You have to die.

Coming awake after fading into darkness with words like that ringing in my ears wasn’t exactly a fun experience. Wait, scratch that. What the fuck was I saying? Waking up at all after hearing words like that as the darkness had claimed me was a remarkably fun experience. If I was awake, I was alive, considering actual full-on ghosts didn’t really exist.

Also, I had a headache. I kind of doubted that people in any kind of afterlife had headaches. Unless–well, on the other hand…

Right, focus, Cassidy. I was alive, awake, and my eyes were open. At least, I thought they were open. It didn’t make much of a difference, because everything around me was dark. I didn’t feel any pressure against my face or anything, so it wasn’t a blindfold. And I wasn’t handcuffed or tied up in any way. I was just lying on a floor. A cold cement floor, from the feel of it.

For a few seconds, I just laid there, listening. I was trying to figure out if I could tell anything else about where I was or if anyone was in here with me. But there was nothing. The room was completely silent and completely dark. I didn’t know if there was someone else in here, or if there were cameras with night vision, or anything. So, no using powers just yet. Especially since I had no idea what I would use said powers on even if I had actually wanted to reveal them.

Okay, this was getting me nowhere. If there was someone in here, they weren’t going to say anything. And lying here wasn’t accomplishing anything or getting me any more information. I had to move. Carefully, I put my hands down against the cement floor, starting to push myself up. I made it to a sitting position, then got my feet under me to stand. But in mid-motion, the lights came on with a suddenness that made me yelp out loud, almost falling over again.

Wait, no. Not lights. One light. Specifically, a television. It was a large flatscreen mounted on the nearby wall. But the illumination from the screen coming to life allowed me to see more of the room I was in. Not that there was much to see. It looked like an empty unfinished basement room, about fifteen feet by twenty feet. So, pretty small. The floor was concrete, as expected, and so were the walls. In the far corner there was some kind of heavy metal door.

“Cassidy.”

The sound of Paige’s voice made my gaze snap back to the television. She was there, on the screen. She looked… bad. Well, no, she looked perfect, as always. Physically, there was nothing wrong or different about her. She was just as much the pristine cheerleader princess as always. But there was something… something else wrong, something deeper that I couldn’t really define. Maybe it was in her eyes. She looked tired and worn out. Definitely stressed.

“I know you must be very confused right now,” she continued. “I wish I could be there myself to tell you what’s going on, to tell you all of it. But I can’t. I just–” For a moment, it looked as though the other girl was going to say something else, before she finally just shook her head. “I can’t be there. This recording, this video, is going to have to do. It’s linked to a motion sensor that should only go off once you’re sitting up, so… unless I really screwed up, hopefully you’re actually awake when it starts playing. Otherwise, this–” Seeming to realize that she was getting off-topic, she visibly shook herself and focused. “But there’s one thing you need to know, one thing I wish I could’ve said before.”

Those words were followed by a long, silent pause as Paige apparently took the time to collect herself. I saw her swallow hard, barely keeping herself somewhat together. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I said to you before, for everything I–for everything that happened between us. My father–my real father, not the man you know, he… well, he didn’t give me a choice. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to say the things that I said, or–or do any of that. You were my–” Again, she stopped, heaving a long, heavy sigh before looking down. It took her a few more seconds to collect herself like that, staring at the floor. From the background of the video, it looked like she’d recorded it in this same room. She might as well have been standing in front of me.

No, because if she was standing in front of me, I could have shaken her violently and demanded she actually give me some fucking answers. Or at least said ‘what the fuck’ to her in person. That would’ve been nice.

Eventually, Paige looked back up. If anything, her gaze looked even more haunted. “Let’s just say you and I have a very complicated history, Cassidy Evans. Even more complicated than you know. My father wanted me to hurt you. He didn’t give me a choice. I know that’s hard to understand, I know it’s not a real–that I’m not explaining what you really need to know. But I can’t be sure this recording won’t end up with the wrong people, no matter how careful I am. So there are things I can’t say.”

Taking in a long breath before letting it out, she continued. “There are few things I can say. Things that I know you have no reason to believe. Especially after the past few years and everything that I’ve said and done. All I can say is please just… just listen for a few minutes, because everything I’m about to tell you is one hundred percent true.

“First, your best friend when you were young was a boy named Anthony Tate. You were going to his birthday party five years ago, when you found his entire family and their household staff murdered. You saw Anthony himself killed right in front of you. The men who did it worked for your grandfather, your mother’s father. He was angry at your parents and sent those men to kill Anthony’s family and to abduct you. But your bodyguard, a man named Robert Parson, saved you. He killed them, and your dad killed your grandfather.”

Paige trailed off like that, apparently giving the words time to sink in. And I was definitely reeling. Her explanation made sense, so far. It fit everything I knew, and definitely filled in some blanks. Was it the truth? She’d said it was, but…. right, just listen. I’d sort out how I felt about it and whether I believed the whole thing once she was done.

“The thing you need to know, Cassidy,” Paige continued eventually, “the thing you need to believe even if you don’t believe anything else, is that your parents love you. Never doubt that. They’ve made mistakes. They’ve screwed up, made choices in trying to protect you that might have done more damage. But it was never out of malice. They love you, Cassie. They saw you were hurt and they wanted to take that hurt away.”

If I hadn’t been able to piece some of what had happened with Anthony Tate together before, this whole thing would’ve left me reeling even more than I already was. Hell, if I didn’t know about my family’s real situation, I would’ve been even more lost. At least I had a head start on understanding some of this, and I still desperately needed to sit down.

Almost like she was ripping off a Band-Aid, Paige continued. “Your parents had a special Touched use his power to erase that traumatic event from your memory, Cassidy. They did it because they love you, and you were in pain. They shouldn’t have. They should have let you get better, should have let you get through it. But they didn’t want you to feel all that pain. When your best friend died, when he was murdered by someone working for your grandfather, they didn’t want you to be stuck with that memory. So they had it erased. Not because they were hiding some dirty family secret from you. Not because they didn’t trust you. Because they wanted to help you. Right or wrong, good or bad, they wanted to take your pain away.”

Wanted to take my pain away. My parents had wanted to make me stop hurting after I’d seen my best friend murdered in front of me, along with the bodies of all his family and house staff, so they’d had my memory erased. Was that true? Was that the only reason they had Tomas’s father do his thing?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

And what about the rest of it? Anthony and his family were killed because my grandfather was pissed at my parents? Was he really capable of that? Was–what was I saying, my parents were capable of doing plenty of evil things. They had to get it from somewhere, right? Or was that just a dumb way of thinking? I didn’t–fuck, I had no idea.

Paige had stopped talking on the video, as though giving me time to process all of that. Then she continued. “Your parents…” Trailing off, she looked uncertain of how to proceed or how much to say. Finally, a heavy sigh escaped her. “There’s a lot you need to know about your parents, Cassidy. But I know you have no reason to believe anything I’d say to you about them. Not after everything that’s happened over the past few years. I’d say trust me, but… that would be stupid. So, I’m just going to say it and you can decide how much you believe.”

And then she told me about the Ministry. Basic stuff, really, most of which I’d already worked out or realized on my own. She told me my parents ran the organization, that they kept crime in Detroit to what they considered a reasonable (and profitable) level, and that they had contacts inside most of the Star and Fell organizations in the city. And, after telling me that what she was about to say would hit me really hard so I should sit down or brace myself, she ‘revealed’ that my father was Silversmith. While, of course, telling me that she knew I probably wouldn’t believe it.

Beyond all that, Paige also explained that the backbone of the Ministry had evolved from a criminal organization run by my grandfather. Detroit’s version of the Mafia. My parents had stolen the organization out from under him somehow, kicked him and his loyalists out of the city, and gradually reworked it into what it was today. The fact that my grandfather’s group had strong contacts and allies in the police force and government (not to mention the amount of powerful people they could blackmail) was what gave Mom and Dad the headstart they needed to put their spies in place on so many Star-Touched groups. They basically took the city’s criminal mob, complete with all that organization’s influence over corrupt law enforcement, and twisted it into this whole ‘control or manipulate all supervillain and most superhero actions in the city’ thing.

Yeah, it was a lot to take in even while knowing what I did. I couldn’t even imagine how I might’ve reacted if this had all been completely new to me. Would I have stood there through all of these claims? Would I have shouted back denials at the television? Would I have ignored her completely, or even tried to break the screen? Would I have tried to leave, or just ignored her? Would I have–wait, my phone.

While listening to the recording continue, I dug in my pockets. My phones were there, but there was no signal. Of course. I had the feeling that, whatever else was going on, Paige didn’t want me leaving this place, or calling for help. Particularly considering I might’ve called my parents before she explained everything. And certainly before I would’ve believed her if I hadn’t already known the truth.

Paige pushed on. “The point is, your grandfather was pissed about being kicked out of his own organization, his own city, by his daughter and her husband. So he brought his loyalists in and they attacked your best friend’s birthday party. They killed Anthony in front of you, and your bodyguard barely got you out. He was almost killed by your grandfather, who wanted to abduct you, before your father showed up and killed him. Then they had your memory erased to protect you. That was the end of it… or so your parents thought.

“You see, my father was working with Anthony’s. They were working on… on a huge project, one that was supposed to change the world. It’s called Project Owl. When your grandfather had Anthony’s father killed, it ruined Project Owl, my father’s life work. He blamed–blames your parents for it. He tried to get back at them by having your brother abducted and… and altered so that he would kill his sister… you. Then Simon would have revealed the whole truth about the Ministry to the public, and while your parents were occupied with all of that, my father would have taken their resources and used them to finish Project Owl.

“But I couldn’t let that happen. Because when your parents erased Anthony and his death from your memory, they erased me too. You and I–we were friends too. And Anthony. All three of us. You were-” She stopped, clearly choked up a bit before managing to catch herself. “You were both my friends. But it was a secret. Your parents didn’t know about me, so they didn’t know they were erasing me. You forgot about me. But I didn’t forget about you, and I couldn’t let my father do that. So I… I called your bodyguard, Robert Parson. He was still too injured to do much back then, but he made some calls. He made sure my father ended up arrested and sent to Breakwater. Because he’s… he’s Touched, Cassidy. He’s a Tech-Touched, but his focus is on working with bodies, working on living things, biological things. He’s–” She stopped, considering for a moment before shaking her head. “The point is, they sent him to Breakwater, and that was supposed to be the end of it too, just like your parents thought before.”

Again, there was a brief pause, before the girl made a face. “But… but I didn’t realize that my father had contingencies. I can’t… really get into them right now. All that matters is that he can control me. He can make me do exactly what he says, even if I don’t want to. I have to follow the letter of his orders, even through intermediaries. And he used that intermediary to order me to go with the Banners. He sold me to them, and ordered me to spend a few years being a total cunt to you. He wanted to establish years of bad blood, of arguing, of… of us being rivals, I guess. Because when I turned seventeen, when I was old enough to be sent to Breakwater too, I was supposed to kill you myself and, when the authorities came after me, make it look like I was Tech-Touched, using the equipment he left. Then I’d be sent to the island, but… but it wouldn’t stop me. When they sent me to Breakwater, I would be able to break my father out and he would go back to his plan to use your parents’ organization to finish his project, while they were too busy mourning you to defend themselves.

“Like I said, I had to follow his orders to the letter. He ordered me not to warn you or anyone about this until it was over. He ordered me to treat you like shit, to start fights with you, to insult you, to do everything I could to make the two of us fighting be realistic. He–there were a lot of orders, Cassidy. Most importantly, he ordered me to kill you on my seventeenth birthday. He ordered me to invite you here, and to kill you in a roomful of people. So I did.”

Well, that part was a bit confusing, yeah. I just stared at the screen as she continued. “I followed the letter of his orders. The gas I pumped into you was enough to kill you. You died, Cassidy. And I did it in a room full of people. But I had the lights go out so they didn’t see what happened. My father never said the lights had to be on, only that there had to be a lot of people in the room when it happened. And he said you had to die, but he never said you had to stay dead. So, when everyone was still reacting, I took your body through a secret door and gave you the antidote. You were dead for about one minute. That was enough to fulfill my father’s orders.”

Glancing away for a moment on-screen, Paige seemed to gather herself. “But he still has people who will kill you if they find out you’re alive. So I can’t–you have to stay there. I used this…” With that, Paige pointed some kind of remote at the camera she’d been using to record this whole thing. As she clicked it… I appeared in her place. It was some kind of video editing overlay on the screen or something, but it looked and sounded completely realistic. It looked like me. Suddenly, Paige wasn’t the one on-screen, I was. It was only a view from the waist up at that point, which helped with the height problem.

“Hey, guys,” my voice said, “that was pretty fucking crazy, huh? Listen, I… I can’t deal with this. Paige is just–she’s too much. So when the lights went out, I sort of… I took off. I just need to clear my head. Could you make sure Izzy’s okay and that she gets home? Thanks. And–and sorry. I just had to get out of there. I’ll explain later, I promise.”

Paige clicked the image thing off, returning to herself. “I spoofed your phone number and video called Amber like that. So, you shouldn’t get in too much trouble or anything, I hope. I just–stay there, Cassidy. The room’s set to unlock and let you out in two hours. That should be long enough for me to do what I have to do to make sure you stay safe.

“I’m sorry, Cassie. I’m sorry about everything. I wish we could’ve stayed friends. But I was never… I was never meant to have friends. As for everything I’ve told you about your family, you can decide to do whatever you want with that information. Believe it, don’t, look into it yourself, just… be careful, please. I wanted you to know the truth. You deserve the truth. I can’t tell you how to react, whether to believe me or not, who to talk to about it. I can’t tell you anything like that. All I could give you was the facts. The rest is up to you. Because I–I can’t be there. I want to, but I can’t. I’m going to take out every single one of my father’s agents here. I’m going to kill everyone he could use to hurt you or your family. And then… and then I’m going to kill myself, so he can never use me to hurt you either.

“By the time that door unlocks and lets you out, my father’s people will all be dead, and so will I.

“Goodbye, Cassie.”