One

'I...will...you...nothing!' I jerked awake, instantly freaked out from the ghastly images I had just seen. Blinking rapidly, I sat up in my own bed looking around, running a hand through my hair. Cautiously, dad opened my door. I stared into his face that was shrouded in darkness.

'Hey kiddo, are you okay?'

'Sure.' I muttered, looking away. No way was I going to tell him that I'd been dreaming of Caleb Danvers ascending. I wasn't even supposed to know what they were. Heck, I wasn't supposed to know anything. But I did. I knew I was adopted. I knew my records were sealed. I knew Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler my adopted brother and our families were in danger. The second I'd dreamt Pogue being attacked by a man with black eyes, I'd packed an overnight bag and left my god-awful boarding school.

My parents who were terrified I'd find out the family secret, had sent me two hours away to a boarding school called Ryder's Academy for Girls that would help me get into Harvard. I had no intention of going to college but I didn't want to tell them that.

Looking at my alarm clock, I saw the time and bit my lip. It was twenty past twelve. Why had I even bothered to go to sleep for? It was Caleb's birthday but I'd spent most of the week sculling coffee so I wouldn't dream of The Sons of Ipswich. Yet tonight, I must have conked out on the couch because I had no idea how I had gotten into bed. I wondered how Caleb was doing. If I was still asleep, I'd probably know everything by now.

'Do you want to talk?' Dad asked as he walked into the room quietly. My dad, Glenn Simms was in his mid-forties, but looked a little older due to his power usage that he kept under a tight control. He had thick coffee coloured curly hair that he kept short just like my brother and for whatever reason he had taken to dyeing his roots, not that you could tell, much. My older brother Tyler was the spitting image of him. Both of them were quiet, intelligent and too god damn protective over me. My mother Rosalind was a happy go lucky woman who stayed away from her son and husband's weirdness.

Well, unfortunately, mom was going to have to deal with my weirdness if the truth ever came out. Which it wouldn't, because no one knew about it except for me.

Dad was still staring at me, his concern growing. I knew, not because I could see it, I could feel it.

Sucking in a steady breath, I exhaled slowly. 'I'm fine dad,' reciting the lie I always used. I knew he didn't believe me but he didn't press me because I started to pull my sweater over my head. Shutting my door leaving me in darkness, I scrambled out of the rest of my clothes. Once I was more comfortable, I fell back and tried to shut my mind off.

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Morning came too quickly. I woke up with a start. The heavy dread that had hung around me this entire week had disappeared but I was still worried. Both Kate and Pogue had been attacked by some creep and were in hospital. Flicking the covers off, I changed into clothes and walked to the mirror. I was surprised the dark circles under my eyes had vanished. I was beginning to think they had been permanently tattooed onto my face.

'Sweetie are you awake?' Mom called. I turned to see her opening my door. She must have been dyeing her hair honey blonde because I couldn't see one single strand of grey. As usual mom's hair was perfectly styled in soft waves. Walking into my room with a tray, I knew I wasn't going to get out of eating. She'd watch me until I finished if I told her I wasn't hungry. I was glad when it was a bacon and cheese toasted sandwich and a glass of strawberry flavored milk and not a pile of pancakes. I sat down on my bed and ran a hand through my faded purple hair. The teachers were constantly hounding me for dyeing my hair but nothing they said made a difference. I wasn't like them and their opinion didn't matter.

'Can we visit Pogue today?' I wasn't really asking. I'd go with or without permission. I needed to know he was okay. I took the tray off of mom and began to eat. The warm buttery taste made me sigh in contentment. I had missed my mom's cooking. The school put out decent food but I hadn't coped with the six weeks of separation. Maybe I would have felt better had my brothers' or family messaged me but as soon as I was gone, I had ceased to exist. Hell, I'd only been gone a little over a month and texting me wouldn't have killed them.

Now I was back, they were going to regret abandoning me. If they sent me away again, I was going to run so far they'd never find me.

Mom nodded breaking into my thoughts. 'Of course, you can, Jadey but don't you want to spend some time with your friends?' Seriously? She actually thought I had friends waiting for me here? Yeah right. People were only nice to me because they wanted to hang out with my brothers'.

'What friends? I don't have any.' I couldn't keep the bite out of my tone if I tried but I felt salty. I'd been stuck at Ryder's Academy and it freaking sucked. I'd rather have gone to Spencer with my brothers' which was saying something of how desperate I was but no, they'd sent me away to protect me from a stupid secret I already knew about.

'Jadey, that school is great.' Mom said in a consoling voice.

'If you like it there so much, why don't you go?' I snapped losing my appetite. I got to my feet.

'Jade, we sent you there to give you your best chance.'

'Right. Because abandoning me there for over a month and cutting off contact was you giving me my best chance.' I sarcastically spat in her face as I stalked to the bathroom slamming the door right in her astonished face.

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Pogue was somehow brighter than he had been yesterday. He was awake for one thing. I would have believed the gem had worked but I knew it was because the bad guy had disappeared. I knew no one was thinking too hard about where he was. Well, I was. If that bad guy really had been burnt in the Putnam barn, there would be a body, but I wasn't supposed to know any of this. I had to pretend that my big brother who had been riding motorcycles since he was a kid, had lost control in the rain on roads he knew like the back of his hand. Yeah.

Reid swaggered in, tossing his blonde fringe out of his eyes as his blue eyes scanned me. I turned away glaring at the wall. Stupid guy. He was Tyler's best friend and a royal pain in my ass. Pogue poked me sharply and I resisted the urge to poke him back. He kept asking for Kate even though he knew she was a few floors down, the high from the morphine was making me a little foggy too. When Tyler appeared, the room began to close in. Sucking in a breath, I started to get off the bed where I had perched myself.

'Here.' Pogue muttered thrusting the warm gem into my hands.

'How did you know it was mine?' I asked surprised.

'Kid, you're the only one that messes with those rocks.'

'Gems have healing properties and look you're already looking better. Although now you have a reason to fix your nose, or would you like me to fix it for you?' I sniggered raising my closed fist.

'What happened to my nose?' He asked in shock. Leaving the boys to console my big brother, I dashed from the room and headed off to see Kate. When I got to her room, I was annoyed when I saw the blonde girl from my dreams. It wasn't hard to figure out why I didn't like her. This girl had been in Caleb's life for like a week and not only knew about the family secret, she accepted him a little too fast. No one did that.

Kate was sitting up and she smiled at me as I crawled onto her bed and curled up next to her. Kate hugged me hard and I leaned into her.

'Who are you?' Sarah asked bluntly. Wow, talk about a lack of manners.

'I'm Jade. Who the fuck are you?' She looked taken aback, her light blue eyes widening at my rudeness.

'Jadey, this is Sarah, she's with Caleb.' Kate said poking me.

I let out a bark of disbelief. 'Right. My brother doesn't date.' Wow I was playing the bratty sister too well. I deserved a medal or something but I'd settle for a chocolate-chip cookie though.

'Sister? Caleb doesn't have any siblings.'

'She's Tyler's sister.' Kate informed her, tugging on my ends tittering. I knew a trip to a hair salon was in my future.

'Yeah but...Caleb told me about their families. He told me they only have one kid.'

'I'm freaking adopted. Hello!' I exclaimed. Wow, she really was a blonde. It wasn't that hard to figure out Ty and I looked nothing alike.

'What?' Kate asked with a frown. Crap, I had forgotten she didn't know about that, or maybe she did and was pretending not to know. I didn't trust that Sarah could keep a secret but if she wanted to make it to Harvard she was going to.

I turned back to Kate. 'I don't look like my mum or dad at all. Mum and dad are tall and I'm barely five-foot-two.' I replied, looked at Kate who stared at me for a long moment. 'If I was their kid, I'd have either blonde or brown hair. It's chocolate-auburn, not to mention, I checked the photos of our relatives. No one had hair like mine or my grey eyes, or my cheek bones, and did Tyler need braces? No. I'm telling you I'm not blood related to these people at all.'

'Does anyone know you suspect?' Kate whispered hugging me harder.

'I already broke into the admissions office last week and saw that my records were sealed by the courts.' I confirmed. That hadn't been hard. I hid in the bathroom after class until the staff had left. Luckily all the files were in a dodgy cabinet that could be easily open if you knew how to pry it open, which I did because I'd had to serve a detention in the reception last Wednesday, and had realized that the cabinet opened if you jiggled it to the left. That had been my first and hopefully my last break in. Yet, I smirked at the memory.

'I'm sorry you found out that way.' Kate whispered softly.

'Don't be. Just don't tell anyone, okay?' I was going to find out who my birth parents were and I knew Kate wouldn't stop me but the others might try. I was already pissed of with them and didn't need to add another reason.

'Why don't you ask your parents?' Sarah asked folding her arms.

'That'll go down well. Hi mom and dad, am I adopted? How did you manage to get into Spencer?' I asked savagely.

'Jade, stop it. You're too old to be bratty.' Kate chided.

'I'm allowed to be bratty. Once again, this family is pushing me out and I don't like it. Caleb is my brother and she didn't even know I existed until now. Maybe I should have been adopted into a family that wouldn't throw me away when they're bored of me.' I snapped getting up.

'Jade, you know it's not like that.' Kate urged as I approached the door. 'Please don't be mad. I bet there's an explanation. Stay and talk this out with me.'

'What's there to talk about? They don't give a crap about me anymore.' Turning, I fled.

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The rain was pelting down on the windows, mirroring my emotions as I sat on the wall length cushioned seat in my treehouse. Dad had made my refuge for me when I had taken to climbing the tree years ago. Over the years, he'd changed a lot of things. The main floor was on a deck half a meter off the ground and a wooden porch hugged the whole treehouse. The porch was furnished with deck chairs and it was lovely to sit out there reading or drinking iced tea on summer days. Inside, there was a spacious living room with a kitchenette. Next to the kitchenette was a wooden spiral staircase that led to the next level which was my bedroom that faced east. The floors and walls were different shades of light brown, and it smelled very woodsy. Bookcases lined the walls of the rooms. I had a long purple couch and two purple arm chairs to sit in, I also had a wide screened television, but hardly used it. Here, in my little paradise, it was easy to imagine that I was in a different realm like Lord Of The Rings. I'd been staying here for the past two nights. Mostly because mom and dad's lovey-dovey attitude had been endlessly bugging me. I was thinking about making a snack of pizza pinwheels when a tap on my door scared the hell out of me. Usually no one could sneak up on me anymore because of my ability, so I was a little unnerved when I saw Caleb standing on my door stoop. Usually, he just walked right in making himself at home. Today he didn't, and I had the feeling something was about to go down. I opened the door and stepped aside. The tall, lanky six-foot-two guy walked right in and took off his brown jacket, hung it on the coatrack and sat down on my purple couch. I could tell without a word that he was feeling confused, torn, and hurt. Why he was feeling those emotions was beyond me.

Placing one foot on his knee, he folded his arms. Usually when Caleb sat down, he'd lean back. Today, he was sitting straight but tense and he kept looking at the door.

'Okay, is this the part where you yell at me for running away from school but let me remind you that you're not my dad, and you can't tell me what to do.'

'Jade running away was a stupid move and you know it. Anything could have happened to you. Did you bother to think how we would feel if something had happened to you?' Oh, so he was playing the guilt trip card? Wrong play Cay, I thought savagely.

'My brother and Kate were hospitalized in a single night. What did you all expect me to do? Oh wait, you didn't think about me at all. Tim was the one who called me because his aunt is a nurse.' I snapped going to the fridge. I grabbed two cans of soda and tossed one at him. I watched him open it, half hoping it would fizz up on him. No such luck. He took his sweet time taking a long drink before putting the can on the coffee table.

'Jade, the world doesn't revolve around you.'

'Oh, so you think I'm being conceited because I give a shit? Okay, well fine. I'll stop. Get the fuck out of my house.'

'Jade.'

'Caleb.' I mimicked his voice and he narrowed his eyes at me. Years ago, I couldn't outstare him but I was royally pissed off. As my eyes hardened, he flinched and looked away. He was aggravated and gritted his teeth. I knew he was thinking of what to say next. He hated conflict. 'Spit it out.' I growled walking closer to him, and perched myself on the arm of the couch, glaring down at him.

'What?'

'You're trying to figure out what to say next.' I muttered as I opened my can and took a sip. The soothing cold bubbles ran down my throat but it did nothing to calm the raging fire burning inside of me.

Caleb's dark eyes searched my face. 'You think we abandoned you.'

'Damn fucking straight.' I snarled at him. That is exactly what had happened.

'Language.' He growled. Snorting, I walked to the armchair and perched on it.

'Do you have any idea how I feel? I was tossed away like garbage. Did I hear from mom and dad? No. Only Tim called and texted me every day, which is weird because the bloody jock is a functional mute!'

'I love you.' Caleb blurted taking me completely by surprise. I sat there in shock for a long moment. I knew he and the other two guys loved me as much as Tyler did, that's why I called them my family but Caleb had never said those words to me. Something broke inside me, the rage shifted to sadness and suddenly I was a bawling sobbing mess. Gathering me to his chest, I clung to him like a scared kid, our fight forgotten for the moment.

'I love you too.' I whispered hiding my face into his shoulder.