The Forbidden Side

Erin

But Bradley couldn't be King Z.  Whoever was talking to her was trying to tell her, warn her, of something.

            Erin lay awake at night, trying to talk to the girl again.  The voice sounded vaguely familiar.  Erin thought she had heard it from her childhood days, when she was Benny's age.  No, younger.  Erin had no memories of her early life until she was five.  She thought it was unusual.  She'd constantly asked herself why. 

            Excuse me, she thought, trying to reach the girl.  Maybe you can come and talk to me.  I'm in Home.

            Erin thought she heard a small gasp come into her mind, like the girl was surprised she was talking back.  Erin sat at her desk, thinking.  All night.

            Erin and Adam sat in the comfortable lobby of their Hunting Station.  Chloe appeared in front of them.

            "What's it like on the Forbidden Side?"  Adam asked her.

            "It's just barren land with a crown somewhere under it," she answered.  "Though, Bradley keeps talking about some civilization there.  We don't know what he's talking about."

            Bradley has blue eyes, Erin thought.  Maybe that's why he can see the civilization and Chloe and Jake can't!

            Adam jumped up from his chair.  He looked as though he was about to run out of the room screaming.  There was a wild, curious look in his eyes

            "What?"  Erin asked.

            "I - I heard your thoughts," Adam stammered.

            "What'd you mean?"

            "I heard you think Bradley has blue eyes, maybe that's why he can see the civilization and Chloe and Jake can't!"     

            "You two should probably head home," Chloe said, practically pushing them out the door.

            Erin walked out onto the sidewalk.  "Adam," she said, taking a wild guess, "do you have any memory of your life before you turned five?"  She sucked her knuckle, knowing it was a stupid question.  Any second now, Adam would stare at her then run away, scared.

            "Actually," he said, "no.  My earliest memory is when I became five and got to go to school.  I remember standing on stage with my friends, excited to be a scholar.  But sometimes, this girl pops into my head.  She keeps transmitting me pictures of a family with, superpowers."

            "I've never gotten images before, but a girl does occasionally talk to me," Erin bit her lip.  Why did only she and Adam hear this girl, and who was she?

            "Do you think," Erin started, "that you and me could be related?"  Suddenly, images popped into her mind.  One by one, there were millions of them.  Erin singled out one of a family gathered around a newborn child.  A girl, maybe two, stood on her tiptoes in a plain yellow dress.  She had beautiful blond hair that reached her waist, with a single braid down the right side.  A girl who looked exactly like Erin stood next to her was wearing a fitted, green t-shirt and jeans.  She had the same curly, light brown hair and bright blue eyes.  And then next to her, a girl Erin recognized as - herself!  She saw five-year-old her wearing the exact same clothes as her twin.  No triplet!  Adam stood next to her wearing baggy jeans and a too-big-for-him t-shirt.  A taller girl who looked about eight crouched next to him.  She had short, straight, red hair and emerald green eyes that said, don't mess with me.  The baby boy had blond hair as well.  He had blue eyes that watched his feet that wiggle up and down in his crib at impossible speeds.  Erin brought her eyes out of her mind and back to Adam.  "That," she said.  "That is our family.  Our real family.  And we're going to find them."

        "But how?"  Adam asked for what seemed like the millionth time as they sat in Erin's room, brainstorming.  "How did we get here if our real family lives there?"

        "I don't know," Erin replied.  "Someone didn't want us on the Forbidden Side."

        "Is it that someone didn't want us there, or someone wanted us here?"  Adam asked, confusing his sister for the second time.

        Erin sucked her knuckle.  "Justin," she blurted,  "he was the baby, and Julia was the two-year-old.  Lizzie, our triplet, and us, then Katie, the oldest."

        "That's - that's our family?"  Adam asked blinking back tears.

        If we came from the Forbidden Side, what does that mean for all the other kids in Home?  Were they kidnapped out of their real homes like we were?

        "I was thinking that too," Adam said.  Erin jumped.  She forgot Adam could read her mind.  "But I doubt it.  We have the blue eyes, remember?"

        Erin nodded.  "When do you think our first Hunt is going to be?  That would be the perfect time to find our family on the Forbidden Side."  The word 'family' left a sweet aftertaste on her tongue.  She finally knew what a family was.  She knew she had a real family.  She just had to find them.