Animi Motus

20: Felix

Santiago doesn't speak a lick of English. He's the resident personal chef on the island. We had no idea he was even here. Needless to say, when Riley lit himself on fire and then jumped into the pool for fun, it freaked him out more than a little. Realizing there was no way for us to communicate with him, we set off to find out if we had any Spanish speakers. Nessa walks down the stairs with wet hair.

"I know some Spanish," she says.

"Thank god," I breathe. "Can you please explain to Santiago here that Riley will not start a fire, and that we all have some special gifts that he is going to have to get used to?" I ask her. Santiago is standing behind the counter defensively.

"You want me to tell him about us?!" Nessa exclaims, alarmed.

"Not everything, just the stuff he's going to see anyway. Like Riley bursting into flames and then jumping in the pool. You know, regular stuff like that," I laugh.

"Riley did what?! Where is he?!"

"Nevermind. He went to lock up Tribus in the basement. Just tell Santiago," I insist. Nessa walks slowly over to our cook.

"Hola señor, uh... mi nombre es, vanessa," She starts off shakily. "Por favor no tenga miedo, no somos niños especiales," she continues more confidently.

"What did you say?" I ask.

"She said don't be afraid, we're just special kids. But it's somos hijos especiales, not no somos niños especiales," Scarlett corrects Nessa as she walks in.

"You speak Spanish too?" I ask. Scarlett scrunches her face in confusion.

"No... I don't," She murmurs. "I don't know what that was." I smile. I think I know what it was.

"Say, 'the fox jumped over the log,' in French," I tell her.

"Le renard a sauté sur le journal," She says without a thought. Then her hand flies to her mouth.

"I think you've got yourself a new ability," Nessa says with a smile. Scarlett looks excited. There's a change.

"la volpe saltò sopra il registro," She blurts out experimental. "Ang soro jumped sa ibabaw ng log. Ræven sprang over loggen." Her face splits into a smile.

"Well, you're definitely omnilingual," I say. Nessa gives me a questioning glance. "She can speak every language." Santiago is looking at us like we're crazy. I take a step towards him, but Scarlett stops me.

"I got this one," she says. "Hola Santiago, yo soy Scarlett. No se preocupe por mis amigos." I assume that she continues to tell Santiago everything he needs to know about us, but my spanish skills are more than limited, and I'm quickly lost in their conversation.

"We're all good," Scarlett approaches me. Santiago is busy in the kitchen with something.

"What's he making?" I ask.

"Tacos," She says.

"Nice. Thanks for talking to him," I say. She raises an eyebrow.

"Whatever." She turns and walks out of the room. I close my eyes and teleport to the roof. I stand on the edge of it, breathing in the evening air. The sunset is truly breathtaking. I could stare at it forever.

"Aye, boss," The voice makes me jump. Carter is lying against the roof, also staring at the sky.

"Hey, Carter, what's up?" I go to lean against the roof next to him.

"You know I've never been away from home this long?" He says.

"Listen, man, if you're having second thoughts about this, I can-"

"It's not that," He stops me. "My mom was a legatus, before she passed away. My dad knows, and he gets it. He knows I'm here. It's just weird, you know? You got family looking for you?"

"No." I look straight ahead. Carter doesn't respond. We sit in silence on the roof.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't think people would be up here," One of the new secundum, Lorne I think is his name, appears on the roof. He starts to turn around.

"Have a seat, Lorne," After a moment of hesitation, he takes a seat next to us.

"Wow," He murmurs, gazing at the sunset.

"Yeah," Carter and I say in unison. We hear a knock on the window. I turn around to see Nessa, Riley, and Scarlett. They all climb out onto the roof and sit.

"We didn't know where you guys were," Nessa says.

"Santiago's tacos are on their way up. Clancy and the other ones are getting them," Riley adds.

"Willow and Lucy," Nessa corrects him. On cue, they arrive with steaming plates of tacos. I dig in, grabbing a taco in each hand. They're delicious. Silence fills the air as we tear into the best food we've had in awhile. I finish, my first two tacos, and go for another. Then another. Riley matches me taco for taco. After a few minutes of eating, conversation starts up. We tell jokes, even talk about our powers. Lorne can freeze things, and Carter can do some mind control.

"So, just out of curiosity," Lorne says, "How long are we planning on staying here?" He wipes some taco grease from the corner of his mouth.

"Right about now, I'm thinkin' forever," Riley says with a laugh.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I plan on staying here as long as possible," I say. Because I can honestly say that there's no place I would rather be, than safe with my whacked out little family.