𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 -and lost just as many reasons to keep going.
Natalie Parker, once hidden in the shadows of history, is a mutant unlike any other. Bound to the earth by blood and power, her touch coaxes life from st...
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"What have I done?"
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
Stamford, New York
1904
Natalie was five years old when she first discovered her ability—and from that moment, everything changed.
She'd been playing alone in the backyard, while her mother baked cookies inside and her father worked late again. The afternoon sun warmed the grass beneath her as she scooped a handful of dirt into her small palm. As it crumbled through her fingers, something impossible happened: a cluster of tiny green vines sprouted, winding upward until a perfect daisy bloomed in her hand.
She blinked. The flower swayed gently, as if it knew her. She didn't scream or run or call for her mother. It didn't frighten her. It fascinated her.
It made her curious.
Growing up, Natalie always knew she was different. She was born with chestnut brown hair, but a single streak of vibrant green ran through it—a colour that never faded. Her parents chalked it up to a birthmark or strange pigmentation. But when she turned six, everything shifted.
Her brown hair gradually lightened to a chilling ice-blue. The green streak dulled to a seafoam hue. Her parents were terrified. They took her to specialists, ran tests they couldn't afford. No one had answers. They called it a genetic anomaly, a mutation. But Natalie knew better.
She could feel it—the way the water in the pipes would dance for her, how frost would follow her fingertips when she was scared. She could create snow, freeze entire rooms.
At ten, her hair turned silver-white. Her green streak shimmered blue. The wind seemed to listen to her, the clouds shifted with her mood. She could command the weather itself.
By fifteen, her hair ignited into a fiery red, the streak a glowing yellow-green. Fire became her companion—volatile and wild. That year, her world shattered.
Her house burned down.
Her father died in the fire.
She never meant to start it.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
Her mother's love curdled into fear, then into hate. She blamed Natalie for everything—for her husband's death, for the flames, for the burden of having a daughter she couldn't understand. That's when Natalie stopped trying to be understood. That's when she found solace in a friend who wouldn't flinch at her powers.
When Natalie turned twenty, her hair faded back to brown. It was as if life gave her a second chance.
She ran away with Chester White, the only man who ever truly saw her and didn't look away. He knew what she was. He married her anyway.
