‘C’mon,’ Chergoa urged. ‘Alicia’s trying to look out for you. The least you can do is try to carry a conversation with her.’
The reaper was right, Emiliana knew. She attempted a question of her own. “Are all of these people really your family?”
“Ah--well, some of them just work for us, but basically, yeah. Grandma only had one child--my papa--but her sister had nine. So I have a lot of cousins. Or rather, ‘second cousins once removed,’ technically.” She paused. “I looked it up after the last time they visited.”
“Wow...”
“Yeah. And then, as if that weren’t enough, Grandma and her brother had cousins with the name Redwater who also had children and grandchildren, so there are even more branches of my family out there. It’s super confusing. I honestly couldn’t tell you exactly how I’m related to ninety percent of the people here.”
“How many members of your family have reapers?”
Alicia bit her lip. “Oh, I should know this, um...I know it’s only a small fraction of our total number. I wanna say... twenty? I don’t think it’s more than thirty people.”
“That’s still a lot.”
“Yeah. I think only the Sebolts have more than we do.”
“Right.” Emiliana considered bringing up the more pressing subject of negotiations with the Vanguard, but she doubted that would do much to lighten the mood. And besides, she was sure that she already knew more about it than Alicia did. Chergoa had been keeping her apprised of developments--not that there had been very many. General Lawrence had not returned Zeff to Aguarey, and the Rainlords had yet to take aggressive action. Lawrence had, however, made it known that Cisco and Dennex were in his custody at Rheinhal. Apparently, he’d offered them as trade for either one of Axiolis or Shenado.
The allied Rainlords responded by sending him an umbrella.
When they reached the large guest room, Ramira immediately ran up to Emiliana and hugged her.
“What’s the matter?”
“Stupid!” Ramira said. “You were gone way too long!” It didn’t seem like much of a reason, but she sounded genuinely upset about it.
Emiliana couldn’t recall the girl ever hugging her before.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Nice touch with the umbrella.
ReplyDelete<3
ReplyDeleteIt's the best threat ever.
ReplyDeleteSudden realisation. Why did she specifically grow horns and claws? Wouldn't it be far more likely for her to grow random protrusions at random places? Does this mean there's an outside force that has to do with the abilities they gain, that influences how they develope? Caus horns and claws..... -> demons? OH. MY. GOD. REAPERS ARE AGENTS OF HELL AND THEY TAKE THE SOULS OF DEAD HUMANS THERE.
ReplyDeleteOr it's just influenced by their subconscious, and horns/claws are some of the first things someone would think of that have to do with additions to their bodies that has to do with what she can change.
But the hell angle sounds more interesting.
As I understood it, it was her suddenly having the ability and she was in a panicked state at that time. Some people upon realizing their power, it has been said, accidentally gave themselves brain damage, and to that end, i believe it is random how a mutation users ability first manifests
ReplyDeleteShhh! Stop disproving my unfounded hypothesis! :(
ReplyDeleteWhen it rains it pours.
ReplyDeleteI would guess the sub-conscious has a lot to do with it. In this case, she was frightened...and she grew claws and horns. Seems she might have more fight in her than it seems. She went for the means to fight back. Whether she realizes it or not.
ReplyDelete