Chapters
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Hayden tossed and turned in his basement bedroom, alone in the dark. Every child spent their later years dreaming about this moment, when they finally got to come into their own and grow up for real. Most families threw parties for their kids when they settled, which usually marked the passage from childhood into their teenage years. He still remembered Ellie's party two years ago. Mom and Dad had done several extra projects for a few bakers in town, so they could get enough food for all the kids…-
169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden had less than an hour to pack away his whole life. What were you supposed to bring when a Great Family forced you to leave against your will? At least he had Evelynn beside him, suggesting things and rejecting others. Little clothing made it—but aside from another outfit to change into, his sister suggested his version of the family's matching oversized tee-shirts. He cried as he held it up, looking at each eevee stitched into it in turn. It had everyone represented, though Liz was an eevee…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden stumbled forward off the train, and into the brilliant sunlight. The cold cut straight through his thin clothing, making him shiver—but he endured it. A servant he barely saw extended one hand towards him, taking the bag off his shoulder. He wasn't sure how close to get to the powerful woman—the one he'd seen depicted in fine portraits and posters all over Sunyshore since he was born. Strange that she looked exactly the way the portraits showed. There were no lines on her face, or…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Before Hayden stood the largest structure he had ever seen. It stretched taller than any building in Sunyshore, even the lighthouse in some places. Yet it sprawled over whole sections of the forest, sometimes right up to the trees. At the same time, much of its construction was entirely unknown to him. Not bricks, glass, or cement. Most of it was wood, with paper windows in many of the upper floors instead of glass. It must get terribly drafty when real winter came. It wasn't just some rectangle…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Liz emerged from Hayden's jacket, putting herself between the newcomer's daemon and Hayden himself. She was smaller and weaker than he was, but she also flew differently. She could move in any direction, instead of flying in gentle curves and arcs. Tension between Hayden and the newcomer built in the air to a powerful crescendo. His stubbornness, her indignance. "I wasn't trying to worry anyone," he said flatly. "I told a maid I was leaving." Christel was her name, but…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden barely registered his next few hours. The servants didn't leave him to his own devices this time—they had him washed and scrubbed clean, dressed in fresh clothes, then under the harsh white light of a doctor's inspection. But whatever they were hoping for, they must not have found it. There was nothing left to bandage, or any bruises. There was no visual sign at all that he'd nearly fallen off a cliff. "We have new instructions not to allow you beyond the grounds until…
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169.6 K • Completed
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It wasn't a long fight—eevee weren't the kind of daemons to keep going until they were bloody and exhausted. It only took a few seconds for Liz to end up on top, holding Loch down under her forepaws. But they did have a lifetime of practice. Eleanor stared, glancing between the daemons then back up at Hayden. "H-how? I've never seen anyone else who can do it. Everyone else is stuck." Hayden shrugged. He didn't want to look too proud in victory, or else she might still try…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden had hurt before. He'd spent his entire life essentially on his own on the streets of Sunyshore. That meant plenty of little fights with other kids, it meant falling off things he tried to climb, or tripping off a pier into the ocean. Mostly it meant bruises and cuts in the constant pressure of street war between the sailor kids and the townies. Other kids could be vicious and cruel, but none of them had ever hurt him like his new sensei. Should he feel better that she wasn't trying to…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden knew the day was special the moment Lady Gracidea walked into the dining room at lunch. She lived in the house, and it wasn't like she avoided seeing Hayden. Even so, she was someone Hayden rarely encountered, devoted to numerous, inscrutable tasks. In three months of living there, Hayden could count such meetings on his fingers. Servants followed her, filling the table around her with plates of fine food. Hayden still didn't really care about luxuries like that. Even so, Liz looked…
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169.6 K • Completed
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Hayden landed atop the shrine's topmost platform. Instead of grass, sand covered the space, with a thin ridge around the outside. A man sat at the center, with his back to them. He wore the same style as the ceremonial clothing, a plain cloth vest open at the front and pants tied with a simple rope. "Where's his daemon?" Liz asked. It was a simple question, but came with terrifying weight underneath. A person without a daemon was as horrifying as a person without a head. Yet they saw no…
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169.6 K • Completed
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