Beatrice ran downstairs to see August working on a project. again. in the middle of the night.

"come on dude it's midnight the sun went down hours ago" I say rolling my eyes

his rusty-gold shirt was stained with oil, he had a necklace with a bronze leaf shaped pendant to signify his level as an engineer aprentice. honestly I think that the outfit would look better on me with my bronze hair and golden owl eyes. he always made me wish I wasn't a level above him just so I could go for more brown and bronze.

I had to wear a slightly different shaped necklace that was a nice golden bronze while August's was a deep rusty color. I actually wore a brown sweater and dark brown pants but my shirt was dark red to show that I was a smarty-pants. my owl wings were almost the color of my hair just a little more brown, there were feathers sticking out of the chin-lenth mess of my hair.

let's just say I brush it never.

"if I finish early I get paid extra bolts" August said as an oil leak sprouted from the gas bomb he was working on.

wait ... GAS BOMB. my body froze even though my mind ran straight into a panic attack.

GAS BOMB my brain screamed WE'RE GONNA DIE!

my bird instincts cooled off and I snatched the contraction, careful not to get any oil on my clothes. August shouldn't be working at night let alone on something that could burn the neighborhood in one fowl swoop.

"who gave you this job?" I asked hoping for a reassuring response.

"an officer, said it was for the war. he had a dark green suit" he said

"you know not to work at night and you also know that this type of bomb is dangerous" I scolded even though he was 18 and I was 14

the only reason I say he knows is because ... he remembers our parents dying. not well of course but he should have some memory of it, he's told me the details he remembered and he thinks I'm ready for. I was two at this time he was six, our parents had only room for two ...

August had stayed in the bunker with me for five days until Mrs, Thomas found us. She was a magpie bird. She raised us until she died during a messenger route. by then August was old enough to take care of me.

Mrs, Thomas. May she rest in peace. and curse who ever was dumb enough to kill her.

that was how my hate for the other realms came.