Gifted Ones

Chapter 18 Haven

The journey to Wiltshire starts out as exciting and energizing and everything a person could hope for while flying thousands of feet in the air with nine magically Gifted people. But slowly, after maybe an hour or two, I come to realize that there is literally nothing to do up here. I can't sleep because I'm still pumped full of adrenaline, I can't read because there are no books, and I can't mess around with my phone because I haven't had it since the day Ben asked me out. Eventually we slow down a bit, mostly to conserve energy, and it's quiet enough to talk.

"Margot?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how long it's going to take to get to Stonehenge?"

She thinks for a second. "I'm guessing four hours? About? I don't know. It's different than by plane."

We are silent for a long time. I stare out at the scenery for a bit before asking, "so, I know some about the rest of the clan's past, but not yours." And Joshua, I make a mental note. "How did you two join the clan?"

She looks at me, studying my face like she's sizing me up. Whatever she saw must have been agreeable, because then she says, "do you really want to know?"

I nod eagerly, wanting the full story.

"Okay. Well, the first thing you need to know is that our family's choices don't define us. We aren't bad people. But my sister joined Gabriel's forces in the very beginning. It was a little like Garret's past. We were just out of collage, maybe two years? And Vanessa, my younger sister, she lived just a street away from me, my husband Robert, and our baby Tyler. She was part of Gabriel's group of exclusively Gifted friends. Our family is mostly Shift dominated, including her, so we were raised very old-fashioned in mindset. Vanessa was the extreme of that. She was always a little crazy, ADHD and all that, but when she joined Gabriel he poisoned her mind.

"I remember the day she came back to our house for the first time in nearly a year, ranting about Gabriel and this other man she had been introduced to through him. At first I thought that she was simply in love, but then I noticed her increased scorn of humans, and the subtle hints about her group of friends. So when she asked us to join, I wasn't entirely surprised. I told her that we'd think about it and sent her home. Over the next few months she got more and more persistent, growing less and less composed as she explained the group's aims. I became scared for the safety of my family, so we decided to run away and cut ties with her. That was when Garret approached us with his wife and another man, offering us help and refuge if we decided to oppose Gabriel. We accepted, but you could imagine my surprise when I found out that the mysterious male companion with Garret was the same man Vanessa has claimed to fall in love with."

"Who was he?" I ask.

She turns to face me fully this time, her dark eyes serious and solemn. "His name," she starts, "was Brandon Cross. Your father."

My eyes widen and I gasp. What? My father? Vanessa was in love with my father? But. . .

"What happened to Vanessa?" I ask. "Where is she now?"

"I don't really know much. She knows that I joined Garret, but the thing with Gabriel is that he doesn't dare attack us in full, despite his superior numbers. No, we are a force to be contended with, and we could potentially cripple him and set back his 'progress' a few years. And we know that he might wipe all of us out. So we were at a stalemate until Garret launched the attack last year. That was when my Rob died, along with many good people in this clan. Some of our strongest, too." I sense a flicker of pain in her voice, but she hides it well. "Anyway, Vanessa rose up in Gabriel's ranks too. She's one of the last surviving original members. Some might say that she's his right hand woman. She's like a commander in chief just under him. Although apparently everyone in his troop just calls her 'the General.'"