My first Christmas in RoCity began with frantic knocking on the door to my room, waking me up at half-past five in the morning. I slowly changed into a white T-Shirt and grey joggers and opened my door. Standing outside was somebody whom I had definitely not expected to see.
‘Come on, man,’ Ethan said excitedly. ‘Everyone’s already in the lobby!’
‘Pardon?’ I murmured slowly, rubbing sleep from my eyes.
‘What do you mean, ‘Pardon’? Everyone’s here, idiot! It’s Christmas!’ he said incredulously.
He grabbed my arm and wrenched me from my room, dragging me down the corridor and into the lift like I was some sort of dog. The two of us showed vastly contrasting moods on the way down. Ethan was trying his hardest not to jump up and down in excitement, whilst I was staring at the wall of the lift, determinedly trying not to fall asleep.
When the lift doors opened, I must have looked horrible, as Jay tried, and failed to stifle a laugh. Asbel pointed to the top of his head, letting me know that my hair was sticking up.
Desperately trying to flatten it, I called over to Jay, ‘And what’s so funny?’
He gave me a mischievous grin. ‘Nothing, why would you suggest such a thing?’
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes and sat down on the carpet with the rest of my friends. Ethan’s, Natasha’s and Jay’s parents had all shown up for the present exchange, and I also noticed Natasha’s sister and Ethan’s sister standing off to the side, watching us.
Ethan’s parents were short. His dad didn’t have much hair on top of his round head and had cheeky blue eyes that complemented his smile. His mom had a skinny face and wore square-framed glasses on her brown eyes, which sported the same colour as her long hair.
Natasha’s parents were polar opposites. Her dad stood at around Robert Hansen’s height and had short, jet-black hair combed to the side. Her mom was short and had flowing brown hair and a motherly smile seemingly permanently etched onto her motherly face.
Jay’s mom was short and blonde, with cold blue eyes that stared at us all. She seemed happy, but it was apparently impossible for her eyes to show positive emotion. His dad, David, was tall and had short, greying black hair and stubble decorating his chin.
Natasha’s sister didn’t look anything like her. She was short and had brown hair, but that’s about as far as the similarities went. She had blue eyes, and her chin was a great deal rounder than Natasha’s. She was watching me as though she didn’t trust me, and I tried my best to look innocent even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Ethan’s sister was just tiny; about our heights. Her face was practically square, and she had somehow found the time to put what looked like an entire kilogram of makeup on her face before arriving. Her blue eyes also watched me untrustingly, so I decided to turn my attention away from her and Natasha’s sister, as I did not want to make a bad impression.
‘Who’s gonna start?’ Jay asked excitedly.
‘Dammit!’ I said loudly and everyone stared at me. I noticed that everybody had brought gifts with them, obviously to give them out. I had left Maltor’s and Quinn’s gifts in my room. And I did not have anything for everybody else. ‘I left the gifts in my room!’
Once I had darted up to my room and grabbed the gifts for Maltor and Quinn, I realised that I now had to walk back down to the lobby carrying two gifts. When there were six other people there.
After exiting the lift and rejoining the group, I sat in an awkward silence whilst everybody exchanged gifts. After a while, I was the only person that had not given nor received any gifts. Ethan slowly pushed over a box wrapped in red and gestured for me to open it.
I looked at him and hesitantly picked up the box, slowly peeled back the wrapper. Inside was a cardboard box, upon opening it my heart sank. Not because it was a bad gift, but because it was the exact opposite. There was a book in there for every magical lesson. The titles ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts for Beginning Wizards and Witches’, ‘Potions for Pupils: Volume 1’, and ‘Charms for the Year 7s’ stared up at me, glistening. I started at Ethan in complete disbelief.
‘I- You didn’t have to- I- This is-’ I stammered awkwardly, quickly staring at the floor. ‘Thank you.’
‘Did you just say we didn’t have to?’ Ethan’s dad said, laughing. ‘Of course, we did! Ethan won’t shut up about-’
‘Dad!’ Ethan screamed angrily. ‘Just let him be awkward!’
‘Thanks,’ I said, smirking.
Jay then stood up, walked over to a spot about eight feet away from me, and hurled another box at me as hard as he could. Clearly, whatever my gift from his was, it was not delicate. My hand shot up and snatched the box out of the air effortlessly. It definitely felt light. The box was only small, just about larger than my hand.
‘I paid for this with my own hard-earned money!’ Jay said, in mock outrage.
I hastily unwrapped the present and opened the black box inside. And instantly began laughing. It was a comb.
‘Your hair is always messy after you fly,’ Jay said, grinning. ‘I thought that’d help.’
I showed everybody else what Jay had given me, and everybody began a chorus of laughter. Asbel and Quinn were clutching each other and their stomachs, tears of laughter streaming down their faces, and Maltor’s face was beet red whilst he let out a noise resemblant to a dying horse.
Asbel and Natasha then gave me gifts, too. Asbel got me three little balls. There were small; I could easily fit all three of them in the palm of my hand.
‘Be careful with them,’ Asbel said, sounding panicked. ‘I made them myself.’
‘What are they?’ I asked, staring at them in amazement.
‘Think of them as smoke bombs,’ Asbel explained. ‘If you throw them at something hard enough, or crack or slice them, then they’ll pour smoke into the surrounding area. Not smoke that’ll make you cough, but smoke that’ll allow you to slip by.’
I stared at him, my mouth wide.
‘Smoke bombs?’ Jay and I exclaimed at the same time.
‘I want some!’ Jay continued.
Asbel became flushed. ‘I- I can try and hook you up with some. But I thought Albert might need them.’
I felt like hugging him. ‘You made these?’
He nodded.
‘You’re a genius, man,’ I said, beaming at him.
He blushed even more furiously.
‘Well,’ Natasha said slowly, ‘I don’t think I can up that.’
She gently pushed a box wrapped in blue and white towards me, and I took it thankfully and peeled away at the wrapping paper, and opened the cardboard box. Inside was a wand kit. It had different paint colours, special wipes, instructions on how to properly fix a wand depending on what had happened to it, and somehow even more.
The two of us smiled at each other wordlessly. Then I, unfortunately, realised that it was my turn to give out the presents that I had brought.
‘Sorry,’ I murmured. ‘I didn’t think you’d all come. I only got presents for Maltor and Quinn.’
My words hung in the air and Natasha giggled. Asbel and Jay tried to stifle laughs and Ethan looked away, and I heard him choking back laughter. My stomach dropped.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Ethan said. ‘We didn’t want anything anyway.’
‘Yeah,’ Natasha added. ‘Notice how we said we didn’t mind if you got us something whenever you asked?’
‘What?’ Maltor and I said, slightly leaning away as though our friends were the mutants in this situation.
‘It’s fine,’ Natasha repeated. ‘We really don’t mind.’
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I felt awkward the entire time after that. Maltor, Quinn, and I quietly exchanged gifts. Quinn had gotten me a card and a bird grooming kit. I wasn’t sure how serious he was with the grooming kit, but Maltor and I began uncontrollably wheezing.
Maltor had brought me a few sets of clothes, and all of the T-Shirts had holes in the back. I grinned at him. It may have seemed like a small gift to everybody else, but it meant so much to me. He had just saved me about half an hour of cutting out the holes myself. The funniest thing? I had gotten him the exact same thing. The two of us smirked at each other whilst I handed Quinn his present: a box of chocolate (his specific request). Personally, I would have racked my brain to try and come up with the best present out there, but Quinn had specifically asked for chocolate.
But then we were hit by something that nobody had expected. Natasha’s dad began to speak.
‘Natasha, can we tell you something?’
She nodded slowly. ‘In front of everyone?’
‘I think that would be best,’ he said soothingly.
Everyone leaned forward slightly, truly intrigued.
‘I’m sorry that we kept it from you for so long,’ he continued, ‘but with all of your friends getting Claimed we thought that now would be the best time.’
My heart stopped momentarily. It had been a few days since Jay’s Claiming, and nobody had expected another one so soon. And was it possible to be Claimed by your human parents? If that’s what was happening.
‘I, Natasha, am a son of Aphrodite.’
‘What?’ she said instantly. ‘What do you-’
‘Uh, Natasha,’ Asbel said slowly. ‘What’s-’
A translucent rose formed above Natasha’s head, exactly as it had above Maltor’s. Next to this rose, also like Maltor’s Claiming, was a ‘II’. Two generations. Natasha and Maltor were grandchildren of Aphrodite. Unlike Maltor’s Claiming, however, Natasha’s clothing began to change. Her white T-Shirt and jeans were replaced by a beautiful flowing white toga with a golden band going from her left shoulder down to the right side of her waist and then up her back. Her hair, which had been straight but slightly messy, also changed. Subtle curls appeared within it, and it appeared to shine even more than before. Her boots were replaced by golden sandals and light makeup appeared on her face, finishing the masterpiece.
My jaw dropped. I’d never looked at Natasha this way before. Sure, she’d always been kinda cute, but now, now she was just stunning. Asbel evidently felt the same way, as his jaw had dropped completely and his face was crimson. Maltor elbowed me and whispered. ‘You’re blushing.’
‘No, I’m not!’ I whispered angrily.
Natasha looked down at her new attire and you could see her blushing even through her makeup. She looked at the rest of us, clearly embarrassed.
‘Well, uh,’ Ethan began awkwardly, ‘happy Claiming?’
The rest of us smirked.
‘That’ll only last a few hours, darling,’ Natasha’s mom said. ‘Your dad got something similar.’
‘But without the makeup!’ he argued back instantly.
‘You look great,’ her mom continued.
‘How come you didn’t tell me sooner?’ Natasha asked quietly.
‘Well,’ her dad said very slowly, ‘even though you and your siblings are both magical and grandchildren of Aphrodite, we didn’t want to ruin your childhoods by introducing you to those worlds whilst people like Wright are on the loose.’
‘Your sister and brother did get Claimed,’ her mom added. ‘We told them when that happened, but didn’t bring them here or send them to Apercaput because of, well, Amy.’
That made perfect sense.
‘And they didn’t use magic in the home for the same reason,’ Natasha’s sister called over from the side of the room before quickly adding, ‘And there’s nothing wrong with that!’
It did seem a bit dodgy, but it did make sense. I suddenly began to miss Rob, who had been my shelter from this world. He had kept me safe, unknowingly hidden me from Death. The whole thought process began to make me feel quite emotional, especially when I thought about how this would be Rob’s first Christmas alone in four years.
‘Stop staring, man,’ Maltor murmured, causing me to self-consciously stare at the floor.
It’s safe to say that the general mood for the rest of that Christmas day was very high. Natasha’s clothes returned to normal around five o’clock that evening. We had all agreed to a large Christmas dinner at around seven, and whilst I was getting ready, Grandad knocked on the door of my room. Before I had even answered, he called, ‘Meet me on the roof in five minutes, please, Albert.’
Damn. I had just been in the middle of putting on my finest clothes. A white T-Shirt and grey joggers. However, after a brief moment of wondering what it was that I would discover this time, I exited my room and headed up to the roof. Grandad was stood there, as he usually was, but this time he had a backpack.
‘You ok, Grandad?’ I asked, even though he didn’t appear emotional, or anything of the sort. If anything, he looked very excited.
‘Me?’ he said, smiling down at me. ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
‘How come you brought me here?’ I asked quickly, picking up on Grandad’s excitement.
‘Because I have to give you two – no, three - things,’ he said, his eyes unmoving.
Snow began to lightly fall again, and it landed gracefully in Grandad’s greying hair. I noticed for the first time that Grandad had less hair than he did when he had saved me and my friends from Amy over a month ago. So much had happened in that time that I had glossed it over.
‘O-Okay?’ I said, slowly and suspiciously. He hadn’t given me a present in the lobby that morning, so I had half-expected him to pull something like this, but it still felt off. Like he didn’t have to get me something. Well, three things.
‘I lied to you, Albert,’ he said quickly, as though he was forcing it out.
‘H-Huh?’ I breathed.
I felt numb. What did he mean? How did he lie to me? Was this one of the three things that he was giving me? If this was some ploy or joke, he had certainly gotten me invested in the conversation.
‘I lied,’ he repeated. ‘And for that, I’m sorry.’
‘Lied about what?’ I asked instantly. ‘You wouldn’t lie, right? Not about something big, anyway, right?’
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ he said, a strange, mystical look coating his face. ‘I lied about one of the biggest things that has to have been on your mind since you found out: your cousins. Or more accurately: your cousin.’
‘Pardon?’ I said, unintentionally whispering. ‘You- you what?’
All of that anger that I had directed at Amy the day I had been Claimed, was that all false? Did I have no reason to be angry? Did he tell me that she murdered my cousins so I had that extra oomph to kill her? And now he was being crushed by the guilt of lying to his grandson? Did he just tell me that so I could quickly kill Amy whilst I was blinded by rage so that he could pick up the pieces and be celebrated as the hero Prime Minister that had ended the war?
‘Harvey,’ he said, pausing briefly. ‘He’s nine months younger than you are. He was the youngest son of my other daughter. He’s alive.’
‘What?’ I said, trying to not sound angry. ‘What about Kane? Leah?’
‘Yes, Kane and Leah are dead, and that is no lie,’ he assured me. ‘But Harvey…when Amy broke into his house, Harvey was taken by his father, who fled the scene. He didn’t save his wife or eldest son, just Harvey.’
‘P-Pardon?’ I breathed incredulously. ‘Harvey? He’s...alive? W-What do you mean?’
Grandad chuckled softly. ‘Well, what do you think I mean?’
I stared at him, at a complete loss for words. ‘So…one of my cousins…is still alive?’
‘Exactly, and I am truly sorry that I hid it,’ Grandad murmured.
‘Yeah, why did you?’ I asked, knowing that this would throw him.
‘I understood that you were in a delicate position a month ago,’ he mumbled sheepishly. ‘I didn’t want you doing something like flying out to find him.’
‘Fair enough,’ I said, nodding slightly. If I were him I wouldn’t have trusted me with that information either.
‘He goes to Apercaput, and no you don’t get to know where that is,’ he said, adding the last part on quite quickly.
I scowled at him half-jokingly. My head was throbbing. Harvey was alive. My cousin. Sure, two of them were dead, but one of them still lived.
‘Once this is all over, I’ll take you to get him and he can live here if he wants,’ Grandad said, smiling.
He was alive. My cousin. There were so many conflicting thoughts running around in my head that I did not know which one to concentrate on first. I had to find Harvey, even if Grandad- no. I couldn’t think like that. I had priorities. First I kill Amy, then I could seek out the remnants of my family.
‘Anyway, moving onto what I actually wanted to give you,’ Grandad continued hastily. ‘Your Christmas gifts.’
‘Gifts?’ I said, staring at him as he took off his backpack and crouched down to take something out of it.
When he finally stood up, he was holding a leather tool belt with five pockets: two on either side and one at the front. It was brown in colour and had a strange feel to it. It felt safe. Somehow.
‘A magical tool belt,’ Grandad explained softly. ‘All of the pockets have an Undetectable Extension Charm, just like your school bag.’
I noticed that attached to the right side of the tool belt, in front of the two pockets, there was a sheath, and on top of this sheath was a smaller, more cylindric hole, the perfect size for a wand. On the left side, also in front of the other two pockets, was another sheath. I could carry two swords at once.
‘That’s wicked!’ I exclaimed before mentally cursing myself for not coming up with a better way of expressing my thanks.
Grandad passed me the belt and I put it around my waist. After some adjusting, it fit rather snugly around my body. I tested out the pockets and managed to fit my entire forearm into one of them before feeling as though my ribs were going to give way. It was the greatest Christmas present yet.
‘And the other one,’ Grandad said after a quick conversation about how the belt worked (apparently once I put something in one of the side pockets it became weightless until I took it back out), ‘is a treasured family heirloom.’
‘I can’t take it,’ I said instantly. ‘Not something that valuable.’
‘Just listen, please, Albert.’ Grandad asked politely. ‘It was made by the original founder of RoCity, who is, of course, our ancestor. It’s usually passed down to whoever becomes Prime Minister, but I prefer wands, anyway, so I thought that it’d be best to give it to you.’
He then crouched down next to his bag again and when he pulled out this gift I felt my spirits soar. A sword with a metre-long golden blade glistened beautifully at me. It had two blue lines running along the edge and stopping just before the tip. The grip was made from brown leather that fitted in perfectly with the blade itself. It had initials engraved on either side of the crossguard, which was also a golden colour: AS.
‘The Santrrer Sword,’ Grandad explained. ‘Made from Celestial Bronze. Often regarded as the most powerful sword ever crafted. And I want you to have it.’
‘I- I can’t take something that important,’ I murmured, panicked. ‘I’m not even Prime Minister.’
‘But you will be soon,’ Grandad said, smiling.
‘No, I won’t be!’ I yelled angrily. ‘Stop talking about yourself like you’re going to die tomorrow!’
He gently pushed the sword into my hands before gesturing for me to put it in my belt. I did so. It didn’t feel like it was putting pressure on me to carry it or anything. I spent a few moments unsheathing and re-sheathing my sword. It seemed to fit my hand perfectly, like a jigsaw piece. It didn’t feel either too heavy or too light to hold. It was perfect for me, and I was perfect for it.
‘Feels perfect, right?’ Grandad said encouragingly. ‘Amazing how he did that in the 1700s. Just put that sword to good use, yeah, son?’
I nodded. ‘This is great.’
The two of us hugged tightly as I thanked him again multiple times. In the span of five minutes my life had taken such a turn that I felt dizzy. It felt like there was no ground beneath my feet. But now I had a cool sword and belt, both of which would undoubtedly come in handy in future battles.
The scariest thing was that I did not realise just how quickly the next ‘future battle’ would arrive.