Chapter 2...Listening

I woke with a searing pain in my head. My entire body was aching. I groaned, opening my eyes slowly. They felt as if they had been glued shut for a very long time. My eyes immediately landed on a bag, half full of a clear liquid. My mind understood what it was far but I struggled to remember what it was. Though the thought of what was inside of it, sent my heart pounding in my chest.

Was I being drugged?

I struggled to raise my upper body. My hand trembled violently as I attempted to remove the needle from my arm. A strangled sound of frustration leaving my lips when I failed twice to remove the needle from my arm. On the third try my frustration triggered my telekinesis and the IV, along with the bag and stand went flying into what I guessed was a wardrobe.

I finally managed to sit upright, my eyes scanning the room desperately. There were no weapons in sight except the one that I had discarded in the corner. The room was bland and small. A single bed, a nightstand, a wardrobe and a slender mirror. There was only one point of entry and two point of exit. I quickly removed the thin gray sheets that covered my legs. They were extremely stiff and my bones shifted against each other uncomfortable. I stood slowly, leaning against the bed for support when I nearly fell. It was in that moment that the door slide open.

I held my breath as I watched a blonde girl enter the room. She had a heart shaped face like mine but hers was slender. She had golden skin with dark freckles dancing over her nose and thin heart shaped lips. Oh, and her eyes were gray.

She dropped the tray that she was holding and screamed. The bowl holding water splattered to the floor with a towel and scissors. The girl slammed the door still screaming.

I wasted little time. I limped towards the door and grabbed the scissors, rushing towards the window as fast as I could, pulling my right foot behind me as it still struggled to wake up. I quickly pushed away the curtains. I didn't take much notice to the exterior, my hands moved with my eyes quickly unlocking the latches as quickly as I spotted them.

Suddenly the door reopened. I turned sharply, jutting the pointing end of the scissors out in front of me. The person paused. His large hands immediately raising, palms forward.

"Hey, calm down. Your safe there is no one here to hurt you," he said calmly in a soft voice. He was the wolf that had come to my rescue when I tripped. He may have saved me but that didn't mean that I trusted him.

"I swear on my life that we were are trying to help you," he pleaded. "Just put the scissors down so we can talk," he said taking a step back.

I eyed him up and down. I couldn't have hurt him even if I wanted to. The flimsy scissors wouldn't even scar him, he was huge. He was obviously taller than 6ft with a thick muscular build. He had light skin, a few shades lighter than mine with low cut curly hair and very pink lips. He had a chiseled jaw with face that could only be described as sculpted by the gods.

"Who are you," I asked lower the weapon. His shoulders dropped and he released a subtle sigh of relief, turning to two identical girls. One of them was the screamer, who went to fetched him.

"Call dad," he told the girls, who's eyes were glued to me. They reluctantly left, sneaking one last look of awe and wonder, hushed whispers following them as they left the room. They could not have been more than 15.

"That's Cleo and Chloe. They took care of you while you were asleep," he explained. "Oh and I'm Shane! I, ah, found you in the woods that day," he continued, scratching the back of his head.

"Asleep? For how long?" The panic slowly rising in my voice was clear as day. How long had I been away from my mother? How long did I have left to find her?

"Just a couple of months," he replied quickly. My heart skipped a beat and I took an unconscious step forward. I did notice the step he took back and the look in his eyes as he watched me.

"How many months?"

My feet moved forward once more and Shane's heel connected with the wall. Like a seen from a movie, I stepped into the view of the mirror and was stared down by my reflection. My hair was no longer a bundle of curls but straight strands that fell towards my waist. There was a thin sliver of silver hair among the sea of obsidian. My fingers went up to touch it, brushing it further away from my face. My lips parted as I noticed my eyes. There was a dark ring around the fading silver but then the darkness faded out leaving a bland gray.

This wasn't good. These were the same events that happened to my father when he changed. My mother always spoke of how she would look in his eyes and not see the man, who she fell in love with. It all starts with the eyes.

"You've been asleep for 5 months," a man who looked strikingly familiar to Shane spoke as he entered the room like a shadow. His complexion however was similar to the twin that hid behind his towering figure. I did not fail to see the intricate curve and the sharpness of his ears.

"We should preferably take this conversation to a more comfortable settings. I am Kylen, Taiti is it," he made a quick introduction, his gray eyes falling to the mess of the room.

"Mr. Cole?" I asked, watching him as he nodded with a smile. He extended his arms towards me.

He was the one my mother had told me to find. I didn't trust him entirely but I was in his territory, unknown territory. I had to play it wisely until I figured out my situation. I hesitantly stepped closer towards him. Flinching slightly when his hand touched my shoulder. He didn't let go however. He guided me out of the small room with his children following closely behind us, talking to each other in hushed tones.

The hallway leading towards the staircase was lined with paintings of people that looked like Kylen. They were dressed in various clothing with expensive looking jewelry and ornaments. It was strange how the frames matched perfectly with their clothing and the cream tapered walls. The house was no doubt a mansion that had been passed down from generation to generation.

I wondered if there were any ghosts roaming about.

Mr. Kylen lead me down a flight of stairs and through an archway leading to the living room. My eyes passed over the front door and my brow twitched. He motioned for me to sit on the couch while he walked over to the kitchen area. It was strange to see a kitchen and the living room in the same room…in a mansion, then again I had never been in a mansion. My mother and I lived in a one bedroom apartment.

I sat on the couch and watched as the twins sat before me. Their eyes never blinked and they sat with grace, never slouching.

"Did you guys do this to my hair," I asked softly, pointing to the silver strands. They didn't answer, only continued to stare. I glanced towards the kitchen where the father and son worked in unison to prepare tea and a snack for me.

I slide to the edge of the couch leaning forward. "Which one of you straightened my hair?" My voice was low and calm. My question did come off as cold and pissed but it got the girls to break their unflinching formation. They sent quick glances to each other, their eyes darting quickly. Their calm demeanor quickly changed under my gaze.

"I told you not to," the long haired one said to the screamer.

"Shut up you helped me," the screamer snapped in a panic.

A slow smile appeared on my lips and I straightened my back, sitting comfortably unto the couch as Kylen and Shane returned. Shane placed a small plate of sliced fruits in front of me and box holding jelly filled donuts. Kylen placed a cup of hot cocoa beside it.

"I'm guessing your mother told you about your heritage and her home," Kylen began taking a seat in a large velvet chair that was the closest to a fireplace tucked in the middle of the wall.

I nodded, slowly taking up the plate of fruits as the twins stood and walked into the kitchen.

"She always talked about Dremount, a world within the human world for the supernatural. She spoke about her family and her memories but…not much about the important stuff. It was like a puzzle. She would give me information about different things and I'd have to piece it all together. At a point I gave up," I told him honestly feeling a wave of guilt wash over me. I immediately traded the fruits for the cocoa.

"Your mother and I were close when we attended the academy, Le Royal Academy for nobles, royals and knights. Well that was the old academy," Kylen began to explain, his eyes downcast and his gaze afar.

"The new academy is called Elverton and it accommodates all," Shane picked up where his father left off. "Its a place where young supernaturals who can't control their abilities or those that are too different to attend human schools or colleges attend. You can also choose to attend with any special circumstances because as I said before Elverton accepts all," Shane spoke passionately about the school. So passionately, I swear he was trying to get me to enroll but I wasn't staying…or was I?

"Its where your parents met. The academy had just began to experiment with the thought of allowing other creatures into the school, non pure bred creatures," Kylen said, his words earned a subtle scoff from his son. He did sound a little judgmental.

"Your mother was a second generation mage and your father…his blood was tainted with that of his dark elf father. His mother was a fae which made him a first generation darkling, only he wasn't like the other darklings. There was something darker within him that only your mother understood and could tame," Kylen drifted off into his mind once more.

"What was it," I asked with a gulp. Kylen blinked himself back to reality his gray eyes meeting mine. He glanced away for a second.

"You may look like him but you are not your father. You may carry the burden of your parents but it is not yours to carry. Your mother is fine, if its one thing I knew about Xerxes is that he would never hurt her," he told me, his eyes staring unwaveringly into mine.

So, he would hurt me.