There was a street in Riverbird, Medea that shot straight through the heart of the colony, an artery lined with shops and stalls and beggars and chariots and civilians out for a morning stroll. This street, once called Main Street, was casually called Paper Street because anyone walking it saw so much paper they almost missed the buildings. It was like another world, walking down Paper Street, where instead of bricks you saw faces, and mortar was replaced with ink letters that spelled out WANTED GIFT HOLDER. 

No one paid these much mind. What was a good, law-abiding citizen supposed to do against a thief who could teleport or a shapeshifting kidnapper, except call for help and pray a Dane was nearby? It didn’t matter, life went on- everyone had to make a living somehow. 

Most travelers and merchants were dressed simply in brown or white loose leather pants and cotton tops. Eyes followed 22-year-old Raven Athavale, as he made his way past the paper walls tugging a black and red embroidered jacket tighter around his shoulders. 

The house he grew up in, tall, dark, and ornate as everyone who lived in it, peeked over the stores like a foreboding shadow. He did his best not to notice, focusing instead on each step he made down the cobbled street- making his steps the perfect length to step on a stone, then a crack, then stone, then crack. 

Brown bricks, white mortar. Brown wood, white paper, brown paper, black ink. Suddenly, Raven paused. Something did not fit the color scheme. 

A few feet past a stall selling baskets of summer fruit was something he couldn’t quite identify- the size of a dog or child, but glowing faintly golden. No one seemed to pay it any mind, but Raven’s interest was piqued. 

He had to pass it to get to the bakery anyway. 

He walked closer carefully, and his confusion only grew. The glow was actually coming from a child seven or eight years old, sitting cross-legged on the curb of the road. Neither masculine nor feminine, it was just a child. They would have blended in perfectly into the scene if not for the golden aura that surrounded them, pushing them out of the beige background. He blinked, and then again, but the glow stayed the same. 

Something in the back of Raven’s mind told him this was probably bad. However, curiosity quickly overruled caution and he approached the kid. Crouching down, he asked quietly,

“Do you know you’re glowing?” 

The child’s eyes widened. They looked at their hands and back up at Raven with a wrinkled brow. 

“No, I’m not?” 

“Are you sure?” Raven asked. 

“Positive. Why? Is this a prank? You’re too old for that.” They squinted reproachfully. 

“It’s not a prank. There’s gold light, I was just wondering what it was.” But the certainty in his voice was beginning to falter. 

The child seemed to consider this, making a show of looking at their entire arm, around the street, and back at Raven.

“D’you think it could be you?” Their eyes glittered humorously. They were green- like real emeralds were green, not greenish hazel, and Raven suddenly felt uncomfortable. The air was just a little too thick and he would rather be anywhere else. 

“What?” 

“I mean if I can’t see it, and if no one else seems to see anything weird, maybe you’re the one who’s weird.” They crossed their arms and cocked an eyebrow.  

“I’m not weird,” Raven insisted. 

“Okay.” The child shrugged. “Go away, then. I’m busy being ignored.” 

“So it seems.” 

This, apparently, did not earn Raven a response. The kid seemed to look through him like he had never been there at all. After a moment of consideration, he did the only thing he could think of and backtracked to the fruit stand. After choosing a large basket and paying for it, he returned to the child and placed it next to them. 

“I apologize for wasting your time,” He said.  

The child reached for the offering and gingerly picked up a strawberry from the top.

“You better not be trying to prank me,” they said flatly. 

“No,” Raven confirmed. 

“I guess that means I gotta talk to you, huh?”

“I would appreciate it.”

“Fine. Not here, though, that would be stupid. Come on.” 

The child got up with the basket in hand and darted behind a nearby building almost too fast for Raven to follow. A nearly unnoticeable dirt pathway faded into the woods, but Raven’s attention was quickly diverted from that by the fact that the child’s face appeared to be melting off. 

“What th-” He stepped back, suddenly very ready to go home and pretend none of this ever happened. 

“Hold on!” The child, who was now very much not a child, grabbed his arm aggressively. They now stood about 3 inches taller than Raven, with tanned skin and hair that just brushed under their chin, and a thin, very toned body underneath clothes that left little to the imagination. Jagged bangs brushed the same green eyes as before, but Raven no longer had to look down at them. The gold aura still hung around them, making it seem almost like some kind of angel had him in its tight grip, if angels were suddenly mean and very strong.

“You can’t leave now, dumbass. You’ll run off to the Danes and make my life hard.” 

Raven nodded, too startled to make words. For some reason, he hadn’t expected the stranger to curse, even as he was slowly processing the situation. 

“My name is Eden. I am a gift holder, and I think you are too. If you come with me, I can probably help you, but if you decide you want to go be a lapdog for the queen, I’m gonna have to kill you.” They spoke deliberately as if Raven were a toddler hearing a big word for the first time. 

“What do you mean, lapdog?” Raven managed. 

“Who else? The glorified security guards with serious emotional constipation.” When Raven was still silent, Eden sighed. “The Danes.” 

“My sister is a Dane.” Raven frowned. 

“Sorry for your loss.” 

“Don’t be. Her paycheck on its own pays our entire staff.” 

“Staff?” 

“The people who do things for my family and live in our house.” 

“Gods, you’re a rich one. No wonder.” 

“I can’t tell if you’re trying to help or not.” 

“It’s not much of a choice, really.” 

“Nope,” Eden smirked. “Come on, rich boy. Let’s go to my house.” 

“Wait, I have to-” 

He didn’t get to finish before Eden nearly left him behind. 

Eden’s lean silhouette remained just barely inside Raven’s vision as he struggled to keep up with them, darting from the path to woods to brush as his breathing grew harder and his muscles started to burn. Eventually, they arrived at an ivy-covered brick home that might have been grand 20 years ago but was now coming apart at the seams. Dandelions grew where there should have been hibiscus, grapevines climbed the rose terrace, and little black-eyed Susans dotted the grounds. 

“Where are we?” Raven asked between gasps. 

“This is my five-star hotel,” Eden said acidic. “Last week the queen came by on vacation.” 

“I’m being serious.”

“And I do not do that very often. Chrissy says it darkens the mood.” 

“Actually, honey,” Raven jumped- he hadn’t seen the newcomer come out. “what I said was if you weren’t sarcastic we’d all be too sad to function. We all have to cope somehow. But who is your new boyfriend? He’s so pretty.” The speaker was a pale woman with jet-black hair, young eyes sunken into an old but pretty face, and something familiar about her. The same gold aura as Eden glowed gently around her silhouette. 

“I don’t know his name. I think he’s a late bloomer, he said I was glowing on Paper Street.”  

“I’m Raven.” 

“Raven who?” Chrissy asked.

“Um...” Raven glanced at Eden, who just shrugged. “Athavale.” 

Chrissy raised her eyebrows, and her eyes darted back to the house. 

“Interesting.” 

“So, um, can you guys explain-?” Raven found himself fingering the sleeves of his jacket awkwardly.

“Why don’t we go inside? It’s hot out here.” Chrissy began making her way back without waiting for an answer. 

“Congrats, Mom says you can come in.” Eden grinned. 

“Mom?” Raven repeated, quietly enough that he was pretty sure Chrissy wouldn’t hear. “How long has she been here?”

“Since like six months after I found it,” Eden said. “And she’s 29, in case you were wondering.”

“What?” The look on Raven’s face was enough to make Eden giggle. The sound was off-putting. 

“We mostly call her that because she acts like one. Or because of Apollo, who’s actually hers. It’s a long story.” 

“Please don’t tell me you’re sixteen or something like that. I cannot handle it.” 

“I think I’m 22.”

“You think?” 

“Yeah.” 

“What do you mean, you think?” 

“The years get away from you, you know?” They grinned frustratingly. Raven dropped the conversation. 

By the time they reached the door, he still felt rather detached from reality. He followed Chrissy and Eden into a dull living room, decorated with mostly rugs that looked vaguely like disassembled clothing. There were a few mismatched places to sit- two couches, an armchair, and a loveseat, all faded.

No one else appeared to be inside the house. There was an unsettlingly pervasive quiet that was broken only by their own muted footsteps until Eden sat down, managing to take up the entire loveseat with their body. Chrissy perched on the end of a couch, legs placed intentionally, crossed at the ankles. 

Raven chose the couch opposite Chrissy and found it to be made of something like burlap, worn until it was soft enough to be comfortable. It felt like it might break at any moment. 

“This is a nice place,” he commented politely. 

As if on cue, a loud thud sounded above them. Raven noticed Chrissy grimace before shouting upwards, 

“Apollo Castor, get down here!” 

“Can’t leave that kid on his own for twenty seconds in this house,” Eden said good-naturedly. 

Raven watched with interest as a boy of eleven or twelve made his way sheepishly into the living room. He did look like Chrissy’s, with the same almond eyes and deep smile lines, but he was not pale and his hair was curly. 

“Sorry, mom,” he said in a voice that suggested he’d said it before, many times. 

“Did you break anything?” Chrissy asked.

Apollo’s face said everything. 

“Did you break anything that can’t be fixed easily?”

“No,” he said confidently. 

“Then go fix it. Quietly, please.” She ordered. 

Apollo nodded and disappeared back the way he came, 

Chrissy turned back to Raven apologetically. 

“Sorry for the chaos. I’m sure it’s strange for you.” 

“I’m definitely not used to it, but I don’t mind.” 

“Let's get down to business, then,” Chrissy said. “Eden brought you here, and I’m sure they weren’t polite about it.”

“Not really, no.”

“You have a choice to make. You won’t put us in danger by going home, or becoming a Dane.” Chrissy grinned knowingly. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.” 

Eden smirked from the loveseat. 

“But, if you want our help, we’re here. See, there’s quite the network for gifted ones like us- and if what Eden tells me is true, you could help a lot of people. Still, we know it’s not an easy life, and we really would rather not force your hand.” 

“Maybe you don’t,” Eden inputted. 

“Quit being an ass. Raven, you should go home. When you’re ready, the house will be here, but you’ll find it only once, so don’t come back until you’re sure.” 

“I understand.” Raven nodded. Even though he certainly did not, he felt that the conversation kept hitting walls he wouldn’t be able to jump without commitment. Plus, he was tired. 

“Oh, and come alone, if you do. Security measures, you know.” 

“Sure. I get it.” 

“Okay. Good night.” 

“See ya around, rich boy.” 

“‘Bye.” 

As Raven walked back home through the brush, the house vanished into the darkness as if sucked into it through a straw, and with it gone, the weight of the day started to settle into his shoulder muscles.