The Nightscape

Answers

For a split second, there was utter silence in the room, people barely even breathing as they all processed that information. And then everyone was talking at once. 

"I need you to describe what your mother looks like." Gabriel demanded, looking very shaken for the first time since they had arrived. 

"Wait, she might be our cousin?" Talura cried out, looking at Lyra with an expression of disgust and panic. 

"I thought you said aunty Dana died before I was even born?" Cassidy questioned.

"Hang on, hang on, you have no way of knowing that it's the same Dana and I think it's irresponsible to pretend otherwise." Anya was quick to say, holding tightly onto Lyra's hand to try and comfort her. 

"I- what?" Was all Lyra could manage, feeling entirely overwhelmed as her brain began to try and process the revelation. Anya tugged on her hand. 

"He's just trying to stall us, don't listen to him. He's messing with you; let's just leave." He pleaded with her, but Lyra didn't even seem to hear her. 

"My mother is tall, with coppery hair and dark eyes. I take after my dad, but my mum has like a narrow nose, and kind of thin lips- oh! She has this birthmark as well." Lyra was quick to say, feeling a strange mix of panic and hope mixing in her gut as she turned around, her hands going to the back of her neck. Pulling her dark hair out of the way and the collar down, she showed him a smattering of freckles on the nape of her neck in the shape of a heart. Talura and Cassidy exchanged a look as Gabriel closed his eyes and sighed, shoulders sagging. 

"Well, damn. Guess we have a cousin. Any siblings you want to tell us about?" Cassidy said shakily, trying to recover from the shock as Lyra stared blankly at her. Anya held tightly onto her friend's hand, running the pad of her thumb over her knuckles in silent support. Lyra thought on it for a moment, and then shook her head. 

"This- this changes nothing. My mother still abandoned me, and I always knew that I probably had some family on her side that I wasn't ever going to meet. I don't have time for a big, dramatic reunion, so unless this means that you're going to actually help me now, this means nothing. I have more important things to do." She said, shaking her head and yet not moving to leave. Gabriel finally opened his eyes and looked at her, gaze full of a thousand regrets and a helplessness that unsettled her. 

"I did not know that she had had a child. If I had- I would have found you long ago." He said, his voice croaky and shocked. Lyra pursed her lips against the sobs that were threatening her and nodded, letting anger quell the urge for her family. 

"But you didn't. It means nothing. And if you aren't going to help me, I will find someone who will. And maybe if I survive all of this, I'll come back and we can talk about everything and be one big happy family. But for now, I have to go. Don't get in my way; I don't want to hurt any of you." She said, her voice tired and full of suppressed emotion. Gabriel looked at her for a long minute and shook his head. 

"Don't go. You can stay here, and your friend can too, if you want. You don't have to leave." He encouraged her gently, a small plea. 

"I do have to leave. I have to deal with Zidros before they get out of hand, and if you won't help me, I don't have time to sit around and play happy families with you. If you know where my mother is, please tell me. If not, I'll find her myself." Lyra said firmly, her hands balled into fists, frustrated. Anya stepped closer and leaned in, murmuring something so quietly that Lyra herself could barely hear it. 

"You can hypnotise people, Lyra. Maybe your power is stronger now." She suggested, before throwing a dirty look at the other people in the room. Lyra shook her head at first, having never even learned how to control it before all this happened, before realising that it would worth a groan. She sighed and rubbed a hand over your face.