AN: I apologize for the missing the last two updates, and for this one being late. My family and I are being forced to move on short notice. This may be the last chapter for a few weeks. I apologize again for the inconvenience. Also – on a completely unrelated note – there is a poll on my profile concerning an unrelated and as of yet un-uploaded story. Please look at it if you have a chance.

Feather Fifty Two

Bonny ended up finding something else on her marks. Just whispers, really, of old – very old – magic. Tales – ancient myths to even the few that knew of them – that spoke of marks appearing upon flesh, marks that could come to life or give the marked one abilities, but weren't said to be from the gods, as their previous sources had indicated.

Siobhan was in no hurry to test out the proposition of Malachi, that having wings meant perhaps she could fly, despite the vague hope that it was true.

The information was more than what they used to know, but still not very useful. Siobhan carried on with her studies, doing her best to not let her marks distract her and to keep them hidden from her tutors for no other reason than she wanted to.

The Twins – Murphy and Connor, not Tianna and Laketta – ended up coming to her to ask questions, clarifications, then going to a church to ask if magic was a sin. The answer almost surprised them as much as it had her: Magic was a gift for mankind – not something evil, but a gift. A gift that could be used for good or ill, but that was the magic-users choice, wasn't it? And wasn't that what He wanted for his children? The right to choose?