“I'm sorry for the way I acted.” Liam said into my hair, muffling his voice a little. “I shouldn't... no, we, shouldn't have acted that way to you.” He was right. They shouldn't have. I knew they all adore Grandfather. Who wouldn't? He spoiled his family very much and I know they don't know what he did to me, and even if it was a reason I couldn't explain, they should have known that something was wrong.

“It's alright, well no it's not, but thank you Liam.” He released me from his grip, looking at me with guilty eyes. I ruffled his hair and wipes my tears away. It was a silly thing to cry over and it seemed like I was going to have my nickname said more now. “Ahem.” I coughed, picking up the arrow and bow. Now was the time to try this. I put on my guard and straighten myself out. I placed the arrow and pulled back. I calmed my breathing and focus on the tree in front of me.

As I let my breath out, I let the arrow fly, the string making a tingling sound. It flew so fast, I didn't even see it go and thought for a quick moment that it actually fell. That was when I heard a monstrous wolfs howl, it was so loud it made me cover my ears. A silver light appeared and then the trees in front of us exploded. Liam and I stood there, mouths agape in a wide eyed stunned silence. Debris landed around us from the destroyed trees and ground. Master, at some point, had turned into his human form and put a shield around us so that we didn't get hit. My ears were ringing, but I could hear muffled screams and yells. I turned towards Liam and I was sure our faces matched at that moment with looks of “Oh crap!”

“Mallory! Liam!” I heard my mothers screams and was forcibly hugged from behind, almost butting heads with Liam. She turned me around and back again, looking me over to make sure I wasn't hurt, tears starting to form in her eyes. She did the same thing to Liam and looked up at Master. “What on earth happened!?”

“The arrows given to My Lady seemed to have an abilities.” He calmly said, dusting my clothes. Mothers head snapped to the bow I was holding in my hand and I tried hiding it behind me.

“Ah! I see!” Grandfather said, coming to stand next to Master, surveying the damage. Father was giving Liam and I a double look, making sure mother didn't miss anything.

“My Lady should've been told about this, General.” Masters voice was calm, but the sheer pressure of the heavy atmosphere had a clear warning behind it. Grandfather looked at him, eyes sharp, as he started letting out a green aura. Master started to let out some of his dark purple aura and faced Grandfather head on.

“Stop!” Mother snapped, standing in between them. “You scaring the children more than they already are!” I was impressed with her. I could handle this, but Liam was as white as a sheet, holding onto father with shaking hands. Father was also pale, but he brought me and Liam closer to him. Mother was shaking a little but that didn't stop her. I glanced over at Master and shook my head a little. He complied and stepped back.

“Yes madam.” He put a hand over his heart and gave a little bow. “But, I still hold onto my earlier statement. My Lady should've been told about the powers the arrows hold.”

“Daughter, please, I was going to tell her. When it was time to show me her skills.” Grandfather said, trying to calm Mother down, taking his aura away. “I didn't think she would use them now.” All eyes were on me now.

“W-well... I didn't think...” I stumbled, trying to figure out what to say. “I just thought they were normal! Pretty, but normal! Right Liam!?” Yes, that is right, I was bringing him into this. He nodded his head agreeing with me.

“They're very pretty!” Listen brother... that is not what I was trying to get you to agree with. My dead panned face made him wince “But we didn't think they'd be like that!” Thank you, geez. I shook my head a little and rolled my eyes.

“And what made you think you could use them now? With no adults around you?” Fathers voice was deadly quiet. Ah... I messed up.

“Master was.... here.” I semi lied, looking away. It wasn't a lie, Master was here the entire time, but he only came into his human form a few moments ago. So for Liam, who didn't know about plushie Master, Master wasn't here, even though he was! Liam slowly nodded his head, looking at me, confusion in his eyes. My parents both let out heavy sighs. My Mother had a hand on her forehead, eyes tightly closed.

“Father, what was that?” She changed the subject looking up at him.

“Lycan's Scream.” He simply said. “It seems to work very well.”

“Lycan's Scream?” I repeated looking at the crater in our once lovely forest. To me... that was freaking bomb.

“Yes, I had it made so that you could defend yourself, among other things.” He seemed somewhat proud of the damage I had caused with that arrow.

“Against what!?” Mother shrieked, face red.

“Well, she's a daughter of an archduke and a granddaughter of a duke and general. There might be a time she needs this.” Grandfather said, trying to reason with mother. Mother stomped her foot and growled.

“Mallory,” I looked up at Father. “You aren't allowed to practice with these unless you have a barrier around you, understood?”

“Yes Father.” I could agree with that. A barrier could've prevented the devastation over there. I wondered if they were going to call in earth magicians to fix this.

“In any case!” Grandfather impatiently waved away Mother. “Mallory, have you called it back?” I shook my head, I didn't know I could. Also... I kind of thought it was gone for good. He tapped the side of his head. “Just think, 'To me' and it'll go back into your satchel.”

I looked to where it went. “To me” I thought. There was a small flash of silver as the arrow placed itself back with the others. Grandfather picked up my satchel and snagged one of the blue feathered ones.

“These will land where ever you want them to. Even if you can't see the destination. Like the silver feathered arrow they'll come back to you when called. They turn into little green finches.” He proudly looked at the arrows. Finches were cute, and having it as a bird was an Aderlyn's calling card, so I could understand why he had them designed them that way, but my birds were Cyanocitta cristata's or simply put, Blue Jays.

“But her bird...” I placed my hand on Liam's shoulder, shaking my head. It was no use. The manifestation of my Blue Jays happened when I was five, so it was a well known fact, but if Grandfather used Finches instead meant that he didn't care. Everyone manifested birds around the same age. Mason's was a Large Owl, Julius had a Loon. Lucas's was a Eclectus Parrot and Liam's was a Guinea Turaco. My cousin's also manifested theirs. Amelia's bird was a peacock and Emily's was a humming bird. My birds were kind of a mockery against the Aderlyn's family color. Maybe I had offended him with my Blue Jays...? Not that I had any control over that. But instead of being all green, they had a bit of light blue in their gleam.

“Finches will be more agile.” Both Liam and I looked up at Grandfather, surprised by his response. He put the arrow back and handed the satchel to me and began giving orders to the servants. Father asked Master and some knights to escort us back to the house because he and mother needed to stay with grandfather to figure out what to do.

When we were inside we got bombarded with frantic shouts from our siblings, demanding to know what happened. I was de-stringing my bow as Liam informed them of the details.

“Honestly, Mallory.” Lucas heavily sighed, glaring at me.

“'Honestly, Mallory', what? I had no way of knowing!” I raised an eyebrow, agitated.

“You could have waited for Grandfather!” He snapped at me. He stomped his way to stand in front of me, crossing his arms. “But, no. You had to be a spoiled brat and blow up our yard.” I snorted. Was he trying to intimate me by acting like this? Please, brother! That has long since been ineffective... I stared right back up at him, crossing my arms to match.

“Of course! Because that's all I am to you after all, right?”

I could tell that he was really angry with me now, balling his fists, eyes starting to turn shine. I slowly smiled.

“Whoa!” I gasped, as my world quickly turned around and up. Master had lifted me up and held me in his arms.

“I will be taking My Lady to go calm down. You should do the same Master Lucas.” He stated and started walking away without a glance back. I watched Lucas grimace and look down. This was a curious reaction. I saw Julius wrap his arm around Lucas's shoulders, mouthing something to him. The distance grew between us quickly as Master quickly made his way away from them and everyone else. Master took me back to the Library, a safe haven and gently sat me down in the chair I had been using for research.

“Your Grandfather,” He paused trying to figure out how he want to word it, “I still greatly dislike him.” I nodded in agreement. “I reacted poorly towards Master Lucas because of that, I will properly apologize later to him.” He brushed his dark purple hair back, sighing.

“Lucas started it...” I defended Master's action. Master shook it head.

“Back to the topic of your Grandfather... I know I should forgive him, but it's-”

“HA!” Looking up at him incredulously, I loudly gave out a short laugh.

“I said forgive, not forget, My lady.” He knelt in front of me, keeping his black eyes on mine. “It will be hard.”

“Hard?!” More like undo-able!” Forgive a man who ruthlessly killed his own granddaughter so that she could take the fall for someone else? No. Nope. Not happening. A small sigh escaped Master lips, his eyes downcast for a moment before bringing them back up to gently look at me.

“We'll see.” His smile was kind as he brought me into a hug. I hugged him back tightly. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me heart to heal. If I forgave Grandfather, then I could start moving on and not hold onto the unbearable grudge I had. But that was much harder to actually do than just thinking of doing. It made my wonder if this man slash sometimes stuffed horse had actually forgiven Grandfather. I laid my cheek on his shoulder, exhaling, exhaustion from the day's events starting to take hold.

Master scooped my up, bring me to the window seal seat. He plopped me down, grabbed a pillow and blanket off one of the resting chairs and brought them to me. He then vanished and came back just as quickly with a book in hand. “The Wonders of Fairytales Vol. 2” Master, in a swirl of purple smoke, transformed back into my stuffed horse plushie.

“Show off.” I laughed as I set him in my lap, getting all comfy with the pillow and blanket. I opened the book and started to read aloud. The first chapter was about a sleeping prince who would awake to a darkened kingdom. He would have to gather friends and find a why to bring light to his world again...

Apparently at some point I had fallen asleep, skipped dinner, and was brought to my room because I woke up the next day... hungry. I sat up in my bed, yawning and stetching. Today was going to another exhausting day. Actually.... for the this whole month was going to be. Grandfather liked to stay this length every time he visited. I groaned and flopped back down on my bed and buried my face into my pillows. My stomach growled in protest, making my grumble in annoyance. After kicking my legs and flailing my arms for a moment, I got out of bed and got ready for the day.

I turned to grab Master after brushing my hair, when I realized he wasn't there. I called for him and looked around my room. When no answer came, I raced out of my room and down the hallway. I was jumping steps when I collided with a maid who was walking up them. I apologized, made sure she was okay, and ran at full speed to the library. I heard the maid say something, but I was to concern to fully understand what she said, nor listen...