"You are here on good behavior. The director allowed you here, but I am in charge of your case. You put a toe out of line, or even come within six feet of the other children, and you're out. Do you hear me?"
"I am not going to hurt anybody," he told her resentfully.
"Bullshit," she told him harshly. "This is a rehabilitation facility. You belong in a prison. Stay away from the other kids."
Rehabilitation facility with cells. Really, Riah thought. It was the highest-security juvenile facility Rhodera had, and hardly a 'rehabilitation facility'. And the others are no more vulnerable 'children' than I am.
"What is your name?" the woman asked him finally.
He met her eyes. "24601."
She stared at him for a moment, apparently missing the reference. She seemed to know he was being unhelpful, though. "Don't you dare give me sass, Juvie. You are here on my sufferance."
True, Riah realized. Be nice. "Yes, ma'am," he told her.
* * *
Wolf stared down at the woman and growled. He should've known she'd find him. So far she just seemed to want to chat, though.
"You're going to live with the wolves forever?" she asked him.
"Perhaps," Akela told her, hanging onto the trunk of the tree with one hand. "They are family." Sort of. At any rate the wolves had kept him alive for five years.
"But you are People, not a wolf," she argued. "Where is your People family?"
He bared his teeth at her angrily. "I am a wolf, not People," he told her harshly. "And my pack is here."
"You and I both know that that is not true," the woman told him, seemingly unaffected by his behavior. "You need to be with others of your kind."
"I am with others of my kind. Get out."
He was lying, he knew. Life with the wolves was safe, but it was lonely. He relished the times that he went into the human world as 'Mike', as risky as they were. But she didn't need to know that. He had no desire to go with her. The wolves might not've been the most fascinating company all the time, but they expected little of him, and fed him better than the People ever had. Where could this woman take him that would be worth it to him?
But the woman wasn't leaving. "You honestly believe that you are more wolf than People?" she asked, frowning.
"No," he told her more honestly. "But they've treated me better than my own family. Why should I leave them for a complete stranger?"
"We can teach you," she said.
Teach me? He'd left school when he was in fourth grade. There was no way any school would accept him. "Teach me what?"" he finally asked.
"Your magic," she told him. "You need to be taught-"
"I have no magic," he retorted, losing interest. Magic was something kings and nobles had. Rich, sophisticated folk who had the time to spend eight years doing nothing but lounging around in ivory towers. He had nothing to do with that world.
"And the wolves accepted you because you were pretty," she said sarcastically.
"The wolves accepted me because I am a wolf," he told her.
"And you think they cannot tell? Wolves don't usually accept new wolves into the pack. Why didn't they kill you?"
"They do sometimes," he retorted. "And I was young enough."
"And you think normal, nonmagical folk turn into wolves at will," she said flatly, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Were's do."
"Not at will," she told him. "And you're not a were. How do you think I found you?"
"Tracking," he told her.
"Using your magic," she told him. "How else would I have told you from the humans, or from the other wolves?"
"How should I know?" he told her. "I don't know anything from magic."
"And yet you claim so confidently that you cannot have it," she said.
He frowned at that.
"What is your name?" she asked him.
"Akela," he told her.
"From the Jungle Book," she said, smiling. "Are your parents fans?"
"My mother was," he told her shortly.
"Do you have a legal name?"
"Not that you need to know," he told her.
"Fair enough," the woman told him. "I am August. Won't you come down?"
Akela shook his head. "Thank you for your visit and your concern for my welfare," he told her coldly. "But I'm not interested. Please leave."
Finally August sighed. "I cannot force you," she told him. "But here." She held up a card to show him, then stuck it in a crevice in the bark of the tree. "That has my address on it. You know where the nearest Gate is?"
He nodded shortly.
"If you ever need help, go through the Gate. It shouldn't be hard to find from there."
"I won't need help," he told her.
"You know the average lifespan of a wolf in the wild is ten years?" she told him. "It's not because they're dying of old age, either. Keep that card."
* * *
'August' was staring off into the crowd after Thias, brow furrowed. Finally she turned back to Faith.
"I'm sorry, Faith," she told her. "Thias is brilliant, but his social skills need some work. I'll get you set up."
Set up for what? Faith wondered. "Yes, ma'am," she said neutrally.
The woman looked at her strangely. "So what did Thias tell you, about all of this?"
Faith looked at her silently, but the woman just kept waiting, and finally she decided to answer. "Nothing useful," she said shortly.
"Nothing? But you're here, surely he's told you where you're going?"
Faith just stared at her. I just said he didn't. Did you miss that?
"Did he at least tell you you're a witch?" the woman pursued.
I knew that much already, thank you. I was in a fucking mental institution.
"Oh, that man," the woman said. "Honestly. Get him on a mission and a meteor could hit. He wouldn't notice."
"He has to get his 'jailbird'," Faith said, frustration finally making itself known. "Like you have to get your wolf. And I'm actually a witch and this is a new world and you're not taking me to a new institution. How much of this crap do you two really expect me to believe?"
To Faith's surprise, the woman's face softened in sympathy. "This is going to be really strange, for awhile. But it's all the truth, honestly. In Rhodera, where we are now and of which Thias and I are subjects, all witches must achieve a cerain minimum level of training to ensure that their magic does not get out of hand. Usually witches pay for training at places like our school, the Ritten Center. Sometimes, though, for whatever reason, a witch needs help either getting to or paying for their school, or both, and we seek out the witches where they are. In this case, Thias and I have been sent to pick you up from the other side of things, in addition to a couple other students, to bring you to school. It's all paid for by the crown because they don't want untrained witches running around not knowing what they're doing."
Uh, huh, Faith thought sarcastically. "Soo...you're telling me your...'court'...is paying for you to teach me how to be a witch."
"Yes," August said. "That is what I am saying."
Faith snorted. "Witch? I'm the kind of witch that has six fingers and crazy hair and talks to animals, August."
"As opposed to...?" August asked her.
"As opposed to the 'double double toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes,' kind," she told her. "I'm the burn-the-little-old-lady-'cause-she's-weird sort of 'witch'. The only 'magic' I've done has been 'presto, watch me rearrange your face.'"
"You're wrong," August told her simply. "You are very much the brews and charms and curses type of witch, or you would not be here. You couldn't even get through the gates."
Faith opened her mouth to retort, unsure even what to say, but August cut her off. "Just look around, would you? You really think you can deny all of this?"
"That or rearrange my entire worldview," Faith told her, glancing around her at the arrivals hall. A woman who'd come in slightly behind her was being greeted enthusiastically by a six-inch-tall fairy. The man standing next to her had canines longer than Rodney's. The 'gate' she'd walked through didn't show the room she'd walked from.
"Take your time," August advised.
Faith paused for a moment, unsure what to say. "So...the wolf, the jailbird, and the lunatic," she said finally.
"Lunatic?"
"Thias picked me up from a mental institution," Faith told her bluntly. "Far as anybody else's concerned, I'm batshit crazy."
August looked at her seriously. "And what do you think?"
Faith scowled. "I think it was just easier to put me in a mental instition than to find another school that would take me," Faith told her bluntly. She was satisfied to see the woman wince. Don't ask if you don't want to hear the answer.
"Why would other schools not take you?" the woman asked.
Oh for the love of- "Use your blinking brain, Lady," Faith said, suddenly tired of talking. "I'm a witch. I look like a witch. I have twelve fingers and my hair has a mind of its own. Two hundred years ago I'd've been burned at the stake."
"And now you just get beat up?" the woman asked, giving her a piercing look. "What happened to your cheek?"
Oh, poor, poor Faith, bullied by her peers. "I rammed it into somebody's fist."
"In a mental institution?""
"Yeah," Faith answered her. "And they drugged the shit out of me for it, too."
"They drugged you?" Why?"
"After he rammed his groin into my knee and broke his nose on the floor, they thought we shouldn't play together anymore. Apparently I don't play well with others."
"Oh." The woman fell silent, after that.
Finally. Back the fuck off, lady.
* * *
"Hands!" the guard demanded.
Out on good behavior in twenty years, Riah reminded himself. Obediently, he passed both hands through the window. The guard slung cuffs around each of his wrists and locked them. Riah pulled his hands back in and waited for the door to open.
"Do I get to ask where you're taking me?" he asked the guard.
The woman barked out a laugh. "You can ask," she said, apparently in a high good mood.
"Not that you'll tell me," Riah grumbled.
"Nope," the guard said, grinning.
"You're a bitch," he informed her.
The grin disappeared. "And you'd better be respectful," she told him. "If I decided you were a threat, I could legitimately floor you."
And nobody'd report it, either, Riah knew. This place was as high-security as the juvenile prisons got. Keeping the prisoners in line was a priority. There were no real abuses, but... and all the guards were either werewolves or other similarly strong species. Riah would be strong, too, he knew, but he also know he was young. He couldn't hold a candle to any of them. And so I'd damned well better make friends, he told himself. "Sorry," he told her. "I'm just frustrated."
The guard looked at him for a moment. "I don't know where you're going," she told him. "As far as I knew, you were here until you were eighteen, and then you'd be transferred to regular. That's SOP."
But nothing with Riah appeared to stick to 'SOP'. They didn't quite know what to do with a juvenile offender who'd murdered in cold blood. They'd tried him as an adult, but somebody had objected to putting him in high-security prison with the men. So instead they'd put him in high-security juvenile, and just watched him carefully. For which I am properly grateful, Riah reminded himself. Keep your fucking nose clean.
* * *
Akela walked slowly down the river, placing his steps carefully to not slide down the bank. Finding what he was looking for, he smiled grimly at the cruel iron and snapped his stick down. The trap sprung, crushing two inches of green wood into a splintered and broken mass. Crouching down, he picked up the apple slices and carrots and ate quickly, savoring the sweetness that he didn't often get. Popular belief aside, berries were not abundant in the middle of the forest in northern New York state. On the rare occasion when he found fur traps, it was well worth it to seek them out.
Turning away from the last of the traps, Akela headed back further into the wolves territory. Suddenly there was a sickening snap and he went sprawling. He just realized that he'd missed disarming one of the traps when the wave of pain hit. He almost screamed when it did, but instinct took over and he clenched his teeth shut, forcing his fingers between the trap and his leg and pulling. The trap screeched open, and pulled his leg out as quickly as he could. Thank God I'm not really a wolf.
Fuck, what do I do now? The river was on the edge of his territory, bordering dangerously on that belonging to another pack. He was in no shape to fight it out with a territorial wolf. Which meant he had to move. Gripping a tree, Akela pulled himself to his feet, and let his bloodied ankle touch the ground. Searing pain made him sway, and swallow back bile. Swearing and almost falling, he grabbed a tree and picked it up again. God humans are made stupid. Crouching back down, Akela put his hands on the ground and found that he could hop, if very awkwardly. This is bad, he thought, suddenly fearful. He couldn't afford to be this slow. Steeling himself, Akela morphed back into his wolf form, once again clenching his teeth at the pain as the bones ground together in his mangled leg. But then he was wolf, and could manage on three legs. Hopping as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the pain, he set off for the den.
* * *
This is a school? Faith wondered. It looked more like one of those pretentious resorts that real estate agents tried to pass off as private homes. They were approaching it from behind, and even the back wall screamed wealth. There was a guard at the back gate, but he apparently recognized August and so let the two of them pass without challenge. As they passed him, Faith realized that he had one hand on the hilt of an actual sword. A sword? What the hell? Who the hell kept swords in this day and age? And the guard looked like he could use it, too. Still no good against a gun, though, Faith thought. 'New world' or not, this was a strange place.
If the outside of the wall screamed wealth, the inside was steeped in it. The yard -estate? - was huge, the house still a distance from them even inside the wall. It was planned like a garden, the flowering trees and shrubs labelled like they'd be in an arboretum, and she could see a greenhouse and formal gardens with fountains and actual topiaries closer to the house. As they walked, Faith realized that this was only one building, and that there were smaller ones dotted all over the place, some of them basic, and some almost as fancy as the main house. On this side of the building, people were scarce, but as they walked along the wall towards the further corner the pomp and circumstance faded, and Faith found herself looking around at a huge vegetable and herb garden and a surprisingly ramshackled old garden shed. Off to one side was a little wooden playset, with a set of swings and a ladder leading up to a platform in a tree.
"Home, sweet home," August told her, indicating a door set into the wall of the gigantic building. Home? Faith wondered, looking at the building with a critical eye. It looked so...normal. Despite the grandeur of the mansion if one looked at the whole thing, this little corner with its gardens and well-used playset somehow managed to evoke 'cottage'. I give it a week, Faith decided. Whatever the woman said, Faith didn't fit in places like this. Soon enough, the adults would figure it out, too, and find another place for her where she'd be 'happier'.
* * *
Riah sat in the office with hands and feet shackled, watching as a prison warden and a stranger discussed his future. Get used to it, Riah, he told himself. You're a convict. Released on good behavior in twenty years, remember?
"Riah has caused us no trouble, none at all, but he murdered a man in cold blood. You cannot expect us to simply - release him," the director told the new man bluntly. "He's in for twenty years. He's going right from here into prison!"
"I have dispensation from the crown," the man informed the director. "Riah is a very powerful witch. If he'd wanted to leave before this, he probably could've."
"A witch?" the director questioned, sounding alarmed. "Nobody told me that!"
"It was in his file," the man argued. "And he has proven he can kill with it. You may think you are equipped to deal with him, but you are not. I have orders to pick him up and take him someplace more secure. For that, you need to release him to my care. I am perfectly capable of controlling him if such is required."
More secure? Riah thought dumbly. Oh, no... "I've been good," he told both men nervously. "Honest. I've not done anything."
The man regarded him seriously. "Maybe. And maybe you're just waiting for your opportunity. But that is not the point."
"He's fifteen," the director told the man. "Surely you won't put him in the adult's prison?"
"No, not that," the man said. "I plan to put him in a school."
"A...a school?" the director stuttered. "You mean with kids?"
I don't hurt kids, Riah thought for about the thousandth time, before shaking his head. There was no point in him protesting, really. He'd killed a man. That made him a monster, not fit for normal company. They had no reason to believe that he wouldn't hurt anybody else.
The stranger looked straight at him, and Riah swallowed hard. "Yes, I mean with kids," he told Riah softly. His tone was gentle, but his eyes less so.
"I won't do anything," he told the man, grasping at the chance he was being given. "I...I don't hurt people."
The director snorted, but they both ignored him. "I'm afraid the evidence is severely against you on that point," the man said.
Riah closed his eyes for a moment. What was he supposed to say, that that was different? That he wouldn't hurt anyone else? He couldn't even tell the man that he'd done it by accident. "I know," he said finally.
"Then you know that this is an opportunity that you will only be given once."
"Yes, sir."
"You will be living in a house, with two small children and two other students your own age. The children are my children, do you understand?"
Riah stared into the man's eyes, feeling his heartbeat pick up at the coldness in the man's face and tone. The message was clear. If I so much as step on a kid's foot, I'm dead. "I killed an adult, okay?" he told the man angrily. "I'm not going to hurt a couple of helpless children."
The man nodded slightly. "We'll see," he said.
Why do I bother? Riah thought bitterly. As far as he's concerned, I'm some sort of psychopath. This was going to be great. Better than prison, he told himself. At least he'd be allowed to talk to people.
* * *
Two weeks, Akela thought, disgusted. The stupid card isn't even crinkled yet. But there was no way his leg was going to heal on his own. Even the wolves knew it, and approached him as one dying. He did not want to die. The woman had said to go out the nearest Gate, and that the address should be easy to find from there. Looking down at the card once more, Akela read it over again, just to make sure he had it well memorized.
August Pemberly
The Ritten Center for Magical Training and Control. (RCMTC)
Hammer Falls, New York
August Pemberly, Ritten Center for Magical Training and Control, Hammer Falls. Got it. Picking up the card, he put it in his plastic bag of books and set off on three legs to seek out this 'August Pemberly' who had promised him help.
* * *
"Go ahead and put your bag in one of the rooms upstairs," August said as Faith followed her into the kitchen. "The ones at the far end of the hallway are taken, but the rest are fair game. Just choose whichever you want. Please come down afterwards, though - we need to get you registered."
Feeling strange, Faith walked through the kitchen and into what looked like a living room before finding the stairway. Walking up, she found a wide hallway with doors on either side. Peeking into one, she found a smallish room, decorated in green, with a window that looked out towards the main house. Interested, she dropped her bag outside the door to look out the window. The immediate area was almost devoid of people, but the faint sound of a bouncing ball drew her attention further away, where a young boy played by himself in what looked like an open basketball court. A rich laugh drew her attention back closer, and she saw a tall, thin, older woman holding a baby on her lap as a little girl splashed in a small fountain. Leaving the window, Faith left the room to check out the others. They were all mostly the same: smallish, with white walls and thick carpeting in various colors and well-made wooden furnishings. The ones on the right side, though, looked out over the vegetable garden, rather than towards the open space, and Faith decided she liked that better. Looking through the three on that side, she found one that's window looked out directly into the tree with the platform, and put down her bag once again to look around. The room was nice, with cranberry-colored carpeting and oak furnishings. It was just slightly smaller than the others, but the easy ground access made up for that. Opening her backpack, she freed Rodney and gave him a boost up onto her shoulder before heading back downstairs.
* * *
"We are not coming back," the man told Riah shortly.
Riah looked at him strangely. "I realize that."
The man stared at him for a second. "That is all you wish to bring, then?"
Riah swallowed, then adopted an expression of distressed surprise. "Oh! No," he said. "I forgot my Magnum and heroine needles under the mattress in my cell. I'll just go back and get them, shall I?" He made to turn around, but the man's voice stopped him.
"You have no clothing at all? No - anything?"
Figured it out, did you? "Not unless you want us to go back and visit my Mum and pick them up," Riah told him, voice cheerful. "I wouldn't recommend it." And she's probably already got rid of it all, anyway. She'd not been happy to hear that her son had murdered her boyfriend. Funny that. "The jumpsuits belong to the prison."
"I see," the man said. "Come along, then."
* * *
Oww, fuck. Akela stopped briefly, panting, before gathering his courage and approaching the gate. Dropping the bag of books, he dug out the card and held it carefully in his teeth. Walking on three legs, Akela kept his head down and his tail tucked as he approached the guard at the gate. Finally the guard saw him, swearing and and drawing the sword at his side. Akela ducked his head lower, and whined, but kept coming forward so the man could see his limp. Please, man? I'm not gonna hurt anybody. When he was still ten feet away he stopped, and lay August's card on the ground, backing away again to let the guard read it. Without taking his eyes from him, the guard crouched to pick up the card, read it quickly, then barked out a name Akela didn't catch. Another guard came through the gate from inside, eyes widening as he took in Akela's huge form.
"Take my post," the first guard told the new one. "The wolf's one of August's lot."
"If you say so," the younger guard said, standing where the first guard had.
"Come, Wolf," the guard said. "There's still no way I'm letting you in there on your own."
No, Akela thought, picking up his books to follow him. I thought you'd let the big, scary, wolf go and eat the kiddies. Great.
* * *
"Ah, yes, the witch from the other side," the secretary said, not even looking up from her papers. She pulled a large ring-bound ledger from one side of the desk and opened to a new page.
"Name?" she inquired, obviously bored.
"Faith," August supplied.
The secretary huffed. "Full name?"
August looked at her. "Cassidy," Faith supplied shortly.
"Specialty?"
"Unknown," August told her. "Just put Faith down as under my care, please."
"Under your care?" the secretary said, finally looking up, and sounding skeptical.
August sounded impatient. "You could also put her down under Mathias Greuster. He is my partner in this."
The secretary looked up, wide-eyed, before recovering her superiority. "I would not presume to question my Lord Greuster, but I cannot know that you speak the truth," she said officiously.
August's eyes snapped, and suddenly the friendly woman seemed much more intimidating. "Allow me to deal with any issues that come up Ms.-" she obviously checked the name card on the woman's desk "-Wimberly. I assure you that Mathias would not expect one of your rank to deal with any problems caused by one of mine. Now if you please, Faith's name can be put in the 'p's, under Pemberly."
The secretary paled a little at that, and searched through her logbook quickly, running her finger down one page, then another, before very obviously swallowing. "First name?" she squeaked.
"August," August said shortly.
"I apologize, Mrs. Pemberly," the secretary said quietly. "I did not intend any offense."
"You are new," August said shortly. "You may do better in the future if you take the time to learn the faces of your superiors. And you should know that Mathias and I take on whatever students we choose. It is not your place to interfere."
"Yes, ma'am," the secretary said, face entirely white.
Woah, Faith thought. Who the hell were these people, that people like airport - Gatehub, Faith reminded herself - Gatehub personnel and school secretaries recognized their names? And August did not seem like a woman who'd pull rank like that, or who'd have any rank to pull. Not that it matters. It just meant that Faith was likely to be packing her bags that much sooner.
* * *
Akela limped a short distance to the guard's left, aware that every move he made was being watched. How much further did the bastard really think he was going to get? he wondered, trying to block the pain, exhaustion, and fear he felt as he hopped along. He'd never had an injury this bad. Ever. Would he ever walk normally again, even if this place had healers? It's a witch place, he reminded himself. Surely someone here can heal. As they moved slowly along behind the building, a woman came out, trailing a girl with some of the craziest hair he'd ever seen.
"August!" the guard called shortly.
The woman looked up and came scurrying over. It was August. Akela nearly slumped with relief.
"Akela!" the woman exclaimed. "Oh, poor kid. You made him walk this far, Sephas?"
"Sorry, Ma'am," the guard said, "but he's a wolf, Ma'am."
"He's a fifteen-year-old boy," the woman snapped. Akela looked up at the tone, but for the moment August's attention was on the guard. The crazy-haired girl was staring at him.
"So you're the 'wolf' then," she said, staring at him fearlessly.
Akela cocked his head. She knows about me?
"The Wolf, the Jailbird, and the Lunatic," Faith explained. "I'm the Lunatic, and Thias is out to find the Jailbird, so you've gotta be the Wolf that was going to show up."
Yeah, that helped, thanks, he thought. Who does she think she is, some sort of fortune teller?
"...sorry," August was saying. "It is being a long day. If you would alert the healers that I need a stretcher, here? A large one, mind."
Akela growled low, making the girl take a step back, and drawing August's attention. I've gotten this far. I'm no weakling.
"Yes, please," August said, addressing him personally, seeming to not notice that she was talking to a wolf. "You'll be a lot easier to heal if you stay off of it from now on. Is Mathias back?" she asked suddenly, facing the guard again.
"No, Ma'am," the guard told her. "My Lord Greuster sent word that he was delayed. He is due in this evening at the earliest."
"Fucker," the woman said. Akela looked over quickly, surprised, and saw the girl doing the same. "Alright, I'll have to kidnap one of the healers, then. I'm not letting the boy out of my sight.
Akela showed his teeth, and the woman faced him again. "You prefer to be in with all the hysterical healer trainees?" she asked him. "I'm just assuring that nobody mistakenly sends you to the zoo. Not everybody will be as cool as Sephas, here, when it comes to various people coming to the back gate looking for me."
Akela exposed his teeth further, but shook his head.
The stretcher arrived quickly, and was laid on the ground in front of Akela, who limped onto it before collapsing sideways, hoping that if he lay with his leg already exposed he wouldn't have to move. He'd not accounted for his exhaustion, though, and lost conciousness almost as soon as he let himself lie down.
