Tate was given two sheathed knives by Captain Lugo. As Tate strapped them onto his belt, I turned to my dad. Tate's parents had already headed for one of the buildings. Mr. Leon seemed to know where he was going. Dad had the same pale look from the night of the party. It was only about four or five days ago, but it felt like weeks.

   "So you're going to march off to find Dani?" said Dad. "The most powerful dark mage in the past three hundred years?"

   "Pretty much."

   Dad pursed his lips and looked around before meeting my eyes. "I'm not sure anyone else has the balls to say this, but you need to hear it. What if you're not strong enough, Roxie? Only Alexie could stop her, and not forever. She won that fight. Sure, you're his apprentice, but you never even finished your training. Alexie didn't teach you everything, and he still couldn't best Dani. How can you expect to?"

   His voice mirrored all the small little voices in my head. The ones that made me doubt myself. I looked over his shoulder as I crossed my arms loosely to buy myself time. Nearby, Mr. Leon briefly caught Tate's arm and spoke into his ear. I looked back at my father. Our eyes of matching color met. I could see his thoughts behind them. More importantly, I could see his fear.

   "You're not wrong. I'm still technically an apprentice. I never finished my training. Alexie knew I wasn't ready to protect myself." I broke his gaze and turned my eyes towards my feet. My fingers clenched my bicep. "But even so, not one magick has come close to besting me. Not at the community meeting, not at the mall. The only time someone got close was when I had no magic. Even if I'm not fully trained, I'm better than those guys. How good were they, Dad?"

   I had no baseline to compare Dani's buddies to, considering I'd only ever fought Alexie and other apprentices. Dad hesitated. "They were good. I wouldn't have been able to stop them if all three rushed me."

   "You see my point, then." I shook my head and met his eyes again. "Even if I'm only a little above average, I'm still the person closest to taking Dani down. I'm the closest thing we've got to Alexie."

   Dad grimaced. "And if that's not enough?"

  I refused to think about that idea. "It's not just that, either. I meant what I said back at Tate's house. Dani needs to go. She's trying to take everything from me. She almost has. I'm not letting her get away. I'll find a way to kill her. Whether I have to trap her, throw us into the Ghost Realm, I don't care. I'm finding a way. No one but me is going to kill her."

   "That's what I'm scared of," he admitted. "You've never killed someone, Roxie. It's . . . not as easy as you think. Taking a life changes you."

   "And how would you know that?" I raised an eyebrow.

   Dad smiled sadly. "I might as well have killed your mother."

   My stomach dropped into my feet. The confusion must have come across my face pretty obviously because my father looked down with a sigh. "She was something . . . but she feared magic. When she was young, she and her sister were experimenting with their witch abilities. Her sister, your aunt, was something incredible. By the time she was twelve, she could already control her magic as if she was fully trained. Annabel was older by about a year. Her sister was killed when she was toying with magic and standing above a tree sapling. It grew fifty years in five seconds and effectively killed her."

   I'd never heard any of this. I stared at him. Dad shook his head. "Annabel was extremely protective of her sister and when she died . . . I was told by her parents that she was never the same. She thought herself responsible for her death. Annabel always encouraged her sister to explore her abilities. She became overconfident and it cost her life. Annabel knew magic passed through family and knew that she had the potential to be just as powerful. Scared, she shut off her own magic."

   He exhaled. "She hid it away, but she'd already opened the door by using magic during her childhood. She lived long enough by performing small spells. We met, married, and had you, but a few years into your life, it was too much. She was too scared to use magic around you, so it built up in her system. You were alone with her when she imploded. Her magic became too much for her to handle. She knew that she'd explode if she didn't flee, and it would kill you. So she threw herself into the Ghost Realm, where she was killed by crythals.

   "I wasn't home that day," muttered Dad. "I'd been putting off going to see one of my friends because we were having problems, Annabel encouraged me to talk to him. I put it off until I finally gave in. If I had listened to her, I would have been there when she started to implode. I could have helped her find a solution, eased her pain, something to stop what happened. If I had listened to her, I could have saved her life."

   I stood there for a moment, letting the story sink in. It made some sense . . . Dad's lingering sense of guilt whenever he talked about my mother. "You knew the dangers of hiding magic, so why did you keep the secret? You knew that it was dangerous."

   "It's only dangerous if the magick has already used magic," negated Dad. "Once you use magic, you have to keep using it. If you stop, you die. But if you never start, then it won't ever overload you. Annabel died because she used it and stopped. Her sister died because she used it too much. Her family line is an incredibly potent one. Her family is one of the ancient ones, which is why her family is so overpowered. I knew you had the potential to use magic too much because of that and decided to keep you hidden. It was what your mother wanted."

    Finally, a few puzzle pieces were clicking in. A few were still not fitting, though. I chewed on my words before uttering them. "Alexie knew my mother . . . he knew you? How? How did you know one of the most famous magicks in modern history?"

   "Alexie is the one that figured out what happened to Annabel," responded my father. "Calida was Annabel's childhood friend. She was part of the reason that Annabel's sister was so powerful because she taught her how to harness the magic at too young of an age. When Calida learned that Annabel had disappeared, she wrangled Alexie into investigating it. I'll never know how she managed to convince him to help a complete stranger."

   Dad shook his head. "Alexie saw the scorch marks on the floor and knew that Annabel had started to implode. He went straight into the Ghost Realm and found her remains. She'd landed directly into a sleeping crythal pride. They attacked her and she was gone before she knew what was happening. That's why he was so angry when he realized I was hiding you. He knew exactly what could happen and what had happened in the past."

   Everything was starting to make more sense. My father's behavior on the night I met Alexie, Alexie's comments about my mother, and the warnings that I had to complete my training. 

   "This family . . . my mother's family, they're important?"

   "Sort of. There's original ancient lines of magicks. About thirty in each kind. Nowadays, only about ten of each family are still intact. Your mother's, the Clairs, has nearly died out. Your mother's particular branch died when she did, because all of the new generation were gone. There's probably only thirty Clairs alive nowadays. They're all your distant cousins. I think one's on the Council, or was up until recently."

   "So only the name makes them special?"

   Dad shook his head. "The family line is so pure -- at least in some of the relatives -- that they have a much higher potential for magic than those of mundane bloodlines."

   Something occurred to me. "Is there any way that Dani could have known this when she found me? It would explain why she took me in a source."

   Dad shook his head immediately. "No. There's literally no way. Those of the ancient line practically wipe all signs of their last names. The Cleansing was a movement by Dusks to take out original family lines. As a result, all people of original family lines wiped their existence. It's impossible that Dani knew that you were half of a Clair. She likely just sensed that you had potential and snatched you."

   Something in my stomach sank. I had conflicted feelings about that. If he'd said yes, then it would make sense. Finally, why Dani had chosen me as her source would be explained. If she had known, then Alexie would have, too. That would explain why he took me in. A lot more would make sense. But Dad was absolutely certain that no one knew my mother was a Clair. 

   So, that meant my family heritage was completely unrelated to this whole fight. Half of me was disappointed. Someone people always hoped that they were special. I'd never cared about if I was special or not. I'd never wanted to be special. But for a second, I thought maybe I was. Maybe, I was special and that was why Dani and Alexie sought me out.

   The other half of me was relieved. I'm not special. Thank God. I'd always hated the movies where the whole plot relied on the main character being someone important. It was the reason I sought out adventure during high school. I was proving those people wrong; that I didn't have to be special to be someone. Now that I knew that I wasn't being targeted because something there was something different about me, I didn't feel like a hypocrite.

   But I still have that blood. Clair blood. I looked at my hands. At the briefest thought, powerful magic would appear and bend to my will. From what I was understanding, being of an ancient line was like a button that made the magick overpowered. My aunt had that bloodline and she died because she was too strong. My mother had it and she'd imploded because she was too powerful. It sounded as if this trait caused some problems.

   If I didn't have the trait, then why was Alexie so concerned about getting me trained? It didn't make sense. If I didn't have the trait, why did Alexie care? I wasn't a danger to anyone. I wouldn't implode from too much magic if I didn't have that trait.

   My head was starting to ache from this line of thought. I rubbed my forehead and exhaled. "Well, thanks for telling me." He'd been trying to make a point about killing a person, but what he'd told me afterwards was much more important. Dad suddenly hugged me, his arms tight. I could feel his heart beating rapidly. 

   He's scared. I gripped his shirt. Dad didn't say a word, but I understood that he was scared he was never going to see me again. I was going after Dani Darhk, someone who had the complete potential to kill me. There was validation in his fear. 

   "Please don't be reckless, Roxie," he whispered in my ear. "I already saw magic kill my wife. Please don't let it kill you, too."

   "I'm not going to let that happen. I'm dying after I've had my white-picket fence story. On my own terms." 

   He pulled back. I let go and gripped his arm. "I'll come pick you up once this is finished. It might take me a few weeks, but I'll be back. Enjoy your vacation."

   "I don't think that's possible."

   As I stepped back, Tate stepped forward and shook my father's hand. He's waited patiently nearby, seeing as his parents and Captain Lugo had left a long time ago. Dad grabbed his arm and whispered fiercely in his ear. I didn't even bother to wonder what he was saying. My mind was too busy trying to sort through all of the new information.

   Tate appeared to ask a question. Dad hesitated, glanced my way, before he answered with a single word. His head shook a little. Tate stiffened. He asked another question. Dad nodded. Tate released him and stepped backwards, his eyes distant.

   Apparently, both of us had a lot to think about.