Author's Note: there will be mentions of blood in this chapter.

…

Anke's POV

I've been separated from Hermes. I was chatting to Piper and Luke's older brother, and when I realise, I quickly go in search of Hermes. It's not that I feel nervous around his family, it's just that I feel insecure without Hermes around, since he's the only one who understands me and my powers.

I push my way outside and find Hermes standing outside with his older brother. Teddy, I think his name is.

I am just walking towards them when I suddenly see two bright red laser paths heading straight for my boyfriend and his brother. Without thinking about anything, I push my arm out and project a barrier in front of Teddy and Hermes, who both fall to the floor as the laser hits the forcefield. Teddy screams. It's not a powerful laser, but I still have trouble holding my forcefield for more than ten seconds. Luckily, Hermes darts out from beneath the barrier and flicks his hand upwards. The lasers divert course up into space and vanish.

Hermes holds out a hand to Teddy, but the older platypus simply stares at him. I think he's a little afraid.

Hazel and Piper rush out of the house, the former of whom is still holding one of the kids. I think it's the male. Piper throws herself onto her mate. "Teddy, are you okay?" she shrieks.

"I'm fine," Teddy replies quietly. "Honestly. Anke and Hermes saved me."

But I know that the lasers must have come from somewhere. They were fairly close together; that means they most likely came from a pair of eyes. And there's only one person I know who can fire lasers from their eyes.

As I head out into the bushes by the house, I feel someone join me. "Anke?"

"Hermes, do you remember any of our friends who could fire lasers out of her eyes?" I ask.

Hermes thinks for a moment. Then his eyes widen. "Not…not Kate?"

I nod sadly. "That's why I'm looking for-LOOK OUT!"

I pull Hermes to the ground automatically as two red laser beams fly over our heads. If we hadn't moved, they would have pierced our necks.

A moment later, an animal on all fours leaps over us and continues on running. "She's heading for our house!" Hermes gasps.

We scramble to our feet and follow the animal as fast as we can. We can't let her hurt anyone.

When we get back to our front yard, we see a snarling dog on two legs shooting laser beams from her eyes. I can honestly say that I would never have expected to see such a thing.

Hermes's POV

Almost everyone is out in the front yard now, though they're running for shelter. Anke quickly leaps in front of Sora and Jolyon, and projects a forcefield to protect them with one hand and projects another barrier around Quinn, Paige, and Kimi with the other hand. She won't be able to hold them for long.

I see that the dog is now aiming for Hazel and Parker, who are both each clutching one of the twins. Cody is clutching Parker's leg fearfully. Kate is about to attack my sibling and her family. While I am hesitant to use my powers on Kate, I can't let that happen.

I rush in front of my family and hold my arms out to the side, protecting Hazel and her family.

"Get out of the way!" Kate snaps.

"Kate, please, stand down!"

"You don't deserve the right to say my name!" snarls Kate. "Not after you chose to stay with these prejudiced bigots!"

"These "prejudiced bigots" are my family!" I yell back at Kate. "And no matter how much you hate the people who call us freaks, you can't just attack them like this!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Kate screeches.

"NEVER!"

Her eyes begin glowing red. At the same moment, I hear Cody start crying loudly.

I don't want to use my powers on Kate, but I know that I and my family will die if I don't. With a heavy heart, I swing my hand down as if bowling a cricket ball. Immediately after that, Kate goes flying into a tree. I use my telekinesis to help usher Hazel and her family inside. Anke runs up to me.

"Everyone's inside," she pants.

Blood is leaking out of her nose. "You have a nosebleed," I tell her.

"I used too much of my power," explains Anke. "But everyone's safe now."

Kate gets to her feet and shoots two laser beams at the tree behind Anke and me, toppling it. Anke and I fall to opposite sides to avoid the tree, which crashes loudly behind me. A sharp stick hits me in the mouth and draws blood. Still lying on my back, I desperately reach out with my powers and lift Kate into the air. Though I'm looking at her upside down, even I can see her eyes getting ready to power up. I roll onto my front, my arm still outstretched, and get ready to dodge. I time it perfectly; I leap out of the way just before the laser beams reach me. However, I hear a cracking sound behind me and make the mistake of turning. One of the lasers had hit the tree, and that in turn sent a sharp shard of bark flying into my shoulder, lodging it in there. I yell in pain and fall backwards, my telekinesis faltering. Kate drops to the ground and fires at me, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

Just before the beams hit, Anke drops down in front of me and projects a forcefield. With one arm out as if she's defending in boxing, she holds the forcefield just long enough for me to reach out with my power and push Kate back into the tree, where she finally gets knocked out.

…

Everyone is going their separate ways. Almost everyone is going back to OWCA HQ to spread the news of the attack, though my immediate family—that's Pearl, Dad, Mom, me, Teddy, Hazel, and Quinn—are staying here. Sam, Luke, and Kimi are taking Kate to the holding cell in Steele Bay, which is the highest security prison we have.

I'm sitting under a tree. My mouth hurts but it's nothing compared to my shoulder. Hazel has already pulled the shard out, and she is now working to clean up my wound. It's just a flesh wound, apparently, but it still really hurts.

My thoughts are still on Kate. I knew her back when we were in the facility. She was always passionate but I never saw this kind of evil in her. She didn't even like using her powers back then. Now, however, she'd used them unsparingly and for a bad purpose.

I let out a hiss as Hazel begins using an antiseptic wipe that really does not agree with my wound. "Sorry," I say.

"It's okay." Hazel's voice is full of sympathy. "You're entitled to it. You saved my life, and the lives of my mate and children."

"Why did it have to be Kate?" I sigh. "I-I really liked her. But now…she tried to kill my family."

"I know," said Hazel sympathetically. "But you can't help how she turned out. She left two years ago, and she probably got a lot of hate during that time."

"I hope the others don't turn out like this," I say, dangerously close to crying. "I hope if we see any of the others again, it'll be because they'll want to come back. I wanted some of them to come back, but not like this."

"I know," Hazel said again.

I pause, feeling the sting of the wipe on my shoulder. "Everyone's going to know about this tomorrow," I sniff. "Everyone's going to hate us even more."

Hazel doesn't argue with that. All she says is, "Really, don't worry about it. Just don't give anyone any more reasons to distrust you."

"Thanks," I sigh. "Thanks a lot."

Hazel shrugs. "That's honestly the best advice I can give. Don't get provoked, don't start fights, and just be nice to everyone. I'm sorry, but you're right. There's going to be even more fear and distrust in OWCA tomorrow, and there's nothing we can do about it. All you can do is stick with your family and keep using your powers only when necessary or in training."

Unfortunately, I have to use Hazel's advice quite often over the next couple of weeks.

…

*breaths out* wow, that was action-packed, wasn't it? And also quite sudden…so what's wrong with Kate? Why did she go evil?