Realistic or Modern Neria Academy

It was another day but it felt the same for Kira. Going to classes, studying for quizzes or tests, doing labs, it was all the same endless tasks again and again. It was her own choice of course, she knew that more than anyone else. Her foster parents had wanted her to go into something other than the medical field for her major but she had been too stubborn. Becoming a veterinarian had always been a dream of hers and she didn't want the idea of school to destroy that dream. Now that she was three years in though, the everyday mundane tasks were really dragging her down. A heavy sigh left her lips before she straightened up and walked over to the autopsy table; on it was a fake dog, obvious by the lake of fur on its body and how it looked like a plush doll. She and two of her classmates were supposed to be working on a project due by the end of the month involving this little doll. Neither of her partners had showed up and she had been working on the paper that went along with it for the past hour or so.

"This is stupid. Why am I bothering to do all the work here?" Kira grumbled to herself as her eyes scanned the dog once more. Before she could get lost in her thoughts, the door to the lab opened and a part of her hoped it was one of her partners. She was thoroughly disappointed to see it was just her friend. "Hey Em." Kira's gaze went back to the table as she greeted the tiny blonde that seemed to hop excitedly over to Kira. This caused a brow to raise but the smaller girl spoke before she could.

"No more work for you, missy. There's a party tonight in one of the fraternity houses. Everyone who's anyone is going to be there!" Emily seemed a bit too excited and it wasn't even deterred by the sour look that crossed Kira's features. "Oh come on, you can't coop yourself up in work all the time. You'll get older faster and you'll miss out on so much! So come on, we're going to go and get ready!" The smaller girl took Kira's hand and started dragging her off, not that Kira put in too much effort to stop it.

"Do I really have to go? You know I hate parties, Em. Drunks flailing about playing stupid games that end up with someone naked, dumb pranks, and-"

"And you said you wanted some adventure in your life. What other way can you think of than going to a party? Now quit complaining and let's hurry!" Another sigh left Kira's lips since a party wasn't exactly what she had meant when she said she wanted some adventure. It was more wanting to meet someone like her, another Demigod. There had to be others out there but she hadn't met anyone as of yet. It was a dream of hers to be able to truly be herself as much as she was a veterinarian. It just hadn't happened yet so it was a very far off dream that stayed in the back of her mind. In that moment she realized that Emily was saying something else so she drew her attention back to the girl. The two continued to talk as they headed out of the building and towards the dorms.

"Yes Sir, we're in position." A woman with raven black hair tied back into a loose bun spoke in a soft voice. She was clad in all black, dark rimmed sunglasses, and on the side of her hip peeking through her leather jacket was the holster of a gun. She listened to the strict voice on the other end of the phone, nodding to herself slightly. "Of course, Sir. I will make sure that no one knows what it is we're doing. We'll wait until night and then find the student that you mentioned to us. A little test will still need to be done to see if they really are a Demigod like we think but....oh, no Sir. I apologize for seeming to question you." A look was given to her from her companion but she brushed it aside with a wave of her hand. "Yes Sir. I will report in the second we have them in custody." Nothing else was said but when she heard the click on the other end, she put her phone away. "All right, we have two hours to finish our preparations. You all have the picture of the target. Once you locate him, contact squads B and C to inform them of the location. If plan A fails, go straight into plan B. Whatever it takes, we must capture this boy alive."

She was probably deep into her seventh drink but was still the most sober individual present. She sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair. It was no fun that no one there had any tolerance to speak of, at least compared to her. She examined her multicoloured nails with a look of boredom. She had dressed the part, with a long-sleeved grey crop-top sweater and a short black and white plaid skirt overtop black tights. She wore a pair of black flats on her feet to make sure that she wasn't too tall. It made the boys feel insecure when girls were too tall and as much as she enjoyed such things, her invite had strongly discouraged making any mischief.

She downed another cup and went back for more, scanning the crowd for anything fun, seeing as the one she had come with had disappeared, off to do something dubious, no doubt. She could do little things here and there to entertain herself that wouldn't be particularly noticeable, like momentarily switching two people's bodies, or perhaps drop someone pants to produce a most embarrassing situation. Alas, there wasn't anything that seemed especially interesting. The fraternity boys were shamelessly hitting on the sorority girls, who played coy. It was a pit of raging hormones mixed with the odour of alcohol mingling with a hint of acetone, the epitome of youth.

"Amelia!" someone called from the crowd. "What are you doing here on your own?" The rosy-cheeked, well-endowed girl came weaving through the crowd.

"Nothing much, just admiring the scenery," she replied with a crescent-eyed smile. She enjoyed playing a normal university student, for that was all this was: simply a role to play. Her entire university presence was a facade, perpetuated using tricks and acting. Amelia, the perfect party girl who got sub-par grades, was a little ditzy, and always acted cute and flirty. "How about you, Leah. You bolted practically the instant you walked in. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I wouldn't say that," she replied coyly, looking away with a bashful face. Amelia scoffed internally. The girl before her was the type to play a chaste role but get down and dirty quite easily. She supposed that is how the two got along so well. Liars can recognise one another and they formed a bond based on their mutual dishonesty; although, Amelia's was on a larger scale than Leah's.

It was then that the air shifted ever so slightly. Amelia could feel something else among the human presences. There was something much larger that was approaching. She could feel anyone's capabilities because the nature of her ability was to steal a person's ability and use it as her own. She did this sort of thing on a number of occasions. She stole the professor's knowledge on exams, she stole athlete's physical prowess during competitions, she even stole special abilities, like singing or dancing. This was different than the abilities of mundane humans. "Sorry, Leah. I've just remembered something I need to do." She put her hands together in mock apology. Her inebriated friend could not detect the sardonic tone currently, so Amelia did not need to put too much effort into hiding her intentions. Amelia then proceeded to weave through the crowd to locate the strange presence.

Alec sat in a corner of the party, not particularly interested in being there. He had been dragged by one of his friends and then abandoned shortly after arriving. It wasn't like he'd rather be studying, quite the contrary really. Being here surrounded by imbeciles was what really irritated him. He had been told a couple of times not to smoke inside but both times he had ignored the host. Even now the fraternity brother that stumbled upon himself and his words did little to make Alec put the cigarette out. All he did was stare at the bigger drunk in front of him before blowing smoke in his face. As a coughing fit ensued, Alec took the chance to move on to a different part of the fraternity house. The music was louder and in the middle of what was likely the living room area was a bunch of students; they were grinding, sweating, dancing without rhythm. In a way it reminded Alec of a mating rite with how they were with one another. One woman in particular caught his attention since she was staring right at him.

Raven hair braided to one side, cherry red lips, and a black sweetheart style long dress with a slit going up one side. Their eyes met across the room but the way that she smiled made Alec furrow his brows slightly. It was almost like how a hunter spotted its prey. Pushing the thought aside, he brought the cigarette up to his lips to take another drag before moving on. There was no way that he slipped up and someone found out about his powers. Unless they caught on that his gig as a magician seemed a bit too real? No, that wasn't possible either. He had been very careful with how he handled things. He wracked his brain, trying to think of anything that might have tipped someone off but nothing came to mind. The only thing that played in his mind was when he was younger; a group of men clad in black had found him after he had saved the life of one of his classmates. They tried taking him away somewhere but his parents hadn't allowed it to happen. Both were killed in the struggle and Alec had managed to escape. Maybe they tracked him after all this time?

His thoughts paused when he realized that he was being followed. It was the same woman that had been watching him. What a night this was turning out to be. With an irritated sigh, he made his way through the crowd rather forcefully so that he could find his way to the front doors. The moment they opened, he was met with men dressed identically to what he had just remembered. "Oh, for fu-ah!" Before Alec to finish his sentence, he had been grabbed by the collar and thrown out of the house by one of them. As he rolled to get to his feet, he scanned outside and counted each of them. Four, five...six? No, seven of them including the woman that just came out of the house. "Boy, you're really pulling all the stops out aren't you." It was a statement rather than a question, one that had clear annoyance in his tone. He stood slowly, brushing himself off in the process only to stop when one of the men pulled out a gun.

"You escaped us once, boy. Or so I heard from one of the men before I killed them for their failure. Never send a man to do a woman's job, after all." The woman glanced down, pretending to look over hr manicured nails. The smile on her face seemed to be a satisfied one, almost like she really thought she'd won this round. It caused Alec to scoff a little before he bolted towards one of the men. "We need him alive. Be quick about it too, we don't want any of these mundanes noticing what's happening." The woman barked the orders and most of the men went into action. The one with the gun fired, thinking he had a clear shot. Alec managed to duck and slam his leg into the closest one and hid himself behind the man's back. The gasp of surprise caused his curiosity to grow, so he peeked just past the man's head to see a dart of some sort sticking out of the man's chest. Was that...a tranquilizer? The one holding the gun was already reloading, which left Alec very little time to do anything else. So he did the only thing he could think of: bolting away from the fraternity house and down towards the school grounds. It sounded like the men were hot on his heels but he didn't dare look back.

First she found the source of the mysteriously large presence: an uninterested young man being vaguely told off by an almost incomprehensible brute. It was intriguing watching simpletons such as the fraternity boys bumbling about in their tiny world in which they were still at the top of the hierarchy. It would be such a rude awakening when they realised that they would need actual skills to get along in life and they couldn't just bully someone to get their way. Something changed about the young man's demeanour and there was an air of danger about the whole situation.

Part of her wanted to just ignore what was happening and return to the inane party; however, she had always had an intense curiosity that did more harm than good. She had gotten into her fair share of trouble for acting upon whims. Against her better judgement, she followed him stealthily until he reached the door and fighting broke out. Her eyes widened. It appeared that no one had noticed the altercation occurring so nearby. This was none of her business, so she could just sneak back into the party, she thought to herself. No one would mind if she promised that she'd seen nothing, right?

She clenched her fist. It wasn't as though she was a particularly altruistic person, but at the same time, excitement like this couldn't simply be passed up, could it? She borrowed the athletic prowess of one of the football meatheads and jumped out a nearby window so that she could observe the events unfold without being disturbed, or so she hoped.

For the majority of her life, she had been in the foster care system. Her mother had died in an accident when she was little. She didn't remember much about her mother, only that she should hide anything about her that might seem abnormal. Her mother wasn't exactly specific in her instructions, so Amelia had followed the instructions quite clearly in the way that a child would interpret things. She hid any quirks in her personality that might come across as strange. What her mother didn't tell her was that there was something else abnormal that she shouldn't have been doing. She used her abilities pretty regularly for petty things that would usually go unnoticed; however, bending the laws of physics in the name of the occasional prank was bound to be noticed sooner or later. In this case, she didn't do it for a prank, but to observe the makings of an interesting night.

She gathered darkness around her to hide her from any visual scrutiny and ran in the same direction the group went.

How long he had been sprinting he wasn't entirely sure but by the time he felt his legs begin to burn, he was already halfway across the campus. Those men were still hot on his heel too. The only option he could see out of this would be to use his powers, which wasn't exactly something he wanted to do. If there were any students that passed by then they would find out about him and he'd end up needing to disappear. He really didn't want to have to go through that process. His thoughts stopped abruptly when he felt something yank hard against his ankle suddenly; he was forced to the ground and just barely avoided his head slamming against the concrete. He rolled over in time to see one of the men closest to him had a whip in hand, one that he was beginning to pull hard on. Feeling himself slid across the ground, Alec bolted upright to start untying the end of the whip that had caught him around the ankle.

It only took a moment before he was on his feet though the difference now was he was surrounded. Running was shot. The only option left was for him to fight his way out of this. "Just give it up boy and come quietly. It'll be much easier this way." The woman called out as she settled just behind the men's circle and out of reach. Instead of answering her right away, Alec reached into his back pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. His fingers slid across the side of the cards before he tossed them up into the air. Instead of falling back to the ground like they were supposed to, they hovered around him and moved in a circular motion. The woman cursed and barked orders again but it was drowned out by the first man screaming when several of the cards shot at him. His arms flailed around as he desperately tried to stop them from slicing at him but to no avail.

"Well. I guess the jig is up with you all. You've made a grave mistake trying to get to me again." Alec twirled his hand in the air a little, causing the cards to shoot out in all directions. It wasn't his intention to use that as anything more than a distraction. A breath was taken out and in that moment, he felt the magic of his mother flowing through him stronger. His eyes closed and what looked like a ripple of a heat wave surrounded him. It only lasted a few seconds before it and the cards vanished simultaneously. One of the men took the chance to charge at Alec from behind but he didn't bother moving. There wasn't a point now. The man went to tackle him but instead went straight through Alec's body and onto the ground in front of him. "Oh, guess I forgot to tell you I was leaving didn't I? Have fun trying to find me now." A chuckle escaped Alec's lips before the illusion of himself that he had created vanished. Several curses happened from the men but the woman kept them in check.

"Enough. Remember who his mother is. He has to still be around here because he couldn't have cast that magic from far. Search the grounds and find him!" She demanded as she began to walk with two of the men by her side. The rest of them split up into pairs taking different directions. Only once they were barely in sight did Alec let out a heavy sigh once again. The illusion he had cast on himself to keep himself invisible dissipated and he dropped to sit on the ground.

"What a pain in the ass. Guess I really will need to move again." He grumbled a little as he picked up a rock, only to throw it with a bit of force towards nothing in particular. He glanced aside before speaking again. "How long are you planning on hiding? It's not like they can track what they can't see, you should be fine coming out now you know." Alec just hoped that whomever it was wasn't like those blokes and was actually friendly. Although why they would be hiding if they were friendly he didn't quite get.

Watching the scene unfold, her heartbeat was loud in her ears. It was all she could do to keep hidden with change in circumstances. She just had to keep telling herself that this was for the sake of entertainment and not for survival, as that was the criteria for using her power. She didn't know when she had discovered it or how she knew how to use it. She only knew that it was an innate ability. Unfortunately the power was quite fickle and tended to cease at the most inopportune times. Lately, she seemed to have a better understanding of it and how to control it, so that was something at least. She was snapped out of her concentration when she heard the voice directed toward her.

She laughed sheepishly. "I guess you caught me." The darkness surrounding her dissipated like smoke and revealed that her hands were up in resignation. She wore a cheeky grin with a strong eye smile, making her look dubious at best. "I was just curious as to what was going on that you would bolt like that." She clasped her hands behind her back to prevent them from trembling. "Who are those people and who are you? I haven't met anyone with the same... feeling as you before. It's intriguing." Part of her actually wanted to steal the power and test it out herself but something told her that wasn't a good idea. It seemed much larger than anything she had felt from others and she felt that it might overwhelm her and perhaps even kill her if she weren't careful. For now, she decided that she would spectate as best she could without getting caught in the crossfire.

A hum left Alec's lips when she mentioned catching her; it wasn't hard to do since she hadn't been the first Demigod that he'd come across. Granted the last one ended up causing a lot of drama but that was something he wasn't going to think about. He leaned back a little from where he sat and glanced at the girl when she appeared from whatever was concealing her. "Uh huh." Curiosity caused a girl that had no idea who he was or those men were to actually follow after them? In a way that seemed more like stupidity than anything else. "Name's Alec, and if you hadn't guessed I'm like you. A Demigod, although from the looks of your power you have a different parent than I did." He shrugged his shoulders slightly before bringing a hand up to scratch at it out of habit.

"Those guys...they're assholes for starters. They make it their life's work to hunt Demis down and make their lives a living hell. I don't know who they work for or how they figure out about us but...they have their ways. They're brutal too. They won't stop at anything until they have what they want. Probably why they came at me again after all these years." Not that he wanted to bring up that memory again. "Your curiosity could have cost you if they had noticed you though. That woman leading them, there's something different about her than the rest. You might want to start being a bit more cautious with your powers. If you get on their radar even once, you'll always be on their radar until they have their hands on you. And trust me, you really don't want that happening." He paused before he brought his gaze up to look her over. "You got a name or am I calling you Shadow?"

As good of an actress as she was, she couldn't hide the surprise on her face as her eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "I'm sorry, but a what? A Demigod? You've got to be joking." She looked him up and down skeptically, eyes narrowed, but seeing the gravity of the situation, he had no reason to lie, especially something so outlandish. "Shadow will work just fine," she replied with a shrug. She reached forward and poked something invisible about arm's length out from Alec. The aura felt a lot warmer than some of the other ones she had felt. It was warm and dense. This aura was his essence, and all of his traits and abilities could be accessed by channeling aura or actually stealing it, which was how her power to steal abilities worked. "You do appear to have a bigger one than anyone else I've seen," she mused aloud.

"Well aren't you just overly friendly." Alec said sarcastically when she didn't give out a proper name. It wasn't like he was very open with people either. The fact that she questioned what they were was a surprise though. She seemed to have a decent handle on her powers, so wouldn't that mean she knew? He looked her over briefly as he wondered about it before tossing the thought aside. It wasn't his place to ask questions. With a flick of his wrist, the deck of cards that he had used earlier came flying back to him. Once they were in hand, he started looking them over one by one to make sure none of them got damaged somehow. If he had been drinking anything, he would have choked hearing her next words.

"What?" Alec dropped his hand holding the cards so he could look at her again. "First you claim to not know what you really are and now you're saying I have a bigger...something? Just what exactly are you hiding, Miss I Want to Keep my Name Secret." The tone he used was one that showed he wasn't going to pry any further than he already had. "I don't know what you're referring to but you seriously need to word it differently. Keep that kinkiness to yourself or in your bedroom, whatever. Tell me something, miss. Do you know who your real parents are?"

"Your aura is bigger," she clarified, amused at his response to the double entendre, continuing to poke at the invisible bubble that she was able to percieve but he wasn't. "It's also much thicker than what I've seen from other people." She took an invisible handful of it and stretched it like a rice cake, careful not to break it. She didn't particularly like the thought of holding this magnitude of power. "I know who my mum was. My da was always out of the picture. But, then again, mum left pretty early on too. I don't know who my da was, but mum never talked about him really. She just said that he was a rotten good-for-nothing with quite the prankster, something that I got, being a mischevious little devil, in her words." There wasn't any particular bitterness in her voice, it was more matter-of-fact.

She shrugged, but as the words came out of her mouth, her mind began to wander to anything that might have seemed out-of-the-ordinary in their household. That was when she remembered that they had a strange totem in the apartment that her mother told her to keep with her. It was little wooden coyote, which was a strange thing to have for a seemingly average family with no particular religious affiliation. She wasn't going to let this new acquaintance in on this little tidbit, but she was going to try and get some more information out of him bit by bit. After a pause she stated, "My name is Amelia."

"Where do you propose we go, then? If this place is so dangerous, how do you plan on escaping?" She put her hand on her hip, shifting her weight to one side to accentuate her skeptical attitude and match her facial expression. Under duress like this, her more useful power was useless. No amount of lying would be able to convince her that teleportation or the like was only in good fun in these circumstances. Her fingers twitched as she resisted the urge to run her hand through her hair, something she did when conditions were unfavourable. Showing her hand also seemed to be less than ideal as well. Given that the situation was questionable at best, she would keep as many cards hidden as she could for now.

She smiled in a way that made her eyes turn into crescents. It sounded like it could relieve her boredom at the very least, the promises of leaving this inane world behind, full of lies, facades, and shallow relationships. She had all but resigned herself to a monotonous grey life "Fine. I'll join you then oh mighty magician."

A grin grew on Alec's lips when she actually agreed to join him. "Smart move. Come on." He motioned for her to follow him and only once he was sure she was did he start moving. "Don't worry, you should be able to come back here after the talk. If you still want to, of course." He added with a bit of a smile and glanced her way. He was a bit curious to know how she'd spent her whole life not knowing what she was but he couldn't say anything about it. He didn't even know until a few years ago when he found out who the group really was. The walk was ultimately in silence until they reached a parking lot near the edge of the campus. The walk had been uneventful but that didn't mean he could relax just yet. Alec continued to lead the way through the cars until he spotted his dark blue Mustang.

"Last chance to go back to your boring life, Amelia. You might not like the answers that are going to come by coming with me." Alec spoke in a surprisingly serious tone suddenly as he opened the driver door. "Once you learn the truth, there is no unlearning it." He added though it was somewhat muffled under a sudden shout. Alec turned around and noticed the pair of men in their black suits already starting to run towards them. "Guess that answers that. Get in before they see you."

It wasn't like she was having second thoughts about going with this total stranger. He seemed similar to her somehow and she wanted to know why that was. The shouts seemed to indicate that fate wanted her to go, so she slid into the car, buckling her seatbelt as a force of habit. She braced herself, waiting for him to floor it. She clenched her fist and felt something enter it. Judging by the shape, she could tell without looking that it was her totem. It would appear that she had stepped foot in a completely different world and as stressful as it felt now, it had so much potential judging by her short conversation.

Alec didn't hesitate once she got into the car. He set the car into reverse and pulled out of the parking spot quickly; in one fluid motion he turned the car at an alarming speed and slammed the rear into one of the men in suits. He went flying while the other pulled out a gun. Alec didn't give him much of a chance to do anything with it since he started to reverse once more. He drove as fast as he could in the lot and the moment he was able to, he spun the wheel hard to straighten it before getting onto the main road. A glance in the rear view mirror showed no cars were following him; only a spec of the suit stopping on the sidewalk and likely glowering after them. He let out a soft chuckle at that before he focused solely on driving.

The ride was quiet save for the engine humming and the muttering of a radio too quiet to actually discern. He didn't mind at all since it helped him to think. They were able to track him somehow but he couldn't figure out how. He knew for a fact he had been careful...unless that woman had something to do with it? No, that couldn't be. Why would another demigod help that psychotic group? The thought was pushed aside for now and he focused on nothing at all for the rest of the drive. Forty-five minutes later, he pulled off of the main highway and drove another five minutes or so to a brightly colored diner. It was the only building open in the plaza and he parked near the back. "Come on." He motioned for Amelia to follow him before he got out of the car and started making his way inside.

"What's up, Pops?" Alec called as he entered the diner, elicitng a small groan from an grey haired man at the register.

"I ain't yer pop, kid. Quit callin' me it." Despite him sounding grumpy, it was clear on his expression that he was joking around. "Get on in th' back and I'll bring yer regular. Yer girl want somethin' too?"

"She's not my girl, firstly. Her name's Amelia." Alec corrected the old man instantly before glancing to Amelia. "If you want something, Pops makes some mean chicken fingers and wings. It's what I'd recommend anyway. The room we'll be talking in is past the kitchen, so take a gander at the menu if you want. It's not like they can find us here."

She chuckled at the man's assumption. "He's not really my type." Her default expression when interacting with others seemed to be an almost sinister eye smile with a turn up of the lips at the edges. "I'll take the chicken fingers then. It's been a while since I've eaten anything proper, given so few options at university." Her hand was still closed around her totem. In this strange situation, it somehow put her at ease.

With the order placed, the old man motioned towards the kitchen area. Alec glanced Amelia's way briefly before starting to lead the way to the back. The kitchen itself was much bigger than it seemed from the outside, almost like it belonged in some high class restaurant instead of the small diner it was in. Some of the cooks waved to Alec and in turn he gave them a quick wave back. His focus stayed on the door in the very back of the kitchen. Once there, he opened the door and waited until Amelia went in first before he followed after her. Inside it was a mix of a bedroom and a living room; a queen-sized bed was in one corner of the room with a lavender comforter on top and a nightstand beside it. Opposite of that was a large couch that could fit at least four people, a long coffee table in front of it, and a couple of bookshelves lining the wall. Alec walked over to one of the bookshelves and slowly ran his fingers over some of the spines.

"What exactly are your powers like? You can see someone's aura, hide in the shadows. That could be just a number of different gods that I know off the top of my head. Is there anything else that you can think of that you've done? Something that maybe your mother told you about when you were younger?" He glanced at her over his shoulders for a moment. "It may not seem like it since we just met but I am on your side. If you're going to survive, you'll need to know who your father really was. It helps, though maybe not in the beginning." He thought about the moment that he found out about his true mother. It had made him feel conflicted and upset that his life had been a lie. That feeling had gone away after some time but it was likely different for everyone.

"My mum said that he was a trickster and a good-for-nothing," she replied carefully. "I guess it would be better to go over the nature of my powers, seeing as she didn't talk about him very often. I have access to a range of abilities but they can only be used under certain circumstances. The only skill I can use consistently is to steal the abilities or aura from others. The nature of this power seems wholly immature and borderline idiotic in my opinion, but I suppose its is enough to get by in this inane world.” She replied.


Thinking back on her childhood now, it was a wonder how she didn’t notice the clues. Perhaps it seemed so far fetched at the time that it had be impossible. It seemed just to be too large of a leap from her having special abilities to being the daughter of a god. Her mother had required that she read the stories about the trickster god Coyote but she had never really understood why. From reading the myths, she seemed to have a better grasp on how to use her powers, but this knowledge seemed to only be helpful in situations with no particular importance.


“I think I have a hunch as to who he is, thinking on it.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “Do you know the Native American trickster god, Coyote?”

A trickster, huh. That still didn't narrow it down much but Alec supposed it was as good a start as any. He started looking over the names on each of the books once more trying to find one that was more generalized than anything. He listened of course to what was being said but he only paused when he heard her say she thought she knew who it was. He glanced over his shoulder to look her over for a moment curiously. Coyote? It sounded vaguely familiar but at least he knew what book to grab. He moved to the other bookshelf and pulled out a book with a worn out spine to bring over to the table. He dropped it down and started skimming the pages until he found the one on the god she mentioned.

"This one here, right?" He was pretty sure this was the one that she referred to. "I don't know all the gods and goddesses out there but Pops does. He doesn't have powers like we do but his grandmother was a demigod as well. So he's been collecting everything he can about the different deities out there. He's one of the people that helped me figure everything out when I needed someone." He shrugged a little before plopping down in the seat across from Amelia. "Everything there is to know about this Coyote god is in this book right here." He added as he scratch the side of his neck for no real reason. He didn't quite feel nervous but he wasn't feeling completely comfortable either. Maybe he'd feel better if he got some food in his system. "I didn't know he had the power to steal someone else's abilities. Is that a permanent thing or just temporary?"

"It's temporary," she replied, scanning over the text. "There are multiple limiters on my abilities unfortunately. You, on the other hand, look like you can use your powers indefinitely. I'm envious." She looked up with that same cheeky smile that seemed to hide all of her thoughts. "As a god, Coyote is quite powerful, but there is one huge flaw he has, and that is what makes his power so unpredictable." Most of the stories seemed familiar, the stories her mum read her when she was very young. It was strange reading them again, especially given the change in circumstances. All those years ago, this was merely something she did for fun.

Thinking back on it, she did use aspects of these stories to figure out her powers when she had first discovered that the skills she had were out-of-the-ordinary. It took a while for her to figure out how to channel someone's abilities, instead of just stealing them, but she relied upon certain things that felt right and eventually she got the hang of it. "I will tell you one thing," she began. "There are two different ways I can use someone else's abilities. The first way is to actually steal their aura. At that time, they would not be able to use the ability that I stole. I can also channel someone's ability. I am able to use the ability to a lesser degree, but the owner is able to retain full function."

She closed the book with a soft thump. "How about you? Who are you a descendent of?"

It sounded like she knew quite the bit about this Coyote, which was actually quite helpful and it seemed like she was aware of that. It even sounded like she had a handle on her powers too, even if she hadn't realized what they were. Nodding his head slightly, he shifted to get more comfortable before crossing his arms over his chest. "All abilities have limitations. There's only so much that can be done with a given power and I myself am far from learning all my capabilities. I'm sure the same could be said for you. Being able to use another's abilities -even if temporary- sounds like it could get you out of a real pinch." It sounded really handy now that he really thought about it. He tapped his arm slightly as he thought about the possibilities before shaking his head slightly. There wasn't a point in wishing he had been born another way.

"My mother is the Egyptian Goddess, Isis. Essentially I'm a healer and a magician, with a few tricks here and there of course. One of the things I most recently discovered is I can move things with my mind. I don't really know the extent of Isis' powers but Pops here said there's always more than what's in the books to learn. I didn't really understand what he meant until now." There was a pause before he stood and took the book from the table. "He was the one that helped me when my father died. He helped me figure out who my mother was and even helped me channel my powers to not go out of control. He's human, mind you, but he's got the knowledge of some ancient scholar I kid you not." There was a soft chuckle as he put the book back where it belonged before looking her over some. "If you ever need to, I'm sure he'd be willing to help you as well. He helps a lot of Demis from what he's told me. A temp safe house, passage to other countries, pretty much anything they need. He also knows a fair amount about those pricks that tried to kidnap me again."

"Interesting." She laced her fingers and rested her chin on them, elbows on the table in front of her. She didn't drop that smile for a moment. It seemed like she was permanently amused but also calculating somehow but what more could be expected from the daughter of one of the most unpredictable trickster gods? As powerful as he was, almost everything he did was merely for entertainment, from mimicking the powers of the great creator to taking the place of the moon and even throwing the stars into the sky when he got bored.

"Tell me a little bit more about those people who attempting to apprehend you. What is their goal?" They say that curiosity killed the cat, but she was a coyote, so what was the worst that could happen? She had already stepped foot into this world, she might as well dive right in and prepare for whatever it was that was facing her. While the idea of danger might deter some of the simpler people she knew, it merely piqued her interest. What was better than the prospect of playing with fire. Despite the threat of being burned, wouldn't it be worth it in order to impress others or do something that others couldn't? It was things like this that her mother scolded her for. Amelia could get sloppy sometimes with her recklessness. Her mother had tried to curb it and Amelia had become a much more level-headed person, but every once in a while, the impulsivity to escape the monotonous life she lived would poke through and lead to rather regrettable outcomes.