The carriage rattled violently as it hit yet another pothole on the winding forest road.

  Alicia gritted her teeth, holding onto the leather strap. 'Persistent old fools,' she grumbled to herself, adjusting the hood of her cloak. 'They think just because I was her disciple, I have an obligation to sit on their Council. I did my time. I saved their hides. Let me be in peace.'

  Across from her, a young human woman bounced a screaming infant on her knee. The baby, red-faced and furious, let out a shriek that pierced Alicia’s headache.

  "Shh, shh, he's just teething," the mother apologized, looking terrified of the grumpy old healer. "He's ten months old, it's a hard time."

  Alicia waved a dismissive hand. "It is fine."

  She stared at the crying child. It was a normal, chaotic, noisy human baby. It made her think of him. Her grandson of sorts.

  Her mind drifted back seven months.

  It had been a late, rainy night when Nora and Oliver had knocked on the door of her hut. They stood there, soaking wet, looking incredibly awkward as they held a bundle of blankets. Alicia had known instantly. There was no baby like that in the village.

  "We... we found him," Oliver had said, his voice rough. "Abandoned in the woods."

  Alicia had looked at their faces—the fierce, protective set of Nora’s jaw, the way Oliver shielded the bundle from the rain. They hadn't come to ask if they should keep him. They had made up their minds already, they would raise him. They were just here for instructions.

  "Bring him in," she had sighed.

  A week passed after that night where Nora didn't come to the hut. Alicia understood; new motherhood was a storm of its own. But when Nora finally returned, carrying the black haired boy, things were... different.

  Nora had set the baby down to get to work. Alicia had expected the wailing to start within minutes. Babies hated being put down.

  But half an hour passed in silence.

  Alicia had watched him over the rim of her mortar. He wasn't sleeping. He was watching.

  Over the next few months, the feeling that something was wrong only grew. He didn't cry for attention. He acted like he knew the schedule. And then, there was the frog incident.

  It had been a month ago. The twins, Finn and Freya, were trying to sneak some tiny, slimy frog into the hut to play with them later. Just as Lily turned around, likely to catch them, Vivian had let out a sudden, loud, bubbling gurgle. It was so perfectly timed and Lily spun around to check on him, giving the twins exactly three seconds to shove the frog under a cabinet.

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  Alicia had narrowed her eyes. 'that was on purpose wasn't it?!! .'

  The carriage hit a massive rock, jarring Alicia’s spine and snapping her out of her memory.

  "Gah!" she hissed, rubbing her lower back. 'Curse this disguise. I may look like a crone, but I shouldn't feel like one yet. I have two centuries left in these bones.'

  She was glad when the driver finally shouted that they had arrived.

  She stepped out of the carriage, dusting off her robes, only to hear a commotion coming from her hut.

  "He's locked! He's really locked!"

  Alicia moved, her weariness vanishing. She arrived at the door just in time to see Oliver bracing his massive shoulder against the herb closet door, ready to smash it , and her inventory , to splinters.

  "What is the meaning of this racket?" she demanded.

  "Alicia! You're back!" Nora cried.

  Alicia didn't waste time. She saw the rusted lock. She lifted a hand, channeled a microscopic thread of Aether, and snapped the internal mechanism. The lock fell with a clean clack.

  Alicia stood in the doorway, her eyes sweeping the room. Instinctively, she triggered her Mana Sense. She needed to know if anyone had tampered with her wards or if any dangerous artifacts had been brought in during her absence.

  The world shifted into greyscale shadows and flowing lines of energy.

  The unawakened children, Finn, Freya, Silas, Clara, looked like dull, gray statues. Their bodies naturally resisted the mana in the atmosphere, blocking the flow.

  Lily and Pete were a bit faint, they were awakened, their bodies pulling in a trickle of Aether.

  Nora and Oliver were even fainter, almost transparent ghosts. Their cores were developed, their rings stable. They circulated the mana so perfectly that it didn't pool around them; it flowed through them, making them less visible to the sense. Oliver, in particular, he was progressing fast, perhaps nearing his next ring.

  Then, Alicia’s gaze fell on the blanket.

  She froze.

  Vivian.

  He wasn't a gray statue. He wasn't blocking the mana. The atmospheric Aether was passing directly through his small body.

  It meant he had a Ring.

  Alicia dropped the Mana Sense, her heart hammering against her ribs. She stared at the boy. He was seven months old. Even Elves, the children of magic, did not form their First Ring until age five. A human infant doing this was impossible. It was terrifying. And, a small, treacherous part of her whispered, it was thrilling.

  But mostly, it was dangerous.

  "Everyone," Alicia commanded, her voice low and dangerous. "Except Nora and Oliver. Out."

  Lily and Pete ushered the confused children out. Oliver looked confused, but he stayed.

  Alicia walked over to Vivian. He was sitting up, looking at her with those eyes that were far too old for his face. She knelt, staring inches from his nose.

  "Nora, Oliver," she whispered. "You have brought a monster into this house."

  Oliver immediately scooped Vivian up, holding him tight to his chest, his eyes scanning the room for a threat. Nora stepped closer, her hands trembling. "Alicia? What... what do you mean?"

  "I mean," Alicia said, standing up and locking the door, "that this child is awakened."

  Nora blinked. "Awakened? But... he's a baby. He's seven months old."

  "I know how old he is," Alicia snapped. "And I know what I saw. He has a First Ring. He is cycling mana."

  Oliver frowned, looking down at his son, who was just looking back at him innocently. "Alicia, with all respect... are you sure? Maybe it's just... residue? From the hut?"

  Alicia didn't argue. She walked to her cabinet and pulled out a Mana Reactive Crystal. It was a simple tool, it glowed blue when touched by someone with an active core.

  "Touch his hand to this," she ordered.

  Oliver hesitated, then gently pressed Vivian's tiny palm against the crystal.

  Instantly, the crystal flared with a steady, pail blue light.

  Oliver yanked Vivian's hand back as if the crystal were hot. Nora gasped, covering her mouth. The room fell into a terrified silence. They weren't mages, but they knew enough. A baby shouldn't be able to do that.

  "If the they find him," Alicia said, her voice brutal, "they will take him. If the Nobles find him, they will enslave him. He is an anomaly, Oliver. He is valuable."

  Nora grabbed Oliver’s arm. "Alicia... help us. Please. What do we do?"

  Alicia looked at the family. She saw the fear, the love. She sighed, rubbing her temples. 'I came back to escape politics, and now I'm harboring a fugitive .'

  "I have something," she muttered.

  She rummaged through a chest of old travel gear and pulled out a small, black wooden pendant on a leather cord.

  "A Concealment Charm," she explained, handing it to Nora. "It mimics the mana resistance of an unawakened body. Put it on him. Never take it off."

  Nora’s shaking fingers fastened the necklace around Vivian’s neck. Alicia checked with her Mana Sense again. The boy was gone, replaced by the dull gray stone of a normal child.

  "It works," Alicia said, feeling the headache finally settle in behind her eyes. "Good. Now go. And for the love of the Gods, keep him out of trouble."

  As the stunned parents hurried out the door, clutching their son, Alicia sank into her chair.

  'I hope this doesn't turn into a headache,' she thought, closing her eyes. But deep down, she knew it was far too late for that.