Arf

Phone Calls and Taekwondo

"Hello again Nat..."

Alvar chuckled. 

"Why hello to you too, human."

Amy held in a gasp, but Alvar kept talking. "You see, your daughter was correct that she won't be coming home for a while, but Amy had the wrong reason."

"Excuse me? Who is this, and where is Natalie?"

Alvar frowned at me. I shrugged back at him, willing him to decide I was Natalie. Then he turned back to the phone, changing his tone.

"Oh, this is just Nat's friend's dad. Sorry about the creepy tone, I thought you were someone else; we have a running joke."

He hung up, then turned to frown at me.

"So, Natalie, where did you get that crest of yours?"  

I struggled to find a legitimate answer, but then remembered something. Sophie... hadn't she given me an Imparter, the same one that helped us connect that one day almost a month ago? Hadn't I kept it in my secret pocket ever since, just in case? 

I turned to Alvar with renewed confidence. "My sister gave it to me. You may know her; after all your brother is her boyfriend. Also, wasn't it you... I think you tried to kill her, right?" 

"But your name is Natalie." 

"You idiot, the Black Swan renamed us and wiped our memories, of course." Then, thinking quickly, I softened my voice and made it seem to crack. "It was so hard, when Sophie showed up, to remember everything, all at once. Then, when I learned Mom and Dad had to lose their memory again..."  I slowly came nearer to him as I talked, and hoped my face was turning red as I did so. Then, when he was good and confused I swung a kick at his face, hitting him in the nose. He looked up holding it, surprised, and honestly? so was I. 

"I may be a human, but I had six years of taekwondo." I declared with a smirk and, though panic clouded my thoughts, I punched him again before he had time to react. Then I grabbed my Imparter and ran as fast as I could.