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It was just after sunset when a flash of light by one of the castle’s outer walls went unnoticed.
Brooklyn had asked to talk to Banshea as soon as he had woken up. He seemed to have something important to say. Understanding, Banshea went with him; however, they were having difficulty getting privacy.
Mikaia wanted help with a complicated recipe. Broadway wanted them to go to a movie with him. Hudson wanted to know who was going on patrol. Shaunsha was looking for her violin resin. Angela was wondering why they seemed to be avoiding everybody, and Fox wanted to know why the two were by her bedroom window.
Finally, they found peace. Mikaia had given up on the recipe, and was consuming a loaf of bread for her breakfast. Broadway and Angela had gone to the movie. Goliath and Lexington had gone on patrol. Hudson had retreated to his television and armchair, and the pair had left the windowsill.
"So what were you going to say," asked Banshea, "before we were so rudely interrupted, and interrupted, and interrupted, and interrupted...? Well, anyway, what were you going to say?"
"Well," Brooklyn began with a laugh. "You see, well, umm...er..."
"Tag!" yelled a small figure as it jumped out of the shadows and hit Banshea’s leg. "You’re it!" then it darted off around the corner and into the castle.
"The heck?" asked Banshea as she ran to follow whatever it was. "Sorry," she called over her shoulder at Brooklyn. The little figure ran around the castle yelling at the top of its lungs and managing to maintain its distance ahead of Banshea. After upsetting several chairs, dozens of lamps, and more vases, sculptures, and various other things than she cared to remember, Banshea spread her wings, leapt, and dove on the little creature, pinning it to the ground.
It was a hatchling, female, and probably around 18 years old. Her skin was tan, eyes a reddish-brown, and her gold pigtails were tied back with pink ribbons. She wore a pink skirt with a matching top, and Banshea’s eyes widened as she saw the Phoenix Gate hanging around her neck. It was identical to Banshea’s. The hatchling was breathing heavily, and was visibly frightened.
"Whaddo I do, Shaunie?" she cried, "Whaddo I do?" After a pause, she said, "Good idea, Shaunie!!!" Then, she vanished into a ball of flame that was the hallmark of the Phoenix Gate.
"What was that?" Brooklyn had finally caught up.
"A hatchling. She had the Phoenix Gate," said Banshea, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You mean she took it from you?"
"No. It was another. It was exactly the same as mine, but I had mine the whole time."
Then, they heard a scream. "Help! Mikaia! Banshea! Come quick!" It was Shaunsha. Banshea and Brooklyn ran to her as fast as they could. They came upon her, trying to maintain two force fields. One was holding a three-headed dragon, the other was around the mischievous hatchling. In one hand Shaunsha held a carved wooden flute.
It was at this moment that Mikaia walked into the room. She had a slice of bread in one hand, crumbs around her mouth, and was clearly oblivious to what was happening in the room. She stopped just inside the door, and her eyes grew wide as she noticed the dragon.
"Eep," she said, but nobody heard her. Banshea took the hatchling, who was pouting with her back to both Shaunsha and the dragon, out of the force field, and handed her to Mikaia. Mikaia just stood there, unmoving, with one arm bent for the hatchling to sit on, mouth agape, unblinking eyes wide open, and gaze transfixed on the dragon. The hatchling was ignoring her surroundings, with the exception of the bread in Mikaia’s hand. This, she had taken from Mikaia without her noticing (an anvil could have been dropped on Mikaia right then without her noticing) and was eyeing it over with an "Mmmm."
"That little brat had this flute. She was playing with it, and ended up summoning this dragon. I don’t know what she played, so I can’t send it away, and I can’t hold it much longer!" Shaunsha yelled over the dragon’s bellows.
"Can we do anything?" Brooklyn asked.
"You can drive it away after it breaks free of my magic. It’ll be free shortly." Suddenly, there was a horrible tearing sound that reverberated throughout the castle and shook the room. The dragon had ripped apart Shaunsha’s containment and was forcing it’s way out. Shaunsha decided to put her energy into something more worthwhile than the useless force field. Everyone but Mikaia and Lilah planted their feet and prepared for a battle.
Lilah, still in Mikaia’s arms, realized that the slice of bread wouldn’t be missed. She grabbed it from Mikaia’s hand and was about to take a huge bite when the dragon noticed Lilah, and Lilah noticed the dragon. For a moment she was frozen, her eyes and mouth open wide while the dragon ate her stolen snack with one flick of its tongue. Lilah’s talons were still where they had been when the bread was still in her possession. Then, she screamed. It was a very, very loud scream, and was not produced naturally, in actuality it was magical. Banshea, Brooklyn, and Shaunsha reeled at the sound and collapsed on the floor clutching at their ears. The dragon dissolved, that is, it broke apart into many pieces of a sort of vapor, and those pieces in turn broke into smaller and smaller pieces until there was nothing left.
The dragon gone as well as the bread, Lilah hopped out of Mikaia’s arms. Mikaia was just coming back to her senses. She shook her head.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Some scream, there," Banshea commented as she got up.
"Reminds me of you when you were little," Shaunsha teased her.
"My ears are ringing," moaned Brooklyn.
"You guys, what happened?" Mikaia asked impatiently. Lilah began to laugh. "And where did she come from?"
"I don’t know, but you’re baby-sitting," Banshea answered as she hurried out the door, pulling Brooklyn with her.
"Hey! Why am I on hatchling patrol?"
"Banshea’s gone, and I’m not good with kids, you know that," Shaunsha said as she went to get a broom and dustpan, "besides, I’ve got to clean up after her last disaster."
"Oh, all right. Come on kid," however, as Mikaia turned toward where Lilah should have been, she felt a tap on her other side.
"TAG!" cried the hatchling as she turned and went tearing through the castle again. Needless to say, that was a very long night for Mikaia.
* * * * * * * * * *
"So, we’re finally alone again," Brooklyn began.
"Yeah," Banshea said rather hurriedly and distractedly. "Hey, I’m really sorry to ditch you like this, but I know that there’s something important about that kid, and I’ve got to find out all I can about her." Brooklyn sighed as she left to "look into her crystal ball, meditate, or whatever."
* * * * * * * * * *
If anything much was to be known about Lilah, either Banshea couldn’t find out or wouldn’t tell anyone. However, it didn’t seem to matter much after a few nights, Lilah became an accepted part of the clan, and Mikaia reluctantly became accepted as her keeper. Things were relatively peaceful as long as Mikaia could keep Lilah from trying to play tag, but as that task was nearly impossible, the castle was often filled with the sounds of childish laughter, shrieks, and the occasional crash.
Oddly enough, from time to time Lilah would suddenly stop short in the middle of one of her favorite games of tag. When asked why she had stopped running (not that Mikaia minded, but it was a little confusing) she would always reply, "Shaunie told me to."
Shaunie was Lilah’s imaginary friend. Lilah talked to her constantly. It was suggested that Shaunie could be a real person using sorcery, but Shaunsha protested that she had always been able to see invisible objects and people. Banshea added that she should be able to at least sense somebody there, but as she didn’t, the odds were that there wasn’t really a Shaunie, so the matter was dropped.
Mikaia seemed to get more and more impatient with Lilah. Not that it ever got to anything remotely dangerous, but Banshea and Shaunsha could tell that taking care of the hatchling was wearing her down. Somehow Shaunsha got Owen to agree to taking care of Lilah for a while, and took off with Mikaia for who-knows-where.
"A little time away from Lilah will do her some good," Banshea said.
Where they went doesn’t really matter. What is truly important is what happened on their trip.
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