Chapter Five

The next day I was up bright and early with Annabelle so even though we hadn’t gotten back til late, I’d still been up for hours by the time Tristan made a groggy entrance at midday.

‘Morning,’ Annabelle said brightly, her previous jealousy forgotten now that she had me all to herself again.

Tristan grunted in response, eyeing me up and down for a moment before shuffling through to the kitchen.

‘Uh,’ I said to Annabelle, ‘I’ll be back in one minute,’ and darted away before she could protest.

‘Hey,’ I said tentatively, once I caught up with Tristan. He was staring into the fridge with his back to me, his hair a mess on top of his perfect head. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Quit the condescension, America,’ he muttered, grabbing a pitcher of refrigerated water and chugging some. ‘I’m fine.’

‘I didn’t mean to...’ I started, but trailed off at the sight of his smirk. He’d been joking. I’ll never understand British humour. ‘Do you... Remember, last night?’ I asked carefully.

‘I remember you telling some poor girl that you were in Twilight.’

I smiled despite myself; that had been pretty funny. ‘Do you remember anything else?’

‘Relax, Cody,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘I remember everything. Who do you think I am, a fourteen year old vodka slut? I can handle my alcohol.’

I help up my hands in retreat. ‘Okay, okay. Just making sure.’

‘How do you feel about everything you found out?’

I shrugged uncomfortably; I hadn’t expected the spotlight to be shined on me this morning. ‘I dunno. Angry, mostly.’

‘You’ll find out the rest eventually,’ Tristan said, misinterpreting my answer. ‘At least, you will if Gregory and Edwin have anything to say about it. Not to mention Belle.’

‘No, I mean, I’m angry about... Kaley. About what happened.’ I shrugged again; I’m not particularly eloquent at the best of times and it was worse when I felt under pressure, like I did now. ‘Whether I find out everything or not isn’t really important, I don’t think. I’m more concerned about what’s happening, about getting her back and helping, cos you did say I could help...’ I trailed off, sternly trying to tell myself to stop waffling.

Tristan regarded me impassively. ‘And here I thought nosiness was your main personality trait,’ he commented dryly, and I blushed. Before I could say anything in response he’d taken the pitcher of water and left the room, trailing back upstairs to nurse his hangover in private. Slowly, I traipsed back to the sitting room, where Annabelle was waiting patiently for me.

‘So how much did he tell you last night anyway?’

I paused for a moment, wondering if there was a possibility that I now knew more than her – she was only six after all – but then realised I was being an idiot. Annabelle probably knew more about what went on in this house than anybody else in it. She was extraordinarily clued in.

‘Just about how Kaley disappeared. And how whoever took her sent you another letter.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Nothing you hadn’t already tried to tell me,’ I said, smiling. ‘Like how you’re all so special.’

Annabelle nodded gravely. ‘I’m surprised he told you that much,’ she conceded, returning her attention to the book she’d been reading. ‘He really doesn’t like you being here.’

‘Yes, he makes his opinion of me very clear,’ I sighed.

‘No he doesn’t,’ Annabelle contradicted me. ‘Actually, you have no idea what he thinks about you. You only know what he thinks about you being here,’ she said, stressing the last two words this time.

I paused to consider this, and found myself smiling.

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Later that night, after I’d put Annabelle to bed and run out of things to distract myself with in my room, I found myself tiptoeing down the stairs and pausing outside the slightly-ajar door to Tristan’s room. I stood there for a few moments, trying to gather up the courage to knock, when a voice caused me jump.

‘What are you doing?’ Tristan asked from behind me, amusement colouring his voice.

I whirled around to face him. ‘Um. Hey.’ He was standing on the stairs, obviously just on his way back up. He looked at me, waiting for a response. ‘I wanted to talk to you about something.’

Tristan continued to regard me for a moment before seeming to shrug internally, then walking past me into his room. ‘You’d better come in then.’

Nervously, I followed him inside and stood by the door, wondering whether or not I was supposed to close it or if I was allowed to sit down.

‘How about you close the door and sit down?’ Tristan suggested boredly from his bed when he noticed me standing there awkwardly. I did as he asked, moving towards his bed and sitting delicately on the edge. ‘So what’s on your mind?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Um. Well. I was wondering if you’d come up with a plan to get Kaley back yet, and also how you want me to help, since I’m not “special” like you guys.’

The corners of Tristan’s mouth tugged upwards at this and I forced myself to look away. Getting caught up in how attractive he was wasn’t going to help anybody.

‘You underestimate yourself,’ he commented, but didn’t elaborate. ‘I still don’t know what to do about Kaley,’ he conceded after a moment, regretfully. ‘To be honest there’s not a whole lot I can do without Gregory’s support. Just having you and Maya on my side is a recipe for failure,’ he added, managing a smirk.

I scowled. ‘You seemed pretty sure of yourself last night.’

‘I was drunk last night,’ he countered. ‘I may not be happy about what Gregory is doing but the fact is he’s never failed us before.’

‘If he hadn’t failed before,’ I countered before I could stop myself, ‘how did Kaley get kidnapped in the first place?’

Anger flashed across Tristan’s face and I immediately regretted what I’d said.

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled, looking down at my hands.

‘You have no idea what we’re dealing with here,’ Tristan told me, his voice carefully controlled. ‘These people are extremely powerful. Nothing could have prevented them for taking Kaley, and unless we’re incredibly lucky nothing’s going to prevent them from keeping her.’

I shifted uncomfortably. ‘Then how am I supposed to help? If these people are politicians or celebrities or whatever and are so powerful that they can kidnap a kid and not face any consequences, and you guys are all so special or whatever, how am I going to do anything other than get in the way?’

Tristan considered me for a moment before answering. ‘I don’t think you’re ready to know that yet, Cody.’

I glared at him, frustrated. ‘That’s not fair, Tristan,’ I spat. ‘If there’s something you know about me that I don’t, you have to tell me. I deserve to know.’

Tristan shrugged one shoulder, infuriatingly unaffected by my speech. ‘Sure you do. But if you can’t handle what we tell you and end up running back home to California you’re not going to be any help to anyone, are you?’

‘How big a deal can it possibly be?’ I demanded, refusing to be frightened by his words. ‘What are you going to tell me, that I’m the long-lost son of a king or something?’

Tristan grinned his heart-stopping grin but for once I refused to taken in by it. I continued to let the anger and frustration course through my veins.

‘Nothing quite so bland,’ he said, and I resented his sarcasm.

‘Well if you’re not going to tell me about me, then you’d better at least tell me about you,’ I insisted, changing tack for now. ‘What makes you all so “special”? What’s the big deal about being a Darlington? I get that you’ve got money,’ I went on, not even letting him answer me, ‘but you live in Notting Hill, not Buckingham Palace, you can’t be that special.’

‘Are you done?’ he asked after a moment. I sat there silently, fuming. ‘Fine. I’ll tell you why we’re special. But you won’t believe me and you’ll probably freak out, so perhaps I should just show you instead?’

I shrugged sullenly. ‘Whatever.’

Tristan slid out of bed and walked towards the door, looking over his shoulder at me. ‘Are you coming?’

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He led me only a short ways down the hall to Annabelle’s room.

‘She’s asleep,’ I told him when he paused outside it.

‘I know,’ he replied. ‘Be quiet.’

With animal-like grace, he opened the door and slipped inside, not making a single sound. Clumsily, I tried to tiptoe after him but as soon as I clicked the door shut and the sound reverberated around the room unnaturally I knew I’d made a mistake.

A thundering noise filled my ears and wind started howling through the room as I felt myself frozen in place, and not with fear either. No matter how much I tried to move, I couldn’t. My body wasn’t mine anymore.

My eyes darted around the room, trying to find Tristan or Annabelle, trying to figure out what sort of freak trap he’d lured me into. On the bed I could see the dark outline of the six year old sitting up, her body angled directly at me. Her arm was raised and pointed towards me but for some reason I could tell instinctively that she wasn’t exactly trying to help me.

The room brightened all of a sudden, a white, garish light that filled every corner, making everything look bleached. My eyes widened as I saw Annabelle properly; her hair was being whipped all around her face by the wind and her eyes were obsidian black. I felt my throat begin to constrict and I saw the fingers on the hand outstretched towards me begin to squeeze an invisible chokehold. I clawed at my throat, panicking.

Suddenly Tristan stepped forward and waved a hand casually towards his sister. Her body dropped back into a horizontal position; the wind disappeared; I could breathe and move again; the sounds of her dainty little snores filled the suddenly silent and dark room.

Wordlessly, Tristan walked past me and opened the door, his hand grabbing my wrist and tugging me back into the hallway.

‘Happy?’ he demanded.

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‘What the hell was that?’ I demanded, angrily following Tristan back to his room. He remained obstinately silent until he’d closed his bedroom door, grabbed me by the shoulders, and forcefully manoeuvred me so I was sitting back down on his bed. Once he was sitting too, he turned to face me.

‘That was an involuntary demonstration from Annabelle about why she’s so special.’

‘That doesn’t answer anything!’

Tristan sighed. ‘You really are nosy,’ he muttered to himself, and I bit back a retort that anybody who’d witnessed what I’d just witnessed would want answers. ‘Calm down and let me explain,’ he ordered. Trying to get control over my still-racing heartbeat, I took a few deep breaths. I could still feel adrenaline coursing through me.

‘Annabelle, like I said last night, is one of the most powerful girls in our family.’

‘No shit.’

‘Are you going to let me speak?’

I help up my hands in apology. ‘Sorry.’

‘Anyway, since she’s constantly at risk of being taken and manipulated, like Kaley, she has these uncontrollable defense mechanisms built into her. If her brain, even while sleeping, suspects that she’s in danger, it goes to direct autopilot and does whatever it needs to, to protect her.’

‘So... She can do all that while she’s awake as well?’

Tristan smiled wryly. ‘That was only a drop in the ocean of what Annabelle can do.’

I shook my head. Any normal person would think it had all been a trick, some great hoax cooked up by Tristan and Maya to try and scare me back to Cali. For some reason though... I dunno. I guess because I’d felt it, I’d felt the loss of control over my own body, the way my throat closed up when Annabelle, from all the way across the room, started to choke me, I knew he wasn’t lying.

‘And you’re... “Special”, too?’

Tristan nodded. ‘Not quite as powerful as Annabelle but I can hold my own.’

‘So why didn’t you just show me yourself?! Something not blood-freezingly terrifying?!’

‘ “Freezingly” isn’t a word,’ Tristan pointed out, and I scowled. ‘Because you wouldn’t have believed me!’ he exclaimed, laughing. ‘If I’d sat here and moved some things around my room without getting up you’d have scoffed and rolled your eyes and continued to make a fuss.’

I scowled some more, not willing to admit that he was probably right. I’d have thought he was a complete fool.

‘Fine,’ I huffed. ‘Well if you can all do all that stuff... What are you anyway? Like a mutant or something?’

Tristan looked offended. ‘I am not! And fuck you.’

‘Well, what then? A witch? Do you go to Hogwarts during the school year? Do you know JK Rowling personally and that’s where she got the idea?’

‘Now you’re just being ridiculous. No, we’re not witches. We’re not anything. For all intents and purposes, we don’t exist.’

I felt my jaw set stubbornly but dropped it. ‘Can Gregory and Edwin and Maya all... Do that stuff, as well?’

Tristan nodded. ‘You’ll probably be surprised to discover that Edwin is the most powerful man in the family.’

I felt my eyebrows shoot upwards even though I tried not to let them, and Tristan grinned.

‘Don’t worry, he wouldn’t be offended. Edwin is slightly different from the rest of us.’

‘Different how?’

Tristan paused, as if considering whether or not to tell me, then shrugged. ‘Just different.’

Considering the massive bulk of new information I had to work with, I decided not to push it. ‘Does that make you the least powerful?’ I decided to ask instead, smirking.

‘Very funny,’ Tristan said dryly, but he was smirking as well. ‘That honour actually falls to Maya.’

‘I thought women were supposed to be more powerful than men?’

Tristan shook his head. ‘Maya’s not blood related to us. When I say “our family” in respect to power, I’m talking about people directed related to me.’

‘Is power like a big deal? Like is there a hierarchy or do you guys just not care?’

‘It matters... But not a whole deal on a day-to-day basis. Only in battle.’

I choked. ‘Battle?!’

Tristan shrugged one shoulder. ‘It sounds like a bigger deal than it is. We don’t have swords and horses. Just little things, like getting Kaley back.’

‘I’d hardly say that’s a little thing...’ I muttered, looking down. I still felt like I was treading on eggshells when Kaley came up.

‘No,’ Tristan admitted quietly. ‘It isn’t.’

‘I still don’t see how I’m supposed to be able to help,’ I mumbled. ‘Especially now, since you guys can all do all that stuff.’

Tristan paused again, looking at me intently. ‘Let’s just say you’re a little more like Edwin than the rest of us. It will be slightly later in life that you’ll come into your powers.’

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A/N: Please don't forget to vote and comment :)