Behind a building, without prying eyes, Kol let his emotions get the better of him. He's crying. It's been years since I saw him cry last. He was always the kind of person that held it in. Not now, not today.

He doesn't seem to mind that Ezra is near, silently watching. I don't mind either. He is easy to forget when he's silent.

"I thought you were here at the training center so I was first on the scene," Kol says as he shakes his head. "There was so much rubble and bodies. I thought I lost you."

I thought the same about him. I will never forget the sickening feeling when I discovered he went to the Motherwealth.

"I fled Regal, and I went home, you weren't there. Mr. Green said you came to the capital to fight this war."

He grabs my hands. They are larger than mine. They encompass them like gloves. "I just wanted to get to you."

"And I thought the same."

He lets out a tired breath. "It's been a heavy few days."

I can only imagine. This war isn't for us. We are from Hell. Kol should have never come. Maybe I should have never come to begin with. Hell is where we belonged.

"Let's go back home."

He bite his lip. I don't like his reaction. It is as if he is debating about leaving. How could he think such a thing? He hates the Motherwealth. He does not owe the Motherwealth anything.

My eyes widen. "This isn't our fight, Kol."

"You don't understand. When I checked into camp a few days ago, I learned Mom and Dad were from the Motherwealth. This is their land. This is our land too."

He isn't serious. They were from Hell. Everyone knows that. He is mistaken. They gave him false information. They would do something like. Anything to make them stay. "No, they were from Hell."

He shakes his head. "They were from the capital. I found Mom's housing records. Her family still lives a few miles down the road." He points towards the gates. "I wanted to talk to them. Understand why they left."

I can't believe this. It must be a lie. The Motherwealth is good at lying. And he fell into their trap.

"I doubt they are still around. The war probably scared anyone off. I imagine most have run for the country for protection," Ezra speaks up for the first time since finding Kol.

"I have to at least try, Telvi, come with me."

I don't want to. Regal has nothing for me. Even if Kol is right. Let me keep my little peace. I don't want to be one of them. Let me believe Mom and Dad were from Hell.

"What's the street name?" Ezra asks.

Walter. I wished he wasn't around. Without him here, finding the house would be impossible.

"Wall street. 1340 is the house number."

He nod knowingly. "It's not far from here. I'll get you there."

I wish he wouldn't.

I peer around the building and see the group continuing to work. They will not take lightly to deserters; I am sure of it. I can use that as an excuse. "What about them?"

"I think I can sneak out. They don't keep a good eye on us. A few have already run off." Kol starts to walk the opposite way without making any more of a plan. It makes my stomach churn. What if we are caught? What if we get shot? The war is still going on. Walking around the streets does not sound like the safest idea.

A minute longer in this place and a minute longer we risk losing our lives. Kol doesn't seem to care though. He must have a death wish. I don't.

He continues to walk as gun shots echo through the air.

I want to run. I am on edge. This place is not safe. "Shouldn't we hide until it gets dark?" I ask, trailing after him.

He shakes his head. "It'll be fine. I promise. The people here need the money. They stay because of the money. I don't need it. I can leave."

"But there is a draft back home. They need people."

He scoffs as he stuffs his hands in his pockets. "They don't act like it here. Rumor has it that they'll be surrendering soon anyhow. The neighboring country is too strong to keep back."

Ezra quickens his pace and takes lead. "It's just a short walk from here."

I huff behind him, elongating my stride. I don't want to be left behind and I fear I will if I walk slowly. He walks faster than I realize.

I don't know what I will find out once we make it to the house that Kol claims to be our family. A part of me doesn't want to know. If they went to Hell, there must be a reason. What if old bones just lay in peace?

"I have a list of questions I'm hoping to ask them," Kol says as he trails behind Ezra. "I just hope they haven't fled."

The excitement of finding me is now gone. His next mission is to find the lost family he never knew existed. It feels as if I am not important to him. At least not as important as this unknown family.

We haven't seen each other in months. I thought he would want to know everything about the talent program and my life. At least ask a few more questions then he did. What makes this hunt for our family so much better than me?

______

My stomach is in knots by time we make it to the door of 1340. I feel uneasy about all of this, and I don't think the distant exploding bombs are making it any better.

Kol is buzzing with excitement. He talked so fast on the way here; it was hard to understand him. Nothing would stop him on his path for answers. Not even me.

Kol pulls on his shirt then clears his throat. He looks at me with a smile which I have no choice but to smile back at him. I have no questions for them. If my parents left Regal, it was for a reason. I have been here long enough to know that the capital isn't for everyone. People are intitled to secrets and I feel like this was an infringement on our parents privacy. I don't need to know why they left. But Kol does.

With a firm pound, he knocks on the door.

I am shaking. I am not sure from what.

We wait a few seconds. My stomach clenches. The silence is enough to cause Kol to frown. But I give a sigh of relief. No one is here. Good. We can leave secrets where they belonged, 6 feet under.

"Coming!" a voice says from the other side of the door.

Son of a twister.

Finally, the door opens to reveal an older lady with gray frizzy hair. It's nearly as frizzy as my own. She wears a floral shirt that I remembered seeing in a store display a few weeks ago. "Can I help you?" she askes.

"Is this the Rodger residence?" Kol asks.

Rodger is a name that I am not familiar with. Kol told me he found Mom's records and it listed that as her original last name. One thing led to another and he found this house under the same record. It seems like a long shot, but Kol was so confident that this would all work out.

She nods as she smooths out her frizzy hair with her hands. It's still frizzy though. "It is."

"We are the son and daughter of Sarah Rodger."

Her eyes widen in shock. "And you two are Kol and Telvi?"

I do not expect her to know our names.

He nods.

"We have been waiting too long for your return." She opens the door wider and moves out of the way, allowing me to see a grand entrance with a painting of a young woman hanging on the wall. "Please come in."

The three of us walk into her house. There is an odd sense of familiarity when I close my eyes. A fuzzy memory comes into my mind of me running through a hall like this, laughing at something. Velvet clothing hangs around my frame. A cat with a black tail hisses as I pass it on the stairs. It all feels like a dream or a life that was not mine.

"You two look so big. So grown up." She covers her mouth.

She loved us at one point. The pull in my heart tells me that. Maybe I loved her too at one point. The only memories I have are fuzzy. The cat. The cookies. The paintings. The fancy clothes that I tried taking off...

The more I think about it; the more fuzzy memories come. They were buried deep within me and a part of me questions if they are real.

We had a life here. We lived here. Then something happened. We left. Fled in the night in a small black car. Taking nothing. I remember crying. We ran far from here. Far from everything.

"After your parents ran off to the Commonwealth, communication stopped. We thought you all died. Tell me, how are your parents? Are they here too?"

Kol frowns. "I'm afraid not."

"They're dead," I bluntly state.

She mouths an 'oh' silently. She hesitantly raises her hand, as if wanting to touch one of us for comfort, but stops herself. Instead, crosses her arms over her chest.

"I have a few questions about our parents..."

"Of course. Let me make some tea." She walk deeper into the house. "Make yourself comfortable."

I notice the couch in a room adjacent to us. Silently I wander over and sit down. It is so plush that I sink nearly an inch into the cushions. Ezra sits beside me, reminding me that he is still around. Silently following, like a shadow or a lost puppy.

Kol finds a seat in a chair and looks around the room. His eyes sparkle as if seeing something magical for the first time. Maybe he has fuzzy memories of this place too.

There have been very few times I saw Kol excited about something. What made this so exciting to him? Why stay here? This place is war torn. We have all we need in Hell. There is no need to reconnect with a family member that thought we were dead in a city that we will probably never live in.

"Looks like the water has been shut off. There will be no tea. I'm sorry," she says as she emerges into the room with a tin of cookies in her hands.

"Don't worry about it. Really, it's fine," Kol says to her.

She nods but looks sad. She sits down in a chair across from where we sit. She looks at each one of us in silence, probably waiting for anyone to speak. "I don't recognize you," she points to Ezra.

"He's not family," I say quickly, harshly. He recoils and I wish I said it with more tact.

She nods. "Figures. With hands like his, he hasn't known work like the Commonwealth people do."

He frowns as he sits on his hands.

We are silent again until Kol speaks up. "So," Kol began.

"So..." she encouraged him to pry.

"You're our grandmother then?"

She smiles. It is warm and kind. It makes some of my nerves melt just a little. She leans back in her chair. "I haven't heard that word in too long. I missed it just like I've missed you two."

Grandmother. That word was never said in our house. I thought we never had one. That is just silly to think though because everyone has grandparents. And she is ours... I guess.

"The most important question on my mind is why did we leave?"

She shrugs. "Walter. I've had over a decade to think about this question, but it doesn't make sense to me. Your mother was a beauty. Your father was all brains. They had it all. The house, the job, the dream. It was what I wanted for them. But one day they came to me and said they were leaving. They packed their things, and I never saw them again." There is pain in her voice as if the wound never healed. "I was her mother, and she left me like I was nothing."

She looks at me, making me shift in my seat. Can she just look back at Kol again? I would prefer if she doesn't give me any attention. "You look like her. Big doe eyes, long blond hair. Nearly an exact copy."

The last memories I have of my mother are not beautiful. Bloodshot eyes, Untamed hair, slumped shoulders, twiggy frame, muttering to herself as she walked around the house. That were her last days.

She clears her throat then takes a cookie from the tin. "Please help yourself. I can't eat these all on my own."

Ezra doesn't waste a second, reaching into the tin and taking a cookie for his own.

"Your father was a scientist for the talent program. I had a guess that your mother was involved somehow. I think something went wrong in the lab. Your father was always so nervous. I suspected that he was doing something he shouldn't, but I couldn't prove anything."

"Wait, they were involved in the talent program?" I ask, suddenly more invested in the conversation.

She nod. "He was one of the pioneers for transferring knowledge. People say he really perfected the art of it. At one point, I thought he even tested the new technology on Sarah, your mother, although she never admitted to that. That was not long before you came along." She points to me.

I hold onto the arm of the couch as her words sink in. The world spins. Mom was talented at skating. She was better than anyone else in Hell. She said it came easily to her. It was because she was the recipient of talent. She skated because it was taken from someone else.

"What makes you believe that?" Ezra asks.

"She got really sick for a few weeks. I didn't see her at all. When I asked if she was pregnant, she told me no. I begged her to go to the doctor which she refused. You see, no one in the capital gets sick for weeks on end. When she became well, she started to figure skate at the local rink for hours on end. It all seemed too odd, especially when she never skated as a child."

I struggle to breathe in. My skills aren't my own. They are inherited from my mother who took from some else. My skating. My speed, my jumps. They aren't mine. They were taken and passed down. It is a scam. I am a lie. I feel sick to my stomach.

"After they left, people came to the door. They asked if I knew where they went. I told them I didn't know."

Kol nods as he looks at me with a frown. There is concern in his eyes, but he remains silent. I don't think he fully understands what is going on in my mind. But he notice that something is wrong.

"Now I have a question for you." She points her finger at Kol. "Why have you returned?"

"For the war and Telvi, she was part of the talent program."

"You poor souls." She shakes her head, causing her frizzy hair to poof out even more. "Is that what you had to do to survive without your parents? I knew that the Commonwealths were not for them. They aren't for anyone. Just a wasteland."

I swallow the lump in my throat. I want to scream, tell her she is wrong. I cannot force any words out of my mouth.

A bang echoes through the house then it starts to shake. We all hang onto the pieces of furniture until the shaking stops.

"Son of a twister. This slag war should end soon. I know we can fight those slag neighbors," she mutters. "Why are you standing, dear?"

I look at my feet and realize I am standing. I have heard enough. I cannot bare hearing any more. My whole life seems to be crumbling. I can't take it. "I need to get back."

She gives a small chuckle. "To where? The talent campus is destroyed."

I will never return to the talent program. Not even to Regal. This place is not for me. I do not belong here. "Hell."

"You sound just like your parents. Girl, Regal can offer so much more."

"It can't offer safety," I blurt out. "Or peace of mind."

"This war is so small. It will be over soon. Those neighbors will be squashed, and we will be back to being safe."

Has she looked outside? She sounds delusional. I shake my head.

"Telvi," Kol warns.

My gaze switches to him. "If you have more questions to ask, so be it. But I need to go back. I have spent too much time here already."

For my mental sanity, I need to leave.

"If you want to go, go. No one is forcing you to stay. Go like your parents. Go suffer in the commonwealth." She shoos me with her hands and that is enough for me.

I turn on my heals and walk out the door.