A/N: Sorry about the wait, folks! Work has been brutal.


"Is that a hickey?"

Mom inspects my neck as a bunch of "oooohhhh's" erupt from all of my siblings except for John.

"What's a hickey?" he asks.

"Okay, Lori," Mom says, going into interrogation mode. "Who is it?"

She can be pretty scary at times. I swallow the knot in my throat so I can speak. "Uh…his name is Randy."

"Randy Harrison?" Matthew laughs. "That guy is a psycho!"

Alyssa chimes in. "No, he isn't. Don't listen to him, Mom. Randy is actually a big softie underneath all that tough guy exterior."

Mom doesn't seem to hear them. "Now Lori, be completely honest with me. Did you have sex with this boy?"

"Did y'all use a condom at least?" Amy chirps.

"Amy, hush. Well?"

I can feel my face turning red. "What? No! We just kissed, that's all!"

Mom nods. "Alright. I don't want you to see this boy anymore. You're grounded for two weeks."

She hesitates before continuing. She doesn't seem to know how to punish me. I've never really been in trouble before. "No TV, no phone…and no friends' houses. You are to come straight home after school, you understand me?"

I nod as I stare down at my feet, not even daring to look her in the face. Being grounded isn't much of a big deal to me, since I pretty much have no social life anyway. The only downside is I'll probably never be able to see Randy again. Don't kid yourself, Lori. You think he actually likes you? Do I want him to like me?

Just to keep up appearances and to make Mom think she's doing a good job, I bolt up the stairs, pretending to be upset. Stomp, stomp, slam. Straight into my room. So teenager-like.

This isn't exactly how I planned to spend my Saturday, but it's time to get down to business. I need to know what this "Blue Diamond" I keep hearing about in my dreams is. The voices I hear in my head. What the thing on my chest might be. What if Alyssa is right and reincarnation is real? Could it be who I was in my past life? How would it explain the gem on my chest?

I grab Alyssa's laptop and sit cross-legged on my bed. Maybe, just maybe, the Internet will have some answers to all of this. I type blue diamond into the search engine. Nothing. Just pictures of jewelry and something about a little town in Nevada. This already seems hopeless.

I scroll through the search results with just one little sliver of hope that I might find something until the very end, where I find what looks like a blog.

"Keep Beach City Weird?" I mutter to myself as I read the contents on the screen and click on the link. "Ronaldo Fryman…Mr. Fryman!?"

Mr. Fryman is one of our neighbors who lives just a block away from us. He moved to Keystone from Beach City a few years ago. He keeps a blog on Keystone, but I never knew he had one on Beach City. It's not surprising, though. It hasn't been updated in years.

Mr. Fryman has been arrested for disturbing the peace on numerous occasions, and each time his younger brother has had to bail him out. He's almost like the local street performer.

I scroll through the blog and see pictures of the city, and…wait a minute. I see people with gems embedded in their bodies just like me. Am I not the only one? They look so different, though. Not human. Are these pictures even real? I skim through the page for more information.

Crystal Gems.

Homeworld.

The Great Diamond Authority.

Attacks on Beach City.

Rock People…?

It all seems so familiar, yet I don't know where I know them from. Could any of this have anything to do with me? Is this more than just the ramblings of some loony conspiracy theorist? Am I crazy?

"Yo, Lori!" I hear Alyssa's voice from outside the door. "You have a visitor!"

I quickly close the laptop and slide it under my bed. "Come in."

The door opens, and I see none other than Sydney. She shuts the door behind her. "Hey, Lori! Alyssa told me you were grounded, so I came to visit you! I'm sorry you got grounded by the way. Did you get my text?"

"No. I haven't checked my phone all morning."

She sits on the edge of my bed. "Well, Mr. Stetman is holding a competition for choir club. You have to write a song, and whichever one wins will be performed by the choir to open for the play! Isn't that exciting?"

I almost forgot that Sydney had roped me into something stupid, as always. "Greeeeaaat."

"C'mon, let's get started!"

She opens her bag and takes out a notebook. She rips a page out of it and hands it to me. "I don't know if I can do this, Sydney. I'm not much of a writer."

"Nonsense! Just use your imagination. Write something from your heart. Write about something that makes you happy or enraged, or…something. That's what Mr. Stetman tells me!"

Mr. Stetman is the school's drama teacher. He hosts the choir club meetings in the music room at lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays. He's your typical eccentric artsy type.

I ponder for a minute, then begin writing on the page. This song is going to suck, I already know it. Not that I want to win.

"Hey, Sydney."

"Hmm."

"You know anything about gems?"

She stops writing. "Not really. Just that they make really expensive jewelry out of them. Why do you ask?"

"You know what the one on my chest might be?"

She crawls up to me to get a closer look. "I'm not sure. It's not like we can take it out and examine it, either. Are you it's not just some weird tumor?"

I frown at her. "I'm pretty sure."

She laughs. "I'm kidding, you know."

Sydney's eyes wander to my neck. "Hey, did Randy give you a hickey? Is that why you're grounded?"

I cover it with my hand, really embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I can cover it up with makeup!"

Sydney rummages through her bag again and fishes out some foundation and matte powder.

"This is a bit darker than your skin tone, but I think I can make it work."

She pats the foundation in with her fingers, then lightly brushes over it with the powder. "Tah-dah! Good as new."

"Thanks, I guess."

Sydney tosses her bag on the floor as we get back to writing our lyrics. A new thought crosses my mind.

"Sydney, do you think there might be other living beings out there? Like aliens? Do you think they would come to Earth and interbreed with people?"

She scoffs. "Lori, do you even hear yourself right now? That's just ridiculous. There's no such thing as aliens."

I shrug. "Just a thought. Do you believe in past lives, by any chance?"

"Kind of," Sydney says, shooting a concerned look my way. "Why are you asking me weird questions? Are you okay today?"

"Just hear me out. I want to know what all these weird dreams I've been having mean. I want to know what happened to my real parents…I want to know who or what I really am. So will you help me?"

"Well, there is one thing," Sydney says as she stands up, her voice trailing off in thought. "It's called a past life regression. It's a technique that uses hypnosis to recover memories from your past life, so you can see what they saw. Usually, people go to a hypnotherapist to do one, but I read an article on how you can do one at home."

"Let's do it."

Sydney looks dumbfounded. "I…I don't know if it actually works. You can't believe anything you read on the Internet, you know."

"It can't hurt to try. Just tell me what I need to do."

"Um…okay." Sydney acts like I'm scaring her. I'm sure it's because she's never seen me this enthusiastic about anything. I'm even surprising myself a little.

"First, we need to turn off the lights," Sydney says as she flips the light switch. "Now lie down on your bed, and get comfy. You have to be comfortable, clear-minded, and focused."

I lie back down on my bed, flat on my back. "What now?"

"Close your eyes and just relax. Clear all distractions from your mind. Bring your breathing to an even flow. Just let your mind wander."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. All the noises from the house and the hustle and bustle of the town just fade into nothing as my mind goes completely blank. My arms and legs go numb. It's like I've become nothing and everything at the same time.

I can hear those same voices again. Faint little echoes in the far corners of my mind that grow louder and louder as I plunge deep into this trance-like state. Bits and fragments of long-lost memories playing out in front of me like a broken VHS tape.

That's when I see her. A blue woman's reflection staring back at me, her eyes jarring into my soul as tears stream down her face. She looks almost exactly like me. Could it be…

I sit up abruptly with a gasp. Heart racing, a thin layer of sweat covering my face.

"Did it work?" Sydney says. "What happened? What did you see?"

I try to regain my composure. "I…that really was something."

"What is it?"

My throat is dry. "It wasn't very clear. I…Sydney, I think I saw my mom."

Her face falls. "You mean-"

I nod. Sydney pulls me into a hug. I hesitantly return it.

"I think you need some time to…process. I'll see you Monday."


Now that Sydney has gone home, it's time for me to do some real investigating. I need to start with when I was born. I was always told that I was born in Keystone, but I doubt it. I'm sure Mom has a copy of my birth certificate somewhere.

I peer out of my bedroom door. Alyssa has gone to softball practice. Mom and Amy have gone to work, and everyone else is in their rooms. The coast is clear.

I scurry downstairs and find the key to Mom's room in its not-so-secret hiding place. Mom likes to lock up her room when she's gone. I just happen to know she keeps it in one of the potted plants. I open the door and make my way into the walk-in closet in the master bathroom, where she keeps a big filing cabinet filled with important documents. I open one of the drawers and sift through all of the neatly organized papers tucked into file folders.

Come on, it has to be in here somewhere. A-ha!

I've never actually seen my birth certificate before. It's interesting to look at.

Beach City, Delmarva.

I knew it. I wasn't born in Keystone. I've been lied to all this time.

I tuck the birth certificate into a notebook and put it in my backpack. I come out of Mom's room and lock up, making sure she won't suspect that someone was in there.

The next step in my plan is to visit my first foster parents, Glenn and Joan Reese, the people who took me in as a baby and cared for me until I went to a different foster home when I was ten. They're an older couple who actually live just on the other side of town. It's been a while since I've visited them. It's about time I learn the truth.

I'll take the bus over there. I scrounge around the house for some change and put on my jacket and backpack. I sneak out the door without a peep.

Grounded-schmounded.


Seeing this house again brings back so many memories. The lawn covered in a thick blanket of snow brings me back to building snowmen with Glenn as a little kid. I see Joan has already put out those cute Thanksgiving decorations.

I ring the doorbell. Within moments, Joan answers the door. Her face lights up immediately upon seeing me. She pulls me into a tight embrace.

"Oh, Lori!" she exclaims. "It's so good to see you. You've grown so much since we last saw you! Glenn, look who's here!"

She leads me inside and takes my jacket. The living room looks exactly the same. Same couch and everything. The whole place takes me back to when I was little. I used to pretend I was a princess, adopted when my kingdom was overrun by bad guys. I would make believe that one day my real family would send the royal limo to pick me up. I would sit by the front window waiting for it. When I was seven, Glenn's old company sent him a limo to take him to the airport. I just about had a heart attack because I thought it was for me. He took taxis after that.

We sit at the dining table. Glenn sets a mug of hot cocoa in front of me. "So Lori, anything new?"

"How's our big stuff highschooler doing?" Joan coos.

I take a sip from my mug. "Oh, um, I'm doing fine. I'm doing a sort of investigation, and I wanted to ask you guys some questions."

I open my notebook to a blank page and set it on the table.

"What is this?" Joan chuckles. "Are you interviewing us?"

I take out my birth certificate and lay it out in front of them. "You guys said I was born in Keystone. Can you explain this?"

They exchange worried glances.

"I think we should tell her," Glenn says.

Joan sighs. "Lori, the circumstances surrounding your birth were very strange. Yes, you were, in fact, born in Beach City, and as I'm sure you know, crazy things happen in that place all the time. We knew from the day you came home with us that you were different, but we've always believed that you deserve a normal life."

She pauses to take her glasses off and wipes a tear from her eye. "Your birth mother…didn't necessarily die. At least, I don't think so. The staff at the hospital said there was a bright light and she just…disappeared. Without a trace. Only you were left. It made just as little sense to us as it probably does to you. The hospital staff was in a frenzy trying to figure out what had happened before we could bring you home."

Joan is right, none of this makes any sense to me. I can feel my heart sink as I take in this new information. "What else? Do you guys know anything else about my parents?"

"Well," Joan says. "The nurses said your mother was kind of tall. She was wearing some kind of cowl, so they couldn't really see her face. And your father stayed with you that night. He fed you, dressed you, and put you to sleep. He was never heard from again after that. We never got his name. It seemed like he didn't want to give you up. They said he didn't even react when the woman disappeared. That's all we know, I swear."

I close the notebook as soon as I finish jotting down the last of my notes. "Thanks, guys, for all your help. It was good to see you again."

We all stand up from the table and the older couple pull me into a warm embrace.

"We hope you find what you're looking for, Lori," Joan says. "If you ever need anything, feel free to come visit us anytime. You know we've always wanted what's best for you."

I don't want to burst into tears in front of them. I take my stuff and head out the door, back into the biting cold. I guess the next stop would be Mr. Fryman's house. He's the last person I want to talk to about this stuff, but I have a feeling he may know something about my family.