I refused to think about Dex as I trekked on. I knew that if I got lost in my thoughts, I would never be able to focus. I had one last stop and then I could finally go back to the DAU.

The address Margaret had given me led me to a lone house hidden by trees and shrubbery. It was so easy to miss that I almost did; I walked right by and only noticed something was off when I saw footprints in the dirt beside me. I then turned around and saw the small house peaking out from behind a few trees.

Scraping the footprints away with my foot just in case, I made my way over to the house. Though it didn't snow here, the air was still chilly as I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck. My duffle bag felt heavy over my shoulder as I knocked on the front door, not even thinking twice about it.

It took a moment for me to get any response. I wasn't very surprised, because they were supposed to be in hiding and no one should have come to the door unexpected. I was starting to think this was a bad idea, but that didn't stop me from ringing the doorbell again.

It took a few more seconds before the door slowly squeaked open, surprising me as I froze with my hands raised up to knock. I was now face-to-face with a man who was young, but still obviously older than me. He stared back at me with wide eyes.

The man had the same E-shaped birthmark as I did, except his was on its side so it looked like a W as it rested above his left eyebrow.

I realized then I didn't know what to say. I was going to so many different places without telling the people who lived there that I was coming, and since I'd never met them before I was nothing more than a strange person coming into their house.

"Um... hello," the blonde man behind the door greeted awkwardly, and I didn't blame him. He didn't know why I was there, and honestly, I didn't know either.

Suddenly, the sideways E above his eyebrow began to flash a vibrant red. My jaw slacked open, but I was only able to stare for a moment before a pulsating rhythm shot through my shoulder, where my own birthmark was.

The man's brown eyes were wide. "You're a..."

I gulped as I gripped at my pulsing shoulder. "Yeah."

Looking around to make sure no one else was around, he ushered me inside, closing the door behind us the second I came through.

I was surprised; I wasn't expecting to be let in so easily. I wasn't complaining, though, since I was finally able to get out of that cold weather.

I shrugged my backpack off, dropping it along with my duffle bag next to the door. The blonde man beside me was tall, well-built, and handsome. I would've felt uncomfortable if he didn't have such a calming aura about him.

"Stephen!" a new voice suddenly whispered hoarsely, and I looked over to see a redheaded woman peeking through the doorway of the next room. "What are you doing, bringing a stranger in here?"

Stephen beckoned the woman over to us. "It's alright. She's one of us."

The woman's eyes widened, and it took her a moment but she slowly made her way over to us. The second she was within arm's reach of me, the pulsing feeling in my shoulder started again.

The woman clutched onto her hip, and I only assumed that that was where her E birthmark resided, though since she was covered by clothing I couldn't see if it was glowing red or not. I pulled my sleeve down just enough to see that my birthmark was also flashing red.

"What the heck is going on in here?" a new voice asked from the same doorway, and I turned again to see a boy who looked around my age with dark brown hair, a little boy with blonde hair clutching his hand in tow behind him. He bounded over to us without a second though, practically dragging the child behind him, but stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening when he saw me.

The pulsing in my shoulder grew even more frantic, almost to the point that it was painful. The teenage boy rubbed at his covered wrist while the little boy scratched at the spot behind his ear. I think it was pretty obvious where there birthmarks were.

"When you're an Ender in the presence of another Ender either for the first time or after an elongated amount of time, that's what happens," the blonde man named Stephen explained, and now it all made sense. "It's kind of our way of finding each other, I guess."

I'd never been in the presence of another Ender before, let alone four. It seemed like there was a lot of things I didn't know about.

"Who are you?" the redheaded woman asked, obviously still a little suspicious of me. I didn't blame her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Violet," I answered, unsure whether or not to say my last name or not. "I was told about this place by my parents' mentor Margaret. I guess she thought it would be a good idea if I met other Enders since I never have before."

The redhead seemed to think for a moment. "But the only Margaret that knows we're here is..."

"Are you the daughter of Elliot and Mandy King?" Stephen inquired, cutting the redhead off before she could finish her thought.

I couldn't help but chuckle, albeit kind of dryly. "Wow, are my parents really that famous?"

It made me wonder who knew about my parents and what exactly they knew about them. And because of that, how much did they know about me?

"Well, when you're linked to Damien Black, you tend to get pretty famous in the superhuman world," the woman shrugged, and I agreed. She then seemed to think about what she'd said and frowned. "Or maybe the proper word is infamous."

"Your parents were on a team with Damien Black," Stephen shrugged, and it wasn't as if he was informing me, but he was stating a fact instead. "And they helped take him down. So of course they're well known."

I gulped. I didn't want to say what really happened, because I was sure they were already aware. Damien Black had caused some type of explosion to kill them all off, supposedly killing himself in the process. But now that clearly wasn't the case.

"Let us introduce ourselves," the redheaded woman started, holding her hand out for me to shake. "My name is Katrina Callahan. I'm twenty-two years old, and my power is..."

Suddenly, fifteen Katrina's spread across the room, causing me to jump in surprise by the sudden crowdedness of the room.

"I can make multiple copies of myself," every Katrina said at the same time, and before I could respond, they all shrunk back so that only the original remained.

I turned to the man who let me inside the house, whose name I had learned to be Stephen. Out of the four people in this house, he seemed to be the one in charge.

"I'm Stephen Blake. I'm twenty-two years old, and I make illusions," Stephen shrugged, but then smirked after he seemed to think for a moment. "Wanna see?"

I blinked. "Uh..."

"Don't subject her to that," Katrina sighed, hitting Stephen in the shoulder. "She's dealing with enough already."

Stephen laughed, poking Katrina in the forehead. I could already tell that their relationship was romantic, and I wasn't very surprised since they were clearly the oldest in the house.

I now turned toward the other two members of the household, a teenage boy and the child clutching onto his hand. Neither of them said anything to me, the young boy staring up at me with wide eyes while the teenage boy wouldn't even look at me.

"That's Jude," Katrina introduced for him, pointing at the stubborn teenage boy. "He's normally not very shy, but..."

"Jude has a crush on you," the little boy suddenly spoke, still clutching the older boy's hand. Jude's face suddenly turned red and he yanked his hand out of the younger boy's grasp.

Jude glowered down at the little boy. "You brat! I do not!"

"You know if Joel is saying it, then it's the truth," Stephen laughed, and I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable so I just kept my mouth shut. "Not only can he see people's feelings toward each other like the rest of us, but he can read minds."

Jude stood there, his fist covering his mouth as his face only seemed to grow redder and redder. Joel left his embarrassed friend behind as he trotted up to me, a big smile on his face.

"I'm this many years old!" he informed me, holding up one hand with all five fingers up. He then raised his other hand with all five fingers up to show ten. "Jude is this much older than me!"

I glanced over at the embarrassed boy, whose hands moved to his pockets as he refused to look at me. He was fifteen, two years younger than I was.

"Jude's not shy," I suddenly heard inside my head, causing me to jump. "He likes you!"

It had been Joel's voice that I had heard, but he hadn't spoken out loud. I just stared at him for a moment, unable to speak as I tried to think of what to say.

"He can also project thoughts and images into other people's heads," Stephen suddenly explained, obviously able to read what had happened based solely on my reaction. "So he's a little bit like me in that regard."

"Except he isn't an insufferable know-it-all," Jude suddenly spoke up from his spot farther away, though he still wouldn't look at me.

"He speaks!" Stephen gasped, and Katrina giggled. "Why don't you tell Violet your power, hotshot? Since you don't like her or anything."

Jude glared at the older man. He seemed like the type of guy that would take a challenge, and I could see that they were somewhat rivals of one another, though they did care about each other like brothers. I could see that they all cared about each other deeply; Katrina and Stephen had a romantic relationship while Jude and Joel viewed each other as brothers.

"I have super strength," Jude grumbled, still not looking at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I couldn't help but be reminded of the boy I left behind on the train. How did he feel when he woke up to see that I was gone? Did he go back to the DAU like I had asked, or had he decided he was going to follow me again? I'd turned off my phone so no one would be able to track me, so there was no way he or anyone else could know where I was.

"Jude thinks you're really cute when you're in thought," Joel suddenly informed me, snapping me out of whatever trance I was in. I felt my cheeks heat up as Jude grabbed the younger boys and slapped his hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"Ah, young love," Stephen sighed, wrapping his arm around Katrina's shoulder. She rolled her eyes. "Isn't it cute?"

"Anyway..." I began, knowing that if I tried to bring up the fact that Jude was attracted to me, it would just be awkward for the both of us. "How did Margaret know where you guys are staying?"

"Margaret is my great aunt," Stephen explained, and all I could think about was what a small world it really was. "She was the only family member of mine who didn't disown me once they found out what I was."

"Disown you?" I wondered. "Why would they disown you?"

Stephen and Katrina looked at each other. Jude still refused to look at me, but now for a different reason. Joel was still young and innocent and obviously had no idea just like I did, because he was still beaming up at me.

"You must have lived a very different life from us." Stephen sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Enders are either abandoned by their families because they don't want to deal with who would come after them, or because they won't do what they want them to."

"Enders get used a lot," Katrina continued for him. "Not only are we stronger than normal superhumans, but people like that we can give and take whatever powers we want."

"My family didn't want to deal with me, so they disowned me." Stephen didn't seem bothered by the fact that his entire family no longer wanted anything to do with him, and that was something I just couldn't understand. "Margaret was the one who found this place for me."

"That's... horrible," I frowned, and then realized how I responded to what he had said. "I mean the part where your family disowned you, not the part where Margaret got a place for you to stay..."

"I hate to have anything in common with Stephen, but my situation is the same," Jude suddenly spoke up, and I was surprised that he was joining the conversation without being forced. "I was abandoned and this was the only place I could go."

I'd always thought I had a horrible upbringing. I'd hop from foster home to foster home, before finally finding one where I was locked inside my bedroom, only being fed three times a day if I was lucky. There were days when they forgot about me. The longest I'd gone without eating anything was four days. I truly thought I was going to die until my foster mom suddenly left a plate of mashed potatoes outside my door.

I'd thought I'd been lucky because I had a bathroom connected to my bedroom, meaning I'd never have to leave and see my stupid foster parents. But now I knew I was really lucky because my real parents didn't abandon me because they didn't want to deal with what I was. They were ripped away from me, but it wasn't what they wanted.

I looked at the little boy standing beside him. Joel was only five years old. Had he been abandoned by his family too? I couldn't even imagine how much that must have hurt. My parents hadn't left me because they wanted to.

"My mommy and daddy said they loved me very much," Joel suddenly informed me, and I realized only a moment later that he had read my mind. "But they want me to be safe and grow up to be big and strong!"

I smiled sadly at him, and tried to think nothing but positive thoughts. I was happy that he had a family that loved him and wanted what was best for him.

"My family was like Joel's," Katrina sighed, obviously feeling like she had to tell her life story since everyone else was. "But they didn't force me to go into hiding, though they wanted me to because they thought it would be safer for me and for them. But I never wanted to."

This confused me. "If you didn't want to go into hiding, why are you here...?"

"When my sister went missing over a year ago, my parents blamed me," Katrina continued, growing serious at the mention of her missing sister. "They thought it was someone who wanted to get to me for my powers. When we couldn't find her, I decided it would be best if I went away."

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She blamed herself for her sister's disappearance, and she really had no idea if it was her fault or not, though I was sure she blamed herself. I never had a sibling and I would never be able to, but I understood that the bond siblings shared was special. Losing her sister must have tore her apart.

Then it hit me.

"Wait..." I felt like my brain was imploding on itself as I thought a mile a minute. "You said your last name was Callahan...?"

"Yes," she blinked, not understanding why I was suddenly asking her this.

My throat felt dry. "What's your sister's name?" I demanded.

"Her name is..." Katrina eyed me oddly, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject to her sister. "Her name is Kristina."

All signs were pointing to what I was thinking. There was just one more question I had to ask to get total confirmation.

"Are the powers she has intense beauty and the ability to shape shift?"

Katrina's eyes were wide as she stared at me. I could see that tears were starting to form. Everyone else in the room seemed just as confused as she was, but kept quiet.

I stood my ground, waiting for Katrina to answer my final question. I could see how hard this was for her, so I wasn't going to try to force it out of her, but by her reaction, I didn't think I really needed her to say anything to answer me.

"Yes..." she finally croaked, tears threatening to fall. "How... How do you know that?"

"She's on my team," I explained, talking a mile a minute. "My teammates found her in the hospital, where she woke up without memory of anything. She goes by Kristie Callahan, because that's the only thing she could remember."

Katrina clearly had no idea what she was supposed to say, because all she did was stare at me. I started to feel embarrassed very quickly, mostly because I didn't know if I had done the right thing or not. It was the right thing to tell her that I knew where her missing sister was, right?

But neither of us had known what had happened to Kristie, and even she didn't know herself. Something horrible could have happened to her. She had been found out, passed out somewhere, and whoever found her decided it was bad enough that she needed to go to the hospital. Better it was for the best that she couldn't remember anything?

Suddenly, Katrina began to sob. I didn't blame her, but that didn't mean I didn't feel awkward as she crumbled to the floor, overtaken by emotion. I glanced over at Jude and Joel, but they weren't much help at all. Not that I should have expected anything from an emotionally constipated teenager and a five year old.

Stephen was down by her side immediately, and it made me feel better that Katrina had someone like him by herself. I could see how much they cared and loved each other, and I was happy that they had one another. They both had gone through such a difficult time.

Once Katrina had calmed down, Stephen helped her back up onto her feet. She brushed herself off and wiped her eyes, but they were still red and puffy as she said, "My baby sister's alive and I can't even go and see her..."

It took me a second to realize what she meant, but then I remembered. They couldn't leave the house. They didn't think it was safe for them out there, and honestly, they could have been correct. It probably wasn't safe for me to be out and about, especially traveling by myself. And yet there I was.

"Damien Black is gone, but his followers..." Katrina began to sniffle again, and Stephen rubbed her arm soothingly to try to calm her. "Redrum won't stop until every Ender is either on their team or dead."

I knew she was right. Redrum would never stop hunting and using us for their own gain. So that just meant that someone was going to have to make them stop.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but..." There were so many thoughts going through my head that I couldn't even think about whether or not it was a good idea to say this or not. "Damien Black is still alive."

The three older Enders froze, while Joel was much too young to understand the seriousness of the situation. Damien Black was the reason Redrum was created, and Redrum was the reason Enders were hunted at such great masses. I knew that Enders most likely had always been taken advantage of and would still be taken advantage of without Redrum, but because of that evil organization, it was brought to an even bigger scale. People wanted more power, and that was all Enders were.

"Now none of us are safe," Katrina sobbed, leaning into Stephen's chest as she began to cry again. I felt bad that I had made her cry again, but I felt like if anybody needed to know that Damien Black was still alive, it would be them.

But that didn't meant that what she had said had been correct. I shook my head as I said, "That's not true."

The three older Enders looked back at me, and even Joel stared up at me in confusion, though I doubted he really understood anything that was being said, and I was glad for that. I didn't know where this sudden confidence had snuck up, but here it was and it wasn't going away. I wasn't backing down anymore.

"I'm going to stop Damien Black," I promised, and their eyes went even wider than they had been before. "I'm going to put a stop to all of this and make the world a better place for our kind."

Katrina's eyes softened as she stared at me. "Violet..."

"We deserve to be able to go out and have fun without worrying about ourselves or the people around us," I continued, feeling like a preacher as I spoke. "I'm taking down Damien Black and Redrum and you guys are going to come out of hiding without having to worry."

"Jude really wants to kiss you right now," Joel suddenly spoke up.

Jude reached for the little boy. "You brat—"

I ignored both of them. "I need to go," I excused. "I wanted to stay longer, and get to know you all more. But it already feels like I'm already so close to you."

"That's because we're Enders," Stephen remarked, patting Katrina's hair as she continued to stay in his arms. "Enders form a strong and unique bond with one another in a very short time. I'm sure the rest of us feel the same way about you."

That explained why they all cared for each other so much, and why I already cared so much about them. I wanted to save them from a life of isolation. I'd had to deal with that for five years, and even that was too much.

"I love Violet!" Joel giggled, a wide smile on his face. "I think she's tough and brave and smart and pretty!"

"Would you agree with that statement, Jude?" Stephen asked the older boy, smirking.

Jude scowled at Stephen as Joel answered for him with, "Jude agrees!"

"Stop reading my mind!" Jude shouted, clearly embarrassed that his thoughts were out in the open for everyone to see. He then seemed to realize he was in a room full of Enders. "And my feelings, too!"

I couldn't help but smile at him. He was stubborn and loud, but he was a teenage boy in a stressful situation. I understood how he felt completely. He reminded me of all my teammates mixed into one person.

Jude saw me smile at him and suddenly his entire face was red. All I could do was laugh and say, "Thank you, Jude."

The dark haired boy crossed his arms over his chest and looked his bright red face away from me as he grumbled, "It was Joel that said it, not me."

But I wasn't just thanking him for that. I was thanking him for reminding me of Dex, of Aiden, of Anthony, of even Kristie and Lena. All the other people that I wanted to protect in my life.

I used to complain. I still complained. But I really did have so much to live for. I had someone who cared for me, and friends by my side. I had people I wanted to protect who were willing to protect me back. My parents died for me to live, for me to have all these things. And now it was time I fought for their sacrifice.

"Well, there's nothing I can do for you if I just stay here," I concluded, making my way over to the things I had put down on my way in. "I've got to get going."

Before I could pick any of my belongings up, however, a hand was suddenly grabbing onto my wrist and stopping me from moving anymore. I turned to see Katrina, her eyes still red with tears. She had slipped out of Stephen's arms and was now clutching onto my wrist tightly.

"You should just stay with us," she suggested, completely sincere as her grip on my wrist tightened. "You'll be safe here. You're one of us. We protect our kind, because in the long run, we're all we have."

I glanced at Katrina, to Stephen, to Jude, and then to little Joel. Each one of them had gone through so much just because they were Enders. I didn't even what to know how much they had been taken advantage of before they went into hiding. I had been lucky enough to not know of my power until I joined the DAU, something that protected me from anyone who may have wanted to use me because even I didn't know what I could do.

But there was no way I could take them up on that offer. Not only did staying in one place for who knew how long sound absolutely horrible to me, but I had people I wanted to see back at the DAU. People that weren't of our kind, who weren't Enders. And I would've died for every last one of them.

I shook my head. "That's not true," I smiled, not wanting her to think I was judging them for how they thought. "I have people that care about me that I care about a lot, too. I used to think the same way as you guys, except that I thought I was better off looking out for only myself. But once it gets better for us out there, I promise it will get easier to have relationships with other people."

All four of them didn't look so sure, and I couldn't blame them. They'd heard stories and gone through their own hardships just because they were different, because they were considered valuable and elite. People wanted to use them and take advantage of them for their extra powers. It was something I was going to have to deal with, too.

I shouldered my backpack and shrugged. "Plus, I have someone waiting for me back home."

"Sorry, Jude," Stephen apologized, a slight smirk on his face as he wrapped his arm around the younger boy's shoulders. Jude elbowed him in the stomach without even glancing in his direction, and Stephen doubled over in pain.

"I promise I'll make this world better for you guys, for me, and for all Enders," I smiled, planning on making this promise a reality as I looked back at them. "Because we're not objects. And as soon as I take down Damien Black, I'll make everybody see that."

Stephen smiled warmly at me. "You're a brave girl."

"I wouldn't say that." I looked at the four of them. Really looked at them. They were scared and confused and exhausted. I knew they wanted to get out of this small house and back out into the world, and I was going to help them. "I think I'm... determined. And I take pride in what my parents left for me. Like this was what I was born to do."

I'd finish what my parents started. I wasn't going to let Damien Black or his organization continue to reign havoc on the world any longer. I was taking him down. For Mom and Dad, for everyone I wanted to protect, and anyone else who felt threatened by a cockroach like him.

Maybe I was brave. Maybe I was stupid. But I knew I was determined to see this through until the end.

"Well, if anything ever goes wrong, and you need a place to stay..." Jude began, finally looking me in the eyes for the first time since I'd gotten there. "This place can always be your home."

I smiled, nodding at him. "Thank you."

His face turned bright red again, and he turned away. I knew he was a good kid, and I hoped someday he'd find a girl that helped break him out of his shell. He deserved it.

"And Katrina," I began just as I was about to head off, catching her off guard. "I'll make sure Kristie knows how much you love her and miss her. I'm sure now that we have information about her past, her memory will be back in no time."

Katrina's eyes began to water again. "Thank you, Violet."

I smiled back at her. "You're going to be reunited in no time."

And that was another promise I intended to keep. I wanted both of the Callahan sisters to be happy. And I knew how much it tore Kristie up inside that she couldn't remember anything about her past. But now, all of that was going to change. And soon she and her sister would be able to live happily together.

We said our goodbyes and I was off, back into the cold and back toward the train station.

Back to the DAU.

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When you lowkey ship Violet and Jude but then you remember—

—he exists.

Thank you to pizzambies for the name Jude! And thank you all for the name recommendations! Eventually all their names came to me, except for Jude's. So I'm glad I had a ton of names to look at in the comments of the last chapter to help me out!

My favorite song's on the side and I don't think it has much to do with anything, but I just love it and was listening to it while I wrote this chapter... It's Leah and Blake's theme but I guess it could kind of work for Jude?

Now, I have a fever and I have to be up in six hours for school... So it's time for bed!

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3