▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 ━︎━︎ 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐙𝐞𝐝 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 with a frown covering her face the following day. Despite trying desperately to rid her mind of the conversation she'd had with her sister the night before, Addison's words echoed in her mind. Wren's hatred for the aliens suddenly grew. If what Addison had told her was true, that meant she had finally found her true heritage, the place where she truly belonged. Up there, in the ever growing galaxy, where the aliens roamed. She knew it was selfish, finding where she had belonged is all Addison had ever longed for, but to Wren she had already found it. Wherever Wren was, that's where Addison belonged. With her. Not with those aliens that wanted to rip the only constant love and comfort she's ever had in her whole life away.

Wren couldn't stand the thought of it. She wished more than anything that those stupid aliens hadn't come to their planet. Life as she knew it was in danger, and Wren would stop at nothing to make sure it wasn't ruined.

     Wyatt walked side by side with Wren, his hand holding hers as he gently swung them back and forth. Today was the day that Zed was supposed to be interviewed for Mountain College, and according to Addison he was freaking out so they were making their way to the beach where Zed was in order to help him calm his nerves. Wyatt glanced at Wren, taking note on the frown that hadn't left her face. "Hey," he nudged her in the side, "what's wrong?"

     Wren hummed, pulling herself from her thoughts. She blinked, turning her head to look at Wyatt and forcing a smile on her face. "Nothing's wrong." Wyatt gave her a look. She forced the smile to reach her eyes. "Really. Everything's fine."

     Wyatt nodded, his face growing serious. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

     Not this. Wren nodded. "I know."

     "You're sure everything's okay?"

     She shrugged, smiling with her teeth. "Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" Wyatt allowed a small smile and nodded. He knew she was lying, he knew her all too well and had learned when she was hiding something from him, but he also learned it was better not to push things if she didn't want to talk about it.

     The couple made it to the beach where they found Zed sitting on a chair. Willa and Wynter were already standing there with him. "You're making history today, Zed." Wynter claimed. "First zombie to even interview for college."

     "Hey, you show 'em what monsters can do." Wyatt encouraged.

     "Right!" Zed nodded, trying to work up his courage. "I'm going to slay her with my killer zombie charm."

     "Yeah," Willa nodded.

     "Or not. Probably not. I don't know. We will see."

     Bree and Bonzo came running up to them. Bonzo said something in zombie tongue and Zed sat up straighter. "What? She's early."

     Wren let go of Wyatt's hand and walked to stand in front of Zed. She kneeled down slightly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Hey. Look at me." Zed listened. "Zed, you've got this, okay? Forget about the rest of us for a moment and focus on yourself. Yes, this is a great opportunity for other monsters and it is about them, but it's also about you. This is your chance."

     "But what if you're wrong and I bomb this interview?" Zed asked, holding her eyes.

     "You won't." Wren assured, giving him a soft smile. "Wanna know how I know that?" Zed nodded. "You're going to do good because you, Zed Necrodopolis, are exceptional. They would be complete idiots not to let you in."

     Zed managed a small smile. "Thanks Wren."

     She stood up straight, holding out her hands. "Come on you crazy green machine." Zed smiled a full smile and took her hands, allowing her to pull him up. The group all walked towards the Necrodopolis household where the interviewer was waiting for him. They made it into Zombietown and Addison quickly ran up to them.

     Wren nodded her head towards Zed. "I found this one sulking about."

     "I was not sulking!" Zed exclaimed, quickly growing flustered and defensive. Wren smirked. Zed pointed at her, clicking his tongue. "You're good at that."

     "I know." Wren smiled proudly.

     Addison grabbed his hand. "You can do this. I believe in you." They made it to his house and the crowd of students all had signs up for him, they even had giant model they were maneuvering around in honor of him.

     He smoothed out his jacket as he approached the interviewer, with Addison at his side, who had a smile on her face. "What did you do to deserve all of this?"

     Zed threw his hands up. "I have no idea." He nodded to the robot that Eliza's screen was now attached to. "Thank you."

     "Progress for you is progress for us all." Eliza replied.

     The interviewer looked at Addison. "Why don't you join us to start? I understand you've already been excepted." Addison nodded before they all went inside, including Zed's dad and little sister.

     Wren let out a stressed sigh, running a hand through her hair. Wyatt instantly wrapped an arm around her and she leaned into his side. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. It wasn't long before the interviewer ran out of the house screaming. Wren stood up straight, quickly growing alert. Zed quickly ran out after her.

     "Wait!" Zed pleaded. "Please." The interviewer paused and slowly turned to face him. "I know that I may be different. I mean, who that's exceptional isn't? We have a spark that can change things. It's not a curse, it's amazing." He motioned a hand to himself. "I'm exceptional Zed, as so are all my family and friends. We're artists, athletes and activists who always give it our best." He shook his head. "We don't need to pretend because we know we'll never fit in and we're not just awesome in spite of that. We take pride in that instead. We are, all of us, exceptional."

     The woman nodded her head. "We'll take that into consideration."

     When she walked away, Wren quickly moved to her sister. "What the hell happened?" She frowned, noticing the kitchen gloves on Addison's hands. "And why are you wearing kitchen gloves?"

     Addison glanced at the gloves and quickly took them off, handing them to Zed's dad before taking Wren by the elbow and quickly dragging her away. "What has gotten into you woman?!" Wren hissed. When they got far away from prying ears, Addison let go of her sister and closed her eyes. "Addison, what's wrong?"

     Addison placed her hands to her face. "I was the reason she almost ran away!"

     Wren rose a brow. "How. . .?"

     "Because, I have their spark." Addison answered, her hands falling to her side. Wren stared blankly at her. "The aliens, Wren! I have their spark."

     Wren groaned. "Oh, please don't start this alien nonsense again, Addison."

     "It's not nonsense!" Addison protested. "Every time I touched Zed, my spark went through him and messed up his z-band and he kept losing control." Addison moved to stand directly in front of her. "Please believe me, Wren."

     Wren crossed her arms over her chest. "Honestly, Addi, I really don't want to."

     Addison frowned. "What? Why?"

     Wren clenched her jaw and looked away from her, shame and guilt coursing through her veins. "I already explained this to you. Because if it's true, then they'll take you away from me. And I can't, Addison. I can't. . ." She didn't finish her sentence, instead opting to shake her head.

     Addison placed a gentle hand on her arm. "Can't what?"

     Wren bit the inside of her cheek, finally meeting her sisters eyes. "I can't survive this world without you. They can't take you away. I won't let them."

     Addison's heart seemed to splice in two. "Wren. . ."

     Wren cleared her throat. "Um, I'm too emotionally unstable to have this conversation so I'm just gonna walk away." She nodded. "Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do."

     "Wren," Addison softly said. Wren turned on her heel and began to walk away. "Wren!" But she didn't turn around. She just kept walking. Addison let out a soft sigh, allowing a small frown to pull on her lips. She didn't realize how much telling Wren the truth was going to affect her.