She was standing there with a pleading smile on her face while I was trying to wrap my brain around her being in their house, and seeming to understand what was going on. I slowly started to stand and pace while running my shaky hands into my hair.
"I can explain!" She said as she rushed over to me.
"I would hope so! Why are you here? And what the heck do you know about any of this?!" I was starting to get hysterical again.
"I know, I know this is weird and totally not ok, but I can explain." She said as she grabbed my hands gently, leading me back to the couch and sitting down with me.
"Ok, try not to get too angry." She gives me an innocent smile.
"I make no promises." I reply through gritted teeth. She sighs and shifts nervously.
"So first off, they're my cousins..." She says quietly motioning to all the men in the room. I look at her, and I mean really look at her. I can see it now! There are a quite a few similarities and it makes me wonder how I never saw it. Was I really that oblivious to it the whole time? Taking in each of the guys in the room, the resemblance is clear, except for Felix. Felix does look a bit different than them. My brain briefly traces back to the dream I had, I quickly shake it off as Kirstie is pulling my attention back to her.
"When I met you 3 years ago, what made me notice you was your aura, that's my gift, I can sense and read the auras and power output of other Gifted. It was oddly strong. I went to talk to you and ask what your gift was and you immediately asked for my help, so I helped you. You seemed not to notice or even glance at all the glyphs on everything, that's when I realized you didn't know what you were. All parents are suppose to initiate their children into the world."
"I was adopted." I said, the sudden realization hitting me.
"Exactly. When we started getting closer and you told me about it I realized why you didn't know. I was going to initiate you myself but it always felt wrong, your aura has always had this... block on it, like something is following you and hindering you from accessing your gift." She said with a frown. She couldn't figure out what was stopping me, but I knew.
"My memories." I said feeling a small light go off in my head, I was struggling to believe all this but I couldn't push aside what I had seen and heard. Somewhere deep inside, I knew it was all true, but it was so much to take in.
"So, you sensed I was some Gifted oblivious to what I was, and thought you'd better keep tabs on me? Is that why you decided to be my friend?" I was feeling a little hurt at this point.
"No!... Well... yes, at first. But then I realized that you were the best friend I'd ever had, and I stopped caring if you were one of us or not. You were like my sister." She smiled through the little tears falling from her eyes. I couldn't look at that face and be angry, not when she had always been there for me, whatever her reason. I leaned forward and pulled her into a tight hug. We sat there silently accepting how strange a turn our friendship had taken.
"Unfortunately, the damage was done..." She whispered against my shoulder. I frowned and put her at arms length.
"What does that mean?" I asked, squinting my eyes in suspicion.
"I already told all of them about you..." She replied peeking at them through the corner of her eyes. "When they heard about you, they got curious. It's very rare to find a Gifted who doesn't know what they are, or that they have powers. They pestered me till I told them everything. I hoped they'd get off my case, but it made it worse. When you moved back here 5 months ago, they kept pushing me to introduce you so they could evaluate you themselves, which I refused. When you quit your last job, they found out somehow and begged me to convince you to work with me, that way they could check in on you and try and solve the mystery of you without having to stalk you. Silly me caved and did it. I begged them not to let you know we were related or about anything you've heard of tonight, but obviously they didn't listen." She turned and full on glared at them, making a few of them shift in their seats.
"That's not entirely their fault." I said into the silence that followed. "I asked, I needed to know."
"I know. I just wish you didn't. They called me after your episode when they told you and I rushed over. I never wanted to hide any of this from you, I just didn't want to be the one to potentially scare you away from it."
"I get it, this couldn't have been easy for you to withhold." I smiled a small but sincere smile. She grabbed my hand and smiled back.
This night had been a whirlwind of confusion and revelation. I had just one question left.
"So what does any of this have to do with that symbol and me?" I asked, ready to get down to the very reason I came here in the first place.
"That symbol is the calling card of someone called The Seer. He's a serial killer who only kills our kind, supposedly he only kills those who have broken some kind of law of morality and deserve the death he gives them." Lex said.
"Then why was it in that restaurant, and on that guys jacket?" I asked still confused.
"Some people put it in their homes or stores, or on their person as a charm. They think it will protect them from his gaze. All superstition of course." Aiden chimed in.
"We think that at some point in your life he came after your family and you managed to escape, but it seems as if someone took those memories from you, whether it was to protect you or hide something from you, we don't know" Lex finished.
"What kind of a person can do that?" I asked in shock.
"There are some Gifted, rare ones, that can tamper with peoples memories. They're called Memory Keepers."
"Memory Keepers?" I didn't like how this was sounding.
"A long time ago, people would go to them to find peace from the terrible things that haunted them. There use to be an abundance of them, but they've begun to fade out of existence. The unfortunate thing about them, is only a fellow Memory Keeper can unlock memories that were locked away by one of their kind." Lex said with a slight smile. "Fortunately for you, we're gonna help you find one."
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