Leave {z.m.}

Thirty Nine

But nothing happened, and she was still alive.

"The curse doesn't work on her," Gemma's voice informed me in a contemptuous manner. I barely had time to register that Adelaide said she was in love with me, and now Gemma is already moving onto whatever her plan must be. I ignored Gemma and focused on Adelaide's thoughtful, brown eyes watching my reaction.

I knew I should say it back to her. It is what I truly feel, but I am still afraid. After living my whole life and afterlife avoiding those words, it would not be easy for me to relay them. My hazel eyes flickered down to the dusty floor, and Adelaide sighed softly before turning around to face Gemma. She stood up and I noticed her hands shaking when I glanced back up to her.

"I think we've established that already. The question is: why doesn't it?" Her words were full of disdain. "Like I mentioned before when Zayn wasn't in the room, you were born in 1834 and you're a sorceress," Gemma paused and stared at me. I knew that I should not be too shocked by that beause of what she was going to say next. I can guess it.

"Addie, you're my sister." I eyed Adelaide nervously as many emotions ran through her face. "What? That's not possbile. You have to be joking here." Adelaide was panicking and I wished that I could help her, but I am still stuck to this wall. Adelaide turned to me with tears in her eyes, fearful of the truth. "I do not believe that she is lying," I murmured.

"I can show you the truth," Gemma announced, and soon Adelaide and I were trapped inside of a flashback projected through Gemma's mind.

(Gemma's P.O.V.)

I ran away, knowing that I would never see Xavier again. My heart was aching for him, but I had to ignore the painful feeling. I had to keep running, no matter what. I knew what I would do now would change the future forever, but this family is being torn apart. Father is dying, and mother is too weak to take care of her children. I cannot take care of my younger siblings either, so this is what I must do.

I moved quietly outside of the stone walls of the home I had shared with my parents and siblings. With a flick of my hand, I prevented the door from squeaking using my powers, and I tip-toed to the room my younger brother and sister shared. They were asleep in their beds on opposite walls of each other, and they appeared to be so innocent and unaware of everything occuring around them, but they had always been too smart for their own good.

Adelaide's brown eyes opened as she woke up, sensing my presence. "Go back to sleep," I whispered. Those big, brown eyes that had always observed me remained alert. It was as though she knew what I was going to do. "Gemma," a child's voice said from behind me. I turned to Harry's bed and noticed that he had awoken as well.

"We missed you," Harry cried quietly and I went over to him, giving him a hug. "I missed you both too." I held in my tears as I raised my arm and drew out the magic within myself. "Take this child from a family that's torn, and change his body and mind into a newborn's." I prayed that the verse rhymed well enough, and watched as my four year old brother morphed into an infant.

I made certain to take away his memories of the life he had before, and I could not stop my tears as I froze him. I turned to Adelaide and she had tears in her eyes too. "I'm helping you," I promised her. She didn't know many words yet, due to her age of three years old, but she still spoke to me clearly.

"You only help yourself." Her bitter words surprised me, and as much as I wanted to ignore them, I couldn't. She was right. I had become selfish, but there's no way to go back now. Her angry yet glum brown eyes never left my face as I changed her into an infant as well.

I had to keep them frozen in time until worthy families of them came along. I would reunite our family once Adelaide was old enough to control her powers. The future will be better, and if they had grown up now, it would only be harder for them without a father and with a weak-minded mother.

Without Xavier, we would be poor anyway. I took Adelaide and Harry with me to the sanctuary I had created for the two of them, and I said goodbye until a better future came along.

Zayn's P.O.V.

"I don't understand why you had to do that. Our dad was dying, and our mom was weak, but why? Our mom would've been strong for us. She would've taken care of us," Adelaide glared at Gemma as tears streamed down her face.

"The past was dangerous. People were still afraid of magic, and you would've been an outcast. Our father, who was the only one who could work, was dying. We had no money because I had never gotten married to Xavier. Our mother would've been too focused on the loss of our father. She wouldn't have taken care of you and Harry. I couldn't be around to watch over you."

Adelaide broke into a sob and my body writhed to be next to her. "My mom and dad now...they aren't even my real parents. I'm not even related to Cecilia. Why did you involve her in everything? Why is Harry still five years old now? Is Anne even his real mom?"

"Gemma involved Cecilia because she didn't want me or you to think that you were a sorceress. She wanted to keep it a secret until she could tell you herself," I explained to Adelaide. Gemma gave a single nod, "And I do not know why Harry is so young still. He aged very slowly and I simply couldn't change it. He first started aging when you turned ten years old. Anne is his biological mother, as she is mine and yours."

I knew that as well. In the story I had been told of Gemma's past, her mother's name was Anne. When I met Harry and later found out that his mother was Anne, it connected for me now. Adelade had probably forgotten Anne's name after all that had happened.

"Our mother, Anne, had her memories temporarily erased by me. I erased our father's memories too, permanently though since he was dying anyway. When he died, he didn't know that he had children. It made his death easier. I had found parents for you in 1997, and magic convinced them that you were biologically theirs. I checked in on you every now and then."

"When I found out that you were coming to England for college, I knew that fate had caught up with you. Harry and Anne had already been living here, just as all of us had back in 1834," Gemma finished explaining, but I knew Adelaide still could not relax.

She was confused, upset, angry, and saddened by it all. I wished to comfort her, to somehow make it easier on her, but I knew that there was no way that I could. I could not imagine being in Adelaide's place. She found out that the sorceress, Gemma, that I had described in a distasteful way was actually her sister. The toddler, Harry, we had spoken with before was actually her older brother. Anne, who had been possessed over the phone, most-likely by Gemma to confuse Adelaide, was her mother.

The parents she had known her whole life were not biologically related to her. She must feel like her whole life had been controlled and planned, as if it was not real. Adelaide slumped to the floor and rested on the ground in the same spot she had been standing in before she moved over to where I was. I was not able to crouch down, but I felt her hand lay onto my shoe, assuring me that she still wanted me there for her.

She was in love with me, and I was in love with her.

__________________________________________

You're probably thinking "oh my god. that was a lot to take in."

Right? Addie must be going insane on the inside.

Comment what you thought? Vote? xxx

P.S. dedicated to @AlihaAthar...thank you for commenting! (((:

-Izzy