The Revealing
Chapter 9

I didn’t feel safe going toward this unknown voice, especially with what had just happened, but I did anyway. I walked around a few bookshelves to replace an older-looking man sitting in a chair.

“Welcome. I have been expecting you.”

I wasn’t afraid of this man. In fact, I was almost certain this was all some kind of prank the others were pulling on me. Perhaps in reality, it was completely normal to have more than one gift, and they were all just pretending as if it were a big deal. Then they’d disappear and gotten this guy to sit in a chair and say the line that had been said in hundreds of stories throughout the ages: “I’ve been expecting you.” If only he had a white cat on his lap, it would have made this scene much more meaningful, I thought. “Oh, really?” I said. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

He chuckled. “Sarcasm—I wouldn’t really have expected that from you, but I guess you got that trait from your mother.”

“You don’t know my mother. If you do, then you don’t really know me that well, because I definitely don’t know you.”

He laughed again. “You are definitely your mother’s daughter. You have the same spunk inside of you that was so well known by all of us when she was still alive.”

Us? Now curiosity was stirring inside me, but I didn’t want to trust this stranger, especially when everyone had coincidentally disappeared. “Okay, so let’s say you do know my mother. Who exactly are you?”

His smile widened as if he were in on some kind of joke that he excluded me from. “Don’t you remember me? I’m your uncle Jack, your mother’s older brother.”

Immediately, a flash of memory sparked in my mind at the name Uncle Jack.

“Honey, this is Uncle Jack. He is going to look after you and Mason while your father and I go to the movies.”

I looked up at the tall man with a big, round gut that hung just above my head. He had fuzzy grey hair sprouting out of the sides of his head but not the top. He was wearing a colourful tie, even though he wasn’t going out, and he had a big nose, tiny eyes hidden by a few wrinkles and a round head. The top of his head was shiny and reflected the light, and he had a fuzzy beard that stuck out of his chin—the kind of beard that I knew would tickle my face when he hugged me.

“Hello down there! Obsidian, last time I saw you, you were this tall.” He put his hand at his shoulder and laughed a deep baritone laugh like Santa Claus. It occurred to me that this was the relative to play Santa at Christmas; he already had the belly.

“Hello, Uncle Jack.”

My uncle laughed and tousled my hair. My mother put her hand on my back and guided me toward the door. “All right, Obsidian, go play with Mason in your room. Uncle Jack and I need to have a little talk.”

I’d almost forgotten that Mason was standing beside me the entire time. I grabbed his arm and pulled him. “Let’s go play dress up!” I squealed.

I loved to torment Mason with my costumes and make-believe storylines. Mason groaned but followed my insistent pull of his arm reluctantly.

After that day, I saw Uncle Jack periodically. Usually, he would come to have secret talks with my parents. After the first time I met him, he would always bring me a box of cinnamon hearts and tell me not to eat it all in one place. He would always tell me cheesy jokes, and when my parents died, he was the only one at the funeral who didn’t look at me as if I were a lost puppy. He treated me the exact way I needed to be treated. He didn’t change his tone of voice with me. He told me he knew it was sad but said there was always a box of cinnamon hearts around, and he gave me the last box I ever got from him. That was the last time I ever saw him.

Uncle Jack stood up and spread out his arms, awaiting the hug that I was definitely going to give him. I almost tackled him back into his chair. He was still tall. I hugged him, and his fuzzy grey beard tickled my cheek.

“Uncle Jack! I have missed you and your crazy tie. What happened to it?” I took a step back and realized he was wearing a black bow tie.

“It got destroyed, unfortunately. I think your aunt had something to do with it.”

I laughed, remembering how much she hated that tie. “What a shame. So what exactly are you doing here?”

“What? I need a reason to come visit my own niece?”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t come unless you are needed or you have your own reasons for showing up. I don’t think we are in need of a babysitter at the moment, so what is your reason?”

He chuckled. “Just as perceptive as your mother. Yes, in fact, you are right; there is a reason for my returning, although I haven’t seen you since you were this tall.” He pointed to the seven-foot ceiling and then went on. “I know that you have been noticing things lately, noticing new things.”

I nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“And those new things called to me,” he said.

My eyes widened.

“You see, a family connection is a very strong thing, Obsidian. For example, I feel another member of the family in this very house.”

My heart almost flew out of my chest. “We have more family?”

His eyes widened. “You mean you don’t feel it? I was hoping you already knew who it was. I’m not a locater guardian, so I won’t be able to replace her. All I know is that she is female, and she has a very strong gift—something I have never felt before.”

I thought back to all my interactions with the girls in the home but recalled nothing out of the ordinary. I thought again, and then it hit me—only once had I ever had a vision about something, and that vision had involved the little girl who was sleeping in my bed. I turned around abruptly at the sound of the door squeaking open. A little head popped into the room. It was the little girl.

“Peridot!” My uncle jumped up and ran to pick up the little girl.

“Daddy!” she screamed with excitement.

Hold on. Daddy? I looked from my uncle to the little girl and then back to my uncle again. I could see the resemblance, and I guessed that was why she had a strong gift—because she was related to me.

“I know what you are thinking, Obsidian. How could an old guy like me make such a cute little girl like this?”

I laughed, and so did she as he poked her nose.

“So your name is Peridot, hmm?” I said.

She looked at me with guilt in her eyes. “Yes, it is. Sorry that I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t know how to say it.” She hadn’t seemed afraid to tell me; she had seemed as if she didn’t want to say anything at all, not even her name.

She sounded like a fairy. I stared at her, starting to feel the connection I had to her. “Wait—did you know who I was when you came here?”

She shook her head. “No, but I did feel your emotion. It’s one of my gifts.”

My eyes widened. “How many gifts do you have?”

My uncle patted her head and replied for her. “Well, the thing is that since she is young, we don’t know how many she will have, but so far, she has three: super speed, the power to heal others and herself, and the gift of feeling other people’s emotions. The last one is something that isn’t steady; she can feel when someone around her is trustworthy by the intention of their emotions.”

I nodded, turned toward her and then looked at my uncle again. “Does she have any brothers? ’Cause apparently, the Halflings are born with a brother first.”

He looked at me as if the answer were obvious, and I felt stupid that I had asked that question, because I realized that if she’d had any, they would have been fighting her attackers earlier.

“No, she doesn’t. She is a lot like you in that way. The only difference is that she does not have a guardian, and I can’t do that for her. You have Mason to watch over you, and I”—he paused—“can’t do that anymore.”

I looked at him and realized the reason: she must have been a beacon for all of the elders and their followers, the same as I was, for some reason. We were special, but I didn’t know why or what we were supposed to do about it.

“Well, since I helped you two get to know each other, I must be going,” Uncle Jack said.

Before I could protest, he faded out and disappeared. I gasped. I picked Peridot up and brought her with me to go replace Mason, Willow, Car and Damian. We walked around for what felt like about 10 minutes, and then I put her down because my arms were starting to ache. She took my hand immediately, holding it tightly with her tiny little fingers. I asked her if she could sense anyone around.

“My gift doesn’t work like that. It’s more like I can feel if someone is planning to hurt me, but the reason Daddy said it’s not steady is because it doesn’t always work.”

I sighed. More walking around searching. Yay.

“Sorry I couldn’t help.” Suddenly, she stiffened.

I looked at her, and her eyes widened as she crept closer to me. I looked around to see what she was seeing, but there was nothing around. Maybe she felt something. “What is it?” I asked.

She started, as if she had just come out of a trance, and she looked up at me and smiled. “Nothing.”

Her smile looked strained. Maybe she was remembering something. Oh well. Unless she decided to tell me, I wasn’t going to force it out of her. We turned the corner and walked into the cafeteria. Her stomach grumbled in response to the smell of food, and I realized she probably hadn’t had anything to eat in a while. I realized that in order for there to be prepared food, someone must have been there to make it. Then it hit me.

“They’re in the kitchen!”

I picked up Peridot and brought her with me into the kitchen. There was a whole table full of lasagna, and there were plates stacked and ready for serving. After taking a slice of lasagna and handing it to Peridot, I sat her by the counter, and she happily devoured what I had offered her. I took a step into the other room, keeping an eye on Peridot, and saw all four of them sitting in the kitchen lounge, discussing and drinking. I felt my blood boil. Peridot fidgeted in the other room. She could sense my anger. I walked into the room, telling Peridot not to wander off too far, and I shut the door behind me.

“What is the matter with you guys?”

They all stiffened as if they hadn’t heard me stomp into the room. Mason was the first to speak.

“We figured that you would be busy with the USB and that you would want to stay with the little girl.”

“Since you are not a child, you can handle being on your own, can’t you?” said Damian.

Willow smacked his arm for the rude comment. I rolled my eyes and made an angry sound at the back of my throat. “Of course I’m not a child! But you could have at least told me where you were going! What if something bad had happened? What if I’d figured something out? What if the USB contained a tracking device?”

They all looked worried, and Willow looked at me with guilt and regret in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Obsidian. I should have stayed with you, but it has been so long since I’ve been able to relax. I know that is not an excuse, but when you are always stressed, sometimes it’s nice to get off the radar, you know?”

I was infuriated—not because of what Willow said but because she was the one to say it. This elf-like girl wanted a break from everything, and I didn’t get one. It wasn’t fair. Yet I let it slide.

“Why are you so worked up anyway, Bun?” Damian said.

Bun? I arched my eyebrow and narrowed my eyes at Damian. Only he would replace a way to ask a simple question and piss me off at the same time.

However, I let out an even breath and then took another one and spoke. “Well, while I was looking at the USB, I noticed that every single one of my paintings, drawings, and doodles happened later on in real life, and when I went to tell you that, you were gone. You just disappeared. I was frantic. I thought some kind of elders or something got you guys.”

Damian chuckled under his breath. “No elder can get in, and even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to get anyone with me around.”

“Cocky, are we?” I said.

“Why, yes, we are.” He smiled his big, stupid smile.

I narrowed my eyes again. “Anyway, I went to go replace you, and I found my uncle instead, just chilling in the library. I had a nice chat with him, and during this chat, I found out something interesting. One, the little girl’s name is Peridot; two, she doesn’t have any protectors and brothers; and three, she is my cousin.”

Mason took in a quick breath and seemed to hold it. Car stood up and finally, for the first time since I’d entered the room, looked at me, and Willow just smiled. Then Damian spoke. “Where is, uh, Peradot?” he said, mispronouncing her name.

I glared at him, even though this was a perfectly normal mistake to make. I just didn’t like him talking—at all. He’d pissed me off already today. It was funny how easy it was to get mad at him.

“Peridot,” I said, emphasizing the name for him, “is in the kitchen, having some lasagna.” I smiled, remembering how fast she had dug into the slice I had given her.

“All right then.” Damian sighed as he stood up from his seat, the last one to do so. “Let’s go check this little whippersnapper out, shall we?”

The look I gave him made him smirk at me in response. I turned around to go back into the kitchen, and as I came into the room, I found Peridot right where I’d left her. She smiled up at me with her face covered in lasagna. I smiled back.

“Well, I see the family resemblance,” Damian said.

Willow walked over and smacked Damian hard on the shoulder. “When are you going to learn to grow up, Damian?”

I narrowed my eyes at him and took the hand that Peridot was offering me to hold. Car squatted down so that he was at eye level with her, and a little gasp escaped her lips.

“Your eyes!” she said.

He smiled and chuckled.

“Are they real?” Her eyes were open so wide I thought they were going to pop out of her head.

“Yes, I know they are purple, and yes, they are real.” He crossed his purple eyes and stuck out his tongue. “See?”

She giggled. She clung to my leg with one arm, reached out and poked his cheek.

“So your name is Peridot, right?” Car said.

She nodded, holding her hand to her face, trying to cover her smile. He has such a way with people, I thought. I don’t think that anyone could not like him.

He reached over to her and tousled her hair. “That seems right.”

“What’s your name?” she said quickly before he had a chance to stand up. He looked at her. “My name is Car.”

She made a face. “I want to call you Purple,” Peridot blurted out, and Car tilted his head back and laughed a deep laugh from his gut that shook his whole body.

“All right then. Purple it is,” he said.

At that point, Peridot stopped clinging to my leg and began stepping closer to Car. Damian came over to me and stood behind me. She looked at him and took a step closer to Car. “I don’t like you.” She looked straight at Damian. He bent down the same way that Car had and tried to reason with her.

“You don’t know me.”

She nodded. “Yes, but I know how Obsidian feels, and I feel it too.” She crossed her arms and glared at him. She really did have a gift of connection.

Damian looked back at me, and I shrugged. “Hey, don’t blame me. Blame your jerkiness. It’s so pungent that I can smell it from here.” I pinched my nose and pretended to smell something bad, waving my hand in front of my face.

Peridot laughed. “You get it!”

I looked at her as she shrieked and jumped up and down. “I get what?” Her mood swing was astonishing.

“That’s how I can tell—people smell different.”

Oh! That is how she can tell to trust people. I guess it’s like the instinct in a dog that can smell fear. “What does Damian smell like?” I asked.

She mock sniffed the air. “He smells annoyed.”

I looked at him, and he looked flabbergasted; she was clearly correct with her prediction. Then Car put his hand on her back and started guiding her out of the room. “Well, we need to get everyone fed, so let’s go into the dining room.”

As we were walking out of the kitchen, I heard what sounded like a squeaky boot and turned around. Peridot’s small hand found mine. She was holding Car’s hand as well. I was stunned to see that each hand was connected to a separate body—there were two identical Peridots. I gasped and dropped her hand for a second but then picked it up again after a hurt look spread across her face. “Don’t worry. I was just surprised—that’s all,” I said. I squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back.

We walked into the dining room, and everyone else was sitting and waiting at the tables.

“Rose?” Willow called out, and a girl stood up.

“Yes?” She had a piercing in her eyebrow, as well as many piercings in each ear. Her hair was jet black with one pink streak on the side. She was shorter than I was but not by much, and her voice was deeper than mine was.

“Your table is on kitchen duty today, all right? Don’t go off and start playing until your kitchen duties are finished. Got that?” Willow sounded as if she were speaking to a child—one who didn’t listen often. She had the kind of tone a mother would use on a child who was just caught breaking rules.

“Yeah, yeah, we got it covered.” She sat down with an audible sigh. I looked over at her table as she talked in a lively manner with her group of friends.

“What is her gift?” I asked.

I looked at Willow, and she looked at me and smiled. “She can boil things. It’s really quite fascinating. I have seen her do it before, but sometimes she can’t control it, like when she gets stressed or frustrated or even too excited. Do you know how many melted pens we had to throw out while she would do her homework?”

I looked at her and chuckled. “That’s a pretty nifty thing to have around.”

Peridot had long ago forgotten about being two selves and shrunk back into herself. The one Peridot was now sitting beside me. Even after eating a whole slice of lasagna, she still wanted a lot more. I asked her how she managed to eat so much, and she laughed and said, “I split into two people sometimes, so I need to eat twice as much as I would regularly eat. Plus, it takes a lot of energy to do what I do.”

She seemed much older than she was. The way she spoke made her seem as if she were mentally my age. After we had dinner, I decided to bring Peridot to the bedroom to take a nap. I sat by my window and started to read a book I had borrowed from Willow, one I had been dying to read for weeks. On the front cover was a girl with glowing eyes. Her skin sparkled—not like a character in Twilight. Her skin was shiny, so reflective that it made people squint. The book was called Reflection. It was part of a series called Mirrors, which was about another world in the mirror of the girl’s room. The reflections had superpowers. I liked the series because the main girl reminded me of myself. She was plain and ordinary, yet she got picked for this adventure. Now, with the craziness of my life, this book was perfect for me.

I was about three chapters in, when I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. My door creaked open slowly—most likely because I’d sworn that if anyone woke Peri (which was what we’d decided to call her), I would blow a gasket. My muscles tensed when I saw Damian pop his head in through the crack in the door.

“Hey, Bunny.”

I looked up at him. He had a smile on his face. I was suspicious right away. “What do you want, jerk? I’m busy—can’t you see?”

He faked hurt in his eyes—at least it looked that way. I waved my book at him, showing him that I was reading.

“Jerk? Aw, Bunny, flattery will get you nowhere.” He smirked, and I turned back to my book. He came over and sat down next to me.

His arm was dangerously close to my leg propped up in the chair next to my La-Z-Boy. This closeness was too close for comfort. I didn’t want to move my leg, but I sighed and put my leg down. “Damian, what are you doing here?”

He smiled. “What? I can’t just want to spend time with you?”

I glared. “If spending time with me is all you want, you can leave. I’m reading, and I’m busy.”

His facial expression hardened for a split second. “Harsh. However, that is not the reason I came up here. I have better things to do with my life than sit here with you.”

Ouch. Even though I disliked him so much, what he said hurt. However, I was not going to show him any of my feelings. If he knew he had an effect on me, then he would use that to get to me. “So what do you want?” My voice wavered, and my eyes pooled. I hated how connected my fragile tear ducts were to anger.

His face softened. He looked sympathetic and said, “Oh, we were just wondering if you wanted to come play volleyball with us. We need one more player, and you’re one of the older girls, so it just seemed reasonable to ask you.”

My mouth dropped open slightly, but I closed it quickly and replied, “I don’t know how to play volleyball. I like to read, and I will get back to that if yo—”

“Don’t know how to play volleyball?”

I sighed. “Yeah, I was never taught. Mason wasn’t really the type to play sports with me. Apparently, my mom was good, but when she died, I refused to learn, so I would skip out on tryouts at my old school.”

He stood up and put his hand out. I looked at it for a little too long, deciphering what kind of code he had just placed in front of me.

“It’s a hand—you take it,” he said.

“Why?”

He rolled his eyes. I was questioning, but I took his hand, and he yanked me up. The force was so unexpected that I lost my balance and toppled into him awkwardly. My face turned beet red, and then I hit his chest, which, as I’d suspected, was strong and hard, though not bulging or broad like Car’s.

“What the heck is your problem?” He backed away, rubbing his chest, more surprised than offended. He smiled. It was a real smile.

“You scared me.” I shrugged.

He rolled his eyes again and walked out the door, expecting me to follow. It was difficult to follow either of the brothers, because their legs were so much longer than mine were, and their strides reached farther. I finally caught up to him at the end of the hallway.

“Where are we going? I’m not going to play. I already told you.” I was scowling at his back, hoping it would burn through him, but he didn’t seem moved. Too bad.

“You don’t know how to play, and that is tragic, so I’m going to teach you.”

There was a smile on his face; I could hear it in his voice. “You’re not going to pelt me with volleyballs and hope I hit one, right?”

I was joking, but there was some truth to my fear. I didn’t know what to expect when it came to Damian. He was a jerk, but sometimes his actions took me by surprise.

“Maybe.”

His tone had an edge that promised I would end up with bruises at the end of this adventure. I groaned.

“Aw, Bunny, suck it up. You’re going to have to learn from someone sometime. It might as well be someone who won’t take it easy on you.”

He turned to look at me and winked. He was such a jerk, but he was so attractive. The thing was, he was my type. Car was too broad. I had always liked lanky guys. However, Damian’s personality was not the type I liked, unfortunately.

“Okay, fine.”

I dismissed the look he gave me. We walked outside. The weather was still warm enough not to wear a jacket—that was, until it got dark. Remembering that night watching the garbage disposal reminded me of how cold it could get around there. I followed him into the backyard of the house. There was a volleyball court set up, and four people were already there: Mason, Willow, Car and a tall blond girl who looked about fourteen. She looked as if she would be good. I walked over, already feeling the embarrassment of failure before we even started.

Willow was wearing leggings and a loose T-shirt that clung to all the right places. She could look good even in gym clothes. I sighed. Go figure. Mason was wearing sweatpants and a black V-neck top. That was his typical outfit for sporty events such as this, and it suited his body type, tall and lean.

The way he looked at Willow, I knew he was just as caught up in her as all the guys at my school were. The only difference between him and them was that he had more of a chance. I liked the idea of Mason with Willow. Opposites attract, right? I thought. Willow was an upbeat, hyper type of girl who reminded me of a puppy, and Mason was a grounded, logical guy who reminded me of a sleepy cat. What could be more opposite than those two, other than Damian and me?

“Hello? Earth to Bunny.” Damian had been waving his hand in front of my face for about a minute now.

I was still dreading even trying to play. I thought the only thing I had gotten from my mom was my competitive nature. Even though I did not play sports, I was competitive in everything else. I smacked his hand away. “Okay, so how do you think you’re going to teach me to do anything anyway?”

He walked toward the net as I followed. Car was on one side of the net on his own, and Mason, Willow and the blond-haired girl were on the other. I walked after Damian, and when we reached the boundaries of the court, he turned around and whipped the ball at me. I smacked it with my hand, barely missing a chance to get a black eye. “What the heck!” I shot up my hand reflexively and deflected the ball, which went straight for Car’s head. I put my hands to my face, thinking he would be pissed that something coming from my direction hit him—again. To my surprise, he turned around and caught the ball right before it hit his face. He threw the ball back to me, and I flinched. Damian caught it right before it hit my nose.

“Can we stop playing hot potato and just start the game already?” the blond-haired girl yelled from the other side of the court. It was clear she was getting antsy.

Willow laughed, and Mason put his arm up for Damian to pass him the ball. Damian did, and Mason threw the ball into the air and smacked it with his palm, aiming right for me. The ball was too fast and was on a collision course with my face. As I’d predicted, the ball hit me in the face. I yelped and put my hand to my nose. “Mason! I think you broke my nose!”

Blood poured out of my nose as if it were a fountain with a leak. The colour drained from Mason’s face, and for a split second, no one moved, except for me. I was already walking over to the side of the court so I could sit down on the grass. Then everything turned into chaos. Car and Damian rushed over so quickly that their shoulders knocked together, making them jostle. I giggled, which let blood go into my mouth. This made me want to vomit. Then Mason was at my side with Willow close behind.

“Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s that bad,” I said.

“Why the hell would you just stand there, you space cadet? Normally, when a person sees a ball hurtling toward their face, they move over or at least attempt to duck!” Mason said.

I rolled my eyes and replied in a nasally voice, holding my head forward so I wouldn’t drip any blood on my clothes. “It’s not like I had a very big time frame to even comprehend what was happening.”

He sighed and then leaned over and blew on my nose. Just as Car and Damian came over, my nose was free from pain, and I was a bloody mess.