Dinner at Jonathan's apartment was casual if that was the polite way to put it. Sitting in the middle of the furniture-less room, Kiana tried to mimic Jonathan as they ate from chipped bowls with their fingers and used their pants as napkins. The whole ordeal seemed perfectly normal to him yet Kiana couldn't fully grasp what was going on. As if Jonathan's little collection of stolen goods and Jack's deathly glare wasn't enough to shake her, she couldn't seem to follow the conversation.

"So, how long have you been around sweetie?" Erica asked as she scooped pasta out of the bowl with her fingers.

Erica, as far as Kiana could see, was proof that Jonathan wasn't related to any of his family. At least twenty years older than him, his middle-aged 'little sister' differed from him in just about every aspect. Her rich, dark skin was riddled with acne and had eyes filled with more kindness than Jonathan and Jack combined. Curly ringlets of hair fell to her shoulders, yet the most distinguishing feature was her life. With Jonathan's sunken eyes and papery skin, Erica was a model of perfect health in comparison.

Kiana nibbled at the pasta as she thought, not quite sure how to answer the question. "I'm sorry, what?"

"How long have you been one of us? What's your story?" She asked again, perfectly content with the explanation. Kiana paused, briefly glancing at Jonathan, but he did little to offer any help. His nose was buried in the bowl as he licked up bits of sauce.

"I Uh...well, I met Jonathan a couple of weeks ago..." she trailed off and hoped it was a decent explanation, but Erica's nose only wrinkled in distaste.

"No, I mean..."

"She's young." Jonathan finally cut in as he set down the empty bowl. "Happened 2 months ago. She doesn't like to talk about it."

"Oh." Erica smiled like a mother, tender to Kiana's sensitivity. "It's okay dear. I wouldn't talk about my car accident for almost a year afterward."

"Car accident?" Kiana choked on her pasta with a haggard cough. Glancing over at Jonathan, she begged for an explanation. Her head was swimming as if she was the one hit by a car.

Jonathan had just invited her for dinner. That was all, right? There was never supposed to be a monster of a man who stared at her as if she was insane or a mother who talked about gruesome accidents, or a blue-haired boy who stole everything in sight. It was all a madhouse of broken pasta bowls and awkward questions, and Kiana wanted out.

Jonathan sighed, staring at Erica idly. "I said she didn't want to talk about it, okay? Can we leave it at that?"

"But what..." Kiana felt her words falter, unable to even begin explaining how confused she was as Jack butted in.

"Actually, I'm rather interested in this," Jack spoke firmly, demanding a response to the question. Lowering his bowl, Kiana felt her spine tingle as bloodshot eyes sent daggers down her spine. "How did you end up here, Kiana?"

"I..don't...I don't know." Her mumbled words were hardly audible among her growing fear.

"Well, you can't exactly just forget." Jack rolled his eyes like it was a matter of fact, only sinking Kiana further into her worry. "Trust me. I wish I could forget about my best friend shooting me in the back. I wish I never went on that hunting trip."

"Shot!" Kiana's palms grew sweaty as fear ripped through her spine, bubbling up until it stewed into anger. He had promised her that his family wasn't dangerous, but as he avoided her deadly glare, she knew it was all a lie. "Jonathan! What's going on? What's with the car crashes and hunting accidents, and death, and..."

She froze as the word slipped from her lips, her promise shattering as Jonathan raised his eyes. Pure hatred radiated from his gaze, hands tightening into fists as his lip quivered with anger. She had shattered her promise and broken the only thing they held together. As she waited for him to blow up, for her sentence of exile to start, Jack raised his eyes.

Far more terrifying than anything Jonathan could have given her, she realized the promise was never for Jonathan's protection. It was for her own.

"Kiana," Jack's words fell flat like the blade of a knife, pressed against her throat and ready to turn at the simplest wrong answer. "How old are you?"

"She doesn't have to answer that!" Jonathan practically sprung to his feet with anger.

"Let her answer the ques..."

"She doesn't answer to you!"

"Johnny..."

"Stop trying to control..."

"Jonathan!" Bursting into flames anger, Jack raised his greyed, gnarled fist, poised to smack Johnny in the face. "I control this house! I control everything in it and if that means I control you and Erica too, then so be it! You're lucky to be here! Start acting like it!"

Jonathan sunk back at Jack's rage, silence settling over him like a heavy curtain of snow. Rebellion pierced his gaze, yet something stronger contained him, holding every raging thought back. Somewhere deep inside, past every screaming face and monstrous fists, Jonathan knew he stood no chance against everything he was raised into. Just like Kiana, he was trapped with no way out.

"Now Kiana," Jack's grey face was bright red with fury, his eyes boring into her as if Jonathan didn't even exist. As he folded his hands in his lap, her entire body riveted with fear. "I want you to think long and hard about this. How old are you?"

"Seven...seventeen." Her voice squeaked over each syllable as Jonathan shrank back, hating her for every mistake she made.

"Are you sure? Aren't you...say, 2 months old? Maybe three?"

"I don't...I don't understand."

"When was the accident, Kiana? What brought you into our world?"

Kiana sat silently and fiddled with her thumbs. It was too much to deal with, too much to process as Jonathan became a thief and Jack turned into a monster. Her brain hurt with each question until there was nothing left to say. Only painful, exaggerated silence.

"You aren't one of us, are you?" Jack's voice hurt her ears, piling on riddle after riddle. "You don't even know what we are."

Kiana shook her head as tears burned her eyelids. Terror kept her head low, thumbs twiddling so fast that nails dragged across her palms in violent pain. It was all a nightmare, all one terrible dream...

"Jonathan, let's go have a talk about stupidity, okay?" Smiling with a gruesome hint at death, Jack grabbed his younger brother's arm.

"But I can explain!" Panic stripped Jonathan of his dignity as he was wrenched to his feet. "She's important! She's..."

"We'll talk about it." He forced a smile through clenched teeth, then dragged Jonathan through the door in the back of the room.

"What's going on?" Kiana's voice shook as she looked at Erica, her eyes drawn to the door. "Where'd they go?"

"The repair room," Erica mumbled, bewildered by her own horror. Eyes glued to the door, she listened like a hawk to each scream that arose from its depths. "It's where we go when we break."

Kiana winced as Jonathan's voice rose in an angered scream, pure hatred thrown at Jack. "What are you people?"

"Have you ever heard of The Great Disappearing Act?"

Kiana shook her head as a crash rattled the apartment, frozen in terror as tears leaked from her eyes.

"I think you need to go home." Erica's voice shivered.

"But what about Jonathan?" Her mind whirred, every crash and screech of hatred like a dagger to her heart. She wanted him to be safe, to be the sweet, adventurous boy she met. She wanted him to be kind and predictable and never a thief but always safe...

"It's not my story to tell." Erica's words shook, eyes turning to her in a desperate plea. "It's time for you to leave, Kiana. Please go home."