Memory is a landscape of hands too afraid to make fists. Memory is a tall smokestack bleeding out ghosts. Memory is a needle hidden in dandelion roots. Memory is a wishbone rattling inside the altar box.

Memoria, Keaton St. James

McKenna's whole life has been about two things: kill or be killed.

What once was a girl of bows tied in her hair playing with dolls in the middle of her living room was now a woman of bleeding guns and rotting flesh; McKenna doesn't even remember what her childhood used to look like because maybe it was never real. She barely remembers anything past the age of thirteen, the age where her girlhood should have started, but instead it was taken from her.

McKenna was only three years old when her parents were murdered by a group of highly trained assassins, only she didn't know the truth. All she knew was that her parents were dead and she was taken in by The Handler, a woman whom claimed to be her mother, but all McKenna knows is that she took care of her.

Did that make her a mother or her kidnapper?

When McKenna was of age, The Handler told her the truth about her line of work and when she turned thirteen, McKenna was trained to be the most successful assassin at the Commission, a title she achieved by the age of twenty-two. Many were jealous of her, something that pushed her to work even harder, because McKenna cared more about being the best than about making friends.

Questions were raised ever since the girl started her training but one always stuck with her: was she the best because her mother made her that was or because she was born to be?

Not many people knew the truth about McKenna Barlowe. All they knew was that she was The Handler's daughter. The truth was is that McKenna was born October first, making her one of the rare children all born on the same day with powers. But she was a unique case. Instead of one power, she had multiple, something she used to her advance when she went on missions. From being able to move stuff with her mind,  to making herself turn invisible, and to being able to teleport from one spot to another, McKenna was both an valued asset and a threat to the Commission. 

McKenna was a master manipulator. She was cunning and sly. Five Hargreeves was merciless and callous, resentful and indignant. He was once a sweet, caring boy who did anything and everything for his family despite their upbringing but now, he was angry and cold. All those qualities is what made a great assassin. They were two sides of the same coin and yet McKenna couldn't help but feel jealous that she was no longer looked at as the most powerful.

And yet they both wanted the same thing. Something larger than life itself: fancy cars, money, large houses, but most importantly, power. McKenna was known to be a trickster, a swindler, a cowboy. She and Five also had that in common because he, too, was a trickster and a bandit, hustling for a good life.

Love is a dangerous game to play. It either made the stars in the sky shine brighter or it could burn them out. Either way, it was a game of chess and McKenna hated chess. Love was not something she wanted. She lived her life covered in the blood of others and twirling the knife between her fingers. She didn't want love, she just wanted success.

But that was the thing about swindlers. They knew each other's tricks and at the end, they always fell for each other's games. Five could read McKenna like a book she wanted to keep on the shelf because she was just like him, a lonely soul looking for the life she lost.

With the end of the world nearing, the two of them danced on a tight rope, and it was only a matter of time before one of them fell.

Jenna Ortega McKenna Barlowe

Aidan Gallagher Five Hargreeves

Adria Arjona older! McKenna Barlowe

Cillian Murphy older! Five Hargreeves

Conor Husting Lorenzo Diaz

Salma Hayek Sofía Diaz

Ariana Greenblatt Ximena Diaz

this book is heavily based on cowboy like me by taylor swift!  I immediately thought of five when I listened to it the other day and I couldn't not make a plot out of it!!! it's easily one of my favorite songs.

I will be referring viktor's character to vanya up until season 3 when he comes out because his coming out is super important to both the character and to elliot,  so please be respectful with his pronouns!

for the sake of my own comfort and all of yours as well,  i've bumped up five and mckenna's ages to 16 instead of 13 cause I do not feel comfortable writing about two 13 year olds in that way.

warnings;  this book contains mentions of blood and gore, mentions of torture such as shocking with electricity,  sexual themes and innuendos,  murder,  and death.  please read at your own risk! with that being said, I hope you enjoy reading!

DONT BE A GHOST READER

dedications <3
partriidqe macp0rterr walqinglove loveforlou zozoleesi westernwoods moonyslantsov  GWENSNAPPER