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I test hter in the restaurantThe thought brings me to my knees I touch my face, certain I’ll find wrinkles A but the desire to see her, touch her--

They’re going to know They’ll s I , take control

Shiloh I love everything about hiet rid of him now He rises when I stand, puts his front paws on my chest

"You’re easy to love," I tell him "Someone else will do a better job than me"

He barks and I don’t scratch his head the way I want to I slip the cards into the envelope and back intoI’ve seen th that I’ I can use it to help Shiloh I study his face,every inch

When I inhale, I airound He whines but doesn’t struggle His eyes are locked on mine as he wobbles, unbalanced and clumsy, in the air I’ht of hiht in one direction, no ain I have to disorient him first

I focus my breath and spin his He makes the sounds hecurving line Shiloh tuel, his paws paddling the air I send hiirl I saw yesterday playing with a hula hoop in a yard just off the street

Though I can’t see hiently Now he’s out of ive hiirl’s yard, but it’s too late

We’re both on our own

I roll upwalk back to my family

IV

When I arrive they are waiting, sitting around a perfect cas The night is black and frigid

Though they don’t acknowledge my presence, they in to clap I feel their breath focus in on round

I hover ten, then twenty feet above the campfire and try not to think of Shiloh The exaltation is undeserved, out of place My family stands and applauds The unprecedented joy on their faces renders thelistens a pride I’ve never seen before

I watch round beside the fire The control of my aunts’ and uncles’ breaths is infinitely more precise than mine I envy and hate theround My boots touch earth and the weight of my body returns My eyelids are too heavy for me to look at anyone

Albion motions for the others to sit down and coht, but tonight he towers over e was successful," he says

It is not a question

"You feel lighter now," he tells me "Freer"

I am heavier, enslaved

"You are confident of your role and identity in the universe"

I’ve never been more lost or alone

"You have questions"

Now I meet his eyes "Yes"

"Take your ti Our secrets are yours"

I set htness I reach inside round before the fire

"I want to know the significance of the number six"

Albion nods "When our forefather--"

"Leander," I say I’inal Seedbearer, the ancestor from e all descend

"--when Leander escaped the confines of Atlantis," Albion continues, "heWorld and sired six children with six woinal six Seedbearers They found each other after Leander’s death and vowed to carry the lessons of Atlantis into perpetuity Fro Seedbearers, and thereSeedbearers It is essential to our strength"

I look at him, then across the fire at , Critias, Albion … and ," I say

I expect thes are different than they were yesterday

"His narace and was banished"

So this is the last one Albion said I am not like

"What did he do?" I ask

"It hat he would not do that exiled him," Chora says

Albion waves her off "He went through the sae that you completed, that all of us completed But Solon could never truly free himself A passion enslaved him, and probably still does"

My face reddens "Where is he now?"