Rain pounded on the moss covered roof. The air was damp and clung to everything it touched. Old, solid oak floorboards creaked under Horizon's feet as he paced back and forth. His uniform's dark cape dragged behind him, entirely impractical for wearing while not flying in the air. Annoyed with it, Horizon unclipped the pins keeping it secured to his dark violet shirt.
Where is he? Eochaid was late. As usual.
Sprawled on a plush, thronelike antique chair, with an elaborately carved wooden frame, Pyralis picked at a loose thread on her black cat suit. There was no mistaking the dangerous boredom in her pale eyes. Horizon's neck itched. Some silent voice in the back of his head that sounded all too much like his mother screamed at him to leave the room, but this was impossible. Eochaid was not back, and Pyralis had not dismissed him.
Nearby on a plastic covered and positively ancient silk couch, Slime Slinger and Maul seemed to share his worries. Although they had a board game spread out to keep themselves occupied, there was little enthusiasm when it came to actually playing it.
"I'm bored," said Aether, who was leaning against the front room's main archway, rapidly tapping his foot. It was practically a blur. Under his eye was a yellow, fading bruise. Still, nothing in his expression even hinted at being nervous about Pyralis' boredom.
Pyralis ignored him.
This did not wholly surprise Horizon. Out of the five super-powered children that Eochaid was responsible for, Aether and his twin sister Unseelie were the only ones that were biologically his. While there was no question that Unseelie was the favorite, she was currently in Ireland and Aether did not rank far behind.
Pyralis knew this. Until a week ago, when Aether got between Pyralis and Slime Slinger, the woman had only ever shouted at Aether. Horizon, Maul, and Slime Slinger on the other hand, were extremely aware of how hard she could hit when she was angry enough.
Fantastic. Happy birthday to me, thought Horizon, moving to the window bench. It was drafty and cold from the cracking glass, but the couch positioned in front of it would likely hide him from Pyralis.
What are you doing? Horizon hated himself when he curled up on the bench and waited for the telltale shadows that would appear upon Eochaid's return. Coward. Aether's fourteen. You're seventeen. You should be protecting him, not hiding.
"Come on. Seriously," said Aether, zipping out of the room. Seconds later, he reappeared in a flash of gold light and a whipping crack of air with an armful of honey buns, cookies, and soda that looked like something he might have found at the corner store two miles down the road.
Aether's also an idiot, thought Horizon, still arguing with himself. Let him learn. I can't protect him if he's not going to take steps to protect himself.
After setting the pile of pastries and soda onto the bench, Aether began gorging himself only to gasp. "Oh, I forgot the cards! Horizon, you wanna play some Go Fish while we wait? Maul! Slime Slinger! What about you two? Wanna play some cards? Or can I join your game? Oh! I can go find Snakes and Ladders! Actually, Snakes and Ladders sounds like way more fun than some crummy old cards-!"
All this was said so fast that it sounded like someone pressed the fast forward button on a video.
"Sure…" said Horizon, finding himself unable to say no.
Aether cheered. Pyralis' snapped her fingers. As Aether even began his mission to find the box for Snakes and Ladders, his shoelaces transformed into wires that tied themselves together and the sleeves of his hoodie vanished entirely. With a crash, Aether tripped face first onto the floor and squirmed to free his arms trapped inside of the hoodie.
"Aether," said Pyralis, softly. "Did I dismiss you?"
Untangling himself in about half a second, Aether sat up and glared at Pyralis.
"Why do we have to wait? It's Horizon's birthday! We should just start the party!"
"Because we're going to have the party on the new base," said Pyralis, crossing her legs over the armrest of the chair. "And your father has access to the Faerie Door that will take us there. So be a good boy and be patient, because you should be thanking your lucky stars that he's even letting you children on the base to begin with."
"Yeah. The Moon Base," said Aether, rolling his eyes. With an earsplitting crack, he ran out of the room, only to reappear half a second later in a new, nearly identical hoodie.
Darting to the window bench Aether continued to wolf down the food. "I thought Father was going to be letting us see the Cave, not some crummy Moon Base. Horizon, do you want some honey buns? I didn't steal them. Promise. Slime Slinger! Maul! Want some grub?"
"Uh… No thank you," mumbled Horizon, as Slime Slinger declined as well. Maul stupidly raised his hand which caught a honey bun and soda bottle that Aether tossed him.
Pyralis swung her legs from the chair and crossed the room in about two seconds to stand towering over Aether. In an instant, her fist was clutching Aether's face in a bruising grip.
"Eochaid might tolerate your lip, but I won't. Don't forget that you little urchins are soldiers. If you ever want to step foot in that base again, you'll give me the respect I'm due. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly," snarled Aether, ripping his face from Pyralis' grip. "Will we be allowed back inside the base?"
"Of course you will," said Pyralis, sauntering back towards the chair. "You saw it when Maul turned seventeen. Of course, if your attitude problem continues-,"
"I don't have an attitude problem!"
"Yes, you do," argued Pyralis, crossing her legs back over the chair's armrest. "You're disrespectful, disobedient, and your father will hear all about it when he gets back,"
"But-!"
"Aether," said Horizon, keeping his eyes trained either on Aether, or the space between Pyralis' shoulders and eyes. "Can we just not argue right now?"
Rubbing the slowly bruising spot on his cheeks where Pyralis had pinched, Aether sat back down on the bench and opened one of the soda bottles. Seconds after chugging it, he took a small mirror and a jar of pomade from his jeans pocket and spent several moments carefully grooming his hair until not a single lock was out of place.
As if on cue upon finishing, the shadows swarmed over the grey skies writhing like eels. A murder of crows descended upon the house, transforming into a man draped in an inky black, Victorian-style traveling cloak. Aether beamed, tapping the glass excitedly.
"Father!"
Without waiting for a cue from Pyralis, Aether zipped out of the house. Kicking up a wave of water from rain puddles on the moss-covered driveway, he nearly tackled Eochaid in a hug. Stiffly, awkwardly, it was returned.
"Aether, you be careless as usual. Near knocked me to the ground now?"
Aether laughed, but he looked around with clear distress. "You're back! Why are you so late? How's Unseelie? Where's Unseelie? I thought she was coming back from Ireland today. How was Ireland? When do I get to go to Ireland with Ni- Uh… With Unseelie? Please? I want to see Ni- um… Unseelie…,"
"Ach. One question at a time ya wee gobshite. Not that fecking late was I?" said Eochaid, stripping the wet traveling coat from himself, and hanging it on a coat rack by the door. Casually, he mussed up Aether's hair with a friendly ruffle on the head.
"Unseelie is grand," began Eochaid, "Gotten herself a few extra courses that she's getting herself all excited about. If you be wantin' a visit, we'll discuss it later. Ireland was grand, and she d'be welcoming me home with a nice lashing of rain. I see this feckin' hell hole be no feckin' different."
Muttering about atmospheric rivers, Eochaid reached into his scarlet waistcoat and withdrew a silver pocketwatch, letting out a half-smothered groan. With a grimace that turned into a rare half-smile, Eochaid said kindly, "Ach… I see I did keep ye waitin'."
"Not that long," said Pyralis, rising from the chair yet again, eyeing Aether sharply. "We all had a nice chat,"
Eochaid grunted a reply. "The rest of my assembly is already on the base. Your battle with Maelstrom was victorious then?"
Pausing in the archway, Pyralis flared her nostrils. "The battle went as expected."
"Defeated her, did you?" Eochaid raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised.
"Of course not. I had to retreat," said Pyralis, bitterly. "But I'm sure you're satisfied with your fun. Let's move. We have work to do,"
"Joking?" Eyes darkening, Eochaid said in a dangerously low tone. "It not be a craic. We'll be havin' no business together until you've proven your worth to me,"
"Proven my worth?" A muscle in her jaw twitching, Pyralis moved closer to Eochaid with delicate steps that belonged to a dancer. "I am your most loyal-,"
"Get your coat and leave," said Eochaid, waving his hand. The double front doors swung open.
"Eochaid, don't be foolish," replied Pyralis, continuing toward Eochaid with a sickly sweet smile. She placed a hand on his arm. "A brand new base? On the Moon? And now you're turning me away? I'm going to be honest with you; you're acting manic again. And you remember what happened the last time you were this worked up."
Scoffing, Eochaid pulled away from Pyralis and pointed at the door. "Go-,"
"You need me. You're going to mess up, like you did during the Draxxon invasion. I fixed your mistakes last time. You won't have anyone to do it without me,"
Eochaid shoved Aether back into the front room then pulled Pyralis toward the kitchen, hissing too quietly for Horizon to hear.
Nothing I can't fix, thought Horizon, wanting to hear more of the argument. He was bored and the information might be useful.
Horizon focused on the space between their bodies. Between the molecules of air which carried the sound of their voices. Close the distance, thought Horizon, manipulating the space so that a slight rope of sound only had to travel a few feet, instead of nearly forty. The space twisted into a warping tunnel that glowed from trapped compressing photons of light. Eochaid's back was turned, as was Pyralis'. Neither would see it, and Aether knew to break Horizon's focus the moment he perceived any sign that they were about to see their eavesdropping.
"You've betrayed me! How dare you-?"
"I've betrayed you? I repeat- you beat my feckin' child-,"
"Beat him? If you didn't want that boy to get hit, then you should have done it yourself a long time ago! He's mouthy and you know it-,"
"A slap shouldn't be leavin' a bruise ya feckin' cunt-!"
"You can have soldiers or you can coddle your children. You can't have both."
"Take yourself out of my home. This very moment now."
Aether tapped Horizon's shoulder. The tunnel sealed itself not a moment too soon. Pyralis spun around and stormed out the door.
"How much of that did ye guttersnipes listen in on?" asked Eochaid, walking into the room.
"None of it," said Slime Slinger, snatching a buzzing fly with a hand shiny with slime, and had a faintly blue color. Eochaid raised a skeptical eyebrow but motioned for them to follow.
Eochaid went through the kitchen, stopping in front of the swinging pantry door. Painted on it was an apple tree, with gleaming, gold foil apples. Light peaked out from the crack of the opening door. Iron hinges squealed. Giddy, Horizon stepped forward.
Maybe this won't be so bad…