Val managed to get to where I had collapsed quicker than I had expected, and I knew it was her because the creature standing before me looked exactly like her. The extra shade of pale and the vampire fangs hadn’t vanished since I left her, so she had to be a vampire! I pointed at her and giggled a little bit; how did I NOT catch that?

Val halted a few feet from me and frowned, “What exactly are you laughing at?”

“You’re a vampire! I should have known!” I chuckled, nearly hysterical.

Val looked confused for a moment and then the light of understanding dawned on her. She put a hand over her face and sighed. Then she took a few seconds to regain her composure before looking at me again.

“So you’ve awakened your sleeping talents. That’s great… now I have to actually go through with the protocol Mistress Black had me memorize. C’mon, Lauren, let’s get you to the café and get some food in you.” She lifted me with very little effort and more or less carried me to the café without making it look like she was supporting me.

We got a table near the balcony, just far enough away from anyone to hear us. Val dropped me in a chair and walked off to one of the smaller restaurants and came back moments later with two plates of… was that curry? It was! Talk about score!

As Val set everything down and took the chair across from me, she looked me in the eyes. Her now pitch black orbs searching my own blue ones for… I don’t know what. Recognition? Understanding? Some point to start explaining the weird?

“I bet you’ve got a lot of questions. And I’m not necessarily the best person to answer them if we’re being honest. But Mistress Black gave me some answers and some exercises to go through with you… should this ever happen.” She took a breath and ripped up some naan bread before continuing.

“Your… what did she call it? Perspicacity, that’s it. Your perspicacity was triggered, probably by some strong emotional trigger last night but didn’t fully kick in until earlier today. You might have had smaller episodes of it since touching down here at Avalon. Maybe some vivid dreams?” She met my eyes again, looking for confirmation.

“Yeah… scary dreams, the kind that stick with you for days. How did you know?” I affirmed.

“When a human, demi or otherwise, first starts developing the talent to push through a glamour they see things in brief instances that translate through the subconscious into dreams. Happened to me, I think it happened to Kryssia, and I figured it happened to you. Strigoica, like me, started out as humans… until we are turned, so this puts me closer to you than most of these other girls.” She explained further.

I nodded vigorously as I gnawed at my curry and rice.

“If you focus on the idea of the ‘human world’ where there are no demihumes, you’ll stop seeing things. Generally speaking, if you focus on it at the beginning of the day for an hour, you’ll not notice the sloppy details through the rest of your day. No more monsters, no more weirdness, just regular people. That should take care of any issues in your day to day life.” She said, taking a moment to take a few bites.

“So… Fianna said only certain creatures can see through a glamour. If I can, and you can, do you know what other creatures can?” I asked, my mind starting to piece things together.

“Well, strigoica use the powers of the creature possessing them. Sidhe trigger the skill with peak emotions, like a… no, you didn’t! You dog! You kissed Fianna last night?” A look of incredulity washed over her face.

I blushed violently at her accusation. So much for keeping it to myself.

“Holy crap. That’s a lot to process. Did you go in for it, or did she… did she make a move on you?” Val tried to prod more information out, watching my face react to her words. It seemed like we had gotten completely off topic now, which was great for a bonding session, but not for learning brand new magical powers you didn’t know you had.

“Can we… get back to the whole ‘control your powers’ thing?” I asked as I tried to gather my emotions and dispel my embarrassment.

“Oh, right, yeah. The list includes sidhe, strigoica, born lycanthropes, demons, ghosts, and a few other obscure races you may run into. Next question.”

“What’s the difference between a strigoica and a vampire?” I asked, butchering the pronunciation of the new word.

Val thought for a moment, tapping her spoon on her lower lip. “I guess there’s a fair bit that does,” She began, “the key thing is that strigoica don’t drink blood. We are originally mortal girls who, through some means or another, become possessed by a demonic entity. We gain a slew of preternatural abilities and some even develop a nasty set of serrated teeth. Think shark teeth in a human body. Mostly people would claim our kind to be evil, and to an extent, they’re right. The powers we get cause a majority to follow the call of witchcraft, and some eat children, but there’s the occasional one that is more… well behaved? Yeah, well behaved.”

I took a moment to digest the steaming pile of new data being dumped on my lap.

“So then, if you’re a strigoica… what is Krys?” I asked, puzzling things together left a few questions based on her history.

“Oh, that’s simple, Kryssia is Vâlve Albe. They’re good and helpful spirits often found in mines or walking hilltops in the night. Kryssia’s family is a group of Vâlva who live in mines that protect people from natural gas leaks and help the poor people find rare metals they can sell to buy a day’s meal. They took me in the night I became a strigoica.” She added the last part almost as if it were an afterthought.

“Ok. Well that clears up some things. Oh, that brings up another question! If glamours are real, does that mean other magic exists?” I was kind of surprised I hadn’t thought of that question earlier.

“Yes. In fact, magic is present in your daily life even if you don’t see it. Magic stems from several fonts, but in the mundane world you’ll notice it very subtly. Baby’s laughing for the first time, romantic evenings where it feels just right, the electric feeling under your skin when you’re certain something is wrong, that’s all magic working in your favour.” Val confirmed, popping another mound of curry in her maw.

“So if magic exist, so must people who can manipulate magic?” I asked, hoping the world worked as sensibly as I needed it to.

“Mages exist, yes. They attend one of the eighteen schools of magic in the world. The closest one to us is Avalon’s brother school Crystal Cave Conservatory. It’s about as big as Avalon, and it runs high school and college classes, but the location is literally in a cave that’s a giant geode.” Val nodded as she explained.

“Wow. That’s really cool. So, last question! There’s supposed to be three other girls here who don’t know any of this. Why?” I asked, tilting my head to the right a bit.

“Simple. Since all the other girls are demihumes, Mistress Black implemented a way to… keep racism to a minimum. Most creatures of myth operate on a pecking order in their own culture and look down on other cultures as being inferior. Take Kryssia and that buzzing bitch Khani for an example. Khani was raised to be the queen bee in her own lands, and Kryssia’s kind are seen as inferior to them since they’re not worshiped the same.” Val detailed as best she could the explanation, and then she finished her plate of food… a peculiarity in and of itself.

I mulled over everything I had been told; three humans to keep the monsters in check. You never know who is or isn’t a creature, so you play pretend human to prevent problems.

I was about to say something when I saw a blur of color in the corner of my vision headed right for us. I turned around and then-

*BAM*

Val took a small being to the midsection. Turning back to check on her I saw Kryssia!

“You left me to DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!” Krys wailed, her arms locked around Val’s waist.

“No I did not you little troll. I went to rescue Lauren, who was about to tell us the details of her evening after the ball.” Val said, calming Krys’ mood and getting across her point. So much for being off the hook.

“Ok, ok. I’ll tell, but this stays between us. Am I clear?” I looked to Val, who was righting herself, and then to Krys, who was still hanging upon Val’s midriff.

They both smiled and nodded, sitting themselves in chairs right next to one another and looking at me like hyenas circling wounded prey.

“So… you were there until…” I started to recap.

                                                     ♥♥♥♥

Hours later Val and I headed back to our room. I was bushed, and Val was glad for any excuse to get back to her bed and pass out, so we said our goodbyes to Krys. I also made sure to send a quick message to Shuri, apologizing profusely for my behaviour. I must have looked like a total spaz today.

When I sat down on my bed, I realized I still had my rucksack on my back. I didn’t even realize I had grabbed it when Shuri and I walked to Fianna’s office. I wonder… I thought as I began to rummage about for my sketchpad. I fished it out and flipped to the page I had drawn earlier. I gasped when I gazed at the page; outlined in the colors of autumn sunset was Shuri, half human and half lizardfolk. Patches of skin were scale, her face looked reptilian but not quite full lizard yet. The whole thing was horrific and beautiful.

I didn’t know what else to do just then, and I wasn’t ready to sleep yet, so I headed over to my PC and powered it up. Opening the mailer I started an email to my dad.

Hey dad,

I found something today that brought up some questions about mom. And maybe a little about you too.

There was a picture of mom when she was going here, I’ll see if I can’t get a copy sent off in my next email. It made me wonder about some of the secrets you have been hiding. Are you really my dad? Like my biological dad, I mean.

I know it sounds weird and all, but I need to know. Mom had a reputation for some things that have brought this question to a sharp focus in my head. I don’t care one way or the other, you’ll always be my dad, but I need to know.

Beyond that, how’s Emrys doing? I got an email from him, but it didn’t say much.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. I’ve got a girlfriend now. She’s really cute, and she’s older than me, and I think you’d approve.

Thanks dad,

Lauren

I sent it off moments later, pondering what kind of response I’d get. I’d likely have a response when I woke up, so I should try to get some sleep. But I couldn’t sleep, I had too much to think about to sleep. So when sunrise came, I was up with it. Not because I wanted to, but because I had no choice.

I spent a few hours doing homework and doing some independent study on the creatures of mythology I knew the names of. It was a decent list, what with an extensive amount of pop culture references to go off of, so it killed a bit of time. I must look a mess right now, I thought when I checked the clock and saw it was about eleven in the morning.

It was a little after noon when I got a ping from my email box. Dad had replied.

Princess,

I don’t know what was said that made you doubt it, but you and Emrys are both my flesh and blood children. Your mom and I were together for six years before we had you, and then we had Emrys a year later. You know that.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that your special gifts have begun to emerge. If they’re like your mother’s, you should be fine where you are. She said that the school she went to kept her in check as best it could, and she never had a problem after she left.

On the other hand, if they’re like mine… you should speak to the person in charge. Get yourself to one of the specialized schools, you can’t let those powers run rampant. Your grandfather was always harping on “control and discipline make a magus old and wise” if we questioned the methods the schools used.

Emrys is… he’s going through some growing pains. He’s coming into his own gifts at an alarming rate. He accidentally blew up Mr. Mackintyr’s backyard while clipping the lawn. Luckily, nobody was hurt and nobody saw what had happened. We’ve been in contact with Crystal Cave Conservatory, and he’ll be starting next year as a freshman. In the mean time, I have him doing some exercises your grandfather had me do when I was learning.

I’m glad you found someone, sweetheart. I hope she measures up to the kind of woman you deserve. Nothing but the best for you Sidhe women. And you better not be playing under the bedsheets with her, you know my rule about doing the deed before you’ve got a ring on your finger.

Send me an email with your winter break schedule if you can, I’d like to see you back home. Or maybe visit you over there. Whichever works.

Love you baby girl,

Dad

I felt my cheeks flush a little when I got to the part about “doing the deed,” but it was more a secondary thing. Did dad just tell me he’s a mage? We come from a line of mages? Emrys is a mage? When was I going to get this update?

I shot off a short reply that might have been a bit more indignant than necessary, but I felt justified since he dropped this huge bombshell on me with no preamble. At the same time, I felt… better. I had answers enough to talk again to Fianna, but not enough to make sense of my predicament.

I was hit with a massive wave of exhaustion, enough to almost fall asleep in my chair. So I moved myself into my bed, not even managing to get the covers on before I slipped into a dreamless land of peace.