Lena Matthews

"Carter!" Kiara yelped as the car skidded to a halt. Carter shifted the gear to park before getting out and slamming the door behind him. My heart thudded in terror as he opened the side door and dragged me outside with an unexpected strength.

"Let go of me!" I complained.

"Tell me who she is first!" Carter demanded.

"And lose my only leverage?" I spat back.

"So this is Agent Lena Matthews." Carter announced. "It was glaringly obvious the entire time. And I knew too! In the back of my mind, I knew something was off about you. I knew that everything you said was a lie, but I looked past it. You were my friend, and I let that blind me to everything!"

"I never meant to hurt you." I insisted pathetically.

"The whole point of you coming here was to hurt me! To hurt all of us!" Carter protested. "I'm such an idiot. And Jessica is too. You have Rosie's face, and she fell for it. Do you know how much she's risked for you? Are you going to enjoy it when the Agency slaughters her like her daughter?"

"I don't want that to happen. Please, you have to believe me." I begged. My phone started to buzz. I pulled it out slowly, and Kiara and Carter eyed it like a weapon. "It's my brother." I informed them slowly. I showed them the caller ID, which read Finn.

"Your brother's name is Asher," said Kiara. "Oh. He has a fake name too, doesn't he?"

"Let me answer." I said, trying to keep my tone even. Before I could do anything, Carter swiped the phone from my grasp. "Carter, seriously!"

Carter held up the phone and crumpled it like a piece of paper. The useless metal clattered to the ground.

"This seems really personal..." said Aaliyah.

"Yeah, we're just going to wait in the car." Jerome agreed.

"This entire time, and you never said a word," said Carter. "Not even when Jessica and I saved your life? Or when you became one of us?"

"They would have killed my family." I reasoned. "Aurelie is nine. She has no idea about anything. You have understand why I didn't tell you."

"You thought we would just kill your entire family?" Kiara asked. "Ivy... or Lena, we aren't the Agency. We're not the monsters. I can't believe you haven't figured that out."

"I know that now." I objected.

"You thought we were going to kill an innocent nine year old a few seconds ago!" Kiara argued. "You have a Forbidden brand, but you think like a freaking agent!"

"Yeah, fine!" I exclaimed. "I think like an agent because my Dad thinks like an agent, and my Mom thinks like someone who was almost killed by a vampire, and because I was never allowed to think any other way! Is that what you want to hear? That I got messed up?"

"You're not trying to make us feel bad for you, are you?" Carter asked.

"No, that's not what-" I wanted to scream at the sky, or sink into the grass and never see a human being or Forbidden again. "I'm sorry." I finally managed to say. "Before I met you, I didn't know how to think for myself. I had no idea that the Agency was wrong."

Kiara's eyes softened with sympathy, but Carter remained impassive. Finally, he laughed. I had no idea what to do with his erratic reaction.

"It's just-" Carter smiled wryly. "Do you want to hear something really dumb? I never met my sister. I thought that after we became friends, you could be her. You had her face. I pretended in my mind that all of those pictures in my house were of you instead of her. I used to be so scared that Rosie would hate me for being her replacement. But I could tell myself that you were Rosie, and that you didn't hate me. It made me feel less guilty. But this entire time, you were repulsed by me! It's just funny."

"I never hated you." I argued. "Listen to my heartbeat. I'm not lying."

"That doesn't matter," said Carter. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to take us to the yuki onna. We'll confirm it's her and turn her in to Makaya or Mrs. Pearce or whoever. Then you and your family are going to move. Go to Greece, for all I care. Just not here. And then we'll never have to see each other again."

"I don't want that." I whispered, my voice raspy. I was starting to cry in desperation.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Kiara asked. "We promise that your family won't get hurt, and that's more than they deserve."

"I thought I was your friend." I whispered.

"You were! That's why we're doing this! You really got to us, Lena Matthews." said Kiara. "You're a great agent, for what it's worth. Could have fooled me."

Carter and Kiara escorted me back into the car. I sat in the passenger's seat, and Carter took the wheel. He didn't even turn to look at me as he started the engine. Kiara was seated in the back, and Jerome and Aaliyah were covered in blankets in a pretty weak attempt to smuggle them back through the gate. It wasn't like the new security seemed to care.

I directed Carter to Atalka Academy, where the Night of Shining Stars was about to begin. At one point, I reached up to adjust my glasses, and Kiara put me in a choke hold on instinct. She muttered an apology right afterwards, but it wasn't convincing. Aaliyah and Jerome say stiffly in their seats, terrified to anger any of the already on-edge Forbidden.

Roaming spotlights ignited the bricks of the Academy, and attendees of the Night of Shining stars excitedly meandered into the auditorium in a swath of a million different fabrics. A red carpet was set up to make the students feel like celebrities.

"I think I'm a little under-dressed," said Aaliyah.

"It's not like it matters." I responded. "She's somewhere in there." I started to take a couple steps towards the crowd, but Carter yanked me back.

"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded.

"To find her." I answered, pulling my hand out of his grasp. I scanned the crowd for someone I knew, but my entire family was missing. Makaya and Mrs. Pearce were nowhere to be seen either.

"How do I know you're not going to run to your agent family?" Carter asked. "I'm going with you."

I tried to search for a chance of redemption in his eyes, but Carter was completely closed off. I'd never seen him like this before. "I'm sorry-"

"Save it. Please." said Carter. "We don't have time for this. Just tell me where she is."

"Hi guys!" Jane-Anne entered the scene, grinning from ear to ear. She was wearing a long-sleeve red dress, and her hair had been placed in an intricate bun. With her hair tied up, I could finally see the resemblance she shared with her mother, especially in her eyes. But Jane-Anne's expression was alight with an innocent excitement that I had never seen on her mother.

"How was practicing with Kiara?" Taylor asked us, trailing closely behind Jane-Anne. She was wearing a long navy gown adorned with silver flowers along the bottom of its skirt. A translucent navy cape swooped over her left shoulder, and her face was already locked in its default judgemental expression.

"It was interesting." said Kiara. "Apparently, her real name's Lena." She added, glaring at me.

"So you weren't joking on the phone?" Taylor asked, looking at Jane-Anne. "Did you actually manage to keep something a secret for months?"

Jane-Anne nodded. "I don't know why everyone's so surprised."

"I need to use the restroom." I interjected. "I'll be back in a second."

"Seriously? Now?" Aaliyah asked.

"I'll go with you." said Kiara, eyeing me carefully. "Taylor?"

"Um.. sure?" Taylor agreed, blissfully unaware of who I really was. Taylor hated the Agency the most, so I was thankful that she didn't have any powers to attack me with.

"I'll go with you guys too." said Jane-Anne. "I feel like we're about to have a secret meeting or something."

"Let's just go." I suggested. Kiara grabbed my forearm tightly, like I would run away at any moment.

"Barbosa!" one of the teachers, Mr. Kawaguchi, called at Kiara. "We need you backstage. The show's going to start soon."

"I'm just using the restroom!" Kiara called back. "Be right there!" Manicured nails dug into my skin as her grip tightened. Taylor was starting to pick up on the change in Kiara's demeanor.

"What's going on?" Taylor hissed at me.

"Taylor, before she says whatever she's going to say, I want you to take a deep breath and remember that murdering people is bad." said Kiara.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jane-Anne asked, laughing nervously.

"Everything's going to make sense, I promise." I told her. Taylor and Kiara shot me alarmed glances. "It's okay." I said. "She deserves to know."

"Know what?" Jane-Anne asked. She searched each of our faces for the answer, but found nothing.

"Let's keep going." I decided. I dragged everyone into the Academy, but we turned away from the crowd and into one of the darkened hallways.

"Guys, the Night of Shining Stars is that way." said Jane-Anne, but we ignored her. "Guys!" Jane-Anne repeated. I didn't bother responding as I searched for a place far away from the crowd.

"Not now, Jane-Anne," said Taylor.

"Okay, so when?" Jane-Anne asked. She stopped firmly in her tracks, forcing everyone to stop. Taylor walked a couple feet ahead, expecting her to follow, but Jane-Anne stood her ground firmly. When she reached up to rub her left shoulder, I realized that she was shaking.

"Jane-Anne, this is something really important, so-"

Jane-Anne cut me off. "I'm important too! I don't know if you guys forget that or something, but I'm important. Do you think I'm stupid? I know how much time everyone spends together without me. Is it funny to cut me out of everything?" Jane-Anne's brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "I'm not just here to be dismissed! Why have you been avoiding me? I think I should know."

No one said anything. Kiara and Taylor looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Just tell me! I think I can handle it. I'm not some child that you're supposed to babysit, I'm your friend. That's what I thought, anyway." Tears were staining Jane-Anne's cheeks, and she didn't bother to wipe them away. She looked at us desperately, waiting for an answer.

"If I had known sooner, I would have told you, I swear." I said, stepping forward.

"Known what?" Jane-Anne asked.

"You know how Mrs. Delaney and Rowan died?" I asked. Jane-Anne nodded, looking confused. "There are these supernatural entities called the Forbidden, and we think that one of them is responsible for those deaths. That's what we've been doing without you. We've been tracking down the killer."

"What are you doing?" Kiara asked.

"She has to know." I told Kiara carefully.

"So that's what you were doing?" Jane-Anne asked doubtfully. "Looking for a killer? Did you find out who it was?"

"Yeah, we did." I answered solemnly.

Jane-Anne's expression darkened. "Who was it?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"It was you, Jane-Anne. You're the yuki onna."

A/N: Please don't hurt me.

I know that she was the one person no one suspected. I don't think I got any comments guessiung Jane-Anne, but some people got close. I will see you guys soon with the full explanation that you deserve.

QOTD: What was your reaction to the reveal?