"Mom?" I managed to make out. I could see her puffy eyes. "Was it...?"

She nodded. A feeling deep in my chest started spreading. Like fire, I felt myself start burning up. I was torn between comforting her and screaming. The world started to turn white as my vision faded. I never felt this way before with the pure hatred for a person I only met once, a person who even though created me unaware of my existence.

No one in the room knew why I got so angry. We hadn't told anyone about who we ran into at the store that day. I force myself to cram all of the anger into a box and lock it. We were told to go back to the living room with the rest of the kids but I don't remember moving my feet. I felt numb as I put one foot in front of the other walking next to Olivia as I heard my mother starting to weep again.

Over the next week, Olivia, Theo, Skylar and I tried to convince the younger kids that not allowing them to shift was a good idea along with trying to keep the secret of shifting from Ace. It was not long before the kids became restless and I was beginning to long for the start of school. No matter how annoying it gets when people talk about how weird I talk.

Ace has begun to tell us about his life and how he came to live with Apollo and Connor and the rest of us. Personally, I think he's a nice kid although his sister's a little bit overprotective, maybe she'll grow to trust us, maybe she'll relax a little bit once he has settled down. It's only been a week after all. He said his dad was Native American and that his mom was European, white. We haven't seen Amethyst since the night we were told about our secret being discovered. As far as I know, none of us have shifted since. The little kids that don't know why we don't shift, they just know that it's very important not to. Even still I feel like Ace has noticed that there's something we're not telling him and to his credit, we are keeping something from him, something huge something that brought us together, brought our family together, so many people together but, also so many people apart and because of this it has to be kept secret. Because of this, we can't tell even our best friends about the secret that we keep. 

Even with people like Sandra and Connor and even Ciri when they discover the secret it was on accident, they were not supposed to know that we are more than human, that we go beyond the laws of nature. That the laws of nature need to be rewritten because of us. I guess in a way that's why everyone was so terrified of Seth. Why after everything that happened he ended up in a grave in the ground. Don't get me wrong I understand why it ended up the way that it did I understand that what he went through was insane to put them there but, I also understand that my own mother went through hell and back from that. Not only did she come back but she came back stronger, she came back knowing how to take care of herself and others.

And I have heard the stories. I have heard the stories of Amber and Red and Matt and Apollo and the twins and Willow. I have heard the stories of them moving mountains or destroying buildings to make sure that they were safe with each other. To make sure that no one had to go through the terrible things they did. I've heard the stories of my mom meeting her best friend. I've heard stories of the family that I'm in and how it was created. I have also heard the hardships. I have heard of times where they didn't think that the seven of them would get out of it alive. I've heard the stories of not only Willows near death but, my own grandmother's death, my uncle's mom's death.

And knowing this I know that my family is strong enough to keep these secrets but I also know that we don't have to. Because even when we did. Even when no one knew. My family was plucked from their houses, plucked from the street, and forced into cages. But I also know that when we are open and when we put our trust into someone else, we are given amazing things. We are given best friends. We are given husbands and wives. And brothers and sisters. And sons and daughters

I'm sorry I'm getting off topic the point is that Ace was doing and really well for everything that has been going on without him knowing. We haven't seen Amethyst since that night. I just take comfort in the fact that she is not only with her father but, also Lucy and Ciri. That she is in a safe place and we will see her again soon. But before we do we have to start school which is always fun. (12/18/18)