Aunt Candy and the Mysteries

Six.

"You up?" Birdie's voice asks paired with a knock on the door.

"Yeah, come on in." I tell her

"Oh, no, I'm just here to tell you that breakfast's ready... french toast! Yum!" She says excitedly, causing her curls to bob. She then runs down the stairs quickly, no doubt to go and gobble one of them up. I smile and shake my head as I too descend the stairs.

Before I even reach the bottom step, I understand why Birdie was so excited. Have you ever walked into a bakery and immediately been overcome by the smell of cake and cookies, each baked to perfection? Well imagine that with french toast and in my Aunt's kitchen. "Good morning Etta!" Aunt Candy says when she sees me, "Again..." She adds with a shrug. I laugh softly as I take a seat at the island next to Luke, who has one hand holding a fork, the other holding a book the size of Kansas itself.

"Whatcha read'n?" I ask as Aunt Candy puts a plate with french toast in front of me. I give her a smile of thanks. "Physics." Luke says stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth, not taking his eyes off of the book. "Well then..." I say. He obviously isn't in the mood for conversation. But I don't have any more need to ask him any questions.

Luke: Genius.

I cut off a piece of toast and place it in my mouth. If they're going to make it this easy to figure them out, I might end up wanting to just ask them. The sound of feet on the stairs interrupts my thoughts. Cedar and Katchina enter the room, already deep in a conversation. "Yes, but I saw it yesterday. It couldn't have just disappeared." Cedar says, alarm written all over his face. "Well what do you expect me to do about it?" Katchina says, seemingly a bit annoyed. "I just didn't know if you saw it this morning." He asks her, taking a seat at the Island next to Birdie. "No, I didn't." Katchina says, doing the same. "I'm sorry, but what's missing?" Aunt Candy asks while handing Katchina her breakfast. "Cedar lost his compass." she informs her. "Kat!" Cedar says "Cedar!" Aunt Candy yells at the same time. "You lost your compass!" Aunt Candy yells, "Do you not realize how serious this is!" Cedar slumps down in his seat "Well I know it couldn't have gone far. Etta brought it up to me yesterday evening, so I know I had it then." No matter the strange seriousness of this conversation, him saying my name still sends chills down my spine. "Alright. But we're going to search this house up and down for it later." Aunt Candy says, putting the subject away for now. Peter comes sauntering down the stairs, still rubbing crusts from his eyes, just as Brooke comes practically skipping in, grabbing a plate and some toast before Aunt Candy can hand her any. "Yum, french toast." Peter manages to say with his still sleeping enthusiasm. "Ah, good! Now that you're all here, let me explain how today will go." Aunt Candy says, handing Peter his breakfast. "Etta, Peter, your task this morning is to catch up on the schoolwork you've missed. I've made a packet for you two that I will give you after breakfast. Luke, Cedar, Katchina, and Brooke, your mornings will be focused on your usual studies. Birdie, you and I will have a lesson after this in the yard. Everybody aware of what's to happen?" Aunt Candy asks, looking for some sign that we were all listening. "Homework, Studies, Yard." Peter says groggily, pointing to each respective group. "Very good Peter." Aunt Candy says with a laugh.

We continue eating our breakfast, telling Brooke and Peter about later's search for Cedar's missing compass. Filling Brooke in on more than just the compass but also events from this morning that she missed since she was sound asleep in the shed outside. "I have one quick question though." I say, curiosity getting the better of me. "What's so important about this compass anyway?" It must have some significance if we have to search the place up and down for it. "Tha-" "It was my grandfather's" Cedar says, cutting Aunt Candy off. "It was the last thing he gave me before he passed." "oh." I say, suddenly very sorry to have tapped such a weak spot. "Don't think too much about it, I never met the man. I came here when I was two." He tells me. "So I've heard." I say, recalling my conversation with Brooke, Birdie, and Katchina yesterday.

The rest of breakfast passes as if my touchy question had never been asked. Something about this second mini conversation with Cedar won't leave my mine, just like the first. If it was from his Grandfather, then why wasn't he the one orchestrating the house search for it? I mean it is his only connection to his family... Then again, he never met them, so I guess his story could make sense.

We place our dishes in the sink before splitting ways to do the tasks Aunt Candy assigned to us. She hands Peter and I our catch-up work packets, then heads to the yard with Birdie. I take my time in the kitchen, pretending to take extra long to put my plate in the sink. Nobody seems to notice, for they all run upstairs to begin their morning tasks.

Having been left by my lonesome in the kitchen, I put the packet down on the island, and quietly make my way into the studio. From here I can see everything that's going on in the yard through the large windows, and since the sun is shining on the windows, and there aren't any lights on in here, so they can't see me.

Outside, Aunt Candy waits about twenty feet before the target I saw yesterday. So Birdie's talent is Archery. I think to myself. Having found that out, I could have left then, but I wanted to see more, to see exactly how good she is. Birdie walks over to Aunt Candy's side, wearing gear on each of her forearms, carrying a black bow. A quiver of matching arrows with reflective tape just above the head, slung over her shoulder. When she gets closer, Aunt Candy seems to give her some sort of instruction. Birdie nods and takes a powerful looking stance, lining up with the target. She knocks an arrow in the string of the bow and pulls back. She squints at the target a bit, trying to see it better against the sunlight.

What I see next is not what I expected.

Before she even releases the arrow, something that looks like a black ribbon, matching the color of the bow and arrows, circles around the bow above and below Birdie's hand. They look like energy, letting off little black circles, like sparks. They continue to move, spiralling to meet around her wrist and continuing harmoniously around the arrow. As soon as the ribbons touch the feathery end of the black arrow, Birdie releases. As the midnight arrow slices through the air, the ribbons seem to give it an extra burst, letting off a slight purple-ish tint of power. All around the path of the arrow, the air splits. The grass, nearby bugs and birds--even the nearest trees in the forest, are pushed away by the speed of the arrow, tearing up the dirt below it as if it was merely dust on an abandoned object. Everything moved as if a small bomb had just exploded. I press my hands against the glass, my face less than an inch away. I couldn't have seen that correctly. There's no such thing as magic!I can feel myself hyperventilating with questions, but still clinging to the window, not moving an inch.

I don't even notice the footsteps coming up behind me

Or his lips as they position themselves next to my ear.

"I bet you have a lot of questions."