Meggie closed the door, though her hand lingered on the doorknob. She turned slightly, so she could look him in scoldingly in the eye.

"Well if you are going to be like that, then I'll just go." She threatened.

"No, no. You came here for a reason. Sit." He pointed to the fine wooden table, and Meggie eyed it before taking her hand off the doorknob, and slipping past him and onto a chair. The boy sat across from her, looking at her oddly. Meggie shifted in her seat, before she leaned against the table, folding her hands.

"Who are you, and how do you know my mother?"

"Well don't we just like to take a dive into the big waters?"

Meggie only stared at him, and he sighed.

"Do you want the truth, or did you come here to be reassured of the lies you've been living on because it's safe?" Meggie blinked at the question, and for a moment she wasn't sure which one she wanted more.

"Maybe I should introduce myself first. My name is Raine."

"Raine?"

"Yes. It's because I can do this." He demonstrated his talent by shooting water out of a finger. Meggie gasped, her eyes widening.

"Why so surprised? Your...friend..can do extraordinary things." Meggie ignored the jab.

"But this is different. And I know I've seen...things...but my innocence is still intact. I still get surprised."

"Interesting." Raine murmured.

"So, now that we are passed whatever you want to call that...tell me. How did you find me, and how and what do you know about my mother?"

"It's not hard to find somebody, when you know everybody."

Meggie thought about it for awhile.

"Who." She asked quietly.

"Brianna. She's an old friend...you remember Jeremiah don't you?" Meggie flinched, and leaned back, letting her eyes drop to the table. She clenched her fists, trying not to let the tears come as she remembered in flashes, as most people do.

"Sorry." Raine said, and Meggie looked up at the regret in his tone.

"It's fine. How do you know Brianna? How did you know them?"

"He was a good guy. We were all good. Back in the days."

"So you're not good now?" Meggie asked, feeling nervous.

"No we are still good people, Meggie. We are just damaged, and flawed. But we still have good intentions. Brianna wouldn't have told me where you were if it would put you in danger."

"So you're not dangerous."

Raine smiled.

"No."

They stared at each other. Meggie accepted the answer with a nod before asking another question.

"So?" she prodded.

"Will you believe me?" he started to pace around the room now, Meggie's eyes following him.

"I've imagined this conversation many times. But mental preparation is never enough for the actual thing. Especially when you have holes, or disadvantages such as you don't know the person. When you should."

Meggie hastily interrupted.

"What do you mean, 'when you should.'?"

"You're my sister." He said the words very quietly that Meggie barely heard them. But she must have imagined it all the same because it was utterly impossible. This boy was crazy and she was foolish for trusting another stranger. Hadn't she learnt? All the same she went against her instincts.

"I beg your pardon?" She matched the softness of his voice.

"Half sister, actually. Your mother belongs in this world. It is by fate you are here. See you can't run from your calling. Wherever you are, whatever world-" he laughed bitterly, "-you are in, your destiny is preset. It calls, and it beckons and sometimes you have no choice but to follow it. Your mother was here first. Before she was in your world. She was ours first. She belonged to me and my father."

"You are crazy!" Meggie exclaimed, pushing her chair back loudly and standing up.

"Because that is impossible!"

"Impossible!" He shouted, walking so quickly towards her that Meggie's body froze, when she should have willed it to run.

He took her gently by the arms though, putting his face right up to hers for emphasis.

"How can you say the word impossible means anything after everything?" his voice was hushed now, as he looked into her eyes, waiting hopefully.

Meggie stared back into his eyes.

"Tell me more." She finally whispered, regretting it, though finally feeling like a hole was being filled with cement, instead of dirt that just fell right through.

Resa looked up as the door opened, and a beautiful smile formed at her lips as she saw her daughter.

Meggie shut the door very quietly, and then leaned against it as she looked evenly at her mother.

The beautiful smile faded, and it seemed darker in the house.

"What happened to you?" Resa asked, walking forward to get a better look. Meggie held out a hand in front of her for protection, giving her a dark look.

"So I met my older half brother today."

Resa froze. Meggie watched as the confusion was replaced with horror.

"You lied to all of us. How could you not tell us that we have a brother? That Mo had to share you! How could you leave them? How could you be so selfish! I am ashamed to call you my mother." Resa placed a hand on her heart, as if Meggie had physically stabbed through the thin protection of skin and punctured it.

"Meggie please, I..."

"No! Dustfinger's family hated him for deserting them and he tried so hard to make it up to them! You did too but you were so wrong mother! And now look at the damage you have done! You have broken your son's heart and the other man's heart too! I care more about him at the moment then I do about you! Does he know about us at all? Everything? How could you do this!" Through her tirade she had stepped foward, so she was only inches away from her mother.

"Do what?" They had been so focused on each other that the two women didn't even notice the door open. Nor did they hear Mo and Brandon walk in, wide eyed.

"Why do we always have to have family arguments..." Mo sighed, sounding weary. Meggie turned back to her mother.

"Ask her! Or you can ask my older brother!" Meggie said as she turned back to Mo, a big bitter smile on her face.

"Older brother? Meggie, dear, what are you talking about?"

"Meggie, don't!" Resa cried, but Meggie ignored her. Mo's eyes slipped to Resa, and he put his hand on Brandon's shoulder, needing the comfort he was giving out.

"She was here before you sent her away. All the guilt was for nothing, she was simply returning when she was meant to be. She has another family too."

"She's lying." Resa said coldly. Meggie's head whipped back to her mother, as she stared at her in disbelief.

"She's been talking to a stranger that's told her who knows what, but it's not true. It's impossible."

"Impossible? How can we even believe in that word anymore?" Meggie cried. Mo looked torn.

Meggie stared at him, waiting for him to back her up, waiting for the accusations to start.

But Mo simply sighed.

"Meggie remember Jeremiah? This is simply too like it. You are forbidden from leaving this house, unless the person who comes is someone we know. Am I understood?"

Meggie's eyes filled with tears.

"How can you not believe me! I am telling the truth! You can't punish me for telling the truth!"

"No!" Mo raised his voice, and Meggie took a step back, flinching.

"I am punishing you for lying and believing strangers!"

"Go ask him yourself!"

"I will not! This family has had enough to deal with and a lot of it is centred because you are too naive! It's time to act your age Meggie, you know not to believe strangers!"

Meggie stared at the man she had once called father. His eyes were dangerous, and even Brandon was now squirming under his hold. Resa looked smug, though in the middle of her eyes you could see the regret.

How he could not believe her, and how he could be so incredibly cruel, it stunned Meggie. The tears slipped freely, tasting bittersweet as they died on her lips.

"Who are you? What have you become not to believe me?" she whispered, before turning and fleeing up the stairs.

She suddenly needed Dustfinger in a way she never had before. It burned through her, excited her. She grabbed her things and flung them into a bag before opening the window.

"Coming to see me?" an angry voice said. Meggie had gotten one leg out the window, before that voice made her freeze. She turned her head, her eyes wide.

Dustfinger stood there, with a look so violent on his face that Meggie wanted to run. She must have taken longer to pack than she thought, and her parents must have known that she would run to him, so they got to him first.

She licked her lips, sliding back in and closing the window. They stood, Dustfinger staring at her through large and angry eyes, and Meggie bowing into herself as she thought of what to say to undo the lies Resa had planted, and Mo had watered.

Meggie gulped. Fire had shot out from Dustfinger's clenched fists.

She breathed heavily, waiting.

"We really need to talk about your thing with strangers."