Waking up with a jerk and a scream caught in my throat again, I went on my usual run in my futile attempt to get the haunting images out of my head. I was logical enough to realize that it would never work- I was stuck with those images for life- but it didn't stop me from giving it my best shot every morning.

I returned home, only slightly out of breath, and grabbed one of my Gatorades from the fridge. My mornings were so ingrained into my muscle memory that my body mostly went through the motions without any help from me. The only difference on this morning was that I had time to kill because Lucien had gone out of town for a couple days, and I was free from training.

Lost in my head, I almost bumped into Sara on my way out of the kitchen and grunted in annoyance. My time of avoiding her had come to an end. I was eager for the day she would return home and get out of mine.

"If it isn't the abomination," she said snidely, abandoning any pretense of being nice.

I raised an eyebrow in surprise, not having been called that since her last visit years before. The insult didn't hurt me like it used to. Instead, my lips twitched with the memory of how my mother had blown up at the woman when she'd heard her use the derogatory name. I had seriously worried for the old woman's life that day.

"Why do you call me that?" I asked curiously, never being brave enough to ask her in the past.

She glanced my way, and a smirk crept onto her pale, wrinkled face while she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Because your very existence is an atrocity," she answered plainly, catching me by surprise.

"That's a little excessive, don't you think?" I asked with a chuckle, letting her insults roll right off me and wondering if she really was crazy.

"Not at all." She shrugged dismissively.

Planning to give up, my retreating footsteps were brought to a stop by Sara's voice.

"Tell me something, Ariella." She pointed to the oversized sweatshirt I was wearing with her free hand while she blew on her coffee with a glint of something unrecognizable in her eyes.

At that moment, Julian and Uncle Ben entered the kitchen silently, still looking half asleep, but my focus was solely on Sara's grinning face. Something about the look in her eyes sent a shiver of unease up my spine. It was the same look she had when she introduced herself to Lawrence. She appeared to get some sick joy out of causing me pain. Realizing this, I braced for the unknown.

"Why do you worship that man so much?" She asked, still gesturing to the sweatshirt I was wearing. My dad's old sweatshirt.

Not understanding where she was going with this, I narrowed my eyes at her and shrugged. "Because he was a great man," I responded confidently despite my confusion. 

"Oh, Daniel was most definitely that," she agreed with a snort.

I noticed Uncle Ben's back tense where he stood gripping the door of the fridge, but I wasn't surprised by his reaction. We were talking about his little brother, after all. "Don't go there, Sara," he said, shooting a vicious glare her way.

She shot him an innocent expression and sauntered towards the door, leaving the kitchen. I glanced back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what wasn't being said, and I noticed Julian doing the same. He suddenly appeared much more alert but just as confused as I was.

Just as Sara walked past me, she turned away from my uncle and stared directly into my eyes, like she wanted a front-row seat to the show when she broke me, and then she dropped the bomb.

"He'd have to be... to marry a girl that was pregnant with another man's kid," she said with a malicious tilt of her lips.

I sucked in a sharp breath and took a stumbling step back. It felt like the world came to a sudden stop, knocking me off balance. I wasn't aware of anything going on around me. Not Julian watching me worriedly while he tried to recover from his own shock, not Sara's smug expression while she watched my world crumble, and not my uncle storming towards Sara, yelling angrily.

The scene in the kitchen was chaos as Sara and Uncle Ben continued to argue heatedly, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. There was a ringing in my ears, and everything else had stopped the second Sara dropped her bomb. My thoughts, emotions, breathing... it all came to a screeching halt with one little sentence.

All at once, everything began working again, in overdrive. My thoughts ran wild. I remembered every time I had noticed that I was different, that I even looked different from every single person in my family. Memories of the man I thought was my father played through my head like flashes of a movie. I couldn't find a single clue from him in any of the memories, making me want to believe that Sara was lying. I had been pretty close to my dad except when we had fought about my life. That was the only problem we ever had between us.

I couldn't deny that it was true, though. Not only did it make sense, but Uncle Ben's reaction to Sara's words sealed my fate. The words they were saying were still a faint hum in my ears, but I could see the look on his face, and he looked downright murderous as he got in Sara's face. I had never seen him so pissed before.

I still hadn't moved a muscle, barely breathing where I stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen. It was a scary thing, I realized. That someone could completely crush you with a few simple words. One little sentence and everything had changed.

I wondered if everyone knew. Was I the only one that was clueless? Clearly, my uncle knew, Sara knew, and Lucien had to know too. They had all lied to me my entire life. This was different than all the other secrets they'd kept. The vampires, the werewolves, the coven, the prophecy, the Locktons. All of those secrets had a purpose. To protect me and wait until I was ready. I couldn't see a purpose for lying to me about this. I understood those secrets, but this one just hurt.

Suddenly, the screaming around me reached a new level, causing me to blink and tune into my surroundings, noticing too late what had happened. Uncle Ben was trying to put out a fire that was quickly consuming the kitchen table. Luckily, since the mishap the night my parents died, we kept fire extinguishers handy. Seeing that he had it under control, I numbly walked towards the backdoor on autopilot, hearing glass crunch under my feet. I looked down and distantly saw that the floor was again covered in glass. This time it wasn't just from the lightbulbs, though. No, this time, every dish in the cabinets had flown out and crashed to the floor. Every window in the kitchen had exploded into the room.

On my way out the door, I noticed Sara had a multitude of cuts along her arms and face, and Julian was holding a dishtowel to his own arm that was quickly soaking in blood. My stomach twisted uncomfortably at the sight, and I escaped through the back door without a word.

I couldn't even scrape up any panic over the fact that I'd lost control and hurt my family without even noticing. I hadn't felt my magic growing out of control. I had been too busy drowning in shock and pain. I hadn't even noticed the telltale pulsing that served as a warning for me.

I dimly realized somewhere in the back of my mind that I was more dangerous than usual, and I needed to get away. So, I walked across the backyard and disappeared into the woods, wandering aimlessly. I didn't have the energy to run as I usually would. I felt... empty.

Slowly making my way to mine and Lucien's clearing on autopilot, I dropped down onto my usual boulder. I had no idea how much time had passed while I stared unseeing into the trees around me when I heard someone approaching. I instantly knew that their approach was too loud to be Lucien; besides, he couldn't have made it back from his trip that fast. He always traveled quietly through the woods, barely making a sound I could pick up on, but whoever this was seemed to be crashing through the underbrush. Uncle Ben entered the clearing a few minutes later, puffing like he'd just run a marathon.

"Jesus Christ, is this where you and Lucien always go?" He asked, huffing and dropping onto a boulder a few feet from my own. I nodded silently in answer. "That's a hell of a hike for a human, and I'm clearly more out of shape than I realized.

I didn't crack a smile or even look up, just continued to glare down at the fallen leaves covering the ground in front of me. A single tear raced down my cheek, and I swiped it away angrily.

"You know I love you, right?" He asked. I didn't respond, tensing at the emotions his words evoked. "So did my brother," he continued despite my lack of response. "It didn't matter to him, and it doesn't to me either."

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me? I understand the other secrets. I don't like them, but I understand them. They all make sense one way or another, but this one doesn't. There was no reason to hide this. Except just to hide it," I said, finally able to find my words.

He sighed, eyeing me sadly. "Lucien can explain this better than I can. I just came to make sure you're alright and to make sure you know how much my brother loved you."

I finally raised my eyes to him, wincing when I caught sight of the bandage wrapped around his arm. "Why didn't Julian fix that for you?"

He shrugged like it was no big deal. "He tried, but he seemed to be too shocked and a little freaked out. He couldn't focus."

Sighing, I moved towards him. Kneeling on the ground beside the boulder he sat on, I pulled the gauze from his arm and grimaced at the sight of his blistered skin. Looked like he somehow escaped all the flying glass and only got caught by the fire he had been trying to put out. I placed my palm above his damaged arm and closed my eyes, healing him without effort.

"Guess we should probably get new dishes. I'll go to town and pick some up," I said, my voice sounding strangely monotone to my own ears.

He nodded with a small smirk. "If you plan to have anything to eat on tonight, we should. Lightbulbs too. I think maybe you should grab some extras. We might need to start keeping backups with the way things have been going."

I nodded, not sharing his amusement, and sat with my back against his boulder, resting my arms on my bent knees. 

"It's not surprising that you lost it with everything that's been thrown at you in the last week, Ari. You shouldn't feel bad about what happened," he said gently.

"I don't," I replied honestly. If they hadn't lied to me my entire life about so many things, it wouldn't have happened. The fact that I didn't even realize it had broken loose until afterward was a little unsettling, and I knew I'd have to be more observant until the dust settled.

"Who is my father?" I finally found the courage to ask barely above a whisper. Daniel would always be my dad, but I couldn't help being a little curious about his unknown man.

"You've never met him."

"Is there a reason for that?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder to study his expression for any sign of dishonesty while I awaited his answer.

A quick jerky nod was the only answer he gave to my question. "Don't let me forget when we get back to the house, I have a letter for this."

"Of course, you do," I huffed, feeling more than a little aggravated that my mother couldn't be bothered to tell me this while she was alive, but she had something she wanted to say now that I'd found out. "Are there any more secrets? Any more bombs that are going to completely blow up my life?"

"I mean, you should really ask Lucien for the story about your father, but that's it. There's not anymore. Not that I know of anyway." I sighed in relief. "Are you okay, Ari?"

"Oh yeah. I'm fantastic," I snorted.

He shook his head tame and grabbed my arm, pulling me up while he stood. Thankfully, he released his grip the second I was on my feet, seeing the way my face twisted in discomfort. "Come on. We should get back to the house. We've got a hell of a mess to clean up, and Julian would probably appreciate some of that healing juju you've got since he's struggling with his."

We walked back to the house side by side, and despite everything, I felt slightly amused by his puffing and cursing along the way. The man really did need to get outside more.

"I'm too old for this traipsing through the woods bullshit," he mumbled for the tenth time, causing me to roll my eyes at his dramatics.

When we reached our street, I saw Everett standing in his driveway again, but I barely even glanced his way. I did not have the mental capacity to deal with the emotional turmoil seeing him caused. I was so far past my limit already.

I could literally feel his eyes on me, but I tried to ignore the nagging urge to look up and meet his stare. I wasn't successful for long. When our eyes met this time, he was the one that took a hesitant step in my direction. When he took another slow step, I paused at the end of my driveway, waiting to see if he would actually come to me.

I felt Uncle Ben brush my elbow and break my stare with Everett to glance up at him. He gave me a small, sad smile. "I'll go ahead. Don't be long, though. There really is a lot of work to do."

I nodded in understanding and glanced back to Everett, feeling my emotions try to break through my numbness when I met his alluring eyes again, but I shoved it all back down. I was terrified of what might happen if all my suppressed emotions hit me at once. If I hurt my family while I was lost to numbness, what would happen when it all hit me?

Reaching the edge of the driveway, he stopped, shoving his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans and rocking on the balls of his feet. Noticing the amount of distance he'd purposefully kept between us, my eyes narrowed in annoyance. He had come to a stop with the whole width of the driveway between us.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and I pushed aside my reaction to hearing his voice again after over a week of being ignored.

"Do you honestly care?" I asked, staring at him blankly, surprised when he nodded.

"When you've got that completely emotionless look, yeah. I do."

I felt my emotions try to crack open again, but I shook my head at him and took a step away before he could succeed in breaking down my defenses. I felt that same unknown force trying to tempt me towards him, but I ignored it, furthering the distance between us with another step.

"I can't do this right now," I mumbled, turning to leave.

"Seriously, Ari. Are you okay?" He tried again.

I just shook my head and kept walking, fighting against the pull with every step I took. For once, I was the one walking away from him, and I didn't even bother to glance back... no matter how much I wanted to.

When I entered the kitchen, I found my uncle sweeping up the broken glass while Julian picked up the charred pieces of the table. I was overwhelmingly glad to not see any signs of Sara. Looking around, I sighed and grabbed the trash can from the corner of the room.

"Watch out," I mumbled. They both paused in their cleaning to look at me curiously. Removing the lid from the trash can, I took a deep breath and focused. Both their eyes widened when all the pieces of broken glass lifted from the floor and counters all at once and flew into the trashcan I was holding. Dropping the lid on the can and putting it back in its place, I glanced at Uncle Ben.

"Anything else?" I asked him with a smirk.

"Why the hell didn't you do that last time?" Julian asked.

I shrugged and moved to heal the deep cut in his arm. "Mom always wanted me to conceal my powers, to never use them unless I was training to control them." I finished with his arm and took a step away, briefly meeting his eyes. "From now on, I think I'm going to start doing things my way."

My anger over all the secrets probably had a lot to do with my desire to go against what she had wanted, but I wasn't going to change my mind. They'd controlled every single aspect of my life for too long, all while not bothering to clue me in to any of their reasoning. I was done with it all. I knew she'd done what she thought was best, but it was my turn to decide what was best for me for a change.

"I don't suppose you could conjure up some glass?" Uncle Ben asked sarcastically while eyeing the open spaces where the windows used to be.

"Nope. Can't do that. If you get the glass, I can hold it in place while you seal it, though," I offered.

"Okay. I'll go to the hardware store and see about glass. You go get dishes and lightbulbs," he said.

I nodded, handing him the bank card Lucien had given me for when I needed it. I would pay for the dishes myself. Uncle Ben didn't have the money to spare to replace everything I broke every time I lost control. It wasn't his responsibility anyway.

"You want to go?" I asked Julian on my way out of the kitchen. He hesitated slightly but eventually nodded and grabbed his jacket on our way out. We had to go to Claywood to get dishes, and most of the ride was spent in silence aside from the music filling the car.

When we neared Claywood, he decided to break the silence. "Do you want to talk about what we found out this morning?"

I rapidly shook my head, having no desire to discuss it. I was still working hard to bury it. At that moment, I was overcome with a deep desire to visit my parents' graves, to talk to them... if only they weren't thousands of miles away.

After buying all new plates, bowls, cups, and an armful of packs of lightbulbs, we returned home to find Ben already back from the hardware store. As I'd promised, I used my magic to hold the glass in place while he sealed it, making the job much simpler. Once that was done, I replaced all the lightbulbs and noticed Julian had taken care of the new dishes.

Once everything was done, I took the opportunity to escape to my floor. I didn't want to hang around in case Sara made an appearance. I was worried I might actually hurt her after seeing the joy in her eyes when I'd broken.

I'd barely dropped onto the couch when I heard a knock on the door. Grunting, I went and opened it. Uncle Ben held up two envelopes.

"I actually have two for this," he said, handing me the letters and walking away.

I locked the door and studied the envelopes in my hand. One simply said Ariella across the front in my dad's handwriting while the other said Ariella- Daniel in my mother's. Rushing to my room, I dropped them both in my desk drawer, not ready to open them yet. I wanted to keep it buried for now. I'd talk to Lucien about it when he returned, then maybe I'd read them. Right then, I was too angry to want to hear what they had to say about lying to me.