"So you're a swimmer? Like, you get paid to swim? Professionally?" Cora asked, her eyes wide as she was practically leaning over Harvey's body.

Another late night. Recently, this seemed to be how the time after dinner and before bed was spent. Everyone in the house seated in the lounge room, facing each other and making idle conversation about topics rather not spoken at the table. Cora and Ti looked fine, perfect and pristine in every way. Not a speck of grime or lingering bruising to be found anywhere on their bodies. Yet I knew they were moving into the next phase of recovery, the deep black bags beneath their eyes, identical to mine, beginning to take show.

We all had coping methods, and Cora's seemed to be Harvey.

"Well, yeah. I got scouted back in high school after swimming basically my whole life. My parents tried to get Harmony into it too, but she would just flop around in the water half drowning." He joked, barely able to move his eyes from Cora's.

A smile came over her face, "Well, that would be because of me. A siren can't have a promised that can't swim. Imagine that, how awful."

Harvey pursed his lips. "Yes, I suppose that's true. I'm guessing you're a fantastic swimmer?"

"Of course," Cora scoffed. "I can't remember the last time I swam, but I certainly am fantastic. I must admit, Harvey, I like your praise."

He leaned forward, leaving only a few inches between them. "Perhaps we could go out sometime soon. This packs on the coast right?"

"Not going to work." Alexander interrupted, "There's a Choir there. We have a mutual agreement that we can go swimming in the shallow areas just on the edge of the beach. But they'll know straight away when someone other than a Bloodlust wolf touches the water."

"Well that's rude." Cora huffed. "Jokes on me for not knowing where Choirs are located around the country I suppose."

"A choir?"

Cora waved her hand in dismissal, "A group of sirens. They usually don't like disclosing their whereabouts with any other species unless absolutely necessary. Since I didn't grow up with them, I never learnt where they're located."

"Perhaps we should introduce you to them Cora," Harmony suggested. "It's about time we do some sleuthing for your origins. Ti and Cassandra, you as well."

Cora blinked. "Nah. No point really. We have no ties anywhere, other than the fact we were found on the same continent. We have theories but no proper proof."

"And there are tons of Faerie courts, and then even more clusters, and then there are the fae that choose to live separately. It would be impossible." Ti dismissed. "Besides, I'm not really inclined to know. Darling Cas however, I think it would be very easy to find which pack you're from."

"That's true." Myra popped in. "I doubt it could be too difficult to find a Verano family, even if by the odd chance you weren't from this specific country."

I furrowed my brows. I had never even considered finding my home, my family. I've always been too caught up with everything else going on in my life to pay it much thought. I crossed my arms, "I think I'm good. The leaders always said that it was my real name, but you never know, I've never been good at distinguishing lies from truths with them."

"I doubt it would hurt to try." Farren shrugged, "Think, you could have a whole family, aunts, uncles, siblings, the whole thing."

I gulped. "I've spent my whole life without them, there about as close to a family member as a stranger walking by on the street. I don't really want to know anyway. Best to leave it as a mystery."

I thought back to the nightstalker flower, the light catching in its glass petals. Yes, I would much rather leave it to a mystery. Even if I did have a family out there, chances are they certainly wouldn't welcome me back with open arms. And if they did... it just wouldn't be the same.

Besides, It seemed that the family I had here in this room was more important anyway.

"If you don't want to find out, if none of you want to find out, then we will respect that." Alexander finished harshly. "It's not our place to force that. Yes, It would be interesting, and it would certainly put an end to some curiosities, but if Cassandra, Coraline and Tatiana all say no, then that's that."

I felt my heart flutter, suddenly appreciative of Xander's ending words. I looked up at the clock, the hand just ticking over eleven pm.

"I'm going to head to bed." I stated, standing up from my seat on the couch. "Goodnight."

I had found that almost every night, I had to go to sleep early. Maybe it was to compensate for my early mornings, or perhaps the fact that the sleep I did get was light and prone to interruptions. As I was heading up the stairs, I heard footsteps behind me.

Alexander was casually walking out from the living room, following me earnestly. I raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

He jumped up the stairs so that he was level with me, peering down with an earnest glance. "Am I not allowed to want to go to bed?"

I looked back to the lounge room. "You always wait at least half and hour after me before you come up."

He raised an eyebrow, "Nice to know you're paying attention."

With that, he took off, walking in front of me as he finished climbing the stairs and turned down the hallway towards our bedroom. I pressed a hand to my cheek, feeling its warmth immediately.

I scowled, slapping myself lightly to get rid of the pink now undoubtedly covering my cheeks before following Xander up the same pathway.

It certainly didn't take him long to get ready, already lounging in the bed with the blanket covering his legs. "Mind turning off the light when you're ready?"

I rolled my eyes and I walked into the closet, quickly changing before doing as he asked, covering the room in darkness, only the slightest inch of moonlight peeking through the gaps of the curtain. I curled into bed, leaning my head against the pillow as I cover my whole body with the blanket.

I heard Xander moving for a moment. "If you ever changed your mind, any of you, we would try our best to find your origins. We have some fantastic trackers here, and I certainly have alliances with the majority of the American packs, all of which I know would be willing to help."

I sighed. "Say you had a child, and one day, when they were young, you lost them. You had no idea where they had gone and you were never able to find them. Say that child returned to you after seventeen years. Would it still be your child? Would you still love them as if they had never been taken at all? Would you want to see them again? And sure, maybe you would feel that way, but what if that child returned and you found out that they were an internationally recognised thief and murderer, would you still want them back?"

He was silent for a moment. "If I had a child, there is no way on earth that they would be taken from me. And somehow, even if they did, I would never stop looking for them. However, hypothetically, if I never found them and that child came back to me, I would love them as unconditionally and as fiercely as I had before. And if I found out that my child had become an internationally recognised thief and murderer, I wouldn't even bother putting them through Alpha training or even offering the position. They would be made the head of the Bloodlust Warriors. Sure murder and thievery isn't a particularly good thing, but it's an achievement none the less."

I gulped, "Really?"

I felt a ghost of a hand just next to my back, as if he was toying with the idea of wrapping his arm around me and bringing me to his side. "Yeah, I'm not sure how many people would agree with me, but I would be too consumed with the fact that I finally have my child back with me."

More silence. "Cassandra, if that's the issue-"

"It's not." I cut him off. "I was just wondering."

I felt his hand move away.

I blinked, feeling a pricking heat behind my eyes. "For what it's worth Xander, I think you'd make a very good father."

I could almost hear his body tense, "What?"

"You'd make a good father. Take the compliment." I snapped.

"No no, not that, you called me Xander, you never do that." He said, shock underlying his voice. "Goddess, you barely use my real name in conversation, let alone any nicknames."

I ignored him, shutting my eyes with embarrassment as I hugged the pillow just a little tighter. Had I never actually called him that before? I could have sworn... perhaps it was just in my head. Neither of us said another word, a sickly feeling blooming in my stomach as I managed to begin shutting down my body.

-------------------------------------------------

I was laid out on one of the plastic stretcher beds in the Base's medical room. A doctor had just left me, my temperature in hand. He was sure to return with a list of possible diagnoses. I didn't need them, it was just a fever. My own fault for returning home through the tormenting rain and wind without so much as a coat to go over my shoulders.

Suddenly, Mistress Hemlock entered the room, gliding over towards me.

Her purple eyes glinted, "You are sick, Ms Verano. Courtesy of your own careless actions I'm sure."

I tried to smile, which sent me into a fit of coughs. "I wanted to make sure I returned back to Base on time. I suppose this is my sacrifice."

She placed the back of her hand to my forehead, almost motherly as she felt the heat of my skin. "You're in for a rough few days. It's just a simple fever, not much can be done about that."

I rested my head back. "Unsurprising. You can let Madame Beaudeline know I'll be fine for my next mission, and tell Master Skotus that I'll be fine to carry through with training tomorrow."

Mistress Hemlock sighed, "There's no need. You know the drill Ms Verano, you can stand, you can talk and you're not dead. The other leaders are already expecting you."

This dream was different, almost like I was an outsider, watching the whole thing unfold. Yet here I was, perched on a bed watching my eighteen year old self on the bed. It was slowly coming back to me. Turns out, I hadn't just had a fever or the common flu. I'd had pneumonia.

Just like that, I was sucked back into my body, the whole scene changing.

"No compromises Nightstalker. One cough could expose you and that certainly isn't something I'd like to risk."

I was kneeling on the floor, Madame Beaudeline's sour face staring down at me.

"You should choose someone else," I begged, "The doctor said it wasn't just a fever, Madame I really think-"

Using her knee, Madame Beaudeline kicked me to the floor, quickly placing her heeled foot on my face to keep me from moving. The sole of her foot dug against my cheek, her long heel dangerously close to my neck.

"You will do as we say, before I become too tempted and kill you." She pushed a little harder. "I don't like your defiance. You can stand, you can talk, you can breathe. You're fine. If I hear one more half-assed excuse, I'll give you a proper reason to be excused from your duties."

She pulled her foot away, finally allowing me to take in a rusty breath.

Madame Beaudeline returned to her seat. "Get out of my office Nightstalker, and stop bleeding on my floor."

-------------------------------------------

I woke up to screaming.

Long, endless echoes coming from another part of the house. Shaking, I flew out of bed, rushing to the door.

It seems that Xander had been woken up too, grabbing onto my shoulders and pulling me back.

"Stop," He heaved, "Stop, wait."

I pulled on his grasp, "Someone is screaming, we need to go and help-"

Another long wail, proving my point.

Xander gripped a little harder. "It's Myra, and trust me we don't want to be going anywhere near the room until she's finished."

I whipped my head around, "What's going on?"

He blinked sleepily, "She's having a vision. It happens sometimes, usually when something needs to be said or something important is going to happen. It's best if we wait until it's over."

I dropped my shoulders, the urgent feeling in my chest quickly disappearing. "Oh."

Xander ran a hand over his face. "Farren will send me a mind link when it's over. Myra's said that it's best to say what she saw as soon as the vision has passed rather than wait for her to fully recover."

And so we waited. Silence, Scream, Silence, Scream, Silence, Scream. It was almost endless. part of me was tempted to go back and sit in the bed, just to give myself the peace of mind.

Then... nothing.

I watched as Xander's eyes glazed over before he blinked and gave me a curt nod. Carefully, he grabbed onto my hand and lead me through the house, slowly making our way over to the direction of what I had to assume was Farren and Myra's room.

We ran into Vance and Harmony half-way, the same quiet, somber look on their faces. Clearly, this was something that they had experienced before, and knew exactly how to deal with it.

My mind started to flutter, if Myra had just been having a vision, what on earth could she have seen? What could have triggered it? And to bring on that sort of reaction... one could only assume that the vision certainly wasn't showing her anything good.

Vance held up his fist and started knocking on the door, Farren quickly calling out a 'come in'. Myra was seated on the bed, Farren's arms wrapped around her shoulders, bring Myra to her side. Her whole body was shaking, her eyes and cheeks tainted red. My eyes moved to the washcloth that was laying beside them, completely drenched with blood.

Myra locked eyes with me, "Cassandra... Cassandra come here."

I did as she said, walking over and bending down on my knees. Myra grabbed onto my hand. "Please, please listen, you have to be completely honest with me. Promise that you'll be completely honest."

I nodded my head sharply.

"Good, good." She murmured. "The organisation, where you came from. The walls, where they stone? Was it dark and gloomy, as if built into a mountain?"

I gulped and nodded my head again.

"I saw someone... tall, dark hair, pale skin, a blood ruby around her neck. Is she part of the organisation?"

"Yes," I whispered. Madame Beaudeline.

"I saw here, and two other people, yet I couldn't see anything about them, they just seemed to blur out of the image. They're planning. Planning and Plotting. Alexander, what are the plans for the Games?"

Xander scratched his head. "It's the Desert Sun pack's turn this year. About a seven hour drive from here. We were planning to have the trials for our potential within the next week or so, why?"

Myra blinked. "I saw it. The games, I mean. It quickly followed into the next scene, but I can barely remember a thing, It's like the whole vision has turned into mush."

Xander now looked completely serious. "Do we need to call off the games?"

Myra shook her head, "No. No, definitely not. We'll just need to be prepared. I can't distinctly remember anything, but perhaps there is a connection. Either way, we would be doing more harm than good by calling it off."

"I think its time Myra gets some sleep." Farren said firmly, changing the entire atmosphere of the room.

I took a step back, suddenly feeling extremely out of place. This time, I grabbed onto Xander, who seemed unwilling to move and slowly tugged on his arm, bringing him out of a trance as he began to move. Harmony did almost the exact same thing with Vance, who had an expression identical to Xander's. Carefully, I shut the door, letting out a loud breath as I did so.

I turned my head to Xander, "Now tell me, what on earth are the Games?"

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