People passed by on the street outside, each lost in their own world. Kismet pressed her nose to the glass, watching the wisps of colour trail behind them. People were engulfed within each other's energy all the time, but moved forward entirely unaware. Stress surged their thoughts into her mind, but even still, she was able to push them down to join the general hum.

Regardless of what happens, I’m glad I came. I can at least survive a little better now if I have to go back.

Her stomach tightened. She gripped the windowsill. Dust from the nearby bookshelves tickled her nose. The council members, including Watcher Liz, gathered in the back room of the library to decide her fate. The temptation to hone in on their thoughts nibbled at her, but she resisted.

Alistair and Nyx had already gone in and given their reference, now they waited for the final decision. Nyx excused herself outside for a cigarette and to distract herself, Kismet left the window to attend to a stack of books left on the desk. They had recently been donated and needed to be filed. She sat down, burying her nose in title pages to catalog into the ledger. The systematic application of hand written labels to their spines soothed the growing jitters. Her hands shook as she turned the pages or gripped the pen until her knuckles turned white.

“Give yourself a break, it’s your day off.” Alistair joined her behind the desk and leaned against the back shelf. “You should relax.”

“It helps,” she said, and couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

Kismet wanted to believe they would come visit her if she had to leave, but couldn’t let herself. Sure, they would at first but then the distance would grow and she’d find herself alone.

What will happen to Angel? Will he ever find out about Operation Pomegranate if I don’t tell him?

Alistair put his hand on her shoulder, gently spinning the office chair around to face him. The sunlight from the window at his back cast him in a soft glow, complimenting his golden aura.

“I have a good feeling about it,” he said. “They didn’t ask me any hard questions. This is all just a formality, really.”

“I dunno,” she muttered.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad I found you that night,” said Alistair.

She couldn’t meet his eyes and stared at her lap instead. “Why did you help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Nyx returned from outside. The cigarette appeared to have done nothing for her anxiety, as magenta sparks flew around her. She slouched into the chair by the table. Alistair and Kismet walked over to join her.

The door to the back room opened again, making all three of them jump and turn to see Watcher Liz emerge. Her black cloak lightly trailed along the floor as she moved. Kismet’s heart shot to the base of her throat, but the smile Liz wore eased her nerves if only a little.

“The vote was unanimous. You can stay,” said Liz, flashing a smile.

“That’s amazing,” Nyx exclaimed, beaming, she clapped Kismet on the shoulder. Some bright yellow bursts of joy flared around her.

Alistair tugged her into a quick hug.

Still stunned, Kismet didn’t know how to react to the news or the congratulations of her friends, so she sat in frozen awe.

Kismet blinked. “Really?”

“Really,” Liz said. “Your access card will come in the mail - to Nyx’s address if that’s ok?”

“Sure, that’s alright,” said Nyx.

“Once your card arrives you can claim a cabin of your own.”

The relief and joy Kismet thought she’d feel in this moment eluded her. Instead, the searing acid of guilt rose like bile in her throat.

I have to tell them about my powers, and Operation Pomegranate. Everything. I have to.

Liz excused herself to the back room where the council finished up their meeting. Kismet left with Alistair and Nyx, moving through a haze.

They found Alistair's car parked on the side of the street and she sat in the back on top of the throw blanket. She tried not to think about the blood stain underneath.

It seemed Nyx struggled to keep it out of her mind as well - Despite Kismet’s best efforts, the memory of Angel’s broken body sprawled across the seat flashed into her mind. Blue-light flared, engulfing the whole interior… the fear fleeing in the warmth…

“Hey, Kizzy, you ok?” Alistair asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror.

Nyx had also turned to look, furrowing her brow in concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, snapping her seatbelt on.

“You sure?” Nyx asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m just overwhelmed.”

They seemed to take her word for it and Alistair pulled the car onto the road. The siblings chatted about the celebratory bonfire they planned for later that evening, laughing and joking about other fires long since past.

Should I tell them at the fire? Wait until later? Tomorrow? Never?

Alistair dropped them off at the cabin and headed home to get ready. As Kismet settled in to watch television with Nyx, the tension inside her stomach would not relent. The other woman sprawled across the sofa, her long legs hung over the arm. A lit cigarette dangled between her fingers. Not for the first time, Kismet wished to have Nyx’s sense of ease and confidence.

I hope she can forgive me.

“I need to ask Daisy about something,” Kismet announced and hopped out of the armchair, already scurrying for the door.

“I’ll meet you at the beach later?” Nyx called.

“I won’t be too long.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Kismet hurried off to Daisy’s cabin. Despite the cool evening air, sweat pooled on the back of her neck.

As she rounded the corner, huffing and out of breath, the russet cabin came into view. Daisy was stooped over in her garden, plucking at weeds. A wide brimmed sun hat shaded her face. She had tied up her yellow top to expose her stomach. Acid-wash capris sat low on her hips. When she saw Kismet, she stood up to greet her, and tugged off her gardening gloves.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

“Yes, um, no, I dunno,” Kismet sighed, still struggling to catch her breath. “I really need to talk to you.”

“Would you like to come sit down?”

Daisy led the way around to the back of the house. The yard was a bit larger than in the front, but just as overgrown. The tall grass came to Daisy’s knees and nearly to Kismet’s thighs.

A porch swing rested between two oak trees shading most of the lawn. Daisy took a seat, patting the empty space for Kismet to join her. Stress melted away the moment Kismet sat down beside her and she finally received relief from the pressure mounting in her chest. If not for her lessons with Daisy over the past month, it would have surely suffocated her.

“Can I - should I, tell the others about my telepathy now?” Kismet asked.

“Be careful who you tell, but I think it should be safe to do so now,” Daisy said. “I’m sorry you had to lie, and I hope it doesn’t make things difficult between you and your friends going forward, but I think by now, you know why I asked you to.”

Kismet studied her lap, flexing her legs to move the swing.

“Yes, but it was an accident. When Angel walked away at the barbeque -” she stopped and looked up at Daisy. “What do I do? Should I tell him?”

“He deserves to know,” Daisy said.

“No one has told him all this time,” Kismet said. “Julian was supposed to, but I don’t think he has. Why did none of you say anything?”

“He was going to tell him the other night, but the conversation didn’t go as planned,” said Daisy. “We’ve always tried to get Julian to be honest with Angel, but he insisted this way was best. It didn’t seem Angel had any reason to know until recently. It would only hurt him, and it wasn’t our place to say anything.”

Sometimes silence causes more chaos than it stops. I see that now.

Kismet clenched her hands into fists.

“I understand why you didn’t tell him,” she said, “but he needs to know now before it really is too late.”

Daisy sighed, nodding.

A cold chill swept through Kismet, prickling from head to toe.

“When you let me stay, did you know I’d figure this out?”

“I had a thought,” Daisy confessed. “That’s why I wanted you to leave at first. I couldn’t risk it and the others wouldn’t want to either. Especially Julian. But the rumors of Angel’s death, and then his miraculous return was too much to ignore and I figured your abilities may throw a much needed wrench in things. You so clearly needed help. We were doing each other a favor. The chips could fall where they may.”

Kismet’s heart thundered in her chest. Her hands had gone cold. Daisy did not attempt to alter her emotion.

“You used me.”

“You could put it that way.” Daisy dipped her head. ““I’m sorry.”

Even after I told her about Jade…

Kismet clenched her jaw.

“How is this easier than telling him yourself? Or Molly? Or Jay? Anyone?” Kismet couldn’t keep the heat out of her voice. “Why did you leave it to me?”

None of them have ever given Angel a minute of honesty.

“We all promised Julian we wouldn’t say anything,” she said. “It was a gamble, but Julian thought the truth would be too painful, that if Angel didn’t need to know, he didn’t have to. So we all just watched and waited for something to happen, but for two decades, nothing did. We all kinda thought we might be in the clear until that fight with Carl. We wanted to give Julian the opportunity to tell him the truth and when he wouldn’t, I figured whatever you discovered might slip somehow.”

Kismet’s ears rang. In her mind’s eye, she could still see the rain drops on the living-room window, the way the siren lights refracted through the water, and felt Jade’s cold hand on the back of her neck.

“Don’t you think he deserves to hear it from one of you guys?” Kismet asked, feeling the sting of hot tears grow behind her eyes. “Isn’t that kinder? Why hide behind such a promise when he’s struggling to figure out why he has these powers?”

Daisy gently pushed her feet on the ground, giving the swing more momentum.

“Julian wasn’t always this way,” she said, watching the sand squish between her toes as she dug them into the earth. “At one time, he had a good head on his shoulders. We wouldn’t have made it to the island if not for him. Ember too, really. Her energy-resistance abilities helped me in those early days in the same way that Angel helps you. So when he asked us to promise, we did. After Ember died…” Daisy stopped to clear her throat. “He changed. A lot. Then the egg came, and Angel hatched… I wish Ember had just let Ivy keep him.”

“Why didn’t she?”

“Ivy was actively at war,” said Daisy. “How could she care for a child? The island was the only zone that was safe. Then, if some stories are to be believed, Ivy was also quite unstable. The war - absorbing that many people - was taking its toll on her. If that’s true, I imagine Ember wouldn’t have been able to trust her. Despite their differences, Ember loved Julian and had a lot of faith in him. We all did.”

The wind rustled the leaves in the oak tree, filling the silence between them with a gentle susurrus.

“The sad thing is, Ivy was the only one who wanted him,” Daisy confessed, “and maybe that would have made up for it. I dunno. Maybe not.”

“Being wanted counts for a lot,” said Kismet. Her throat had gone dry and it almost scratched to speak. A hard pressure pushed up under her ribs, like her lungs over flowed with unrelinquished sobs. “I have to tell him the truth. It isn’t fair to keep him in the dark any longer and it’s not fair to ask me to keep this inside forever either. He’s been hiding these powers from you guys, struggling all month, without a clue in the world, thinking he’d risk exposure asking for help. He needs answers and to know you guys aren’t going to toss him over to Ivy.”

A cloud passed over the sun, casting them in shade. The breeze made the tall grass and wildflowers bend and twist.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to avoid,” said Daisy. “For now, we can all pretend the resurrection never happened, so long as word doesn’t get off the island and people here continue to believe it was just rumors. The minute he slips up, Watcher Liz can’t play dumb anymore. She’ll have to report to Ivy. If Julian had told him a month ago, I could have helped him figure things out.”

You all want to evade accountability for this so badly. Fuck the promise. She could have just told him herself.

“I’ve been helping him,” said Kismet, “and he’s pretty good at learning some things on his own.”

“Good,” Daisy said with a small smile. Sadness and relief mingled on the fringes of her dark eyes.

Kismet furrowed her brow, the question had been nibbling at the fringes for a while, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it.

“How did Ivy meet Ember in the first place? All Angel has ever said is that Ember died in the war.”

“Because that’s all he knows,” Daisy’s eyes clouded, gazing out into the yard. “The night before we made it to the island, Ember couldn’t resist flying to see it for herself. The Watchers caught her and took her to The Old Academy. I guess that’s where she met Ivy. What happened between them, no one seems to know for sure, but if the stories can be believed, saving Ember from The Academy’s lab is what made Ivy absorb headmaster Vaughn in the first place and start the whole war. I don’t think Julian ever really forgave Ember for that. She never made it back to the island, but insisted Ivy bring Angel here.”

Kismet’s mind reeled, only imagining how Angel would feel to hear this news. The burden of being the one to disclose it nearly crushed her. She couldn’t wait on the others to do it. By the looks of things, they’d rather disaster strike first and clean the mess after.

If he was made in The Academy lab and somehow has Ivy’s powers then would that mean Ivy was involved somehow?

“Do you think Ivy will take him?” Kismet asked.

Angel would never let that happen, and a confrontation between them would be horrible. No matter what, there’s no future for him here.

“There’s nothing we could do to stop her if she tried," said Daisy.

Kismet slid off the swing, still reeling and digesting what she'd learned.

I have to tell him before something bad happens.

"I won't be seeing you anymore," said Kismet. "I appreciate your help, but I didn't sign up to be a pawn in this game. it isn't fair."

Daisy studied the ground, pushing the swing slowly as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I understand."