Chapter 13: Formality
THEY SAT ON THE BEDS they had woken up on, backs facing each other. Both had washed up already - Calida had gone first - and had not spoken a word since they found that the door was locked. Amber stretched her legs out in front of her and pressed her head to her knees. She debated knocking the door down to get out of the stifling tension, but the Athenaeum was safe and offending their hosts sounded bad.
"Why?" Calida asked – the question that had always been coming. Both didn't turn. "Why did you tell everyone?"
"I thought you didn't want to talk to the Demon?" she said. Should I tell her? Is it a secret worth keeping?
"If you say anything like that again," Calida took a deep breath, "I will set fire to the bed."
"Okay," Amber agreed. "I used you, that was it."
The girl's coffee-colored skin started to glow from the inside. There could have been steam coming from her ears, she really wasn't sure. "You ruined my life, just to use me? For what? I never did anything to you. I had friends and I made sure they didn't bully people like you and—”
"Exactly," Amber interrupted. "You had friends, you were popular, and you had influence.”
“What? You were jealous?” Calida flipped her hair.
“No,” Amber answered, her tone even, “I just needed someone like that. I almost killed my neighbor’s dog four years ago. Did you ever wonder why Emily’s garden was always so trashed? I was dangerous. I still am.”
Calida’s eyes widened. “You mean…?”
Amber allowed the corners of her lips to tilt up. “Let’s just say I blackmailed you into blackmailing me.”
“How admirable,” Calida said. “But nobility doesn't cut it.” Amber didn't answer. "They took my dad away from me, you know. My mom was already dead. I had no one, until the Daron twins found me, said that I had magic, took me in."
She almost laughed. "Don't tell me, you actually loved your abuser?"
"Of course I did. And I still do!" Calida's voice went a pitch higher. "He's my dad." She whirled and jabbed a trembling finger at Amber, who looked over her shoulder at her. "You ruined my life, Amber Starling. I could kill you for that."
"And why don't you?" Amber turned fully and spread her arms, as if welcoming the idea. "I'm the Demon. I am an animal that doesn't know love, don't you think?" The bedsheets started smoking. She could see the thin tendrils of flame running up and down Calida's arms. "If you use too much, you'll burn out," she warned, then waited till the flames extinguished at a clench of Calida's fingers. She asked, allowing a heavy dose of skepticism to color her tone. "And he loves you?"
"What?"
"You said you love him. Do you think he still loves you?"
"Of course! After my mom died, he just needed someplace to vent without damaging our reputation. But now our reputation is in shreds. Because of you." Calida's skin kept on glowing.
"If you say so,” Amber raised her hands in surrender. “But I think that's stupid. Reputation? Hmph," she scoffed, feeling like she was talking to Daniel all over again. Amber sighed eventually. "Whatever, think what you want. It’s not like you need a male figure, or something. You have Robert."
Calida started, then blinked. "I... Robert? Yeah, I do.” They lapsed back into silence again, just sitting there, facing each other. “Come to think of it,” Calida said, “where are the boys? They’re probably locked in too, right?” She buried her head in her hands like she’d suddenly had a fit. “I really just want to go back to Camp.”
“I pity Robert if he’s stuck in the same room as Daniel and Nicholas,” Amber replied, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She raised her head. “Why are we locked in in the first place?”
The mocha-skinned girl shrugged. Her skin was no longer glowing. “Well,” she said. “They probably want us to rest. Maybe we’re confined to bed rest.”
Then the door opened all of a sudden and Robert poked his head into the room. “Hi.” He waved.
“Robert!” Calida leapt off the bed and burrowed into his arms. “We’re going back?”
She saw him smile down at her, as she clambered off the bed to join them at the door. He gave a nervous chuckle and said, “Um, no, sorry. There’s a bunch of people that want to meet you guys.”
“You weren’t locked in?” Amber asked as they left the room.
“Nah.” Robert waved a dismissive hand. “The medics gave me the okay.” Amber nodded, looking at the way his smile tightened.
They turned right and entered a larger room – more like a chamber than anything, with a round table in the middle. Daniel and Nicholas were already there, body language screaming discomfort as they stood next to each other. Amber and Calida filed in and stood next to them, but to her slight surprise, Robert left them there and continued on to the table. He took his place behind the chair of the woman directly across from them. She wore a floral dress with wide sleeves and a ribbon at her waist. With crow’s feet around the corners of her pale-colored eyes and white-blonde hair, she looked middle-aged, maybe fifties or so, her slightly plump and round stature particularly emphasizing her overall matronly appearance.
“Robert?” Calida asked. He didn’t answer and simply shot her a smile. It could’ve just been Amber, but the tilt of his lips looked strained.
Amber was more interested in their hosts, though. The people—no, creatures at the table murmured to each other in soft voices. There were only five Humans. On the left there was a creature that had long, spindly legs, like that of a grasshopper, and when her gaze rose to the creature’s face she saw that it had mandibles in place of jaws. Daniel leaned over and whispered, “That’s a Beast—” He probably read my mind again. “—And, yeah, I don’t really get what’s going on either. The Delegates are made of Humans, Beasts and Ethereals. Five for each race is a lot to meet four kids. This is so weird.” At her questioning look, he answered, “Yeah, there are way more than just this fifteen. Of course, these are the important people; everyone else has their own jobs to do. We won’t see them much, if at all.”
She nodded slowly. Most of the present Delegates were seated, like the giant grasshopper thing, but others merely had spaces at the table, simply because ‘sitting down’ didn't look like a possibility for them. There was a creature standing to her right that was dressed in white-colored robes, similar to a priest’s, that billowed in the still air of the room, folding in on itself like a tornado but gentler. The cloth twisted and untwisted and when the part where the creature’s head should have been was blown aside, all there was in the hood was a dark shape that only vaguely resembled a human’s. “Ethereal,” Daniel whispered. Get out of my head! “Sorry.” He leaned away.
The woman that Robert stood behind spread her arms. "Welcome to the Athenaeum, young Adepts. Take a seat." They occupied a quarter of the circular table. The murmuring quieted and the Delegates sat straighter.
"We hope that you had a good night's sleep, considering the fact that it's already noon," the woman smiled, though her gaze was unusually perceptive, scrutinizing them as if they were interesting specimens on display. She looked them up and down and smiled even wider, looking satisfied. "I also hope that my son treated you with all the hospitality that befits guests at the Athenaeum."
Calida sat forward. "Robert's your son?"
"What?" The woman's brow wrinkled slightly. "Oh, no, Robert just works for me. My boy is Nicholas. He works with the Beast Delegates." Leone’s smile looked slightly strained at her last statement. Amber looked at Nicholas, then back at the woman. Same hair, same eyes. Last name matches too. The jawline, too, would've been the same if Nicholas's expression hadn't been so tight. His face was unreadable.
"Before anything else," the woman said, "introductions. My name is Leone White and I lead the Human Delegates. Head of the Beasts is Dax, on my left, and the Ethereals are led by Sol, on my right."
Dax waved and pushed up the glasses perched on his nose. He was seated, making the height difference between him and the rest of the creatures even more pronounced. She supposed that if he had been standing, he'd only come up to her waist. But he still managed to look like Albert Einstein with his glasses and frizzy white hair, except for his large pointed ears and long curved nose.
"Sol?" Leone said. "Would you do the honors?"
"Of course, Ms White." The robed figure's voice was masculine. He inclined his white head, allowing them a flash of his black interior and began, "At the dawn of time, there were—”
"Wait, one second. Let me ask one question: you’ve heard it all before, right? The story of the Emblems?" Dax got confused nods from the four of them. Amber decided that she liked the Beast, but then the taurus’s angry roar sounded in her mind. Better to be wary. Leone sighed as the Beast Delegate waved a dismissive hand. "Then there's no need for them to hear it again. Sorry, Sol, we all know that you were there when it all happened, but we don’t need their brains to explode. Let's just go for the ripping off a bandage approach. You four," he pointed at them, "are the Emblems."
"W-what?" Daniel sputtered.
"...Or so we think," Leone tacked the words on with a smile that said it’s just a formality; you are the Emblems.
"Is it safe to assume that this is all just wishful thinking and that you're deluding yourself, mother?" Nicholas asked. Leone, the corners of her lips still tilted up, glanced at him, and her gaze seemed sharper. Despite the look that obviously said shut up, there are people, he just smirked at her.
"Okay, hold up. Evidence. Now," Daniel demanded.
"You trust Kurt's powers, yes?" Leone said. "In all four of you, he sensed more than one kind of magic. We told him not to tell you, instead waiting for the fourth Emblem to appear," her gaze landed on Amber, "as well as letting the three of you develop and learn one of your powers at Camp. You have no idea how long the magical world as a whole as waited for the birth of you four."
Dax seemed to catch the rise in tension in the room. Judging from his hunched shoulders, Daniel felt as wary as she did. “Don't worry, kids,” the Beast Delegate said, “we’re not going to murder you.”
Sol inclined his head in some kind of weird nod. “Yes,” he agreed, “we believe in realizing the potential of the Emblems, in order to revive the power stream. You have already seen the negative effects on Kurt and Christopher Daron. We think that killing you four would simply be a waste of precious magic and talent, thus we will do everything we can to help you achieve your fullest potential.”
Nods rippled across the circular table and Nicholas leaned back. Daniel rolled his shoulders slightly, and sat straighter, asking, “So you guys actually know how you’re going to do that?”
The entire table quieted, and the Delegates suddenly seemed subdued. A tiny frown crossed Leone’s face. “To be honest,” she said, “we have no idea. Our research team has been scouring the oldest tomes we have access to for information on the Emblems for years now, but our conclusions are at very best inferred from obscure texts. But we were going to tell you about them anyway, so we might as well do it now.” She pulled out a file from under the table. It was thick and wide, with those sticky post-it bookmarks stuck everywhere. Talk about well prepared.
“Through cross-referencing hundreds of books over the years, we now have a criteria for the Emblems,” she started. “One, there will be two boys and two girls.” So gender equality existed back then. Who knew? The thought almost sent a smile flashing onto her lips.“Two, each will have two types of magic. Three, they will have complete control over both types of magic. Four, they will grow in power as the ones around them grow weak as magic diminishes. Five, they will be powerful enough to replenish the power stream. Six, they will bring peace to their race, as well as between all other races. Seven, pushing their own limits, they will be willing to truly become Emblems. Eight, they will go through hardship, sacrifice and loss to fulfill their potential.” Her speech finished, Leone shut the file and placed it under the table again.
Dax continued, “So, you four are the only people that we’ve ever found who have two types of magic each. You fulfill criterion one and two. For numbers three to eight, we’ll see, after this.”
There was silence for a moment, as they absorbed the information. Finally, Calida said, “Okay. I have a question, though. Something a little off-topic, is that okay?” Dax gestured for her to continue. “Has Robert been working for you all this time?”
Leone nodded, smiling. “Yes, Kurt too, of course. Christopher doesn’t know; he wouldn’t agree to us taking away his students, but we did what we could in order to keep the four of you safe.” Daniel’s fists clenched.
Calida’s expression tightened and she cocked her head at Robert. Seeing him shift uneasily, she opened her mouth to speak, but Amber beat her to it, before she could start a fight with her beloved boyfriend. “You knew what was going on when we were being chased by Demons, right?” she asked the first thing that came to mind.
“Of course,” the Human Delegate affirmed, “our Mind Adepts are incredibly skilled.” Then she seemed to catch her son’s raised eyebrow. “The appearance of the Demons was unexpected and we would’ve sent in help, but you seemed to be managing. It was quite impressive, seeing your prowess in battle.”
"As we do not know for sure that you are truly the Emblems yet," Sol said, "we have decided that we shall take you in and tutor you to see if the Emblems will manifest in you.”
Dax rolled his eyes. “It’s already almost a guarantee, Sol. No need to be so formal about it. It’s not like there’s anyone else on earth that can take the spots from them.”
Sol inclined his head and somehow, despite his vaguely humanoid shape, the gesture managed to look politely exasperated, if that was even possible. “If you realise that potential,” he continued, speaking over the Beast’s audible scoff, “we believe that the power stream will be replenished and the magic of all Adepts, Ethereals and Beasts will be restored. The stronger you grow, the more magic there will be for all Adepts, Beasts and Ethereals."
Next to her, Daniel straightened, leaning forward. "Tutor us? Personally?" Leone nodded. From the corner of her eye, she saw his eyes shine behind the lenses of his glasses.
"Are there any objections to this?" Sol asked.
Under the expectant, somehow heavy gazes of the Delegates, she felt she should raise her hand like a kid in elementary school. Instead, she lifted her chin and asked her burning question, the one that she’d been waiting for the right time to let loose as the worry nagged at her mind: "You know I have a Demon inside of me, right? Why would you accept someone like me to be an Emblem?"
A/N:
Somehow, I feel like there's something funky (as in, the bad way) going on with my chapter titles. Feels weird, but I'm going to leave them as they are for now.
And somehow I also highly doubt that the contents of this chapter will come as any shock to you, dear readers, and I don't know if I should just try to conceal that this revelation was coming up soon, though to me it would've been glaringly obvious from the minute Daniel mentioned it. If you think it's iffy, please comment!