Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I updated, but not a lot of people are reading this story in comparison to my other stories (meaning 30 something readers to 4,000 something readers). Nonetheless, I will not abandon it and I hope that you read, review, and enjoy!
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Briar frowned at the orchid that had somehow managed to pop up behind his hyacinths. In response to his silent rebuke, the orchid shrunk back and threw more flowers out as if that would help him appreciate them. Even after all these years he still did not like orchids. They were no more than weeds and they polluted his beautiful garden.
As he moved towards the plant with the intent of pulling it out and throwing it into his compost pile, it started to cry out in his mind, begging him to let it grow and flourish. Eventually he stopped and stood back up, growling at it, "Fine! I'll let you live, just not in my garden. I'll put you in a pot and give you to one of the neighbors. Maybe they'll like you." He could feel the gratitude flowing off of the orchid and rolled his eyes in response. Honestly, some plants were just so needy.
Just as he made it out of the house with a pot, a gust of wind blew some conversation over to him:
"He's always gardening! I mean, he spends some time indoors, but ninety percent of the time, he's outside with his plants." He recognized that voice as a teenage girl who lived up the street with her six siblings. Her name was Persephone, but she often went by Percy.
"He has such a gorgeous garden, though, doesn't he?" That would be one of her slightly younger sisters, named Cassandra. She went by Cass. That family had something with nicknames.
"He does. What high school does he go to?" This voice was new. It was soft and quiet and strong. He supposed that she was one of Percy's friends, or even one of Cass's.
"Ha! He doesn't go to any high school. He's been here for two years now and says that he's eighteen. I heard that he dropped out of school right away when he's sixteen. I always wondered why his parents would let him out when all he does is garden." This voice he knew as Tracey (aka Cece), the resident popular girl who thought she was everything.
Cass responded with, "I'm not complaining. A good-looking, muscular man outside where you can see him surrounded by beautiful flowers? I take that as a good thing, personally."
He heard the sound of someone bumping their shoulders against hers and then Percy said, "That's just because you've got a major crush on him!"
"So? I'm only two years younger than him! It's perfectly reasonable for me to have a crush on him." Cass pouted back.
Briar heard musical laughter that he didn't recognize just before the new girl answered, "Then why don't you just ask him out?"
"Thank you!" Cass began, "One of the few people on this earth who don't treat me like a five year old." Briar's lips turned up at the edges. That was an argument that he had heard often between Cass and Percy.
The new girl laughed again and said, "The three of us are only a year older than you. Why would we treat you like a five year old?" That's interesting to know. The new girl must be Percy's friend then because the girl only hung with people her own age.
The wind died down and he missed the rest of the conversation. As his sisters grew older, their powers had grown weaker. He was always confused about that until they finally told him what they had done. They had found Niko and had him teach them a spell that would slowly transfer their power over to him. He would never achieve the same level as them, but they were all great mages, so he was still pretty powerful. That was how his hearing and seeing on the wind had become easier and more prevalent.
Briar was brought from his train of thoughts when Percy and Cass's mother slowed her car down in front of Briar's house. Her name was Andromeda (nickname Andie) Olympia. She was tall and willowy with intelligent green eyes and long, straight blonde hair. She was tan and toned and looked incredibly similar to her daughters. Briar had always sworn that the girl children got all their mother's DNA and the boy children got all their father's DNA. Andie smiled and waved to Briar, asking, "You gonna bring some of your garden inside too?"
The green mage grimaced and said, "Not this plant, no. I'm planning on giving it to one of the neighbors as a gift. You happen to know anyone who could use a new plant?" Briar was famous for the amount of plants he gave out, namely his shakkans.
Andie pursed her lips. Then her eyes lit up and she said, "There're some new neighbors who live right next door to us, so about three houses down from you. It's a mom and her daughter living there. I'm sure they could use one of your welcoming baskets. What do you have against orchids by the way?"
He shuddered and said, "Don't even get me started on that, but how did I not know there were new neighbors? I don't even have most of the stuff I need for a basket! I'm going to have to start baking right away if I want to give it to them at a reasonable hour. I-,"
Briar was cut off by Andie's contagious laugh. She was one of the few people who knew that he didn't have any parents and was just living by himself. She had agreed to keep it a secret. Andie smiled and said, "Don't wear yourself out, sweetie. There's plenty of time for you to do everything you need to do. Just finish your gardening and then start working on the basket, alright?"
Briar smiled back and said, "Alright Andie. I'll see you tomorrow at the barbeque. Are you inviting the newbies?"
Her smile died instantly and she said, "Oh gosh! I completely forgot to invite them! Should I make a formal invitation, or just go and invite them? I don't think I have enough card stock left. It-,"
This time she was interrupted by Briar saying mockingly, "Don't wear yourself out, sweetie."
Her lips curled back into a smile and she shook her head at him, laughing as she waved goodbye. She closed the window back up and drove away, likely still debating the invitation dilemma.
Andie had given him good advice, though. He would finish his gardening, aided by a tiny bit of magic. He didn't use it to garden that often, choosing instead to remain incognito, but sometimes he needed to get it done fast and that needed magic.
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Fifteen minutes of gardening, three batches of cookies, two failed baskets, one shopping trip, and several flying ribbon bundles later, Briar was walking up to the front door of the newbies. He always got nervous when someone new moved into the neighborhood. He blamed it on several Necropolis members moving into one of the subdivisions he had lived in a while back. That had been awkward. Briar took a deep breath and firmly knocked on the door.
It opened to reveal a short, yet butch woman with unruly brown hair snagged in a bun. Briar smiled uncertainly at her and held out a hand, the other one still gripping the basket, "Hi, I'm Briar Moss. I live a few houses down the street and just heard that you had moved in here. I brought this welcome basket to… well, to welcome you… and yeah." He trailed off awkwardly and just grinned at her. Inwardly, he sighed. He used to be pretty good with people, especially women. Not anymore.
The woman smiled back and shook his hand, waving him in and bustling him towards the kitchen, calling upstairs as she went, "Susannah! Come down here! We have a guest!"
Briar couldn't help thinking about how much this woman reminded him of Lark. He knew that it was considered 'unhealthy' to compare people who had passed to people you meet. Then Susannah ran lightly down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was petite and elf-like with brown hair that was right in the middle of wavy and curly and cascaded down her back. She had pale skin with large powder grey eyes accented by a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and her shaped cheekbones. In other words, she was beautiful.
The mage was distracted from his staring by her mother talking to him, "This neighborhood is just so nice. I think it'll be a good change from some of the other neighborhoods we've lived in. Everyone here is just so friendly. Our next doors neighbors, the Olympias – what a strange last name – they invited us to a barbeque tomorrow. I'll have to cook something up real quick or go buy something if I don't have enough time. Now here you are, bringing us a welcome basket. Did you see that Susannah? Mr. Moss here brought us a welcome basket!"
Briar laughed shyly and said, "You can call me Briar and really, it wasn't that big of a deal."
Susannah's lips opened in a perfect 'o' and she looked at him again. He smiled at her and she smiled back, "I'm sure Mom hasn't introduced us. We're Susannah and Edith D'andria. It's nice to meet you. Um, I heard that you like to garden."
The instant she said that, Briar recognized her voice as the one that had been talking with Percy, Cass, and Cece. He ducked his head in acknowledgement and said, "Yeah, you'll be getting a lot of plants from me if you stick around."
Her and her mother laughed their musical laugh and he smiled to them. There was a momentary silence before Briar asked, "So you said that Andie asked you to the BBQ tomorrow, right? Are you going?"
"Most definitely!" Edith enthused, "I always believe in going to neighborhood parties. It really brings everyone together as a group. It's especially good when we just moved here because then we can meet everyone all at once. This seems like a really nice neighborhood. Do you like it here? How long have you been here?"
Briar nodded, "I love it here. Like you mentioned, everybody is really friendly and the soil is great for practically every plant. I've been here for about two years now."
Edith nodded and hustled around the kitchen, putting things away and on counter tops from Briar's basket, "Wow, yeah. Do you have any siblings? How about your parents? Are they going to be at the barbeque tomorrow?"
For a second, Briar had to think through her words. The woman talked faster than Sandry when she was excited. The mage eventually answered, "I had some foster sisters, but we ended up moving to different places. My parents won't be at the barbeque. They're very rarely home and then for just a day or so. They're foster parents; one of them is Lark. She's a member of a traveling acrobatics group. The other one is Rosethorn; she's a plant person like me, but she travels with Lark as a manager and doctor. They don't like to bring me along because they believe that children should be stationary as they grow up and start moving around when they're older and more mature."
Susannah's mother laughed nervously and said, "Oh, so you're parents are a… a lesbian couple then, huh?"
Briar winced as he remembered that most people were uncomfortable with that. He didn't understand why when it occurred so often in history, but he chose to ignore it, saying instead, "Yeah. Where they came from, it's a pretty normal thing."
Susannah frowned and Briar could tell that she was planning on asking something about where they came from, but luckily Edith butted in with, "Well, alright then! So, where are you going to school? Susannah's going to school at Adams High."
"Oh," Briar began, unsure how this woman was managing to ask all the questions that required him to give sort-of-truths-but-kind-of-lies, "I don't go to school. I had a home school type thing. Lark and Rosethorn had some friends: Frostpine and Niklaren and the four of them split our teaching up, each of them teaching different subjects and each focusing mainly on a particular student. We had an interesting life growing up." The great, all-powerful mage rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort.
"Wow!" Susannah called out, "That's super cool! Other people say that you dropped out of school for some reason. Ow!" She added that when her mother wacked her upside the head with a wooden spoon that had been lying nearby.
Briar laughed at Susannah's pouting face and Edith's stern one and said, "Thank you for the conversation, but I have to go. I hope you enjoy the basket and goodies and I hope you enjoy the neighborhood and the people. I'll see you tomorrow at the barbeque!"
Edith and Susannah smiled and waved and thanked him as they led him to the door. He just continued to smile as he went out. He walked home quickly and went straight to his computer. This was around the time of night that always checked his Necropolis data base. It was an ongoing search for Necropolis related people and activities that made sure that he was never near them. After making sure that he was safe, Briar shut the computer down and made for his room.
He quickly got changed into a pair of pajamas and spent about a half an hour going through his ever enlarging mage kit and taking care of his beautiful shakkan. He was amazed and pleasantly surprised that his miniature tree had lived as long as he had. It had stored up an immense amount of power over the years. Speaking of power: Briar sighed and ran his fingers through his short black hair.
When he pulled his hand back and inspected it, he saw a handful of collected lightning. It really wasn't fair. Tris just stored lightening in her hair, not had her hair produce the lightning. Luckily, it wasn't as easy to see as hers had been, but it was still a bit annoying. Due to a lack of braids, the rest of her usual hair powers: winds, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, storms, waves, and volcanoes were locked into metal beads marked with their symbols and held around his neck by a leather string. It made for a stylish necklace and a whole lot of power.
Briar sighed again and plopped onto his bed. Overall today had been a good day. Hopefully tomorrow would be even better. With that thought foremost in his mind, he fell asleep.