"About four hours. I hope you like road trips."

"Maybe Darren will teach me things about runes while we drive. Pretty please?"

Darren laughs. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Auuuugh," says Savannah. "Augh, I don't want to listen to four hours of magic nerds!"

"What would you rather fill the audio channel with, Savannah?" inquires Bella. "Perhaps we can compromise."

"Anything else! Interesting topics. We can talk about - things to see in the Avalon, how things are going, just... Not magic all the time."

"If I tell you that you may require us to pause in talking about magic for ten to fifteen minutes at will how flagrantly are you going to abuse this privilege?"

"... Some. I mean, I can also just sleep, too."

"How about you can engage us in conversation about stuff that's in the Avalon, or whatever, till we're bored, and then you take a nap?"

"Okay." Pause. "... Now I don't know what to talk about."

Darren snorts with laughter.

Bella yawns theatrically.

".... So! Met any cute boys, lately?" asks Savannah, around Darren.

"You know literally all of the people I am presently in social contact with," Bella points out.

"That does not make my question any less valid! Besides, you could have seen a guy that I don't know at the grocery store or something, I don't know your life."

"I don't make a habit of evaluating the cuteness of boys I encounter in the grocery store," says Bella. "Is there someone in particular whose respective appeal you want to compare? Is this a roundabout way of wondering if I'm available to come to the Valentine's dance as friends, because I don't dance, it would be a terrible idea."

"Huh. Well. How accepting of a family?"

"...Very? Why?"

"So! Heeey. Bella. I'm gay. No, I'm not joking, yes I'm sure."

Darren pats her hand, in a supportive way. "We happen to also be a very accepting family. It's not 'wasted.'"

"Okay, good to know."

"Well that was easy! Yay! Darren, she has not freaked out!"

"Told you she wouldn't."

"Yes but it's still nice!"

"Do people usually freak out on you?"

"No, but I had some people that didn't react well. Lots, actually, they make a face."

"That sucks."

"Yup. I mean, I really don't care, honestly. It's not a huge secret or anything. Dad and Darren just don't want me to get into fights, so I tend to just avoid the subject."

"Makes sense."

Brotherly hug. This is what brothers are for. That and fetching things.

Savannah accepts the hug, hugging back, then laughs and says, "Thanks, dork. I'm good, get off of me."

"Mhm," says Darren, who stops hugging.

"You have taken it almost as well as Darren had!" Savannah informs Bella. "You get a gold star. When we can get gold stars."

"Almost as well? Did he throw confetti?"

"No, he was like, 'Yeah, I kind of already know, I am glad you have trusted me enough to tell me up front, come here I will hug you.'"

Darren laughs. "I didn't already know, I'd suspected! It's different. But I'm not denying that there were hugs."

"I didn't spend any time wondering about it, so I did not suspect except in the general 'yep, that's a trait that exists in the population that is not visually obvious' sense."

"She had been checking out various girls," informs Darren.

"Ah, I tend not to notice that sort of thing. I didn't know my -" Swallow. "I didn't know my mom's 'friend' was her boyfriend till she told me straight out."

Darren notices, but doesn't comment. "To be fair, she's my twin. It's easier to see her act like herself around people than a parent do the same."

"Act like herself?"

"Okay, I explained that badly. Parents do a thing where they put you first and that includes changing how they act in some subtle ways to make things better for you. Great for you, but not so great for fidelity of certain things. A sibling doesn't feel the need to do that as much. So, it's easier to notice."

"Ah. Wouldn't know, only child."

Darren nods. "Yeah. It seems so weird to not have Savannah be there."

"Love you too, dork."

"Aww."

"Okay, any more mushy stuff and I will fling myself out of the window. Darren! Pick a topic! Not magic!"

"... Um. Um. ... So I am working on excitement for studying supposedly extinct things?"

"Do you need to work on that? I had the impression you already found us extinct things pretty interesting."

"I do but it has to compete with magic, and that's no small feat."

She laughs. "Well, it wouldn't hurt if you were focusing especially on all that lost magic, huh?"

Darren snickers. "I mean, I kind of want to be able to make more medallions. But to get that far, I need to learn lots of the basics of magic. So... I kind of am focusing especially on the lost magic, but I need a general education before I can do that."

"So you're all set. As long as you've either gotten better at lying recently, or have half-truths carefully lined up."

"Second thing. I'm not going to get better at lying, Bella. Savannah gets to say the part where you're a winged lion."

"And me, I can say it. I'm a winged lion. I think it was my mom's side of the family. Let's check my dad just in case. Nope? Must be my uncheckable mom. Winged lion."

"I don't much want to be checked. It's been sounding like I could be something besides a sphinx, if Renée was a sphinx, and then I'd have to wear the necklace all the time, and it sounds like one doozy of a hassle to me."

"It's not so much of a hassle? It gets annoying sometimes, but I can fly now. I think it's worth it. But then again I am the guy who knew what was going on and made the conscious decision to embrace my critter side, so I suppose I'm biased."

"If the medallion breaks, or something," Bella says, "no, I can totally see his point. If he doesn't want to fly, and there's no guarantee he could."

"Perfectly content to stay on the ground."

"Fair point. Wasn't questioning his choice, just - eh, I like flying and magic. If I and Savannah weren't critters I would have neither."

"If Ch- Dad wants to learn to magic he can do that without crittering, right?"

"Yup. But I wouldn't have known that I could learn it without crittering. He's in a different situation than I was."

"There you go. He doesn't want the cosmetics or the flying or the secret handshake, all the other cool stuff he can get without."

"Fair enough. Does he want to learn magic?"

"Not especially. If we get thoroughly checked and tested Xeroxed scrolls made he might take one or two for emergency situations."

"Aha. Makes sense. I feel like when I start making scrolls I'm just going to make absurd amounts."

"We'll get a copier and take stacks of 'em to the Avalon every other weekend and warn people not to re-xerox them because there could be errors introduced by more layers of it."

Darren snickers. "We'll have to see if copied scrolls will work. They might not, it could be like the native language thing and cause issues. If they do, though - magic is the best thing."

"If a copier doesn't work maybe we do woodcuts and a makeshift printing press?"

"Yeah. Stencils, too. Runes might require being hand-drawn, stencils could make that a whole lot faster."

"Ooh, nice, it hadn't occurred to me that it might matter if you draw them."

"Thanks! I need to test that, if it matters or not. It hadn't come up yet for me on my own, but since we need scrolls for self-defense, now - time to find out."

"A stencil could still be really fast, though, considering, and it would make it harder for someone else to figure out our secret and swipe our market share."

"I think you mean 'economic'. Economical makes it sound like we're doing it with discount snacks from Costco."

"That was the second stage of my plan," drawls Darren.

Bella laughs.

Darren does, too.

Savannah desperately wishes they would kiss. Maybe not now, with their dads in the car, but eventually.

Darren snickers, and gives her a rune.

"Augh," says Savannah. Then she flops over and tries to sleep because magic makes her head hurt.

Darren's not likely to complain, either. Runes are lots of fun and he enjoys talking about them! Bella's rune dictionary is doing well, they're making good progress on magic.

Savannah naps, but she is generally annoyed with them doing nothing but throwing runes at each other. "Auugh," she says, two hours in. "Okay - vetoing, we will talk about something other than runes for the fifty bajillionth time."

"What do you want to talk about, Savannah?" inquires Bella serenely.

"... No idea! But something else."

"You don't have any ideas and you don't like our idea. Whatever are we to do?" Pause, then she relents. "Tell me about the Avalon's tourist attractions or whatever."

"Um. We've never been there. Dad! Help!"

Vernon snorts. "Well, there's a lovely cafe."

"Yeah, what do they have? I'm gonna be hungry by the time we're there."

"Good coffee, and some delicious pastries, but I didn't get much proper food wise when I was there. There are a few restaurants for that. One of them is a nice Italian place, I went there, it was nice."

"Just how big is this place?"

"Pretty big. Basically, consider it a town all of its own. A very insular town. With critters of all kinds."

"Cool. Is it customary to go around in midform or anything?"

"A lot of them go around in midform, fullform's a bit rarer because thumbs are fantastic, but there are people without medallions. Going in human form also happens and no one will care if you do, though they might get curious about what you are."

"I think I'll put on - wings and tail and hindpaws, but not the rest of my legs, bipedal digitigrade walking is hard," decides Bella. "What do you peryton types do?"

"I am a pretty peryton, so I will be bipedal and have thumbs and fingers but otherwise look like a magic flying deer."

"Antlers, wings, maybe the hooves for my feet," shrugs Darren.

"Come to think of it," says Bella, "it's odd that I didn't have more trouble that I did continuing to register Darren as Darren when I saw the definitely-not-a-human-face. Like, the rest of it, sure, but the face I'm surprised I wasn't more confused."

"I think I still kept my same mannerisms as fullform, so that probably helped."

"Maybe that's all. Or it's a matter of me being a critter. I'd ask Dad but Dad's only seen me in fullform, not you, and my face is about the same except I get sort of fangy."

"I can always show him when we're in the Avalon. Savannah can too, since you haven't seen her in fullform yet."

"I haven't!" agrees Bella. "Rumor has it she's a pretty peryton."

"I am!" declares Savannah, without a trace of modesty. "I am so pretty, you have no idea."

Darren laughs. "She probably has some idea now, you realize. Since you've said as much."

"Yes, you've set my expectations very high. What if you're pretty but just not that pretty, what then?"

"Then you're wrong. That's it, no take backs, you are just wrong."

"This sounds like a matter of opinion, to me."

"Nope. It's a fact. Objective truth."

"Says you and what controlled empirical study, huh?"

"The... One I made up. Just now."

"That doesn't sound very controlled or empirical."

"It is definitely both of those things. It's controlled by me, and I declare it logical, too. There, done."

Darren bursts out laughing. "That's not how science works."

"And that's not what empirical means!"

"Details. Petty details, I am right regardless."

"That's not how being right works, either. Everything you're saying is wrong!"

"Woefully, tragically, and completely incorrect. We might have to talk about runes to punish you."

"I have done nothing to deserve this mutiny! As your empress of prettiness I declare you both traitors!"

"I didn't even do anything!"

"If she wanted you to explain more runes would you do it?"

"... Yes."

"Yeah. That's why. You're a traitor, too."

"Well, we've already been declared traitors, might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, gimme a rune."

Darren gives her a rune.

Savannah makes an ungodly noise that sounds like someone is strangling a fuzzy animal, and flops onto the window to stare at the scenery. "Traitors."

"Horrible no-good scoundrels, the both of us. But magical ones."

"That makes it worse. You are horrible no-good magical scoundrels. You both get prizes for being terrible people."

"Ooh! Prizes!"

"What do we get, what do we get?"

"Shame."

"Oooooh. Shaaaaaame."

"I will treasure it forever."

"Good! Because that's the point of it. You will feel shame about this. Forever and for always."

"I'm not going to feel it, I'm going to put it on its little trophy stand in a little trophy case on my desk."

"Fine, that works, too."

"Can I get my shame gilded?"

"Only if you mount and engrave it."

"Deal!"

"I was thinking lamination, so it's preserved for ever and always but is not obscured in its shameful, shameful glory." Beat. "Rune."

Another rune is given! Darren likes explaining runes.

Savannah, meanwhile, makes faces.

And Bella learns magic!

Darren is happy to help with this!

It doesn't take long for Savannah to get sick of this! "So!" she interrupts, between runes. "Bella! You never actually answered my question!"

"Which one?"

"Seen any cute boys?"

"I have encountered plenty of boys at school who follow a roughly bellcurved distribution of cuteness, why is this so interesting?"

"Mostly because it's fun to tease you and Darren won't talk to me about girls."

Darren rolls his eyes. "Nope. It would be weird."

"Why would that be weird?"

"... I am not good at talking about how I feel about girls?" he manages.

"Why not?"

"Awww."

"Also," adds Savannah, "he is so shy it's hilarious!"

"I'm getting that."

"Thanks," drawls Darren.

"It's what we're here for! Teasing you endlessly!"

Bella pats his knee.

"I am so excited. Endless teasing."

"Bella, Bella, what's a new topic to tease Darren about?"

"Oh, I don't know, I'm not an expert."

"Ooo, ooo, I know, we can -"

Bella bursts out laughing.

"Augh, get off, Darren!"

"Shhh. It's okay. Just accept the hugs. Or say you'll stop teasing me, one of the two."

"Daaaad! Darren is hugging me!"

"Cause and effect," says their father, amused.

"Do I get hugs if I tease you, too?" asks Bella, grinning.

"That depends. Would you tease me just to get hugs?"

"Well, it would probably be easier to ask than to tease, so I guess it depends on how limited my options for hug-getting are."

"But you're obviously on a vengeful crusade," Bella points out.

"Well, right now, yeah. I won't be forever."

Right on cue, Savannah says, "Fine! Fine, okay, I will stop teasing you, enough with the hugs!"

And she is released. "Like so."

"My turn?"

Hugs!

Soon enough, the hug's ended! Darren would keep hugging her, but her dad is in the front seat and Darren is not suicidal. "Happy?" he asks, amused.

"Only if you teach me one more rune before we get there."

He laughs. Then, he gives her a rune.

Darren notices. He is not complaining at all. Magic lessons, and Bella has her head on his shoulder. This is something he approves of!

Savannah will not bother them to talk about something other than magic. They are reasonably close to maybe kissing. She isn't going to mess this up. Instead, she curls up and tries to nap some more.

Then they shall proceed to the Avalon thusly!

That's the plan!

"Well, this looks like the perfect place to have a cop show season finale."

"Not if the cop show was much good," snorts Charlie.

Darren snickers. "I'm pretty sure we're not part of a bad cop show."

"I dunno. Our dads could make a great cop show duo."

"I'm the edgy one," drawls Vernon dryly.

"Step out of line one more time and Dad'll have your badge."

"I'm the cop you need, but not the one you want," he says, in the same deadpan. "I know the streets."

Charlie snorts. "Reason they don't set even terrible cop shows in Forks, you know."

"I know."

Vernon laughs. "Yeah. Each episode would be uneventful. None of the constant serial killers that bad cop shows get."

"Traffic stops, vandalism, shoplifting, domestics, occasional missing person who just went on too much of a hike, that's about it."

"And the people who don't know what 911 is for, don't forget those."

"Heh. 'Tonight, on Bad Cop Show - some neighborhood kids need a stern talking to.'"

"I'd watch that one."

"Previously on Bad Cop Show: the turn signal neglecter! Shot of dramatic ticket-writing."

Darren laughs helplessly.

"At the end of every episode we would go to a diner and get coffee and make jokes about not eating donuts at all and how neighborhood kids never learn."

"Pitch it, get it funded, get a pilot shot," giggles Bella. "Anyway, how do we get in?"

"I'll be a movie star."

Darren is still laughing helplessly.

"Entrance is over there," explains Vernon, who points at a little building that looks like the warehouses' central office building. "We walk over, you kids show your medallions and do a demonstration, and then we all walk in."

"Showing the medallion itself isn't necessary, right?"

"No, it's just a way to avoid having to go midform or do what I did and spend an hour explaining everything I knew about 'critters.'"

Bella waves a hand. It's a paw after the first wave.

Darren gets the antlers and wings, deciding against the hooves for fear of being mistaken as a satyr.

Hallway, hallway, hallway - then, another door. "Ready?" asks Vernon.

"As I'll ever be."

Darren's grinning, too. "This is nicer than Detroit's."

"Yup. Before you ask, no, I've got no clue who did the thing with the ceiling."

"I," says Darren definitively, "will have to find out."

"Suppose it just looks that way, if you flew up there it'd be ceiling?" guesses Charlie.

"I'm tempted to go find out, but I don't wanna unexpectedly bump my head."

"It's still ceiling. I asked, and it doesn't rain here 'cause of that - they get water through pipes and water everything."

"Makes sense. Well, I wanna see everything, what's first?"

"Books...?" wheedles Darren.

"Food," says Savannah. "Then you can geek out over books. I'm hungry."

"Oh wow, now that you mention it me too, starving, let's find something to eat and then I guess Dad is going computer shopping?"

"That's the plan."

"Oh. Right. Food. I um - forgot."

He gets a shoulder pat from his father. "What are we in the mood for? First restaurant that we see, or something specific?"

"Not picky, over here."

"Not picky," declares Savannah. "Just hungry."

"Okay," shrugs Vernon. Off they go, to the closest obvious restaurant!

They locate a little sandwich shop. It mostly has sandwiches, but also fries and milkshakes. Bella orders a battered cod fillet on whole wheat with tartar sauce and cabbage on it and a side of fries and talks her dad into splitting a shake with her.

In addition to his half of the shake, Charlie will be dining on a turkey club and onion rings.

Vernon has a salami sandwich with mustard, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles, and swiss cheese. He's not particularly interested in having a side, and just has the sandwich.

At random, Savannah picks something off of the menu with a name she hasn't seen before in her life. It turns out to be vegetarian. Extremely vegetarian. Savannah whines about the lack of meat a bit, but placates herself with fries and ends up reasonably happy in the end.

Darren picks a caprese sandwich, protecting himself from his sister's potential thievery while still getting something delicious. When lunch is done he starts wheedling for books, again.

"I'm off," says Charlie, when his food is gone. "I'll call if I don't spot you or the fellow won't let me in, little lion."

"Oh my god, is that my new nickname? I have another extra nickname. Great. Okay. Love you, Dad, see you later."

Vernon waves goodbye to Charlie. "Library and the bookstore's that way," he points, "and the store with magic stuff is that way." Another point. "Up to you which you want to go to."

"Ooh, I'm torn," says Bella, as she hugs her dad and sends him on his way. "Magic stuff, I think, unless Darren's got a better idea."

"Nope, I can ask them about extinct things while I'm there," he says brightly. "They might know."

"What a pity there isn't a museum full of fossils for you to drool over," says Bella.

"I know, right? Especially older magical artifacts or notes on how they were done, that would be like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one!"

"When is your birthday, anyway? Now that I know what improbable thing to get you."

"June fourteenth. So you've got time to find the improbable thing."

"Just remember that I don't like old artifacts as presents," informs Savannah.

"I will get you something boring, then," says Bella, writing down this date.

Savannah snorts. "Your idea of boring is weird."

"What drab dull nonmagical nonancient nonfossilized thing do you want for your birthday, Savannah?"

"You can get me something magical. Just not anything that involves me doing the magic. It's annoying."

"Oh, okay. So not so much boring as lazy."

"Basically," agrees Savannah with a shrug.

"You nerds have fun," says Savannah. "I'm going exploring. Call me if Darren's catatonic from too many books."

"Not likely," he snorts. "So! Magic shop. Mostly medallions, but there are protection things that you can get, too."

"It's nice to meet you, too," he says politely to Mrs. Weber. "Bella turned by chance a week ago and I've been trying to show her how things work."

"I like having wings," says Darren, smiling a little. "... Would it help if we left you alone to let you decide? I know the decision's a big one."

"That's an extremely good reason. I suppose the best solution to that without a medallion is to live in an Avalon, but obviously not everyone wants to do that."

Bella writes down this information about critters in chart form on a page of her notebook (Medallion - winged lion, peryton, faun; Shapeshift - jackalope, Monster - harpy). "Yeah, it sounds it. This place is huge, but - it's huge for a secret town within Seattle."

"Pretty much," he agrees. "Usually they're very nice, though."

"This is the first time I've been to this one. I was at the one in Detroit and this is such a long drive we didn't think it was worth it for me and Savannah to go while we had school. Until Bella turned." He motions to her.

Darren smiles at Mrs. Weber. Good on her, for informing Angela's father before marrying him. "My dad's human and knows, too. We seem to be making a club of fathers who are human but are supportive of critterhood."

"Some of them might not have any children," points out Darren, amused.

"Mrs. Adams. She's pretty nice about it, actually."

"I think you'd have to ask her about the specifics of how bugbears work - I don't have any idea. She could tell that Bella had, though."

"We had her as a sub, it was interesting," provides Darren.

Darren grins. "Welcome to the deer club," he says brightly. "Savannah's around somewhere - I should call her and let her know."

Bella snorts. "Well, anyway, let's see what there is besides medallions and how awfully I'm going to strain my budget today."

There are other things besides medallions, including some luck charms, something that helps with night vision, a few items for protection, including a pair of earrings that apparently help stave off the cold. There's also a few little crystals that light up on command in assorted colors, and a little music box that follows its user. Every one of them is expensive.

"Is there a good way to tell which luck charms are best at being lucky?" Bella asks, scrutinizing price tags and price tags but finding no way to squint at the underlying magic.

"What makes it better?" Bella asks.

"The one who made it was better at his craft," shrugs the shopkeeper.

"You don't have any sort of try-and-buy system where I borrow one for a week and see if I like the results, do you?"

"How do you know the hair-pin's better, did you test it yourself before you priced it?" asks Bella.

"I made it," says the shopkeeper.

"Oooooh, how?"

"I'm hoping to learn magic," wheedles Bella. "Even if I don't understand anything you say it will give me an idea what to do first when we go to the library."

Bella frowns and gives up. "So who made the other ones that aren't as good?" she inquires.

Bella amuses herself by peering at the less useful magic trinkets, tail swishing, till Savannah arrives. Angela has her phone out and is playing some manner of game.

Savannah shows up fairly quickly! She waves at all present. "He- OhmygodAngela?!"

"Hi! Um - hi. You're a faun! Oh wow, okay, I'll roll with this," says Savannah. "So, how're you liking your medallion?"

"I am so on board with this," agrees Darren cheerily. "Let's study magic for the next two decades and outdo him in every single way."

"Yeah, the ears are nice," agrees Savannah, flicking her own set of deer ears. "... Wait, why are we plotting to drive that guy out of business?"

"Because he's a jerk and plausibly also incompetent," says Bella, "and may be operating without significant local competition."

"That. That exactly," says Darren. "So we should make proper competition to wreck his possible monopoly."

"... Right. Uh. Okay. Remind me to not upset the two of you."

"Thanks for the reminder. To the library, then? I guess? So you two can be huge, huge nerds?"

"Yes. Enormous nerdery," laughs Bella.

"I am so excited," she says, sounding nothing of the sort.

"You could have just let Darren actually tell you why he called instead of insisting on guessing that he was randomly making out with somebody."

Savannah notices the word choice and laughs. It wasn't just anyone she was teasing him about. "Yeah, but he was all blushy and embarrassed. It's hilarious!"

"You weren't even there to watch him get blushy!"

"Yeah, but I got to hear him being flustered!"

"Inefficient. C-plus," snorts Bella.

"Meh. Average. I'll take it."

"Bookstore time."

Savannah sighs.

Yaaaay books! Bella looks for what there might be in the way of a card catalog or informative computer system.

"You and your dead things," snorts Bella. "You'd think all the live critters in the world were so many kinds of sparrow." She looks up what there is to see about magic.

"Okay, my next question is why does the available sample of two adults who know magic suck so much as people?"

"I have no idea!"

"We learn magic," she says, counting on her fingers, "we drive that jerk out of business, we make a ton of money, and then we open Hogwarts, you with me?"

"Hell yes. Dibs on being Dumbledore."

"I thought you were kind of against the 'leaving children in bad-idea foster homes' thing."

"That is why I would be Dumbledore. Because I would do it way better and I don't trust anyone else to do it right. Er. No offense."

Bella snorts. "If you just mean you want to be the headmaster and not that you also plan to grow a wizard beard, participate in the government, orchestrate a defensive war, and have inexplicable involvement in child custody arrangements, then you might have a tussle on your hands unless you plan to share."

"I will share if you are being intelligent about its use," says Darren loftily.

"Do you expect anything else?"

"Honestly? No. But I am leaving myself room in case I'm wrong, because this is too important to be casual about. I mean, people's lives are hypothetically at stake."

"If you think I'm going to do wicked things you should probably not have started teaching me magic. I mean, institutional power should also be kept out of the hands of bad people, but I question your timing on the seriousness and suspicion."

"Fair. But I don't think you are going to do wicked things. It's mostly just me worrying about the future. I mean, a magic buddy to share secrets with it one thing. A person to run a hypothetical Hogwarts with is another."

"Maybe I will found Hogwarts by myself. I mean, you already have a project."

"Okay, then if you run Hogwarts well I will send kids to you and we can team up with multiple world-helping projects running concurrently."

"Yaaaay!"

He giggles. "I'm excited."

And then Bella traipses off to see if there's anything worth having in this library.