Eighteen

CHIARA

“HE did that, yes,” my mother replies as she walks towards us, a clue of her mirth still evident on her face. “And it’s very fascinating to watch someone else do it aside from our Head Elder.”

She looks both fascinated and a little wary, her eyes taking in Gideon’s defensive pose as her eyes scanned us.

I suddenly realize Eon is holding me against him as he stands behind me, and it happens because I have learned to trust him in the very short time we have met.

And that isn’t like me.

I am always so distrusting of people at first meetings, and my mother knows this because she is the one who taught me to be wary of others given the nature of our situation, as I live among the Mundanes.

Later, I understood that as I am my mother’s daughter, which means I can be attacked anytime.

Most importantly, my father can get hurt, too, since I live with him.

She taught me to be careful from the moment I can be taught, and I took it to heart because of its significance to the only family I