Chapter Two, Part Nine.

I looked at him blankly. "Uh...huh... So, my mother was a Pathguide? Was she royal, too?"
"Yes. She didn't need to become one, but with her nurturing personality, the position spoke to her. She was loved even by newborns who weren't technically under her guidance, just because she cared for everyone without regard to who they were."
"Oh, I remember her being that way," I smiled. "But I don't understand something. Why didn't she ever tell me about what I was? She had to have known."
"You were too young. She wanted to protect you from, as you put it so well, 'the stuff of nightmares'. She talked to me about it once, and asked me what I thought of telling you. I think the reason she asked me is because I turned when I was very young, because of the strong blood of the Alpha."
"She... She talked to you? But you can't have been much older than me!"
His eyes twinkled. "Oh, can't I?"
"...What?!"
"Well, princess, the way we age is much different than how humans age. We grow to our peak, and then stop. Unless acted upon by an outside force, we can live forever. So I," he smirked. "Am much older than I look."
"...Then how old are you?"
"I'm about 110, give or take," he said, casually plucking a blade of grass beside him.
My jaw dropped in stupefied shock for a few seconds before I pulled it together. "110... Well, uh, looking good, I guess." Wait a minute, what the-? "What?!" I exploded.
He laughed. "I always did look young for my age."
"That doesn't even cover it," I snorted.
"I suppose not."
"So, you attending the Academy is just a cover?"
"Basically. It also serves as a way for us to discreetly congregate the Shadow Children."
"So that's why Carmen and I are here."
"Yes, that's exactly it."
"Sneaky."
"So it is." he looked to the darkened sky. The stars stood out clearly like pinpricks in the navy blue velvet. "Do you have anything urgent scheduled tomorrow? Any tests or the like?"
"Nothing academic, but I need to take care of my sister."
"She's a big girl, Princess." he looked back at me. "We'll arrange for her to be looked after by one of the house-mothers in the elementary wing."
"Why?"
"Your Blood Trial is tomorrow, and you've stayed out rather late tonight," he answered. I opened my mouth to speak, but I lost the thread of what I was saying and shut it. "Well, it's tomorrow unless you want to try to forget what you are and what you've learned tonight. If that's the case, I wish you luck. You'll need it."
"No, no, that's not it." I yawned. "I think I'm just tired."
"And you have all the right in the world to be. It's late." He brushed a lock of hair out of my face as I yawned again. It was strange how tenderly he treated me. If I didn't know better... The thought trailed off as he whispered, "Good night, Princess."
The last thing I remember was foggy... I was being carried and tucked into a bed by someone who was tall, strong, and smelled like the woods after it rained.
I thought it was Aubrey.
But, then again, I could have been just dreaming.