“Oi, get up squirt!” Karen tugged a pillow out of her brothers grasp and bashed him with it, “Rise and shine!”
“Wha- what? It’s saturday- sa-tur-day! What is wrong with you?!” Ollie groaned, and she dodged his other pillow easily.
“Family Meeting. Pa got some big letter,” She sat on the bed and dropped her voice, “But keep your mouth shut- if it’s about skiving school I’ll figure something out. Just act innocent.”
He eyed her blearily, but plodded downstairs while Karen focussed on keeping her breathing steady. Don’t show weakness. It didn’t make sense for school to punish truancy on a week when so many were missing, but her parents were a different matter. The fact that they were side by side on the sofa in fully family meeting mode boded poorly.
“Mornin’ early birds.” Pa muttered gruffly, glancing up from the dense letter he held, then flicked his eyes back down. He frowned.
“There’s been some news.” Mom prompted.
“Oh?” Karen perched on the armchair, wary.
“Yes. You see. Hmm.” Pa rubbed his moustache. Karen swallowed. Her father was hesitating? How bad was this? Grounded for weeks? Should she just confess? No, she couldn’t let anything about Maddie slip.
“Read that first.” His four fingered hand proffered the envelope and sheet of crisp white paper, and Ollie snatched it.
“Hey- give it! I was up first!” Karen grabbed him in turn, wrestling the boy into a position where she could read it too. It didn’t have a school stamp- instead, the letters OAR merged in a vague federal seal.
To Ranelk Homeowner
According to the new Anomalous Entities Act, with the vote of the Idaho National Board and the Office of Anomalous Research, the Town of Ranelk has been granted the status of Anomalous Settlement Area.
In accordance with the Anomalous Entities Act, as of September 21st, economic grants and potential domiciles will be afforded to non-human entities moving within Ranelk Anomalous Settlement Area.
These entities shall be registered at the Area from October 2nd onwards, and also at Ranelk Municipal Centre. These entities are non-human specimens whose sapience shall be graded on the Everick Sapience Scale between Rank 5 and 8.
These entities have previously coexisted with humans and are fully competent in modern culture, however did so without full registration. The registration and knowledge of their true identities and anomalous non-human nature will improve relations with previously secretive sections of the population. The Anomalous Settlement Areas are designed to reinvigorate dwindling populations and shift non-humans away from difficult urban environments.
Please proceed with caution and patience in the coming days. During this time, school classes shall be suspended for a week, to resume on Monday the 11th October. A presentation and Q&A session shall be delivered on October 3rd at 1300 at the Ranelk Municipal Centre t-
“Yeees! School’s closed for a full week!” Karen cheered, relaxing her grip, while Ollie seized the chance to slip free. “Can I have a house key?”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed, “Karen. Should that really be your first priority?”
“Uh. And magic’s real?”
“Magic? This just mentions animalus… anomelus stuff?” Ollie pondered, dark brow furrowed.
“Ah.” Pa nodded slowly, “You heard already. That’s what you were askin’ ‘bout on wednesday kiddo?”
“Yeah,” She admitted, “A new kid was talking about this stuff. Though not in as many words.”
“It doesn’t say magic though!” Ollie whined.
“They don’ wanna cause panic. Anomalous means strange, inexplicable. It’s fancy talk to avoid assumptions. But magic, monsters, myths, some of it’s real.” Pa explained, then gave a low chuckle. “Yeah. I know I said the opposite, kiddo. Not too big a man to admit when I’m wrong, that’d be more foolish, eh?”
Karen closed her mouth, “Yeah. But Logan said they don’t like being called monsters, said they’re called mystics cos of myths? Like they wouldn’t have been secret if they were all roaring monsters.”
“Yeah, there’s a good deal more ramblin’ about them bein’ people,” He nodded towards the other dozen pages, flyers and pamphlets, “Thing is, people aren’t automatically good. Just like humans, all of these mo- uh, mystics are going to have a fair share of bad eggs.”
“So we need you both to be careful.” Mom stood, and drew close, taking hers and Ollie’s hands in a coarse strong grip. “If you see anything strange, anything odd, just turn back around. Noone can blame you for being cautious- slow, steady and safe is always best.”
Karen gritted her teeth. They didn’t understand. Everyone she’d met at the camp had been weird, but nice. She’d been appreciated. But… admitting any more would be admitting to skiving so she exhaled and nodded obediently.
“Alright, I’ll be careful, I promise.”
* * * * * *
Karen carefully walked through the woods towards a mages lair in search of a flying potion. She did keep her eyes and ears open for traffic, and dragons, so technically she was keeping her promise. Technically.
She successfully spotted the green dragon on the porch of the log cabin- and chuckled at the sight of two gangly legs sticking out of under it.
“You alright under there Logan?” Karen called from a cautious distance, “Where’s red and blue?”
“Morning, just peachy,” He grunted, “They’re off helping Matt shop, while Nessie helps me. Any word on Maddie?”
“Yeah, she’s on her way.” She paced around, until she could see him blearily beneath an emerald wind. “Uh, are the dragons… dragons in town? We all got a warning letter about the camp, but they’re pretty scary.”
The hatchling flicked an eye open and loosed a long reptilian gurgling growl.
“Yeah, you’re the scariest Nessie- but the others are veiled. You remember Karen?” Logan sighed, “Well she’s a friend from school. Yeah, the jumpy girl, she just looks more innocent with her hair down.”
“You’re one to talk, Alan Rickman.” She tutted, bent low, and peered down to spy a large syringe in his hands, drawing crimson from the drake. “Oh- no is she sick?”
“Nope. Dragon blood’s like… a magical catalyst. Helps with potions. Including your special order.”
“Ooooh,” Karen knelt, producing her hair tie with a smirk, “Are you sure you’re not a vampire? Shapeshifting, blood taking, long hair?”
“Pretty certain- oi,” He tensed but didn’t dare drop the syringe as she pulled his black hair neatly into a knot, fixing it in place. “What the hell? Hey!”
“It’s an experiment. Might improve your peripheral vision- doesn’t he look better Nessy?” She giggled, eying the result. He looked more drawn than she’d realised, slight bags under his eyes, a scar near his temple.
“I experiment plenty. Just not with fashion,” He scoffed, and pulled the syringe free, wiping the tiny wound. Nessie scuttled off and stretched, growling as the yellow eyes took him in.
“See, she agrees.”
“Nessie doesn’t know anything about hair. She’s a reptile.” He stood,and moved to carry the blood into the hut, the dragon skittering around him with a cavalcade of draconic snarling, “No, you don’t do anything to your veiled hair….. No you don’t…. I’ve never seen you touch shampoo…. because!”
“You tell him Nessie.”
“Aw, no. No way- that crosses a line.” Logan retorted, storming around the kitchen, before returning with a bag, a steak, and a fistful of small cards that he shoved in her face. “Look- is this fashionable? That’s her opinion on hair!”
The plastic cards were an ID of sorts, stamped with that OAR crest, listing name- Vanessa- her class C, apparent date of birth, and a pair of pictures. One showed the green wyrmling snarling fiercely, the other was a sulking freckly girl, with ginger hair wild as a thundercloud.
“What’s he on about?” Karen flattered the drake from a safe distance, “Human Nessie’s real cool- looks like Boudicca. Know her? Big warrior queen that wrecked the Romans, real badass.”
The dragon glanced at her, clicked her jaws, then lunged into the air, wings flapping desperately as she snatched the steak Logan threw, landed roughly, and set to tearing it apart.
A gasp at the display announced Maddie’s arrival, dressed warmly with fluffy boots, her blonde hair wild and silvery in the sunlight, “Oh wow, she’ll be flying in no time. And so will you I guess, hey Karen!”
“Heeeeeey stranger, how was two days in prison?”
“Super boring compared to yours.” The girl gave a quick hug, before shooting a cautious glance around, “Where are the other two? Little Shen’s adorable.”
“Disguised in town. They’ve got ID cards and everything,” Karen held up the cards and shuffled them, slightly troubled to note that all three had a field declaring Danger: C. “Is everyone getting these?”
“All mystics are meant to be registered, yeah. It’s a bit heavy handed, but from what Daddy says these OAR guys have no idea what they’re doing. Conspiracy theorists and FBI guys trying to deal with all the magic in the country.” She grimaced, “But Daddy’s trying to make things smooth here.”
“Well, Karen’s actually been helping with that,” Logan emerged from the door with another heavy old backpack, “And in recognition of your hard work, and because I want to try flying too, I shall grant your wish. Just further into the woods so we don’t have Snap, Crackle and Pop trying to catch us.”
“Oh, new hair Logan. Looks sharp.” Maddie waved, “Have you managed to settle in?”
“Uh, thanks. Still got tons and tons of Matt’s Seattle boxes, I think we’re liveable though.” He blushed and turned to lock the door, before shouting instructions to Nessie and leading them off through the trees.
“I still can’t entirely believe you can understand dragons,” Karen muttered as she followed, “Did you have to go through classes? Red translating?”
“Uh, no, no, that would have been less painful though. I used a spell to read their mind once, took hours and… Hex is still pretty bitter about the experience. Uncle’s better at it, he’s more fluent than I am,” He explained, and noted a small frown on her face, “Don’t worry, I’m not telepathic, it takes a long time to manage any mind reading.”
“So you’re not just a one trick pony,” Maddie wondered, “What other tricks are up those sleeves, great magician?”
“Well Veil itself is pretty diverse- walk, fly, swim, if it follows physics, I can do it. Anda pretty mean sleeping potion. Really useful with how manic this house is.”
The clearing wasn’t far off, a small meadow in the trees cleared for picnics or bonfires by adventurous campers in years past. Logan set about pulling bags and blankets from his pack, while Karen paced around, a fierce excitement on her face.
“Ready to fly?” She whispered to Maddie, “I’m so psyched, I’ve been up since like six.”
“Of course you have,” Maddie looked aside, “But probably not for me. Can’t have two veils at once, the results are apparently… messy.”
“Oh. Well, we can wait a bit longer for it to wear off?” Karen offered, noticing her tense look, “Oh, you’ve have to deal with the pain another four times, right?”
“Yeah,” A gentle nod. “I’m not into that much change in a day. Sorry, it’s jus-”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t like pain. No apology needed,” Karen pressed her phone into her hands, “Take some great pictures, okay? I never wanna forget this.”
“Sure,” Maddie tightened her grip, then her cheeks dimpled with amusement, “If you crash I’m never deleting this.”
“Not gonna happen!” Karen cheered, “Hey Logan are we ready? Maddie’s our ground crew.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it right here.” He brandished a silver flask, and rotated it to reveal a sticky note reading Magic Bird Potion, “Even labelled it, happy?”
“Yup, you’re learning, thankyou!” She reached out, only for him to lift it too high.
“Wow, wow, not so fast- I was severely reprimanded the other night for not explaining things,” Logan tutted, “So, quick induction- this stuff lasts two hours, and if you change back in the air you’re probably going to die.”
“What, you didn’t include parachutes?”
He ignored her and pulled a plastic digital watch from his pocket, “It also gives you the instincts of this bird so you might not be the best timekeeper. I’m going to strap this alarm watch onto you- come and land as soon as it buzzes.”
“Alright, alright- what kind of bird are we anyway?”
“Well the best kind, of course. Master of the sky, able to handle water with ease, and terrifying on land- the goose.”
“The- you’re messing- shut up!” She shoved him as he cackled, “Why are mystics all trolls?”
“Your reactions are too good. Jess is a big fan.” He back pedalled, wheezing, “Fine- fine, it’s a nice surprise, I swear, I take magic seriously. But if you don’t trust me? Don’t drink it.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Maybe not a hundred percent.” Karen admitted, but took the flask, “But enough to try and fly.”
“Charming.”
She almost gagged as she drank, it was thick as lukewarm yoghurt and horribly bitter. Even swallowing it made her head spin, the flask left her hand, or wing or foreleg or...
“Something’s wrong.” She grimaced. “My head’s...”
“The instincts will feel weird, just sit and try to relax,” Logan warned and turned around. Exposing his back to her. Wasn’t that rude?
She tumbled down as a shock like lightning surged through her nervous system, and everything felt tighter. Her bones and muscles were being pushed inwards by her skin, over which small brown hairs were bristling. Her clothes swamped her, the humans loomed like giants, and the grass shot ever closer.
Yet with every second, new proportions emerged. Her teeth merged within their jaw and erupted outwards, encompassing her nose to form a hooked beak. A toe withered away while the other four grew scaly and sharp, nails curling into talons. Her bones burned, mass vanishing to form light hollow shapes and a new sternum on which muscles built. Out of her sleeves, she flexed arms, finding the fingers merging into long paddles and growing wings.
On the outside all of the hairs suddenly flexed and like flowers blooming she felt them extended into long red-brown feathers, lined with tiny muscles and delicate nerves. Her throat and lungs gagged again, forming additional air sacs and a strange new breathing system, then finally her eyes stung.
The eyes changed everything. She screamed. It was a high keening screech, devoid of humanity.
Then the change ended, humongous hands pulled the tangle of clothes off of her, and she stared around in wonder.
“Oh my god, you look awesome! Still understand me Karen? Heyo?”
The world looked perfectly insane.
She had known the phrase eagle-eyed before. It made sense to see every pore, every hair, ever fleck of dirt. It was stunning. But it was expected.
Nothing could have prepared her for the colours.
She didn’t know half of them. Red, green and blue were scattered, mere fragments of a far greater spectrum of stunning new hues. Had she been colour-blind all her life? These felt right. But no, they weren’t. Why was she reeling. This was normal. But it was so strange. Her own confusion was a paradox, and with a click she went to grit her teeth but she had no teeth. Which was normal. Wasn’t it?
Wavering, Karen glanced across herself, to discover a sleek aerodynamic form, strong elegant wings, and beautiful feathers of fathomless colors.
Then large hands grabbed her and Logan winced as she flailed, “Wow, calm, calm, don’t scratch! Just getting the watch.
Maddie had thankfully been given a thick leather glove, and Karen clung to her arm with gentle talons, shooting a glare at the mage boy. He ignored her, and tugged the childish watch around her neck, beeping a couple of buttons.
“Alright, good, hundred and ten minutes on the clock now take things slo-”
She threw her wings wide, ready to take to the air.
Instead her left swing slammed into blonde hair and hard skull, Maddie squealed, and Karen found herself hanging upside down, talons tight on the leather.
“Slowly.” Logan finished, pushing her upright, “Maddie, you okay? This idiots wings will be damn strong.”
“Really? You don’t say.” Maddie rubbed her hair irritably, then stretched her arm out further. “Stay aware, I don’t want a concussion from you.”
Karen nodded and relaxed. Her wings flared open more gently, body tipped forwards as if following a guided path, and she dove clear.
There was four feet between perch and a grassy undignified crash.
Plenty.
Her wings slammed down, blasting wind around them even as her feathers made minute adjustments to curve her course. Her downward momentum became horizontal, then vertical and she swooped up into the air above the humans’ heads.
Another flap and another gained her height, though not enough to clear the trees and she tilted, ready to skim along their exterior and circle the clearing.
Instead she flipped her talons towards the sky, spiralled and slammed her left wing down. That nearly sent her spiralling into jagged branches, and she flailed for another few seconds before gliding back down to land on grass, exhaling several long breaths from her air sacs.
“You okay?” Maddie knelt down beside her, glove ready, and smiled at her chirp, “Fine, fine, that didn’t count as a crash. How’d it feel?”
Karen climbed back onto the leather thoughtfully. How did it feel? Heart pounding, terrifying, seconds away from death with only her skill and wits at her disposal! But she couldn’t talk, so she spread her wings and squawked loudly.
They gave the glove to Logan, to use his greater height and longer arm for take-off, while Maddie recorded with her phone. It took another two attempts before she swooped back and landed immaculately on his glove, basking in their praise.
She had flown successfully. As expected.
But the sky above was open and free of trees and obstacles, and so she launched herself again and focussed entirely on bringing her wings down with each flap. Gravity plucked at her feathers hungrily, but she was too strong for it, too fast, and spiralled up above the humanoids, above the clearing, above the trees. As long as she didn’t overthink things, the motions came easily, and that too was easy.
Who wanted to dwell on muscles and nerves when she was above the trees, rising higher, gasping at the strange surface of the lake, at once light and dark and mixed in with the wondrous new colours! She was curving towards it, but her eyes settled on the mountains beyond, and she saw no reason to stay below their peaks.
Another flap and another and another and another and another and another came and went. It was hard work, her breath cycled through several lung-parts before being exhaled, but she could feel them roaring at the effort to fight the wind and gravity both.
A gust almost blew her over, and she found herself tumbling through the sky, beak over tail-feathers, before her instincts helped her fly stable once more, under a pathetic motley pigeon.
No, not under, that beneath her. She wasn’t going to fly under a pigeon!
But the creature was irritating, it barely flapped its wings, and for several minutes stayed above her, drifting like a kite on the wind- oh, no, that was it!
The little vermin was using the wind rather than just its own strength. A cheap cowardly move.
But one that she quickly began to search for, steadying her wings as she glided around.
It took a couple of minutes to find one, but when she did the thermal carried her with ease, and she swooped upwards, screeching gleefully. Higher and higher, higher and higher, she flapped and spiralled, letting the colourful trees below dwindle to the size of grass on a lawn. The filthy pigeon vanished amidst her glee, rightfully terrified of the queen of the skies and she set her gaze below.
The land was a vibrant patchwork of meadow and forest, roads crisscrossing it like veins of an arm, the lake small as a puddle. It mirrored the sky gloriously, shimmering with the not-blues and not-purples, like a hole torn through the polluted world to reveal another pristine sky. Her eyes tracked the few fields, automatically searching for prey like elk or sheep or pigs or-
No that was foolish, this wasn’t a hunting trip, it was a flying trip! How would she even take down an elk? She brushed off that instinct, and turned her attention homewards. The town of Ranelk was a collection of little boxes and squares, small and forgotten by the wider world ever since the mine died.
The camp was similar. Their squares were newer, still being cut around the rectangular trailers. Seemingly whether human or mystic, people thoroughly liked to sort their lives into neat boxes.
A screech interrupted her musings, and she glanced to see a reddish brown shape approaching, not so different from her either. Well, if one overlooked his smaller size, duller coat, and far less grace.
Karen grinned internally as she tucked her talons, bowed forwards, and dove towards the newcomer- Logan- and the ground far far below. There was a whistle in her ears, a scream in her lungs, and she felt the sudden urge to dive all the way, feel how fast she would skim across the lake like a bullet.
But then Logan would be higher than her. And so she flared her wings, unleashed a BOOM with the impact, and swooped inches over his screaming back before flapping back up. He followed, squawking madly and she could only imagine the indignation in his voice. But what was the point of him flying if not as an audience to her triumph?
Height gave her a confidence and safety net to experiment with more bizarre motions. She had never seen a hawk attempt gymnastics, but how hard could it really be to flip around him?
As it turned out, the answer was extremely. There were no instincts for barrel rolls, flips and somersaults, and if there were then Logan had done something severely wrong- and he wouldn’t stay still! Sure, you couldn’t stay still in the air, but he wasn’t even trying as she flailed and found herself swooping back on a gust, trying to dart through upside down in a single fluid motion.
By the time the gizmo around her neck began to buzz, the hawk was exhausted. She loosed a brief, very dignified, scream of surprise, then remembered the watch alarm. Thankfully her aerial acrobatics had cost her hundreds of metres of altitude, and so she turned and skimmed back over the road, the woods until her perfect vision found the clearing.
There were more bipeds- humans- there now, Maddie’s platinum blonde hair was bobbing as she spoke with a broad young man- Caleb- and she swooped down to land on the leather glove, almost overbalancing.
“Oh, damn that was amazing! K-Karen right?” He snapped a picture with a camera, and turned to Maddie.
“I think so? I didn’t really compare the- oh, yeah, that’s Karen,” She noticed the nodding and chirping. “Did you have fun? From the time you should be about to-”
Karen’s scream of pain cut her off as every nerve decided enough was enough. Organs slithered under her skin, bones pushed outwards, and she suddenly found herself gagging at the tight watch strap around her throat.
Thankfully Maddie had hands. She undid the watchstrap, covered her with a blanket, and left her like a cake in the oven to change, regrow teeth and fingers. Her talons melted down into blunt nails, her feathers drilled back down into her skin like acupuncture, and her brown hair regrew wild around her skull.
Then it was over.
She was left, flightless and chill, flexible and heavy, wrapped in a strange blanket. Someone passed a poly bag of her old clothes in, and she hurriedly dressed, pulling on the huge hoodie even when she couldn’t find her T-shirt.
With that done, just weariness and a strange emotion remained, and she threw the blanket aside to lie on the grass, staring at the sky high above. It was blue. Just blue. All the other nameless colours were gone.
“I flew.”
“Y-yeah.” Caleb mumbled from nearby, “I saw some. Were you the one doing loops?”
“Yup. Flips were hard though.”
“Would you recommend it? You okay”
“Uhh… yes, that was just AMAZING! And… Yes. I’m fine.” She was a biped again, ignoring the phantom sensations of wings and long tail. Just forelegs to push her up into a sitting position, and hindlegs to fold for balance. “Just adjusting.”
“Take your time,” Logan walked from behind her, already dressed once more and fiddling with the hair tie she’d given him. How was he that fast? She gritted her teeth, planted her feet, and tried not to overthink standing up.
She got onto all fours, which felt natural, but undignified. Caleb offered a hand and she batted it aside, overbalanced and flopped over. He picked her up like a doll instead, and she grimaced and wriggled free, taking shaking steps on two legs, “Hands off- I’m fine! And anyone see my t-shirt? It should be somewhere.”
“That kit you keep chasing was around, she led me here.” He admitted, “Thought she was being awfully helpful.”
“Jess.” She clenched her talo- her fists. Not sharp, but blunt. And weak. “Alright, keep your eyes open for her, she’s due a reckoning.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t hunt her down in the air. What was it like?” Maddie passed her phone back, “Did you have telescopic vision?”
“Yeah- oh, yeah, there was sooooooo many colours. It’s like I’m colourblind now, there was… your hair looked like… like silver but spicy and more green? And my feathers were all really… like a more loud red? But not red, more bitter?”
“Oh, right! Birds can see UV light! You got to see UV!” Caleb gasped, mouth slack, “Damn, no wonder you’re trying to use flavours, I can’t imagine a new colour.”
“Ooooh, so that’s why. I kinda missed that.” Logan muttered, struggling to tie his hair back again, “That was why I was so distracted for the first ten minutes, I was worried something had gone wrong.”
“You weren’t much slower.” Maddie snickered, “Both picked it up quicker than I expected- because of the instincts right? How did that feel?”
“Pretty weird, even for me. There was a lot of… focus on air, on the sky, precise control, and a bit of a hunting sense.”
“And ego,” Karen added cheerfully, “It feels like you’re queen of the sky, like nothing can compare in the slightest. Do all birds think that? There was one really sassy pigeon...”
Logan cocked his head, “Uh, no? No, that’s… that’s not the potion Karen. That’s just you.”
“Excuse me? The potion totally worked, I was flying circles around you, mage boy!”
“You’re not exactly disproving him,” Maddie prompted.
“Whose side are you on?” She rolled her eyes, and looked to her phone, “Did you film much?”
“Only the first couple tries. You went crazy high.”
“Ludicrously high.” Logan added.
“Yeah, even this thing barely got anything,” Caleb tapped his heavier camera.
“What’s the point of flying if I’m not above mountains? I wish there were clouds I could have explored,” She shot a glare at the clear blue sky, “But… thankyou Logan. That was honestly a wish come true.”
“Well, that’s high praise. First time I’ve gotten to grant a wish, normally it’s always just hiding stuff,” the young mage mused, a distant smile on his face.
“Yup so I’ll quit bugging you as thanks.” She glanced around as they reached the lodge, between the track to the camp, and the road towards town, “Guess it’s back to regular old two legs life now.”
“You only had two legs.” Maddie giggled, “Guess your heads still in the clouds.”
“It definitely is if she thinks there’s any going back. Regular life?” Caleb spread his arms, “Our town’s gonna have magic and mystics all around now, who cares about school?”
Karen frowned, “Well, I want to graduate this year. Don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but who’s to say how relevant grades will be in the future? The entire education system is nonsense and debt ridden, we’re going through a complete emergence of the supernatural. It would be pretty ridiculous if the same old corrupt systems stuck around, wouldn’t it?”
“Ooooh, he stole your catchphrase,” Maddie whispered.
“Shush you. What are you even talking about Caleb? We’re not movers and shakers. We’re still in high school. You’ve lived in one house your whole life!”
“W-well, yes, but we can make a difference here. Did you even read the letter this morning?”
“Yeah- well a bit, it was pretty dry.”
“Exactly- it was all over the place, so obsessed with neutral speech and not saying anything wrong that it made them sound like aliens. You and me, we know better- we can help explain this stuff to folk way better than any OAR bureaucrat!”
“With your newspaper? Logan and...” Karen bit her lip and looked away from Maddie, “Logan’s the know-it-all. He’s the mage, I only just found out about this stuff.”
“The Ranelk Runner. Yes. Do you think anyone else in this town has experienced magic Karen? Sure, experts are good, but local people are more valuable, more trusted. Our classmates would listen if you told them all about getting to fly and how awesome it is.”
“Wha- no, no no no,” She raised her hands, “My parents would kill me if they heard I did this. You can’t tell anyone!”
“W-what?” Caleb frowned, looked over her, “You’re scared of your folks?”
“I’m not scared.” She folded her arms, glowering, “They just don’t need to know. I got to fly, that’s my business! No-one else!”
“Not even if you think it’d help people understand this better? I mean, people are bound to find secrets out eventually aren’t they? The longer you hide things, the worse it’s going to be.”
“Who invited you?” Karen snapped, forcing her nerves down. What if he stumbled across the truth about Hugh? About Maddie? “You can’t just pretend to be a journalist to snoop and butt into my life!”
“You asked for my help, bonehead. Where’s the camp? Where’s Logan? None of that ring a bell?” He rubbed his temples, “I don’t understand. You act all high and mighty but as soon as there’s a chance to actually make a difference, you back down?”
“There’s a giant magic conspiracy thing happening! I don’t think me getting to fly for two hours makes a difference!” She retorted.
“Every little helps. You’re …. cool, or … I thought you were.” Caleb shook his head, “Don’t you think your voice matters?”
“Dude,” Logan spoke up, stepping forwards wearily, “Don’t expose her if she doesn’t want it. Take it from me, mystics have had enough of that kind of journalism.”
“And you’ve got plenty from this week, and Mayor Hugh’s doing questions tomorrow, right Maddie?” Karen glanced aside, though Maddie was studiously avoiding attention. “He’s local, not OAR, he’ll explain things better than me.”
“He’s a politician, you’re not.” Caleb sighed, then threw his hands out, “F-fine, freakin’ fine, no use pressuring you. You got your wish, you’re done, I get it.
“Finally.” Karen stormed past, “I am starving for lunch! Wanna come Maddie?”
“Yeah, sure,” The blonde girl swallowed, nodded and hurried away from the boys. Once they were out of earshot she released a long sigh and offered a hand. “Thanks for keeping quiet.”
“I promised, didn’t I?” Karen released a breath of her own, letting tension ease away as she watched the sky and focussed on controlling her legs.