, probably more.

  Since the founding of the reservations a few hundred years ago, Orla has never left Fabled. Liliana had heard rumors that Orla used to be warm, welcoming, even serene. If living here for several hundred years had turned her into the unapproachable shre
w that she was now, then it was Liliana’s goal in life to find a way to live outside of this town, out among the humans.

  At this rate, the only way that she would keep her sanity in this town was if something epic were to happen, and soon.

  Chapter Two

  Liliana and Thaddeus stood outside their dad’s office on Main Street as they waited with their uncle for the new teachers to arrive. Uncle Ruarc had already given each of them their teachers’ names and the locations for their new homes while in Fabled.

  Liliana had been assigned to Ms. Salem, a witch moving from Chimeric—which was in Pennsylvania. Her new cabin actually wasn’t far from their own home, so Liliana was familiar with the place already. It used to be the home of one of Griffin women that her mother had grown up with. Apparently, she had been one of the women who had chosen to relocate. Unfortunately, Orla had not.

  Thad was extremely excited to meet his teacher, Ms. Shields. She was a Valkyrie, a species of warrior women that Fabled didn’t have very many of. Any time the twins had tried to question the Valkyries that they did have in town about the mist that they travel through, they would immediately be dismissed. Most of what they knew about Valkyries was from the generic information provided at school.

  In times of great battles, Valkyries had felt the call to the battlefield, where they were responsible for deciding the outcome, and fighting alongside the chosen victors. In addition, the fallen soldiers that were hand-selected by the Valkyries, were ushered to Valhalla. To get from battle to battle, the Valkyries called upon a mist where a winged horse waited for them to carry them to their destination.

  The two of them had so many questions about this. Could they take someone into the mist with them? Was it always the same horse? Where did the horse go when not in use? What was the purpose of the mist itself? Was it just for cloaking?