A Second Wind: Book One, A Legacy Found

Chapter 2: Training and Teammates

The portrait had a silver frame and inside was a pitch-black Hedgehog with red strips, a white bat, that to Zephyr looked very similar to Angie, and a what looked like a giant red, yellow and black robot.

"'Team Dark'"

"Well, now I know who Mari is related to, and the bat might be Angie's mom, but who is the Robot?" Zephyr thought.

"What are you doing?" came a monotone voice from behind.

Zephyr tensed, and quickly turned around. There standing in the shadows was Mari, thanks to her dark fur she was nearly invisible, but she had a clear give away. The triangle marking on her arm and strangely her left eye lid, were now faintly glowing a tranquil blue. She was wearing a white cropped tank top and pajama shorts, that revealed other markings that were faintly glowing as well.

"Oh, I Mari I'm sorry if I... uh, why are you glowing?"

"What are you doing up here?" she asked, completely ignoring his question.

"Uh...I couldn't sleep."

"You shouldn't be here."

"Why shouldn't I be? I'm a leaguer kid just like you."

"No, you shouldn't be here. On the 7th floor. In the middle of the night. People are trying to sleep."

"Oh...hehe... sorry... So...uh...what are you doing up?"

"Sending you back to bed, before you wake the entire place," she began to walk down the stairs, gesturing with her eyes for Zephyr to follow her. 

Being kind of creeped out by her sudden appearance and by the darker atmosphere of the 7th floor, Zephyr didn't question it and followed her down the stairs.

"So, you lived in a restaurant?" she asked.

"How did you know that?" Zephyr was kind of surprised by the question, she didn't give any indication of talking to him at dinner, yet this sounded like small talk.

"I heard you at dinner," she said.

"You were eavesdropping?"

"I may be quiet but that doesn't mean I'm deaf."

"Don't you think that's a little rude?"

"There's nothing that goes on in this mansion without me knowing. Even if I wasn't listening, I would have found out one way or another." They stepped on to the third floor.

"Ok, now I know that if I want to do something. I'll it run by you first."

"Answer my question. Did you live in a restaurant?"

"Yep, and proud of it." They entered into Zephyr's room, "You'd be amazed about how many things you learn..."

"Did you live alone?" Mari interrupted him.

Zephyr's ears flopped down in annoyance, "No, I had foster parents."

"Did they treat you well?"

"Yeah, to them I was their son."

"Were you happy there?"

"Yeah, of course."

Her stoic expression seemed to vanish and was replaced with a face that said 'are you stupid', but it quickly returned to stoic again.

"You're such a fool." She muttered, before storming toward the door.

"Excuse me?"

Mari stopped at the door, and glared at him, her grip on the handle tight with anger, "listen I'm going to be blunt." Her words were drenched in venom. "You don't belong here; you won't be able to handle this life. You have to give up everything. If you can't sever your connections to the outside completely, those who you care about can die. The people here can die. You can die. So, if you have any lick of sense, you will be gone by morning," she slammed the door.