Raori's POV:

"Is that girl your girlfriend, Raori?" Dodge tugs on the bottom of my shirt and I look down at him, shrugging.

I shrug. "I don't know. Not really."

"But everyone's saying she's your girlfriend."

I chuckle and help my mom dish out the food. "I know they are, but not everything you hear is true, Dodge."

Like not all test subjects are shoot first, ask questions later, their family isn't that bad either, and their sisters know how to take care of themselves and kick butt while still not being annoying about it.

"But why's she here if you aren't boyfriend and girlfriend," he asks, grabbing a stack of knives and forks to set the table.

"We're just friends, okay?"

He nods and runs from one place setting to another, setting a fork and a knife at each while I follow behind with plates with food.

"Okay kiddos, time to eat." My mother smiles at the girls, and Jordi practically sprints away from my sisters, a look of mixed relief and horror on her face as she walks up beside me. She mouths a word at me...HELP.

I silently laugh and roll my eyes, pulling Jordi's chair out for her. She silently sits and tries to scoot in, yelping in surprise as I help her.

I take my seat at the table and take a breath, looking at Jordi.

She looks scared as all hell, honestly. But she's handling it well. At least she hasn't forcibly shut one of my sisters up with her mind.

My father reaches for mine and my mother's hand, and my mother reaches for Dodge's hand, and everyone grabs each other's hand to say grace.

I reach for Jordi's hand, and a look of terror crosses her eyes before she grabs mine, squeezing it anxiously.

I rub my thumb on the patch of skin between her thumb and pointer finger to try and calm her. She loosens her grip and looks calmer, and I smile.

My father finishes saying grace and we release hands. I notice Jordi holding on a second longer than I thought she would, but as soon as I look at her, she quickly pulls her hand away.

I grab my fork and start to pick at my food, resting my head on my fist. God, I probably look so angsty right now.

"Raori!" My mother swats my arm out from under my chin, almost making my face land in my plate. I feel my face turn red in embarrassment as I hear Jordi trying to quiet her giggling.

"Sorry mom." I stare intently at my plate as I shovel the food into my mouth.

"Haha Raori got embarrassed in front of his girlfriend!"

I glare at my brother out of the corner of my eye. "Shut up, Dodge."

"But it's true! You got embarrassed in front of your girlfriend!" Dodge wiggles excitedly in his seat and smiles widely through the food in his mouth. People always say we look the same, and sadly, I'd have to agree. I even did the same stupid things and made the same stupid remarks. I still do, even.

"I don't care, be quiet," I hiss at him, trying to keep the conversation between just the two of us.

"What'd you say, Dodge?" Irene leans toward us, a knowing smile on her face.

"Nothing."

"Raori got embarrassed in front of his girlfriend!" He starts to do the wiggle again, and I cover my face with my hand, wishing I could hide somewhere.

I look over at Jordi to see her trying to eat while drawing minimum attention to herself, but looking heart-breakingly lonely.

"I get that you guys are enjoying yourselves with your nerd Retriever of a brother finally bringing a poor girl home, but that poor girl is obviously hating it here at the moment."

The entire non-parent population of the table turns to an oblivious Jordi looking at her plate of salad and chicken sadly.

They mutter "sorry" and awkwardly have a conversation between the three of them while I scoot as slyly as I can toward Jordi.

I make it within a half foot before I think I might be intruding.

"So, what's playing on the Salad Theater."

"A soap opera, I think." She offers me a small smile and tries to casually wipe at her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" I stop her hand a few inches from her face and she frowns at me.

"Keep doing things like this, and it's no wonder they think we're dating. " She manages to pull her arm away and wipes her eyes, continuing to eat.

"Well, why were you crying?"

She sets her fork down, sighs, and looks me straight in the eye. "Because I miss having a normal family. Before my mother died, and my father was so cruel, before my brother went away for almost a third of my life. I miss...I miss everything you all have." She sighs and hangs her head, aggressively stabbing a piece of lettuce and putting it in her mouth.

"Why? We'll never be as close to each other as you and your brother are."

She glares at me. "He has a name, you know. I don't see why you refuse to use it."

"Sorry," I say, sheepishly smiling before I continue. "But you understand what I'm saying, yes?"

"Yeah," she mutters.

I nod and drag my plate over from my original spot, drawing momentary attention before everyone continues whatever they were busy with before.

"Raori, what are you doing?" Jordi gives me an amused look of confusion.

"What does it look like? I'm making sure you aren't sitting here feeling all alone at lunch." I smile broadly at her, and she laughs.

"Well, at least one person here isn't going to grill me on being your girlfriend." She sighs and starts to eat, quietly watching my family carry on with their conversations.

"So, I have a question," I say, breaking the silence at our end of the table.

She sets down her fork and rests her head on her hands. "Ask away."

I clear my throat, forming the thought. "When was the first time you realized...you know...that you had the powers or whatever you call them?"

She looks down at her plate and grabs her fork, and for a moment I think I said something wrong.

"Look, I didn't mean--"

Just after Beorn left.

I blink in shock as I realize that the voice in my head sounds exactly like Jordi, just a little louder and clearer.

"Wow," I manage to say.

You act like you just learned this about me. Calm down.

I try not to laugh but I can't help it. I burst into a fit of laughter, and everyone turns to watch me.

"Raori, are you okay?" Jordi reaches over and puts her hand on my shoulder, a serious and worried expression on her face, but I can see her trying not to laugh herself.

"I-I'm fine." I wipe at my eyes and sigh. In my mind, I'm thinking how cool that was.

Thanks. But I'm really not that good.

I look at her, dumbfounded, and force my thoughts into words.

You can hear me?

In my mind, I hear her laugh.

Of course I can. After I figure out what you're saying. Don't force your thoughts into words. It sounds choppy.

"Oh," I mutter.

It's okay. It takes a while to learn. And this is a little tiring for me...could we maybe just talk regular from now on?

I nod slightly and continue to eat.

"So, Morgan. How did you and Raori meet." My mother looks at Jordi, who looks like a deer caught in headlights.

"Huh? Oh. Well...it was something having to do with his work." She takes a deep breath and glances at me through the corner of her eye.

My mother continues. "What, exactly?"

"Umm..." she looks at me full on, obviously drawing a blank.

"We were doing a seminar on the importance of reporting suspicious activity." I hate to lie to my mother, but I think it's kind of necessary in this situation.

She nods and smiles at me, switching her gaze between me and Jordi. "Oh, you two are just great together."

Jordi and I exchange a glance, then return to our food. My mother continues to ramble about things--her job, my siblings' lives, and then Jordi and mine's apparently imminent wedding.

Yeah, right. That's never going to happen. Especially not with Beorn being her brother.

Eventually, everyone finishes eating and talking, and me and Jordi are standing at the door ready to go.

"Mom, we really need to go. Morgan's brother is going to kill me if we stay away much longer." Probably true.

"Okay, okay. Just promise you'll visit more often, Raori. And bring Morgan along if you can." She waves to Jordi, who smiles back in response.

"Okay mom, I promise. But we need to go now." I hastily wave goodbye one more time and shut the door.

Jordi quietly laughs and walks down the path towards the street. I jog to catch up to her, then slow down to a regular walking speed.

"What's so funny?" I poke her in the arm and turn onto the main sidewalk, making her turn away.

"Nothing. Don't poke me!" She glares at me and pokes me back.

"But it's a fr--"

"Don't you even say 'free country'." Her face turns from a playful glare to a grim, angry one, making me stare at the ground in shame.

"Sorry." I kick a rock absently, hitting a familiar looking shoe.

I drag my eyes up the tall frame, up to the smug face of a certain brother of Jordi's.

"It's a good thing you apologized. I might have had to do mean things if you hadn't."

Jordi runs up to her brother and grabs the neck of his shirt, dragging his head down to her level.

"Beorn, what are you doing out of the house? Do you know how risky this is?! How sheerly stupid this is?!" She shakes him for good measure, and he looks almost scared for a moment as she berates him in Dutch.

"I know, I know, but you two are the only people who can actually see me. And how come you're the one yelling at me, Jordi? I'm your older brother!"

"You're also the one being stupid. And while we're on the subject, don't call me Jordi in public if you don't have to."

"That's a little much, don't you think?"

"No, I think not, because now the government is looking for me—like I said—and I don't even know if this one is going to doublecross us!" She points a finger at me.

"Hey! I'm loyal!" Jordi gives me an "oh really" look and crosses her arms. I shrug and sheepishly smile. "Well, I am most of the time."

"Okay. I'm willing to believe that until something gives me a reason not to." Jordi shrugs back at me and walks ahead of me and Beorn.

"So, Mr. Loyalty, how'd the city go down?" Beorn lowers his voice so only I can hear him, and Jordi is left oblivious a few feet ahead of us.

"I just needed to stop by my family's house to get some things."

"To get what?"

"Money."

"For what?"

"For you and Jordi, okay? Now please be quiet." I walk a little faster, trying to catch up to Jordi. Beorn easily makes up the distance and pokes me in the shoulder.

"Look, we don't need your pity. We're capable on our own."

"That's why your first stop after you escaped was your sister's house, right?" I mutter under my breath and adjust my jacket, not even phased when Beorn grabs the back of it and pulls me back.

"Look, you little annoying twerp, you need to shut your mouth before I make you, like I did the first time you walked your entitled self into my baby sister's house."

I smack his hand away and spin to face him, my hands clenched into fists at my side. " I'm the one keeping you two out of the mess you two ended up in, and somehow, you have the nerve to call me an annoying twerp? I think I deserve a little bit of slack, to complain if I want to."

Beorn narrows his eyes at me and tips his head to one side. "You know, you really should learn to respect your elders. I was already in school when you were born, so if I were you I'd back off."

"You were just barely in school, so I would calm down if I were you."

Jordi stomps back to us and grabs the back of our collars and making us both hunch enough to meet her height.

"Ow!" Beorn yells at Jordi as she tugs him closer to her face and starts to harshly whisper at him. I try to casually walk next to her, attempting to ignore the fact that I'm tilting at a not-so-ignorable angle.

Then, she lets her brother go and turns to me, her expression just as angry. She leans into my ear and takes a breath, while I prepare to have my ear drums burst.

"I'm sorry my brother's such a smartmouth. He really appreciates your help and so do I, his ego is just against appreciation. Now, just pretend I'm stomping all over your pride, and I really won't. Got it?"

I nod and mutter, "I'm sorry", ignoring Beorn's snickering.

"Excellent." She lets me go and I stretch out and readjust my jacket and shirt.

"Now, can we all be civilized young adults and go home, please? People are starting to stare."

A little part of my brain wants to be a smartmouth and say "no way".

All the other parts of my brain want to be smart and stay quiet, because the next time she pulls me down to her level, Jordi really is going to stomp on my pride.

★★

A/N::

Heyyy thanks for waiting all this time for an update. I really appreciate the patience from all of you sticking with this book. This took a little more time because I couldn't think of a way to end the chapter until a few days ago, and I had no way to publish it since school's out and that means no way to publish it because I didn't have school wifi *le cries*. But it's okay 'cuz I still published it so yayyyyy!

Anyway, thanks again for reading. Look forward to next year's update **KIDDING**.

Stay safe and have a great summer (or winter).    :D

~icingdeaththewhite