Awaken

Chapter 5

“What in the hell are you talking about, Alex? What gifts?.” I snapped.

“I saw you kick down the door.” Alex said. Ignoring my question. “You didn’t see me but I saw you do it, Mal. Inhuman strength is one of the Gifts.”

“Anyone can kick down a door, Alex.” I was beginning to get angry.

“Not one that has an enchantment. Emily made sure nobody normal could knock it down.” I sighed, and rolled my eyes. “Do you remember when we were six? Do you remember when you thought the bird was barely breathing and you held it? You healed it. Healing is a gift.” His stare was so intense and the way he spoke made me uncomfortable. His voice was begging me to understand what he was saying but my mind refused to give in. I knew what he was talking about because I remembered that day. Mom yelled at me because she swore the bird was dead. She didn’t want me to touch it at all. I ignored her and lifted the bird to the sky, letting go, and seeing it fly away. Charles watched from the porch and the look on his face showed what felt like disappointment. The younger Alex looked at me like I was a witch and ran after his father, who happened to go inside the house, leaving me and mom outside by ourselves. Mom shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks. She reached out her hand and, as I grabbed it, took me inside. How was my six-year-old-self supposed to know that I had a gift?

My attention came back to the present. I stared at Alex, but he wasn’t looking at me. Cal followed his eyes and I realized they were looking behind me. I turned and saw ice growing on the wall reaching all the way up to the ceiling.

“Alex, stop talking! You’re scaring her!” Cal’s mom yelled as she wrapped her arms around me. I pushed her away and the ice shifted to fire. It was a red blazing fire that grew around my room.

“Mal, look into my eyes. Try to take deep breaths and calm down” Cal spoke so softly.

“I…can’t…I can’t…”

“Mal, it’s okay. Take my hand.” He reached for me and my hand found his. All at once, my energy was gone and so was the fire.

My legs gave away and Cal caught me. His arms held me next to his chest. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them, a sweet smell filled the room. Alex stared at me for a moment with an expression I had never seen on him and then turned away, walking out of my room. I was tempted to go after him but I didn’t. I had too many questions.

“Cal, take her to the bed.” Cal did as he was told and sat me down. “We can continue all of this tomorrow. You need to rest now.” They both were at the door in seconds. Cal’s mom reached for the door handle as she spoke. “Goodnight Mallory, I will see you in the morning.” And, with that, she closed the door. I looked at the lamp next to the bed and saw a tiny clock right by it. The time was 1:37 am. I turned off the lamp and laid in bed. Sometime in the night, I fell asleep.

. . .

I had too many questions about everything. I didn’t know where to begin. I sat up wide awake at 6:00am thinking. I didn’t realize that two hours flew by until there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened it letting Cal inside. He had a brown bag with him and handed it to me.

“I figured you might be hungry.” I opened the bag and saw glazed doughnuts inside.

“Thanks.” I said.

“I know you have a lot of questions and my mom will be here soon to answer some of them.” Cal was looking at the floor when he spoke but then he raised his head to look at me. “I know that all of this can’t be easy for you to understand. I didn’t understand when mom told me.” I looked at him in confusion. He must have known because he began to explain. “My dad went on a Mission, just like what your mom does, but he never came back. I was six when Charles came to my home and broke the news to my mother. The next thing we knew, mom and I were in the presence of the Countess and she took us in.”

“Charles called my mother the Countess and so did your mother.” I pointed out. There was a shimmer in the doorway and Cal’s mom appeared. I wasn’t as surprised as I was last night when she did it. “Why do you guys call her that?”

“She is the protector of us all. Your mother carries every gift there is except for three. Compared to all of us, she is the closest thing to Adam we have.”

“Who’s Adam?” Another question added to the list that I had already. Cal’s mom led me to the couch and we all sat down except for her son. He stood against the window as if watching for something. I looked at the floor waiting for someone to start talking.

“Long ago, The First Family was said to live in the sky. The father and the mother were powerful beings who were madly in love. Very much so that they produced 12 offspring and each one had a special gift. They lived in the clouds and each sibling had their own. One had a grey and golden cloud representing his gift of electricity. One had a cloud of vines that represented his ability to make things grow. Another had a cloud the color of the oceans, representing her power of control over water and so on for the others. But it just so happened that the youngest child of them carried every gift imagined. His name was Adam. Some siblings were in awe while others were in envy of their little brother. As the years passed, they all grew and that included the feelings of jealousy. The children’s mother passed on after Adam’s birth. She left an immortal light behind in this world, many say it was the love she had for her family. Even in the light, the father was always in a depressed state, never paying much attention to his children. The oldest daughter, Ava, was always taking after them. She was the first to hate her brother for she believed that it was his fault for their mothers passing. Soon, she had all the siblings feeling the same way.

“Soon, their father passed, leaving a darkness for a short period of time. Many say the darkness he left behind represented the sadness and despair he felt from being away from his love. But the light came back and since then, they switched, reminding the children of both their mother and father. At a young age, Adam was cast out from the sky and forced to survive on his own on the Earth. Here on land, Adam created a being from his bones, one in which he fell in love with. Her name was Eve. Together they created all sorts of living things. One of the many created happened to be the humans. Seeing their brother thrive in happiness, Adam’s siblings made it their mission to destroy it. Ava encouraged her brothers and sisters to create monsters and send them down to Earth. Each monster hated the humans so much that they hunted them down and killed them one by one. When she realized there were too many, Ava decided to take the very thing Adam held dear, Eve. Adam mourned for his wife and called for his father, begging for her to be brought back. No matter how many tears fell for his love, she never returned. His father came during the night and shared a secret for it was possible for Adam to see Eve again. Adam made the choice which meant giving up his gift and gave his life to be with her. The siblings celebrated his death but one knew that it wasn’t a celebration at all. She had tried to warn her siblings but it was too late. Their mother had appeared and shared that the plan didn’t work. Adam was reunited with his love in the Afterlife. Mother was disappointed with her children so she took away the gifts

from each one. She scattered them around the world, giving them to the humans and shared the story of her son, Adam. Each human with the Gift was entitled to be a Guardian, or Hunter, and protect the ones without from the creatures created by the siblings that were still inhabiting the earth, fulfilling their purpose.”

I hung on to every word she spoke because I knew this story. I remembered laying in my bed when I was younger. Mom would stare out the window of my room and talk about Adam and Eve. She talked about Ava and how cruel she was to her brother. Mom even talked about the Guardians and their obligation to the Protected. I knew there was something these people were missing. There was another name that she spoke every time she told the story.

“Arisa,” I whispered.

“What?” Cal asked.

“Arisa was the sister who warned them.”

“How do you know who that is?” He stared at me in confusion.

“My mother.”