Author's Note: Hey all - sorry for the lack of updates for the past couple of days but there was no way I was going to get one up last night. Now, to celebrate the fact that it's half-term and that I don't have to be at school on Monday, I'm going to update at least twice tonight. Maybe even adding a chapter to Chasing Cara (which I'm still ironing the kinks out of).

I'm also very aware that Will and the Benedicts haven't made much of an appearance yet, but that is set to change very soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy what I have, and make sure to check out Chasing Cara when that gets going properly! Oh, and thanks to everyone who have given reviews - I always look forward to them.

Chapter Six

I was still dizzy when we walked the short distance to an even bigger house than the one we were staying at - in fact, my headache got worse and I could barely look ahead without getting nauseous. I really shouldn't be going today, but I had no choice. I was bound to get into trouble if I didn't do what I was told, and I was already wary of having to be paired with Taiko. He seemed all right at the moment, walking dutifully by my side, but it wasn't voluntarily and as soon as he got a chance to get away from me he would.

It wasn't that long after we arrived that Taiko made some excuse to go somewhere else, and I was shocked at the amount of people that were crammed into what I could only assume was a ball room - that explained the posh dress then. I was honestly expecting just the chance to meet my father but this? This was horrible. So many people in one place... My mother looked particularly happy (for once), and even made some comment like,"He'll be proud of how you've turned out." It was so unlike her that I expected her to have been abducted by aliens and have this nice woman put in her place. "Now, don't get into trouble. Your father will come and find you." With that she disappeared into the crowds of people while my siblings dispersed to various places.

And I was alone. After picking my way through the crowd and watching a few younger children running around (the youngest seemed to be a girl of about eight, and there were a couple of boys and a girl around the age of sixteen with at least four others in between), I managed to find my way to a table of food. Rather than taking something, I instead had some punch, sipping rather than downing it. The age old question filtered through the barriers I had created to hide me from it - was my soulfinder here?

There were a lot of attractive people here, and it made me so self-conscious that I wound up outside in the grounds, wandering among the closest flowerbeds. After seeing a bench and taking a seat, I hid behind my hair, contemplating my options. I could run away. There was nothing stopping me, and none of my siblings were trackers - they'd never find me if I didn't use my powers. But I was feeling weak from this crappy dizzy spell.

"Can I join you?" A quiet voice from behind me said, and I jumped, expecting that I would be the only one out here. Instead there was a guy around my age, the type of person that obviously hated being in crowds, and with shockingly ginger hair.

"Urm, yeah, sure." Startled, I agreed, and moved over a bit to make space for him.

He gracefully took the space offered, and leant back, rubbing his head. "Man I hate family gatherings." He muttered, before looking at me properly. "Oh, you must be the ninth Donohue. I met the rest of you at the last family gathering thing. Can't for the life of me remember all those names though."

Confused as to how he knew me - and what he meant by family gatherings - I nodded, and said, "I'm, ah, Grace - but my last name's Smith, not Donohue..."

He knowingly looked at me, and held out a hand for a brisk handshake. "I'm Guy." At my brief snigger, he shrugged, "My mom was running out of names. I'm number seven in the Marge Kay branch." Marge Kay...branch? What? He must be crazy! Instead of taking any notice of my inner turmoil, he continued speaking. "And yeah, I meant your mom's last name is Donohue. You're the last of the Donohue branch. I don't know why you weren't brought to the last ones. I mean, Lucy's barely eight and has been to every single one since she was born."

"Hang on," I held up a hand. Guy looked pretty confused, so I enlightened him, "I don't know what the hell you're on about. The Donohue branch? Marge Kay? Who are you?"

A look of understanding passed across Guy's face, and he sighed, looking crestfallen. "Right... Where to start... Basically, the head of the Smith family is Benjamin Smith. He has had five wives - one's his soulfinder, not sure which one - and each wife has had a number of kids. Actually, now that I think about it, he's not married to any of them." He paused, waiting for that to sink in. I had no clue what he was on about. "Partner number one was Maria Kay. The eldest is Tango, who's thirty-eight, and the youngest is Mitchell at twenty-six. The Maria Kay branch has seven kids. Partner number two was Kelly Meyer, with Erika at thirty-seven and Henry a year older than me - twenty-two. There're eight kids there My mom was number three, Marge Kay. My bro Jackson's thirty-six, and the twins Alec and Savannah must be about seventeen now." Guy grinned at me, obviously finding this funny. "We're the largest family with eleven of us. Then there's you guys - the Donohue branch. Melody's thirty-five, you're twenty-one. The final partner is Lisa Wilson. She generally has the youngest family with Bryce and Brook at twenty-three, and Lucy at eight. She's almost caught up with us, there's ten of them. Get it?"

Wait...What? Five partners? Dad cheated on mom? He groaned, and continued speaking. "Us kids don't actually know who's actually his soulfinder. The moms know of course, and seem to be fine with it."Guy grimaced. "Mom's the sister of Maria. Neither were happy to begin with, but... They got used to it. If you ask around, no one actually is sure why he has so many kids - I think there are forty-five of us at the last count - but my personal favourite is that he wants an army. Y'know, there's seven or more of us in each branch. Which means five incredibly powerful Savants. I count myself among them of course." He grinned and winked, cocky attitude there for a moment before he continued.

"I can introduce you around, if you want." When I shook my head, he shrugged and rested his head on the back of the bench. "Maybe later then."

We sat in silence for a bit before I timidly spoke. "Does everyone live at home with their moms like Melody and the others do?"

"No one's left... It's as if they don't want to." Silence fell, until Guy added, "It's as if we can't. I tried a couple of years ago, but wound up back with my mom after a couple of months away."

"I'm not quite sure why I don't leave either." I paused before I continued. "And I don't know why Ma didn't tell me about this. About you guys."

Before Guy could reply, a voice blocked the moonlight and interrupted us. Fearfully I glanced up, and then to the side at Guy who was standing up straight. "Sorry sir, I know I was meant to bring her in." Guy said clearly, as if he was a soldier, to the man in front of us. Slowly I turned to look at him, only to be met with something that I would never have expected.

The man who stood in front of me looked a few years older than me and Guy, with the same coloured dirty blonde hair that I had. A cruel smirk slid onto his face before he spoke. "At ease, soldier." Relaxing, Guy looked at the man and then backed off, not saying a word to me. "Nice to finally meet you, Grace Donohue." The man said - again with my mother's maiden name! Why did that keep coming up?! "I am Benjamin Smith, owner of this estate and your father."