New World

Chapter Four

"Okaaaaaaaayyyyyyy," said Savi. "Noted. Cerulean has a creepy older brother who- oh, but that means Timothy and Carla are your parents."

"Just realized?" Cerulean asked, his smile twisted.

"So... you're kind of an orphan?"

"I wish," Cerulean snorted. "Orphans get adopted. Orphans aren't blamed for what their parents did. I was raised by my grandmother."

"But... hang on. You told me your mother was a Vacker."

"I say a lot of things," Cerulean mumbled, looking cross with himself. "Look, this is why you hate me, right? I lied to you."

"I don't hate you, Cerulean. You're my only friend. I couldn't hate you even if I wanted to," Savi admitted, even though she was kind of mad at him.

Cerulean looked away. "Well... good for you, I guess."

Savi grabbed his arm. "Seriously! I'm not mad at you."

"Yeah, well... Okay."

Savi watched him go and wondered if she shouldn't have told him anything in the first place.

Maybe having friends was more trouble than it was worth.

She couldn't believe she'd actually been excited for school that day when it turned out to be utter garbage. Well, apart from Lady Gavin's praise, but that wasn't exactly something she could tell her parents about. Keefe would say it was to be expected while Sophie would just stare and be unsure of what to say. Her grandparents wouldn't have anything good to say, either, since Savi was pretty sure they'd been way better than her. Then again, they'd ended up caring for animals, so maybe alchemy hadn't been their forte.

Savi wondered if she should go make some friends that were girls for a change, but she just didn't feel like it. What girls were there that would actually want to befriend her, anyway? Via was busy hanging out with Harmony – not that Savi could blame her. Harmony was a child of the esteemed Vacker family. But she'd thought that Harmony would like her since their parents were friends. Ha. Fat chance. Why'd she ever gotten her hopes up?

She listened through Elvin History because she had nothing better to do and got an A star on her assignment. Not that she cared. What use what Elvin History anyway? But her mentor seemed genuinely impressed by her work ethic, so she decided to go along with it. She could be the queen of Elvin History if that was what it took to make some friends. Or be left alone.

When she got home, she ignored the batch of freshly baked mallowmelt sitting on the table which was definitely a red flag for Edaline because she came banging on the door a short while later.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it," Savi said forcefully and tried to close the door on her grandmother.

Edaline smiled in a grandmotherly way. "I don't want to know anything you aren't ready to share. But I do want you to eat some mallowmelt."

Savi grinned. "Okay, you win." She took the tray of mallowmelt from Edaline and closed the door gently.

Her parents and grandparents and even Seri always exploited Savi's weakness on her. But she didn't mind. It meant that whenever they wanted something, she got extra mallowmelt. Which wasn't a bad thing.

She considered hailing Cerulean before wondering if he was even ready to talk to her again. Oh well. Who cared if he was ready or not? "Cerulean," she whispered into the Imparter.