Chapter 21

That night, I slept like a baby. My mum insisted on sleeping in bed with my sister and me. Even though they had such tiny bodies, we were cramped but I wouldn't have had it any other way. My family of six had crammed ourselves into one room. We had tasted the feeling of losing one another and we clung to being together again. Dad was falling asleep in a lounge chair, guarding the door when I'd fallen asleep. I had seen him slide a gun in between his leg and the fabric for safety, just as I had done with one under the bed and so did my brothers. Maggie had her switch blade in the pillow case also. She whispered to me that she had slept with it every night since I had been gone. We all had a feeling that there may be a retaliation that was shadowing in the back of our minds.

When I'd woken up the next morning, I was honestly surprised that my family rescuing me yesterday hadn't just been a dream. I almost expected to wake up in my cell again. As I sat up, I noticed my dad was no longer sitting in the lounge chair. That didn't worry me though, he was almost always awake before dawn. Without looking around, I knew I was the second person awake. I'm glad that somethings hadn't changed since I'd been away. Carefully taking my sister's arm off of my stomach, I noticed a shadow outside the front window of the motel room. I opened the front door silently, not wanting to wake the rest of my family. My dad barely turned, keeping his eyes on the busy road speeding past the motel.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" I asked, standing beside him. He shrugged, giving me no real answer. I knew this meant he'd been up for hours already today.

"Are we going to Grandpa's for a few days before we move?"

"Longer than a few days. Your mum and I haven't had a chance to look for some place to buy since you got picked up."

"Why don't we just go to New York for a while? Stay with the Pack until we regroup."

"I've been thinking about that. I called Elena this morning to let her know that we had found you and what happened at the compound. She suggested you should come down for a bit of time, until we find a more permanent place."

"Meaning I'm going to Syracuse." Elena, being the Alpha of the Pack didn't suggest things. She instructed them in a way that wasn't overly authoritative.

My dad smiled, "exactly."

We stayed silent until the sun had completely risen. I pulled the cheap sweater that someone had picked out for me tighter against my body.

"What's going to be done with the others? Lexa and her friends?" I asked, assuming my dad had a plan already formed in his head.

"We may see if they'll want to go to Badger Lake. The Nasts' would be willing to take them. We'll do the best we can to send them home to their families though," dad explained. There was a worry in his mind that we wouldn't be able to find their parents or if we did, they would send them back to Edison Rejuvenation. I knew it was in his mind because it was a thought I had last night. If I concentrated or allowed his thoughts to flow into my mind, I knew I would be able to confirm if that's what was causing the slight crease above his eyebrows. I often forgot that I was able to read people's thoughts. Though I was raised by werewolves and with magic, and even with an uncle who was telepathic, it was too out there for me.

"You and mum are going to sit down with me later and explain all the things you didn't, right?"

Dad sighed, "yes we will once we get to my father's. Cameron, maybe we should have told you-"

"Yes, you should have. There is no maybe," I began walking back to our room, "We should start waking everybody up so we can leave. We shouldn't stay here much longer."

Five hours later, our vans had pulled in the driveway of my grandfather's period home and we were collectively unloading all of the weapons that had been brought to the "Great Rescue" as Andy had started calling it. I'm pretty sure he was still a little delusional from whatever drugs Edison Rejuvenation had given him. My aunts Tori and Jane escorted our newer friends inside and took them to the living room. Lexa squeezed my hand as she passed and I gave her a smile.

"Hey," I turned to Dean who had walked up beside me at the back of the van, "how are you feeling?"

I shrugged, "tense if I'm to be honest. I know we destroyed that entire facility but I feel like someone is coming for us. That being back here with my family, is dangerous."

"I get it. I'm expecting Ford to appear out of nowhere and tell me this was some test and that we failed," my body tensed thinking about Ford's last moments and how they had played out. Dean placed his hand on my shoulder and my gaze met him. What was looking back at me was vulnerability, trust and a bit of fear. I knew it wasn't fear of me, it was fear for me. I could feel myself beginning to let the emotions of not only Ford's death but all of the others' I had caused, as well the ones I hadn't, start running through my head. Dean read my face with ease, and wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders. My arms slid around his waist and I let the tears control themselves. I always felt guilt after killing someone but this sensation was overwhelming.

"It's okay. They deserved what happened to them, we needed to do it or they would have done it to someone else. Something that could have been much worse," Dean whispered in my ear. It was what I needed to hear, a reminder that there was a purpose to the events that occurred yesterday and how I got through it with no emotions.

"Dean, take Cameron to one of the rooms and make sure she gets some rest" I heard my dad's voice and I felt Dean nod on the side of my head. Leaving one arm around my shoulder, Dean escorted me into the large house. I caught a glance of Lexa watching Dean lead me, eyes red with tears still falling, up the stairs. Dean took me to one of the spare rooms that over-looked the cabins and woods that sat on the property. This room was often used by my sister but I had slept in here a few times over the years.

I slid my shoes off my feet, starting to feel my body crave the comforting mattress. As I walked towards the bed I took the crappy sweater off, leaving me in just a sports bra. When my mum had given it to me to wear, she told me that no one could remember what my bra size when I gave her a 'what the hell' look. I didn't care that Dean was in the room with me. He had seen me in a whole lot less, looking a whole lot worse. I sat on the edge of the bed and bent over, leaning my elbows on my knees. Dean sat beside me, resting his back against the head board. There was silence for a moment as I controlled my emotions.

"I'm going to Stonehaven for a while. Let everyone else fix what's happening around here, clean up the mess we left. Elena suggested it but dad agrees. I do too," I said, not expecting a response. I saw Dean nod his head when I looked at him. He looked tired. Seeing him looking like this, so vulnerable made me realize how unable to protect himself he was right now if we were to be attacked. I wondered if I looked the same.

"That makes sense. Elena will want to keep an eye on you and make sure nothing else happens to you. You're a rare gem being a female werewolf," I rolled my eyes at this comment, "you won't be there long. Your family already misses you too much."

I didn't say anything else. At this moment, I did want to be at Stonehaven, the home of the Pack in New York for a while. I wanted to hide from all of the threats that were around me. I may have sounded like a child or weak saying that, but I was tired. I felt as if I had been running on adrenaline for the past month and my body was crashing both physically and mentally. I needed a long and safe break. I didn't need to let Dean know how I felt though. I moved, sliding up the bed and laying my head on Dean's legs.

"Hold on," I sat up, expecting Dean to want to talk about his feelings or something I wasn't ready for. I was surprised when he only shuffled down and rested his head on a pillow, "okay go ahead."

oOo

I stood in the library of my grandfather's home, wearing a floor length dress that used to be my aunt Tori's, flicking through one of the grimoires that Grandpa had collected over the years. I truly looked like a proper witch. The house was silent due to everyone being outside, practicing their powers or packing up the vans. We'd been here for just over a week and almost every waking hour was spent making plans. Where we were moving to, who was going where, who could give us information about Edison Rejuvenation. Dad had wanted to send me off to Stonehaven the day after we arrived at Grandpa's. I wasn't letting that happen.

Three days ago, my parents finally had gotten the courage to sit me down and tell me about my first year of life. The three of us were in Grandpa's office with the door locked so no one could disturb us. My dad sat behind the desk, reclining in the wheelie-chair and I sat on the window bench, cross legged. Mum looked between the two of us, then lowered herself into a chair that sat on the other side of the desk. At first, the three of us were quiet. I knew my father wanted me to ask questions so he could answer, making this more of an interview then a confession. I wanted to be stubborn though but he had over twenty years on me of practice in silence.

"How did I end up with them?" I asked. I saw mum let out a sigh. She hated the silence too, knowing that my father and I could have let it go on for much longer. Dad shifted, "we were still at the hospital. It was two days after you and Dylan were born. Your mum was sleeping and I was on the phone with her father, telling him that Chloe had given birth to twins. Everyone except for Simon and Jane had gone home. It was maybe five thirty in the morning. Simon came running into your mother's room and told me that you were missing.

'After making sure he hadn't just forgotten which baby you were, then breaking half the room, and trying not to injure any of the doctors, we got ahold of the security footage. There was a man leaving the hospital with a duffel bag which you were in. We had no clue who he was or why he'd taken you. We never got a ransom note either. We called everyone that we could think of, called the Cabals, even reported you missing to the human police. Jeremy, the last Alpha of the Pack," I knew who Jeremy was but I didn't interrupt, "offered to let us move to Stonehaven while we tried to find you but neither Chloe or I could leave. It felt too far and too much of a risk."

I glanced at my mum, where I noticed a tear falling down her cheek. Dad noticed as well and jumped ahead in the details.

"Anyways, on your first birthday, we got a call from Jeremy saying that he'd received a call from someone who said that you could be found at the hospital where you were born. And you were there, looking healthy. The same man was on security footage dropping a similar duffel bag off at the maternity ward. Even now, we still could never find out who he was but we can assume he was a member of Edison Rejuvenation or the St Cloud Cabal who runs the experiment."

I took in everything that my dad had just told me. I don't know what I expected him to tell me. I just nodded my head, not having an answer but another question.

"When did you figure out that I had powers that I shouldn't?"

Mum let out a laugh, "I realized that something was different when Dylan took your stuffed animal so you had a temper tantrum and I watched you light his blanket on fire with your right hand."

I laughed at the image my mind picked up from hers.

"Once when you were five, you got ahold of one of the starter spell books that Tori had found. You were just starting to read and you ended up making Spencer levitate in the air for about fifteen minutes. Scared the shit out him," dad told me.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by someone clearing their throat behind me. I turned to see Lexa standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. I smiled at her, putting the grimoire back on the shelf.

"What's up?"

"We're leaving now. Your aunt is driving me, Jenny and Roan to the airport. I just wanted to say goodbye."

I walked up to her, where we exchanged a tight hug.

After my talk with my parents the other day, I had spent the next few hours in Dean's room at the cabin we were sharing with Hayley, Andy and Dylan going over everything I had just learned. He let me rant about it and helped me process it all. Leaving his room, I ran into Lexa who wanted to talk. She sat me down, and basically said thanks for giving her a distraction while we were kidnapped.

"There's a lot of unresolved feelings between you and Dean and it's not something easily hidden. I think both of us needed someone new to distract us from our own situations and problems while we were there," she had said. I agreed with her without even realizing it. I adored Lexa and was extremely attracted to her but there was Dean and that's all I needed to know I couldn't be with her.

Hayley had overheard the conversation, sitting beside me on the couch.

"Well, now we can have conversations about how hot girls are, you attractive girl" Hayley put her head on my shoulder.

So now, Lexa and the others were being shipped off to their families and Badger Lake. Daunte and Tessa had both left last night, both meeting their parents in Alberta, heading to Badger Lake for safety with the Nast Cabal. Lexa, Roan and Jenny on the other hand were each flying out to different parts of Canada to be reunited with their families. Each had spoken to their families on the phone within the last few days and even Skyped with them. They were excited but worried. We didn't know if someone was going to come after us one day. I understood now why Dad had always been so insistent about his kids being able to protect themselves.

I followed Lexa outside and gave Jenny and Roan both hugs. We had already given them our new cell phone numbers, hoping they would stay in touch once we were back to our lives. I watched the trio get into the van with Aunt Tori and Uncle Richard in the front seats. Standing with Dean, Andy and Hayley, we watched the car disappear down the road. I draped my arms over Hayley's shoulder and smiled at my best friend. She laughed and wrapped her arms around my waist, putting her head on my shoulder. We were all going to be able to start living our lives again. I could say normally, but I would be lying. We were never normal and who wanted to be?