The Vanishing

Chapter 12

I shook off my nerves and plastered on a smile as I opened the front doors to the school.

My aunt came barreling in. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"We should talk." I said flatly.

"Yeah, I guess we should." She sighed.

We walked in uncomfortable silence to the library where I led her into the special collections room. She walked around the room, reading the spines of the old books and looking around in awe at the tall bookshelves lined wall to wall with countless books.

She sat down at the couch against the back wall and patted the seat next to her. I decided to sit in the armchair opposite her.

I pulled my necklace from underneath my shirt and set it on the table. She looked at me then but didn't say anything. With my aura out in full blast, I realized then that she couldn't see it. If she could, she was doing a very good job of hiding it.

"You gave me this necklace before I came to this school. You said it was from mum." I said.

She rubbed a hand across her face. "No, I said it was from your mother."

"I don't understand." I said incredulously.

"I was hoping I'd never have to tell you this." She sighed again. "Arden, you're adopted." She said.

I wanted to laugh, cry, to not believe her.

When I saw the tears welling in her eyes, I knew it was true.

"Why wouldn't mum tell me? She always told me my father was dead, how could she do that?" I asked, tears welling up in my own eyes.

"Believe me, she wanted to tell you. She never got around to it. Not before-" she swallowed hard. Aunt Nikki always had trouble talking about mum's death. Losing her only sister and being stuck with me must have been difficult, and it's how I ended up at boarding school.

I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure of what to say.

When I finally found my voice all I could think of to say is, "What do you know about this necklace?" I asked lamely.

"Your biological mother gave it to your mum when she adopted you. She said it would help you reach your full potential by helping you hide in plain sight." She said like she had practiced this speech a thousand times.

"So you know what it does?" I asked.

"Not exactly." She said.

She smiled a little. "Remember that time you tried to help me fix the sink at the flat?"

"The pipe burst and water sprayed everywhere." I laughed a little.

"That was the first time I realized you had powers." She said grimly.

"You knew." I gulped. That was months ago.

"I didn't know how to tell you." she said.

"You didn't-" I started but couldn't finish. All I could think about was the fire and that Henry got hurt because of it.

I took a deep breath, tried to see past the betrayal I felt. "Do you know anything about my birth parents? Did they give you anything else?" I asked.

She wiped away a few stray tears and nodded. "I've been carrying this around since your mum died. I've been waiting until you were ready. It's a little bent, I'm sorry. It's from your mother."

My eyes grew wide as I took in the letter. I took it from Nicole's hand and stared at it, I looked up at Nicole unsure of how to react.

Tears spilled from her eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away.