18.

"Everything is delicious Eden, really, I am quite impressed," Kiran complimented me during a lull in what was so far a very forced dinner conversation.

"Thank you," I gushed, satisfied that everything had turned out, even with a little help from Jericho. "I have never even attempted a turkey before, so even with Jericho's help, I'm still happy it turned out." I continued, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth.

"No really, stop," Jericho jumped in, and I couldn't tell if he was happy to be included in the conversation or upset. "I did nothing more than heat the bird, all of the flavor is yours."

"Did you baste the turkey?" Kiran asked, turning his body to face me as if to exclude Jericho all together.

"I did," I smiled sweetly, gazing into his eyes and hoping to relay that there was absolutely nothing to be jealous about.

"I should like to learn how to baste a turkey," Kiran smiled back and I reached for my wine glass.

He's talking about sex. He wants to have sex with you. Avalon sent me the message telepathically and I choked on my wine, spitting it back into my glass and continuing to cough.

"Eden.... Magic...." Avalon mumbled from across the table and I took his advice, but that didn't stop the heat from rising to my cheeks.

"Lilly helped too," I blurted out, trying to erase Avalon's opinion from my mind. Everyone at the table was just staring at me, I had to say something. "Lilly helped me all morning; really everything here is from both of us." I smiled at her, trying to regain my focus.

"Is that true, Lilly?" Talbott addressed her for the first time all evening, his accent thick. His face was bright red and I watched as he struggled to look her in the eye. She just nodded, turning an even brighter shade of red and shrinking back farther into her chair.

This evening was going worse than I had expected. I needed to change the subject to something everyone could discuss and not offend anyone at the same time. I had to think of something neutral and safe and the only thing that came to mind was myself.

"So. Ok," I began, pushing the corn casserole around on my plate, afraid to look anyone in the eye, lest anyone else get upset or jealous, "I don't get why I have to go to India for this whole Eternal Walk thing. Why can't I just do it here?" I finally glanced up at Amory, hoping he would engage me in some kind of lengthy discussion and save my failed dinner.

"That is a good question, Eden, but unfortunately it is impossible to do the Eternal Walk here, the Cave of the Winds is the most significant part of the entire tradition and it is located in India," Amory smiled at me, encouraging me to ask more questions with his eyes.

"Ok, so what exactly are the Caves of the Winds?" I asked, hoping to stay on this topic for awhile.

"They are a sort of Immortal epicenter that reacts more strongly with our magic than any other place on earth. You will feel your magic more intensely there than here, and what is even more of a phenomenon is that the caves actually react with you. The Eternal Walk is more of a physical reaction from nature than an Immortal induced event," Amory smiled benevolently and gestured to Kiran as if he wanted to explain more.

"That's right, when you enter the caves an actual reaction from the caves themselves begin to occur and that's why we call it the "Walk," because you have to physically walk through the caves in order to be released," Kiran took my hand in his underneath the table, but this time not from jealousy or over-protectiveness, this time it was to reassure me.

"How is that possible?" I asked, not believing that nature would actually react to our magic in a conscious way.

"We are not exactly sure," Amory continued, "but over time we have come to notice certain places on the earth are more prone to recognizing our magic than other places. In fact, even the native humans in those places seem to have an awareness of our Immortality, more so, than in other places."
"So more than just India?" I asked, wondering if Romania was one of those places.

"Yes, more than India," Kiran answered, "Romania is of course one, Peru is another, London, Morocco.... another and the entire continent of Africa," he laughed a little when he mentioned Africa and the rest of the table joined him. I didn't get the joke.

"So is that why that whole Citadel is in Romania?" I started to put the pieces together.

"Yes," It was Talbott's turn to talk, "over time, these epicenters, to use Amory's term, have presented themselves as the logical places to build our palaces. The citadel was built in Romania with the prisons because it became the most effective way of housing Immortal criminals."

"Oh," I grunted, rather disgusted. "Oh. I guess that makes sense from a ruling standpoint," I tried to cover my negative reaction quickly, but I saw Avalon laughing out of the corner of my eye. "Oh," I said again only this time realizing the answer to something that had been nagging me for a while. "That's why that old lady, on the train.... Well that makes sense," I trailed off, remembering nobody had been with me while on the train to the Sibiu.

"What makes sense?" Kiran looked at me quizzically, calculating my expression.

Wait. Avalon demanded before I could answer what I assumed to be an innocent question from Kiran. I obeyed my brother grudgingly, and forced another bite off of my plate, chewing it slowly. Once the food was in my mouth, I wasn't exactly stalling but rather just trying to force another ounce of food into my already overly-full stomach.

Avalon sifted through my memories rather intrusively, so I threw the memory at him, glancing irritatedly out of the corner of my eye. He replayed the memory and then I watched him shake his head and frown from my peripheral, just the slightest jut of a chin to signal not to say anything. I swallowed the bite of food on cue and took Avalon's advice.

"I don't know, just some old gypsy lady on the train I took from Timisoara to Sibiu. She was scared of me. Like absolutely terrified," I took another sip of wine, shaking my head like I couldn't believe it.

"Really?" Kiran asked sweetly, I turned to smile at him and watched his eyes just barely narrow in suspicion.

"Oh," I blurted suddenly, "and then my cab driver too. He was so freaked out, he wouldn't even take me all the way to the Citadel. I had to walk up, like mountains," I grew dramatic hoping to cover my mistake earlier, although I didn't really understand what the big deal was.

"Do you remember what you looked like?" Lilly laughed in a laid-back way that told me she was working hard at looking more laid-back than actually feeling so. "Eden, you looked crazy!"

"That's very true," Amory agreed, taking his turn at reminding us all how the journey to the Citadel had affected my external appearance.

"Oh my word," I dropped my face into my hands, trying to picture what I would have looked like to everyone else. "How embarrassing," I sighed.

"Yes, I much prefer this look to the one you were trying to pull off in Romania," Kiran teased, leaning over and kissing me gently on the cheek. Hopefully his fears had been erased, whatever the reason was for them to begin with.

"So, ok, back to the point, these epicenters," I gestured at Amory, making sure I was using the word correctly, "they not only make our magic stronger, but nature will actually react back at us?" I clarified my question, genuinely wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"Yes, so to speak," Talbott jumped back in, "like in India, the people themselves recognize our magic immediately. You will see when you arrive, they show us absolute respect and honor our ways. The palace itself houses almost an insurmountable amount of magical energy and for a long time was the city center of our people. The caves as well, have a unique way of revealing our specific magic on an individual level. After time however, we have found India to be especially draining and so the palace is mainly used now for the adolescent Eternal Walk."

"And summer holiday," Kiran added, seriously.

"Yes, and summer holiday," Talbott agreed, rolling his eyes.

It was the first time I had seen Talbott be so openly insubordinate and I couldn't help but laugh at his good humor. Maybe he wasn't as uptight as he came off.... All the time....

"Ok, what about Peru?" I asked, ticking off the epicenters in my head.

"Both Peru and England seem to boost magic in a way that prolongs our lives now that we are concerned about the King's Curse," Amory explained. "There is not so much a feeling of strengthened energy, but more a calming of the frenetic aspects of the magic. I believe Kiran would agree that there is a more solidified feeling in London than over here." When Kiran nodded, Amory continued, "We heal faster in those parts of the world and we frankly live longer."

"Romania?" I asked, but feeling like maybe I should have felt something while I was there.

"Romania is a lot like India in that the Gyspies have an almost insight into our people that other humans lack." Jericho began to explain and I was surprised to hear him talk, he had been silent for so long. "Like you said, the Gypsies you encountered were scared of you and I think that is the general rule across the country. For the most part they leave us completely alone, which is why we are able to have our Citadel there with active prisons." Jericho spit the last sentence out and I cringed hoping it wouldn't ignite something between Kiran and him.

"Yes, but more than that the prisons in Romania are specially fortified," Talbott took the floor again, but this time I could sense a little bit of pride in his tone and I felt physically ill thinking about Lilly inside of one. "No Immortal has ever escaped one, there is something in the core of the earth there that is capable of trapping and keeping Immortals."

"Amory escaped," Avalon said plainly; there was not sarcasm, or anger or malice in his voice, it was a statement of pure fact.

"Not from the prison," Talbott rebutted and I felt the tension in the room rise immediately.

"Talbott's right," Amory cut in, giving Avalon the "eye."

"Amory, what does that mean?" I asked in awe. This was a story I had not heard before.

"I will tell you sometime, Eden, but your elegant Thanksgiving dinner is neither the time, nor the place," he smiled at me patiently and I knew he was right.

"Who's ready for some pie?" Aunt Syl changed the subject and spoke for the first time all evening.

I was thankful for Aunt Syl's intuition and stood up to help her clear the table. But a chill ran up my spine, I realized I sorely underestimated the danger Talbott and Kiran still were to my precious family and what kind of danger my family was to Kiran. A sickening feeling of dread formed in the pit of my stomach. I was naive to believe these two worlds could coexist. I was naive to believe a relationship between Kiran and I would solve this world's problems. I placed the china gently next to the sink fearing this was all going to come to a head sooner than I wanted to believe it would.