Chapter Six

No matter how much I badgered and begged and pleaded with him, Tristan wouldn’t tell me anything more about my supposed “powers”. His face didn’t give anything away but I could just tell he was feeling all smug and superior about keeping it to himself, the rat bastard.

Eventually I stormed off in a huff to my room, not expecting to get any sleep after what I’d been through over the last hour, but of course as soon as my head hit the pillow I conked and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. When I woke I felt completely rested and surprisingly ready to tackle Tristan again about all the new questions he’d managed to put into my head.

However it wasn’t to be. When I arrived downstairs, bright and early on that Sunday morning, everybody was sitting amicably around the breakfast table without a sign of Tristan.

I sat down next to Annabelle, reaching for the cereal, and beginning, ‘So-’ but before I could even get a second word out Maya interrupted me nastily.

‘He’s not here.’

I clamped my mouth shut, scared to say anything else.

‘Given the nature of the things he revealed to you last night,’ Gregory commented boredly, not taking his eyes off the newspaper he was reading, ‘Tristan has disappeared with his tail between his legs.’ Gregory finally looked at me over the tops of his reading glasses. ‘Probably scared you’re going to wheedle more information out of him.’ He returned his attention to the newspaper article.

I was about to say something when I felt a small hand on my arm. ‘I’m really sorry about last night, Cody,’ Annabelle said solemnly. ‘I didn’t want to scare you or hurt you.’

‘Um. That’s okay. It wasn’t your fault Annabelle.’

‘I know,’ she said, with characteristic maturity. ‘It was Tristan’s. But I’m still sorry.’

I nodded, unsure of what else to say, and smiled, before returning my attention to Gregory. Even though Tristan had told me Edwin was the most “powerful” or whatever, I was still naturally drawn to Gregory as the head of the household.

‘I’m sorry if I overstepped any marks,’ I said awkwardly. ‘I know none of it is any of my business but-’

‘Cody,’ Gregory interrupted in the same semi-bored voice, still not giving me much attention, ‘if it wasn’t any of your business we wouldn’t have invited you into our home in the first place.’

‘Oh.’ I guess this had something to do with how I was supposed to “help” so I didn’t say anything, hoping Gregory would elaborate. No such luck.

‘You’ll realise that when the time comes. Until then, you don’t have to apologise for being nosy. It would be unusual if you weren’t at least a little suspicious.’

I bit my tongue, determined not to blurt out any questions about Kaley or what he was planning to do to rescue her, and one more evil glance from Maya solidified my resolve.

Gregory folded the paper and took off his reading glasses. ‘I thought we’d all go to the park today, since it’s so lovely out. Annabelle, why don’t you go and get dressed. Cody, you’ll join us?’

I hadn’t realised I’d had a choice. Part of me wanted to stay in the house and do some more snooping, wait for Tristan to get home so I could bug him some more, but another part of me knew that I’d be more likely to get answers if I went with the rest of the Darlingtons.

‘Sure.’

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‘You’ll have to forgive Tristan and Gregory,’ Edwin said confidingly to me once we were settled at the park. Gregory was pushing Annabelle on the swings and Maya had her iPod on full volume, sunbathing nearby in a bikini that left little to the imagination. A group of boys around my age had gathered nearby, blatantly watching her. Even though I didn’t like Maya that much, it made me smile to know that if those boys made one wrong move she could probably decapitate them just by raising her eyebrow – even if she was the “weakest” in the family.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked, tearing my attention away from Maya and her fan-club to look at Edwin, who looked back at me knowingly.

‘You know,’ he said. ‘Their stubbornness, their brusqueness. All that pent up frustration. It’s just their way.’

‘But... they’re not related, right?’

Edwin shook his head. ‘No. They just happen to be similar like that. Like Annabelle and I.’ We both paused to watch as Annabelle squealed with excitement, soaring high on the swing.

‘Edwin... Can I ask you a question?’

Edwin shrugged. ‘Of course.’

‘Tristan mentioned that you were different... That you got your powers later in life or something?’

Edwin merely smiled.

‘He said I’m like that too.’

‘You are.’

‘Right. So when do I get them?’

‘Oh, I can’t tell you that,’ Edwin said, still smiling. ‘That’s up to you.’

‘Well then how do I do it? How do I get them? Is there some ritual or something?’

‘...In a manner of speaking.’

‘Edwin,’ I groaned. ‘Please stop being so cryptic, you’re starting to sound like Tristan.’

‘Tristan won’t tell you some of these things because of his own personal reasons Cody, but I genuinely can’t. It’s not my place.’

‘But Tristan said you’re the most powerful guy in the family.’

‘In some ways. When it comes to the supernatural, I suppose I am – and you will be too, once you get your powers. But in the hierarchy of the family, Gregory calls the shots, and in a few years when Tristan’s older and wiser he’ll take over. Being a leader was never my destiny. You, Tristan, and Annabelle are the next generation, and Tristan’s going to be at the helm of it. In some things, it’s best for you to defer to him, Cody. Naturally, instinctively, he knows better.’

I huffed, but had to admit that Edwin made sense. Though if I was ever in a position where I could realistically kick Tristan’s ass, I knew I would take it.

‘How do you know, anyway? That’s I’m “special” like you guys, or whatever. That if I go through this ritual thing it will even work.’

‘Now that’s slightly easier to explain,’ Edwin said, smiling again. ‘It’s no big deal, really. Once you get your powers you’ll understand – there’s an aura about someone, a feeling you get when you know they’ve got it, latent, within them. People like Gregory and Tristan, natural leaders, can smell it across oceans. For Annabelle and I, we’re not so dominant, we don’t need to pinpoint others as easily... For “recruitment”, if you will. We know if there’s someone near us who has it, from a purely defensive point of view – we need to be able to protect ourselves if the person is volatile.’

‘You make it sound so animalistic,’ I muttered.

Edwin shrugged. ‘It is. I know you were confused last night when you first realised we were different – you tried to label it, asking if we were mutants.’ He smiled. ‘And I know Tristan was insulted but you weren’t far off. It’s evolution, we just developed differently.’

I glanced at him. ‘There are hundreds of you, aren’t there?’

‘Us,’ Edwin corrected me gently. ‘And yes.’

‘Well, why me then? I mean, Tristan and Gregory have both been hinting pretty heavily that the paperwork screw-up that landed me here instead of France wasn’t the accident I thought it was. But if there are lots of you – us – everywhere then why did I get roped into this? I mean,’ I backtracked quickly, ‘I’ll help if I can, I’m not gonna flake on you guys, but I don’t get why I’m here instead of sunbathing in blissful ignorance in France.’

Edwin wrinkled his nose delicately. ‘That’s a difficult one. I’m afraid I can’t really answer it. It’s another one for Tristan.’

‘Could Gregory tell me?’

Edwin hesitated. ‘He could. But he won’t. There are rules.’

I sighed. ‘Why is it that every time I feel like I’m getting answers I just end up with more questions?’

‘Because it is that way,’ Edwin laughed. ‘Don’t worry, I empathise. It was exactly the same for me at first. Just be patient; it’ll all clear itself up pretty quickly.’

At the reference to a time constraint I looked at Edwin sharply. ‘That letter...’ I said tentatively. ‘Did it say when they’d be bringing Kaley back to London?’

Edwin didn’t even pause before nodding gravely. ‘It did.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s next week.’