"Avidan," Sage called as she hurried into the library, "are you here?"

"Back here," his voice sounded muffled by the books and the alcove they had been working in, "come and join me."

Quickly moving through the library, Sage froze at the alcove's entrance as she met the steady gazes of three other strangers.

"What is going on, and who are you?" Sage asked, edging backwards toward the entrance.

"We are friends," one of the men said, seated on her right, raising a hand to still the others rising from their seats; they sank once more, "you are safe with us."

"Nice to know," Sage said, "who are you?"

"Names ..." the man shook his head, "... all you need to know is one of us belongs to a group who hunts war criminals, another has the right to rectify documents illegally acquired during and after the war, and another is simply here for revenge."

Sage stared at each man before gazing at Avidan, "Your friends?"

"Perhaps, but definitely my colleagues," Avidan said, "each has a stake in making your wrong right," he nodded, "anything we need can be acquired."

Nodding, Sage sighed, "I guess this cannot get any weirder than it already is," she took in each man. "Thank you for coming."

The three nodded but remained silent; Sage felt a sense of disquiet fill the room as the prolonged silence hung.

"You were looking for me," Avidan said, "what is it?"

"How much do they know?" Sage asked.

"Everything," Avidan said, "you've been digging."

Sage frowned, "How did you know?"

"In the past days that I've spent with you," Avidan said, smiling, "I have come to know that a certain glint in your eye means you've been digging, and you've found something."

Sage chuckled, "I'm clearly more predictable than I thought," Sage sighed and moved further into the alcove, "I was trying to find who was able to strike the name of Coopers Cove from public listing."

"Why do you say public listing?" one of the men asked.

"No one knows of this place," Sage said, "other than those who have lived here, are part of this treachery or are employed to assist the residents. If you look for Cooper's Cove online, nothing is found past the war. It's easy to assume the place was demolished during the war, but it hasn't been; therefore, it's struck from public listing. Also, it must still be listed somewhere to receive funding from the trust."

"She is smart," the man said, nodding to the others, "what else do you know?"

Sage turned to him, meeting his steady gaze, "You must be the one who hunts war criminals or can rectify illegal documents," she said, "you don't have the gaze of someone who can kill in cold blood ... but then again ... I may be wrong." Turning toward Avidan, she found him staring in wonder at her, "What?"

He cleared her throat before speaking, "Ah ... nothing," a gurgle of laughter rippled over his words as he focused on her again, "You were saying."

"I found a request of several places to be removed from the general listing of villages, towns and cities," Sage said, holding out a piece of paper, "if you look at the bottom, there is a name. I don't know if you know it, but I didn't…"

Avidan took the paper, "… so you researched it," he said, smiling at her as he finished her sentence. Sage nodded, returning the smile.

"Did you know that one of the Coopers had an illegitimate child with one of the Channing men?" Sage asked. Silence met her words. Sage shifted uncomfortably, "Okay, either you do know and are thinking of ways to hurt him, or this is stunned silence, and no one had a clue."

"Who was the Cooper?" Avidan whispered the question.

"Ahhhh … strangely enough, her name was Charlotte Mary Rosemary Cooper," Sage said, "she named the child …" looking at the paper for the name, "Caroline."

Another prolonged silence followed before Avidan cleared his throat, "What did she register the child as?"

"Oh … I found a copy of the birth certificate here," she muttered, pulling out a piece of paper, "the full name is …" Sage started at the page and swallowed hard, "… this cannot be …" she sucked in the much-needed air into her suddenly starved lungs as the intense and sudden feeling of the world shifting beneath her feet made her blink rapidly, "…. the full name is …" she tried again, "Caroline Rosemary Sage Cooper-Channing." Staring blankly at the piece of paper, Sage huffed out a breath and met Avidan's gaze, "Did you know?"

"Know what?" Avidan said, "That you're named after the illegitimate daughter of a Channing?" Sage nodded, "No, I had no idea, but those names have been a key to many things over the years."

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"How so?" Sage asked.

"According to this piece of paper, Caroline Rosemary Sage Cooper-Channing requested these names to be removed," Avidan said, "along with many other things. She lived in the house for a short time during the information blackout period, and the legend of the house is first spoken of during her time."

Sage sank to a chair, "I'm a tool. Nothing but a tool."

"What are you talking about?" Avidan said, looking furtively at the others in the room.

"My brother and I had a fight when we were younger," she said, shaking her head, "it was the last time I saw him … among the vicious things he said, he told me I was raised to be nothing more than a tool. I didn't know that he meant but …" she looked down at the paper again, "…. can it be …" she huffed out a sobby breath, "… is this why she raised me … to be her tool."

"No, Rosemary raised you to be strong, independent and a free-thinker," one of the men said, "I know because I was there when you were born."

"Have you never wondered why you didn't get on with your family," Avidan asked, "did Rosemary ever ask you to call her grandmother?"

Sage slowly shook her head, licking her dry lips before speaking, "I just assumed I never got on with my family because I was different."

The third man stood suddenly, anger blazing in his intent expression; he looked around at the others, "She needs to know."

Sage looked at him in the solid light from a muted overhead light as it shone across his face; slowly, she stood staring at him. She had seen that face before and knew it from somewhere but had never met this man.

"The photograph," she whispered, "you're in the photo Rosemary keeps with her …" she said, "… you're the one who is out for revenge."

"Yes, you guessed correctly," he said, "we loved each other but could never be together … then Rose contacted me begging for my help. I gave it willingly, hid her on one of the islands until she could resume her life."

"Why did she need to be hidden?" Sage asked, sighing and rolling her eyes as more silence met her question, "Don't answer me … keep your code of silence or whatever you call it. I'll find out on my own."

Striding from the alcove and room, she made her way to her bedroom; hurried steps followed her, and as they got closer, she spun around to find the man wanting revenge behind her.

"What do you want?" she asked, anger riding every word.

"You have every right to be angry," he said, stopping short with his hands held at his side, palms open facing her, "it's hard for me to tell someone else's story, but I realise you need to know it all."

"And you know it all?" Sage asked, "Everything about me from the time of my birth?"

"I do," he said, "I know … the family you say is your family … isn't truly your family."

Sage squeezed her eyes closed, cocking her head to the side and rolling her neck as the words fell on the already sensitive soil of her soul. She cleared her throat, shifted, braced her hands on her hips, and rolled her neck again, but nothing she did relieved the sudden tension at her core. Instinct screamed; she was about to find out why this was her job alone to perform … was she a long line of women who prepared the next generation for this?

"Those words …" she said, sucking in much-needed air, "… need an explanation."

"They do," he said, "and you will have one."

"When?" Sage asked.

"Now," he whispered, "where can we talk …privately?"

Avidan watched the two leave, looking at the others, "He's going to tell her."

They nodded but didn't move; one looked at his fingernails while the other inspected the books on a shelf closest to him.

"You're not going to stop him?" Avidan asked.

Both shook their heads.

"It is time she knows," one man said, rising from the chair, "what is in that decanter?"

"Brandy on the left, whiskey on the right and the one with red liquid in is either red wine or sherry," Avidan said, watching as his colleague helped himself to a drink, "are you going to explain why this is happening now?"

Turning from his inspection of the bookshelf, the second man sighed, "Throughout all of this, Sage has seen herself as an outsider ... " he shifted, "... she is always looking for someone who can help her right the wrong, and you supplied that, but if she doesn't know the truth and step fully into her role, our hands will be tied."

"Her role," Avidan muttered, "what role is that? "

"Remember when we first put this … group together," the man sipping the golden liquid in his glass turned to the others and waited until they nodded, "we realised that something was missing … we have our historian … we have our documents expert … we have our rectifier …"

"You mean assassin," interrupted Avidan; the other man nodded and continued.

"… as you say, but we don't have someone to authorise us all to complete what we need to."

Avidan looked up at the ceiling as he thought about what was being said, "You're right. Are you saying that, Sage …." he frowned as the thought brought an unsettling sensation to his chest, "...she is the one to authorise us."

Both men nodded.

"How do we know this?" Avidan asked.

"Rosemary sent through a pile of documentation," the man at the bookcase said, "documentation that Sage is about to discover. If she doesn't know the truth about herself …" he shrugged slightly.

"… she won't know what to do with the documents," Avidan said, finishing the sentence quietly, understanding what was to come and feeling sorrow for the choices Sage would need to make, "… do you think she's ready."

"Time will tell," the man sipping at his glass said philosophically, "we need to trust that Rosemary prepared her well."

"Listen to yourselves," Avidan said, looking at the two men, "you speak as though she is nothing but an asset … you forget …" he shook his head.

"What do we forget?" the man at the bookcase asked.

"You forget she is human," Avidan said, "and we will need someone who remains human to make those decisions … that is why it isn't one of us."

The two other men stared at each other for a long, silent moment before both nodded.

"You're correct, Avidan," the one at the bookcase said, turning the shelf on the other side. "If it were one of us, there would be a trail of bodies scattered wherever they were found."

Avidan nodded, "I don't think that would be helpful to anyone who has made a life on this cove or those hiding on an island."