CHAPTER 19

            “You said ‘Tuesday’ morning.  It is now Tuesday afternoon.”

            “I can read a clock,” Simon said dryly, not looking up from his phone.

            “WELL.  You said you would make a decision about the app Tuesday morning.  It is Tuesday afternoon.  What’s your decision?”

            “Are dragons always this obstinate?”

            Obstinate… obstinate… Oh!  “Yes.  We are stubborn by nature.  And you are not going to distract me,” she told him plainly.

            Simon finally put down his phone.  “I just sent out the inquiry to the priesthood.  I did mention that the dragon court might send someone to investigate our… situation.  Hopefully – I just started a bureaucratic feud between those powers.”

            “Cool.  What’s your decision?”

            Simon’s mouth twitched.  “… Fine.  It’s not like we have a choice.  It’s not like we have anything else up our sleeves.  Would you call your sisters, please?”

            Sagacity inhaled.  “… ODD!  TEN!  FAMILY MEETING!”

            They came hurrying down the steps a minute later.  “We just had one,” Odd objected.

            “Chris is not family,” Sagacity said stubbornly.

            “And Jasper?”  Ten went to the sink and scrubbed her hands clean from working on her windowsill plants.

            “He doesn’t want to be family.  I would happily marry that sweet man,” Sagacity said, pouting.

            Simon’s violent cough had them all fretting over him in a second.  “Y-You’re ten, Sagacity!”

            “Do you want me to lie?”  Sagacity shook her head.  “Dragons don’t lie.  … not when we don’t have to.  Lies are annoying and complicated.  We don’t do annoying.”

            “Dragons don’t do a lot of things.  Like patience,” Simon grumbled.

            “This is true,” she agreed.

            They waited.  After five minutes, the words came from him, pained and full of uncertainty.  “I will activate the app.  For all three of you.”

            Sagacity frowned as Odd whooped with triumph.   “What about their age requirements?  I thought you have to be nine years old.  Their birthdays aren’t happening for months yet.”

            Simon tried to look nonchalant.  “I got the notifications about two months ago.  Their mental ages seem to have overridden that… requirement.”

            Sagacity was shocked and offended.  “Wait – I got delayed, and they jumped ahead?  That’s not fair!”

            “Take it up with the tree,” Odd said, grinning.

            Simon cleared his throat.  “Let’s get this over with.  Odd – how long can you numb an area from pain?”

            “Two minutes.  I can’t do it again for a long time after, though.  I timed it the last time I fell off the tree.”

            Simon ignored that last bit.  “If you would – numb your wrists.”

            Sagacity had wanted the app activated for a long time and it felt anti-climactic when Simon lifted the app’s hold.  A golden rose bloomed on Odd and Ten’s wrists.  They got their first tattoos completely pain-free.  The coveted screen appeared at her touch.  For Sagacity it read: WELCOME TO DIVINITY MANAGEMENT – WARDEN EDITION.

            Odd and Ten’s screens were similar, but different.  Odd’s screen read ‘WELCOME TO DIVINITY MANAGEMENT – HUNTER EDITION while Ten’s screen read ‘WELCOME TO DIVINITY MANAGEMENT – APOTHECARY EDITION’.

            Despite his reluctance, Simon looked intrigued and moved to stand behind them, looking over their shoulders.

            “Before you get into anything, go to General Settings and activate everything in there, please.”

            Sagacity obediently active both ‘Party Tracking’ and ‘Stranger Danger’, which were the only options available for her.  Then she opened up the ‘Skill Management’ section.  She had one ability: ‘Territorial Detection’.

            Simon stared at Odd’s screen.  They all did, after reading her one ability: ‘Blade Immunity’.  “That’s good… but rather… troubling,” Simon said carefully after clearing his throat.

            “Immu… Immunit… Immunity?  What’s that?”

            “I think it’s saying you can’t get hurt by blades… like swords and stuff,” Ten murmured, looking impressed.

            Odd’s eyes gleamed.  “Fantastic.”  She jumped up and ran to the kitchen.  “I’m going to try it!”

            “ODD!  DON’T YOU DARE!”

            Sagacity watched, amused, as Simon leaped over the couch to stop Odd, who had already reached the knife block in the kitchen.  Dragons naturally had blade immunity, but Simon had never seen young dragons throw knives at each other as a game.  He wasn’t prepared for the sight of a little girl grabbing a steak knife and dragging it across the back of her hand.

            He nearly crumpled to the floor in shock when Odd cheered, showing him the ruined blade.  “It really works!  This is fantastic!”

            Ten ran to comfort Simon, who was pressing a hand to his chest and gasping.  Sagacity shook her head.  Simon would be fine.  Odd had done more terrifying stunts.

            She slipped out the back door into the early evening.  The Natalia’s branches swayed, almost as if in greeting.  Touching the bark, Sagacity closed her eyes and quietly asked the Natalia for permission to climb her heights.  The Natalia tree never responded, but it was tradition to show respect.

            Natalia trees were in constant bloom all year round.  The branches were thorned, but its boughs were smooth and strong.  She climbed the Natalia tree easily, using the natural pockets and grips mapped by years of trial and error.  She reached the top and steadied herself, looking out over Greybridge.

            She’d always been able to see the entirety of the town from this height, but now – a faint white line glowed in her vision, showing Greybridge as the ‘outskirts’ of the Mad Wood’s territory.  Darlene’s was the largest, flattest building in town.  The middle and high school were the next largest buildings.  She could see Mr. Gallo’s territory, with its two large parks, a pond, and rows of steep-roofed townhomes. 

            The fae territory was the smallest, with a crumbling well in the center of a thicket garden.  It was a dense, wild-looking space layered with small trees and shrubs that housed thousands of fae.  There was a single cottage next to the well, which only the local fae king could call home.

            The vampyres lived in the part of town furthest from the water, in duplexes built under tall, shady trees.  The vampyre elder lived in the sprawling manor in the heart of their district.

            The main street that connected their cottage to Darlene’s was lined with shops and businesses.  Darlene’s also housed a few administrative offices within its walls.  Mrs. Chang and her husband lived in that neutral area, along with other solitary-type beastkin in charming apartments above the shops.

            Past Greybridge lay other towns that eventually led to the capital city, Eglantine – nestled in the embrace of the Ottobourne mountain range.  Sagacity’s family had lived in a cave a short distance north of the city.  She remembered her parents flying freely to and from the city every day, and her mother promising to start flying lessons when she turned thirteen.  She turned slightly, away from the mountains in the distance.  She didn’t want to remember Eglantine… not yet. 

            Their fence was built right over a dark green line marking the core territory of the Wood.  Turning slightly, she saw the green line encompass the entire Wood, which was at least five times the size of Greybridge.  She couldn’t see the monsters; the canopy was too thick, but her heightened senses could feel them moving between the trees.  She could also feel… them.

            “Mama… Papa…”  She couldn’t see them, but she knew that they were both together – at the center of the wood.  It had been five years.  They should be no more than skeletons now, but the Mad Wood would keep them ‘alive’ until not even dark magic could keep their bones stitched together.

            She could feel her eyes getting wet.  Blinking back tears, she squinted at the western edge of the Wood’s territory.  Her vision showed two red dots pushing at the line, making it pulse yellow.  She focused on them and she could suddenly see them very clearly, as if they were standing mere feet away.  They were beastkin, of the were-bear variety.  They were large and lumbering, with chunks of their bodies missing, showing bone and rot.  After a few minutes of pushing against an invisible wall, they slunk back, defeated, into the Wood’s shadows.