The Art of Guessing

Chapter 3

Flicking the switch, the shadows retreat into the dusty shelves.  I bend over to look under the shelves to make sure that we didn't have any mice. I don't see any.
Righting myself, I grab the ladder, it's small and old, I'll be surprised if this one doesn't break. I drag it into the hallway with some hassle, but I manage to get it to the stairwell. Hoisting it up onto my shoulder by one of the rungs, I begin to climb the stairs for the third time today. I have to stop once to pick up the ladder again after it falls off my shoulder. Reaching the top of the stairs, I set the ladder down on the ground. "Kronos, you still up there?"
The familiar's head pokes down. "Where else would I be?" He asked.
"You can fly," I point.
"You told me to stay put,"
"Didn't think you'd actually listen,"
Kronos only laughs. "You got a ladder," He jerks his head in its direction.
"Yeah, gotta get our perfectly average city-slicker trainee down somehow," I shrug.
He gives me a charming grin. "Of course,"
I hear my dad's footsteps. "Well, if anything, we've got our shrinking crystal now," I set up the ladder as my dad comes around the corner.
"Oh, Hey, general," Kronos gives a little salute.
"At ease," Dad waves him off, looking at the broken ladder. "See when you said the ladder broke, I thought you meant it might be fixable. This isn't fixable," He laughs, doubling over from both laughter and being winded from the climb.
"Whoops...?" I shrug, looking at Kronos.
"It's alright, we can make a new one," Dad straightens up and wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. "Here's that shrinking crystal," He tosses the yellow rock up to Kronos. "What do you want for lunch?"
"It's time for lunch already?" I blink. I'd hardly noticed the time passing.
"Uh... yeah, sandwich or tacos?" He asked, looking at his pocketwatch.
"Tacos sound good," Kronos chimes in. I nod with agreement.
"Tacos for both of us," I have to stand on my tip toes, but I manage to kiss his cheek. "Please,"
Dad laughs. "As the princess wishes," He bows playfully. He takes his leave quietly as I climb the ladder into the attic.
"So, you listen, you're tall, and my dad likes you. You're meeting all my standards," I watch him shrink the boxes to dice size.
"Sorry, you're missing a vital 'Tail' requirement," Kronos scoffs. "Otherwise, your shortness and attitude would've been eye catching,"
"You're a furry?" I smirk at him.
"She's a familiar too, moron," Kronos shoots back, climbing down the ladder with the tiny boxes in his pocket.
I fake a gasp. "How dare you? I'm more of a nimrod," I follow him down and walk beside him as we descend the stairs.
"Ah," Kronos looks at me with one of his charming smiles. We walk in a surprisingly comfortable silence. He steps onto the last step and stops, his smile fading. "Hold up," He sticks his hand in front of my chest, stopping me from going out the door.
I scrunch my eyebrows together. "What?" I quiet my voice out of habit.
"Someone's outside the door," He whispered to me.
"It's probably my dad," I remind him, keeping my voice quiet nonetheless.
Kronos shakes his head. "That's what I thought too, but the vibrations are different,"
I look at him like he's on drugs. Which was still up for debate in my mind.
"I can sense vibrations, bird trait," He explains.
"That's useful," I shrug. "It's probably a guard, my dad posts them in weird places so they can practice standing for long periods of time," I suggest.
"You sure?" Kronos asked.
"Let's not get into a schrodinger's cat debate," I point, reaching forward and opening the door. "Oh, Jake!" I jump. "What's up?" I ask.
"Uh, I was gonna ask if you wanted some help with moving the boxes," Jake peered through the doorway and saw Kronos. "Who's that?"
Kronos steps through the doorway. "Kaleb Strac, royal guard trainee," He looked mildly irritated.
"I've never seen you before," Jake raises his eyebrows. "And I know all Capital transfers,"
Oh crap. Jake O'hare is in charge of the Capital soldiers. We're so busted. So so so busted. My mind soars, looking for an excuse. "Uh-"
"I wasn't here," Kronos shoots forward, his wings making a reappearance on his back, spreading threateningly. He rushes Jake. Jake doesn't have any time to process before Kronos presses his palm to his forehead. "Forget,"
Jake O'hare crumples under his touch. Kronos props him against the wall.
"What'd you do?!" I pull on my hair, a few of the strands coming free. "Did you- K-K-"
"He's asleep, Cassidy, I altered his mentality towards the last two minutes, it'll just be blank for him, but he should wake up in a few minutes, well rested," Kronos continues to walk down the hall, whistling as he went.
"So you know magic?" I trot to catch up with him.
"You don't 'know' magic, you're born with it," Kronos corrects me. "What're they teaching you at school these days?" He asked.
"I was homeschooled, not a lot of magic know-how up here in the mountains,"  I shrugged in response, we walk through the mess hall to the main doors. "Why do you think the entire army is composed of normal people? And I'm trying to keep you hidden?"
Kronos raises his eyebrows. "Mage racism? Wow. You know, the reason this country exists was because wizards wanted a place to go. To escape that racism. In any other city, they'd be the odd ones," He doesn't seem offended. Rather, he's amused.
"Your words, not mine. I'm well aware of the history of my country, a lot of the soldiers were mages, at first, then the folks without magic started to come up, and they stayed far longer than the mages, they saw this as a place where they fit in, and pretty soon, magic soldiers were an oddity," I explained. "Which is why everyone here is considered normal,"
"You're right, to a degree. Most magic is latent, you have to know how to... activate it," Kronos looks down at his hands. "Even then, when you do activate it, magic can be difficult. It took me years to hone my magic, and accept it,"
"Accept it?" I furrow my brow.
"Sorry kiddo, you need a better friendship bond to unlock that story," Kronos puts his hands in his pockets.
"You're the one who brought it up!" I accuse.
"And now I'm putting it away," Kronos responds.
I lead him to the storage shed in the corner of the courtyard. I pause. "Hold on, there's something I gotta take care of," Opening the door, I'm not surprised to hear a squeak. I look inside and look back at Kronos. "Guys, if you want to make out somewhere, I recommend the basement," I roll my eyes and jerk my thumb at the cellar doors directly across the courtyard.
The pair inside is beet red, they nod as they sheepishly leave the shack.  "I won't tell my dad, don't worry," They nod again and walk towards the main building. "What're the chances you can erase my memories of that?" I ask flatly.
"Sorry, if I gotta remember it, you get to too," Kronos shudders.
"Ugh," I hold open my hand. "Give me the boxes,"
"Sure thing," He drops them into my hand. I arrange them to a degree that they'll hopefully fill the entire shed. I back up next to him. "Does that happen often?"
"You have no idea. You can zap them back up to size," I Gesture vaguely in the direction of the boxes.
Kronos holds the yellow rock out to the tiny boxes and it glows, giving off a faint light onto his face that I  didn't notice before, most likely because there was a window in the attic. There wasn't one in this shed. The boxes returned to their normal sizes
"Can we go find my friend now?" Kronos looks pained.
I walk out the door. "Let's go, We'll have to look while in my room because that's where my mother's things are supposed to go, But why would Daniel's card be in her stuff?"
"I hid him there," Kronos follows close behind. "I couldn't risk Sierra finding him, or the others for that matter. So I hid all of them."
"Why?" We cross the courtyard and re-enter the mess hall. "If you hid him, you know where he should be, right?"
"Not exactly, I hid him on the base, yes. But I couldn't control who found him, so he belonged to your mother for a spell,"
This was new. Any information on my mother was. "Did she free him?"
"Not that I know of, but id he's older than when I saw him last, I'd say yes," Kronos looks up at the spires of the fort.
"Oh," I follow his gaze, resting on the fifth story window. I found it hard to believe that Kronos had jumped out of that window only a few hours ago. "D'you think Jake woke up?"
"Maybe, it's hard to tell with men like him," He glances at me. "Why do you ask? Do you like him?"
"He's a valued soldier," I respond automatically.
"Is that all?"
I shake my head. "He's a soldier, that's what all of them are,"
"Your father falls under that, you know," Kronos says quietly.
I flinch at his words. "But he's-"
"Different? Your father? You forget that because you're attached to him, people are attached to those soldiers. They're family to someone else," Kronos squints at me. "They're people, too, Cassidy,"
His words are spoken gently but there is a harsh truth to them. We reach the door to the stairwell, and Jake is gone.
Kronos struggles up the stairs again. "Are you sure you're alright?" I ask.
"When you're a bird you don't have to climb stairs,"
"But you have to fly, doesn't that mean you have to be strong?" I counter.
He huffs, pushing on his legs. "I got arms, not legs. Have you ever seen a bird with strong legs?"
"Falcon," I respond.
"Not a corvid,"
"You said bird,"
"Whatever,"
We reached the top of the stairs, only taking one break for Kronos to stretch a leg cramp. My Dad is waiting for us. "Here you go," I toss him the crystal, he fumbles with the crystal for a second before dropping it. The gemstone clatters to the ground with a glass-like ringing.
Dad bends to pick it up, grunting as he rights himself. "Honestly Cassidy, you have to be more careful," He looks at me. "I just put your food up in the attic," He gestures upstairs. "It looks good up there."
"Thank you, Sir," Kronos nods.
My dad begins to move down the stairs. "Have any of you seen O'hare today?"
Kronos blinking rapidly is the only indication that I have of him being alarmed by the question.
"Yeah, I saw him outside this morning," I pipe up.
"He said he was going to come up and help you," Dad muttered. "Wonder what that boy is up to..."
I look at Kronos and shrug. "Maybe he forgot what he was coming up here for and went back downstairs?"
Kronos started, turning to me.
Dad either dismissed Kronos's otherwise strange behavior and shrugs. "I'll find him," He waves a hand, descending the stairs in thought.
When he's out of earshot, I look at Kronos. "You good?" I ask.
"You're sneaky, you told your dad basically what happened and turned it into a suggestion." He gives me one of his charming half-smiles. "You told the truth while not telling the whole truth,"
"I'm a manipulative little snot, aren't I?" I smirk. "Anyway enough of me being a bad person... are you ready to find your friend?"
Kronos grins. "Immensely,"
"Good," I climb the ladder. "Lets eat and get the boxes to my room,"