New World

Chapter Seventeen

That was her, renouncing the name they'd given her. The nickname. She was still Savannah. But Savi was something of the past.

She set her letter down and blinked. No tears came.

Good. Because Anna had just awoken.

***

Savi wished her heart could tell her she was Anna, because every time someone called her Savi, her head still spun around because someone had called her name. She'd already told Via and Harmony to call her Anna. She wasn't even sure if they understood the weight of the situation, because they cracked smiles and Via even suggested that they call her Livi, and Harmony said that they could call her 'Mo'. Savi might take her up on that one.

Keefe called her Savi in the morning and she didn't so much as look in his direction.

It took him fourteen guesses to guess her new name correctly. "I don't know – Anna?" he asked.

She glanced at him. "What?"

"Don't you want to come down for breakfast with..."

"Is Rena there?" She'd been calling Seri Rena to annoy her. Seri had never liked her three-syllable name, Serena, and not the 'Ena' part especially.

"Seri."

"Fine. Is Ires there?"

"SAVANNAH CALLA SENCEN!"

Ordinarily, Savi would've jumped, because Keefe never raised his voice. But this time, even though anger was radiating off him in waves, she stood her ground, meeting his eyes.

"It's funny how when parents resort to screaming, they think their children will be terrified," Savi said coldly.

"SAVANNAH CALLA SENCEN, IF YOU CONTINUE TO SPEAK TO ME LIKE THIS, I WILL THROW YOU OUT OF THE HOUSE!"

"Wow, good for you," Savi said. "What? Should I speed up the timeline, save you from the misery of living with me?"

His face crumpled. "Savi-"

"You guessed my name correctly once, and I expect you to use it." Her tone was cold, perhaps too cold, but necessary.

The heat flared up in his eyes again. "S- Anna. You do not speak to your parents with disrespect."

Savi shrugged. "It works, doesn't it? And who wants breakfast anyway?"

"Anna... we're trying to help you."

"You want to help me? Then leave me alone." Her thoughts drifted back to her letter for them in the Wanderling Woods. "You didn't read my letter, did you?"

He nodded. "I did."

"Then why did you start out with Savi?"

"I didn't want to believe it. Are you renouncing the name we gave you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm still Savannah, aren't I? I'm growing up, Keefe. I need a new name."

"Dad." He'd caught the slip. And he didn't exactly look happy about it, and looked even more infuriated when Savi didn't apologize. Instead, she raised a Pathfinder – another Pathfinder – to the light.

"Goodbye," she whispered, and gave him one glance at the Pathfinder which had his name written on it before disappearing.

She wasn't ready for Foxfire to be completely empty and to have Cerulean be standing at her locker.