Reaper

Chapter 14

"Claire?" I asked, surprised. "This is where you ran off to?"

She turned to look at me, her pale green eyes lighting up. "Hi, Morgana! This is my new friend! His name is Thomas," Claire said, excitement written on her face.

"This is where you ran off to?" I asked. I could feel anger start to bubble in the pit of my stomach. What was Thomas doing here with Claire? Didn't Claire realize that she couldn't just run off into the woods like she did? Didn't she realize that Lauren and I were-

My thoughts came to a crashing halt. I completely forgot that I was supposed to be looking for Claire. I was so concerned about Anna that I forgot about her and Lauren. Lauren must still be waiting for me to find Claire!

My gaze moved from Claire and fell on Thomas and I felt the anger start to build up once more, all thoughts of Lauren fleeing my mind. "What are you doing here?" I turned to face Will, glaring at him. "You said that he wouldn't be here!"

Will sighed. "I may have told a slight mistruth."

"A slight mistruth?" I said, almost yelling. "You promised me that he wouldn't be here!"

"If you don't want me here, Morgana, I can leave," Thomas said quietly. I looked at him but he avoided my eyes.

"No," Will said abruptly. "You two need to talk and work this out. You can't stay mad forever, Morgana."

"I don't need to talk to him! We need to find Aiden!" I argued.

"What happened to Aiden?" Thomas asked, concern clear on his face.

"He was supposed to tell Father about Anna's new abilities but he never went to the fields. We saw Father when he was coming back to the cottage and told him. He never saw Aiden," Will said.

"Wait, who's Aiden?" Claire asked.

I sighed, feeling my anger fade. It wasn't the best time to tell Claire about my real family, but it was better than never. "Aiden is my brother."

"You don't have a brother, though."

"I was adopted. Mother and Father aren't my real parents. Aiden is my brother and so is Will," I said, gesturing to Will. "Anna is my adoptive sister."

"I'm really confused now," Claire murmured. "So uncle James and aunt Katherine aren't your real parents?" I shook my head. "Does that mean Lauren and I aren't your cousins?"

"Yes."

Clare looked down at the ground. "Oh," she said softly.

"That doesn't mean that I don't consider you family, Claire. You are still part of my family, even if we aren't related by blood."

"I hate to break up the family moment, but where is Aiden?" Thomas asked, looking at Will.

Will sighed. "I'm not sure. Morgana and I thought that he might be somewhere in the forest."

"You thought that he might be here," Thomas said quietly, closing his eyes.

"I was hoping he would be."

Thomas's eyes opened. "I've been here for most of the day but I haven't seen Aiden at all."

"Will you help us look?" Anna asked, speaking for the first time since we'd entered the forest.

A small smile appeared on Thomas's face. "I'll help you look, Anna. Where should we looked first, Will?"

"Let's check the hollow and then we can go from there." Thomas nodded and started to walk towards the hollow, Anna close behind. Will started to follow as well but stopped when he realized that I hadn't moved. "Morgana, are you coming?"