Page 16 of Miles's Pact
"Our dads live quite close. How do you feel about walking there?" Mateo asked, and I shrugged.
I don't mind walking. It would also give me a chance to see the town in a different light. I'd seen it from the sky, and through a car window, so it was only fair to experience it this way as well.
Once Miles had locked up, I fell into step with the twins as they walked down the street, pointing out various houses and telling me a bit about their residents. While not all of the supes in town were members of their clan, the clan still had some basic information about them.
When I was younger, my parents and I had lived in a big town surrounded by humans. We'd always been careful, and we hadn't even known the names of all the people in our neighborhood, let alone the whole town. I wondered if that night would've taken a different direction if we'd lived in a town like this, if we'd had neighbors who looked out for each other.
"Okay, here we are," Mateo declared, and I glanced up at the house we'd stopped in front of. It was a large, stone bungalow, and it reminded me of something from an old gothic movie. A short driveway led up to a wide porch and dark wooden doors, and I took it all in, my eyes wide in wonder. On either side of the driveway were flowering bushes, and trees that butted up against the street.
It's... amazing, I said, making Mateo chuckle.
A large owl—an eagle owl maybe?—hooted from one of the trees, then flew down toward us as Miles held his arm out. It landed on his arm with a practiced precision as Miles smiled at it.
"Hey, April. Did the dads ask you to keep a lookout?" he asked, then turned to me.
"Duckie, this is April. She's Dad's familiar," Miles introduced. "April, this is Duckie, our mate."
April glanced over at me, then chirped. I ducked my head in greeting, admiring the brown-and-white eagle owl with orange eyes.
Now that I knew they were adopted, everything made a lot more sense, including the fact that their father was a mage.
"She's also our third parent, in a way. Or maybe our nanny," Mateo added with a grin. "We spent a lot of time as owls when we were younger, and she kept us in line so our dads wouldn't worry."
Miles smiled with a hint of a flush coloring his cheeks, then shook his head. "Come on. Let's head inside before Papa comes looking for us."
"Or it starts raining," Mateo added as he glanced at the darkened sky where the moon was barely managing to peek through the clouds. He'd told me all about how unpredictable the Mistvale weather could be because of the storm dragon watching over it, though I hadn't gotten to see it myself.
As Miles and Mateo headed up the driveway, I trailed after them, taking in a deep breath to brace myself. They hadn't told me much about their dads except that they'd adopted them and were wonderful people. I hoped they liked me, and that they weren't put off by the fact that I wouldn't—couldn't—shift back.
