Wyatt looked slightly queasy when he entered the home. I ran forward to talk to him, but he held up a hand.

Adam and Wyatt exchanged looks, and the two went outside. I made a face. If they thought I would just hang out inside while they had a little powwow, they had another thing coming.

But they were gone. Completely gone. I ran out seconds after them and couldn't find them. I even ran around looking for the two reticent men but came up short.

Had my ancestor whisked them away for a game? It could also have something to do with Wyatt's powers that I saw before. The ginormous butt just appeared all the time…like Adam. Both men vanished with their secrets, and I was fed up.

I bit my lip as I wondered what I was going to do. The plants were no help; they hadn't seen what happened either. I did the one thing I could at the moment; I went back into the house while plotting revenge. I sulky chopped up beef and got the stew going. At the very least, I could keep my hands busy, eat all the soup, and save none for them!

However, another idea took root and grew as I took out the fresh bread from the oven. I did have a new avenue that I could tap into.

I set the table for two and sat before the steaming bowls. If Adam and Wyatt weren't going to be of any help, maybe it was time to try summoning my ancestor. After all, he didn't answer my question about my grandma or Gus. I'd be killing two birds with one stone.

"Mordecai!" I said it out loud, feeling rather silly. I had no response. I went down the list of names I knew the deity went by. The soup was turning cold. I opened my mouth to say the phoenix goddess' actual name. Time seemed to pause like before as the room around me darkened and warped. I felt something warm grow in my chest as the first syllable escaped my lips.

Here goes the last resort, I thought. But before I could continue, I was stopped. An explosion of fizzling spores, the colors of red and blue, brought my ancestor into the room. And out of all the seats, into Adam's with the waiting bowl to boot.

"I regret that game now." My ancestor said in lieu of a greeting. He was now wearing the appearance of a woman with dark chocolate skin from before. Her black eyes burned sparks at me while I took the time to marvel at the gold markings engraved on her skin. Was that what the black armor from before hid? Due to the smoke, flesh, and ash, I couldn't see her skin well before.

"The next time you think to summon me by my true name, I'll curse you." I saw a shift of fierce rage grace the woman's face as she said this to me. I should be terrified that this Goddess would curse me, but she was just so beautiful. I must have been too scared before to note her bright eyes that were big and expressive. Her hair was braided simply but it served to highlight her cheekbones and perfectly formed lips. How did I not see that her skin shimmered? It was as if she were concentrated light held together by flesh. And that flesh looked strong. My ancestor's female form had the muscles of an Amazon warrior. Thick and virile her muscles stretched and flexed as she breathed as if containing a life of their own. Even if she didn't have her vast powers, she could rip me apart with those arms.

My stumped regard for her triggered further rage. I was probably too blatant in my staring because her spores grew thick in the room and half hid her from my perusal.

"My sister was the true beauty of the family. Even my stupid brother was a glory that surpassed others. They took after our father while I looked just like her." The Goddess said the last word with ichor dripping off it. It didn't take much to know who she was speaking of. Her mother. The Goddess of Destiny who cursed all of her children. As if realizing she had told this to me, she started stuffing her face unseemly. "You're lucky you thought to have food waiting for me. Or this could have gotten ugly."

Unwilling to ignore the previous conversation, I asked, "You're so powerful now. Why do you still change forms?" I've never seen someone so beautiful and ethereal before. What must her true form look like?

"It used to be worse. I would start over as a baby whenever I 'died.' I'd have to grow up slowly and start all over again. Babies and children can't contain and weld enough power to protect themselves. I've lost count of the number of times I died right after rebirth." She said with a look filled with eerie calm.

"What about your true form?" I asked. So far, I'd been able to say her true name. Does that mean she broke the curses placed upon her?

"Haven't you learned your history? My mother cursed me. I can't ever go back to how I was. At best, I just circumvent some of what she did to regain my agency faster. I no longer need to start off as a baby, and I've been able to keep at least two of the same forms when I like."

"And you're no longer a demi-goddess but a Goddess," I said with a smile. I wanted to learn more about her and how she did all this. I think she knew where I was reaching because her face grew annoyed when I opened my mouth to talk again.

"Why did you call out to me?" She said, cutting me off.

"I want to know if my Grandma and brother are alive and safe," I said, jutting my chin out. I'd ask her the rest later because this was the real purpose.

The Goddess made a long, annoyed sigh. "That's it? You have the great moi sitting in your kitchen, and you want to know if a pair of irresponsible has beens are alive? You do realize they don't care about you, right? None of them would have the balls to summon the wonderful me to ask about you."

My cheeks heated up with indignation. "They care about me."

The Goddess lowered her chin as she borrowed her flaming eyes into me. "Do they now?" She said with a half snarl. "They left you to die."

I stiffened, but the barrage was far from over.

"Your family kept you contained from the rest of the world, locked and hidden. You can go to whatever world you desire and craft your own fabric of reality. But what have they actually taught you? You knew these things, but why didn't you try to do them? What stopped you?"

I opened my mouth and attempted to stammer something but fell short. Why hadn't I tried to leave the library? I had the courage and knowledge to pull things from books, but I never went out of my way to enter a world. I stayed in my room most of the time alone and…wore the power binding ribbon. My grandma had said the library could be found because of my power waves, so I needed to be bound. As for leaving the library, that was even worse than it being found. The world was too dangerous for me because of my lineage, and I would be killed. As for the rest...I was just a bad student who didn't want to learn the basics.

"I was taught the basics but never really finished my lessons." I had to give credit where credit is due.

"The basics?" She said with a snort. "You should be beyond that by now. What are the rest of your excuses?"

"I was told that our kind was hunted to near extinction. Our unique lineage and connection to the Goddess of Destiny and you was detrimental." I said, gaining strength; this answer would win the argument. This was the truth that she agreed upon not even twenty-four hours ago.

"Wrong answer." She said, laughing hysterically. "You in danger from the world? Gwendolyn, honey, you can create worlds. You have the power to destroy them as well. Your ability, thanks to moi is to fuck with the fabric of reality as you see fit."

I blanched, unable to find a proper rebuttal to this. "My power was bound because it was too much for me."

"Oh, they told you it was too much for the world to handle. So you were nerfed from the start." The Goddess said, shaking her head with a sigh. "Oh, you don't know what nerfed means, weakened. Your family crippled you."

"I grew up wanting nothing, so I was not crippled!" I said, feeling my outrage overpowering my shame and pain.

"Who fed and clothed you?" The Goddess wasn't done, and her cruel words hurt like physical ones as she spoke. "Who took care of your daily needs? Who looked after you day in and day out?"

"I did." I finally managed to get out of my tightened throat.

The Goddess' smile grew at my admission. "They don't care about you. They taught you how to do things for yourself and then left you alone. They taught you just enough to get by, but wonder why you're a mess. You, of all people, should know how much care and love go into growing someone strong. The plants you care for rely on you. To them, you are their mother and sun. Would you raise them the way you were?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

My sight became blurry as I tried to find some thread of logic to grasp onto. I was loved, right? I was more than just a burden…but I wasn't, was I? My grandma was never around, and my brother who was…well, he truly did look at me like I was air. My parents never even bothered to stay around. Why had no one told me where they went and if they were dead or just MIA?

"It's a wonder you turned out half as okay as you did. Thanks to my genes being what they are, you did good." The Goddess said with a thoughtful furrow of her brow. She started eating again as I fought off tears.

"I still want to know if they're okay," I said through trembling lips. I had to know, even if the Goddess laughed at me again.

"Eh? Yeah, those things are fine." The Goddess said with a mouth full of soup. There were a few moments of silence as the Goddess stopped chewing into me and instead focused on her food.

"Did you know your 'home' is a time stopper?" The Goddess said with a snort of disbelief out of nowhere. "I asked who fed you, but technically, they didn't have to teach you how to feed yourself. You're far older than you realize because they remember to turn on time just so you can grow. Then they turned it off again. It must be tied into whatever power-stripping spell they bound you under." The Goddess tilted her head at me as she sized me up, wondering out loud what about me was broken.

I was exposed in such an unsightly way that I didn't know where to look or how to feel.

It would take a long time to bury this memory in my mind.

"What should I call you? I've been calling you Goddess, but it doesn't feel right." I said, trying desperately to switch the focus back onto her.

It worked. She preened, lapping the attention as a dove took to a water fountain. "For future reference, call me Aphra when I'm in my female form. Mordecai, whenever I'm a male. If you call me anything else, I'll punish you. With this stunt, you lost the right to call me any other name." She seemed intent on burning that into me, and I nodded quickly, agreeing.

"Why those two names?" I said.

"Mordecai was because I lost a bet to bullheaded Marduk, and Aphra is the name I chose." She said, shoveling more food into her mouth.

"Gwendolyn, go bring the pot to the table. I want some more." Aphra said, not looking up. It was strangely horrifying how I had a hard time looking away from her as I got up from the table. She was lapping the bowl like a cat, which should look like a messy toddler's work. She was so gorgeous, though the moment could have been framed as art.

I got up to do as she told me. When I returned from the kitchen, I set down the trivet and the pot.

My hand caught my attention and the space ring Gus had given me. "Wait, you're wrong!" I said proudly, holding up my hand. "My brother gave me this ring after he dropped me into this world." It was the bare minimum, but it was something.

"No, that was me," Aphra said casually as she poured herself a second bowl.

"No, it was with the note that my brother left," I said, my proud hand drooping like a broken plant stem as my confidence waned. Could I be wrong about this as well?

"No. I took that ring from my brother's trove to give to you. It still had the label attached to it, the facetious bastard."

"No, you said my landing in this world told you of my presence in this world. I've had this ring from the start." I recalled swiftly what the deity had said.

"No, the ring was part of a triggered spell I put into place should you ever slip out from those dumb thing's thumbs. It was to be sent to you to guide you. All of my descendants get one freebie for their first world voyage. This reminds me that you have something of mine that doesn't belong to you." Aphra's eyes glinted at me with barely concealed anger.

"No, I don't," I said, sitting down on my hands. Out of sight, out of mind. I didn't want to think about the ring not coming from Gus. I felt the tiny flower of hope for him fading into ash. He honestly didn't care about me; I should take this as the chance to finally give up.

"Yes, you do. John gave it to you. I only let it slide because it's worthless now." Aphra said with a twist of her lips that made me doubt she was telling the truth. Out of everything she said, this felt like the first lie. The label inside my space aside, the emotions in Aphra's eyes were unlike any other I'd seen.

She looked forlorn.

I pulled the strange locket out of my space and handed it to her. "You clearly want it back," I said, eyeing her for further reaction.

It was swiped from my hand with a move too fast to catch. "I told you it was worthless." She said this with a blank expression, but she cradled it with such care I couldn't believe her.

"What is the worthless thing then?" I said.

"A pocket world." She said, slipping it out of existence casually. I didn't see any pockets on her person, and she didn't have a pocket ring dimension. Rules really didn't need to apply to a Goddess.

It was a pocket world? "Why did John give it to me?" I asked.

"He's a fool that thought it was a protection artifact," Aphra said scathingly as she refilled her bowl again.

"What kind of pocket world is it?" I said. I would ask as many questions as possible until she shut me down.

As if sensing where this was going, Aphra ignored me and started tackling her third bowl of stew.

"It must be a world you value," I said, willing to poke the deity into answering. It didn't work this time because she ignored me resolutely.

"Your food has put me in a good mood," Aphra said after eating almost all the stew and the bread. "I shall reward you and the eavesdroppers."

I stiffened. Eavesdroppers? Who was listening in on our conversation?

Aphra gave a strange flick of her wrist and hand. Before she completed the motion, Adam appeared. He was seated next to me at the table, and I gasped.

It took only a moment for his iron control of his features to kick in. He reached for me and grabbed my hand tightly. I squeezed it.

"This is my relative," I said, not understanding how the heck I was going to explain this away. I gestured towards Aphra but found she had become the man from before. "Mordecai," I said, his name switching appropriately.

"Hello, mate of my descendant," Mordecai said casually with a little wave.

"This is Adam," I said, even while it felt redundant. Clearly, everyone was listening to everything being said, so names didn't need to be shared.

"Hello," Adam said.

But just to be sure...

"How much did you hear?" I said around a tight throat. We talked about a lot of heavy stuff. When did Adam start eavesdropping, and why did Aphra say it with a plural before?

"Yes, Adam, how much did you hear?" Mordecai's deep, husky voice grew gravelly as his eyes glowed hot.

"You said eavesdroppers," I said, trying to divert Mordecai.

"I did. I sent the other back home with his future bride." Mordecai said. He leaned back in his chair and gave a little burp.

"My sweet relative makes delicious food," Mordecai said. "Isn't this your favorite meal? I didn't eat all of it. Her bowl is still full, but it's not the same when it's cold. If I were you, I'd save as much of it as possible. Who knows when you'll get the chance to eat her food again." He weaponized his words like a taunt.

Adam's silence was strange. He looked like he was battling the desire to say something, but I was glad he didn't say anything. Mordecai could squash both of us without lifting a finger. I would be okay unless he blocked me from returning to my world, but not Adam.

I squeezed our interlocking hands tight and used my thumb to rub his hand. Adam visibly relaxed, and Mordecai made a boo noise.

"I can hear John calling me," Mordecai said. "Time to go." And he disappeared without another word.

"What is your relative?" Adam said. "His black eyes didn't blink, and he pulled me to the table out of nowhere."

"He's not human," I said. "And he's more than just a relative. He's my ancestor and was a demigod."

"Was?" Adam said. I didn't dare look at his face while I mumbled this. I had my own buried in his chest. Adam's heartbeat was strong and fast against my ear.

"He somehow became more. He's not someone to be taken lightly." I said. "I didn't know he truly existed." I knew the legends of the family. I often boasted about it but figured it was just that, legends. Being confronted with an immortal ancestor, a deity of untold power, vastly differed from reading about familial history.

"He was Sunny," Adam said. "Wyatt told."

"What else did Wyatt say?" I said, my temper flickering to life. That was what the two have been up to? What else were they hiding from me?

"A lot, but I can't tell you now," Adam said, and I openly glared with dissatisfaction. Adam rubbed the back of my neck, and like clockwork, I could feel my shoulder relax.

"That's not fair!" I said with a grumble.

"I can't tell you everything yet," Adam said. There was a trace of emotion in his voice I couldn't fathom being in his voice. It was fear.

"Why?" I said I was unwilling to let it go for now.

"Because I'm scared of losing what we have, Wendy. This peace has to last until…" His words died suddenly, and I furrowed my brow at him.

"I tell you everything," I said.

Adam's calm expression cracked, and I could see vulnerability in his eyes. I grabbed his cheeks and forced his eyes to meet my own. "What are you two hiding? I deserve to know." I said.

Mordecai had accused me of ignoring what was in front of me, and he was right. Adam and Wyatt were just as guilty of hiding things. All of us were playacting and that needed to end.

"Adam, you and Wyatt disappeared without telling me anything. You both need to come clean." I said this, instantly regretting it because my own fear was bubbling to the surface. A part of my heart screamed to take those words back before it was too late. I rather liked having my head in the sand...you can't get hurt. But a newer part of me was screaming for the truth, and I had to acknowledge that part of myself as well.

A heartbeat later, I was holding air.

Adam vanished much like he had appeared. For a few horrible seconds, I thought there might be a timer to Mordecai's summon of Adam.

Before I could start to truly panic and pull out the phone to call him, he was back, and he wasn't alone. Adam popped in front of me like a kernel of popcorn, unexpected and just as shocking to witness. He had an arm on Wyatt, and the two looked at me worriedly.

"You can teleport?" I said. Did Mordecai give this ability to Adam?

"I've been able to for a long time now," Adam said before I could ask him that.

"So that was why you were so accepting of all the random things I told you." I pursed my lips after these words came out. Why had Adam said nothing to me before? Pieces of the puzzle started to slip into place as I thought of the few times Adam had appeared out of nowhere.

He admitted not long ago that my fever dream of him was not a fever dream. Like Mordecai accused me, I shoved these things away, intending to never confront the growing list. Well, here I was, unable to go further without coming to terms with reality.

It hurt to breathe suddenly as my body braced for impact.

I think Adam tried to say something, but I couldn't hear anyone over the rapid pounding of my heart. "And with Gavin. The reason you appeared so quickly." I met his eyes, trying not to cry. I shouldn't feel troubled by this. Because of his skills, I was saved and cared for more than once. But why had Adam hidden this? I told him so much about myself. Stupidly spilled secrets that were not mine to keep, and he hid himself away.

'Just like he hid you from his family and the rest of his life.' A strange voice tickled my ears, and I looked around. It sounded like Mordecai, but he wasn't in the room…as far as I could see. What I could see were Mordecai's radioactive-looking spores. They were a gold color I'd never seen them take on before. They coated every crevice of the room, and when I glanced down, I saw that they were sprinkled on me, too.

"I have something else to tell you," Adam said.

I closed my eyes, hoping that even though I knew better, I could just black out per usual and put this day to bed. I had foolishly demanded answers, and Adam would finally tell me.

"I haven't told you my last name because of…" Adam started to speak, but emotion seemed to clog his windpipes. I closed my eyes as the puzzle pieces I had been piecing together in my head started to shake.

Don't say it. I thought over and over in my head. Please, please don't say what you're about to say, I pled.

But he did.

"My name is Adam Rexford III." The male lead said as he simultaneously shattered what remained of my heart.

'Now that's a plot twist. One that I totally saw coming, did you?' The voice spoke again as my world fell apart.