Chapter 36

The next morning Sarah and I both head off to go hunting with Selene. On the way, I stop by my camp for an hour to look around with a frown.

"Taylor, is everything alright?"

I spin to look up at Sarah before turning around again, "I'm not sure." I point at the droppings from one of the dogs that live in the forest here, "I'm not sure if it's just that I'm looking for something wrong, or if this is actually smaller and dryer than normal."

Sarah crouches down next to me, "Well, it just looks like dog shit to me."

I smile, "Well, it is. Dog shit that is. I was just thinking about what Selene said yesterday."

Sarah frowns, "Yesterday as in last week, or yesterday as in uh midnight yesterday?"

I scrunch my eyebrows together, "Huh? Lunchtime yesterday, obviously. That's when we had to return the rabbits after all."

Sarah huffs, "That's easy for you to say. I sort of remember, it was something about everything living in balance wasn't it?"

I nod, "And how if we take too much prey from an area at once it can cause an imbalance and make an area sick, as predators kill the prey faster than it can reproduce, and then they starve."

"So?"

"I wanted to see if I could tell. I'm not sure if I can. Come on, let's get to Selene's. You can take me as I can feel the canyon's open, and you need to practice your teleporting."

"Slave driver."

I slug Sarah in the arm, "And don't you forget it. You should also think about reading a book about tracking."

"Ugh, I hate reading. The words keep changing and mean different things every time I read them. There's a reason I took a fishing job rather than a normal job ya know."

I shrug, "I didn't, but I do now. Well, off you go, and I'll make sure you don't overshoot."

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An hour later the two of us appear at the end of Selene's valley, and I pat Sarah on the arm, "That was really good."

Sarah shakes her head as Selene appears next to us, "No it wasn't, I didn't go where I wanted to, and I took too long."

I roll my eyes, "Sarah, are you trying to make me look like a braggart?"

Selene cocks her head, "What did Sarah do?"

"She not only transported both of us through two worlds without help, but she teleported both of us here too in under an hour."

Sarah shakes her head, "And I was too damn slow."

I sigh, "Sarah, it used to take me 10 to 15 minutes to go from one world to another because I didn't know about the canyon. It took me an hour to teleport the second time I did it. The first was accidental. Everyone starts off slow."

Selene asks, "What method did you use to teleport?"

Sarah frowns, "Taylor said to imagine stepping through a doorway, so I did."

Selene nods, "Then you did well, with that sort of teleportation, getting the right visualization is more important than speed. Depending on the sort of fighter you are, it may even be more useful in a fight than the more instinctive teleportation that Taylor is using."

I cock my own head, "Huh? How?"

"You can plan out a series of steps in advance, which is ideal for an archer who is trying to out think their opponent. I remember watching one archer use that technique along with short lived portals to confuse and befuddle his opponent by making it seem like they were everywhere and nowhere at the same time. However, that method is also not something you can use instinctively."

Sarah asks, "Why archer?"

Selene points to the slight lump at the base of Sarah's spine, "Is that not the modern bow?"

Sarah draws her gun from its holster and points it at the ground, "I suppose it is. Not that it would be much use against you or Taylor."

Selene points at a boulder a little way away, "Shoot at that please."

Sarah takes a two handed stance after she's made sure the gun is loaded, and then fires a single shot at the boulder. Though, instead of the bang, crack I expect, there's just a bang and the bullet comes floating back to us.

Selene inspects the bullet for a couple of seconds before nodding, "You are right and wrong, it would be useless against me. However, Taylor is not yet at that level, though she has all of the basic skills she needs to get there. You could also learn the same things, as it is a skill and not something that requires a certain amount of strength. Especially for something this small. If we were throwing boulders at each other, I imagine you would struggle no matter how well trained though. Make no mistake, there is nothing that Taylor can do that you can't. The difference between you is merely a matter of strength and intelligence. But you have thousands of years ahead of you to make up the difference in intelligence. You proved that you have the bloody mindedness needed to succeed as a fisher and a laborer, all you need to do is prove you can do it as a hunter and with magic. Come, we have an animal to catch for your community. Taylor will be tracking, Sarah you will be attempting to keep your magic hidden."

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It ended up taking us two days to finally track down and kill a large enough animal, mainly because Sarah couldn't keep her magic quiet long enough to ambush them. After a shared meal of a small prey creature, the three of us split up and Sarah and I head to the union building while Selene goes home.

When the two of us arrive, dad and Lacey are already there, along with Mike and his two helpers, and a whole host of other men who stuck around after dad finished doing his daily job distribution downstairs.

With a large amount of satisfaction, I pat Sarah on the arm, "I'll be in my room once you've found the volunteers for cooking."

Less than a minute later, there's a knock at my door so I stand up from the chair, the ancient computer groaning behind me as it goes through its startup process. When I open the door, instead of Sarah I see dad standing there with a smile, "Good hunt?"

I nod, "Once we could actually get close enough to something to actually hunt it. How about you?"

Dad leans against the doorframe, "I've not done any hunting yet, well apart from the times I've gone with you. I've been farming and thinking." He holds up an opened envelope, "This came for us this morning."

I hold out my hand to take the letter, and do so once dad puts it in my hand, "What is it?"

"It's from the State acknowledging your new status."

I rip the letter out of the envelope and start to read as dad continues, "They've assigned you a teacher at Arcadia to monitor your progress, and we need to go to city hall next week to get you a new Home Instruction photo card."

I collapse back into my chair in relief as I read the letter from the state. It seems that dad and Lacey included far more information than I expected with their original letter. As the the letter says,

'Due to the circumstances leading up to Taylor Annette Hebert's withdrawal from Winslow, Miss Hebert has been assigned a monitor at Arcadia High School. A meeting with the monitor will need to be arranged once a month at a cost of $50 payable to the teacher in question through Arcadia High School'

I look up at dad, "Can they do that? Charge us for seeing a teacher?"

Dad nods, "They can, as we are hiring them to act as your teacher during that time. If I knew any retired teachers, I'd have already approached them to see if they would monitor your progress. The state needs to ensure that you are receiving an adequate education, and that we're not neglecting aspects of your education. I'd like you to use the library once or twice a week, not just sitting in this room."

I nod nervously as I continue to read the letter, "What about exams?"

Dad spreads his hands, "What do you want to do? You could work for your equivalency, or you could sit the state exams. The state exams would be better for you long term, but they'll also cost more."

I start to laugh as the absurdity of the situation hits, "I'd like to do the state exams, as mum would kill me if I didn't. It's just, I'm never going to use them am I. I mean, can you see someone like me ever having a 9-5 job?"

Dad snorts, "Oi! I resemble that remark. Besides, if you ever want to go to college, the state exams will be better than the equivalency."

I nod, "There is that. You never know, I could get a doctorate in magic. Then you could call me Professor Hebert."

Dad laughs, "You'd be inventing the field if you do."

I shake my head, "I doubt it, I think the Emissary is doing that."

Dad looks confused, "She is?"

I nod, "She's taking a couple of people to see Selene next week, as an official thing. One of them's from the PRT, and you can't tell me they won't start taking more people after that."

"You're right. They'd be insane not to. Why haven't you yet?"

I smile, "Because I know how dangerous it would be if I made a mistake like Emma."

"Taylor, most people aren't like that. They all have some good and bad in them. Victoria and Amy seem like good sorts don't they?"

I nod, "They are, but I'm not sure I could take them into the dream even if I wanted to. It would be like asking Mike to rip one of the mooring posts out of the wharf. Assuming what I felt while trying to teleport them holds true."

Dad nods, "Well, you have a lifetime ahead of you to make friends. Just don't forget to make more."

Dad closes the door, leaving me to finish reading the letter in peace.

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After a peaceful day reading the book I've chosen to review for my English Lit study. Well, apart from needing to retrieve one idiot that managed to put an ax in his shin while they were cooking the deer. I glance at the clock on the computer and jump in surprise that it's already after 4pm.

I'm also surprised that I'm missing Victoria's call, as we've at least spoken ever day this last week, except when I was baby sitting. Pulling my phone out of my pouch, I add the batteries before I dial Victoria's number.

After a few rings, Victoria answers, "Taylor, let me call you back on my new phone."

I take the phone away from my ear as it beeps and goes dead. A couple of seconds later it starts ringing, and I press the answer button, "Taylor."

"Hey Taylor, I thought you were baby sitting tonight."

I around in confusion as I say, "I am?"

"Well, Ames is, and you were baby sitting with her on Tuesday."

"Ah, no, that was a one off as Catlin didn't know if Amy would be a good fit, so she wanted me there in case she didn't trust Amy."

"But Amy's panacea."

I laugh, "And if Connor needed to be in hospital for any reason, I'm sure she'd have been quite happy to have Amy around. But that's different to leaving her alone with her Connor for a few hours."

"Well, now I feel silly. Anyway, I'm home now, so it's not exactly easy for me to get anywhere without obviously breaking the rules."

"Does this mean we're going to see a thread for the New Wave kittens?"

Victoria sniggers, "Nobody told mom that they can teleport, and Bob, dad's kitten, has watched her putting the cat food in the fridge often enough that he got in and stole it. There were bits of foil everywhere when we got home."

"We have an old steel fridge at home, that's probably why I've never noticed that."

"Why would that make a difference?"

"Oh, um, nothing."

"Don't tell me that cowboy was right, and Emissary is a fae princess that you brought back with you. And you're the queen's apprentice."

I laugh choke so hard that one of the guys pokes their head in while I'm pounding my chest. I hold up the phone weakly while I'm getting my breath back and he pulls his head back. "She's a what?"

Victoria laughs at me, "I said Cowboy said she's a fae princess. It's a few pages in to her cape thread."

"I know her in her civilian identity, and I know for a fact she was born and raised in Brockton Bay."

"Can I quote you on that?"

"What do you think? Of course not. If I go around confirming stuff like that her secret identity won't last very long."

"True, it's one of the problems of being friends with capes…"

I zone out on what Victoria's saying, as Sarah Pelham's resonance hits me in my chest. Focusing on it, I hear, "…I hope this works. We need help, the ABB and Empire have kicked off in a residential area, and backup is…"

While I'm focusing on where Sarah Pelham is, I say out aloud, "I've got to go, your aunt's in trouble."

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I appear standing next to Sarah, and I don't even have time to register anything when I hear something appear next to me. A reflexive thought has me teleporting into cover by a set of stairs on the other side of the street with Sarah. As I look back at the roof I appeared on the figure finishes pulling a pin and dropping the spoon of a grenade.

I'm still taking in the situation when the figure appears next to me, and I stab out with my spear before teleporting us both away once more. In the air I can see Crystal and Eric firing lasers into the street, oh right they're in costume. I teleport to the top of a nearby building and the sound of gunfire echoes around the streets at the same the wall we were just standing by explodes with chips of brick and mortar.

When nobody immediately attacks us, I let go of Sarah Pelham, no she's Lady Photon right now. "Are you alright?"

She doesn't have time to answer before a ghost flies through the roof and tries to attack me. I duck down to the left and stab my spear into its chest. As it disappears with a pop of mist, I shout, "Get into the air!" before I teleport backwards several paces.

Apparently, just in time as the figure appears where I was just standing, a grenade dropping from his hand a moment later. At the same time Lady Photon drunkenly flies off the roof, her trademark forcefield appearing around her. I have just enough time to take in the oni mask that the teleporter is wearing before I teleport over to another building while I scan the area for the source of the ghost and Oni Lee. Down in the street the sound of gun fire is a sharp staccato of echoing sounds.

A second later, Oni Lee appears beside me and I stay standing there just long enough to stab him before I teleport diagonally across the street. As I appear, the first explosion goes off on the roof Lady Photon just took off from. I vanish from my current position as another single ghost flies out of the roof. Not a moment too soon, as Oni Lee appears standing next to where I was and lunges out with a knife.

As I teleport to yet another roof, I feel Lady Photon's resonance in my chest. Spinning around with the but of my spear I hear a grunt from behind me as I catch Oni Lee in the stomach just before I teleport off to another roof. Half focusing on the feeling, I hear her say, "…Oni Lee has been carrying grenades with exotic effects. This is a residential area, we need to keep him from using them."

I reach out to grab the Oni Lee that's just appeared beside me with my telekinesis, only for him to crumple into dust. "Shit, that's all I need."

I can hear a person appear on a nearby roof top, so I teleport over my spear already stabbing forward to take him in the chest.

"Reinforcements are 10 minutes out, just… Stay safe."

As the Oni Lee is starting to crumble to dust, I'm already teleporting to where something just appeared. As I stab out at this new Oni Lee, the rooftop I just left explodes into a pillar of purple crystals. I'm vaguely aware of people jumping out of the top floor as I crush something the dying clone is dropping at the same time I teleport away.

Suddenly, I'm surrounded by three clones all trying to grab or stab me more or less at the same time. Half an instant later I can feel another clone appear across the street while I'm ensuring that these three clones can't do anything while go and deal with the fourth clone.

A laser comes out of the sky and takes the fourth clone in the head while I'm dealing with the last of the three clones, so I teleport off to the new clone I felt appear.

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I'm not sure how long I've been doing this, probably not that long as backup isn't here yet. As I appear on the slick glass that used to be the top of an apartment block. I take a quick few breaths as I stab the single clone.

As I'm looking around, I spot Victoria flying towards us with her arm outstretched while she stares at her phone. As I watch, Oni Lee appears in front of her with something held in his hands.

Desperately I call out "Victoria!" and teleport next to her and grab her in order to teleport her to safety. As I grab her there's a flash of light beneath me, and I look…