Truth, Lies, and Silver Eyes (A Sequel to STRQ) [Book 2]

Chapter 37: Summer

The first few days of being back were... a bit stressful. I was on edge ever since that incident with the Griffons. If Salem knew we were here... then it wouldn't take long for her to find Deacon too. And I wasn't about to let that happen. I sighed and glanced over to where Deacon was working. His reading and writing had improved exponentially. But I couldn't help notice that training with him was rather slower. Especially when it came to his semblance. Or at least what I thought was his semblance. I had never seen someone boost their strength in a matter of seconds like he did when he saved me from that Grimm. His aura must've been a powerful one.

"Okay, I'm done!" I heard Deke say.

He quickly grabbed his paper and showed me.
"I tried correcting the mistakes you told me about. Did I do good?"

"Hmm... let me see," I said, looking over his spelling words.

I was pleased to find very little mistakes this time. He really was doing a lot better.

"Yes, this looks a lot better, Deke. I'm proud of how much better you've gotten and spelling and writing! Your reading still needs a bit more work, but I think you're doing great there, too."

Deacon smiled widely. "Thank you! Can I go look around outside for a bit?"

I was still hesitant letting him leave the house for extended periods of time. Especially after the Griffons, but he couldn't stay cooped up in here forever. It wasn't healthy for a growing boy.

I smiled. "Of course. Just please be back before sundown. I don't want you staying after dark, understood?"

"Okay! Thank you!"

I watched as he ran out the door.

Qrow came back from the kitchen and looked around a little.
"Where's Deke?" he asked.

"He's outside," I replied.

Qrow sat in a chair next to me.
"I'm surprised you let him go."

I sighed. "I didn't want to reallly. But I know being stuck in here all day must be terribly boring for a boy his age."

Qrow chuckled a little. "Yeah. No kidding."

I was quiet for a moment. I wasn't sure how to bring up the subject.

"Hey Qrow?"

He looked over to me.
"Yeah?" he asked.

"If Salem knows we're here... do you think she knows about Deacon, too?"

Qrow looked down at the ground before saying, "I'm not too sure. If she does know, we'll need to keep a close eye on Deke."

I nodded in agreement.
"If Salem found out about the Mega Faunus, there's no telling what she might do."

"Exactly," Qrow said. "I'm going to try and find Deke and watch over him."

"I'll join you," I told him, rising from my chair. "I don't feel comfortable leaving him out there by himself. At least not now."

"Yeah. I agree. Let's find him before anyone or anything else does."

He quickly ran out the front door and I sprinted after him.

Deacon wasn't too far away. We found him not too far from the house. He was digging around in scrap metal.

"Deke?" I called out to him. "What are you doing?"

He got to his feet quickly and turned around to face us.
"Uncle! Summer! I was just... um..."

His voice trailed off and he looked away. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed.

I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong, Deke?" I asked him.

He was quiet for a moment before looking to me and saying, "I've been trying to find some extra pieces of scrap metal so I can work on my hammer. I've already forged my father's sword into a cool hunting knife! Wanna see?"

I pulled out his father's blade, but it had been modified quite a bit. The blade had a serrated edge and it was attached to a smaller handle to fit his hand better. It looked incredibly sharp too. I was impressed. And judging the look on Qrow's face, he was pretty impressed as well.

"Wow... I've never seen such skill in forgery. At least not this young," he said.

"Yeah. It's pretty impressive actually," I replied.

Deacon walked up to me and showed us his knife up closer.
"What do you think?" he asked.

"I'm really impressed, Deke," Qrow said, "I've never seen such skill in forging weapons. Especially in someone as young as you. I'm an adult, and even I had some issues forging my own weapon."

Deacons eyes widened in surprise. "Really? You? But you're so cool! There's no way you could make a mistake!"

I laughed. "Even the coolest make mistakes sometimes."

Qrow and I allowed Deacon to rummage around for a while longer until it got dark.

"Hey, Deke. Sorry to interrupt your exploring, but it's getting dark and I'd like for us to get home before the Grimm start showing up," Qrow told him.

Deacon got to his feet and brushed himself off a bit.

"Okay! Coming, Uncle!" he said.

He started to follow Qrow to the house and I followed close behind. After we had arrived back, Deacon went to the back to put away the stuff he brought back with him. I took this as an opportunity to have a talk with him in private.

I found him sorting through several pieces of metal and putting them into neat little piles.

"Deke... are you busy?" I asked.

He turned around, looking a bit startled.
"Oh, hi Summer! I was just looking through my stuff. Do you want something?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk for a bit. Is that okay?"

"Oh. Okay," he said, "what is it?"

"Do you remember when you helped me fight off that powerful Grimm not too long ago?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

"Well, when you attacked that Grimm, your strength seemed to be increased by a lot. And I think that might've been your semblance. If you'd allow me, we could train together and work on it. Your semblance is your most powerful asset. It'll come in handy when fighting. If you want, you could think of it as your very own superpower."

His eyes lit up. "Really? You want to teach me how to use my semblance?"

I nodded. "If you're up to it, yes."

I was nearly knocked over when he hugged me.

"Yeah! I want to use my own superpower... semblance thing!"

I laughed. "Okay. We can get started as soon as tomorrow."

This is going to be interesting, I thought.