My eyes open to a wide expanse of white. I frown for a second as I blink the sleep from my eyes. My body feels heavy and fatigued. Something warm and soft surrounds me. A blanket. It takes me a second to realize that I am lying in bed, staring at the ceiling of a hotel room.

Immediately I sit up and look around myself. The room's only light source is the pale glow omitted by a set of closed curtains on my right. The surrounding walls are a baby blue that seems to reflect that light. I am lying in the rightmost of two beds, the other one being unoccupied. I also see a small dresser with a TV on top and a closet with a cot folded up inside. Directly across from me is a short hall ending in two doors; one set directly at the end, one on the right wall of the corridor. I assume that the second one leads to the bathroom because I can hear running water. But who's there?

I look down to see that I'm still wearing How did I get here? What's the last thing I remember? It was about six o'clock and I was getting ready to meet date with Ben. I took a shower, got dressed, and started my homework, right? Then. . . Nothing. The next thing I recall is waking up.

I check the digital clock by my bed. It's four in the afternoon. I was unconscious for at least 23 hours. Did someone drug me? I've heard of club and date rape drugs that can affect your memory, but I didn't go to any parties. Still, it's the only thing I can come up with. I put my head in my hands and try to remember.

A minute later I hear the sound of a door opening. "Haven?" Someone asks. I look up to see my mother standing at the end of the hall, damp brown hair hanging loose down her back.

"Mom?" I ask. What's going on?! Where are we?!"

"Haven, I need you to calm down. This may be hard to understand, but you have to trust me."

Trust me. Something clicks in my mind. "Where's Dad? How. . . I don't understand," I tell her. "How did. . . Mom, what is going on?"

"I know that this is confusing. Your father and I never expected it to get this far-"

"What," I cut her off, swinging my legs around to stand and face her. This whole thing about Gabriel?" She is struck silent by my words. "I heard you talking with that woman, Katherine. I also heard you talking in the kitchen with Dad. I knew that something was going on, but I didn't expect to lose nearly a day of my memory in consequence!!! What are you lying to me about, Mom? Where are we?!"

She looks at me for a long while before finally saying,"Charleston. Charleston, West Virginia. We drove here overnight. Today we're heading to Wisconsin to stay with my parents."

I bite my lip and look down. West Virginia. My grandparents. I haven't seen them since I was a little kid.

"Why?" I ask cooly.

"Huh?"

"Why did we leave home and drive to Charleston?" I feel anger rise inside my chest.

"Honey, I can't tell you. It's. . ."

"It's what, Mom?" I snap. "I think I deserve an explanation for this!"

She purses her lips. "You don't need to be a part of Gabriel's world. It's to dangerous."

"Clearly I'm already involved! I know that something is going on and you know what it is. So tell me!"

She stares at the floor for a minute, her eyes downcast. I realize that I've practically been screaming at her. I try to calm down, carefully sitting back down on the bed.

Finally Mom whispers to herself, "it was all supposed to be ancient history. We ran from that world a long time ago, back I was pregnant." She sounds defeated, more tired than I've ever seen her.

"Please, Mom," I implore. "Tell me." Amber was right; I should've confronted them earlier.

She holds my gaze for a long time. I refuse to look away, but her expression is guarded; I cannot glean any information from it.

"When I first met your father," she begins carefully. "He was part of a. . . A kind of organization."

"What type of organization?" I ask, intrigued and afraid.

"They're different from us. They all have special. . . abilities."

I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn't continue. "Like what?" I ask.

"Well," her voice trails off for a second as she struggles for words. Obviously this is a difficult topic to discuss. "There are three groups," she says finally. "Each of them extremely different in their talents. But collectively they are called the Gifted Ones." She stops, we eyes gazing past me, not really seeing my face.

"Gifted Ones?" I ask. She nods as if shaking herself out of a trance.

"And the three-"

Someone briskly knocks on the door, making my mom jump in surprise. "Room service!" a feminine voice calls from outside.

Mom closes up like a book, her face frozen in an expression of fear. I am confused. "You called them for something?" I ask.

"No, sweetheart, listen to me." She has completely changed, going from weary to alarmed in a second. "You have to hide. Don't come out, no matter what happens, okay?" She grabs my arm an pulls me off the bed, astonishing me with her sudden burst of strength.

"What? Why?!" I ask, turning towards her and trying to break away.

"Please Haven," she begs, pushing me into the closet. "Just stay here. Don't make a sound. I love you." She kisses the top of my head before sliding the panel shut.

I hear a splintering sound, accompanied by a loud bang. Through the tiny crack between the wall and the door I can see a flood of men and women burst into the room. My mom screams as three of them grab her and force her to her knees.

I cover my mouth with my hand, remembering what she told me. Obviously she knew that this was going to happen. But that doesn't make it any easier to watch.

"Where is the package?" A women barks at her. She has short, razor straight black hair and dark skin. Her back is to me, making it impossible to see her face.

"Brandon has it," Mom says. "You'll never find him."

I hear a click and see the woman point a handgun at my mother, complete with a silencer on the barrel. I've only seen those in movies. Tears well up in my eyes and I want to look away, but I can't. "Don't come out, no matter what happens." Her words echo in my ears, taunting me.

"We need the information inside, and I know you can tell us that. What was the first clue?"

To my complete and utter surprise, my mom smiles. It is a feral and glee filled smile, one that doesn't belong to her at all. "Brandon didn't tell me what the clue was. Only he knows, and he's long gone by now."

The woman considers this. Then she barks, "if you are lying, I swear I will shoot you in the head, right now."

The grin does not fade from my mother's face. "Why does it matter? You'll only kill me anyway. I am of no use to you. I will never tell you anything, because I don't know."

I pray to God that these will go away and leave us alone. Please, please God make them go away! I don't understand any of this, and I don't care, I just want everything to go back to how it was before Katherine showed up at the restaurant two days ago.

The woman purses her lips. "Is that so?" she asks. "You know, I was ecstatic to learn that my mission was to come after you. I really would rather kill you. God knows you deserve if after you destroyed my future. But Gabriel needs a hostage now, for your darling husband, so it can't be helped. Plus, interrogation should have an element of. . . Justice to it. You destroyed my heart, and so I'll break your body. I would like to get my hands on that bastard child of yours, though. That's what I was looking foreword to." She is just about to turn away when my mom's eyes flick over in the direction of my hiding place. It is a fleeting glance, but it is enough for the woman to take notice and turn to face the closet. I catch a glimpse of dark eye and a thin, angular face.

"Ethan?" she calls, not taking her eyes off the closet doors.

"Yes, General?" A man asks from out of my line of sight. The woman (who I guess they call "General") jerks her her head to the side. Before I can act, the door is violently shoved to the side and I am subjected to ten sets of  hostile eyes glaring in my direction. One of them, a heavily built man with beady brown eyes, pulls me out of the closet and forces me to my knees beside my mom. Her expression is one of despair and dread.

For a moment I just stare in shock, wondering if this is actually reality.

"Ah ha!" The General exclaims, examining my fave gleefully. "You're Haven, aren't you?"

How does she know my name? What else does she know about us? I suppose that's not as important as the gun at my temple, but in that moment all I feel is blind panic.

"How wonderful!" She continues. "Absolutely wonderful. I was wondering when you would turn up. But we seem to have run into a problem. We don't need two family members to blackmail someone. Just one." She sticks out her lip in a pout. I feel numb, like this can hardly register in my over-stressed brain.

"Who will the husband go for?" The General asks. There is a spark of insanity in her eyes; I can tell she's enjoying this immensely. "Will he choose the woman that he fell in love with?" She spits out the word "love" like the bitterest of poisons. "Or the daughter that he raised from birth?" She sinks to my level and runs a long, painted red fingernail down the side of my face. I flinch and try to turn away, but someone behind me holds my head still. The General smiles at my resistance. "Pity. Ethan?"

"Yes, General?"

"Keep her quiet."

A cloth is shoved into my mouth, causing me to gag and squirm to no avail. I glare at the General, but my eyes fail to strike her down as I so desperately wish. I wait in a furious silence as she lifts her gun once more and points it at me. "I'd love to kill your mother as well, but I also really want to make her watch as the light drains out of your eyes. She should feel the pain of having a loved one ripped from her grasp."

No. This is not happening! This is just some crazy dream that is going to end and I am going to wake up and laugh it off with Amber at school the next day.

Mom lets out a scream, struggling to break free. I can see the terror in her eyes, perfect mirrored in my own. Just before the General pulls the trigger, she somehow shakes off the guards and throws herself at the woman, knocking her to the ground. The gun goes off with a bang, making me cringe away from the sound and squeeze my eyes shut. I hear an animalistic howl of rage followed by an awful ripping noise. Then everything is silent. With shock, I realize that I am alive, and unharmed at that. Swallowing hard, I open my eyes to take in the scene.

The General stands tall, scarlet staining her clothes. My mother lies prone at her feet, choking and covered in blood from a ragged wound at her throat. I look on, helpless, as the General lifts the gun once more, her chin held high and a smirk plastered on her face as she pulls the trigger. The bullet buries itself into my mother's chest and she instantly goes still.

I inhale quickly, a haze of disbelief blocking out all other emotion.

"Ha!" The General laughs. "Much better. You have no idea how long I've dreamed of this!" She pulls back one foot and kicks my mother's limp form with a dull thud and a cracking sound. "I might get put on suspension for this, but no matter what Gabriel does, it's still worth it!"

A shudder runs through my frame, shaking me to the core. A bolt of pure energy shoots through my body, unbidden, and somehow I'm free of my captors. The struggle is a blur, but suddenly I am lunging for my mom, tears flooding down my face. The gag is gone from my mouth and I must screaming, but it doesn't register. All that I want is my mother, to see her eyes one more time, to hear her voice before it goes silent forever. But it is too late, far too late for that.

I watch as if from very far away as I throw my arms around her, fingers desperately searching for a pulse. I find nothing. My eyes burn with tears and my chest aches. The General rolls her eyes, shaking her head like I am am insolent child. Ethan steps in front of me, livid. There is a crack as he strikes me across the left side of my face. I am shocked into silence, skin stinging and head ringing from the force.

He shoves the gag back in my mouth as the hands clamp back down on my arms and legs. I let them, not fighting their aggression. Every cell in my body has been drained of will power. I am empty.

I am in a shocked trance as they haul me to my feet and push me out the door. My hands are quickly bound together so that I can't throw them off again. They needn't have bothered. One of them bends down to move my mother's body. Crimson liquid runs down her arm as it hangs limp by her side. I can see the dark bloodstain on the carpet as he lifts her up and I feel a sense of nausea settle in my stomach. I press my head against the nearest shoulder and begin to sob, not willing to see more. But just before I am getting ready to turn the corner, I cannot help but look back. And it may just have been the tears in my eyes, but I could've sworn that the smear had disappeared.

**I don't open my eyes the whole way out of the hotel. Eventually the man guarding me gets fed up and carries me outside. I keep on thinking that someone will call the police on the people carrying me bound and gagged out of the hotel, but no one does. For some reason this doesn't surprise me. I don't think that anything could surprise me, not even if guinea pigs started falling out if the sky.

Little did I realize how close I was to the truth. As we are crossing the parking lot, two boys suddenly drop down in front of us as if they had materialized out of thin air and fallen to the street.

The older one, probably nineteen, is very tall, at least six foot three. He has light brown hair that is cropped close to his head. His eyes are the palest if all blues, set in a face that looks serious, concerned, and extremely focused at the same time. I notice that he is thin in the extreme, with very high cheekbones that are only accented by the thinness.

The younger one looks to be about my age, and only seems to be a little shorter than the man beside him. His hair is a much darker shade of brown, nearly black, and his eyes are a deeper brown that remind me of dark chocolate. He's not as thin as the elder boy. I can see a light cording of muscle around his arms and shoulders. His face has the same structure, too, except that, like the rest of his body, his features seem to be softened. The chocolate brown of the younger one's eyes dance with a different light. There is something behind them, a sort of guarded carefulness and distraction, like he's thinking about something else.

They both stare at me and the people around with single minded intensity. I take this as my cue. Immediately I burst into action, kicking and struggling for the first time since the hotel room. The man holding me is caught by surprise. He drops me to the ground as I land a well placed kick to his stomach. Without my hands to break my fall I land flat on my back, pushing all of the air from my chest and leaving me gasping. For a moment I lay there, trying to inhale. The sky seems to spin above me and I squeeze my eyes shut. As soon as I can breath again I scramble up from the asphalt and look around in astonishment.

In the short time span between the boys landing and me fighting free, all Hell has broken loose around me. My captors are now busy fighting no fewer than ten people I have come to consider a my saviors. I see the two boys who landed in front of me, but the taller one seems to be literally floating four feet off the ground. He has one hand on the other boy's arm and seems to be half carrying him. The dark haired boy closes his eyes in concentration. As I watch, a spark is created in the palm of his hand. Then another. And another. Suddenly a bolt of lightning shoots up to encircle each forearm. His skin should be shriveling up and burning, but he doesn't even wince. With a flick of his wrist, he sends the lightning shooting towards Ethan. It hits him square in the chest and sends him sprawling across the lot.

A redheaded woman has her hand on the shoulder of a girl who looks so similar to her there is no doubt that they are mother and daughter. The girl's own fiery red hair shortens and spreads to her face and body. Her face juts out farther and farther until it has become the snout of a sleek, spotted leopard. The giant cat leaps free of the older woman and throws itself into the fray. Beside her I see a majestic lion mauling another man, and I have a suspicious hunch that it was once a person. From across the lot I watch a massive an older woman of dark coloring transform into a bald eagle.

I duck down as a dark shape zooms over my head and drops onto the pavement in front of me. It's an almost ridiculously beautiful blond girl wearing four inch high stilettos and a designer fur jacket. Her brown eyes flash dangerously as she observes the scene. On her arm is a handsome blond boy with the same dark eyes as the girl beside him. He looks to be a little younger than me, sixteen at the most. A ball of fire floats just above the palm of each hand. He marches into the fray, the fire flying from his hands and burning his adversaries clothes like they were made of paper.

The last of my rescuers is an old man, the curvature of his eyes hinting at Asian heritage. He wears kaki pants, a navy button up shirt, and leans heavily on a wooden walking stick. His white hair falls to his shoulders and his equally pale beard reaches to the middle of his chest. Despite his appearance, I can see little spheres of light and energy shooting from the top of his cane. They hit his enemies with extreme force and do as much damage as the dark haired boy's lightning bolts.

When I look back at my captors, I see that some of them have turned into vicious animals, where as some are flying, and others are shooting electricity or fire or small projectiles at their attackers.

This is unreal. Absolutely, positively, unquestionably unreal. I'm not dreaming, I'm sure of that, but there has to be an explanation for everything I'm seeing. Maybe I'm hallucinating?

The General breaks free of the battle and comes barreling towards me with surprising agility. Her hair ripples back and her face elongates as she sinks down to all fours. Within seconds she has turned into a great silver wolf.

I let out a scream for the first time since getting outside. The sound echoes through the air and turns a few heads, but all I can see is the once-General barreling towards me at a breakneck pace. I don't have time to run. There is no way to get away. Dimly I remember my mom saying, "he was part of a. . . An organization."

"What type of organization?"

"They had special. . . abilities."

"Abilities? Like what?"

It gathers it's legs under itself and leaps. I scramble backwards, but the wolf still crashes into me full force. My head makes a cracking sound as I hit the ground and a white flash of pain envelopes my skull before I lose consciousness completely.