I didn't know what to say, and my mouth went dry as I locked eyes with my parents. Not moving her eyes away from me, my mother tilted her head towards my friends. "Girls, we have snacks in the kitchen if you want to try them." Finally she pulled her eyes away from mine to narrow them at my friends. 

My friends received the message and wasted no time jumping off my bed and rushing past my parents in the doorway, no doubt going straight to the snacks ready to gossip. Blythe gave me a worried glance before exiting, and seeing that helped me gain at least a somewhat confidence. I knew that no matter what, my friends would have my back. 

Things stayed silent, and I took the time to study my father. He had always been the quiet parent, never shooting down my mother's ideas and expressions. It was always hard to know what he was thinking, and what his exact opinion on issues were. I knew my mom would take every chance to hate on anyone who isn't talentless, but would my dad? 

Finally my mom spoke up. "We didn't hear much," she told me, answering the unasked question of how much of the conversation before did she overhear. "We walked in when Lyra talked about feeling empowered and I didn't get the chance to make our presence known before you responded." 

I nodded. They didn't know that I was a pyrokinetic. They just knew that I was more than what they previously believed. I didn't want to tell them, despite reaching a point in the conversation where I'd be expected to explain. I was taking deep breaths, and closed my eyes as I thought over Marella's lessons on helping me to control my emotions. For a brief moment I wished she was there to help me explain my situation better than I could. 

I refused to lose control now. 

It stayed silent, mostly because my parents probably assumed I would take this moment to speak up and tell them about my ability. Maybe explain how long, what it was, why they didn't know. During this silence, my mother sent my father a look and moved to sit beside me on my bed. He closed the door, as if it would be a sound barrier my friends would not be able to hear through. I wondered if they were even trying to listen in, or if they really were down in the kitchen, eating the snacks and waiting for me to tell them. 

I licked my lips, which suddenly felt chapped enough. "I want to tell you something." I looked up at my father, who was the one who spoke up. I'd expected it to be my mother. Mom wrapped her arm around me, as if she knew what he was going to say. 

"Okay," I responded simply, curious at what he would have to say. The silent, unspoken parent. Always there in presence, but not much in words. 

"We understand why you didn't want to tell us. We understand why this is uncomfortable. What we don't understand, is why you didn't tell us anyways?" 

"What do you mean?" the words slipped out. 

"We just always assumed that you got our full transparency law in the family. That no matter what, we always tell each other everything. No secrets. Just transparency, no matter how much we might not like it." My mother locked eyes with my father, and the look they shared showed knowledge that I knew I didn't hold. "But, I believe that it's stupid to not understand, when we've not completely followed the rule ourselves." 

"I'm not following," I told them, honestly. 

"We know you're a pyrokinetic," my father said, and my head snapped in his direction. "Well, actually, we didn't. But that reaction confirmed it." 

"How?" I asked. "How would you know that?" 

"You come from a long line of people just like you," my mother explained, her arm still wrapped tightly against me. "Not from my side, I assure you I, along with most of my family, have always been talentless. Your father is a little different." 

I looked at him and stared in wonder as he took the time to summon what I could only assume as balefire. "You're just like me," he assured. 

"How-"

"If it means anything, I was just as shocked as you," my mother interrupted. "I didn't find out until you were ten." 

"The only people who knew about me were my parents. When I manifested, things were very different than they are now. I always avoided applying for matchmaking, not wanting to go through close relationships where I'd be expected to tell another person something I've kept to myself for so long. I was lucky, my mother was a pyrokinetic herself and trained me just as her mother did for her. I didn't have to tell anyone else." 

"That's exactly how I felt. I didn't want to tell more people than those who needed to know," I gave away. "I didn't want to tell you guys not only because I didn't feel comfortable admitting I have an ability when you've always been so angry at everyone else around you, although that did help, but also because admitting it to you feels like admitting it to myself." 

At some point in my speech my father had extinguished his flame before taking a seat on my other side. "It got lonely." I had never seen my dad so expressive as I did right there. "Eventually I took a chance and decided, after decades of feeling alone, that I needed some form of contact. That's when I started making the wrong choices. I was angry that my ability, something that should have been a source of happiness to me, instead was what made me isolated among my peers. Eventually, just at the right time, I found a way to get away from my wrong decisions and I finally made the right one." The look my parents shared was familiar. I always knew about their love for each other. I always knew about how much they cared for each other. How much they cared for me. 

"On the opposite side, I didn't grow up feeling isolated because I had an ability I couldn't express, instead I grew up feeling isolated because what I had and could share with those around me would never be enough. Being called talentless your entire life gets to you," my mother started to explain. "I have talents, just like everyone around me. They're just not the talents everyone wants to see in action. We never get the chance to work towards the nobility, and there is absolutely no way a person without an ability can eventually end up on the council. A lot of our population is made up of people who have never manifested into an ability, yet we have zero representation nor voice in the decisions made for the population."

I thought over her words. She had always been filled with what I believed was unjust anger, but with those words enough I could understand her rage at the people around her. "We bonded over our mutual hatred for everyone around us," my father explained to me, a lazy grin on his face as he looked at my mother. "I hated that everyone feared what I was, and she hated that she was underestimated. I never told her about my ability, instead I just made her believe that I had no ability just like her because that's what I was forced to do anyways. We didn't want children, she didn't want to have a child to grow up in the same world as she did. A world that would constantly underestimate you. I didn't want a child because I knew the possibility of your manifesting." 

"But then we had you. And you were, are, and always be the best of us," my mother finished for him. 

"You are still the very best of us," my father rephrased, emphasizing what I believed to be him telling me that my ability is okay. "When you turned ten I realized that while it was very late, it was still early enough to tell your mother about the possibility of you becoming a pyrokinetic. She was angry, and for a while I was worried about the state of our family." 

My mother nodded along to his words, and took an extra second before adding on, "but I grew past it. And that's why we wanted you to attend Foxfire. Especially because the ability was no longer forbidden, we knew the school would take care of you if you did manifest it." 

"I'm having a hard time following some of this," I admitted. "Why were you so angry about me having friends with abilities? You've been mad at my friendship with Blythe for the entirety of our friendship." 

"That's different." My father looked away. "And that's my fault."

"What do you mean?" I questioned. 

"Your friends are waiting downstairs," my mother pointed out, standing up from the bed.

"Wait, hold on-"

"And from the looks of it, you have another calling." My cheeks filled with color as I noticed Eamon calling through my imparter. In all the craziness of the sleepover and now this, I had forgotten to call him and remind him that I would be with friends tonight. I had even brought it up in conversation with my friends, but got sidetracked when they started joking about me liking him. 

"I need to know the rest," I practically ordered. 

"Of course. Full transparency." He nodded and exited the room swiftly.

"I'll send your friends back up," my mother told me. "Full disclosure, the information we're about to tell you can never be told to anyone, especially your friends. It is something that can effect this family very negatively." 

That did nothing to squash my curiosity. "Mom-"

"We will tell you, Novena. Enjoy the rest of the night with your friends. Remember that we, as your parents, have sacrificed a lot to have you here, happy, and healthy. Remember we have and always will love you matter what path your life takes." She moved to exit the room, but at the last minute turned and lingered in the doorway. "Remember when your father said he made the wrong choices?" I nodded. "Remember that he also decided to make the right one. And he left his old life behind so that he could be the husband and father he is today." 

***

... no chapter question for the next chapter, but i will ask if y'all saw this coming? 

funfact, i've always been going back and forth on her parents backstories and never really picked an actual idea to go with and write out until literally as i was typing out this chapter a few days ago. but now i have the rest of the plot pretty much solid and downpacked from here. i'm so excited to show y'all.

and for those of you who were wondering and sent me dms of concerns, here's the picture of my dad's car which i drove into the ditch. he's still letting me use it so it obvs wasn't that big of a deal. i was backing out of my driveway and whilst trying to avoid hitting my best friend's car (the red one) i accidentally was too over to the side and instead went through the ditch.