Freakshow

Chapter Twenty Eight

"I'm so happy to meet you," Mila announced in the cutest accent. It was difficult to place, something like German and French mixed together with a dash of Russian.

"Me too," I said, and genuinely meant it. From the moment I saw her, I had a good feeling about Mila. Her energy was bright and warm, I felt kindness and openness flowing from her.

She looked like a little bird, her movements were quick and her features sharp and pretty. Her hair was dyed bright orange and cut pixie style, short around her face.

I wanted her to like me, I wanted her to help me.

"Can I get you ladies anything?" Cairo asked, not sitting next to me. We were in the cafeteria tent getting breakfast and breaking the ice with Mila.

"Two poached eggs on toast and a coffee so thick and black you can stand a spoon in it," I smiled at him.

"I'll have exactly the same," Mila said, glancing at me, "but bring me cream for mine. I don't know if I can stomach straight circus brew this early in the morning."

Cairo walked off and we were left alone. I was worried at first thinking we'd sit in awkward silence, making nonsensical small talk until Cairo returned, but I was wrong.

Mila was a little firecracker and dove right in to begin our conversation.

"I can feel it" she said, "it's incredible, like nothing I've ever encountered."

"Sorry, feel what?" I asked.

"Your power, it's coursing through you like a pulse, like the flow of blood through your veins."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, don't look so shocked, I'm sure you've sensed it before."

"I've sensed the earth's power, I can reach that when I need to."

"That's your power, Olivia. You are tied to the earth. Cairo and my kind, we're at the mercy of the moon, our magic is directly tied to it and we are unable to control our shifting when it comes to moon time. But you, I can see what Cai meant in his emails...you give me control over myself. It's incredible. Seriously, I can't stop gushing about it."

"So do you know what the hell that means?" I asked slowly. I wasn't as enthusiastic as she was since I had no idea what kind of creature I really was.

"It means you need to learn more about your magic and your ancestors," she said. "Are your parents alive?"

"Sadly, no."

"I'm sorry," she said, "any aunts or siblings?"

"I do have an older sister, my mother was an only child and my father was an orphan."

"Did you know your mother's mother?"

"I did, my Grandma."

"Did she ever teach you anything?" she asked, leaning close.

"Couldn't this come from my father's people?"

"No, power is always transmitted mother to child. It's almost one hundred percent when it's mother to daughter, and about fifty-fifty mother to son."

"I don't remember her actually teaching me anything about what I am, but she was the one who taught me to touch the earth to heal myself."

"I've done some asking around, and looked up some things in my old books. I have an idea of where you come from, but not the full extent of your powers," she said leaning closer.

"And?" I asked, holding my breath.

"I believe you are from a long line of women who were descended from the goddess Brigid, as she's known in Gaelic. I would have to research her names in other lore," Mila told me. The name meant nothing to me though, I wasn't familiar with deities of other countries, let alone my own.