Untold Secrets

Chapter 6

Family Secrets

Hurt me with the truth
But never fool me with a lie
It makes you helpless
Not knowing why
You have questions
Answers are all you ask
But sometimes people
Prefer wearing masks

"Abeona"
"Prince"
Daemon's eyes start glowing again. He's taking short breaths and has a murderous look on his face.
What the..?
"Hecate, go inside." Mom says. Orders me actually.
Hell no! I'm sick of not knowing anything
"You guys..know each other?"
"Unfortunately" Daemon answers with clenched fists. Then he turns towards me and says "Now I understand why I couldn't read you."
Why am I the only one not understanding anything here?
"Hecate, I said go inside." Mom looks at me and I see fear in her eyes.
I stay there unmoving, unsure what to do. I don't want to go inside and leave her alone with Daemon. He doesn't look the hot flirty guy anymore. He looks dangerous and I would never leave Mom alone in situations like this.
Understanding my intentions, Mom takes my arm and pulls me inside. She tries to close the door but Daemon blocks it with his hand.
"Not so soon"
"Let us be, Prince. We don't want to have anything to do with you and your world."
Why does she go on calling him 'Prince'? And did she just say 'your world'? So that means..
" After so many years...
I should have known you had something to do with it. After all it's your speciality to ruin everything, isn't it?"
"I didn't do anything. I have no idea what's happening."
"Liar" Daemon shouts and takes a step forward.
Mom takes a step back, taking me by an arm and pulling me behind her back.
"You know what's going on. I'm sure you know more than anyone else the reason behind this unbalance. Now the question is why are you hiding the truth from me?"
Mom stays silent. She doesn't deny what he's saying. So does that mean, she knows something?
" Tell me!" Daemon takes another step towards us. He's almost on top of us now and when I look at his face, furious and dark, I don't even recognise him.
Suddenly there is a crackling noice. Daemon is pushed away and out of the door by a strong wind. It came from behind us and when I turn, there's my Dad with his palms open and facing the door. Did he do it? What the fuck?
The door gets closed by that same magical force and there is a bluish light around it. Daemon tries to open the door, but it's useless. After a few moments, we hear his voice.
"It's not over yet."
And then, only silence.

Okay, I'm sick of repeating it but what the hell just happened? Everything is happening so fast, I feel like my brain cells have stopped working. I need to know the truth before I get insane.
"Mom, what the hell was that?"
"Nothing. It was nothing."
"Oh don't you dare change the subject or ignore it. I have the right to know, Mom. Tell me the truth or else I'll go mad. And by the way, I know more than you think."
"What do you mean? What do you know, Hecate?"
"I.." I hesitate. I don't know where to start from and how to say what I'm thinking. It's now or never, Hec. You have to know the truth so just say it.
"I know I'm not human"
Mom sucks in a breath and looks towards Dad who looks pale.
"And I know something happened to Gaia. Something that's not normal."
"Abeona, it's time. Tell her the truth."
"Ty.."
"Abeona, do it."
Mom looks resigned. She looks at me with sad eyes.
"I never wanted for you to know any of this, to be part of all this"
"I'm already knee-deep in this mess, Mom. Just tell me what's happening."
"Hecate, first of all you have to know that our world isn't the only world in existence. There are a lot of them, of different types with different creatures and living beings. The one we live in is just one of them."
Exactly what Daemon had told me. So I guess it was true after all.
"Me and your Dad are not from this world"
Woah! What??
"Can you repeat please? I think I didn't hear you correctly."
"It's true, Hec. We come from another world. We came here, in the human world, because we had to flee from our world for a reason, a secret we had to hide. And before you ask, I can't tell you what this reason is. It's too dangerous."
Hell, I was just going to ask it
"How did you come in the human world?"
Mom hesitates and looks at Dad. He nods and Mom carries on.
"Not everyone is capable of traveling through worlds. There are just a few people, who are capable of doing so. They are called Travellers, as they can bend space and time to travel through different worlds, whenever they want." She pauses.
Stop creating suspence Mom. Spit it out!
"I am a Traveller."
What. The. Fuck.
I have no words. I mean, how can one react to such a news?
"Is Dad a Traveller too?" I ask, looking at Dad. He looks uncomfortable, as I imagine usually Dads are when their daughters talk about their boyfriends with them for the first time. Not an easy topic, but important and inevitable.
Well, he did some strange Abracadabra magic before. Maybe it's a Traveller thing.
"No, he's a Wielder. There are many kind of Wielders, with different kind of abilities. He's the Amplifier. He can amplify anyone's abilities and even use them against them, as he just did with the Prince. His abilities improve mine as well. It's easier and faster for me to travel with his help."
So my Dad is an Amplifier and my mom is a Traveller. Yeah, no big deal.
Wait, then..
"What am I?"
I look straight into her eyes and a set of the same emerald eyes stare back at me.
"You are a Traveller too, but you also have some of your father's abilities. You can travel faster than me by your own and I'm sure your other abilities are also stronger than mine. That's not all, each Wielder has different powers and we have to still find out yours."
Alright. Not what I expected to find out but at least I'm not a blood-sucking vampire. I'd thought about all the worst kind of creatures I saw in fantasy movies and wondered what the hell I was.
Yeah I know, I watch too much films. Can't help it. Even though I'm not human, I still have human habits.
Then a question comes to my mind
"What's Gaia? Is she a Traveller too?"
Silence. No one speaks. Mom and Dad stare at each other and stay quiet.
I don't like it. What does this silence mean?
"What's wrong?"
"Hecate, Gaia is not a Traveller."
Okay, go on..
" She's something else, something I can't tell you."
"Why?" I don't want to give it a lot of importance but damn, it hurts. Knowing your parents don't trust you enough to share a secret hurts like a bitch.
Mom, reading the hurt on my face, comes closer to me, takes my hand and says " It's not that we don't trust you, honey or that we don't want to share it with you. It's for your own safety. This has to remain a secret for as long as possible."
Wait, a secret?
"Is this the same secret you fled from your world to hide?"
Mom doesn't answer but she doesn't have to. I know it's the truth. But why? What could this secret be?
"Hecate, now listen to me very carefully. You need to stay away from the Prince. He can be really dangerous."
"Why do you call him 'Prince'? "
" The world we lived in was ruled by a King. The Prince is his son."
Oh. Oh My God. Did I really call a Prince a dick? And did a Prince really flirt with me?
That was awkward and strange on so many levels.
"Why was he so angry? Why did he react like this at seeing you?" I ask
I shiver remembering the murderous look he had.
"It's better to leave some secrets buried. What we left behind is something I want to leave in the past."
Translated: Here goes another secret you shouldn't know about.
"He said something about balance between the worlds, that he came to make sure everything turned back to normal. Do you know something about it?"
"Yes, the balance has been broken and it's been done on purpose. I'm not sure who did this but I'm trying to find it out. The walls between the worlds are getting weaker and creatures are able to get to other worlds easily. This shouldn't happen, not all creatures out there are friendly."
Tell me about that
"Yeah, today I met a..wait what was it called? Hiss something.."
"Hissslee" Mom says, looking at me worryingly. "What happened? How did you run into it? And how do you know it's called Hissslee?"
"I found it in a part of the city I'd never been to. It was huge and really disgusting. It just attacked me, without any reason. I met Daemon, after killing it. He told me what it was."
"They don't attack for a reason. It's in their nature. They come from one of the darkest worlds. You should never go to these city parts again, Hec. You need to be careful. Who knows if this was just a coincidence or someone sent it there on purpose."
And here goes my usual caring and overprotective Mom again. Even though her overprotectiveness irritates me sometimes, it's good to see something familiar. My strange family has just reached epic levels in the last 10-20 minutes.
Why would anyone do it on purpose? No, I'm sure it was a coincidence..
"I'm serious, Hec. Promise me you won't talk to the Prince anymore. It's not safe."
I hesitate. Maybe he can help us, maybe this balance thing can be adjusted only with his help.
Obviously I'm not hesitating because the idea of not seeing him anymore makes my heart heavy. No, not at all.
"I.."
Hec, this is not the time to listen to your girly parts. You saw what he did today. You have to be careful.
"I promise."
After a few moments Dad says "You really killed it?" looking surprised and worried, but also proud.
"Yeah..I didn't have any other choice." I hadn't thought about it till now but I had killed a creature. Even though it was a disgusting dark-worldly dangerous creature, I had taken a life. It didn't feel right, but somehow I knew it wouldn't be my last kill. I would take this burden, this and much more to find Gaia.
Gaia.
"Mom, what really happened to Gaia?"
She hesitates and whispers
"She has been taken."
"What do you mean? Why?"
" Honey, there are some bad people who would do anything to reach their purposes. Gaia is a pawn in a very dangerous game right now. People will try to use her, or even hurt her. We never thought something like this would happen. How many chances were there that someone would find us out in the human world? One on a million, actually. But still.." She pauses, looking at me. "We'll find out where she is and bring her back. I won't let anyone hurt her. I promise."
I trust her. I know she will do her best. But will her best be enough?

A few hour later, my phone rings. It's Cordelia. In all this mess, I had forgotten she also had to find out some things.
"Cor"
"Hec"
No need to say Hi, Hello or other things like that. We've always preferred keeping it like this, pleasantries are just a waste of time.
"What happened? Did you find out something?"
"Yeah, a lot of things, but I can't tell them on phone. Wanna meet at the usual spot tomorrow before school?"
"Yeah, fine. Just tell me if you are okay, really okay"
"I..think so. I don't know. Everything is quite confusing right now."
Yeah, I know what you mean
Then she asks "What about you?"
"Still can't wrap my head around what happened. Gonna tell you everything tomorrow. I've had enough talks about strange things today"
"Same here. Okay, Hec, See ya tomorrow. Good Night."
"Good Night"
I put the phone on the bedside table and get to bed. Who knows if I'll even be able to sleep after everything that happened today. My life has completely changed in these 24 hours. My identity, my family, my past, my present, my future. Everything changed. After knowing how dangerous this situation is, I'm even more anxious to find Gaia. Where are you, Gaia? Is someone hurting you?
This thought is followed by a sharp pain striking my heart. I can't even think about it, or else I'll do something stupid. Like going out on my own to look for her right now. For the first time in my life, I need to be patient and think before acting. Or else I might risk not only mine, but Gaia's life too.
After a few moments the tiredness takes over and I start falling asleep. Strangely the last thought I have before drifting away is of a set of deep-blue eyes.