Plans for Spring

Hi everyone. This is Kaya. In Bree's last post, she mentioned a little bit about the dance performances that Marie-Grace, Cécile, Fiona, and I have coming up. She was also polite enough to avoid going into all the details, though, because she wanted us to have the chance to share our own news. So this post is going to be partly about that.

That's not all the post is about, though. You'll notice I titled it "Plans for Spring," not "Plans for Dance." That was for a reason. Our other big news is that we're going on a trip. I'll fill you in on that a little bit later. ;-)

First things first, though: dance news! Every spring, our dance school holds three performances. The first performance is a gala. The gala is a series of short pieces, ballet and modern dance, with some professional dancers who come in from out of province to be part of the event. Not a lot of regular students participate - the local participants are mainly company members - so being chosen is a huge honour. The second performance is a story ballet. That one is... pretty self-explanatory, probably. Every year the teachers choreograph a ballet performance for the more advanced students. Not everyone gets to participate, but most students at the higher levels will be included. The third and final performance is the spring recital. It's a collection of separate dances, both ballet and modern, done by every class; all the kids in the school are in it, so they can show their family and friends how much they have learned during the year.

So, what does that have to do with our family, you may wonder? Well, at least one of us will be in all of those performances!

It was a big surprise for me, but I'll be in two dances in the gala. I'll be doing ballet in a piece that is a new Swan Lake choreography, and also dancing in a modern piece based on a Greek folk song. I'm super excited, but more nervous about that performance than either of the other ones, because my teachers are putting a lot of faith in me by choosing me, and I don't want to let them down.

Fiona, Cécile, Marie-Grace, and I will all be in the story ballet, too. This year's ballet is based on The Secret Garden. (It's actually pretty much just an excuse to have dancers dressed in flower costumes, to be totally honest with you.) Like our Nutcracker, the story ballet will have an A Cast and a B Cast to alternate filling the roles, so more people get a chance to participate. The two casts are equal and have the same number of performances, the letters are just to make it easier to understand who dances when. I'll be playing Mary in Cast A, and Marie-Grace will be Mary in Cast B. (Why does Marie-Grace always seem to get roles that have similar names to her actual name? She was Maria in Nutcracker. I don't know of any ballet with a character named Kaya in it...) Fiona will be playing a rose, and Cécile will be the Queen of the Irises. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

It's thanks to our mysterious gift giver that this will be possible for Marie-Grace and Cécile, our two vampire ballerinas. They were able to dance in Nutcracker because the winter days are very short in Newfoundland, so by the time school hours are over, there's no worry about the sun anymore. By May and June, the days are longer, and so there are dance rehearsals during sunlit hours. Obviously, this wouldn't normally be possible for a vampire. Cécile and Marie-Grace were originally planning to tell the teachers that they couldn't participate in any of the spring performances because they were going out of town; they were bummed to have to skip it, but there wouldn't have been much choice if they didn't want to catch on fire. Thanks to their new sun protection, they can be part of things after all. We still don't know the name of the person who gave us the gifts, but I know Cécile and Marie-Grace will be thinking of her while they dance, since she made it possible.

The other performance we're going to be part of is the spring recital. I'm going to be dancing three ballet pieces and a modern dance, Cécile and Marie-Grace are dancing together with their class in one piece and with my class in another, and Fiona is doing a piece with her class. We haven't started rehearsing for the recital yet and haven't found out all the details, because the other performances are sooner, but we're looking forward to it also. I'll fill you in on the recital once we know more.

There's one other thing. When my teacher invited me to dance in the gala, she said she hoped that I was going to audition for Junior Company. Our province doesn't have a professional ballet company, but my school's amateur company kind of fills the gap for our city. Company is a group that focuses on performing. Most of our company members are high school and university students, so I would be really young even for Junior Company. I told my teacher I would think about it. I'm really nervous, and I'm afraid to audition. What if I make a fool of myself? If I don't do it, though, I think I'd always wonder what would have happened if I'd tried.

I think I'm going to give it a chance. The next set of company auditions will be at the end of June, and the company continues to rehearse over the summer while regular dance classes are out of session. I'll let you know what I decide, and how it goes.

So that's the dance news! That isn't all that's going on in the lives of The Greens and The Roses that we need to update you on, though. The other big update is that from early to mid June, we're going on a trip to Europe. It's going to be very exciting!

The first place we're going is Italy. We're flying into Venice, and we're going to do some sightseeing and museum visiting. We're also hoping to have a visit with Gia's family and friends while we're there. (Gia is going too, of course, so that won't be weird.) I'm really excited to try real Italian food, and to see the sights.

I doubt you guys even remember this, but back when Bree first moved here and we were interviewing her, we talked about visiting Italy within the next ten years. Surprisingly, it's happening just a little bit more than a year later! It's really cool to be accomplishing one of those family "bucket list" goals.

We'll also be visiting Hungary and sightseeing in Budapest, then traveling to Zagreb and on to the Croatian coast, where we'll probably do more outdoor stuff like hiking and renting a boat.

We're all very excited! We've already started planning what to pack and what we're going to do in Europe. In reality, the trip is still about three weeks away, so we'll be sure to let you know before we go. We just wanted to give you a heads up about it now, though, since we're all looking forward to it.

If you made it through this whole post about our spring plans, "good on ya" as they say around here. ;-)

If you just skimmed, that's okay too. We'll be talking about all this stuff as it happens. We'll keep you posted on how it all goes!

Love,
Kaya

Departure, Arrival, and Lots of Animals

 

Hi, this is Summer... writing to you from sunny Florida! :-)

Saturday morning was leaving-home-time. On Friday, the temperature in our part of Newfoundland was hovering right at the freezing point. Ice was forming and then melting a little and falling and shattering. It sounded like little explosions were going off all over the place. We worried this might be a problem for our plane taking off. By Saturday morning, though, things were better. It was dismal, with a little bit of rain right on the borderline of freezing, but we got to the airport and in the air without a problem.

Oh, wait, I should backtrack a minute, because there are two things I bet you're wondering:

1.) How were the vampires going to handle Florida?

Well, we got some last minute good news about that. Marie-Grace and Tabitha have their necklaces now that protect them from being harmed by the rays of the sun, but Clare and Cécile were just planning to hole up in the condo during the day, shut out the light, and make do.

Friday's mail brought a surprise, though - another package from our mysterious sender in New Orleans. Unlike the other two parcels, which had been addressed to a specific sister, this one was addressed to the whole family care of Blakeney. Clare and Cécile kind of eyed each other, wondering who would get the necklace... and trying to be charitable by wishing each other good luck.

As it turned out, there wasn't a necklace in the package, and they were both lucky! :-)

We all crowded around to see what was in the box. It was an old-fashioned looking brown bottle, with a thick liquid sloshing around in it. We were confused about what it was, but fortunately there were directions, written in black ink and the same handwriting as before.

It said, "Vampire 'Sunscreen.' Drinking three drops protects for six hours. Mind your time and don't cut it close."

Obviously, this was a huge leap of faith - but our mysterious friend had come through for us in the past, so we decided to try it and hope for the best. It worked, and we're all enjoying the Florida sunshine. Our vampires are safe... at least as long as the bottle lasts. If there's still any left when we get home, Cécile and Clare will continue to use it sparingly to try to preserve it.

So that answers that question.

2.) What about Gia?

Honestly, we were all kind of wondering that. Before everything that happened, we were planning for Gia to come along on our trip, but after it all went down, we weren't sure what the deal was anymore. We were nervous to even ask Maia, because we didn't want to bring up a bad subject. We figured we'd just wait and see. 

Apparently, Gia took the wait and see route, too. On Saturday morning, she showed up at the house with a little suitcase clutched in her hands. Her knuckles were white where she was gripping the handle so hard. She looked nervous to the point of terrified, like a prisoner waiting for a verdict. I felt so bad for her in that moment that I just wanted to hug her. 

Maia didn't actually say anything. She just took Gia's suitcase and put it in the car. Obviously meaning: she still wanted Gia to go. Gia breathed a huge sigh of relief... and frankly, so did the rest of us.

From that moment, things have been easier. Pretty much back to normal, even. Gia seemed relaxed again, for the first time since she spilled her secret. I think she feels even better than she did before, because she can be honest now.

Since we've all been here in the condo together, I've realized that Gia has nightmares. Really bad ones. I think they're called night terrors. I can't really blame her for what she did anymore - now that I've realized The Elders hurt her worse than they ever hurt us, how could I?

I'm glad the family is back to being whole again. Because, yeah, even though it's nothing official, Gia feels like family to me. The way things are again - all of us together, happy - seems like how things should be.

So anyway, back to what I was saying before:

Travel was uneventful, and by Saturday evening we had landed in Florida. We were hungry and tired, but excited and glad to be there. It was amazing to be able to shed our winter coats and long-sleeve layers.

Sunday was a pretty slow day, since we'd just had a long day of travel. Some of us went to church with Blakeney's grandparents, then we went out for lunch and then went to a local symphony group's performance of (allegedly) Irish and Scottish music. The orchestra did a nice job and we liked the show. Then in the evening, we swam in the pool.

Monday we went to the beach! It was so fun. We playing in the sand and swam in the ocean. The water had fish in it, and they came right up to swim around our feet. Then in the evening after supper we went for a walk. It was neat to see palm trees and watch the squirrels, very different from home.

Today we drove to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. It was so totally awesome! (Inky, if you're reading this, the park made us think of you. I think you would have loved it!) It's a park where they have all kinds of wild animals from the local area. These animals weren't captured to be exhibits, but were there because for some reason they would not be able to survive in the wild. Most were injured in some way, and although they've gotten better, they wouldn't be able to move fast enough to hunt or avoid predators. A few others imprinted on humans when they were babies and wouldn't be able to fend for themselves.

One pair of birds we saw was really sweet because the original bird was brought there after it got too badly hurt to be released into the wild, and a wild bird became its mate while it was living in the park; that other bird stays at the park now by choice to be with the one who can't fly away.

The only animal they have that isn't native to Florida is one random hippo. He was there before the current park. There used to be a park of exotic animals on that land, and he was part of that. When the new park started, he got to stay. He was really interesting to see, too. We got to watch him eat his supper, which was hay and several melons.

The other animals we saw were wolves, foxes, otters, manatees, alligators, bears, a bobcat, a cougar, some snakes and turtles, and a bunch of birds and fish. They have this neat building where you can look at the fish from underwater through glass.

Kaya and Charissa told us lots of cool facts about the animals. Kaya is part of a special environmental science school program, so she knows all about these things, and Charissa just loves animals and has read a lot about them.

Bree discovered she isn't as afraid of bears as she thought she was, now that she's seen them sleepy and sluggish. The bear fear started when, shortly after she moved in with the Greens, Bree read on a website that if you go out in the woods in Newfoundland, basically bears are just going to come and murder you. Which is totally not true. Although we have been hiking and camping dozens of times since then and have not seen one single bear, Bree keeps looking over her shoulder for bear attacks. I think she may have gotten over it somewhat today, when she saw a bear sleeping and said it was "kind of cute and not murderous at all," which for Bree is major progress.

We all joked about taking Gia to see the wolves and foxes because they are her "cousins," and she actually laughed. It's such a relief to be able to laugh with Gia. We can joke again because we've forgiven her and she knows it, and because she's getting more accustomed to the werewolf thing. The truth is, though, she clearly did feel some kinship to the wolves - and seeing how beautiful they were seems like maybe it helped her adapt to what she is now. I can understand how she felt. Maia, Kiwi, and I felt the same kinship with the big cats, since we're feline shapeshifters.

After visiting the park, we had supper and then swam in the pool again. And that brings us up to the present moment! So there's our Florida update so far.

I wonder what will happen next? :-)

Love,
Summer

P.S. We haven't forgotten about the Versatile Blogger thing. (Three people tagged us - wow, thanks!) We'll do our best to get it posted soon. We just wanted to update you guys on our vacation first as we planned, before we lost track of what we wanted to tell you about all the cool stuff we've done. We won't forget we need to do that, though, don't worry. ;-) ~S

Deeper Understanding

Hello, friends, this is Kaya. This isn't really a news post. It's more of a conversational, thinky post. I talked to Gia today, and I think I understand a little better why she made the choices she made. That understanding means I have a lot more sympathy for her.

Today I was home doing my online classes (I have co-op classes with other students two days a week,) and when I took a break to get a glass of water, Gia was in the kitchen, supposedly marking assignments but more like just staring out the window. She looked pretty lost in thought, so I asked if she was okay.

I have to admit I felt a little weird about it. I care about Gia - we all do - but we also just found out that she'd been working for the evil vampires, and that she got to know us under false pretenses to spy on us for them. I wasn't sure if it was better if we talked about stuff, or if we avoided talking about stuff.

"Hello, Kaya," Gia said with a smile. "I'm doing alright. Would you like to join me?"

Technically, I needed to get back to my schoolwork, but I figured sitting with Gia for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. It seemed like she needed somebody to talk to.

"Sure," I said, and I took the seat beside her. For awhile, we both just looked out the window. Gia was toying with her sleeves, and for the first time I noticed that she had scars from cuts on her forearms. I wondered if it was a suicide attempt, or self-harm. Some of the kids I knew when I was in foster care did that, although I never have. I realized I'd always seen Gia in long sleeves, which wasn't strange because the weather is still really cold, and has been cold since I met her. I'd never seen her arms before.

"Did you ever get counseling about that?" I asked, pointing to her arm.

Gia looked surprised, and said, "What?" Then she realized what I meant, and she said, "Oh, no, I didn't do that to myself. I lived with vampires. They needed blood."

"So you gave it to them?"

She shrugged. "I didn't have much choice. It was my blood or my life. I was more willing to lose the blood."

"I thought vampires bite people?" I asked, wondering if this was totally rude, but Gia didn't seem to mind the questions.

"They do - if they want the person to die or to become a vampire also. The Elders didn't want either for me. I was useful to them, but my primary use was as a human. For example, I can go out during the day, which is immensely helpful to people who can't."

"How long did you work for them?"

"Three years," Gia replied, and I was surprised by that answer. I figured she would say a couple of months. She and Maia started dating in December. I guess what she said before was truer than we realized - she was in deep long before she ever heard of us.

"Were they good to work for? Besides the blood?"

Gia's eyes grew distant, and the muscles in her jaw tensed. For a moment, I could feel her fear without even trying to sense her emotions, then she calmed herself down.

"No," she said simply.

I reached over and put my hand on her arm, and she smiled at me. "It's going to be okay now," I said.

"I hope so," Gia replied. "I'm safe from them now, but..."

I nodded. I knew what she meant: But really being okay depends on how things work out with Maia.

Gia smiled sadly. "I know you must think I'm weak. In fact, I agree with you. I am, especially in comparison to your family. You're all so brave. I just... it's hard to convey in words how bad those years were. At first, I thought I was working for the heroes, but things quickly went badly. They were... very rough with me. I got used to bruises. I got used to being afraid for my life."

I was shocked. "They hit you?"

"Yes, among other things. They were very cruel. I was punished harshly for the slightest mistake, and they constantly reminded me that any misstep might be my last. I regret now that I ever agreed to help them work against your family. At the time, though, it seemed... almost harmless. I didn't see how anything I told them would actually do any damage. They already knew where you lived, and had a good idea of your routines. They knew you were sheltering Clare, Tabitha, Cécile, and Marie-Grace. I'm still not sure how much of what I told them was information they didn't already know."

"You seem to feel pretty terrible, for not telling them anything that bad," I said. I already knew the reason, but I thought it might help her to talk about it.

"What I regret most is all the lying," Gia said sadly. "It was awful, not telling the truth. At first it didn't matter, but then I started having feelings for Maia - big feelings - and then it got really difficult. She's so smart and funny and kind. The more I got to know her, the more I wished I was what I pretended to be."

"But you are," I told her. "You're a good person. You care about Maia. You were just terrified of evil vampires, too."

"Can you ever forgive me, Kaya?" Gia asked. "Will your sisters ever forgive me? Will Maia?"

"I already do," I said. "I understand now. I understand what happened to you, and I feel bad for you. Your family died suddenly and violently - you must have been grieving horribly, and you were all alone. Then these superpowered beings come along and say they'll fix it, and everything is great for awhile, and then they start hurting and terrorizing you. Could I really blame you for making some bad decisions at that point?"

Gia smiled sadly, and said, "Thank you. Your understanding means more than I can say."

"My sisters will understand, too," I assured her. "They'll forgive you. And Maia... she's hurt, but she loves you. Just give her time. It'll be alright. But... can I give you some advice?"

"Of course," Gia replied. "You're wise beyond your years, Kaya. I'd like to hear what you suggest."

I totally blushed at the compliment, but I said, "I think you should tell Maia what you told me. How they hurt you, and how scared you were of them."

"Do you really think so?" Gia asked. "I didn't want to seem like I was making excuses, or acting like what I did was right."

I shook my head. "No, what it does is make it clear this happened for a reason. You didn't just wake up one day and decide to mess with Maia's head - or her heart. You need to tell her, so she'll realize why you did what you did. I think once she knows, she'll understand better. She'll know how much she matters to you."

"Thank you, Kaya," Gia said. "You've given me a lot to think about, and... you're right. I should take your advice.

"You're welcome," I replied. "I should get back to my schoolwork."

When Maia got home, she and Gia talked upstairs for a long time. I think Gia must have taken my advice like she said she would, because when they came down for supper, they seemed a lot more relaxed. Maia was smiling again - a real smile, not a faked one - and she took Gia's hand at one point. It was kind of touching how relieved Gia looked. The atmosphere was less tense than it had been since Gia admitted the truth, and the conversation flowed more naturally, like there wasn't an elephant in the room anymore.

Yep, I think everything will be okay. :-)

Love,
Kaya

Covert Maneuvers

"It's alright to make mistakes, you're only human

Inside everybody's hiding something

Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment

Don't slide..." -Dido, "Slide"

Hey folks, this is Bree. As we mentioned in our last entry, we've been wondering why Gia (apparently) tried to mislead us by pretending she didn't know anything about vampires. Ordinarily, we would have pursued that immediately, but Gia has been having a bad couple of days. She got bitten by a werewolf, and now she's a werewolf too - which is hard on the body, but she seems to be taking it even harder still emotionally. We decided it was best to give her space for a few days.

A few days have come and gone, though... and it's not just idle curiosity. If Gia had contact with vampires in the past, there's a good chance that would eventually become our problem if she becomes part of our family. If bad vampires were going to come try to murder her, that would be a good thing for us to know, so we could do our best to prevent it.

I decided to go for the direct approach this morning while we were all getting our breakfasts. I was pouring my cornflakes. (Gosh, I love cornflakes! I normally don't get excited about food, because I struggle with disordered eating patterns, but cornflakes make me happy. But anyway...) Without looking up from my bowl, I asked, "So Gia, how do you know about vampires, and how come you acted like you didn't?"

Gia looked pale, wrapped up in her fluffy blue bathrobe, and started to reply automatically without thinking, "Because..."

Our eyes met over the cereal bowls. The secret was blown. She hadn't answered me directly, but she also hadn't stated more convincingly than before that I was wrong and she really hadn't known. It was clear that she did. We all knew that. Apparently Gia decided it was time to come clean.

"I... haven't been entirely honest with you..." Gia admitted haltingly.

"I knew it!" Molly yelled. "She is a vampire!"

There was a lot of eye-rolling, and Felicity hastily shushed her. For various reasons, we knew that Gia couldn't be a vampire. We've seen her go out in the day with no ill-effects. As an elementary school teacher, she has a job where you can't arrange to avoid attending work on sunny days, even in Northern Canada, because night shifts and irregular scheduling aren't an option. We've also seen her eat regular food; the night she came over and she and Maia made us pasta alla carbonara, Gia ate it too, and she even had second helpings. Our resident vampires have also confirmed Gia isn't a vampire, which alone is proof because they can recognize each other, and combined with all the other evidence just makes it impossible.

We're fairly sure Gia was a human before the werewolf bit her last week. She was just a human who apparently knew about vampires.

Gia shook her head. "No, I am... I was... just a regular mortal."

She looked down, like this was going to be a horrible thing to admit, and I wondered what could be that bad. When she spoke again, I realized just what could be.

"I was working for The Elders," Gia said. "They sent me here to keep an eye on you and report back."

"How did you end up working for evil vampires?" I asked. My brain preferred to focus on that than to try to sort out the other part. The part where we trusted her, and she turned out to be a spy.

Kaya frowned, like something didn't make sense, but for the moment she didn't say anything.

Gia replied, "My family - my parents and my brother - were killed by rogue vampires."

With what was probably unnecessary sarcasm, Kirsten said, "I'm sorry for your loss, but... yeah, going to work for killer vampires yourself makes total sense as a response!"

No one shushed her, because we were all feeling pretty stung at that point.

Gia shook her head. "I didn't know they were killer vampires at the time. I thought they were the good guys. They avenged my family for me. I thought they would protect us humans from other vampires. By the time I figured out what they were really about... I was scared, and I didn't know how to get out. When they gave me this 'assignment,' I admit I jumped at it, because I could put some distance between me and them without them watching me all the time, and I could try to sort out my thoughts and decide what to do next."

Maia looked like she'd been stabbed. This probably hurt worse than a knife, I thought.

"So you just pretended all this?" Maia asked shakily. "You pretended... that you loved me?"

Gia shook her head, desperately, looking like she was about to cry. "No! The Elders only told me to make friends with you. The rest of it... those feelings were true. That part was really me. I didn't expect that to happen, and it made me feel horrible to deceive you about why I met you - but what has happened since wasn't fake. I promise!"

There was silence for an awkward span of time. Then I said quietly, "Well... she is still here."

"Hm?" Maia asked absently.

"We fought The Elders weeks ago," I clarified. "Gia's 'assignment' pretty much definitively ended then. But she's still been hanging out with us, even though she didn't have to anymore."

Maia looked a little hopeful, and Kaya nodded, like all this finally made sense. "Gia is telling the truth now," Kaya said.

I'm not sure if our readers remember what Kaya's power is - it's empathy. She can feel echoes of other people's emotions when she concentrates on them. That's why she was confused when Gia admitted why she became part of our lives; that didn't fit with what Kaya perceived of Gia's feelings since.

Gia looked fearfully at Maia, tensing like she expected rejection, but she said softly, "Is this something we can work through?"

Maia thought for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, I think it might be."

I can't report on their conversation beyond that point, because that was when the rest of us decided to make a strategic retreat. We took our cereal downstairs to eat so the two of them could talk in private. I don't know what will happen with Maia and Gia's relationship.

In spite of all this, though, I can honestly say I hope it works out. I believe that Gia is a good person who lost her way for awhile. If she stays with us, I think she'll find it again. She wouldn't be the only one who has found a new path with this family.

Love,
Bree

The Moon Rises

Hello again, this is Summer. In the last couple of posts, we've talked about Gia's situation - getting bitten by a large animal (which she referred to as a "dog") and then getting very sick but not wanting to go to the doctor. A couple of our readers who commented suggested the possibility that Gia might have been bitten by a werewolf.

It all seemed to fit. It explained what bit her, why there haven't been other sightings of a large predatory animal (since werewolves are human most of the time,) why she got so sick, and why some of our resident vampires had an instinctive negative reaction to her after the bite. 

We talked about it among ourselves, and we decided that a werewolf was the most likely explanation. And yes, in our world there are situations where lycanthropy is the most likely explanation; we're never going to be normal, are we?

The problem is, how were we going to tell Gia? We know things like vampires and fairies are real, which makes it easy to believe werewolves are too... but presumably Gia didn't know about any of this. She probably thought, as most people do, that these are just stories.

So how were we going break the news?

We talked about it over the course of Thursday afternoon - out of Gia's earshot - and we didn't come to an agreement. Molly favoured a direct approach. ("Congratulations, you're a werewolf!") The rest of us thought that was potentially traumatizing, and/or might just make her laugh and not take anything we said seriously. Kiwi suggested that she and I turn into cats in front of her so she would see animal shapeshifters are real - but the verdict from the majority was that this was potentially even more traumatizing, and also might make Gia just think she was insane. Bree suggested we start vague and work up to lycanthropy, which seemed like the best plan... but no one could think of a good conversational direction that would lead us anywhere near that topic.

As far as we knew, there was no hurry. Gia is doing better and seems to be recovering, but doesn't have any intention of leaving yet. No one thought to check the calendar and see when the full moon would be.

Turns out, it was Thursday - as in, that very night.

Us girls were down in the basement of the Rose house, semi-watching television and discussing the werewolf situation, when were heard screams from upstairs. Before we had a chance to respond to the screaming, we heard a crash, followed by more screams and what sounded like furniture being overturned. We ran upstairs, and found a wolf-looking creature, except capable of standing upright, in the living room, crouching behind the now-broken couch. It was not entirely surprising, given our topic of conversation, to see that the werewolf had familiar hazel eyes. Of course, it was Gia.

We weren't sure what to do. With vampires, we were able to get a lot of our information in advance from Clare and Inna. We don't really know what to expect when it comes to werewolves. (Inna confirmed for us that they are real, but knows nothing much else about them.) I'm a feline shapeshifter, and so are Kiwi and Maia, but we're pretty different from werewolves; we were born this way, we were never bitten. Since we didn't have any kind of precedent to draw on, we didn't know what a werewolf would do. Would Gia still act like Gia? Or would she act like a wild animal?

The answer seemed to be somewhere in between. GiaWolf didn't seem to recognize us, but she also didn't seem inclined to harm us at first. She sniffed at us, and paused, as if she wasn't sure what to do.

"Gia?" Maia called. GiaWolf turned to look at her, like she recognized her voice... but then she looked at us girls again, as though she was considering going hunting. This seemed like a problematic situation.

Things got even more problematic when Clare and Tabitha started hissing and snarling at her. Marie-Grace and Cécile also looked upset, but they managed to keep it under control. Our newest vampires didn't seem to be able to handle being around their "natural enemy," though, and they were making their displeasure known. 

GiaWolf dropped down into a crouch, and prepared to charge at the vampires. It was, needless to say, a tense moment.

Maia broke the tension by saying "Gia!" again, but sharply this time, like a command. The instinct to obey the dominant member of the pack overrode the instinct to attack the vampires, and Gia relaxed her stance. It took awhile, but Maia finally managed to talk her down into the basement, into the room we'd fortified for Tabitha when she was a crazy freshly-turned vampire. Once the door shut, we occasionally heard the sound of breaking furniture, and Maia's voice talking to her, calming her down. 

Things quieted down near sunrise, and Maia and Gia (now in fully human form again) came back upstairs. Gia looked a little bruised from her furniture-breaking episodes, a little embarrassed, and a lot shocked, like she couldn't believe what had happened. 

We broke the news to her that werewolves are real - which Gia had already seen for herself. Then we told her about vampires... and she pretended to be surprised, but she wasn't on her game with her acting, and she wasn't really very convincing.

I didn't think about it at the time, but that's kind of weird, isn't it? That she pretended she didn't know about vampires? Why would she do that? Maybe she just figured vampires were plausible after the whole werewolf thing, and didn't already know about them... but why try to pretend it was big news if she'd already figured it out? It seemed like maybe she already knew. I just wonder how she would have...

At the moment, we have bigger problems than Gia being tight-lipped about certain things. Night has fallen again, Gia is currently in wolf form, and is down in our basement. We don't want to be mean by locking her up, but we also don't want her to get out and hurt anybody. We're not sure how long before and after the fullest moon she'll transform, so we don't know how many days to expect this.

It looks like the Greens and the Roses are going to need a crash course on werewolves... the sooner the better!

Love,

Summer

After the Storm

Hi, this is Kaya. I realize the post title probably seems like an overblown metaphor, but it isn't... there was a literal storm. It started around midnight last night with ice pellets and high wind, then it turned into a blizzard by early morning. Before long the roads were covered, and we were snowed in. There was no school for anyone today, and most of the non-vital businesses were closed, because the city officials wanted as many people off the road as possible so they could just send the plows through without anyone in the way.

We were all home, and we enjoyed an unexpected break and playing in the snow. Afterward we came in for hot chocolate (for the non-vampires, at least) and plopped down in front of the television to watch the local news. Maybe it's geeky, but when we have a big storm, we always find it interesting to see on the news what other areas of town look like all covered in snow, because we won't get out to see it in person.

They showed footage of a few different parts of town, then they cut to a shot of the reporter standing in front of Gia's apartment complex. Apparently during the storm, some limbs had come off the nearby trees and broken windows in a number of the ground-floor apartments, letting in a bunch of snow.

We didn't mean to snoop on Gia. We honestly and truly didn't. 

We were trying to help - since we didn't know when she'd be getting back from her sudden trip to Italy, we didn't want her to return to a ruined apartment. Maia has a key to her place, and since as far as we knew she wasn't home, we decided to go check on her apartment and make sure it wasn't her window panes that were broken. If it was, we would clear out the snow and the debris and put boards over the windows like the other tenants were doing, so her place wouldn't be totally wrecked before the building super got a chance to fix it.

By this point the roads were pretty well clear but there wasn't much traffic, so we walked over and let ourselves in with Maia's key. The windows weren't broken.

And Gia wasn't in Italy...

We hadn't even thought to question whether she'd really left or not. When we tried phoning and knocking on the door, there was no answer. She had told her boss that she was leaving the country for an undefined absence. Maybe we're naive, but we just assumed she was actually gone.

Gia was in the apartment, huddled in a nest of blankets in the corner of the living room, between the arm of the couch and the wall. She was shaking like she was cold, but the heat was turned all the way up, and she was burning up with a fever. We eventually talked her into letting us look at the bite injury on her arm, and it seemed a lot worse. It was swollen and looked infected. 

She wouldn't tell us what was going on, though - she only answered our questions with a nod or a shake of the head if at all. She refused to let us take her to see a doctor. Fortunately, Gia did agree to come stay with us until she's feeling better, though. We couldn't have forced her, but I couldn't imagine leaving her alone and sick in her empty apartment.

Kiwi and I helped her up the porch steps and into the house. Clare took one look at Gia, and hissed at her. We all stopped what we were doing and froze, shocked.

I've never heard Clare hiss before. Now, Tabitha does that stuff all the time. (Sorry, Tabs, but you do!) Practically whenever she gets frustrated or irritated, or feels remotely threatened, Tabitha will hiss or growl or snarl. It's a new-vampire thing, and Inna says she'll "grow out of it." Clare has been a vampire for over a year now, and she's mostly over those animal-like reactions.

"What was that?" I asked Clare quietly.

Clare shrugged, clearly embarrassed. "I don't know," she said. "I just lost it for a minute. Something about her... I don't know. It's probably nothing."

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I think it must have something to do with Gia's illness. A couple of days ago Gia played games with us, and Clare seemed to have a good time. There was no hissing. Not even any sign of discomfort. The only thing I can think of that has changed are the bite and the fact Gia is sick. Something about that has to have triggered a vampire reaction in Clare.

I'm not sure what will happen now. Gia is sleeping on the couch. Most of us kind of hovering, especially Maia - but Clare and Tabitha are giving her a wide berth, and neither of them can explain why. Marie-Grace and Cécile don't seem to be having a problem, for some reason.

I wonder what's going on? Hopefully when Gia gets better, things will go back to normal.

Love,

Kaya

Unintended Consequences

Hi, this is Clare. :-)

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since we defeated the mean vampires called The Elders. For our family, this means a chance to breathe more easily. They've had it in for us for awhile - even longer than we realized, because they've been after Inna - and now that they're out of the way, we don't have to worry about getting attacked by them anymore. It's a pretty big relief.

Unfortunately, though, it has also had some unintended consequences that aren't quite so great.

One thing I've been learning in my history lessons is that there's always a balance of power. Humans, vampires, even animals in the wild... doesn't matter. Whenever you have a system or an ecosystem, there's a balance, and if something upsets the balance things are going to change.

The Elders were bullies. They weren't popular; most other vampires didn't like them, because they were so clearly all about their own gain. They were, however, quite powerful, because they were ancient and well-established (thus their chosen name,) and they had a lot of groups who would otherwise be chaotic instead intimidated into obedience with their goals.

There's a reason that in most vampire stories, there's a "masquerade" - vampires having to hide their true natures from humans. If humanity as a whole knew about vampires, we would be in danger... and humans would be in danger when they sought us out. It's better for everyone if things like vampires are kept a secret from most of the mortal population.

The Elders may have been jerks, but they took that to heart. They didn't have any particular sympathy for humans - as far as I know, they used humans as a food source - but they recognized that it was in their own best interests if humans didn't know about us. It would keep the Elders safer, and it would keep their potential prey unawares.

They worked hard to maintain that secrecy - which often meant forcing other vampires to tone down their behaviour, particularly those who acted more animalistic. Sometimes they bullied other vampires for territory, or just to increase their own reputation by defeating an enemy. Sometimes, though, they bullied other vampires for actually being a threat.

In the vampire ecosystem, the Elders were sometimes useful. They were very bad vampires, but they helped keep the other very bad vampires in check.

Now they're gone, and we've been hearing rumours of more trouble. So far nothing catastrophic has happened, but we've gotten word that some vampires who were kept reasonably under control by the Elders are now starting to decide the new order of things means no order at all.

Obviously, this is at least in part our problem. We can't just break things - even if ultimately the breaking made the world better - and not worry about the consequences.

That isn't to say we feel guilty about winning the fight. The Elders pretty much forced a confrontation, and we were defending ourselves. They were blatant murderers of humans and other vampires, and would have continued to be. We did what we needed to, to save our own lives and a lot of other ones.

Things have to change... but I believe it can be a lot better.

I thought when we fought the Elders, one way or the other it would be over. As it turns out, the real work is just beginning.

***

One other piece of news, also possibly unintended consequences:

The morning after Gia was bitten by a big dog, we tried to phone and make sure she was okay, but there was no answer. We went to her apartment complex and knocked on her door before school, and got no reply. We started to get worried - but of course, Gia is a teacher, so we thought maybe she'd already left for school herself.

At lunch time, Inna got a phone call from Maia, and when we all got home, they broke the news.

Gia had left a message on the school principal's voicemail during the night that she was going back to Italy because of an "emergency" and didn't know when she would return. She didn't tell anyone else or say goodbye.

We're honestly pretty worried. This seems very sudden. I don't think it was our fault that she got bitten by the dog, so I don't see why she would be mad at us - but even if she was, it seems like it would be a pretty big overreaction to stop going to work and leave town.

I wonder why she left so abruptly. Did something else happen? Was the timing just a coincidence? Or did it have to do with the bite she got? I wonder if she's coming back. Poor Gia! I hope she's okay...

Love,
Clare

A Bad End to a Good Evening

Hi, this is Summer with an update on Greens and Roses news. This was a fun evening for our family... well, until the end.

For the past few months, Maia has been dating another teacher who works at the same school where she teaches. Her name is Gia, and she's originally from Italy. We've talked to her when she's met up with Maia at the house, and she seems really nice. Normally the two of them go out a couple of times a week, but things are getting more serious, so Maia invited her over to spend some time with us tonight.

We had a really good time. Gia is really funny, and she's a good cook - she showed Maia how to cook pasta alla carbonara, and the two of them made it for the family. It was really good! I had never had it before, but I really liked it. Gia said she'd come over and show us how to make other Italian dishes in the future, which I'm looking forward to.

After supper, we played games for awhile: Scrabble, Monopoly, and Apples to Apples. Our vampires girls came home for that part; they weren't around during supper because we didn't want to have to make up a story for Gia about why they weren't eating the food. The four of them went pigeon hunting while the rest of us had supper, and we just told her (which wasn't a lie) that they were eating somewhere else tonight.

At some point, if Gia and Maia get married or Gia moves in, we're going to have to tell her about the vampires. For now, we thought it was better to just... not have the subject come up. Cécile, Marie-Grace, Clare, and Tabitha got to join us for the games, which was a good compromise, and we all had fun.

Eventually, it had to end. Gia said she had to go prepare some lesson plans for her classes tomorrow, so she thanked us for having her over, and we thanked her for the carbonara. Then we said our goodnights, and we figured we wouldn't see her again until tomorrow.

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang... and rang, and rang, and rang, like someone was leaning against it. Inna and I went to the door, and when we opened it, we found Gia on the porch again. She was pale as a sheet, and her sleeve was ripped to the shoulder. Blood was dripping from a huge bite on her upper arm. She was obviously going into shock, and looked like she could barely stand upright.

Inna immediately went and got her car keys; it was clear we were going to have to drive her to Emergency. Maia and I helped her to the car, and the rest of the girls went next door to stay with the Greens while we were gone. We didn't waste any time driving there - fortunately the hospital is only a few blocks away - but while we were on the way, Maia asked quietly, "What happened?"

I was afraid she was going to say it was a vampire. Or maybe 'some crazy bloodsucking biter person,' since she presumably doesn't know vampires are real. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do if we were in a small car with a freshly-turned vampire who didn't know she was a vampire. Could that even happen? Could you be a vampire and not know you were one?

We all breathed a sigh of relief, though, when Gia didn't say it was a vampire. She said, "I was attacked by a big dog."

I couldn't help thinking that was the cover story we had used when Kiwi had vampire wounds. Was Gia just not telling us what had happened? There were some dark-coloured animal hairs on her blouse, though, and Inna told me later it didn't look the kind of injury that would be caused by a vampire. I guess it really was a dog.

We weren't at the hospital for very long. There wasn't much of a wait. The doctor cleaned the injury, put in a couple of stitches, and then bandaged it all up. Gia didn't have to stay overnight, so we drove her to her apartment building, made sure she had everything she needed, and then left her to get some rest.

It's unfortunate that our fun evening ended at Emergency. Hopefully next time we have someone over for the evening, it won't finish with a scary random dog bite!

Love,
Summer

What We Did for the Holidays

Hi, this is Josefina. We're doing this kind of belatedly - and because of that, we decided to combine it into one post rather than everyone writing separately - but since we didn't get much chance to blog over the holidays, we're going to fill you in now about what we all did.

I (Josefina) went to New Mexico to stay with my aunt and uncle, and my two younger cousins. We celebrated Las Posadas, which is a nine-day celebration that finishes on Christmas Eve, or what we call la Nochebuena, or translated, "the Good night." During each Posada, we would go to a neighbour's house in a procession singing a traditional song. There's a Nativity scene there, sometimes a piñata, and food of course. This celebration reenacts the journey of Mary and Joseph in Christian tradition. It was a lot of fun, and doing it again this year made me think of my mother and grandmother who died; I miss them a lot, but these were happy memories.


Kaya went to Idaho to visit her grandparents and her younger sister Rosa. They were happy to see each other, and had a really good time. They celebrated Christmas and New Years - carols around the piano were the highlight of their Christmas Day - and Kaya was also able to participate in a traditional dance event, which she really enjoys, and attended a tribal winter ceremony. I think she was happy to be there, but she seemed a little sad when she got back. I think she misses her other family when she's here - but I think she misses us when she's there, too. It wasn't long before she was cheerful again, though. Nothing keeps Kaya down for long.


Kirsten, Felicity, Molly, and Charissa visited their mom and dad for the holidays. Their parents are living in Maryland at the moment, but they move a lot. I don't think the visit went all that well. They were pretty tense when they got back, and didn't say a lot. I think their parents are pretty... um... chaotic, so holidays with them can be kind of unpredictable. They seemed just plain glad to be back.

Evelyn had a lot of fun in Quebec, though. She stayed with her aunt, and got to visit her parents and her two sisters, Aisha (who is older than her) and Jasmine (who is younger.) Ev says they had a "really huge" Christmas tree, went to midnight mass, and ate tourtière, which is a kind of pork pie. And of course, they opened presents, and she got a new toy horse she's thrilled with. Evelyn was pretty excited to go on the plane all alone for the first time; she wasn't scared at all. She's only eight - she's so brave! :-)


Inna, Maia, Summer, Clare, Fiona, Kiwi, and Tabitha celebrated Christmas here in Newfoundland. It was pretty low-key because they didn't want Tabitha to get overly excited, but Kiwi and Fiona went mummering with some of their friends. Mummering means dressing up in costume and going to visit the neighbours, and if they get invited in, they sing and dance and do little comedy routines. The hosts offer them food and drinks, and try to guess who they are. Kiwi and Fiona were proud of themselves because no one guessed who they were. A perfect performance for our two actresses! 


They also celebrated the Russian new year and Russian Christmas (on January 7th) with Inna, who cooked traditional food for them, and taught them some songs. She'd brought us all little gifts, too, even those of us who were away at the time... so we started calling her Snow Maiden, like the woman who helps Ded Moroz, which means Father Frost (the Russian version of Santa,) to deliver people's gifts. That made her laugh, but I think it made her feel good that we remembered what she'd told us about her holiday.


And of course, Bree went to Western New York with Blakeney, and met up with Cécile and Marie-Grace, as she wrote about before.


In other news, Maia went out on a date! It was with a lady she met through her work. She says she had a good time and they're going to go out again, but it was "not serious, just one date." Famous last words. I think she knows that she will be taking that back someday, because she added, "At least so far..."


So that was the holidays for all of us! :-)

We missed our blog friends, and it's good to catch back up again.


Love and belated good holiday wishes,
Josefina and the girls