Hailey’s P. O. V

I was brushing my teeth after my shower when the off key chorus of my family singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in Keily’s room began. I got dressed to the sounds of them cheering as she presumably blew out the candles on the cake. No sooner had I sat on my bed and prepared my appropriately grateful smile, than my own birthday procession began.

“Thank you, so much!” I smiled, blowing out the one stump of a candle they’d been able to relight.

My procession, made up of my Aunt Grelda and her two children, lasted as long as the candle. Once it was out, they were leaving as soon as they came.

“Your mom said you should join the rest of us downstairs.” Keith, the oldest, told me, before following his mom and sister out.

‘Happy Birthday, Hailey.’

I sighed, ‘Thanks, Opelene.’

By the time I got to the living room, Keily was already digging into her gift pile. The rest of our family and family friends were crowded around her, and the ones that weren’t were already divvying up the cake.

“Oh!” Mom gushed, handing Keily another gift, “Grandma sent this over from the Fae Realm.”

“Oh, my god! Is this what I think it is?” Keily squealed, ripping the shimmering wrapping paper off and cradling the milky orb inside.

I leaned over to Keith, “What is it?”

He replied without taking his eyes off the ball, “That’s a Fae Orb.”

I watched Keily inspect the orb. It was the size of a baseball and cloudy, softly illuminated by a swirling, dim light, “What’s it do?”

“Apart from communication, it basically lets the owner have some kind of control over an element in the area. Grandma must have really impressed them, cause they don’t just let any non-Fae have it.”

Keily focused on it and it brightened. A light breeze swept through the room, dissipating with a soft whoosh.

‘So, Keily has something that practically lets her perform elemental magic?’ The dread in Opelene’s voice reflected what I felt. I didn’t want to think of the things she could get up to with it.

After she’d moved on to the next gift, my attention was drawn to Jane, Keith’s younger sister, pulling on my shirt.

“Happy Birthday, Hailey.” Her eyes were huge with pride as she handed me a drawing of what I was sure was her depiction of the two of us.

I inspected the picture with a serious face, nodding solemnly, “Janie, are you sure you didn’t steal this?”

She shook her head vehemently, “No!”

I squinted at her, raising my brows as far as they would go, “Are you sure?”

She giggled, hiding her face behind her hands, “Yes!”

I wriggled my brows, “Are you really…?”

She knew what the look meant. Squealing, she took off running and I chased after her. We weaved between irritated family members and guests, and I let her get to the kitchen before catching her and scooping her up in my arms.

She screamed as I tickled her all the way to the back yard. Once outside, and away from the rest of the party, I put her down, laughing. Her giggles subsided into a pleased grin as I looked at the picture again.

“Thank you, Jane. This is the best gift ever.” I told her, embracing her tightly.

“You’re welcome, Hailey. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Jane! Get inside!” Grandpa called from the backyard door.

Jane gave me an apologetic look before following her inside.

I moved over to one of the chairs and sunk into it. Fall had certainly started to appear, ushered in with the chilly wind and the changing leaf colours. Closing my eyes, I zeroed in on the sound of rustling leaves and the steady city buzz.

The backyard door didn’t open for an hour. An hour of peace.

“There you are.” Mom shook her head, walking up to my chair, “Your family came all this way for your birthday and you run off to sulk. Get inside, you’re being rude.”

They came for Keily’s birthday. Mine just happened to be going on as well.

“Mom, I’m sure they’re fine.”

“No. I finally got your behind home from that hussy’s place and I won’t let you waste the day brooding. Go talk to your family, I’m sure there’s a gift or two for you to unwrap.”

I wished I hadn’t returned.

She’d gone radio silent after that conversation on the day we returned from Pine River. I’d enjoyed two months of bliss, visiting three more packs with the others and simply having fun with Ari and Kaesha around the city when we weren’t on the road. Trevor and Greg had even managed to gain Ari’s begrudging forgiveness three weeks ago, so they’d tagged along for our city escapades when they could. Save for the awkwardness of having to avoid Timothy around the mansion, this summer had been my favourite by far.

But nothing good ever lasted. Mom apparently decided to burst my happy bubble about two weeks back, when she’d started bombarding my phone with calls and texts. I’d managed to either ignore or put her off till four days ago, when I finally picked up and sat through an hour long tirade of yelling and guilt tripping. I’d regretted coming home the moment I stepped back in the house three days prior, and had been begging her to let me go back to visit ever since.

I sighed, “If I go talk to them, can I please stop by Ari’s place later?”

“I don’t want you leaving this house to go fool around with that Ari and her group of degenerates.” She decreed and tentatively grabbed my hand, like she didn’t really want to touch it at all, to take me inside, expecting the conversation to be over.

This was ridiculous.

I dug my heels in, wrenching my hand from her barely-there grip, “Keily’s going over to her friend’s place today for some stupid, probably drugged up party! Why can’t I go see my friends too? Why do you hate the idea of me spending time with people that know me and actually like what they see?!”

She gave me a withering look, “Watch your tone with me. Those people you’ve been running around with all summer are only pretending, they’ll get tired eventually. They’re not your real friends and that Ari isn’t your real family. You don’t have to see them on your birthday. Besides,” she added with disdain, “I’ve already allowed you to move into the dorm. You’ll be going there soon so I assume you’ll be able to see them anytime once school starts.”

“No! They’re not pretending! They are my real friends and Ari is my real family. She’s my sister.” I shook my head, pleading with her to let me go, and with the universe that she was wrong, “I want to see them today, and I know they’ll want to see me too.”

“If she’s really your half sister, if they’re really your friends and if, for some reason, they care about your birthday, they’ll come to you. You don’t need to go there.”

“So that means I can invite them over?” I challenged.

She stiffened, refusing to reply

“Mom.” I folded my arms, waiting till she returned my gaze, “If I were to call them and they come to our house, would you let them in?” I maintained our locked gaze, daring her to lie.

She huffed, looking away with something I could only describe as disgust, “Don’t you dare bring them to this house, or anywhere near this family. You can run off to the hussy’s house after the family dinner, if that’s really what you want to do with your birthday. Now come back inside.”

This time, she didn’t need to touch me, I followed her inside myself.

By the time the dinner was over, the sun was hanging low in the sky. Keily had slipped out the back door at least an hour ago, her hair slicked up and her entire being bedazzled.

There was an exodus once some of the guests noticed her absence. The few that decided to stay were engaged in some gossip with mom in her room, leaving me with a mountain of dishes to clean.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe the things Keith gets up to these days.” Aunt Grelda sighed, “Since he got his Sight, he’s been using it to predict basketball games and spread rumours about things his classmates haven’t even done yet. All to impress his cavalier friends. If he doesn’t tone it down, they’re going to start calling him a freak.”

Mom scoffed, “The things these kids do for their friends. And they won’t listen when we tell them that those friends are just using them.”

“Ugh, tell me about it.” Celeste, a family friend, chimed.

“Hailey’s somehow found another beast in the city and she’s refusing to listen to reason. Says that the girl is her half sister.”

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The others in the room gasped, talking all at once.

“Is it true?”

“How did they meet?”

“Does that mean their father is around?”

The room dropped to a hush at that last question. Mom’s hatred of Clark was common knowledge and everyone knew better than to bring him up.

“They met,” She began evenly, “through those nice boys Keily hangs out with. Apparently, the girl moved here alone and suddenly lives in a mansion that she somehow ‘inherited’ from a mother that died months ago. As for if she’s actually related to my girls, it’s possible, but what are the odds that they’d meet in a city like this unless she sought them out intentionally?”

“What do you think she’s here for?”

“I have no idea.” She sniffled, and there was shuffling, like they were all clamouring to hand her a tissue.

She thanked one of the ladies softly and continued, “All I know is that she’s somehow convinced my Hailey that she loves her and now she won’t shut up about her. Ari this, Ari that! She’s trying to tear my daughter away from me and Hailey’s being a blind fool about it.”

I rolled my eyes.

Another sniffle, “She spent the entire summer there, frolicking in her tacky mansion and refused to come home. I had to call and beg her to at least spend her birthday with her family.” This time she actually blew her nose, “But she’s been back for less than a week and is already demanding to return to that snake’s nest. The hussy even has Keily’s boyfriend wrapped around her finger and his brother at her beck and call. If I didn’t know she’s a Werewolf, I’d think she were a Succubus.”

They burst into sympathetic chatter and gasps, disapproving tuts and ‘oh poor dear’ being thrown around.

“Thank you.” Mom sighed, “You’re lucky Keith turned out to be a Natural Seer, Grelda. The most he’s going to do is try to impress his friends. He’s not running off to join a pack of mangy beasts.”

I stopped listening.

I wasn’t allowed to use my speed or strength in the house, but I just wanted to be done with these dishes and get the hell outta dodge, so I could stop listening to Mom’s theatrics. I picked up the pace, speeding thought the plates, then cleaned up the considerable water that had splashed on the floor in my haste.

I made my way upstairs as quietly as I could. If Mom noticed me, she’d likely give me another task to do to stall my leaving. I peered around the corner of the landing. Her door was open, but they were faced away from it, their attention on their conversation about her plights. Taking a deep breath, I zipped across the space and didn’t release it till I’d softly clicked my door behind me.

Within five minutes, I’d stuffed enough things into my bag to last me till I needed to move into the dorm and was scribbling a note. I texted Ari that I was coming, then slid my window open and climbed out, dropping lightly on the ground.

Half an hour later, I emerged from the subway and was walking to Ari’s place. The rhythmic meandering of the city faded the closer I got to her house. My senses were already used to everything, but Ari’s home seemed to filter anything I wasn’t explicitly listening for.

I knocked on the door and waited. After a while of no response, I tried Ari’s number and knocked again.

I tried the door, expecting it to be in its usual locked state. The handle actually turned and I opened it carefully, peeking inside.

“Hello? Ari?”

I debated whether or not to go inside. The autumn air had gone from nippy to chilly as night fell and I definitely wasn’t going back home. Maybe she was just asleep.

“I’m coming in!” I called, stepping inside and closing the door behind me.

Dropping my bag, I took my shoes off and picked one of the spare keys on the hook to lock the door. I tip toed up the stairs and dropped my bag off in my room.

Over the weeks, I’d somehow managed to partially move in. A large percentage of the clothes I owned hung in the closet, and most of my usual beauty products were stocked in the bathroom cabinet after I’d gotten fed up of sneaking into my house to retrieve mine.

Thirsty, I crept back down the stairs. I yawned and reached for the living room light, flipping it on.

“Surprise!”

Kaesha, Greg, Trevor, Tim and Ari yelled, jumping out of their hiding places.

The living room was decorated with streamers and balloons, and adjourned with heavy amounts of glitter. A massive handmade banner wishing me happy birthday hung from the ceiling and a large, beautifully decorated cake sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room, surrounded by food and drinks. Off to a corner, there was a small pile of wrapped gifts.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” I threw my arms around Ari and she smiled warmly, returning the embrace.

“Happy birthday, Hailey.” She said once I let her go.

I grinned, and shot Greg a look as he and Trevor moved closer, “You’re supposed to be at Keily’s party, she practically commanded it.”

He shrugged, giving me a hug, “I couldn’t miss wishing you your happy birthday. I did go to her party for a few minutes just to say hi, then came back here. She’s got enough people, she’ll barely miss me.”

Trevor, Ari and I shared a look and laughed. That was the furthest thing from the truth.

Trevor shook his head and offered up his own hug, “Happy birthday, Hail.”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to escape any party to get here too, did you?”

He laughed, bowing deeply, “No, m’lady. Nothing, be it Armageddon or a million dollars, could ever attempt to keep me away on your birthday.”

Kaesha smirked, hugging me and nudging him as she let go, “Happy birthday, sweetie. Don’t listen to him, he’s just here for the food.”

We laughed as Trevor sputtered, tying to deny it.

Still laughing, I turned, and fell silent as Tim and I stood face to face.

“Happy birthday, Sunshine.” He said softly.

‘He’s so close…’

I felt warmth creep up my neck and took half a step back. I pulled my lips up, looking anywhere but his eyes, “Thanks!”

After a beat on neither of us saying anything, I moved on, leaving the conversation before it had a chance to turn more awkward than it already was.

“Time for gifts!” Ari announced, giving me a concerned look.

Greg and Trevor went first, presenting me with a photo album that looked ready to burst.

I opened it to the middle, landing on a picture of us on Trevor’s tenth birthday. I laughed, recalling the epic water gun fight, the highlight of that day.

“This is so thoughtful.” I continued flipping, spotting some pictures that they couldn’t possibly have known of, “How did you get all these?”

“We went on a hunt for any picture with your face in it.” Trevor explained.

I raised a brow, “You braved my mom?”

Greg gave a slight shudder, “It wasn’t so bad… she only brought up the idea of me marrying Keily thirteen times.”

I laughed and flipped to the end, landing on a spread full of pictures with me and Ari, some with Kaesha and even a few with Tim.

“They told me about their idea after they’d sufficiently grovelled for my forgiveness.” Ari said, “So I told Kaesha and Timothy and we took turns taking pictures without you noticing most of them.”

“Well, we couldn’t make a photo album without some pictures of you with Ari in them. You guys are practically sisters at this point.” Greg joked.

Ari and I grinned, sharing a look.

“My turn. Careful with unwrapping it, it’s delicate.” Kaesha handed me her gift.

I peeled off the wrapping paper, revealing an ancient looking tome.

“Is this…?”

‘A book on Seers.’ I heard her voice say in my head, ‘You mentioned that your mom never talks to you about anything Supernatural. Since Ava’s basically your Werewolf guide, I figured I’d help with the Seer aspect. Most of their books are in possession of the Seer families, but I managed to get my hands on this one.’

“I figured you’d like it.” She said out loud then handed me two, less decrepit books, “And you can borrow these.”

‘One on Psychics and another on magic. Happy birthday.’

“I love it, thank you, Kaesha.” I beamed, cradling the books to my chest.

Ari went next, handing me a small wrapped box. She remained silent as I unwrapped it and opened the box.

I looked at the contents then at her, unable to contain my smile, “You’re giving me a key…?”

“And a locket.”

I inspected said locket, unable to contain my grin. It was oval shaped, and made from a beautiful rose gold, with a sapphire embedded in it that seemed to shine from within. Opening it, I smiled at the picture of the two of us together, one of the few ones I’d been able to get with her laughing with abandon. On the other side of it was inscribed the words “To the only family I need. Happy Birthday, Hailey.”

I picked up the key, attached to a Todoroki keychain, and the locket, “Thank you so much…”

She hugged me again and helped me put the necklace on, “Happy birthday.”

“I guess that’s my cue.” Tim quipped, handing me a wooden box.

I opened it and reached inside, gasping at the gift. It was a glossy, wooden figurine of me, caught in the motion of a twirl in a sundress.

I stared at the figure then looked up at him. His wooden figures were usually simple things, a flower or a horse, and never this detailed. A conversation about gifts had revealed that he could only make what he could envision. So, to get every detail down, from the features of my face to the strands of my hair, to the curve of my fingers and the step of my feet... that took a lot of envisioning.

“How…?”

He gazed back at me, “How could I not?”

The memory of his hands holding my face, tracing my body, flashed in my head like a warning sign. I desperately wanted to go back to that, to the feeling of him… And his expression told me he knew exactly what I was thinking.

I shook my head, taking a deep breath and offering a smile, “Thank you.”

“Dude, did you make that yourself?” Greg gaped at the figure.

Snapping out of it, Tim nodded, “Uh, yeah…”

“It’s so detailed, how did you get it like that?”

Tim glanced at me, before shrugging, “I got to know the model.”

Thankfully, Trevor and Greg kept him engaged, and the static between us dissipated.

The celebration continued and we laughed and played and drank well into the night. Eventually, Trevor and Greg ordered a taxi to leave. Once they were gone, Kaesha helped us clean up a bit before she teleported away.

“Go to sleep, great one. You worked hard enough putting this together.” Tim told Ari, “We can handle the rest.”

She folded her arms, “It’s Hailey’s birthday. She shouldn’t worry about the cleanup.”

“Fine, then I’ll handle it. Go away.”

I laughed, nudging her up the stairs, “There’s not much left, I don’t mind helping out. I can only imagine the effort you put into all this.”

She resisted, “I can still help you guys finish up.”

I shook my head, pushing harder, “Nope. Good night, Ari.”

“Fine, I’m going.” She huffed, “Good night guys, and happy birthday again, Hailey. It wasn’t much but I hope you liked it.”

I hugged her, “It was more than enough, I loved it. Sleep well.”

She hugged me back then retreated to her room.

“She’s getting more comfortable with that.” Tim stated.

“With what? Hugs?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. And she seems freer, at least with us.”

“More so with you, she gave you a fucking key. The door’s always locked so that’s a big ass gesture.” He quipped.

I smiled to myself, “It is. And she has no idea how much it means to me.”

We fell silent as we cleaned the last of the decorations up. Afterwards, we climbed up the stairs and headed to our rooms.

“Sunshine.” He called softly, before I could enter my room.

“Yeah?”

He seemed to debate with himself, then sighed, “Sweet dreams…”

A strange disappointment gnawed at me, “Thanks, you too. Good night.”

“Good night, Sunshine.”