Élphame

Chapter Ten

          Darcy didn't speak until she had dragged Naomi-- rather roughly-- through the dark to the ladder and gave the fifth rung a twist, opening the entrance above, allowing a small square of light to penetrate the thick darkness.

          "It's only a matter of time before I savagely attack him," she muttered darkly as she began to climb the ladder. Naomi followed. She didn't need to ask for clarification on who Darcy was talking about.

          "So, what did you two talk about?" Naomi asked as she climbed towards the light.

          Darcy only growled in response.

          "Okay," Naomi said. "Different question then. Alec told me he was an alchemist, so what kind of Changeling are you? Or, what's your Family, I guess?"

          "My Family is my family," Darcy said, reaching the top and pulling herself through. "The hint's in the name. I'm a Jogah."

          "And that means...?"

          Darcy offered Naomi her hand and pulled her through the hole in the ground. She twisted the third rung and the hole sealed itself shut. "According Iroquois lore, Jogah, or 'little people,' are nature spirits that watch over crops and harvest."

          "So, what can Jogahs do?" Naomi asked.

          "Do?" Darcy rose to her feet and flipped on the air hockey table and started to hit the pucks violently into the goal. Slam! Slam!

          "Yeah, you know. Like how Alec can transmogrify inanimate objects. What can you do?"

          "Oh, you mean, what are Jogahs' powers?" Slam!

          "Um, yeah, I guess." The question sounded a bit strange said in a serious tone.

          "It depends on the sub-Family of jogah. There are three of them, and each one specializes in a different form of magic," Darcy explained. "Gahongas can bend stone to their will; Gandayah control plants and crops; and Ohdows can have influence over monstrous creatures." She hit a puck into the goal as she listed off each one.

          "And which one are you?" Naomi asked.

          Darcy set down her "stick" and opened her mouth to answer when suddenly the door to the rec. room opened and Ezhno poked his head in. "Is it necessary to make that much noise?" he asked.

          "Sorry," Darcy mumbled, not sounding sorry at all.

          "I've been calling you for that last five minutes," he said. "Lunch is ready."

          Darcy and Naomi followed him up the stairs at a distance. Naomi leaned close. "Is he... you know?" She tilted her chin at Ezhno's back.

          "Oh, yeah. Hey, Ezh!" she said loudly. "Guess what?"

          "Hm?"

          "Naomi's a Changel-- ow!" Darcy grabbed her arm where is was red from Naomi pinching her.

          "That's not for you to tell," Naomi hissed.

          "I told you he was one!" Darcy pointed out.

          "That I was one what?" Ezhno stopped and turned around to face them. Understanding dawned in his eyes. "No way," he said. "Naomi, you're a Changeling?"

          Naomi sighed. It felt so wrong to discuss so openly what she had kept hidden from the world for the past seven years of her life. But it was out in the open now, and there was no point denying it. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I guess I am."