"Mom, am I adopted?" Calvin asked. They were at the Knights, his dad was at the kitchen counter, flipping a pancake expertly and his mom was mixing the batter. 

They wanted to make the Knights take a taste of human food, and also give Alex's family time to settle down as well as some free time, as they were still working on cleaning the long forgotten rooms of their house.

He watched his parents carefully, looking for signs of lying. His mother's amused voice came back, "Of course you're adopted. I don't think David's kid could turn out so well mannered. I mean, you're my son too, but then, David's mischief is overwhelming." 

Calvin muses, there were no signs of lying, and they wouldn't joke about it if he was adopted, right? They would've rushed to console him that yes, he was their son.

His dad waved a spatula in his mom's direction, "Oh please, don't act like you're the goddess of obedience."

Calvin groaned, "Dad, mom, I'm serious."

"Hi serious, I'm..."

"Don't you dare complete that sentence." 

Heather's tinkling laugh filled his ears, "What made you think so?"

"It's just that..." Calvin began and his mom cut him off, "that the colour of your wings is different than either of ours?"

Calvin nodded. 

"Minnie thought so too."

"Who?"

"Minerva, and don't you dare make a Harry Potter reference."

"Harry Potter is not the only fandom Minerva comes in. She is also the Roman version of Annabeth's mom, the goddess of..."

"...yeah no, we don't want to hear that. Anyways, Minnie, the queen, figured that your wings would be really rare, like really really rare."

 "But isn't it like, genetically impossible?"

"Would you be surprised if someone whose both parents are blonde, has black hair?" His mom reasoned.

"No, that's because hair colour depends on various genetic factors. It typically had two..."

"Point is..." his dad interrupted, "its isn't that weird to have different wing colour than your parents. It's rare, yes, but it's better not to think a lot when there is magic involved."

"Oh, and speaking of Minnie," his mom turned to look at them, his dad's shoulders tensed, "we're holding a funeral for the royals."

 "What?" Heather and Mathew said at the same time.

His dad shrugged, it didn't look very real, "They've been missing for a fifteen years. Its necessary to give the public something."

It stricked Calvin, both his parents were experts in body language and lying. Their grief from the outside, looked real, but there were several other signs that said otherwise. And it was too obvious too be real.

"But...we can't assume them dead." Mathew protested.

His dad sighed, rubbing his hand on his forehead. "Can you not argue? We've argued the same things against the officials and rather not do it again." His anger was fake, and obviously so.

Mathew didn't seem to realise that.

Before things could escalate, Calvin tried to keep calm. He didn't know what his parents were playing at, but he didn't want a fight, "Then who will ascend the throne? It can't stay empty."

His parents looked at each other, "Did you know? Me and Minnie were pregnant around the same time? We found a letter. It says not to come searching for the royals, and that when time comes their child will reveal themselves. Till then, the government will go on as it did these past years."

"But, it could easily be forged." 

"You would think I would recognize my best friend's handwriting." His mom snapped.

Calvin opened his mouth to protest that the kidnappers could have threatened to write the letter, but his mother cut him off, "Calvin, why don't you go show Susan The Battle of Labyrinth? Take the pancakes with you."

Odd.

Why would she tell him to show her a book, when she doesn't even like reading, especially since the said book is in the middle of an ongoing series?

"Aunt Sally, I don't like reading." Susan protested.

"Calvin, you guys go have a movie night. I would recommend Far from home." His dad said.

Again, why would he show her a movie that is in the middle of a series. Then it clicked.

"Susan, come on. You'll like Far from Home." 

Battle of Labyrinth. Percy sort of dies, but crashes his own funeral. 

Susan tried to protest, but he pulled her away. "Calvin what are you..."

"Its an amazing movie. Besides, pancakes are best enjoyed watching movies."

 His dad smiled a pained smile, glaringly fake, "You know, I'm sorry for spoiling your night, but I promise, we'll go surfboarding someday."

There is no word called surfboarding. Its surfing, and his dad knew that. It further confirmed Calvin's suspicion. Air creatures don't like water based activities. Calvin didn't even know how to surf.

In far from home, Happy sent a coded message to Fury based entirely on surfboards.

The royals were not dead, they had not given up hope, but they were making a ruse of it.

"You know what? I'll show you sherlock Holmes. There is a part where he spies on a spy and..." 

By the end of the night, Susan had gotten the message too.

___________

"Okay kids, file in, file in." The teacher said as Calvin, Susan and Alex entered the demon slayer class. It was a huge room, with small sand boxes about the size of two table tennis tables joined together. Most kids in the room were nobles.

One side had Archery ranges and the other side had sword and spear area. Susan had told him yesterday that they would separate them into sword and arrow portions.

They would teach both, but special focus would be given on the chosen section. The teacher was a lean lady, with her brown short hair tied up in a bun, and black stretchy pants and black shirt. 

The other teacher was a man with much of the same attire, expect that his hairs were tied in a ponytail. The man was leaning against a rack and when the students filed in stood up and walked to the front.

"Hello, I'm Gerrard. This is my sister, and co-teacher Liza." She offered them a tight smile. "Don't worry if she glares at you, it's just how she is." She turned to glare at him, "See?" 

"Now, she's really hard to impress, but if you do...well I don't know. No one's managed to, so far." He said, "Anyways, as most of you might know, excelling in both Archery, that's the more throw-y type, you know? And excelling in sword is not possible. I mean, you can be good in both, but excellent in only one.

So, line up, roll no. wise and we'll sort you out. Okay, who's first? Alberta Jace. Come on up."

 Alberta walked confidently in the range. "Okay, Liza will throw some balls at you and you have to dodge. Simple?" She nodded. She dodged the first few ones easily, but as the hits came sharper and faster, her feet started flying, not literally, on the floor. 

After a while, he said, "Sword side, please." 

She nodded, out of breath and went to the sword area.

Then they called Alex. He was...mediocre. It was clear he was struggling, he got hit many-a-times. Liza gave him a look, Calvin couldn't figure her out, even in all his body reading glory.

He was sent to Archery. 

Then they called Brian, who was not as good as Alberta, but not as bad as Alex either. He went to Archery too.

Then came Calvin. He steadied his nerves and walked in the arena. Liza's gaze was scary. She stared unblinkingly at him and he felt like her gaze bore right through her. I know, it's an overused phrase, but it really felt like she was X-raying him.

He was so distorted by her, that the first ball took him by surprise. But his body worked before his brain registered it. His whole body heaved and he moved to the side. The first few balls were not harder than playing dodgeball with Braedon, but soon he felt like he was being hit with cannons. 

After half the balls, his body went on auto mode. His instincts didn't let a single ball hit his body. Gerrard set him in the sword section. 

He didn't know how he sorted them, but after watching a few more kids being sorted he figured it out. The next kid that came, by the end, Calvin muttered to himself, "Sword."

He was right. It went on for a few kids, before a boy beside him got curious, "How do you do it? Either you are a very strong angel or you know what the teachers are doing."

Calvin blushed, he hadn't expected anyone to notice, and he definitely didn't want to tell his idea to anyone. "I'm saying this totally on the base of fictional books, but since archers are usually hidden in a place, and hitting from above, if they have to dodge, they most likely won't be able to move. But for swordsmen, and women, it's important for them to be active on their feet, because they would be doing all the field work. So, they are sorting us on the basis of our feet movement." 

The boy nodded in understanding, but Calvin's eyes wasn't on him. He was looking at Liza, it was clear she was hearing what he was saying. She was still going at the balls as if that was her focus, but the slight tilt of her pupils towards him said that she had heard. 

Susan got sorted into archery. After the sorting they were all made to make few rounds of the room, learned to strap the armor, and walk around in it. Walking in the armor was a full body workout in itself.

After they were done, Susan, Alex and Calvin sat panting at a side, to drink some water and refresh before they started with basic martial arts. Apparently, they were not going to get actual weapons before they built a strong body. Which was fine by Calvin, he was not interested in getting his toes cut off. Again.

"I was surprised you got in Archery." Calvin said to Susan.

"Why?" she asked with challenge in her voice.

"I mean, I though someone bulky like you would be in sword."

"I though someone scrawny like you wouldn't be in demon slayer. Clearly we're both wrong."

Ouch.

"Hey! Scrawny is the new sizzling hot." He spread his arms out in a lousy imitation of Leo.

Susan smacked him.

He grinned goofily.

Alex smiled fondly.

All was well.