why it took so long for you to experience the complete change and I believe itmay be more complicated than the Resurrectio.”
“What advantage would cause one of us to remain defenseless for so long?”
“I suspect it was an evolutionary advantage. Our children blend in without fear of other humans hunting them down. One of our children would be an infant for forty years and a toddler for another fifty if they were born with our slow aging process, or a hundred other reasons and combinations of the above. The point is that no one really knows, but I tell you this: when a child is born there is a celebration and that child is protected with ferocity for twenty or so years. We have very few children, no more than four in a lifetime.” She takes a moment to escape story hour as if lost in grief, but quickly recovers. “I sense the inquisition in your heart, but I can go no further on that detail, as Cassius will want that privilege. We need to hunt because you have had the taste and need to feed." No argument there.
We pass the frozen paddleboats and I get a whiff of the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy. Those restaurants prey on the sweet-toothed and tight-belted… The world is filled with predators. The wind is nearly deafening. I tilt my head slightly to the left for a moment of silence and am rewarded by a distant echo of our four drunken party girl’s giggles rolling over the ice like mist.
We stride through streets turning from Pratt Street to Caroline, then here and there, never really with an aim or direction, eventually stopping in front of some three-story row houses that still strut their original brick with antique pride. These skillfully constructed buildings remind me that this is the city of Edgar Allen Poe. Emotionally tortured, imaginatively macabre, and mentally unstable… he should have been one of us.
Percy says, “I need you to not lose focus so easily, Adriel.” I love when she speaks my name. Oh look… shiny object. “Be attentive to your surroundings. Look with your new eyes. Listen, smell, and even feel the vibrations formed from sloppy walking. Some of us have better senses than others, as we are all not identical in our talents. Yet, don’t let that knowledge create an avenue for laziness. All senses need nurturing and use to function at a high level.”
I appreciate her lessons, but don’t enjoy feeling like a child. I think she understands the misstep and adjusts. “We need to scan the streets from above. Climbing is not a problem for our kind. Watch.” Before the word reaches my ear, she had jumps to the lip on the second-level window and crouches down with knees bent as the fresh snow kindly pillows her arrival, suffocating any sound. I feel the tension spring release from her legs as she slices through the thick air, grabbing the gutter edge with her hands, and in the continuity of momentum, swings to a resting place on the roof. She gives me a challenge, signaling me to follow.
I loosen my grip, shake out my hands to hemorrhage a little tension, and take a couple of steps back to make certain I have enough speed to make the jump. I roll my neck and hear an overdue crack, bounce my knees in preparation, and as I begin lift off, my memory balks at the misuse. I muster all my concentration, persuading the wind to assist me, and I’m rewarded as I jump with uncontained strength while the wind wraps around me, nudging in appreciation of the unexpected attention. My ears pop from the shift in air pressure while rising with hands outstretched as if I am worshipping the wind god above. The exhilaration overwhelms me and is thanked with a grin of pure satisfaction.
That’s how I land, with shit-eating grin and hair tangled from a possessed blow dryer. I’d use ponytails, but I just can’t bear to relive the ‘80s. I land, expecting adulation, but find Percy in serious thought, piecing together a puzzle.
She asks, “How did you do that?”
Utilizing my real gift… annoyance, I
“What advantage would cause one of us to remain defenseless for so long?”
“I suspect it was an evolutionary advantage. Our children blend in without fear of other humans hunting them down. One of our children would be an infant for forty years and a toddler for another fifty if they were born with our slow aging process, or a hundred other reasons and combinations of the above. The point is that no one really knows, but I tell you this: when a child is born there is a celebration and that child is protected with ferocity for twenty or so years. We have very few children, no more than four in a lifetime.” She takes a moment to escape story hour as if lost in grief, but quickly recovers. “I sense the inquisition in your heart, but I can go no further on that detail, as Cassius will want that privilege. We need to hunt because you have had the taste and need to feed." No argument there.
We pass the frozen paddleboats and I get a whiff of the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy. Those restaurants prey on the sweet-toothed and tight-belted… The world is filled with predators. The wind is nearly deafening. I tilt my head slightly to the left for a moment of silence and am rewarded by a distant echo of our four drunken party girl’s giggles rolling over the ice like mist.
We stride through streets turning from Pratt Street to Caroline, then here and there, never really with an aim or direction, eventually stopping in front of some three-story row houses that still strut their original brick with antique pride. These skillfully constructed buildings remind me that this is the city of Edgar Allen Poe. Emotionally tortured, imaginatively macabre, and mentally unstable… he should have been one of us.
Percy says, “I need you to not lose focus so easily, Adriel.” I love when she speaks my name. Oh look… shiny object. “Be attentive to your surroundings. Look with your new eyes. Listen, smell, and even feel the vibrations formed from sloppy walking. Some of us have better senses than others, as we are all not identical in our talents. Yet, don’t let that knowledge create an avenue for laziness. All senses need nurturing and use to function at a high level.”
I appreciate her lessons, but don’t enjoy feeling like a child. I think she understands the misstep and adjusts. “We need to scan the streets from above. Climbing is not a problem for our kind. Watch.” Before the word reaches my ear, she had jumps to the lip on the second-level window and crouches down with knees bent as the fresh snow kindly pillows her arrival, suffocating any sound. I feel the tension spring release from her legs as she slices through the thick air, grabbing the gutter edge with her hands, and in the continuity of momentum, swings to a resting place on the roof. She gives me a challenge, signaling me to follow.
I loosen my grip, shake out my hands to hemorrhage a little tension, and take a couple of steps back to make certain I have enough speed to make the jump. I roll my neck and hear an overdue crack, bounce my knees in preparation, and as I begin lift off, my memory balks at the misuse. I muster all my concentration, persuading the wind to assist me, and I’m rewarded as I jump with uncontained strength while the wind wraps around me, nudging in appreciation of the unexpected attention. My ears pop from the shift in air pressure while rising with hands outstretched as if I am worshipping the wind god above. The exhilaration overwhelms me and is thanked with a grin of pure satisfaction.
That’s how I land, with shit-eating grin and hair tangled from a possessed blow dryer. I’d use ponytails, but I just can’t bear to relive the ‘80s. I land, expecting adulation, but find Percy in serious thought, piecing together a puzzle.
She asks, “How did you do that?”
Utilizing my real gift… annoyance, I
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