Thomas was not happy when Hunter opened the door. But it wasn’t her he was mad at.

“You told her?!” her yelled at Tristan. “I told you not to! That was the deal!”

“She…” Tristan tried to explain, but she couldn’t get the words out.

“She what?”

“She remembered.” Hunter stood between her brother and Tristan, arms crossed. “Thomas, I remembered that I forgot. I’m missing six months. It was only a matter of time before I noticed.”

Thomas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We can fix this.” He mumbled to himself. “Just an hour. Maybe two.” He clicked his tongue. “But classes… The whole day? You had a headache. You were just asleep.” He turned away from them. “I need to ask mom first.”

“Thomas!” Hunter’s hand shot out and grabbed her brother’s arm before she even realized what she was doing. “I don’t want to forget.”

“You will.” Thomas looked back at her, his eyes full of sadness and hurt. “Maybe not today. Maybe not this week. But you will.” He reached out with his free hand and brushed her cheek. “I promise, I’ll always protect you, little sister. Even from yourself.”

Hunter felt a chill pass between her brother’s fingers and her face before Tristan pushed his arm away. “She doesn’t want to.” She said sternly.

“This doesn’t concern you, Twist.” Thomas glared at her. “This is a family matter.”

Tristan stood her ground. “This does concern me. When I couldn’t go home, you took care of me. Your mom bought me clothes. Your dad took me to the hospital when I drank the wrong milk. Hunter…” she glanced at Hunter and smiled. “Hunter was like a big sister to me. And you were my big brother.”

“You left.” Thomas reminded her. “You left and we never heard anything from you.”

“You moved!” She countered. “I was six and scared to use my ability!”

All the yelling brought Mrs. Lane from the kitchen. When she saw the three of them, Tristan still holding Thomas’ hand away from Hunter, she frowned. “Is everything alright?”

“Mom.” Thomas addressed his mother without looking at her. “I have to.”

“Oh dear.” Their mom brushed off her hands and came to stand behind her son. “Tommy, I’m sure she’ll be alright. She’s a lot older now.”

“But!” He spun on her, but the moment he was facing her, all his anger melted away and he started to cry. “You heard her, mom. Those screams. She couldn’t even look at dad. Those men destroyed her.” He collapsed into her arms and sobbed. “And I told them about her.”

Mrs. Lane stroked his hair, whispering softly to sooth him. She gave Tristan and apologetic smile and beckoned for the two girls to follow her. She sat her son down in the living room before leading them into the kitchen. She took soy milk from the fridge and poured a glass for Tristan, then poured glasses of regular milk for Hunter and herself.

“He blames himself.” She started. “Everyday.”

“Because he told our principal?” Hunter asked.

Mrs. Lane blinked at her in surprise, then chuckled when her daughter’s ability returned to her memory. “Yes. It was through the school records that they found you.”

“Back then, a lot of schools thought it would be best to document ability users.” Tristan added. “My kindergarten did the same thing.”

Mrs. Lane took Hunter’s hand and patted it gently. “Your brother’s friends keep records of their own. They know all the schools that don’t document abilities. And Robin Thrush is one of them.”

“Really?” Hunter couldn’t believe a school for ability users didn’t catalogue who did what. But in light of what she’d learned in the past two days, she couldn’t imagine anyone being safe there if they did.

“They also have a list of care homes.” Tristan added. “But that’s new.”

“Can kids not just go home?” Tristan had said she couldn’t, but Hunter couldn’t imagine a lot of people in that situation.

“Not always.” Mrs. Lane gave Tristan a slight, sad smile, but didn’t say anything else.

The other girl turned to face Hunter, a serious expression on her face. “Not when your parents are the ones who handed you over.”