As days slowly slipped by, Ruby forgot about the little chat she had with Fang, and continued on with daily life. The afternoons began to get colder as autumn approached, and the little cottage's inhabitants prepared for another long, quiet winter; gathering firewood and timber from around the murky forest, and stocking up on food before it was too chilly to walk three inches outside without freezing their toes off
On one of these windy afternoons, Ruby was sitting in a comfortable chair in the upstairs library, reading old books by the hour. She was peacefully living the life of another person, far away in an imaginary land, when something loud snapped her back to reality.
???: Ruby! Can you come to the living room please? I've got something important to discuss with you!
Ruby: Uh, sure! Let me finish my page and I'll be right there!
Ruby quickly hurried through the rest of the chapter in her book (although the magic had now disappeared) before rushing out of the door and into the open hall. She leaped down the rickety stairs and landed with a creaky thud.
An old grey kangaroo wearing a less-than clean dress, was sitting peacefully on the leather sofa when Ruby entered the room. The ancient figure looked up, showing an ugly scar across her left eye, and a not-so-white pair of fangs. Ruby tried to ignore the disturbing face and got to the point on why she was called.
Ruby: You wanted me, Grandma?
The old marsupial nodded and picked up a leather bag next to her. She carefully got up from the couch and faced Ruby.
Grandma (grey kangaroo): Right. Let's get to the point.
Grandma tossed the bag she was holding at Ruby, who caught it with some confusion.
Grandma: You're going to Makku!
Ruby looked at her grandma in surprise, not knowing how to react to this. The only words she could manage to say were...
Ruby: ... Makku? Why?
The old grey kangaroo gave her granddaughter a puzzled look as if the reasons for why she was sending her granddaughter into the bigger (and frankly, more dangerous) world were quite obvious.
Grandma: To live there. Why else would you want to go?
Ruby shook her head, trying to push away the shock of the announcement and get all her thoughts in their correct places. She tried again.
Ruby: No, I mean... Why am I going?
Grandma: For many reasons, all of them too deep for me to even care to explain, but mostly it's about you getting the adventure of a lifetime before you grow too old for such fancies! That's what you wanted, right?
Ruby began to get a sinking feeling in her stomach, and felt her heart beat faster as Grandma took her granddaughter's silence as a question on how she came to know what she wanted.
Grandma: I got wind of the fact that you were quite unhappy here, so I've arranged to give you something interesting to do before you decided it was time to take your alchemy career seriously! And what's wrong with you? You look like you've had a bit too much of my fruit cake!
Ruby: Are... Are you ok with this? About-
Grandma: Of course I am! I was going to send you to observe the UnMythics way of life sooner or later anyway. It'll quite the learning experience, as well as keeping some of your other skills sharp!
Ruby was trying to think desperately of a good reason to stay. As much as she wanted something interesting happen in her life, this was thinking more along the lines of 'Epic Quest for glory and self discovery', and not 'Live among non-magical blooded morons and hope they won't notice I'm a Vampire'.
Ruby: But what about my schooling?
Grandma waved a hand at Ruby dismissively, as if she had expected a question like that.
Grandma: Don't worry, I've got that all planned out too. You'll be attending a small high-school while you're in Makku, so you'll still be getting an education of sorts... Not as traditional as I would like, but I suppose it's better than nothing.
Ruby: How do you expect me to get food for myself?
Grandma: I personally chose the law-breaking method of obtaining nourishment, but don't follow my example - crime didn't pay (neither did honest work, but that's beside the point).
Ruby, suddenly getting curious about the contents in her backpack, unzipped the front pocket and took a look inside. Books, official papers, and cases were all neatly arranged and in order of height. The red marsupial looked up, a little dubious.
Ruby: And is all of this really necessary, Grandma?
Grandma: Probably not, but we don't want to give them any reason for thinking that there still might be Vampires on the island... It took them long enough to forget us the first time, and I think we all agree that we don't want a repeat of the Isle Massacre any time soon.
Ruby nodded her head in agreement. But something was still bugging her.
Ruby: ... If I can ask you something real quick, how
did you found out-
Grandma: Guess.
Ruby thought for a moment, trying to recall who she could have told, when it hit her like an electric bolt to the brain. She tried not to show her emotions as she asked the complete obvious.
Ruby: Fang?
The ancient marsupial nodded her head wisely, making Ruby feel hot and uncomfortable. She suddenly wished she had the power to travel back in time, but it was all in vain. Grandma seemed to sense this and tried to crack a joke about the fluffy arachnid.
Grandma: You learn to never trust that creature with anything but your life after a few years. Don't worry, it happened to Basil and Kennedy quite a lot as well!
Ruby tried to picture the little red spider rescuing her from dangerous situations, and chuckled at the idea. As if Fang could do anything amazing besides eat a cart-full of sandwiches in one sitting! Grandma cleared her throat a little forcefully and continued.
Grandma: Anyway... you'll be leaving for Makku at 2:00am tonight, so maybe it's a good idea to-
Ruby: Wait a second! Tonight? You put off telling me that I'll have to live among non-magical blooded idiots, who don't know we really exist, until the day I was meant to leave? Why didn't you say something to me sooner? And how do you even expect me to get there, especially on such short notice?
Grandma smiled mischievously at her granddaughter and started for the kitchen.
Grandma: I assumed you'd be going by carriage.
Ruby: Do we even have the money to pay for a ride? Speaking of which, how did you even get all of this new stuff?
Grandma: I didn't. Your uncle Blake was kind enough to obtain all the required objects for me, though!
Ruby was wondering how she managed to do that, seeing as her uncle was usually a stuck-up, grouch, who hated spending money for little reason, when Grandma called over her shoulder...
Grandma: I threatened to tell on his wife that he was hoarding all the riches for himself. And he did owe me a favor anyway, the scrub...
Ruby sighed as the old kangaroo disappeared around the corner and into the kitchen. She started climbing back up the stairs towards the library door, when she felt something fall onto her head.
Fang: So~... Were you surprised?
Ruby chose to say nothing as she quietly made her way up the rest of the flight, turned the door nob and entered the library. But when the door was safely shut and locked, she allowed her frustration to show by throwing the backpack she was holding across the room. It collided with a stack of books, making Fang yelp in despair.
Fang: Hey! That was my new house! I just had it freshly webbed, too...
The arachnid jumped down from Ruby's head and scurried across the floor to where his burrow had been. Ruby just sank to the floor and gave a disgusted look at her pet, feeling pretty stupid for thinking Fang would've ever kept his mouth shut.
Ruby: It's all your fault I'm in this mess, Fang!
Fang looked up, a little startled and hurt at the accusation. He tried smoothing out a tuft of hair down a little before giving up trying to guess what Ruby was on about.
Fang: What's my fault?
Ruby: The whole 'going to Makku', thing, of course!
Fang: But.. I thought you wanted to-
Ruby: No! I mean, yes... maybe?... Yes, I did, but now I'm having second thoughts... It now seems like a terrible idea!
Fang: Why? I think it's a fantastic idea!
Ruby: Of course you do... But I'm not prepared for something like this! What if I make a mistake? What if I don't like it when I get there? What if I
die?
The arachnid tried to think of something to counter that last worry, but soon decided against it in case Ruby decided to start throwing books at him.
Fang: ... You can always say that you don't want to go? That it was all a misunderstanding, and-
Ruby: I can't do that!
Fang: Why not?
Ruby: For many reasons, all of them too complicated for you to understand.
Fang sighed and dove into the unzipped opening of the new backpack, pulling out odd pieces of paper and scattering them across the carpet floor.
Fang: I guess you're right. I mean, there's no way you can back out now, since Grandma got you all this expensive stuff! Although, why she chose an undercover name like Aeron Decnar is beyond me...
Ruby looked up in confusion, wondering if Fang was just speaking nonsense or not.
Ruby: What?
Fang patted a little booklet right next to him.
Fang: I found your UnMythic identification. Seems legit, but seriously... No one's going to remember a name like Aeron!
Ruby glared at Fang, trying to make him shut up telepathically, but unfortunately he didn't seem to notice as he continued to rummage through the contents of her new bag.
Fang: Ooh, looks like you got some of those fancy UnMythic quills! Y'know, the things that act like the real thing, but instead it's made of wood?
Ruby: Fang.
Fang: And what are these suppose to be? Some kinda paperweight or something? Awful colour, though...
Ruby: Fang!
Fang: And these books! The covers aren't made of leather! This is weird!
Ruby groaned and got up and stomped her way across the floor to where the red arachnid was.
Ruby: FANG!
Fang: Yes, Ruby?
Ruby took a deep breath, and calmly got down on her knees so that Fang could get a better look at her face. She then turned on the most sweet voice she possessed, and suggested to her pet...
Ruby: Do you want to go down to the kitchen and see what Grandma is making?
Fang's multiple eyes lit up in an instant, and he enthusiastically nodded his head.
Fang: Sure!
Ruby watched the little spider drop the pencil he was holding and race across the carpet and up the wall into one of his special holes. As soon as the sound of scuffling died away she began stuffing the scattered contents back into her bag, rather messily.
When suddenly, she heard a faint sound outside the door...
Slowly she got up, taking care not to move anything that would cause even the slightest of noise, and moved slowly to the library door. She turned the handle as carefully as she could, and swung it out as hard and fast as she could...
