Chapter 3

The next few hours were simultaneously tense and uneventful for Hayden. He showered away the grime of his brief encounter on the street, scrubbing his cuts until they were clean.

He tried, anyway. But under the dried blood he found only smooth skin, not even a stray splinter from the old dock. He felt a little better when he was clean and dressed. Nothing he owned hadn't been worn by at least two siblings before him—but at least it was intact, and any tears would be mended as soon as he complained.

He couldn't be in his bedroom without overhearing what was happening in Ellie's. Tense voices, his parents both moving, applying the strange medication to Ellie's infected arm and leg. He had no idea how it worked, but also didn't much care. So long as Ellie got better, nothing else mattered.

Someone knocked on the door after a time. He paused just long enough to see Liz zip under the covers, then looked up again. "Come in."

It was Evelynn. He should've guessed it would be. She was the oldest still at home, practically a second mom when his first one was too busy for him. She'd seen the condition he was in before.

She held the door open just long enough for her espeon to slip inside, then clicked it closed. "You're looking better," she said, settling down at the foot of his bed, watching him. "Guess that wasn't your blood."

"Guess not," he agreed. He tensed as he said it, just waiting for her espeon, Timeltek to step in and say something. Evelynn's daemon was a psychic type. That didn't just mean he could move things around with his mind—he could usually tell when someone was lying.

He said nothing, though he did hop up onto the bed beside her, so he would be in reach of Evelynn's gentle pets. Or maybe it was something else. He wasn't watching Hayden, but the little lump in the blanket beside him.

"No way to know if that medicine will work," Evelynn finally said. "But you got it, that's… amazing. Miracle, even."

He patted the patch of blanket where Liz was hiding. "We make a good team, but it was Liz who gets most of the credit."

His sister nodded. "Can I see her, please? I'd like to congratulate her."

"No?" he said meekly, looking away. 

He knew he was doomed before he finished speaking, though. He felt Liz's frustration building, finally solidifying into resolve. This was the safest time they had to reveal their secret to a member of the family. Evelynn was even more understanding than their parents. 

She slipped out of the blankets, hovering in the air just out of Hayden's reach. Too far to try and hide her, even if he wanted to. She hung vertically in the air, her tail so long it reached the bed beneath her. "Hi Timeltek." She waved at the daemon, then looked up at his sister. "Evelynn."

His sister and her espeon shared a single, intense look. Those moments had always been inscrutable to Hayden before, but suddenly it all made perfect sense. The daemon was sharing his thoughts directly. 

"I can hear what they're saying," Liz said. It made no sound, but Hayden was a little better at recognizing it now. He knew the pattern of someone else's thoughts in his head. Not someone else exactly—his daemon was a part of him. Those thoughts were his, though sometimes reflective of the daemon's pokémon senses or perspective. "Do you want to hear?"

She didn't wait for his approval. Suddenly there were more voices in his mind. These thoughts weren't a natural part of his mental landscape, but distant echoes in other voices.

"You didn't tell me she was a mew." 

"I didn't know. I just knew she was a psychic type. It's not just her, Evelynn. He's different too."

"Settled?"

"Must be."

"Shit. What do we do?"

He watched the panic appear on Evelynn's face, and spread to the daemon. His tail started flicking back and forth, and he licked at one of his forepaws way too often. Hayden pretended not to notice—he certainly shouldn't be able to overhear mental communication. Was that rude?

"I would've lost Ellie's medicine," he said, extending one hand for Liz to land on. She did, now that there was no chance for either of them to hide. "Corrin's gang caught me on the way back, had me cornered on my own. That's why I looked so bad when I got home. But Liz and I, we—"

"Figured out how to win," she finished. "I dunno why I never thought of it before. I don't always have to see a daemon to try being one. I'm not a ditto. So I thought of the most powerful thing I could, a pokémon who could protect my person no matter how many kids cornered us. So I did!"

Hayden nodded gratefully. "She was amazing! Grabbed Ellie's medicine right out of the air! Blocked attacks like it was nothing, and scared them off when it was over. I've never felt so… brave. Like the first time in my whole life I knew who I was."

Evelynn and Timeltek shared another brief look. He heard no other voices in his mind this time, so either there were no silent words exchanged, or Liz wasn't trying to eavesdrop.

"Have you tried changing back?" Evelynn asked. There was little hope in her voice as she asked it. 

"Yeah," Liz said. She sprawled out in Hayden's grip, defeated.

He spared her the embarrassment. Liz was right, it wasn't just her that didn't want to be something else. "We decided we don't want to be. Even though it's… the family is supposed to be eevees. We always knew we were supposed to settle that way, but—"

"It would be a lie!" Liz finished. She zipped into the air, circling the room in a nervous, excited blur. She floated over to his sister—or to her daemon, anyway, hovering right in front of him. "You wouldn't stay as something you weren't, would you? I only had to be this way for a few seconds, and I knew!" She somersaulted in the air in front of him, floating back towards Hayden. "This is what we are. This is why we took so long to settle compared to all of you. We just had to be the right thing first."

There was a long, awkward silence then. Hayden heard no thoughts from his sister, she just stared down at the floor, radiating her fear so strong that Hayden felt that instead. It was probably just the way she looked—people acted a certain way when they were afraid. He couldn't sense that too.

"We have to tell Dad," Evelynn finally said, breaking the silence. "Everybody knows their brother or sister might settle as something special. But it's not supposed to actually happen."

Hayden whimpered, wiping away a few tears. Liz landed on his shoulder, and of course she was crying too. "Y-you're not… happy for us?" he squeaked. "You're not… proud? It took us so long to finally settle. Everyone in Sunyshore laughed, said we never would."

Evelynn reached over to him, then wrapped one arm around Hayden's shoulder, pulling him across the bed and into a hug. "Of course, kit. You've done something… incredible. But no matter what happens after this, there will be changes. People with daemons like yours—they're not normal. They're special, important. Nobles. I don't know what that means for someone born into a family like ours."

"Nothing," he said quickly, pulling away. "Ahuiliztli and I didn't change. We just want to help the family is all. Learn how to sew like Mom and Dad. Clean the shop, sell stuff one day. Maybe we could be your mascot! Get the training league to take us on as uniform makers!"

Evelynn patted him gently on the head. "We'll see, kit. I hope so."

The reactions Hayden got from the rest of his family were more or less along those lines. First came his parents, as soon as they'd washed up from their time in Ellie's room. Hayden could see from their exhaustion just how little they needed another disaster on their plate just then. Unfortunately for them, they would not have a choice.

Soon enough the shop was closed for the day, and the whole family gathered in the upstairs kitchen. Despite the cramped quarters, everyone had to get a good look at Ahuiliztli, everyone had to ask all the same questions that Evelynn already had. Yes, he'd settled. No, he didn't know how he'd done it. No, he didn't understand what it meant.

In the window outside, the sun gradually set over the ocean, and the little streetlights came on one by one. They barely reached the family shop.

While mom cooked, Dad dug through the old books in the family library, gradually returning with an ancient, leather-bound tome as big as his daemon.

He deposited it heavily onto the table beside where Hayden perched, nervously stroking Liz's back with two fingers. Mom settled a bowl of thin soup into his other hand, and Hayden took it, alternately sipping and holding it out to Liz to have her fill. 

"Here we go," Dad announced, after skimming it for a few minutes. The book was much nicer than anything the family would've normally bought. That probably meant it was one of the many things townsfolk had traded them in exchange for work, when money was tight and they needed something to keep them warm in winter. Dad always accepted their deals, even when Mom told him not to.

"I'm overflowing with curiosity," Hudson said. "I need to know what to put into our letter to Holland. He'll be so proud one of his own settled as a mythical Pokémon. You think he'll pass a good word about you on to Shaymin House?"

"Quiet!" Dad waved a dismissive hand in his direction, then started reading. He went over the pages in a rushed, mumbled voice. But Hayden's eyes locked on the illustrations across the page, gorgeous depictions like something in stained glass. He listened to every word.

"The mew were the first children of Arceus, when the world was hot and the moonlight still sang for their ears. Their children soon became as innumerable as the sands of the sea—yet dominion over them all was entrusted to this sacred house. When the first Empire of Johto appeared, its Eldest founder became the Father of ten-thousand-lives, served by his loyal priestesses. These exclusively female members of his family served as the enforcers and spies of the—"

"He doesn't need a history lesson, Ron," Mom said, resting one hand on Dad's shoulder. "Is there anything in there about what they were like?"

"I could tell you that," Hunter muttered. He had a bundle of his own books in front of him at the table, ignoring his soup completely. His vaporeon circled around the seat, always in motion, never making eye-contact. While the family's other daemons gathered mostly around their own cushions at a smaller, second table, she and Liz were the only exceptions.

"I'm studying this. Zoology. I know everything there is to know about mew—they're the branching-point of every phylogenetic tree." He adjusted his glasses, magnified eyes fixing on Liz. She curled up under the attention, landing beside Hayden's hand again.

"We aren't talking about wild pokémon," his father said. "If such a thing as a wild mew even exists. We're talking about your brother here. What has he become?"

"Whatever he wants," Hunter said. "That's what mew are best known for. They're the true pattern that ditto imitate—any pokémon, any move. Their powers are similar to the other legendaries—incomparable to common pokémon like the rest of us. Mew are functionally immortal, they can fly, alter the thoughts of those around them, conceal themselves from sight—and if those powers aren't enough, they could take on the form of some other legendary with the abilities they need."

He reached over, nudging Hayden's nearest arm. Nothing more—Hunter was never big on physical touch. He was the only member of the family who would refuse a hug goodnight, if Hayden felt scared or lonely. "Little brother, you're more than all of us. You're every eevee, you're every fox and dog and cat and bird and anything else you can imagine."

Liz looked up, beaming at him. Hayden echoed her joy, though there were no words or thoughts exchanged directly. The other problem with settling was having to settle. Maybe he didn't want to be just one kind of person. He wasn't an eevee person, or eventually a sylveon person. Sometimes he could do that—but when he was finished, he could just be something else!

"Hunter, if that's true, you've just given us the way out of all this." Dad looked up from his book, and another few pages of illustrations. Hayden wanted to know what those ancient mews were doing, but he didn't say. "Hayden, son. You have to change. No one in town can know what you really are."

Liz dropped like a rock out of the air. Hayden caught her gently in both hands, mouth hanging open. "You want me to—what?"

"Hide," Dad said. "Son, I need you to listen to me. Do you know what will happen to you if Sinnoh finds out there's a mew in Sunyshore?"

He sat up straighter. Yesterday, he would've meekly accepted any instructions. But his new form brought Hayden a little confidence. He didn't want to hide. He wanted to be outside with Liz, where she could fly. "Sure, everybody does. If a special pokémon settles from the common folk, we'll be… selected by the Great Family—Shaymin house will adopt us, right? We get all the money we could ever need, and…"

He trailed off. Hayden wasn't sure exactly how much money that was, or what money was worth in general. He only knew what happened when you didn't have enough. Thin soup, and not enough medicine. "Uh…"

"You will be adopted," his mother said. "Kit, they'll take you away. Shaymin house doesn't need another tailor's family, but they'll take a mew."

"Maybe that's what he wants. Living in a mansion, private education, matched with some gorgeous noble lady from across the world. Seems pretty amazing to me."

His parents shared a harsh look. "Quiet, Hudson. And I don't want to hear a word of you writing about this to Holland, either. Hayden, do you want to leave?"

He whimpered under the pressure of so many eyes. But the answer was obvious. "No! I was just trying to get Ellie what she needed, that's all! But I don't—"

Dad cut him off. "Good. Then we'll need you and Ahuiliztli to master those new powers of yours as quickly as you can. People saw you—but once they see you're a proper eevee like you should be, they'll forget. It can turn into a Sunyshore rumor. You won't have to leave."