Xanthy eyed the ceiling of this new room. The woman had led her up two flights of stairs and turned a corner. This was the second door to the left corridor. That way, she knew where to run in case she was about to be butchered for her organs.

"I am Vikara Sandiega," the woman closed the door and twisted the key slotted to its metal lock. The gears shut with a finality that dried Xanthy's mouth up. "What is your name?"

"X-Xanthy," she blurted. Her palms felt clammy. "Xanthiene."

Vikara strode towards a square, wooden table pushed against the wall. "Family name?" she pulled a chair and gestured for Xanthy to take the other. "Please," she said with a smile.

Xanthy edged to her seat and propped her hands on the table. "Uh, I have no family," she said, fighting the urge to blurt out Vivenca. "So, no family name."

Vikara raised an eyebrow and propped her chin on twined hands. "How much do you remember from your childhood?" she asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Xanthy narrowed her eyes.

"Because," Vikara tapped the table with a finger. Nails rapped against the wood. "I am the only one that can help you deal with this."

Xanthy cocked her head to the side. "With what?" she scoffed. "I am fine without your help, lady."

"Two incidents in a row does not scream independence to me," VIkara's hands went back to being twined atop the table.

"I was learning magic which you now prohibited me to do," Xanthy waved her hand in exasperation. "I followed that. What more can you ask of me?"

"Well, what do you call that blast you sent Count Travis's way?" VIkara argued. "That does not sound like 'following' to me."

"It was an accident," Xanthy sighed. "The darkness was not supposed to stand in the way."

"Darkness?"

"Every time I feel something needs to be done, it appears," Xanthy blurted. "Then, when I came to, the damage was already done."

"What kind of damage?" Vikara asked.

"What is it to you?" Xanthy snapped. When Vikara didn't answer, Xanthy wrinkled her nose. "Well, houses were blown to bits, Counts get thrown down their asses, and people lose their heads."

Vikara breathed a curse. "It's more serious than I thought," she said. "You could've killed people. Or worse, lead people to you."

Xanthy shook her head. Why was leading people to her worse than actually killing them? "Do you know something?"

Vikara blinked and then shook her head. "Well, to fully understand your situation, we need to start at the beginning," she said. "How is your knowledge regarding the realms?"

Xanthy rolled her eyes. "I have spent my entire life planting ajilte to survive. Of course, I know stuff regarding the realms," she grunted. "No."

Vikara groaned and massaged the bridge of her nose. "Gods help me that the Virtakios is actually this thick."

"I heard that," Xanthy frowned. Was this woman talking crap about Xanthy? Yes, she was.

"Anyway," Vikara brought her hands together and bobbed her head at Xanthy. "We'll start like this—there are two realms around us. One is the world we live in which is Fantasilia. One is a realm we call World Beyond."

"How original," Xanthy scoffed. Vikara glared at her and Xanthy gestured for the woman to continue.

"So, in World Beyond, you could say that the beings residing there are powerful in nature," Vikara demonstrated with her hands by bringing them far apart. She pointed her lips at her left hand. That must be the World Beyond. "Now, from this realm, some of these powerful beings open a gate to our world and end up here. The magic that they retain from World Beyond is what we call the Power of the Ancients. In its archaic form, the Virtakios."

Xanthy frowned. "Why would they go here if they're so powerful over there?" she asked.

"We may never know," Vikara replied. Her eyes moved from one hand to the other. Their world. Fantasilia. "So in our world, there are various beings bearing the Virtakios over the centuries. But never before did we have a case of a Virtakios born inside Fantasilia."

Xanthy's eyebrows met. "What, are you saying it's me?" she touched her chest. "Not only is it absurd, it's impossible. I can't be that...that thing."

"Why not?"

"For one, how do I know what you're saying is true?" Xanthy panted. "Two, I'm no one. Three, I don't want to have anything to do with this."

Vikara sighed. "Alright. One, you won't know what I'm saying is true because you don't see what I see. Two, you are someone even without your power. Three, you will have something to do with this because you might start a war just by existing."

Xanthy's stomach twinged. "What?"

Vikara nodded. "Yes, people are already after you. Whoever gave you that cloaker knows it. You have seen them over the past few days. If I hadn't saved you, you would have been dead by now."

Xanthy laughed with unbelief. "Those Guards are after me because I crossed the border as a Disfavored. The patrols are tight."

"Please," Vikara blew a quick breath from her nose. "Disfavoreds cross to the Commons all the time. There is a huge percentage of Disfavoreds in just this estate alone."

"What?"

"Civil Guards are outnumbered a thousand to one in this city," Vikara said. "There's no way they would monitor the borders. Not with their meager pay. The security you thought they employ doesn't exist."

Xanthy opened her mouth then closed it. That wasn't a passing comment aimed to turn her belief to Vikara. It was the truth. Vikara was born and raised here, so she knew how the inner circles of the city worked. If she was saying Disfavoreds cross here on a regular basis, unpatrolled then...

"Those Civil Guards chasing me," Xanthy's chest heaved. "T-they came to my home. They bombed my house down with spells. They shot me with magic. They pierced my leg with a hook," she raised her eyes to Vikara's gray ones. "They were after me? Why?"

Vikara pursed her lips. "The nature of the Virtakios remains unexplored," she said. "But we have known that it was a branch of magic meant to destroy. To lay waste. To uproot the foundations of our world. Of course, people will want to have that kind of power in their hands."

"For what?"

"For colonizing? For disturbing peace?" Vikara enumerated.

That's what fairies would do to Humans. "That..." Xanthy's voice died down. "I...need more time. This is too much."

"I do not expect you to accept it all immediately," Vikara cocked her head to one side. "It must be hard to come to terms with being a fairy, too."

Xanthy's hand flew to her ears. To her horror, her hair wasn't anywhere near in hiding her pointed helices. Vikara saw...

"Don't worry, I won't rat you out," Vikara said softly. "The cloaker should do a good job of hiding your trail for a good while. Stay here while you figure things out."

"Why are you doing this?" Xanthy squinted. "You could have given me to a purge and probably receive a compensation price for it."

Vikara scratched her scalp and smoothed her braids down. "I know how it feels to be overwhelmed by the world," she said. "You need time to understand it all. It goes against my conscience to send you back out knowing you won't survive a day."

"That's...nice of you," Xanthy bit her lip. "You could be flogged or executed when I get found out in your estate though. I thought Humans hated fairies."

Vikara winked. "I'm an exception, perhaps?"

"But I can't be a fairy, can I?" Xanthy twiddled her fingers.

"The possibilities are endless," Vikara drummed her fingers on the table. "Besides, you have been speaking Keijula with me since earlier. Quite flawless, if you ask me. Are you sure you didn't take any lessons of some sort?"

"Of course, I would never learn the language of those monsters—" Xanthy's eyes widened. "Wait, I'm speaking Keijula?"

Vikara nodded. "Yes."

"But you can, too," Xanthy narrowed her eyes. "Are you a fairy, too?"

Vikara waved her hand in front of her face. "Oh, no," she said. "I learned the language to communicate better with traders. It's useful in business and at discussing sensitive information. Travis and I use it all the time. I am fully human."

Someone taking the time to learn the language of the race that persecuted them? Xanthy couldn't wrap her head around it.

Xanthy massaged her temples. She didn't remember taking any Keijula lessons nor hearing someone talk in the language. "I-it could be the magic in me," Xanthy reasoned. "It must have broken down barriers in language or something?"

"Then how do you explain those ears?" Vikara raised her eyebrows.

"They grew days ago," Xanthy whined. She tousled her hair with both hands, "They were round and human as far as I can remember."

"How old are you?" Vikara asked.

Xanthy lowered her hands from her head. "Sixteen. Why?"

"There's a prophecy about you," Vikara said.

Xanthy raised an eyebrow. "Prophecy?"

Vikara took a deep breath and recited,

"The savior to be beheld in the night sky
Lights dance to allude to the stars' cry
Sixteen years of silence unleash the power within
Virtakios revealed through what is not seen"

The words hung in the air for a short while, blending with the silence. Xanthy blinked as a bitter taste coated her tongue. "Wow, that's...specific."

It had only occurred to her that she turned sixteen four days ago just as Vikara recited the prophecy. Birthdays were one of the things Xanthy conveniently forgot because it didn't add any significance to her life. Now, it came biting back. The day after she turned sixteen, her ears grew and Civil Guards have tracked her to her house.

Poachers will claw their way towards you if you keep walking around with a trail like that. Reeca, the varichria, had said that. That's why she gave Xanthy the cloaker. Could it be...?

June said something about a thyminka.

"What is a thyminka?" Xanthy asked Vikara.

The woman glanced at the ceiling. "It's a kind of brownie that deals with memories," she said. "Why? Do you think you are under the influence of one?"

Xanthy bit down on her lip until the flesh numbed. "I can't remember anything before I was ten," she blurted. "A-and if a fairy has somehow altered my memories then...who does that make me?"

Was she meant to just believe whatever people tell her to be? She, herself, didn't know who she was anymore. The prophecy nipped at her mind.

"You said something about a savior," Xanthy whirled back to Vikara. "How am I supposed to save anything if all I can do is to destroy things?"

Vikara shook her head. "Prophecies aren't meant to be dissected nor thought through with great extent," she said. "I only told you that because the facts align for us to ignore the possibility that you are indeed the Virtakios."

Bile rose to Xanthy's throat. "So let's say I really am the Virtakios," she said. "What do we do now?"

Vikara smiled. "I will teach you magic," she said. "Not only to defend yourself but to control that power inside of you. I prefer to keep my men in one piece."

Xanthy took a deep breath. "Thank you," she stood up. "I really don't deserve all of this."

"Believe me, you deserve every bit of it," Vikara gestured to the door.

Xanthy twisted the key and the lock slid open. She yanked the door and stepped out without looking back. Then, she left a small crack and pressed herself against the wall. Weavers, including that blond girl that kept looking at Xanthy in their room, passed by. Chatter was thick as people carrying mops and brooms entered and exited rooms.

Inside the room, Xanthy heard a shuffle of cloth. Something with chains clinked and metal gears turned. Then, Vikara's voice shot out in a clear line.

"I have acquired it. Wait for further reports."

Xanthy's throat closed up as she edged away from the wall. She tackled the stairs two at the time, distracting herself from the heartbeat pounding in her head. People were really after her.

Vikara, included.