Chapter 1

There are some things that it seems like people are just born knowing. There may have been a time when you did not know something, but by the time you reach, oh, about ten years old, you cannot remember a time when you did not know said thing. Like who taught you colors, numbers, that kind of thing. I cannot remember who taught me how to read, all I remember is being able to do so. My mother, Gloria, said I refused to drink that nasty powder baby milk unless I got to clutch to the packaging and squint at the back as if I could read. Of course I do not believe her. Kind of.

Felix never learned to read though, which was why I nearly always chose the library, the one room in the house he never stumbled into, as the perfect hiding place. It was the biggest room in the house, with about a dozen rows of books, the oldest of which were in glass cases along the wall. Gloria hardly ever let me touch those unless we were having a special lesson, the kind she always taught with more of a gleam in her eye than anything else. Felix hated my magic lessons, not just because he was not gifted with magic like my mother and myself, but because he said he always got a queasy feeling. So he would get sent off to go play in the yard, often spending his time building strange contraptions and claiming to be the next, in his words, "Elbert Abstein". I have not had the heart to tell him Elbert Abstein is not real, and Gloria's disposition toward Felix has always been more...lax.

Not to say she was neglectful! She would never be. She kept us safe, in our house, well-fed, dressed. She provided all the tools Felix could ask for, and all the books I wanted. Still, there was only so much material objects could do, and her personal dislike of the outside world could drive Felix up the wall. Literally. He tried hopping the fence in our backyard and broke a rib when he fell, which Gloria made me heal, to assess how far my healing skills had grown. That was always a difficult area for me: healing. Healing potions, salves, spells...I could just never quite get them right. Gloria said I can attritbute it to her genes, but no matter how much I read up on healing magic, it is just so hard for me to grasp that something extra necessary to make it work well.

"Raaaaeeeeeee," Felix shouted as he came to the doorway of the library. I scrunched up into a ball, quietly closing the book I had been reading about the Lupo Wars and sliding it back onto the shelf. I heard Felix's light tread coming closer, closer, closer, until it was on the other side of the bookshelf. He was tall enough to peak over the shelf, his lanky arms suddenly flying over the top as he hurled himself over.

"Felix!" I shouted instinctively as I jumped out of the way of his falling body. He landed with a "thud". And the accompanying groan from both myself and Felix. "Get up," I ordered, tugging on his shirt to try to get him to stand. "Gloria's going to kill you if you break your wrist again."

"It was a sprain the last three times, first of all," Felix interjected with his usual grin. "Second of all, it's my birthday, she can't kill me. It's probably illegal or something."

"Yeah, that's it. It's only illegal to kill someone on their birthday, but not every other day."

He took a moment, clearly processing what I had said, and I could see that the gears were moving behind those brown eyes. "Okay, so I didn't fully think that through...but it's okay, because it's my birthday!"

I rolled my eyes. Felix had a tendency to get excited over even the littlest things, so when something like his birthday came around, he was bouncing off the walls. It was a lot more endearing than I ever led him on to believe.

"Your birthday isn't until tomorrow," I pointed out.

"Gloria wants to celebrate early. She said she's going on a trip or something."

With that his eyes caught sight of something near the window and he wandered over, his attention span leaving even the squirrels wanting. My mind was immediately occupied, too. Our mother, Gloria, going on a trip? She hated the outside world, and claimed it was full of people on "witch hunts". It was why she kept me inside, for my own safety. And why she provided me with so many books, so I would know not only how to deal with ungifted humans, but all of the species out there. Other gifted humans, Lupos, Hearts...I could rattle off facts about each species for hours. It was my greatest pride, and Gloria's.

So why was she going off into the world she hated so much? What could possibly be out there that could take her away from us? Felix was turning eighteen, yes, but that did not mean he was in any way responsible enough to be left alone for more than a day. How long was this trip? Why had she told Felix before me? Was I going with her? Was it mean to be a surprise?

"Felix," I said quietly as I moved over to where he was fumbling with the latch on the window that appeared to be broken. "Did Gloria tell you anything about this trip she was taking?"

"Hm?" He glanced up, the sun streaming in through the window reflecting off of his dark complexion to give it a warmer hue. "Oh, yeah, she just said she was going somewhere. Shoved me out of the kitchen before I could ask more. She claims I'm eating us out of house and home." He flicked impatiently at the latch. "As if I'd eat this broken down place. I hope Gloria gets me those new tools I wanted."

How was Felix acting so relaxed about this? Our mother, the woman who had everything delivered to her home, who spoke so openly about disliking the outside world, was about to leave us and go out there? What could possibly be so great out there that was worth leaving us for? Admittedly, there was also a bit of thrill involved at the idea that she would not be around to pop up from behind every corner. If she was out of the house, I would finally be able to understand what complete and utter privacy was.

"Maybe it's for her family," I suggested.

Felix looked at me with raised eyebrows, as if I had just asked him if a butterfly was really made of butter. "She doesn't talk about her family."

"Exactly! Or maybe it's something else entirely. An old friend?" They were all guesses. As I struggled to try to figure out why my mother would leave so suddenly, I also realized that I could not think of a good reason for her to do so. "I'm just trying to imagine..."

"Look, Rae, about the only thing I can imagine right now is my birthday cake."

I rolled my eyes at how easily he brushed off an attempt to make the discussion more serious. "You're so one-dimensional sometimes I want to strange you."

He grinned broadly, jogging backward away from the window. "Can't do it today. It's my birthday!"

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