"What is it?" Grim asked.
She felt a hot flash go through her; she didn't like being surprised, especially when she didn't know what it was about. In her experience, it could never be good.
If she wanted to, the stairs and the door were right there. She could take those two exits right now if she wanted to leave and avoid this conversation for another few days. She was going to, she'd decided, but before she could, she was interrupted by Louis bringing something out from behind his back.
"Happy birthday! We weren't sure what you would've wanted, but we hope this will work," Louis said before bringing out a small box and handing it to Grim. It was small, a bit bigger than a ring box and in a uniform black. She opened it to find a small pouch inside; she shook it and heard the sound of glass-like objects clinking. She thought she knew what it was; she’d just had some earlier before she used them. But it couldn’t be, could it?
Louis was staring at her, a small smile trying to draw attention away from how his hands fidgeted.
"Go ahead. Open it," He said.
She obeyed, and as her fingers undid the drawstring and she dumped the contents onto her palm, her eyes opened wide. Several dull E-rank shards lay in her palm, enough to get a boon if she had to guess. Why? How did they afford this? Shards were expensive; only the desperate or those with loaded pockets could get their hands on them. It was the equivalent of a year's pay to the average worker. To give it away to her? There was something wrong with this.
"Why are you giving me this?" Grim asked.
"You don't like it?" Louis asked, a bit of hurt in his voice.
"It's not that; it’s just too much. How could you give me this?"
"Hey," Louis looked at her. "Don't worry about how we can afford it; that’s for us to think about."
Grim frowned but didn't argue further; she put the shards back in the pouch and secured them in her pocket, "I don’t know what to say."
“Then don’t say anything,” Louis said. “Happy birthday, Grim.”
He looked guilty as he said it, like there was something else he wanted to say. She gave a small smile as she waited for the other shoe to drop, for the whole thing to be revealed as some joke. But that moment never came. It was real, and it was hers. She nodded, still speechless.
“I… should go to bed.”
"Yeah, you’ve had a long day, but before you go," Louis grabbed something from the kitchen table. "One more thing, this is for you."
Louis handed her a simple white envelope with the only text on it reading, 'Deliver to Grim on her 18th birthday.’
She looked at him confused, "Did you get me a card, too?"
"I'm not sure what's on it, it came in the mail a couple of years after we got you. You won't believe how hard it was to keep Jin from reading it. I had to put it in my safe."
She could believe it, but she didn't bring that up. She said good night to Louis and went upstairs. Jeremy and Chloe both had rooms up there as well, and she tried to be quiet as she made her way to her room. She could hear noise coming through their door, which meant they were still up. They’d probably want to speak to her, too, but she was exhausted. There was a firm line in the sand on any more talking today, and she wouldn’t risk them coming out by being loud. Her door hinges were already oiled from the last time she snuck out, so it made no noise when she closed the door behind her.
Her room was spacious, but much of it was cluttered by the mess of her packing this morning. She'd had to tear through her cabinets and drawers to find everything she wanted to bring. She had a desk with a laptop in the corner and a large bookshelf. Most people preferred reading on a screen nowadays, but she liked having a hardcover in her hand; besides that, a lot of history on the city was only available in old physical books. Much of that stuff had yet to be imported into digital, and what was online was often sanitized for public consumption.
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The rest of her room was decorated with posters of bands she'd liked when she was younger; she'd never bothered taking them down. The rest of her room was sparse with decorations or things that would make it more hers. When she was younger, she didn’t feel like she was going to stay for long, as if she was going to get adopted. Then, when she got older, she didn't want the rest of the people in the house asking her questions about what she liked or what she had up. What she was up to was her business, and she had never felt the need to be very open about that.
Though that might have changed with Hazel's arrival, did she know everything she knew? Everything she was thinking? That would be troublesome. She tugged on the skill and found she could summon it, but Hazel hadn't quite recovered yet. She didn't know how she knew that, but it was a piece of intuition that nagged at her, so she'd let her rest for now and talk to her in the morning.
Her bed called to her. Her body was sore, possibly everywhere, and her arm hurt, but she still sat at her desk. She'd just gotten a mystery letter, and she wasn't going to wait to read it.
She tore open the top of it, and found a small folded paper inside.
"What happened to you was not an accident."
The text was in bold letters and took up most of the page. She flipped it around, trying to look for anything else, but it was bare.
"That's weird," Grim said.
What did that mean? That was the most unhelpful thing she'd ever been given because she didn't even know what had happened to her. How was she supposed to know it wasn't an accident when she had no idea what they were referring to? She'd deduced that most people were not covered in burns and missing an arm before; she didn't need a mysterious letter telling her what she already knew.
She'd asked Jin and Louis before, but they hadn't been told anything either; they just looked after whoever the government sent them. Her searches into her past had led to nothing; nobody else out there had heard of her before, and there were no parents she could find. No DNA, even her birth certificate, was a dead end. She'd never been given a last name; she used Jin and Louis's if anyone asked, but it wasn't officially on any paperwork.
Thinking about all this made her tired; she didn't believe that was all the note contained, but she didn't know where else to go. She'd have to do some research in the morning. She turned around and saw the morning rays peak through her window shades.
Well, It'd have to be the afternoon, then.
She slinked into her bed, and within seconds, she had fallen asleep.
--------
The next day, she was woken up by arguing outside her door. Arguing wasn't unusual in this household, but being outside her door and doing it was. By the voices, it had to be the two gremlins she’d tried to avoid last night.
She got out of bed, grumbling the whole time, dressed, and opened the door in record time.
"Do you know what time it is?" Grim asked.
Her two siblings froze, aware of the fatal mistake they had just made.
Jeremy was 17 and built like he spent most of his time on a computer, which he did. He was dishevelled and definitely could have been described as handsome if he would put any effort in. He wouldn’t, but that was not her problem. Chloe stood beside him, she was 14 and more feral rat than teenager. An oversized hoodie hung off her petite frame, and only a slip of her face showed through her hood and the mess of her golden hair.
"What boon did you get?" Chloe asked with no shame.
It was almost admirable how quick she went from panicking to being on the offensive. She’d be proud if it wasn’t for the fact it was directed at her.
"None of your business."
Chloe ignored her and held out her hand towards Jeremy. "I told you she wasn't going to get anything good," she said.
Jeremy slapped some money into her hand and then turned to Grim, "What was it like?"
"It was horrible," Grim said. She then tried to push past them, but they blocked her in an unforeseen show of solidarity.
How dare they.
"You have to answer our questions before you're allowed to pass," Chloe said as she tried to look tough.
"What? No, I'm not doing this today. Move."
"Come on! You barely talk to us, and Jeremy’s gonna have to go through the same thing since he’s almost 18."
Grim sighed; it would take longer to get past than to humour them, "Fine, you get one question."
"Five," Chloe countered
"One."
"Three, and I'll do your laundry."
"Deal, what do you want to know?"
"What boon did you get, and what was it like in the gate world?" Jeremy asked.
The questions didn't surprise her, and she'd already planned out her cover story: "I got [DEFT WEEDING]. It’s an E-rank skill that lets me weed much faster and not get tired."
"Lame," Chloe said before getting elbowed by Jeremy.
Grim waited to make sure there were no more interruptions as she glared at Chloe, "The gate world was hot and almost entirely hostile; packs of suicidal monkey things kept trying to kill me the entire time. My arm got a bit mangled by the last one I fought, but I killed it, and a Boonwitch called me a cab."
"What was he like-" Jeremy was about to ask, but Chloe jumped in before he could finish.
"Why are you getting kicked out?"