Larue had been polishing the canine of a coyote when she felt a wave of nausea roll over her. When it happened for the second time and then a third in quick succession, she was certain that someone with her coin – most likely Basil – was summoning her. The sickness that had grow suddenly in her stomach made her head spin. Larue hated being summoned. It always felt like an unwanted hangover. She put down the tooth that she had been working and stood up clutching her stomach. The quicker she got to the coin the better, as it was designed to make the summoned feel less ill the closer they got to the summoner. She was already dressed and prepared for a hike, so all she had to grab was her bow, arrow holster, and mask. She affixed the mask to her face as she walked out the door to her cabin.

She followed the pull of the coin for a while, until her nausea was virtually non-existent. She had to be close. Larue decided to take to the trees instead walking along the forest floor. By doing that she would have a better field of view and could attack if necessary. She ran along the thick upper branches of red wood trees for less than five minutes before she spotted two people on the ground below her. The light of the slowly receding revealed their young faces. She could tell that one of them was the boy, but she did not recognize the girl. Rather than announce her presence, she sat down on a tree branch about 50 feet above them and opened her mind. She felt her connection to the forest around her deepen as she did. She heard the whispering of the trees, the little animals that were hidden from view, and even the groaning of the mountain’s stones. She also started to hear a trickle of thoughts from the pair below her.

“…what was that guy any way. He was just like mom – well kind of like mom. Not the same magic. Not a Thunderbird. Something else. Should I tell Basil? No, he’d freak out. Then again, the guy didn’t follow us. Oh god, what if he did something to me? Or Basil. Should I throw out the card…”

“…wonder when she is going to get here. Hope she doesn’t shoot me again. Don’t want to get hurt. Wouldn’t care though. She was so pretty. Hope she talks to me again. Want to hear her voice again. Man, I’m getting hungry, should I ask Birdie for more food…”

Larue shook her head. These two had so much to learn. If she could hear them anything stronger than her could. She stood up and briefly judged the distance to the ground before hoping down. She landed directly in front of them lightly. The girl – Birdie – gave a short yelp.

“…is this her? Black eyes...not normal. What’s with the mask? Is that a real skull? Oh gross.” She clearly had no idea that Larue could hear her. Larue wondered if Basil had purposefully left out that detail. She looked between the Basil and Birdie. Despite the difference of sex, they were quite similar. Larue surmised that they must be twins.

“Are you…Larue?” Birdie asked her.

“I am,” Larue replied in a deep voice. She removed her mask and stared into the girl’s stormy gray eyes. They looked like her father’s. And Mapiya’s. “I don’t recalling giving you the coin, girl. I gave it to him.”

Larue pointed at Basil, who was looking between them.

“Who are you calling girl,” Birdie responded. “You’re like the same age as us. Plus, Basil is deaf. He didn’t trust that he would pronounce your name correctly, so I did it.”

“…Basil couldn’t do it. Can’t speak. Only I could do it…”

Larue smirked, but said nothing. If only this girl knew exactly how old she was. Her Fae blood made her virtually immortal and she didn’t age like humans. Larue wanted to ask the girl how old she thought her mother was just for laughs. She also knew that Birdie had taken it upon herself to do the summoning. Birdie’s thoughts had betrayed her. She didn’t trust her brother enough.

“Your brother could have done it. He only had to speak the words in his mind,” Larue said. “The summoning was his right. Lack of hearing is irrelevant.”

“Well, you still came, didn’t you?” Birdie responded arrogantly.

Larue decided that she like Birdie, even if the girl had a bit of a temper. She smiled a little bit wider, showing off her serrated teeth. If Birdie didn’t smell so strongly of Mapiya and her brother, Larue might have tried to eat her. She liked feisty food.

Since Larue had arrived Basil had stood off to the side and watched the conversation. However, he seemed to be solely focused on Larue. Had she been about 200 years younger, Larue might have faltered beneath his gazed. She barely registered it now though. She knew what infatuation looked like and she was sure it was a result of her abilities rather than her person. Basil looked like he wanted to say something to her, so she acknowledged him.

“Hello Basil,” she spoke directly into his mind. His eyes lit up.

“Larue,” he said, stepping closer to her and Birdie. “It’s nice to…um…meet you. You know, for real this time.”

His internal voice was pleasant to listen to. It was warm and deep and masculine. Also, gravely in a wonderful way. She decided that some people just have attractive voices. His was a voice that she could listen to all day without issue.

“I was just telling your sister that you could have done the summoning,” Larue told him.

“Oh, I know,” he replied. Larue cocked an eyebrow. “I read your lips.”

“Interesting,” was all that she said in return.

At this point, Larue was getting flashes of feeling from Birdie’s mind. Anger. Annoyance. Fear. Even jealously. It made it hard for her to focus on her conversation with Basil. She looked back at Birdie.

“Well Birdie, I suppose you’re right. I did come,” Larue said. “Now, I think its time you both come back with me. Night will soon fall and, offense meant, I do doubt your fighting abilities.”

Birdie scoffed at her words. Larue watched brother and sister have a quick conversation in sign language before the pair turned back to her and shouldered their bags. They waited in silence. Larue turned around and started towards home with the twins in tow. She didn’t put her mask on, but instead chose to carry it in her hand.

“Why did you not tell your sister that you could hear me?” Larue asked Basil. “It would save time. Did you not mention it before?”

“I did,” he explained. “But, I think she thinks its just a dream walking thing.”

“Will you tell her now?” Larue questioned. She didn’t care either way. Basil’s secrets were his to keep. Just as Birdie’s mystery man was her own problem. Larue looked back behind her under the guise of checking on the twin’s progress, but really it was to catch Basil’s eye for his answer. Basil looked to be thinking hard.

“I’ll tell her eventually,” he said.

When they were about 10 minutes from Larue’s cabin Birdie spoke up, lengthening her steps to catch up to her. Larue and Birdie were about the same height, but Larue walked faster.

“How did you know my name?” Birdie asked. “Earlier, I mean. I never said it, but you knew it anyway.”

Larue pondered her answer. She didn’t want to reveal that she read it in Basil’s thoughts because that would give away her secret. Also, she couldn’t lie. Fae couldn’t. She could, however, bend the truth a bit.

“Your brother said it when we met the first time,” she supplied. “During his dream walking he said that his sister’s name was Birdie. You smell and look enough like him to be his sister. Therefore, you must be Birdie.”

The girl seemed satisfied enough with her answer and the group fell back into silence for the moment, at least for Basil and Birdie. Larue was still able to hear the unfiltered fragments of both of their thoughts.

“…getting cold, sun will set soon. Tired, haven’t slept since before driving through California. Hope there’s food. Wonder what the sign is? Jun. Jun. Jun…”

“…Hope mom’s doing ok. Leg starting to hurt. Does Larue have anything for it? Probably. Seems intelligent. Survivor. Strong…”

Larue stopped walking for a minute and closed her eyes. She breathed deeply and focused on closing off her mind from nature. As she did, external and internal noise gradually started to fade away. She sighed; it was so much better not having to listen to both of their unintelligible streams of consciousness. She opened her eyes. Both Basil and Birdie were at her side.

“Are you okay?” Birdie asked her.

“I’m fine,” Larue responded. “I was just listening and checking something.”

It wasn’t a lie. She was listening to make sure that both their and nature’s internal voices went away. But, it wasn’t exactly the truth either. Larue pointed to a crop of treeless forest floor just up ahead.

“We’re here anyway,” she said, looking at them both.