I was staring out the window taking a break from my favorite book of all time, The Wizard Heir, to stare out the window as my mom drove me to school. The Twilight CD was in and she was humming along with the tune. I sighed and set the book down on the floor of the car as Chocolate, my dog, wanted to stick his head out the window on my side. I grabbed his body and hugged him afraid of what might happen to me today at karate… it was sparring… I hate sparring. I also hate lying and that was what my life was. I had to lie to some of my most closest friends and some of my family. Only my immediate family knew what I truly was… a Rodain. The staining black mark on my right shoulder blade burned as I even thought of the word. As my mom drove over the gigantic speed bumps the school miraculously put in last year. Chocolate knew the procedure and hopped onto my mom's lap. Mr. Sagna opened the door. "Good morning." He said. I grabbed my backpack and lunch box and walked out of the car towards the school for more learning. I could hear the faint noise of my mom saying good bye as she drove off. I walked up the stairs and once again Señora Cullen opened the door. "Buenos Dias!" She said as I passed through the door. I ignored her not really in the mood to get into a Spanish conversation and ducked around the corner hoping to avoid the teacher on the stairs. I walked through the hall little children in my way making me walk really slowly. I said good morning to Mr. Schnell and down the stairs to the wooden lockers that barley fit three regular sized books. Sydney was down there talking to Colleen. I hooked my backpack on one of the hooks and strolled inside the classroom. I swerved around the door and moved my blue magnet from out to in. then I took a deep breath as I turned to find I seat. Amazingly Hope was sitting with Ellyn and no one else!!!!! I sat down in the seat and let my jacket fall off of my waist marking that I was sitting there, anyone else who wants to sit here can back off and get off of my chest. "Hey." I said quietly as I grabbed a pencil and started working on my math. "Hi." Ellyn said and hid a quick laugh. Hope on the other hand just started laughing really, really loud. Ms. Pearce, our teacher looked at us then continued correcting Milo's math corrections. Fifteen minutes later the phone rang and she went to go answer it. The whole room suddenly got louder. "Lisa" she said over the noise "It's for you" I slowly stood up and went to go answer the call. I never get phone calls. Who could it be? I thought as I grabbed the phone. "Hello?" I said. "Hey Lisa!" A man's voice was on the other end. "Um… Who is this" I asked. "This is your uncle." He said. "Why are you calling me at school?" I asked. "Um… well your parents want me to pick you up and um I am driving up to your school parking lot so… could you come outside?" he asked. "Why are you picking me up now… it's like" I turned around to check the time and saw Ms. Pearce staring at me. I turned back to the phone. "Um… well I'll try to come up. How long will I be out?" I asked. "About 7 days." He said calmly. "7 DAYS?!?!?!" I said a bit too loudly. "Shh!!" I heard him say from the other side of the line. "ok." I said and hung up. I slowly walked over to where Ms. Pearce was standing and stood in the ten hour line just to tell her I'm leaving. Emma was standing in front of me, notebook in hand. "Hey what was that all about?" she asked talking about the whole screaming at the phone thing. "Oh… I'm going to leave school for a couple of days with my uncle." I said. "why didn't you just skip today?" she asked. "Well I kind of just found out myself." I said as Emma turned around to talk to Ms. Pearce. When she was done she turned around and whispered "Lucky" into my ear. I smiled and turned to talk to Ms. Pearce myself. "Ms. Pearce." "Yes" she said and started writing something on a piece of paper. "That was my uncle on the phone" I said. She just kept writing with a occasional nod. "And I am going to have to leave." She looked up. "Just mark yourself out on the board and go." I nodded and did as I was told. "Where are you going?" Someone asked behind me. I immediately swirled around and saw Hope standing there. "Oh… I'm going out with my uncle." I said and smiled "for 7 days." I saw her eyes widen. I laughed and strolled out the door. I grabbed the stuff from my locker and ran up the stairs, down the hallway, down more stairs and to the drop off circle. A midnight blue Mercedes SLR McLaren waiting to pick me up. A man with black hair and sunglasses sitting in the front seat. "Wow" I said and through my backpack in the backseat. "You old enough to sit in the front seat yet?" he asked and petted the seat next to him. "Yes but do I deserve to sit in this car?" I said. He laughed "Well your backpack sure does." He said and pointed to the back where the green backpack lay flat on the leather. I smiled and jumped in onto the seat, ignoring the door. He started to drive. "So…" I said once we were on the highway "What's the big emergency that you had to pull me out of school for?" He smiled "You'll see." He said. He switched on the radio. "I hope you don't mind." He said. I listened for a little bit and the song Spotlight from Mutemath was playing. I knew the song so I started to sing with it. He smiled and pulled off of the highway. I turned to look at him a bit more closely. I haven't really seen any of my family in years. He had dark black hair that hung down right above his shoulders and the most clear blue eyes. It almost felt as if I was staring into an ocean. The corner of his mouth twitched up into a smile. I laughed. "What?" he asked playfully. "Well you see…" I said and turned to look at where we were. "I was just thinking. You look kind of like one of the characters my friend Hope would describe in one of her stories." I said. I examined his face as he pulled the car over in front of a old abandoned steel mill. "Really…" he said and rubbed his chin. Then he look down at me and smiled. "Let's go." He said and hopped out of the car. A flash of a black mark showed out of his black shirt. His shirt was so dark that I didn't notice it before. "You're not my uncle…" I said. "You're just like me… a rodain right?" I said. He sighed and turned around. "no but yes. I am your uncle and I am rodain" "How come I never knew you?" I asked. "Well I am from your mom's side in a way." "My mom never had a brother." I said. "Yeah well…" he died off. Suddenly a corner of my mouth slipped up into a smile. "Are there more like us?" I asked. I never knew that there was more like me. "Yes but just a few. I have tried to gather most of us. We all stay here in this abandoned factory." He said and pointed his hand toward the building. "Let's go." He started walking. It was hard keeping up with him. With his long strides I almost had to jog to keep up. "So now I need to know a name." I said to him. "My name is Duran." He said quickly and opened the door. A group of people were standing in the middle of the big room. "Ok everyone!" Duran said. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light I was that there was about four people in the room. "This is it?" I said. I really was expecting a large group of people. "Yep." He said and started to walk towards them. I noticed that the room was plain. Concrete floors, very cheap hanging lamps, the works. There was an elevator in the corner but that was the most of the color. "Who's that?" one of the men asked. "She is a fellow rodain." Duran said. "Well duh!!! I mean who is she?" I blinked a few times… how did he know I was rodain? "All of us have a connection." Someone said. I turned to where the voice was. It was a woman, tall, slim, with long flowing blond hair. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Susan." "We all know who you are." A man said. He just walked out of the elevator. Ok now there was eight of us including me and Duran. He walked over to the group "Who's that?" he said. "This is Elizabeth every one. Well Lisa." He smiled at me. "I felt her presence as I was driving here." "Well la di da. Why don't we all introduce ourselves too and she can join our clan and she can be leader." One of the men said. Duran gave him a stern look. "Everyone deserves to be here. Lisa this is Vincent, Tyler, Eran, and Fitz." The man that came out of the elevator was leaning against the wall. He smiled. "And I am Jesse." "That is strangely convenient." I said. "Why?" he asked. "Well I already know a Jesse and he has blond hair to. It's a different style but…" "Alright!" Duran yelled. I covered my ears. "Ouch! Warn me next time you're about to scream at the top of your lungs." "Sorry." He mumbled. "Let's mark her up! See what comes up." This is the most fun about being a rodain. A voice said inside my head. I instantly recognized it as Susan's. So not only can she read minds but she can also project her own thoughts into other peoples. They all walked toward the elevator. I felt a hand against my back pushing be with them. Tyler pushed the button to go down. "Down?" I said surprised. "Yes. All of the upstairs is offices and stuff." Eran said. The annoying sound the elevator makes to say that it has arrived was still ringing in my ears even when we got to the LL level. The elevator doors opened to reveal a long hallway filled with doors. A black cat lay curled up in the corner. "Lazy cat." Someone mumbled behind me. Duran led the way across the hall and into a door that was labeled weapons room. There were shelves after shelves of different weapons. Duran opened a door at the end of the room. He pulled out a very fancy knife type thing and traced a symbol on the door. Then he smiled and turned the knob to open the door. It was a very dark yet colorful room with one box on the floor in the middle. Every one smiled as they entered the room. They all took out there knife type things and sat in a circle around the box. I noticed that each knife type thing was different in its own way. Come child. Susan 'thought'. I walked forward and everyone looked up at me. "It is your turn." Vincent said. Duran opened the box and it was full of the knife type things. "These are catacaruss. They are your helpers in your time of need. Instead of you choosing one it will chose you." Duran said. He dumped out the box to let all of the catacaruss lay on the floor. "Give me your hand." Susan said. I held my hand out. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her catacaruss. She drew a thin curving line on the back of my arm right below my wrist. Just then one of the catacaruss began to glow. "Ah" she said and grabbed it. "It seems that Austin has chosen you." She said and handed him to me. I felt alive when I held him. Suddenly the top of my right arm began to burn. "The scar is forming!" Fitz said. "Which one is it?" Tyler asked. I fell to the ground and grabbed my arm. I didn't notice but I was breathing really heavy. I slid Austin into my pocket. Susan softly removed my hand and lifted up the sleeve of my shirt. Everyone gasped. A large swirling mark lay permanently on my arm. "It's the mark of…" someone said but before they could finish Duran hurtled me against the wall and pinned me there hanging from my shoulders. "Who are you?" he said quietly.