How to secretly protect your village and convince people to let you do it

## Summary and short synopsis

Storm has always felt like the unlucky one in her family. Growing up in a society where superstition often dominates unicorn culture. Red hair and silver colored horns are seen as bad luck. Normally she isn’t always bothered by it, but as her life goes on, forcing herself to hide who she is, while simultaneously rebelling against this very part of society that is unintentionally shunning people like her is getting exhausting, and it doesn’t help that she faces consistent unkindness from two of her three sisters Astra and Crystal. Her 10 year old sister Opal seems like the only close relative and sibling she can confide in and really pour herself out to, but Storm doesn’t want to place her burdens on her little sister. At the same time her trans childhood best friend turned beloved steady boyfriend Ariadne “Adne” Goldwin is dealing with his own wildest desires. He wants to be a guardian, but many decades of their society living in fear of unfamiliar people or cultures has made everyone around him strict, overprotective, and *too fucking wrapped up* in superstitions. Normally he thought this was just part of life for him, but he too is getting tired of this. He yearns for life outside of a small boring village. He and Storm share one burning passion. One burning mission that never stops smoldering like their love for each other, and Adne’s limited but powerful knowlege on fire magic, the forbidden magic among unicorns due to assumptions it makes someone a danger to to society: they both want to become guardians, venture outside their village, explore their relationship, open up society to people a bit more, and keep their world safe. Despite faltering mental health, intense self hatred, and a deteriorating relationship with her mother and sisters, Storm is willing to do everything to achieve hers and Ariadne’s dreams, but first they must break some of their village’s rules and get some help from the one other person outside Storm’s family that she trusts: Ariadne’s mother, his deepest supporter and one of the strongest people he knows. Along the way Storm and Adne meet some unlikely allies and learn a lot of surprising things about themselves and each other that they never knew before, all while changing their home for the better.

## Characters

* Storm (AKA Ruby)
* Ariadne
* Opal
* Crystal
* Astra
* Eris
* Limestone
* Liza
* Periwinkle
* Pearl
* Rook
* Silver
* Alex
* Dusk
* Cyrus
* Estrella
* Cosmo
* Andromeda
* TBA

## Storm’s POV

Today is crazy as always.

A lot of people don’t like themselves, but for me, it’s like that feeling is amplified.

They say we have it easy.

They say life is good for us, thanks to all the rainbows and optimism.

But I do know that’s not true.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been the unlucky one in my family.

I was born with red hair.

Bright flaming red. I like it.

Even though in unicorn culture, people with red hair are considered bad luck.

Bad influences.

My family does love me, but it seems like they can never stop seeing everything wrong with me.

Every time

And it is very annoying.

And it seems like the thing they can’t stop talking about is my hair.

My red hair.

My silver horn.

A lot of us are very superstitious, and one of them is that the color silver means something or someone is a bad influence. Normally this isn’t really a problem, but over time, being bullied for being the unlucky one in your family tears you to pieces and darkens your view on both yourself and the people around you.

Where I come from, it’s forbidden to practice fire magic because they all assume it makes someone a danger to society.

They’re not wrong.

But they’re not right either. Not everyone who uses fire magic is reckless.

I may be forbidden from learning it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to use it anyway. That’s where secrets are best kept hidden.

But deep down I know that I’m going to have to go out into the open and break some of the rules that keep the fabric of our society together.

Secrets have risks, but at the same time, they hold a lot of power.

And when placed in the wrong hands, or used carelessly, that power can be dangerous.

I walk up the front steps of the house, enter through the front, and plop myself onto the couch. I hear footsteps behind me.

It’s my older sister Astra, and what I mean by “older” I mean by 18 months. I have 2 younger sisters, one being 18 months younger, and the other being 7 years younger.

The sad thing is, even though people say it must be awesome to have siblings, but in reality, the ones who are close in age to me treat me like dirt. They know I’m unlucky. They know I don’t fit in. I get made fun of by the other kids at school for my silver horn, heterochromia, fiery hair, and fiery attitude.

It hurts.

But the pain hurts worse coming from family members.

All I want to be is happy, but they’re all wanting me to hide the parts of myself that makes me who I am, but little do they know that from years of enduring this, thinking it would “protect me”, it harmed me more than I realized.

The only family members who genuinely care about me are my little sister, great grandmother, and one aunt on my dad’s side.

I love myself, but not enough.

In fact, I hate myself so much.

With a passion so potent, it feels like an addiction I can’t get away from.

Astra taps me on the shoulder. A very subtly hidden smug expression on her face.

“The hell do you want?” I ask.

“Mom says you might need this.” She says, handing me a bottle of dark mahogany brown hair dye.

“No.” I say, shoving it back into her hands. “Enough. Do you have an issue with my hair? It’s clearly your problem, not mine.”

A small bit of the dye spills, staining my hand.

“Wow.” Astra says, her voice laden with mock upset. “I was only trying to help you not get ostracized, but instead you’re ungrateful! Isn’t she, Mom?”

“Astra, shut *up*!” I yell.

“Oh come on, learn to accept help from people.” She snarks.

“Just leave her be!” Mom calls out from the other end of the house. “Storm’s already been bothered enough. Give her a break. She’ll dye it when she feels like it.”

“Just leave me alone.” I get off the couch and head for the back door. “I’m sick of you guys and your messed up ‘bad luck’ superstitions trash.”

“Don’t forget the dye!” Astra yells. “You’ll—“

“—Keep it to yourself and *stop* messing with my goddamn hair!” I yell.

I run.

Wind whipping.

Hoofsteps beating against the cobblestoned earth.

I look up at the sky, sun partially obscured, wispy clouds slowly floating overhead.

Those clouds. I say to myself. Clouds are lucky. They don’t have to face things like this every day. Sometimes I wish I could just have my consciousness float along like a fluffy cloud. They can’t worry. Floating pieces of water vapor up in the sky just go on their way without a care in the world.

I wish I could do that.

Most importantly, I wish I could find someone to confide in who I could be with all the time. Not my little sister. Sure, I love her, but she’s only 10. I don’t want her carrying my burdens and my problems on her shoulders.

She’s a redhead like me, my other sisters tell her that when reality hits her, she’ll know she’s bad luck too, but she says she doesn’t care. That what they know are all just stories society tells themselves.

She’s right.

But I’m too afraid to actually defend myself in front of them for some reason.

My little sister is the only one in my family I can really confide in, but she’s only 10. A child. A child doesn’t deserve to carry the weight of other people’s problems.

My great grandmother, also a redhead, didn’t believe in bad luck. She told me to have courage.

But for some reason, I’m fresh out.

After some walking, I approach a small house. I dash across its backyard, not caring about what’s in front of me until I slam into someone. We both fall into the grass, a small levitation spell I conjure softens our landing.

“Ouch.” I hear a voice, then blink rapidly. The person I’ve crashed into is my friend Ariadne, who sometimes goes by the nickname Adne. He’s slightly taller than me, his short, slightly messy hair has dark roots, with the rest of it being an almost platinum shade of blonde with a few red streaks dyed into it. He wears a loose T shirt that hides part of his chest, baggy black pants, an anklet, two rings on his right hand, a pearl earring on one ear. His face is framed by thin wire rimmed glasses. His eyes are a piercing gold color.

“Adne?” I ask. “You okay? Ohhh I hope I didn’t hurt anything.”

He chuckles. “No, no. It’s okay. You made a smart move with that safety floating spell.”

His voice is low, and still familiar to me, even after being deepened during his transition.

“Thank god.” I say, my voice breaks slightly.

“What’s wrong, love?” Adne asks. “Is something bothering you?”

“No, I’m fine.” I say rapidly, brushing it off.

Adne gets down on his knees and locks eyes with me.

“No you’re not.”

“How do you know? I felt fine when I came here.”

Funny how even if I try to hide my emotions from him, he can still see them. Almost like telepathy. I envy that ability, but at the same time it bothers me how perceptive he is. But maybe it’s because Adne cares more about me than I let on.

“You’re *not* fine, Storm. Your brow is slightly furrowed, you have leftover dried tears near your cheek and eyes. You’ve been crying more frequently lately, you have less motivation than you used to, you’re beating yourself up more than what I normally see, you call yourself the worst names I’ve heard in years, and your face and eyes are a bit blotchy.”

“Holy shit, Adne…” I gasp.

“The power of intuition.” He grins. His voice softens. “Now, what’s troubling you, Storm cloud?”

My hand slides into his.

“You have a stain on your wrist.”

“Hair dye.” I say. “My sister Astra, and sometimes my mom always want me to dye my hair brown, or at least a darker shade that tones down the fieriness of my hair. The truth is, I don’t want to dye my hair. I just want people to stop associating red hair with these fucked up superstitions.”

“The superstition that red hair means someone is a bad influence?” Adne says gently.

“Yes!” I say, a smidge too loudly, which causes Adne to flinch a bit. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

“Superstitions may be a part of society.” Adne says. “But they should never be taken too seriously, or they can hurt people. Especially the ones that involve bad luck or bad influences.”

“You took the words out of my mouth!” I blurt out. “Oh my god!”

“Now, what else is troubling you?”

“Well, you know about my 2 sisters, the ones close in age?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Both of them aren’t very nice, but Astra is such a dirtbag about everything. It’s almost like she spends her time telling me everything wrong about myself. It’s always about my red hair, my silver horn, my heterochromia. Whenever I tell her to stop doing it, she keeps saying that the world doesn’t revolve around me.”

“Storm, that’s really stupid of them. Astra and Crystal shouldn’t be treating you that way. Is your mom also like this?”

“Not exactly. She tells me to ignore them, or she tells me to just put on the dye to shut them up. She says she only wants to protect me, but it makes me feel worse.”

“I don’t think any of your family realize this, but superstitions can sometimes unintentionally hurt people. My mom told me this, and that is why superstitions should never be taken too seriously.”

“When I tell my sisters, they don’t want to hear it, saying it’s because they don’t want me to get made fun of, but I still do. I’m a klutz. ‘Foul.’ ‘odd eyed freak.’”

“Storm, that’s terrible.” Adne says sadly. “Look, I know that this is coming from the kids at school but we really need to confront both your parents and sisters about this.”

“One more thing.” I add. “I do sort of have someone to confide in. Besides you.”

“Who is it?” Adne asks.

“My little sister Opal.”

“The one I look after when you or the rest of your family is away.”

“Yeah. Even though she’s only 10 and I don’t want to bother her with all of my problems. She actually cares about me and what I’m going through, but I don’t want her to worry about me.”

“You have a good reason to think that, but it’s also good that you trust her.” Adne says. “I have desires of my own, but first I want to show you something new I taught myself today.”

“What is it?” I ask excitedly.

“Shifting.” He replies.

“Shifting?” I ask. “What’s so impressive about that?”

“Our village doesn’t always like humans, right?” Adne says.

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re in for a big surprise.”

Adne closes his eyes. His body glows and shifts. After the light fades away, Adne still stands before me, but now looks different.

He’s a bit taller, fur now lightly freckled skin. A small amount of short fuzzy facial hair lines his jaw. His horn is now a small glittering diamond shaped marking in between his eyes. His hooves are now human feet, the slight iridescence they had now in the form of lightly polished and painted toenails.

His hair still looks the same, with his ears now rounded out.

“You have a human form??” I gush.

“Yeah. You know, just to play around with how I’d look in different forms.”

“That’s amazing.” I say, twirling several strands of my hair on one finger. “Is it possible to teach me how to do that?”

“Yeah. First, sit down with me. Legs crossed.” Adne says, taking both my hands. On his right ring finger is a silver ring with his birthstone, an emerald, and a second ring, also with a birthstone, peridot.

“I noticed you have a second birthstone ring. Whose birthstone is that?” I ask.

“It’s my momma’s birthstone.” Adne replies quietly. “I had one made to keep a piece of her close to me after I moved out at 16.”

“That’s so sweet.” I say. “I wish I could get one too, but of yours and my aunt’s birthstone.”

“Can you explain the impact she had on you?”

“She is one of my dad’s sisters. Also a redhead, but the thing is…I sort of feel like I can trust her more than my parents or sisters. It’s sad how a disconnection can cause you to feel uncomfortable around more immediate family members, and if someone a little more separated like an aunt or uncle who shares some of your struggles is the one you go to, then it seems like they’re more of the trusted parent you can share with.”

“Wow.” He says.

“Yeah, and I talk to my grandma all the time, too. She herself is a redhead, but she told me that she’s disappointed in my parents and sisters and I can see why.”

“Your sisters trying to make you hide who you are is tearing you to pieces.” Adne says softly.

“And it’s so fucking wrong!” I say, anger tinging my voice. A sob hangs low in my throat.

“And my sisters…Astra and Crystal, I-I don’t know how to say this, but I fucking hate them! I hate myself! I’m not good enough for anyone, I’m-I’m…”

I gasp shakily.

“I’m a *freak*!”

Sobs rip out of me. Heat builds up in my body. I bury my face in Adne’s chest and feel him run his hand through my hair.

I close my eyes. My crying becomes long and drawn out, filled with hiccups.

I feel tingling.

“Shhhh…” Adne says softly. “Hey, you’re okay Stormy. Listen…”

I open my eyes and look down at myself.

My body looks slightly different.

I now have warm sand toned skin, my bottom hooves now human feet. I catch a glimpse of myself in a faraway mirror.

I lock eyes with Adne. He runs a hand across my cheek, brushing my tears away.

“Wow. Look at *you!* You did it.” He says, grinning. “I want you to know that I care about you so much. Despite the pain, and the sorrow, and the self loathing you put yourself through every day, and despite the fact you are made to be someone you really are not, you are brave. You are strong. Being who you truly are is what matters to me. Even if your sisters or other people say otherwise, don’t listen to them. They’re not the boss of you. You not hiding yourself is one of the many reasons why we became friends, and why I fell in love with you. Trust me, if you search hard enough, there are people out there who support you.”

“Really?” I ask.

“Yes. My mother has always supported me, even when my dad started flinging unkindness towards me after I came out to Mom as trans and he somehow overheard me.”

“Then what happened?” I ask.

“He got mad. He said I ‘lied to him.’ and it was all a ploy to get him to ‘go along with my silly fantasies’. He told me that I was crazy. That I was ‘too old to be playing around.’ Told me I was crazy, never stopped misgendering me. And that’s when Mom permanently split up with him. He begged her to have him at least partial custody, then she kicked him out. Haven’t seen him in years.”

“How old were you when this happened?” I ask.

“12.”

“No way.” I gasp. “He shouldn’t treat you like that.”

“It shows how closed off our society has become since…a very long time ago.”

“Yeah, and how they let stories they tell control how they view anyone different from them…Redheads, silver horns, gender and sexuality…”

“And people like both of us.” We say in unison.

“It’ll take a long time, but I promise that we’ll change things, even if it takes a while. It will be worth it in the end…for us too, and my family.” I say.

We both hug. My phone vibrates.

“Dammit.” I mutter. “It’s a text from Crystal.”

“What does she want this time?” Adne sighs, exasperated.

“Want me to read the text?” I ask.

“Go ahead.”

“‘Please come back, we’re worried sick about you. Astra’s worried you’re in that random boy’s house again. You forgot your hair dye.’”

Adne scoffs. “‘Random boy’?”

We both laugh loudly. “Seriously? They don’t even acknowledge the fact I have a boyfriend? You??”

“Those two need to chill.”

My phone rings. I tap Accept.

“What the hell do you want?” I say, slightly annoyed.

“We want you back home. We’re worried.”

I laugh loudly. “What?? *Really*? All of your supposed worries are just going to turn into you two dying my hair, then harshly yanking me back if I try to get up.”

“But it was for your own good. We’re your sisters, we don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“Bad things???” I say, holding back a laugh. “‘*Bad* *things*’? All you two ever do is bad things! No way am I going back home. Besides…” My tone drops sadly. “Thanks to you two and society’s stupid-ass prejudices, home doesn’t feel like home. And I’m not letting you touch my hair.”

“It’s because we love you.” Astra says in mock affection.

“Love me? *Love* *me*?? How is having me hide my flaws and imperfections *loving* me?? Love isn’t exactly what I feel around you guys after the shit that’s gone down between us and how you treated my boyfriend Ariadne after you knew his full identity! There’s no way in hell I’m coming back! Besides if you keep doing this to me, I’m moving out and living with Adne because him and his mom and sister are the only ones who I actually feel connected to, so fuck both of you!”

“But you’re 16.”

“And legally an adult so that doesn’t matter. Good hecking riddance!” I aggressively tap end call and block both sister’s contacts. The only other sister who can call me is Opal. The only one who really understands.

What am I going to do when they all start getting worse?

The heaviness in my soul never goes away. My family is my family, but is it bad that when I see my mom and sisters, all I feel is dread?

That’s not good. I’m not okay.

But I don’t know what to do about this. I’ll be lucky if it doesn’t cause a near total breakdown.

Where will I be?

My sisters know about Ariadne, but deep down, I feel like the way they treat me is hurting him too. Almost like it pains him to see me like this, but I can trust him. He knows my fears. He knows everything going on. He has his own struggles, but he isn’t afraid to be there for me.

All I want to do is live unapologetically. But I can’t exactly do that if part of my family is treating me like shit and making me push myself to try and achieve unattainable goals that might possibly kill me if I completely lose faith in people. It’s fucked up. I want to tell them what they’re doing to me is going to be detrimental to all of us, and the rest of my family who supports me, but they’re all too self righteous and blinded by their supposed actions of goodwill done to “protect me” to realize it’s hurting me more than they think. They’re driving me crazy, yet they refuse to hear that fact.

I sit down on a bench near the living room window and gaze into the distance.

Adne joins me. I feel his hand on my shoulder.

“I…get this is hard for you.” He says gently.

I nod.

“How about we take a walk? Look around for a bit.”

“Sure.” I say quietly.

“The world really wore you down, didn’t it, Storm cloud?” Adne says as we exit the house through the back door.

I nod as he takes my hand.

We walk into a partly cloudy meadow filled with small flowers.

“Wow…this place is beautiful.”

“It is. It really is.” Adne replies.

He lifts his hoodie over his head to reveal a series of intricate tattoos etched on his left arm.

“Oooo…” I gasp. “Those are so amazing. I didn’t know you had them.”

“Well, having fur sometimes hides things or makes them less obvious.”

“I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Lots of things are. Speaking of which, fire magic isn’t the only thing feared in this society.” He says.

“Show me.”

Adne turns around, removes his hoodie, and in the center of the slight crease of his back, partially hidden by his sports bra strap is a small tattoo that resembles a tiny pair of wings.

“That’s the symbol that marks someone a user of energy wings!” I remark. “Adne…I didn’t know you practiced energy wings. Most people would think that it would kill someone over time due to the fact they thought that this spell would suck out their energy.”

“That’s not true. The last person they saw who used it got killed by an enemy but since no one saw what hit them, they thought energy wings were to blame.”

“But that’s not what happened.” I say.

“Exactly. Sometimes making assumptions can blind the way people see certain things.”

“Look, I know that my parents won’t teach me fire magic, but I’ve been secretly learning it from someone while in the dream realm. If you have enough knowledge, are you willing to teach me energy wings?”

“Okay. Just as long as the only people who know about this are my mom and your grandma.”

“But how did you get that tattoo?”

“It appears on its own once you successfully learn how to conjure them, and fly a short distance.”

“ “Okay…But Adne, I’m–”

I pause, unsure of how to word this.

“Is something up, little cloud?” He asks, stroking part of my wrist which is cradled in his right hand.

“Adne, I am scared.” I say. “I do want to learn a lot of things from you, but I have something else to tell you, but is your mom home? I want her to hear this too.”

“She is. She’s chilling upstairs.”

“Is it okay if we go up and talk to her?”

“Sure.” Adne replies. I follow him up the stairs and a small vision flashes through my mind.

A small group of people, each in simple, practical, but formal uniforms all each guardian’s respective color.

Then I see

My grandmother at the center, eyes blazing like the flames conjured from the palms of her hands. Despite my parents refusing to tell me anything about her, I know her. I’ve confided in her, and all this time, I could’ve found out how much of a badass she was.

Maybe she is how I got all my burning passions, my fieriness is hers as well. I should’ve pushed harder to get my dad to tell me more about her, or better yet, they should’ve let me visit her. Sadly almost all of my visits to her have been frequent midnight sneak outs since she often stays up late at night studying star patterns. Studying the vast amount of worlds outside this small village.

And she was able to do that from the comfort of her home, or rather, reclined on her roof, which was slanted in such a way that the two of us could enjoy ourselves or sleep under the night sky without sliding off and potentially cracking our butts in two.

She is amazing.

I just want my family to know that.

We slowly walk up a small flight of stairs and into a hallway.

Adne knocks on his mother’s front door.

She’s always been the second big influence on me, following my aunt and grandmother on my dad’s side of the family. She never stopped believing in me, quietly rooted for me, and was always there when I needed her most. Sometimes it seemed like she was more of a mother to me than my own ever really was in terms of the way she saw the world and taught me things.

If I ever find one of my biggest mentors, it will be her.

And I have a realization.

Not all people protect their homes this way, but from that vision, I know what I want to be. What Ariadne wants to be, and I think he also felt it when I had that vision.

It’s going to take time and patience, and breaking the rules, but now that I’ve gotten a glimpse of what it’s like to go places, and do great things, Ariadne and I…

Will be guardians.

And I don’t care how hard we have to push people to do this. If they won’t let us, we will find a way to train and do the best we can to be the best versions of ourselves

And protect our home.

I tap Adne on the shoulder. “Did you…see the vision? With my grandmother and the guardians?”

He nods. “And that is one of my deepest desires. It’s to protect. To change the world.”

He holds me close to him. “And we’ll do it together. *Nothing* will stop us. No one.”

“We need plenty of time to think about how we’re going to do this, and find who will train us. This is one of the reasons we’re talking to my mom.He lets go of me, our hands still clasped, and he knocks on the door 3 times.

“Momma?” He asks. “Are you there?”

I hear the faint sounds of footsteps approaching. The knob turns, and out steps Ariadne’s mother Periwinkle, or “Perri” for short.

“I’m going to learn how to conjure energy wings, and Adne said he could help me practice, but after I had a vision involving my grandmother and a bunch of guardians, Adne and I want to do something big. Something this village hasn’t done in years, but we need your help.”

“Tell me everything.” Peri says as we walk down the stairs and take a seat on the living room couch. She heats a teapot, drops a pouch inside, and pours its contents into three small mugs. The warm liquid inside slowly darkens as it absorbs the flavor from the tiny seeds floating in the pouch.

Adne takes one of the mugs, blows on it twice, letting a small gust of air float over his tea, and takes a short sip, licking his top lip and taking a deep breath, ending it with a small satisfied sigh.

“You really enjoy that, do you?” I ask.

“Ever since I was a kid.”

“Now.” Peri begins. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“Have you ever seen or been a guardian?” Adne says.

“Oh yes.” Peri faces me. “Your grandmother was my mentor. As for your aunt, we were partnered together on missions and I do vividly remember we fell deeply in love once.”

“Wait Mom, you..were a guardian??”

“And you were my aunt’s girlfriend??” I gush. “Wow. I-I can’t believe this. This…this is amazing.”

“It is. And I am indeed on board with training you. I do it in secret.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll make sure no one knows until we feel it’s right to tell them.”

“If it’s for the best, then we’ll take that risk.” Adne says.

“What should I do first?” I ask.

“Do you know basic elemental magic?”

I nod. “Yeah but for some reason my mom keeps guilting me into thinking knowing more than one elemental magic is stupid and I would be power hungry.”

Adne scoffs. “Well her reasoning for not letting you learn it is stupid.”

“What’s she gonna do about that?” I snark.

“Storm.” Peri faces me. “How do you feel about learning from me?”

“That’d be perfect.” I say. “That is, if Adne is okay with teaching me too.”

He nods. “Sure, but first, let’s go outside.”

He takes my hand, and we make our way out with Peri following.

“Now.” He says. “Stand in front of me.”

I face him, nervousness tingling in my veins.

“Take your hands in mine.”

I place my hands into his palms and feel the warmth flowing through them, which is oddly grounding.

“Now imagine yourself in an empty field full of flowers. Spreading your wings. Legs lifting off the ground. And taking off for the biggest most amazing adventure yet.”

Tingling overtakes my entire body, with the feeling that I am floating.

I am free.

Small tinkling noises flutter past my ears.

I open my eyes

And I am flying.

“STORM!” Ariadne hollers. “You *did* it!”

“Wh—OH GOD!” I scream. “I did it! I can’t believe it!”

“Well, you better.” Ariadne’s body glows, and he conjures a pair of large glowing golden eagle wings, while mine are bright red, and slightly smaller, being a pair of harpy-esque wings.

We soar through the meadow, wind whipping past our faces.

Peals of laughter escape from Adne’s lips.

I feel *alive*.

I feel amazing.

Energy wings aren’t what I assumed they would be.

They make me feel strong.

And I’ll only get stronger from here.

“We should probably land soon.” Ariadne says. “Momma might worry. But only a little bit.”

I nod. We fly over to another part of the meadow. The rest of it is covered in rolling hills dotted with small wildflowers.

Clouds float slowly overhead and we both land. The sun shines on the corners of Adne’s face, adding shimmery accents to his already golden eyes. The light adds a small glow to each individual strand of his light blonde dyed hair, giving his face and his entire body a radiance too beautiful to describe.

We both sit down and he envelops me in a tight comforting hug.

I feel the warmth of his skin against mine. I bury my face in his chest and shoulders. The fragrant smell of orange blossoms and lavender emanating from him hits my nose.

I breathe deeply and feel his hand stroke the back of my neck.

I look into his eyes, and deep inside I realize that his love for me wasn’t just romance.

We’ve been friends since we were kids, and when he started falling in love with me, I might not have known at the time, but his love goes deeper than just boyfriend/girlfriend.

He wants to protect me just as much as I do him.

It’s so strong. Stronger than anything else I’ve felt.

His love extends to a cellular level.

It is the flame that never stops burning.

The flame that keeps us together, even in the darkest of times.

Despite facing prejudice from others for being different, he did not let that get to his head.

When he saw me, he saw my flaws as just another part of what makes me who I am.

Others thought I was strange. An abomination. A bad influence.

They said that about him too. He didn’t care. But he also did.

That’s what brought us together. What connects us.

But at the same time, while I am getting stronger, all the hatred and pain I direct towards myself hurts him worse because inside he knows that it’s not good for anyone.

He wants to help me, but he doesn’t know how.

But now with help from his family and my family, I can finally change things, and go even deeper into our relationship.

I lean in close to him, eyes closing, and our lips touch. I hear the soft sigh of his breath on my cheeks as we kiss.

Fire hums through my body, pulsating from my soul. His embrace stokes it as I am filled with immeasurable joy.

It feels like something in my heart exploded into a million sparking pieces.

It feels like everything is quiet.

My anxieties and worries are gone.

For the first time in my life I actually have some hope, even if it’s just a little bit.

“That felt good.” I whisper.

“It was very surprising, but I knew it would happen in some point in our lives.” Adne says softly.

“What should we do?” I ask. “We basically have to hide the fact that we’re going to be guardians from our entire village…well, except for your mom of course.”

Adne chuckles. “I think I know the person for the job. I met them through Mom.”

“But how will we contact them?” I ask.

“We’ll find a way. I promise.” Adne says as our foreheads touch.

“Let’s go.” Adne says, taking my hand.

I feel a strange tingling sensation in the center of my back. Adne shoots a quick glance past me and his eyes go wide.

“Storm—I need a mirror.”

I do a spell circle and conjure a small palm sized mirror. Adne points it at me from behind.

There I see a small tattoo on my back. Two spread wings.

We look at each other. Excitement hums through my veins.

Lots of things have happened to me, but this is going to change my life.

We walk back to the house, where Adne’s mom waits. From an angle, I see she has a chat room open on her phone. The name I see on there is Cyrus.

Cyrus.

I don’t know who they are, but I’ve heard their name many times.

Cyrus.

The guardian who helped open the realm up to humans.

Who helped liberate the Basilisk population from Vex labs.

I see Cyrus’ human form flash in my mind.

Short wavy black hair, warm light brown skin, spots on their face glowing warmly, their earring catching bits of sunlight around them, their uniform glowing as their magic flows through their body.

Then I see Ariadne.

This is a dream.

Cyrus was the guardian who trained Ariadne secretly.

While his body was in slumber, his dream self was learning everything he could to keep us safe.

I need to find a way to contact Cyrus, or maybe…

I run into the small library in Ariadne’s living room, and grab one of the history books on the Illogical realm and open it, its hallowed pages spreading out in front of me.

Then I see two pictures of one of the first guardians, a young trans man named Dusk. One of Cyrus’ ancestors.

One picture holds his default form, which looks similar to Cyrus, but with mud brown fur, two tiny horns atop their head, piercing gold eyes, and a dark blue uniform with gold highlights.

The date of the photo shows it was taken in spring of 2030. Only 5 years ago. The one thing I don’t quite understand is how could Dusk be alive right now when he’s probably over 350 years old, but looks to be about 52 years old physically? There’s literally so much I don’t know about this guy. He must be awesome. But the question is, what would he be like if I got the chance to meet him? My family knows about him, but all my sisters seem to do is bad mouth him as “another old guy whose glory days are over, who is probably also senile.” The one thing I don’t understand here is why they’d have the audacity to disrespect someone who literally contributed to shaping an entire world and aided in saving the entire population of magical creatures from persecution by a few hysteria ridden villagers…

Why is my family like this?

Worst of all, why am I not treated like everyone else?

And most importantly, why wasn’t I taught about Dusk? From his actions and accomplishments in history, he must be a freakin’ legend by now.

I hear a voice in my head, which lets out a rippling, full bellied noise, which almost sounds like laughter.

“Who’s there?” I blurt out. “Oh god I hope no one overheard me talking about Dusk…”

*Oh dear child…* the voice says. *I did hear you, and I’m honored to hear that you recognize what the first guardians and I did to protect this world. Also, despite what your sisters think, I still have all my many years of knowledge. It was acquired over hundreds of years and dabbling in some of the decades’ trends. Turns out the hipster craze of the 40s that came up again in the 2000s was a little weird.*

“Really?”

Yeah.

“So what are you doing now, since you’ve been alive and well for 350 years?”

*Well I had this music career that I started back in the 70s, but I’ve been on hiatus for a very long time because I needed to focus on myself, my wife, and my daughter Andromeda.*

“You were a singer?”

*Yes. I do plan on reviving my career, but I don’t exactly know how to reintroduce myself to both the human and Illogical realm. Maybe you all can help with that. Do you know Cyrus or Alex?*

“Cyrus is the guardian who is training Ariadne?” I whisper.

*Yes*.

“Wait, but one question.”

*Go on.*

“Where are you and how are you talking to me? I’m not exactly creeped out, but I am a bit surprised.”

I hear a soft chuckle. *I’m alive, all right. But I’m not on duty right now. I’m in my apartment*.

“Yeah, but where is it?” I ask.

*I’ll show you. You just need to lower your consciousness so I can project my memory into yours.*

“Wait wait wait, are you saying I have to go to sleep in the middle of a living room so you can possess me or something??” I blurt out.

*Relax, relax. I’m only giving you the directions to my home through a memory that your mind will store for 48 hours so you can know how to go to me both ways. Afterwards, the memory duplicates itself, and goes back to me while the duplicate will be permanently stored in your subconscious so you’ll never forget this.*

“Wow, that’s…that’s kind of cool, but is there gonna be pain involved?”

*No. I need you to go to sleep first.*

“Okay, just hold on a sec. Don’t break your telepathic connection.” I say, walking downstairs and into the basement where a couch lies. I lie down with my head against the bed cushions.

“Now.”

I close my eyes, and feel my body go heavy as images flash through my mind.

I hear Dusk’s voice ring clear in my head.

*Do you see anything?*

“Sort of. I feel a map forming in my mind.”

*That’s what it’s supposed to do.*

“I…can see a trail running from this house to yours.”

*That’s the memory ingraining itself into your long-term memory bank.*

“Okay. I think I feel confident enough to make this journey.”

*Can you drive?*

“Been doing it for two years now.”

*Good. The memory is in place, but it’s okay if you still want to use GPS to get there. I’ll release you now.*

I sit up, and see a detailed image form from my mind’s eye.

I see the house I’m in right now, then I see a trail forming from the house, through winding pathways, several small trees, and a few street signs.

Then I see a small house.

From the year it was built, it looks like it was built roughly 8 years ago, with a more modern look to it. It’s surrounded by several bushes, and has a small lantern sitting next to the front door. I see several small statues and a small mural painted on the side of the mailbox.

I see a small pumpkin on the side of the front porch.

I walk over to Adne and tap him on the shoulder. He turns to me.

“Need anything?” He asks.

“Do you have your car?” I ask.

“Yes.” He replies. “But what do you need it for?”

I motion for him to come closer to me.

“I need it to go visit someone I…I was talking to telepathically and they gave me the route to their house.”

“Who was it?” Adne asks.

“It was Dusk.”

“Hold on…you’re meaning to tell me that you’ve been talking to Cyrus’ ancestor? I thought he…died a long time ago or something.”

I take Adne’s hand and both our eyes glow, re-establishing a telepathic connection between me, Adne, and Dusk.

“He’s not dead.” I say. “He’s still alive and probably kicking an ass or two.”

I hear Dusk laugh raucously, with some snorts in between.

*Well, you’re definitely not wrong.* He says.

“If he’s alive, then we’re going to go meet him.” Adne says, getting up from a chair. “Where do we start?”

We join hands, exit the house, Adne waves goodbye to his mother, and we both hop into his car, the memory of Dusk’s map makes me swiftly type the directions to his house almost involuntarily, like it was something I had remembered innately since my first steps on earth.

The funny thing is, even though I’ve already met Dusk…once? I don’t exactly know what his complete personality is going to be like. Is he nice? Is he mean? I hope when I reach our destination, he’ll be there waiting. That is, if he has time to chat with some kid about history and stories he’s told probably thousands of times by now.

## Ariadne’s POV

When you’re me, you witness a lot of things in your lifetime.

You deal with crazy moments that never seem to crawl out of the recesses of your brain no matter how many hours you spend bombarding yourself with crappily animated burning man esque videos of people at parties or some guy in an apartment whose TV was possessed by demons or a squirrel getting drunk off of fermented grapes. I’ve seen it all.

Hell. I’ve heard it all.

And the funny thing is that despite this, you still are surprised by the fact a 350 year old historical figure is still alive and punching and making history, even though his heyday was during a time where people were murdered for things they didn’t do, and now when you least expect it, your girlfriend somehow meets him.

If I want to change this world, then he might be our chance.

I’ve been shunned, made fun of, people have pranked me countless times.

My Dad and some asshole “friends” may have knocked me down countless times, but I will always get back up again.

Storm’s family may not like me. My Dad still doesn’t accept me.

But I don’t need those people for validation. I don’t need to be held back by society’s fears or the unknown or rigid expectations of people or how their superstitions are slowly tearing down the love of my life.

They are the sole reason why we are searching for Dusk.

Maybe he can help us. Help me protect my loved ones and my home. Help Storm heal.

Help her family realize the wounds they caused and the mistakes they made.

And maybe learn more than I ever knew about the world around us.

And if we’re going to do all that, we’ll have to take some risks.

We drive past several trees and street signs. The sky begins to darken to a deep blue, our surroundings lit by the glow of two full moons.

We drive up to an area sporting a city limit sign

Welcome to central Summerwood.

We did it. We found who we were looking for. The guardian we found from that history book.

But what if he isn’t home? What if he doesn’t want to talk to us?

What if this is a futile mission?

What if he doesn’t actually live here anymore?

I feel Storm tap me on the shoulder. I turn towards her. Somehow for some reason, her hair has gotten messier amid the stress of the day. The sad thing that I’ve seen many times that her parents or sisters don’t want to put up with learning how to style it or teaching her how to manage it. I’ve seen how unhappy this makes her. Despite the fact I don’t have the same hair texture as her, my mom still taught me how to work with different textures because she cares about Storm.

“You okay?” Storm asks. “You’re ruminating again.”

“Yeah, just…” I trail off. “Storm, I–I just really hope this goes well. I don’t know if he’ll be at the house we’re going to, but I hope Dusk will be there.”

“Me too. But we have to keep our hopes high and expectations low. There could be more than one person in that house.”

I nod, and we weave through several signs and winding pathways. Storm conjures a firelight orb as the last smidges of daylight become progressively dimmer until their glow can no longer guide our way.

We tromp through a small covering of autumn leaves until I feel the path smooth out into pavement again.

Then I see the house I saw in my vision.

“There it is.” I whisper. “Here goes nothing…”

I walk up the front steps and my hand hesitantly lands on the door as I knock it 4 times.

We wait.

Then I hear footsteps coming from behind the door.

Then faint voices. Two of them. When I try to strain my ears to catch bits and pieces of conversation, I instead hear the voices through my mind instead, and the first voice appears to sound like Cyrus, whose voice I first heard in the dream world, except this person sounds a lot older and speaks with a slight southern drawl.

“Andromeda, these people need help.” I hear him say. “I contacted them earlier. They’re from a secluded village and want to train to become guardians to protect their village and open up their society to other cultures and beliefs.”

“Dad. They’re unicorns. They don’t change easily.”

I huff, and rapidly knock on the door. “Oh my God. Just let us in. That kid knows nothing.”

The door opens, and we see Dusk, with a girl who appears to be roughly my age, with reptilian features characteristic of a basilisk. She wears a purple galaxy hoodie and has wavy hair dyed pink.

“Oh!” The girl’s face perks up in surprise. “You’re–”

“Yes, we are who you thought we were.” I cut her off. Dusk gestures for us to enter, and closes the door behind us.

“Anyway, we contacted your Dad because we think he can help us train to be guardians. My village may be closed off and living in fear and confusion around  elemental fire users, redheads and trans people but that’s literally the reason we came here. He’s a legend responsible for shaping entire societies. So I thought he could help us.”

“And I’m perfectly willing. Haven’t had an  opportunity to do crazy stuff in years.” Dusk chuckles.

“You’d do this??” Andromeda blurts out. “You barely know these people.”

“I know them. We dreamvisited.” Dusk says.

“Also no personal feelings towards you, Andromeda, but you’re kind of annoying. You can’t always assume a person is a certain way because of their societal background. Think about it.”

Andromeda glares at me. “Jeez. You didn’t need to explain.”

“Now.” Dusk says, gesturing for the two of us to take a seat on the couch. “Tell us everything.”

“Ari and I want to become guardians. Except the one huge problem here is that our village is so closed off that they think that seclusion doesn’t mean they need guardians. They’re very superstitious, parts of my family are particularly serious about it. They don’t like redheads. We’re often called just ‘reds’, and considered bad luck. I know family is family, but it seems like my two older sisters hate me. I’ve gotten my hair yanked so many times when they force me to sit down and have them dye it dark colors. The only sister who isn’t a complete dirtbag is my little sister Opal. A kind soul. She tries her hardest to love who she is and not follow superstition, because she knows how much it can often hurt people. It’s hurting me.”

My voice cracks. “Our village…our culture…It used to be so diverse. But now, it’s almost like we’re no longer the open, loving, and fierce warrior village we used to be. All this living away from the rest of the world is warping us. Distancing us from who we were originally meant to be.”

I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye.

“And we want to restore its former glory. And change it for the better. You can’t change without experiencing new things.” Adne adds.

“Your situation is a sad one, indeed.” Dusk says gently. “But I promise from all the crevices of my heart to help you achieve your goal.”

“Thank you very much.” I say quietly. “Your help is greatly appreciated.”

Dusk grins. “Any time. Now who supports you in this? Anyone you know?”

“My aunt.” Storm replies. “She used to be a guardian. Ariadne’s mother was her partner. There was one point where the two of them fell in love, but never married. Eventually for safety’s sake they remained friends, but went their separate ways. They still are very fond of each other, and despite the fact that fire magic is feared, Periwinkle practiced it by dream traveling with a guardian in secret. No one knew because if she told anyone, they’d all shun her. She took risks, but it was all worth it in the end.”

“She was my mom’s girlfriend when they were younger.” Adne says.

“Then after the mission was completed, the two of them knew that their love was forbidden in the eyes of those living in their village. The two women put their romance to rest but still remained friends. To this day, they still love each other, but both of them know we’re in love with each other, and both know that it won’t make sense to tie the knot when their kids are in love. Both of them support our decision to train.”

“Good.” Dusk nods. “While I can’t always help you through dream traveling all the time, I know someone who can help you whenever you need them.”

“Who’s this?” I ask.

“Alex. One of Cyrus’ friends.” Dusk replies.

“I know about them.” Storm says. “I don’t know them personally but zie were one of my aunt’s friends. Haven’t heard from them in a while though. I’ll catch up.”

“Good. I’ll see what I can do to contact hir.” Dusk says. “Follow me.”

“Where?”

He leads us to a dark room, or I think it’s dark. Dusk gestures for us to look up, and I see the illusion of a night sky cast onto the ceiling.

“Wow…” Storm gasps. “What is this?”

## Storm’s POV

“It’s a room where people can settle down and dream travel. The night sky projection helps them guide their consciousness up into the dream realm and back down into the waking world if they feel that it’s time for them to come back.”

“That’s so cool.” I say.

“And remember.” Dusk says. “I too have had my struggles in life. If you ever feel like, you’re going to lose hope, just know that you’re not alone. We’re here for you when you need us most.”

I hug him. I don’t always hug people, as my guard is constantly up, but deep inside, Dusk is the first person besides Adne, his mother and sister, and my aunt and grandmother, that I’ve begun to trust in a very long time.

The truth is, the reason why I don’t trust anyone is because every time, they always find something wrong about me.

“Also, I’m not the only one who feels like an outcast.” I say. “Let me tell you a small story about my older sister. There are 7 years between us. She’s 23 now, but I don’t know where she is. All I know is that she ran away a long time ago. My parents don’t want to talk about her, and Opal has never met her. She only knows her from stories I tell every night. She and I are practically the same, red hair, queerness and all, except her eyes were a sort of iridescent violet or gold-ish color. Hmmph, maybe my memory is failing me, although I do have photos and texts from her and a picture from when I was a kid. She was 13. I was only 6. A child.”

“What was her name?” Dusk asks.

“My sister’s birth name was Solacia. Their star sign is aquarius. In my culture, it is believed to signify that a child born under a certain star sign will be born with certain types of elemental powers, although that’s not exactly true. When my mom was pregnant with my sister, her oldest child, she consulted an oracle living in our town. Using several gems and a crystal ball, she reached into the heavens and read my mother’s palm, reading the energies of both her and my then unborn sister. She was able to sense my mother’s energy clearly, but when she tried to sense my sister’s, it came out in flowing, but chaotic waves. This strange reading translated into the oracle inaccurately predicting that my sister would be born with strong elemental water magic. Then when she was born, my sister came with flaming red hair, like mine, but with little flecks of gold in it. She loved her hair so much, but since she liked to play around with it, she’d always have it cut short, and kind of messy. Lots mistook her for a boy, but at the time, she told me that she didn’t know she was queer. It took her a while, but the discovery landed after she turned 11. My Mom didn’t quite understand, partially because of how closed off our people have become, and they kept thinking that what my sister was telling them was just her playing around, but no, it was true. The reason? Her identity transcended labels or words. Her pronouns are both she/her and they/them, but I’m just using one set because I myself am still getting used to this, but I’ve been promising myself I’d learn because I’m in the same process.”

“Excuse me.” Andromeda raises a hand. A puzzled look flits over her face. “Why do you refer to your sister’s name as her birth name? And about the multiple pronouns thing, it doesn’t take too long to get used to, especially when you have a dad who uses them.”

Dusk grins.

“Well, when we were kids, both she and I displayed a curiosity towards fire magic, along with its cousins smoke and lava magic. Despite the thousands of times we were coaxed and reprimanded away from it by the adults in our lives and being told of its presumed dangers and how we could get shunned, our grandma and aunt Goldie were more than happy to indulge in our desires to be versatile magic users, and it was because we wanted to be happy,  and we both had the dual goal of making our home and our people the open, loving, fierce, and diverse world it used to be.”

“But what caused all of Unicorn civilization to become so closed off? I’m a bit of a history lover, so I like getting juice on certain events like this.”

“And juicy details you shall get.” I say. “A long time ago, a series of raids by Vex labs devastated their community. Lives were lost. They tried as hard as they could to hold them off. The Unicorns were successful, but sadly we lost 30% of our population. We’ve regrown now, since this whole thing took place 45 years ago, but unfortunately, we haven’t put this thing back into the past where it belongs. We thought hiding and not teaching people how to properly utilize magic would stop stuff like this from happening again. Back then, while superstition has always been part of our culture, we didn’t let it dominate our lives or make us hate ourselves for having certain traits! Look at me, look at my sister! The reason why Solacia is referred to as her ‘birth name’ and not just ‘her name’ is because Solacia isn’t her name anymore. What used to be an affectionate nickname given to her by her aunts, Ember, due to her curiosity around fire magic, and proficiency in wielding it, became a name she would be known by and would use to form a new connection with herself, after years of being sworn enemies with her own inner self and burning herself with her own fire as a form of self punishment because she was told that the magic balances within her soul were unlucky and filth. Fire went from enemy to ally, and she used the heat of her soul and the love for me that burned like an eternal flame to heal the wounds between herself and how others perceived her. She had this realization after running away. I could hear her and Mom fight. Anger and violent words thrown around like ping pong balls. Fire was feared because Vex labs burned villages. Telepathy is feared because it is often used to find out a lot of secrets. Other tribes and species  After Ember ran away, I wanted to know what happened to Ember after she ran away. Mom said that she might’ve died, but knowing how adaptable Ember is, she’ll find probably billions of ways to fend for herself, which she did. Once I got a phone, she dream travelled and gave me her contact. She texted me the whole story on why she ran away, and it’s the same story I’m telling you now. If we don’t change the way our town sees everything, then all of the people different from what our village thinks is ‘the norm’ here, then all the people who stand out will flee from here and avoid this place entirely. Sure, I don’t like being stuck here,  but something has to change, and Ariadne and I want to be a part of that, and if you’re all willing, so will you.”

“If it’s for the good of people’s livelihoods, then we’ll be more than happy to take that chance.” Dusk says.

“What should we do first?” Andromeda asks.

“Look, I don’t always like asking my family for favors, but they’re going to have to tackle a subject they’ve been stepping around for years; help me learn about my sister, and find out what happened before, during, and after she ran away from home.”

“But we should also find some clues to what caused a rift this big to form between her and  your parents.” Adne says. “Are you guys up for going over to Storm’s house?”

I nod in agreement. “Get in, everyone. We’re going back. This time I feel like things are going to change…For all of us.”

“I’ll stay back.” Dawn says. “You four stay safe.”

“Thanks, Mamá!” Andromeda calls out.

The four of us exit Dusk’s house. With a flick of his wrist, he locks everything, windows and all, and we pile into my car, with Ariadne at the wheel, and me next to him. Our hands interlock with each other.

“So, what’s the deal with you two?” Andromeda asks.

“Dude.” I snort. “We’ve been friends for years, and we’ve been in love with each other for years.”

‘Which came first?” Andromeda asks.

“We’ve been friends since we were kids. I was 6, Ari was 8. So 10 years. We fell in love when I was 12.”

“You guys were kids.”

“Indeed.” I reply. “However, both of us agreed to go slow, and it paid off. We don’t live together yet, but Adne and I are planning on doing it in the next year or so.”

“Wow.” Andromeda says. “Big plans, am I right?”

Adne nods. “Yep. Big dreams, too.”

“What are you guys planning on doing in the next few months…or year?” Andromeda asks.

“Ever heard of Jewel labs?” Adne says.

“I stayed there for a bit before Mamá and Papá adopted me.” Andromeda says. “It’s a facility that takes in children separated from their families, and it’s been responsible for the births of many new lives into this world. All thanks to a then 16 year old Bill the defect and several guardians back in the year 2001. Since then, it’s flourished overtime. Now it doesn’t just house children, it gives a home to those who either have nowhere to go, or their old home is not safe for them, whether it be (1) mentally, (2) physically, or  (3) emotionally safe for them.. Hate to dip into your thoughts, Storm, but it seems like you’re fitting into boxes 1 and 3 here.”

I stare at Andromeda. Something snaps. Visions flash through my mind.

My two older sisters fighting.

The pain felt when my hair was pulled.

The dull brown dye struggling against the red of my hair. It hurt. It hurt so much.

And all my sisters got was a simple warning. All I got was to just let them dye my hair, despite how terrible I look when they do it.

I’m tired of being afraid. I really don’t know why my town acts the way they do, but I seriously need to get out of there.

All of a sudden, a heavy pain drags my soul down like a block of iron. It’s happened more than once, and half the time it feels like someone dumped cement into my lungs. My heart smashes itself against my chest and it feels like a crowd of people lodged themselves in my head. The roar can get deafening sometimes.

Even though family is family, just once I yearn for the day when the place I have to go home to is not the same place my parents and sisters are in. Every time I come back, it feels like being dragged to hell. It’s not healthy but apparently the kids and the teachers are think redheads are liars and I should just be good and let life pass me by.

Never again. Every time no one listens, it feels like shreds of my sanity are lost.

I dread the times I have to get out of bed in the morning. It’s like that movie Groundhog Day where the same damn thing happens to me every time. I’m in a rut but there’s no way to fix it. People say to have a positive attitude and keep your hopes up, but let me tell you, I’m fresh out and that didn’t work for me. At this point, my only hope is the 350 year old dude sitting in the backseat who is somehow still slaying it even after his heyday was 331 years ago. Dusk Ruiz, a well known guardian. Semi immortal, still has energy, but still acknowledges the fact that age is still catching up with him. This guy is my only way out of this, and for some bad luck redheaded kid from who knows where, with barely anyone to trust, pissed off at the world, he’s the only real friend I’ve made in years. Him and Dawn are the parents I wish I had…even though I already have parents. I met Dawn through a vision, so I’ve known her longer than Dusk, but it already feels like they’re growing on me fast.

Speaking of the back seat…

I twist over to face Andromeda. “Hey, is it okay if your dad and I switch seats? I’d…feel better talking to him if we were next to each other, because I have some heavy stuff to bring up.”

Andromeda nods. I feel the car slow to a stop. We both get out, and Andromeda sits next to Adne and I join Dusk. He looks at me, with his gold eyes gleaming and his salt and peppered brown hair combed neatly at the sides.

Despite the fact he looks like he’s in his early 50s, the old photos of him in those history books don’t even do this guy justice. He’s handsome as is, even more in person.

We buckle up, and the car once again accelerates.

I want to tell him everything, but I don’t even know which part comes first. So much bad blood boiled up between me and my mom and sisters, that I don’t even know what to tell him.

Then I hear a voice. Dusk’s voice in my head. For a second maybe the fact that I constantly have a mental wall around me makes me forget that both of us are telepaths, but maybe he’s nice enough not to pry, but since he seems like someone I can come to, I’ll let him in.

*Is everything okay, love?* He asks telepathically. I hear concern from him, and it’s the first time any adult has been worried about me on a level deeper than their own superfluous

Old memories flash through my mind. They’re my own memories, but even though they’ve happened years ago, the shear amount of instances where I’m getting pushed, shoved, or people just hate me is more than I realized. The first memory is of when I first started middle school at 12. I recognize all these kids, but all their faces are blurred. I know their voices. I know how shitty it was.

But I don’t know their faces.

Their creepy faces.

I don’t want to, because I can’t.

Then the next thing I remember is getting shoved to the ground. This one kid took some scissors to my hair, and even though I got away, she still got a lot of it. I was able to grow it back with magic, but to this day, she still tries to rub salt in the wound by brandishing scissors. That kid’s face I definitely remember.

But I don’t want to. I really don’t.

But unfortunately I do, because the burnt and smoldering remains of the forest that is my subconscious won’t let me forget it,

It all started after I got home from school one day. Mom always asked me how school was, but no one wants to be probed to reveal details of almost getting murdered at a place that’s supposed to make you “learn”, but you get tormented and a bunch of verbal barrages instead. It’s a terrible place, and instead of answering her, I left, but not without her getting pissed that I hadn’t answered because it was “only polite”. Forget talking to Mom, forget talking to anyone. I walk in and lock myself up for the next several long hours, because I hope she just leaves me alone, because I’m tired and would much rather sleep for the next 6 months.

Even though I was 14 in this memory, all I wanted was to numb the pain with another caffeine hit from another one of those 6 packs of PopStar energy drinks that make me ridiculously high and after coming down I forget what I even did during the rush. It’s a terrible habit, but it’s one of the only ways I can keep my thinly veiled sanity from losing another thread because I fear that if I stopped chugging, I’d lose control of my powers and my family will forever disdain me, or if I tell them about my chugging and addiction to 16 hour energy drinks, I’d be labeled a freak or never-do-well or that shit.

I hope my sisters know this, but Astra, you’re an insufferable bitch. You don’t want to protect me. I realize that you have only your own selfish interests at heart.

Crystal. I can’t believe you. You think that I shouldn’t stop you from messing with me or stifling my powers just because it’s too much for you, or you think it’s too much for Opal either.

I feel her energies, and inside I see the spark of some hidden magic that she’s repressed for years.

She doesn’t want to hate herself, but it feels like thanks to you two, my precious little sister will fall down the same self loathing, self punishing path I am, covering it up with little “habits” that might come back and bite her like it is me.

Lastly, Mom. Yes, you love me, but at the same time, you’re doing nothing to help me out here, so now, I’ve had to do this on my own. If you ever get mad, then it will be in vain. You can’t stop me, because you can’t undo the damage.

I wish we all acknowledged that we made mistakes, but most importantly, I wish we had a way to at least fix some of them.

Tears stream down my face. A throbbing pain that feels like the almost burning warmth of getting too close to a flame races through my veins, and involuntarily, I recoil inwards, wincing and sobbing softly, my chest heaves with the tightness of having concrete hardening in my ribs.

I learned that it’s the same feeling you get when you repress your magic for a very long time and don’t let it naturally settle down. Those who are at peace with all parts of their magic and the way it resonates inside of their bodies never get this pain.

I feel Dusk’s presence in my mind. I close my eyes, and I feel his hand enclose around mine.

*Don’t* *worry*. He whispers. *You’re* *safe* *with* *me*, *dear* *one*.

The softness of his voice, even at a whisper, is enough to keep me grounded.

*Take this slowly, Storm.*

I see another memory from 2 weeks ago. I’m sitting in a room located outside the principal’s office in school.

I hear two voices. My mother, and the principal. Both dripping with disappointment. I fudged up big time, but it was only because I was trying to keep myself safe.

The sad thing is, it all gets mistaken for something I caused, when in reality, it was the kids tormenting me. They wanted to blame me. They got what they wanted. If I have to drag my butt to school again next week, they’ll get what’s coming to them.

Then, I hear the words I’ve heard many times, and I dread hearing them again. They sting like someone pressing the serrated end of a red hot knife against the soft part near my collarbone. They thought I’d learn. They thought I’d color my hair. They thought I’d give in and “be good” like every kid in that class.

Instead, the words hurt even more.

Your daughter has an attitude problem.

And I remember them both staring at me, waiting for an answer. I remember running as fast as I could.

All I wanted was to be alone.

To avoid the angry voices calling after me.

I remember running all the way to Ariadne’s house without stopping.

I remember the angry text from my mom.

What do you have to say for yourself, thinking you can run away from us like that? Are you trying to think you can get away with this?

No. I’m scared. I’m tired. I just want this to end and for everyone to leave me alone.

Even after Mom tried to talk to me, Dad said that it was no use and it would just make things between us worse.

He was probably right.

Then suddenly I start crying out of nowhere. I remember the fights that broke out over which kid gave me the “haircut treatment.”

I remember suffering a panic attack in the middle of lunch, running for the hills, and burning myself a ditch outside of school grounds, and hiding in there until the end of lunch bell rang.

I remember them all screaming “Hey where’s the little red headed hairball? Where is it, where is it? We wanna cut its hair!”

And I remember someone grabbing me by the wrist, I scream instinctively, thinking it was someone with a pair of scissors, when in reality, it was a kid with short messy hair dyed blonde, black track pants, and a loose shirt showing a sliver of what appears to be a binder, judging by the characteristic beige color they sometimes came in.

He helped me up, and then he hugged me, wiping the tears I shed.

And when he started talking to me, he treated me as a person. Not as a virus that’ll be passed on.

And his name was Ariadne Goldwin. And that’s when we became inseparable. That little rose faced kid who helped me got back up again is the pillar preventing me from teetering over the edge.

He is my greatest love, but also my greatest sorrow, because to him, the pain I feel hurts him too.

I open my eyes, and see Dusk’s deep gold ones looking straight at me.

Even though we’ve only physically seen each other for barely two hours, he knows my story. He’s seen so much of what I went through in a short time.

“So that’s what you’ve been seeing over the years.” He says softly. “Pobrecito Storm. I’m so sorry you had to live through that. You’re so young, but you’ve been worn down so much.”

“Yeah.” I say shakily. “Here’s to hoping I can face it head on. With you guys.”

Another 30 minutes passes, and we reach my house, where Mom and Crystal are the first two people I see looking out the front window. When I enter the house, Dusk trails behind me. I take his hand and he squeezes it reassuringly.

“Storm, where have you been?” Mom asks, sighing. “And why do you have an old man and some random kid with you?”

“I’m Andromeda. I’m not random. And my dad ain’t just any old guy. He’s a guardian.”

Dusk walks up to introduce himself. “Hello. I’ve heard some things about you and Crystal and Astra from Storm. It’s quite…nice to meet you both.” He says cordially.

“Oh…you too, come in.” Mom says nervously. “Aren’t you the guy from those history books Storm reads?”

“Yeah. Although some of the photos they use aren’t always accurate because some of them are from a very long time ago. I’m a historian, but the good thing is that I have recently updated some of the pictures they have of me in recently published ones, so that’s one upside.”

We walk into the house, and the four of us take a seat on the couch, and I sidle up next to Dusk, and lean my head towards his shoulders.

He leans down slightly and gently kisses my forehead.

A small gasp escapes my lips, almost instinctively.

I realize my family doesn’t show that much physical affection towards me or my younger sister. I see the pattern now. Astra and Crystal were always more doted on, while when I was old enough, most of the responsibilities for Opal were foisted onto me.

When Astra and Crystal got in trouble, my two perfect golden brown haired sisters were only let off with a warning, while if I accidentally did something I wasn’t supposed to, or accidentally didn’t do something, both my Mom and sisters wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. The guilt hurt so much that when I could sneak them, I’d lock myself in my room, chug energy drinks, forget the rest of the day, sleep for the next 20 hours, gorge myself on canned goods, and emerge as a blanked out, temporarily changed person, using these habits to cover up the massive guilt and anger I felt towards myself for everything. Everyone thought I had composed myself and that I was just being “dramatic”, but in the end, I was just band-aiding my problems.

Dad tried to lighten the burden. He cared about me. Ultimately Mom told him Opal and I “wouldn’t be able to fend for ourselves” if he didn’t let us “figure things out.” In reality, she was just trying to find excuses to avoid making a mistake and taking the blame for raising children who she loved, but not as much as she should have, seeing us both as accidents that happened after she had us, viewed by the world as nothing more than bad luck charms. She thought we’d both take it and be on our way, but in the end, the weight is crumbling both of us from the inside.

She clearly loves us, but it doesn’t feel right at all.

So now why do I feel like she isn’t doing anything? Why do I feel alone in all this?

Dusk’s voice getting my attention snaps me out of the stream of thoughts.

“Storm?”

Something inside of me crumbles.

“Is everything alright?” He asks, worry in his voice.

I devolve into a hunched down tear filled mess. I can’t stop crying.

I can’t believe this is happening to me.

I feel warmth as Dusk wraps his arms around me, gently caressing my back.

“Hey.” He says softly. “Storm. You’re safe with me. I’m going to help you. I promise.”

Crystal sighs. “Are you sure you’re not being dramatic? That’s the fourth time you’ve cried like that this week. You’re always fine afterwards. Don’t enable he—“

Heat builds up inside of me. Dusk glares sternly at Crystal, who immediately stops talking.

“I’m not fine.” I say, my head still near Dusk’s shoulder. I refuse to look at Crystal. She doesn’t even know how much it hurts.

“If you didn’t do this to me, I wouldn’t be a hopeless mess.” I sniffle angrily. “Thanks to Mom and the rest of you caring about how only you would be seen by others thanks to some hair color, and making me do pointless things thanks to being treated as a bad luck omen from some stupid story, I don’t trust you. I’ve had to find others to help me. Thanks to you, Dusk has shown me more love in a few hours than you guys have in years.”

I sigh shakily. “They’re better family than you will ever be. Dusk is more of a father….more of a parent than I’ve ever known.”

“Storm-“ Mom begins, but Dusk lifts a hand, silencing her.

“Let that sink in.” He says, his tone a mixture of concern for me, and disappointment towards both my mom and sisters. “You made mistakes, but you refuse to admit it. Now Storm doesn’t want to be a part of your family.”

“I-I can’t believe this…” Mom says sadly. “I didn’t know this would happen. I thought I was protecting Storm from being ostracized. I was only trying to help…”

She drops to her knees and puts her head in her hands.

“I failed everyone. I should’ve known the effect of believing too much in these stories left on Storm and Opal.”

“So what will you do?” Dusk asks. “The whole town knows these stories.”

“I need time to think.” Mom says tiredly.

“Now look what you did!” Crystal says, in mock disappointment. “You made Mom cry! You should—“

“Nope. Nope. Stop there.” Dusk replies, cutting her off. “This is a consequence of years of being made to feel like the world sees you as nothing more than a mistake.”

“But—“ Crystal says before being cut off. “Storm doesn’t even know you! You could just be ly—“

“Crystal.” Dusk says firmly. “From the time you first saw me with Storm, all you’ve shown is an enormous amount of disrespect. What is with that?”

“I-I…”

For the first time in a while, Crystal is at a loss for words. But I have a reason why.

I look at Dusk and gesture towards myself. He nods, letting me do the explaining.

“What are you even doing??” Crystal asks, confused.

“You’ll see.” I say. She raises an eyebrow. We stand in silence.

*I have a story for you on the way we treat the older citizens in this town.* I say telepathically.

*Go ahead*. Dusk says.

My aunt and my grandmother are both redheads like me. Both were guardians, but since their town thought they didn’t need them, both snuck out and protected other parts of the world. My mom didn’t know where they went. Others thought they died. I wanted so badly to find them.

But no one would let me. I loved them so much. Periodically I’d dreamvisit them.

But this town is too scared to open up and let me go.

I wish I could live in a place where I can just live my life and not be hated.

A place where everyone is respected. Not a place where kids and teenagers are underestimated and the elder population are left sitting bored to tears in their houses all day with nothing to do and are seen as having no value or shipped off to facilities.

I wish I was loved.

But it’s so hard to feel when there was barely any.

I sit up, and Dusk hugs me again. “I’m so sorry it’s like this for you.” He says.

A jolt of anger and sorrow makes me jump slightly.

“I think someone needs you, Dusk.” I whisper. “I know who it is.”

I hear Opal’s angry thoughts in my head. She’s easy to read due to her knowing me, but it’s harder for those she doesn’t know to hear her mind.

“Opal needs you.”

Dusk closes his eyes, his gem flashes, he winces, and opens them.

“I can’t read her.” He says, shaking his head. “It’s like her mind has a thorny burning wall around it. Can you help her?”

“I’ll try.” I reply.

We both go silent.

*Opal*. I call out telepathically. *Opal*, *it’s* *me*.

*“What DO YOU **WANT??**”* she replies. I feel a slight burn deep inside from the flames.

*I want to help you. Please let me help you.*

*“Why? What will you do? Here’s to hoping it can help me nurse the wound I got from being dragged by a couple of meat headed idiots at school today.”*

*It will. I promise it will! Please let us help you. Let Dusk in. He really cares about you.*

*“You met Dusk?”* Opal asks.

*Yes! I promise. He really is here with us.*

I feel the wall lower. It seems like Opal is even a bit excited.

*“I really like Dusk.”* Opal says. “*He’s quite nice.”*

*Me* *too*. I reply. *He* *is*.

*“When I walked home from school, I stopped at his house to have tea once.”*

*That must be a good time.*

*“Can I talk to him?”*

*Sure*.

We walk down a hallway. Inside, I hear muttering. It sounds like pieces of…heavy metal lyrics?

“Wow. It seems like she really likes metal music.” Dusk says.

“She deals with really strong emotions, particularly anger. Angry at herself. Angry at us. Angry at the world. But she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. So Opal deals with it by doing intense vocal exercises and screams to heavy metal music for up to three hours. We’ve gotten calls from the neighbors thinking someone is going insane. She sometimes sings them in her head, but can accidentally come out of her head when she sometimes makes growling noises and sings pieces of what she hears in her head. Although she quickly stops once she realizes she’s not alone.”

“Poor Opal.” Dusk says softly. He knocks on Opal’s front door.

“Hey Opal. It’s Dusk. We’re here for you if you want to talk.”

I feel her hesitate, then the door opens a crack, but it’s enough for me to see her whole face.

She looks exhausted, and…*sad*.

She gestures towards us to come in. Once we enter, she closes the door behind us.

Normally Opal’s eyes are obscured by her bangs. She hides every hint of emotion in plain sight. Normally only one side of her bangs covers her face, to trick people into thinking she only has one eye color, but if she takes a big blow to her trust in people, she hides them completely. My mother’s side of the family doesn’t really know her. They see her with her eyes obscured, and try to brush her hair out of the way for the sake of “not being rude” they get a hand slapped away and are told by her to “stay away.” They don’t listen and she is told she is “impolite”.

She’s not. She’s only protecting herself from those she keeps her distance from. Mom’s family doesn’t give off good energy. Opal can feel it.

“Everything okay?” Dusk asks quietly. Opal looks up at him, and brushes her hair away from covering her eyes. They’re both reddened from silently weeping. She blinks her purple and blue eyes up at Dusk. Even though she remains expressionless, we can both see the hidden sorrow and anger behind her eyes.

“Not really.” She replies. Her usual flat tone is tinged with anger. “Metalbanging helps a bit. All the growling and screaming is worth it.”

“So that’s why you’ve been doing all those vocal exercises. At least you care about your health in some way, shape or form.” Dusk says.

“Do you sing?” Opal asks.

“In church, sometimes.” Dusk replies.

“You go to church?”

“Hey, I’ve gotta have some spiritual connection. And besides, it lifts people’s spirits.” Dusk replies. “Started going during the 70s. It recreates the same sense of connection my friends had back in the 17, 18, and 1900s. You can come with me when you visit next time. The world outside is nothing like your town. Everyone is just treated as the people they are. It isn’t dominated by superstition.”

“I’d like to go.” Opal replies. “I wish I could just live. That’s all.”

“Then go, we shall.” Dusk replies. Opal scoots towards him. He kisses her on the cheek. A faint smile appears on her face.

Dusk makes everything better. I see how much he cares about us. I see how much he cares about Opal. The most joy I’ve seen her express was whenever she would go out and visit with Dusk.

We all stand up and exit Opal’s room. It’s still familiar to me, the wall plastered in heavy metal posters, lanterns, the occasional dream catcher, and a stack of cassette tapes. Opal’s bed is covered in blankets and several sad looking pillows. Her clean clothes are in a pile in the corner of the room, while her dirty laundry sits in a basket.

It’s exactly the same as last time. For now we’re going to have to say goodbye to this room.

“Adiós to this heathens of an abode.” Opal says, chuckling. “Wow. I can’t believe I actually get to go somewhere with my four favorite people.”

“Opal…” I look into her eyes. “This isn’t just for an adventure. This is also to find someone very important to us.”

“Who is it?” She asks.

“Our sister Ember. I know you’ve only heard stories, but this time, you get to meet her.”

Opal pauses. “I-I…I get to meet my sister. Oh gosh I can’t believe this…Hate to admit it, but I’m a bit of a fan.”

We both hug, and Dusk takes Opal’s hand. We walk through the hallway and into the living room, and are about to head for the door when Astra and Crystal stop us. Opal once again obscures her eyes with her bangs.

“Hold on, where are all of you going, and why is Opal with you?” Astra says. Crystal stares at Opal and attempts to brush her bangs out of her eyes. “Opal, what is it with this habit of yours? You know it’s not polite, and you won’t be able to see properly.”

She reaches towards Opal, who lunges towards her and violently slaps Crystal’s hand away. A tiny tendril of smoke emanates from Opal’s hand.

“I can see you and your overinflated ego just fine.” Opal snarls. “My face and hair are off limits to you.”

“Wow. You have quite the mouth for a 10 year old.” Crystal says.

“Shut up.” Opal says.

“Yeah. Leave Opal alone. She’s gone through too much today.” Adne says. “Let her do what she pleases.”

Crystal flashes us a dirty look.

“Anyway, we’ll be on our way. We’re looking for Storm’s sibling Ember.” Dusk says. “She’ll be able to help Storm train, and might help fix this town and that stubborn superstition story of theirs.”

“You can’t search for someone who is dead.” Astra says.

Adne, Dusk, Andromeda, Opal, and I collectively sigh.

“She’s not dead.” I say, showing Astra my message wall with Ember. “She’s alive and well and has a few words for you once she stops by here.”

“I’m allergic to liars.” Opal says flatly. “You and Crystal included.”

Astra and Crystal scoff angrily. Mom steps in between us.

“Let them go.” She says. “This is important to them.”

“Fine.” Astra and Crystal grumble. They back away, and we exit the house and Mom unlocks the minivan in front of the garage. It makes a small clicking noise.

We pile into the car, with Andromeda at the passenger’s seat, Ariadne at the wheel, Opal on the left, me in the middle, and Dusk on the right next to me.

The car roars to life, but before we go, Mom leaves us a message.

“Stay safe.” She says. “Also since Dad is working late, say hi to him for me. He was always crazy about the whole adventuring thing. He also has something to tell you, Storm.”

I nod. She waves, and we drive off.

I stare up into the night sky, into the glow of two moons, and see the faint outline of the big dipper. So many clusters, so much light, so little time.

I remember that every night, Ember would take me up to the rooftop of our house, long after everyone had gone to bed. It’s a memory that will forever live in my head rent free. In addition to loving elemental fire, I had and still have a love for the stars. Not many have the ability of astral travel, but if I did, I’d explore the hell out of it, but they keep saying it’s too hard. It’s not. From what I’ve seen when my aunt and sister demonstrated it to me, the whole process of learning this power is exploration in itself.

It was fun, even when I was almost caught and lied my way out of being chewed out.

Here’s to hoping I can relive that memory, or perhaps make a new one, because the stars are where my soul belongs.

I realize that with all this knowledge, I can still learn this. Even though it’s often forbidden for us to cross the border from our town into the rest of the world, I’ve always had this urge to go through that border, and see what Summerwood has to offer. Even though people say it is not safe, the border is guarded by huge groups of trees. No enchantment, no guards, just a big honking forest. The reason the town thinks the forest will stop people from leaving is because they’ll get lost, but I’ve snuck there before secretly, and for some reason I always find a way back, almost like some little compass inside my brain is guiding me. I don’t remember it consciously. My body does.

I don’t know how this is possible.

Then I am hit with waves of emotion.

A vision of an egg hatching.

Something calls out a name.

*Luma*.

*Luma*.

*Hello, Luma.*

I see the small innocent face of a little infant creature.

Out of nowhere, I retrieve a piece of paper and a pen, and rapidly scribble out a note. I hear a voice inside of me that sounds like my own and a slightly older version of me layered onto each other.

*Dear future self, however far away you may be, and little sea mermaid child I saw in my vision,*

Future self, keep the sea baby safe. If you find her, love her as much as you can. Have her trust you. You are her mother and her greatest love when the one who hatched her gave her up because it was the only safe option for her.

Future me. Please give Luma a life she’ll never forget. I have people I love, and Luma is another chance for someone to give love to, and a chance for me teach them everything about the world, both good and bad.

Now that I’m writing this, fate is showing itself as we speak.

Be safe out there, future me.

Then I feel Dusk’s hand on my shoulder.

“Everything okay?” He whispers. “You looked like you were in a trance for a sec.”

“I had a vision from my future self.” I say. “Then I heard their voice saying a name. Then somehow without my control, I started writing something without even knowing. It was like my body compelled me to do it while my mind had no idea.”

The car stops in front of a medium sized house lit by dim orbs. It doesn’t look that welcoming on the outside, but we’ll take our chances.

We make our way up the front walk, and Adne is about to ring the doorbell, but hesitates.

“Are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this? What if Alex isn’t home?”

“Just give me a chance.” I say, ringing the doorbell twice.

We wait. Silence settles around us.

I knock on the door 4 times.

We wait some more. Then I hear the sound of faint footsteps coming from inside the house.

Adne freezes.

The door opens slowly, and I see Alex in human form peer through the crack. Even though their entire face isn’t seen, I can see the lines and exhaustion on their face.

They’ve seen some things. A faint jagged scar is slashed upon part of their face. Their right eye is still purple, but cloudy and opaque in the center, like part of it is dead. Alex’s short curly hair is messy, and fuzzy slightly scruffy facial hair shows on their chin and jawbone.

“You rang?” Alex asks, a grumble in their voice. “What the hell d’ you want? I haven’t had a chance to sleep properly since the mission two days ago that involved getting people away from a half destroyed town. If you want help, either make it quick or tell me who you are that way I have a reason to do this.”

“Sir, it’s Storm.” I say. “Remember me?”

Alex squints slightly. “Yeah. I know you. We dream spoke once.”

“Oh…” I say hopefully. “By the way…what happened to your eye? You look like you’ve…s-seen things.”

I stifle a laugh.

“Poisoned.” Alex mutters. “It took my vision in one eye. If I hadn’t been saved I wouldn’t be here. That’s just one price to pay but I’m grateful.”

They gesture towards the hall, and we enter the house. As we sit down on a nearby couch, Alex pours a small cup of tea.

“So, what brings you here?” They ask.

“I’m trying to find my sister Ember.” I reply. “She ran away a long time ago.”

“I remember her.” Alex chuckles. “She secretly used to be one of my students. Until that incident, that is.”

Wait.

WHAT?

How?

I can’t believe this.

Alex knew all along. About what was going on with Ember. How she ran away. And they had been too busy to break it to us.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t trust him. At least he’ll still help us find her, even if it means taking the biggest risk of all.

Leaving the safety and familiarity (and superstitious gossip about me) of this town.

This messy place.

And I’m more than happy to get high off of finally abandoning those who hurt me for good.

Dusk steps inside, and sits on the couch, and Alex pours him a cup of tea.

He stirs in some honey, and gently sets the cup beside him.

“Dusk.” Alex says quietly. “I did not know you’d be accompanying them. It’s been so long since I last saw you.”

“Indeed.” Dusk chuckles softly. “Now I’m also here to ask what you know about Ember. What was the last thing she said before the incident?”

“Well, I remember that when she stopped by, she was unusually anxious and had a duffel back on her. When I asked her what was going on, she was unusually vague about it, so I began to worry. She seemed super anxious, and seemed like she was in a hurry to do something.” Alex says.

“What exactly was it?” I ask.

“Ember has the ability to predict events before they happen. She knew that Storm would have trouble awaiting. Even though Ember has gone missing, she knows that Mom’s side of the family are all mad at her for nothing. Some deny her existence, while others are holding grudges so bad they want her hide. So it’s why she fled.”

I sigh. “My family is *crazy*. Going out for blood when a kid doesn’t conform to some messed up standards. Who else has a connection to my sister?”

“I’m sorry it hurts so much for you.” Dusk says. “Your town needs serious help, but someone I know who Ember also knows is this kid named Nicole They were childhood friends. She’s one of my godchildren (I have many), and she happens to be one of the curators of my museum, and has the ability to open portals to other worlds or other locations in this world. The night Ember ran away, Nicole said she felt a weird sad feeling inside her soul. Their bond is so strong that they can feel each other’s presence, and at that moment, Nic knew something wasn’t right. Not about Ember, or the town, so she too packed her things, and both her and Ember don’t live here, but since Nic is the only one here who can open portals, they’re the only one I know the whereabouts of, but sadly she can’t find Ember. Even though their minds are linked, they haven’t told her anything, and the only downside is that Nic needs to know what or where a location is in order to portal into it.”

“So does that mean our operation is null and void?” I ask.

“No. We just need to see if Nic can link back up with Ember so we can communicate properly. I’m not an expert with oracle related stuff yet but you should ask her.” Dusk says.

He pauses, and his phone vibrates. He sets it down, and moments later, an image of someone appears in front of him. The girl on the other end appears to be in her early 20s. Her hair is short and messy, and she has a toned, muscled build. One arm is extended as she holds the camera out in front of her. She appears to be sitting on a chair with partially stuffed pillows.

“Well, if it isn’t Nicole the portalgeist! How are you?” Dusk chuckles.

“It’s been a long time.” She replies. “Also, call me Nic. It seems you have some new faces with you. Now what do you need? I’m here to help.”

“I need help finding Ember.” I say. “Please. Even if you can’t open a portal to her, I just want you to help me link to her. At least try.”

Nic’s face saddens. “I know you, and what you’ve gone through. Perhaps you can get through to her, since Ember loves you so much.”

“Maybe.” I say. “Can we try talking to her?”

“You can try. She hasn’t seen you in years, so it might be easy since she’s been thinking about you since the day she ran away.” Nic replies.

“Take my hand.” I say. “Maybe I’ll be able to link you too.”

We both close our eyes, but instead of a face appearing or hearing a voice like I usually do, we’re both left with the sensation of floating in a dim, quiet void.

Where is she?

I can’t feel her. Then I remember that the void only appears when the person you’re talking to has closed themselves off.

Or they’ve been hurting and holding it in for years.

That’s what’s been going on with Ember. She was in pain, and didn’t want to tell me. But it was because she didn’t want me to worry.

But in the end I still want to know.

I feel myself walk through the void, footsteps sloshing through nonexistent puddles.

Where is she?

Did she die?

Did she get lost in another realm, or is she simply too emotionally wounded to ever attempt telepathy?

I walk through the void, calling her name.

There is silence, then crowds of whispers of the voices of the minds in this void.

Then one of the whispers is someone I recognize.

“Spitfire sister.” I hear them say.

It’s Ember. She’s in there.

“Ember?” I whisper. “Ember, is that you?”

“Little spitfire.” I hear sloshing footsteps, and see the tired, disheveled short haired figure that is my sister. She’s been running, pining for me.

“Oh my god.” I run to her. The walls crash down. “It’s you. It’s really you!”

“Oh lord, Storm, I thought you were dead!” Ember sobs, her American accent once again melting into the same slightly heavy British one my family speaks in.

“You crazy idiot, I thought you were dead!” I shoot back, laughing. “But honestly, thanks to your girlfriend plus Dusk, I wouldn’t be here. I want to change my home for the better, but also find a new one.”

“I’ll help you in any way I can.” Ember says. Their tone grows sad. “But right now, I’m too far away to physically reach you.”

“How can you get here? Can you teleport?” I ask.

“Nope. Never learned how.” Ember sighs.

“Where is your body?” I ask.

“My body is in a tiny apartment in central Summerwood.” Ember replies. “Sitting with my back against a pile of couch cushions with my eyes closed.”

Ember closes her eyes, and whispers flood into my head.

“What was that?” I ask.

“My address. I gave you a bit of my memories. You’ll be able to find me. Except you’re going to have to leave town.”

“You’re saying I get to finally escape this mess?” I ask.

“Yeah. I’m not kidding. Though emotionally you haven’t. You’ll need serious therapy.” Ember says. Her mind form flickers. “Oh god. I’m going to have to leave. I’ve been waiting here for an hour and I don’t have much experience with mental projection. Do you?”

“Sort of.” I reply. “Dusk can go longer. About 10 hours.”

“Speaking of Dusk, how is he? Man, I miss him so much. Can’t wait to give him a big hug once I get the chance to see you guys again.”

“About the hug part, that might not be easy.” I say.

“How come?”

“Well, he’s 6 months pregnant.”

“He’s having a baby? I didn’t know. Though him being more tired than usual was probably a clue I could’ve caught on to. I can’t wait to see it when it’s born.” Ember says. Their form flickers once again. “Anyway. I have to go. Tell Nic and Dusk I send my love! Goodbye Storm.” Ember hugs me.

Her form fades. I let myself fall into the void, and I open my eyes, back in the waking realm once again.

## Dusk’s POV

Storm opens her eyes and faces me.

“Is Ember all right?” I ask, placing a hand on Storm’s shoulder.

“She is.” Storm replies quietly. “She’s just really far away right now. Even though she’s doing…okay, I’m still really worried. I hope we get to leave town, but both Nic and I miss her dearly.”

“My child.” I say softly. “Your sister is strong. She’s been able to be strong for you. She had faith in you when you were young, and she still does now. Even years later.”

I feel movement inside of me as Storm hesitantly nods.

“It looks like the child agrees with you.” Ariadne says.

We all laugh.

“Indeed.” I chuckle. “Her time will come soon enough.

“How do you know who’s growing inside?” Nic asks.

“You find ways. Plus she is a telepath, like me, and I’ve seen glimpses of her here and there. We’re all waiting for the time we get to meet her.” I reply.

“We all are.” Storm nods.

I hope we’re right. Deep down inside she is waiting.

We are all waiting for something.

With Storm, she hopes she can find a safe place not riddled with prejudice.

Nicole wants to reunite with Ember.

We are all waiting for something.

For me, I hope we can all be together, as chosen family, Storm, Ariadne, Opal, Ember, Nicole and I.

And I hope all can be well enough for me to give birth safely.

I hope this child arrives alive and well.

“Where did Ember say she was?” I ask.

“In an apartment. She said that’s where her body is. It’s in Central Summerwood, which is not far from here.” Ariadne says. “I can still drive you over there. Then we can find a place to stay the night.”

“Do you know her address?” Nic asks.

“I-I…” Storm trails off. “Not really. Maybe I should ask her.”

Then Storm freezes. Her breathing quickens.

“*Shit*. Shit shit. Not again.” She panics. “OH GOD WHY IS THIS ALWAYS HAPPENING?”

“Uh oh.” Nic says quietly. Her computer turns off, and moments later, she materializes in front of us, and rolls her wheelchair up to Storm, placing a hand on her trembling body.

“Hey.” Nic whispers. “Stormy? You all right?”

“I-I haven’t slept well. It seems like people always want me gone. Or want to make me something I’m not! Their sick twisted versions of me! I’m done for. I’ve spent years resisting them, but now, after years of hiding, I just…wanna give up, show them what they wanna see. Do their stupid little dance.” Storm pants in between sobs.

Nic’s expression saddens, and she gently hugs her strong body against Storm’s.

“Your mind…” she says, her voice cracking slightly. “Damn, what a mess. That crazy town? We need to get your butt out of there. But first, here. If you’re willing, let’s touch foreheads.”

“W-why?” Storm asks.

“I’m going to help calm you down. You need peace of mind, because you cannot keep running off of adrenaline alone, baby. I know this is hard for you, but at least let me in.” Nic replies.

“…A-Alright…” Storm says tiredly. “Just end my sorrow. Please.”

“Hold still please. I can’t end things, but I can make them hurt less. That’s just how it is.” Nic says gently.

“Okay.” Storm whispers. “Do your thing.”

Nic moves onto a nearby couch, and sits Storm down next to her. They touch foreheads, and Nic closes her eyes.

“Now.” She whispers. “Close your eyes, and just feel.”

Storm closes her eyes, and the energy in the room changes. A strange soft thrumming and tinkling floats around us. Storm”: eyes and gem glow red, and Nic’s gem and eyes glow a soft purple, with celestial and psychic energy floating through her gentle touch on Storm’s torn down mindscape.

“Breathe deeply.” Nic whispers. “I will not let go of you. You need an anchor, after years of being lost at sea.”

The room goes silent.

“I need you to focus your attention on the love given to you, by Dusk, by Ariadne, by Opal, by me, by Ember, and most importantly,

Yourself. That is a love most powerful. It is also the same with hatred. But you must not let it dominate your life, or your mind.

Let go. Put your armor down for now, and let everything settle back into place for a bit.”

Time passes, and Storm’s body lies still.

Her eyes open.

“Are you all right?” Nic asks.

“It feels like a weight’s been lifted from my chest.” Storm whispers. “I feel a bit better, like things are quieter, but not entirely. I can manage. But I also just want to sleep.”

“Hold on, you may say you have a handle on things, but I’m going to stick around, because I have knowledge on these kinds of things.” Nic says. “You have a form of psychic and mental overload. A few of these sessions with me and Dusk will help.”

She turns to me. “Should we bring these three back to Summerwood, sir?”

“Certainly.” I nod. “There’s room in a hotel nearby. You guys may stay there for a while. We all need some decent sleep.”

Nic nods, and leans down to kiss Storm on the forehead. She stands up, wobbling slightly, and stretches, taking a few stiff footsteps across the room and back before sitting back down in her chair. She releases the brake, and rolls into a nearby bedroom to change clothes.

“Let’s sleep here tonight.” She yawns. “We’ll drive tomorrow.”

I really need to use my crutches more often. I hear her say.

“Let’s all turn it.” I say, heading into a room downstairs.

“Thank god.” Alex mutters. “Sleep…Finally. Don’t worry if I’m not up by 9:50 tomorrow. I’m gonna go crash now.”

“All right.” Storm says. “Nic, is it all right if I bunk with you?”

She laughs. “Of course it is. I trust you.”

## Storm’s POV

We walk into the room, and she throws a mattress onto the floor. It even has a duvet as well.

Thank god. I can actually sleep tonight.

“Storm, come to me.” Nic says quietly. “I want to see something. Please give me your arm.”

“Why?” I ask.

“My psychic powers give me the ability to measure people’s health.”

“Really??” I ask. “How?”

“I need a small bit of your blood. I mix it in with this special serum, and put a bit of your birthstone in. You need to complete one last step before I perform the ritual.” She replies.

“What is it?”

“Here. Piss in this cup for me.”

“Wh—WHY??” I say loudly.

“Stormy, shhhh!” Nic says firmly. Her accent fades back into a British accent . “Look, if you want peace of mind, just take a wee in this cup, okay? It’s really not that hard. Boy, that mental wall you have around yourself if going to take a while to work through.”

“Fine, fine.” I mumble. “Is it okay if I do this in the bathroom?”

“Sure, sure.” Nic replies.

I close the bathroom door behind me, and set the cup next to the toilet.

What exactly is so important about peeing in a cup for some stupid ritual anyway? Maybe Nic can just do this ritual thing without me peeing in this cup anyway.

“I heard you!” Nic says from outside the bathroom. “It’s important. The spell won’t work if you don’t pee in the cup! Trust me, Storm. It’s not hard! Do it for your health. Don’t be so squeamish.”

“How the hell did you hear me thinking to myself?” I ask.

“Never underestimate someone who is both an innate telepath and has psychic abilities, Storm cloud.”

I groan loudly, and shakily try to aim for the cup. Most of the pungent liquid makes it in, filling it halfway. After I close the cup, the business has been done.

After I wash my hands, I exit, and hand Nic the cup. She nods, and a satisfied smile shows at the corner of her mouth.

“There. Was that worth making a big deal over?” She says. “Honestly, it seems like you’ve been like this for years. I can see why, but that’s no excuse to treat anyone badly. I’m trying to help you, but you’re raising your hackles over nothing. I understand you’re hurting inside, but that’s no excuse to be an arsehole to the people who want to help you. I do want to help, but you’re not making this easy. Understood?”

I sigh. “Fine, you win. I mean, it’s clear you love me, Opal, and Ari just as much as my sister does.”

Nic laughs. “Hell, of course I do! We’ve been friends for probably 12 years now. There’s no way I naturally wouldn’t care about you too! Your little sis included.”

“12 years…” I pause. “Remind me, how old are you again?”

“I’m 24.” Nic replies. “My birthday’s only 4 months before Ember’s. Honestly, speaking of birthdays, with everything going on right now, I haven’t even had time to think about that.”

“That’s too bad.” I say sadly. “Maybe we can attempt something after we get out of here and find a good place for me and Ari to live.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Nic says, yawning. “Aaaagh, I’m getting tired. I think we should turn in. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“All right.” I reply. “But please if you’re okay with this, if I can’t sleep will you talk to me? At least telepathically?”