"I'd advise you kids to not do that."

A familiar voice said from the door behind us. We both turned quickly, being met with the familiar sight, and dirty feet smell, of the Forkman. "There are many secrets that you are not yet ready to know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sophie snapped. It was like watching her flip a switch, all her anger rushing back into her at the sight of the man who might've caused her all her problems. Thinking about it like that caused me to become angry too, angry at Forkle who put my cousin through all this trauma she never asked for.

"It means that you haven't learned enough to be able to comprehend what this room holds. Secrets about you, and your parents." He didn't seem to realize how that just made Sophie angrier.

"They're my parents!" She scoffed. "I think I deserve to know anything and everything about them, especially anything involving me."

"Not yet." He stepped closer to us. "Your parents agreed, you need to be ready before you learn everything."

"You think blaming my parents for not telling me is gonna make everything better?" She asked. "Make me not mad at you? I want answers, I just want to know what you did to me and how I get rid of it."

"You really want to get rid of it?" He asked, sadness and disappointment flooding his voice.

"Yes!" She shouted incredulously. "Of course I do! I hurt one of my closest friends with these powers, who knows what else I might do, what I might be able to do?"

"Miss Foster." He approached slowly, gently laying his hand on her shoulder like she was some rabid beast that would lunge at him. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. "These powers are meant for good. All you have to do is learn to control them, harness them, and know when to use them. You don't need to get rid of this miracle, just learn how to handle it."

She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears.

"I can't do it. It's too much. Haven't I already gone through enough?" He flinched as she threw his hand off her shoulder. "I went through months of torture and pain and drugging to trigger these abilities, and all I've done since getting them is put my friends and myself in danger. They aren't good. They weren't made with goodness, they weren't triggered with goodness, and they can't do anything good. What don't you understand about that?"

"They were made with good intentions. You haven't even witnessed your full capabilities yet. You know how you ended up with your family, great and understanding? How you were able to rise to fame so quickly doing what you love? How you were able to save yourself at just the right moment and find Rayni, whose parents got you back to us? The power of luck. Another ability that your parents made and broke the fundamental laws of nature to give you." I watched as her nostrils flared and eyes widened. Forkman was about to get one heck of an earful.

"You call this lucky? You call any of what I've gone through lucky? This is all bullshit! My parents died right in front of my eyes, that isn't luck! Seeing my sister be murdered, and my other sister die also? Not luck! Going through harassment and hate just to keep doing what I love, having to deal with Noah, getting kidnapped, getting injured at every turn in my life, none of this is lucky! Get your head out of your ass, there's no such thing as 'the power of luck' and it's certainly not in me. It was hard work that got me my accomplishments, it was the system being cruel that finally led to me finding a good enough family after suffering with every single one before. It was these terrible abilities that helped me to escape, it was Alvar's betrayal and Wraith that helped me escape. It was a coincidence that Rayni and her parents happened to be there, not luck." She glared, stalking closer to him and jabbing him with her finger. "There's no such thing as luck, and it's about time you realized that. Everything happens for a reason, and it's not luck that brought me here. My parents didn't give me luck, my parents didn't give me anything except for a shit ton of trauma and all these problems. That's what they did for me, not anything good!"

"They did everything for you!" He yelled back, turning red in the face. I really hope it's because of a heart attack.

"Name one thing! One thing they actually did for me, that was good, that didn't end up benefiting themselves!"

"They died for you!" Sophie was silent, and so was I. Well, I had been the entire time, but now I was too shocked to even try. I watched as the tears flooded from her eyes. As her shoulders started trembling with rage or sadness, maybe both.

"That's not funny." Her voice shook. I walked over to her, gently grabbing her hand and unfurling her clenched fingers before her nails could draw blood.

"I'm not joking." Forkle said, his voice cold and monotone. I didn't care how long I'd known him, how he acted as a grandpa to me. I was ready to give him the beat down of the century if he said one more thing to my cousin.

"They didn't die for me. They were murdered."

"Vespera really didn't brag about killing them?" Sophie shook harder at his words. It felt like she was about to explode.

"She did. That doesn't mean they died for me."

"They died to protect you, Miss Foster. They died so you wouldn't be found, so you could continue to live. They even gave up Amy's life, just for yours. The Neverseen were looking for you, they knew what adjustments your parents made to your DNA. They were coming to either kill you or take you with them. Your parents stopped them in the only way they could."

"My life wasn't worth their's." Sophie said after a minute of silence. "They both died so their experiment could live on, they let my baby sister die so their experiment could continue. I'm the reason my sister's dead. I'm the reason she hardly even got a chance to live."

Her gaze was cast downwards in a way I could tell she wasn't talking to us anymore. She was talking to herself. Spiraling down and down and down back into her depression. This information will break her if I don't stop it now.

"Sophie." I repeated after she didn't stop whispering to herself. "Sophie, look at me." She didn't, but she stopped talking. "Please, Soph, I need you to look at me." Her wet eyes looked up into mine. She was still shaking too much for my grip on her shoulders to ease it.

"It's not your fault. You were a kid. You never chose this, they did. You never wanted this. Your parents were adults who made their own decisions. You couldn't have stopped them, you didn't know what was going to happen."

"It's not my fault." She echoed. I was shocked at how fast she accepted it until she continued on. "But I'm the reason. Even if I didn't choose it, it's because of my existence, because I was alive and there and the Neverseen wanted me, that they died. Nothing is going to change that."

"Can't you just help her get rid of the powers?" I butted in, attempting to keep Sophie from spiraling in guilt any farther.

"Fine. I can help." I signed in relief far too soon. "But, I want you to train in your powers with me until we're able to get rid of them. Then you can decide for yourself once they're not quite so daunting." Sophie rolled her eyes but seemed calmer.

"Fine, whatever. What do I need to do to get this done as soon as possible?"

"Well, we need your parents' old journal, back at your childhood home."

another short chapter but they'll hopefully get longer from here. i've been having a really busy schedule with homework and activities so i've been getting really behind on writing. sorry if this isn't good, i kinda threw it together quickly while still going along with my plans. hope you enjoyed!

avery, out ->

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