The Divided

Chapter Forty-One

It took me a little longer to get to the other side than I had hoped. There were more guards patrolling the fence then usual, for a reason I didn't know. But by the time I did arrive at The Martin's house, the reunion had already started, and I was indeed, late. As I walked in though, I was greeted with smiles. The house was filled with people of all ages—most I recognized from Dean's birthday party. "We missed you, Mel," a woman that I think was Dean's Aunt said as she patted my back.

I just smiled at her and walked through the crowd, toward the kitchen where I could see Reagan standing. There was a homemade dinner on the dining table that consisted of ham, chicken, potatoes and more. Everyone in the room was laughing, and as I walked up to Reagan, I found him telling a story to the group around him. "I hadn't even finished building the tree house, and Dean was up in the tree, having the time of his life," Reagan laughed. "Honestly, I think he would've just preferred the tree without the tree house."

Everyone around him laughed and as I walked up, Reagan directed his smile at me and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Melody! How are you, my dear?"

I nodded and grinned at him. "I'm doing well."

"Great. May I talk to you privately?"

Staring at him, I just nodded and followed him as he excused himself from the group of people and made his way into the hallway. "I've been thinking, and I've decided that I would like to tell the rest of the family about you being from the other side," he informed me.

I didn't respond at first. Everyone who worked in the Extricate leadership building obviously already knew that I was Xavier's daughter, but very few of Reagan's family knew. I didn't expect them to just accept me immediately. "They will freak out," I told him. "Especially after what happened to Adam." My father killed the boy who was supposed to lead the Extricates one day. Because of my family, Reagan lost a son, and the leadership role was passed down to Dean.

The Extricate leader shrugged and shook his head. "They will find out sooner or later when the war begins," he reminded me. "Plus, it seems that you and Dean are getting pretty serious. His family will need to know the real you if you are planning on sticking around for a while." At the look in his brown eyes, I nodded, knowing he was right. As a matter of fact, I did plan on sticking around for a while, and I knew that his family would begin to ask questions about my life sooner than later. At my response, the grown man clasped his hands in front of him and smiled. "Great."

"Hey, I didn't see you come in."

I turned around at the sound of Dean's voice and smiled in a sense of relief as he pulled me into his arms. "I just got here a couple of minutes ago," I assured him.

He kissed me on the top of my head before looking to his dad and then back to me. "Has he told you what he wants to do?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I agreed."

He took a deep breath and exhaled before kissing my head again and taking my hand in his. Reagan stepped out of the hallway and in front of the crowd of people, and we followed closely behind. "If I could have every body's attention, I have an announcement!" In just a short moment, everyone in the room quieted down and drew their attention to Reagan. He looked at me. "Melody, honey, please pull up your sleeve."

I hesitated, knowing that they would react badly. On top of this, I still hadn't told anybody everything that I had admitted to Vincent. If they wouldn't hate me after this, then they would after they found out. Nonetheless, with everyone's attention now on me, I listened to the Extricate leader and pulled up my sleeve, revealing my Ameliorate mark to everyone in the room. Just about every single person who hadn't already known that I wasn't one of them, gasped.