Torri woke up to the faces of Alice, Ethan, and Snort and Nicko Heap. She was on a purple couch.
     "She looks kinda like Simon, don't you think?" Nicko said. Ethan looked confused. Alice nodded.
     "Simon has been off the radar for a while. Lucy and Willam too. Something about alchimie, I think. Maybe something happened to them?"  Snorri suggested. Alice nodded.
    "It can't be Septimus. Or Sam. Septimus only ever had one kid. I should know, I see him almost every day. And his wife even says it herself that she only had one kid. She's always weird about it though. She never looks me in the eye and looks like she's about to cry." Alice thought for a moment. Ethan took this as a chance to speak.
    "I heard that about ten years ago, there was a huge alchimie conspiracy. Something about Marcellus and his assistant alchemist. Apparently, they seemed to be using rare stuff. This got some sort of wealthy council mad. A week after that, most of the houses in that area started fire. Of course the blame was placed on the angered Simon Heap. He was the only one angry about it. He claimed he didn't do it. But they came after him. Then he did some kind of an invisibility spell on his house and they ran. Never seen again. Not dead, just under your noses." Ethan said finishing up his story. Torri winced and sat up, obviously allured by the story. A small, orange tabby cat hid behind Snorri. It meowed and Ethan jumped. He hated cats. Nicko ran his hand through his straw-colored hair that was tangled and full of bright colors. He looked at Snorri. She gave him a shrug and a weak smile.
    Torri looked at all the silent conversation between her new cousins. Or was it Aunt ans Uncle? She didn't know. The orange cat behind Snorri meowed and sat down. Alice was thinking intently. Ethan had finally noticed she was up.
    "Torri! You're up! Crazy birthday present, right?" He asked. Torri shook her head.
     "Crazy birthday. Wait, how are you up here? I thought you had Magyk to practice, did he let you go?" Torri's head was spinning. What was going on. She had living family. Wow. That was a lot to digest. She shook her head. This was turnig out not only to be a strange birthday, but the weirdest day of her life. Ethan looked at he sympathetically. It was weird for both of them.
     Snorri bent down and picked up Ulr.