Chapter 3: Chapter Three

Driving through New York City was a bit like entering a parallel universe. The sidewalks were crammed with people, all bustling about looking stressed and busy.

I gaped at my first sighting of Celestials, their huge feathered wings jutting out from beneath long capes.

There were Fae dressed nothing like the multicolored hippies I was used to sharing Bear Mountain with, instead wearing chic outfits in gray and maroon. There even seemed to be a trend among the Mages to carry their bird familiars in designer, oversized cages.

The Statue of Liberty loomed into view, and I pressed my nose to the window of the van to get a better look.

It was truly awesome in real life. Its torch burned with a yellow flame, indicating the sun-class had control of the city. Once night fell, the flame would turn black and the moon-class would dominate. Growing up where I had, my experience of the moon-class was basically nonexistent. I wondered if they behaved the same as the sun-class, hurrying around with cell phones glued to their ears.

“Theia, close your mouth, you look like a fish,” Mom snapped.

“I can’t help it,” I murmured with astonishment. “It’s all so strange. I mean, look!” I pointed at a woman in high heels tottering along the sidewalk with a demon-hog on a leash. It had a crystal-encrusted collar. “That’s a wild animal, not a pet!”

“Demon-beasts are often domesticated,” Mom replied in a tired voice, like I was some kind of backwater hillbilly. “In fact, in this day and age, it’s very common. It takes a certain type to choose to hunt them.”

By certain type she meant Elkie. Elkie like me.

My chest sank. I wished she could at least try to rein in her contempt a little. It’s not like I chose to be Elkie. That decision was made for me when Vivian Delacour got the hots for Heath Foxglove!

The traffic grew heavier and Mom slowed the van. Wanting to avoid any more uncomfortable conversation, I turned on the radio. It tuned automatically to a local New York City station, cutting in partway through a news report spoken by a nasally voiced woman.

“… heavy traffic due to ongoing citywide protests. Tensions are rising among residents regarding an increase in Vanpari violence and crime. I spoke earlier to one of the protesting residents, who told me Mayor Benson and Mayor Storm are not doing enough, especially considering one of the so-called Vanpari Five is now on the run. People here say the Twilight Curfew needs proper policing, an issue that will likely determine the outcome of the upcoming sun-class elections between Henrietta Sugar Plum and William Geiser.”

“Oh, they mentioned William!” Mom gushed.

I tried to shush her so I could hear what else the news reader was saying, but it was too late. The report had ended.

I reached into my pocket and touched the medallion the Vanpari in the forest had dropped.

Just then, we passed a subway station. Its entrance had been barricaded and a sign read: Private property. Moon-class only. A group of protestors stood beside it with placards covered in slogans such as, “Sun-class take subways too!”

I felt disconcerted. This was not what I’d been expecting.

But Mom seemed oblivious to the ruckus outside the window. She even had a small smile on her lips.

“I’m so glad you’re going to get a proper education at last. Finally, we’ll be able to nurture the Mage inside of you.”

I may feel all Elkie, but technically I’m half Mage. There’s never been an opportunity for me to discover my inner Mage, since my forest community is ninety percent Elkie, ten percent Fae. But the idea of starting now seemed pretty daunting.

“How much Mage will I really be able to unlock in one year?” I asked.

“Oh Theia!” Mom exclaimed. “This is magic. Control over the elements, potions, spells!” She sounded enthusiastic. “Once you try it, you’ll get a taste for it. I promise. And passion is half the battle. Besides, there’s an after-school program we can enroll you in to fast-track your skills.”

I grimaced. What could be worse than senior year at a new high school? How about extra-curricular programs!

“Do I have to?” I asked.

Mom’s smile faltered. I appeared to have vanquished her enthusiasm. She became aloof again.

“You’ll have to dye your hair back to its natural color,” she said. “Zenith doesn’t allow colored hair. Or nail polish.”

I protectively touched my bright-red hair. I’d been dying it various colors since the age of thirteen. Colorful hair was part of my identity. Telling me I had to be a chocolate-brown brunette was like telling me I had to wear an alien suit.

“Why?” I asked, looking longingly at my bright-green polished nails. “Is Zenith run by nuns or something?”

Mom turned to face me, her features unreadable. “Yes.”

I let a thin jet of breath out through my teeth and slowly shut my eyes.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

*

The heavy steel gates of William Geiser’s mansion opened with an electronic buzz. Mom drove the moving van through them, then began up the long driveway.

I peered out the window, my brain struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. Fountains. Topiary. A huge wraparound porch. It was the sort of wealth you’d expect from a hedge-fund manager. Or a drug kingpin. Or the Mafia!

The van halted. Mom had barely turned off the engine before she threw open the door and leaped out. I watched her run like a giddy schoolgirl into the arms of a gray-haired man standing on the porch.

William Life-Wrecker Geiser.

It was my first glimpse of him in the flesh, rather than from the frantic internet searches I’d made after Mom told me her secret. He was tall, over six foot, and despite his gray hair he looked young for his sixty-odd years. He held himself with the straight-backed posture of the extremely self-assured and gave off a revered-local-dentist vibe. So much for my Mafia drug lord theory.

Standing on the porch beside him was his familiar, an enormous condor. I gulped at the size of it. That thing was creepy as hell.

As I gazed through the windshield, I struggled to believe this was my new home, and that this man was about to become my stepfather. Dad hadn’t even been dead a year. The wounds of his passing from a sudden heart attack were still fresh. For me at least. Clearly not for Mom. She’d given me two measly days’ notice that she was trading up her rusty old saloon for this flashy vintage sports car. So you can appreciate why my mind’s going a bit wonky over this whole thing…

Suddenly, the passenger-side door opened beside me. I startled and looked over to see a woman standing there, dressed in a maid’s uniform.

She was Daimon, possibly Erlik—the long horns and humongous overbite were a giveaway—but since there are so many types it’s easy to get it wrong.

“Yo,” I said, smiling at her. “Did you want something?”

Her eyebrows twitched inwards with confusion. “I’m here to take your bag,” she explained.

Hold up! Did Geiser actually employ people to do simple things like carry bags? What was this, Victorian England, with him the lord of the manor? Did he employ someone to wipe his ass, too?

“Nah, I’ve got this,” I replied. “Besides, it’s not actually a bag. It’s my bow and quiver. I like to keep them to hand.” I smiled proudly and patted the leather quiver.

“Oh yes,” the maid replied, her tone thinning out. “I heard you were… Elkie.”

I frowned. She may as well have gagged on the E-word. And here I was being super friendly, offering to carry my own bags like a normal, capable person, and she had the cheek to throw disdain at me for being Elkie?

“Seventeen years and counting,” I replied, wiggling my eyebrows.

I hopped out the van and chose not to dwell on it. If she was prejudiced toward Elkie that was her problem, not mine. It wasn’t like I was going to see her much anyway; I wasn’t planning on calling on the maids to see to my every whim. Or any whim for that matter. I was independent and, quite frankly, the thought of being waited on appalled me.

Mom, though, that was a different story. She was already directing staff toward the van, instructing them to carry our boxes inside like a wedding-planner on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I grimaced. This whole thing was leaving quite the sour taste in my mouth.

I made my way toward the mansion. Mom’s woodpecker familiar was rubbing its neck against Geiser’s condor in a totally gross display of affection. At least when they saw me coming they had the decency to stop, though I’d probably need to scrub my eyes out with soap to clear the image from my mind.

The condor watched me climb the porch steps with the overly attentive manner of a salesman. Oh boy—I was about to be schmoozed. I braced myself.

“You must be Theia!” William Geiser bellowed. His voice was as self-assured as his posture.

“That’s me,” I replied.

He offered his hand to me and I shook it. He had the overly firm grip of an authoritative personality. My fingers felt crushed in his grasp.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” he gushed, shaking my hand vigorously. “My daughters can’t wait to meet you.”

Excuse me? Daughters? Mom hadn’t said a thing about daughters!

“You have kids?” I stammered.

William was still shaking my hand. I tried to pull away but his grip was too tight.

“Two.” He beamed proudly. “Emerald’s eighteen and Heidi is starting Zenith this year as a freshman.”

I hardly had time to get my head around the revelation before William dragged me in through the front door by the hand he’d refused to let go of. I had no choice but to stagger after him, leaving Mom out in the driveway to orchestrate the removals process.

Once inside, I tugged sharply on my hand in a not-so-subtle get-the-hell-off-me kind of way. William released me and I shook out my hand to get rid of the cramping.

We were standing in a hallway that was bigger than my whole house, with a huge sweeping staircase. I couldn’t help it. My mouth dropped open with awe.

“Emerald’s in the living room,” Geiser said, pointing to an archway on my right. “You two should get acquainted.”

He gave me a half-shove in that direction, and I staggered over. As Geiser’s footsteps disappeared behind me, I peered around the wall. Sitting on the couch was a girl with long, golden hair, so thick and straight it was like a glossy sheet of silk. She had the aura of a mean-girl cheerleader. Her skin was luminous, practically glowing, with not a single pore in sight.

She wasn’t alone. Sitting beside her was a Hispanic boy with dark, messy hair, dark eyes, and tan skin. He had a lithe build, muscular in a defined way rather than a bulging-bicep way.

I felt a crackle run through my veins. He was exactly the type of guy I was hoping—or rather, Gus was hoping—I would meet in New York. I couldn’t wait to tell my GBF. He’d be thrilled.

I took an awkward step into the living room, and lingered beneath the archway. “Hey.”

The pair looked up.

Emerald was absurdly beautiful, with doll-like features and feline eyes. Her green-eyed gaze roved from my toes all the way up my body. When she found my bright-red hair and pointy ears, she grimaced.

“Ew,” she muttered under her breath.

Her familiar—a brightly colored quetzal—started chirruping with laughter.

As far as first impressions went, this one wasn’t going so great.

“I’m Theia,” I added.

Emerald rolled her eyes. “Obviously. I’d be able to see those pointy ears from a mile away.”

The hot boy sitting next to her remained expressionless. Then he pushed up from the couch and approached.

As his eyes found mine, a tingle went up my spine. He was gorgeous, with an intense, thoughtful gaze. My mouth went as dry as a desert.

“I’m Nikolas,” he said, offering his hand.

“Th-eia,” I spluttered, taking his hand in mind.

The second we made contact, my whole body seemed to ignite. His skin was smooth and slightly cool.

“Nice to meet you, Th-eia,” he teased.

Over his shoulder, Emerald’s face cracked into a nasty smirk. She was practically radiating possessiveness. I figured the two were an item. Which was a shame, considering I’d not felt that sort of instant physical chemistry with anyone ever before. It felt like my senses had been scrambled.

As Nikolas turned, I caught a flash of gold peeking out from the top of his long-sleeved tee. He had a tattoo of twisting, golden vines branded across his clavicle. By the look of the irritated flesh, I’d guess it was newly inked. Which meant Nikolas had only recently made his choice.

Unlike the rest of us, Mages could draw their power source from either the sun or moon. They usually made their choice around the age of eighteen, then got a tattoo to show the world where their allegiance lay. Even my fusty mom had a sun-class tattoo: a small golden mandala between her shoulder blades.

But Nikolas’s tattoo was in stark contrast to the jet-black owl familiar perched on his shoulder. Since owls are nocturnal birds, only the moon-class have owl familiars. I wondered if that meant Nikolas had switched. In 99.9% of cases, a Mage stuck with the class they were raised with, because switching meant you’d be keeping the opposite hours of all your friends and family. When a Mage switched, it was usually for a damn good reason. You know, like being an exploited child star. Or being raised in a crazy cult. That sort of thing.

As I hovered in the archway, watching Nikolas sit back down, I wondered if he had indeed switched. And if so, why?

But whatever intrigue I felt toward him, he clearly did not feel in return. He just picked up a book and started reading it as if he’d already forgotten I was there.

Emerald’s eyebrows slowly raised into a look of pure smugness. I got the hint. I wasn’t welcome to this little party.

Screw it.

I turned and walked back out the way I’d come.

In the foyer, I bumped straight into a red-headed girl. She looked up at me expectantly.

“Hi, I’m Heidi,” she said. “I can’t wait to be your sister. I have so many questions. Like, why is your hair that color? What’s wrong with your ears? Do you always carry a bow with you?”

I narrowed my eyes. This was Heidi the freshman? For a fifteen-year-old, she seemed very babyish.

“I like it that color,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with my ears, all Elkie have pointed ears. And yes, my bow is sacred so I carry it at all times.”

She tipped her head to the side, as if inspecting a curiosity at the museum. “I always wanted a big sister. I mean, I have Emerald but she sucks. I always wanted a nice big sister. Are you nice?”

I’d never been anyone’s sister before, so I didn’t really know. But I wouldn’t put money on there being much common ground between a senior Elkie and a freshman Mage.

“Sometimes,” I told her.

Just then, I noticed Heidi was holding one of those oversized cages I’d seen on the streets of NYC. Instead of there being a bird familiar inside, there was an egg, resting on a bed of purple velvet.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“My familiar. I just got him at my debutante ball. He hasn’t hatched yet.”

In her other hand, she was holding a leash. I followed it down with my eyes to where a podgy demon-hare sat at her feet.

“This is Sprinkles,” she added.

I raised my eyebrows. I was never going to get over the way city folk kept wild demon-beasts as pets.

Sprinkles tipped its nose up and sniffed in my general direction. I didn’t know what the etiquette was, so I bent down and patted it once on the head with a flat palm.

“Do you want to see your room?” Heidi asked.

Want was a strong word. What I wanted was to go home. To be with my friends and family and people who didn’t seem to despise me at first glance. But what I wanted was not something I was going to get.

I sighed. “Lead the way,” I said, defeated.

Heidi guided me up the long, sweeping staircase then along a hallway, before gesturing me inside a huge bedroom.

I gasped. “This is all mine?”

It was worlds away from the simple room I had at home. The bed alone was bigger than my old room! There was more shelving space than the few books and ornaments I owned could fill, and a massive floor-to-ceiling window framed with soft white lace curtains. The cream-colored carpet underfoot was brand new and the walls were freshly painted. It looked like something from a magazine.

All my boxes had already been carried in from the van and were neatly stacked against the wall. All four of them.

I felt almost embarrassed by how little I’d accumulated in seventeen years.

“Check this out,” Heidi said, beckoning me to a door in the far wall.

I ducked through the door and gasped, again. I had my own bathroom, and a walk-in wardrobe that was stuffed with clothes!

“Are these for me?” I exclaimed.

Heidi beamed and nodded. “Dad got an outfit especially for your welcome dinner.”

“My w—what?” I stammered.

“Welcome dinner,” Heidi said again.

She walked into the closet and pulled one of those plastic dry-cleaner suit bags from the rail, then laid it on the table. She unzipped the zipper to reveal… beige.

“See,” she said.

Beige.

I’d never worn beige in my life. You couldn’t get a less Elkie color if you tried. Back home I wore bright colors and patterns and dyed my hair. Beige was the color of fashionable Mages, along with nude, taupe, cream, eggshell…

Was Geiser trying to be nice? Or was he trying to buy my approval?

“I think this outfit will clash with my hair,” I told Heidi, trying to be diplomatic.

“Don’t worry,” she exclaimed with a grin. “That’s why there’s a hat!”

She retrieved a round box from a shelf and removed the lid.

More beige. And a feather!

I put the hat on and looked at myself in the mirror. It completely covered my pointy ears. A new thought struck me about Geiser’s intentions with the closet. Was he trying to get me to look less Elkie?

“Okay, I’m not wearing that,” I said. “The dress I’ll do, but I’m drawing the line at a hat.”

I took the new ensemble and laid it out on my bed. Heidi followed and sprawled herself on top of the bedspread. She watched me keenly as I removed the silky beige monstrosity from its bag.

“Hey… that guy in the living room,” I said. “Is he Emerald’s boyfriend?”

Heidi scoffed. “She wishes! No, that’s Nikolas Storm. He’s the son of the moon mayor.”

“So he is moon-class,” I said, my suspicion about his owl familiar confirmed. “So what’s he doing here?”

“He lives here,” Heidi said with a shrug. “He switched, and his mom let him live with Dad because they’re good friends.”

I almost choked on my surprise. “He lives here?”

My brain could not comprehend this news. Sexy Nikolas Storm lived here! With me! I’d gained two sisters and a live-in crush in the space of ten minutes. My mind spun.

“He lives in the pool house,” Heidi explained.

“The what?”

“The pool house,” she repeated with extra emphasis. “You know, the house next to the pool?”

Her tone implied I was an idiot. She jumped off the bed and pointed out the window.

I followed and peered out at the small brick house at the far end of the garden.

“It’s a bit of an inconvenience,” Heidi continued. “But he’s only living with us until he completes senior year.”

I pondered our parallel situations. Nikolas Storm was certainly an intrigue. A moon-class Mage turned sun-class. The son of the moon mayor. I wanted to learn more about him. But now was not the time. I’d have to make do with the knowledge that he wasn’t Emerald’s boyfriend and he lived a stone’s throw away from my window. Gus was going to lose his mind when I told him.

“I’d better go and get ready for dinner,” Heidi said, leaping up from the bed. Then she froze. “Oh crap.”

I glanced over to see what had prompted her cuss. Sprinkles had pooped on my rug.

I exhaled. “Mother fu—”

“I’ll get the maid,” Heidi said, cutting me off mid-swear.

I shook my head. “Don’t bother. I can clean it myself.”

I was adamant I wasn’t going to use any of the maids for things I could do myself.

I fetched some toilet paper from the bathroom.

“You know,” I said to Heidi, conversationally, as I began to tidy, “where I come from, we eat demon-hares for dinner.”

A look of horror overcame Heidi’s features. Her bottom lip wobbled. She scooped Sprinkles up protectively in her arms and ran out of my bedroom.

I guess that answered the question of whether I was going to be a nice sister.