Mountains Vast and a Kingdom So Red

Chapter 18

I cry from happiness; my heart crests with amazement. Coming back to him will be like coming back to air. Now it is settled; I have to visit him.

Grenia and I ride bikes together on the pathway of bow four, umbrellas tucked in our baskets to protect us from the elements; we have yet to enjoy a fully sunny day. Above our heads are a colony of flying beetles, the wind whipping through their wings. Bordering the pathway are trees with dark, sturdy trunks and empty branches with husks melted ice. She passes me and calls out "we are almost there!" In turn, my feet keep peddling. We park our bikes fourteen kilometers past the sign that reads: Hammock Grove, and then assess which hammocks we want to lie in.

Numerous people stretch their limbs on hammocks, most of them in the same loose garments as Grenia and me. A few men kick an inflatable ball in the dirt and one women scratches the head of a calico kitten passing by. The kitten purrs and stands guard when a scrufffy dog starts yipping at her. A tandem hammock the color of cream and sporting poofy pockets snares my attention and Grenia agrees it is the best one. Her hand grasps the fabric so she can get on and I do the same, smiling once I feel a pillow. "This is what all the clamor is about," she muses, hair fanning out.

"I received postage from Leviys," I can barely contain myself. "He wants me to visit him."

"He said that? He say when?"

"Now. His schedule is open, so I imagine his family will accommate me."

She nods. "They have to. Princess Mikah does not sleep outside."

"I could sleep here," I say with bravodo but then she reminds me of the termites, mosquitos and frogs so I give in.

"Leviys may be a wolf, but I imagine the place he sleeps is nice and homey."

"In my school, a few grades back we spoke of the shifters in the Thewren" She halts her thought when she rummages through my basket for provisions. I sit on my hands as she eats a slice of cheese. "Unfortunately, the details in the books are historical, so I suppose I am not the authority."

"Yes, well, any information is helpful."

"There are two packs. The Blood pack which is helmed by the blood royalty, the alpha and the alphaness, and then the secondary pack, the Fang pack who separated from the original pack a couple hundred years ago. The Blood pack considers themselves to all be relatives, to all by a family, whereas the Fangers reject that position and consider themselves a community. While the Fang pack prefers not to associate with the Blood members, and get to govern themselves, they still have to obey the Blood pack's laws and they must renounce titles or else they'll be slaughtered. In war time, the packs reunite. But since you will be visiting during peace time, you might be learning where exactly your wolf resides." Grenia smirks, basking in her knowledge.

"There is no possibility I can sail there."

"You are not implying you'd travel alone?"

"No, of course I will have my, uh, sentries. But it will be much wiser to teleport."

"Oh." She raises her brow and startles when the kitten jumps on our hammock. No one at the grove appears to recoginze me, or if they do, they have no desire to pause their laziness for a haggle, but I still exercise caution by lowering my voice.

"I teleported among continents before, and I lived. Some of my personal readings theorized that degree of magic will tear a bewitched human apart, ending her life in a bloody, gruesome mess, and there was a bewitched man who wrote his own account where he had migrains after. Another account stated she lost part of herself, her mental capacity dwindled and her wand became a paper weight more than anything."

"And you think yourself above these accounts?"

Sighing, I resolve to gaze down instead of at her. "My ancestors are all bewtiched, my parents are both bewitched, supposedly my siblings and I are some of the most gifted beings in Ganymede."

"But you do not know that is why you survived!"

"Grenia, there has not been a single reading with the words to say, but I do not know if this spell needs utterance. When I used my wand to teleport to the four winged castle, all that flooded me was an image of home."

She shakes her head, placing the kitten close to her chest. "I believe I know where this is headed."

"Please ask your professors. Do you not have an independent research project in grade 12? No one will be suspicious."

"Ask them what?"

"For long distance teleportation, do you have to have been there before?"

"For your health, I hope yes."

"Are you insinuating my health is better off without delirious amounts of sex?"

Grumbling she adds: "I doubt the spell hinges on familiarity with the place. You can make clothes exist without knowing where they're coming from."

"That is true," I say.

"But you have to be grounded in something, there must be thought. I think we have two tasks before your travel. I ask my professors for guidance and you ask wolf boy to send you something of his that is the essence of his home." After her words hit me I kiss her cheek.

"Grenia, I could cry. Thank you."

"Do not move forward with the plan until he gives you what you need." She says. "I have good news, my family and I are visiting the Masters of Sirens and Squid." Her parents must have been saving digicoins for a while; nonetheless I know she will have a nice time.