Chapter 2
The next morning Kayla awoke to the sunlight streaming in through her window and into her eyes. She sat up at once in a panic. Oh My Gosh, she thought. Why didn't anyone wake me up for school? I am soooooooo late. I am gonna be in deep trouble. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs and into the kitchen only to be stopped short by what she saw.
Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee with a woman who looked remarkable like Mrs. Osborn. They were talking softly so Kayla couldn't hear what they were discussing, but it obviously needed to be interrupted. Kayla cleared her throat, loudly, and then said, "Mom, why didn't you wake me up for school?"
Her mother must have jumped a mile and the other lady took one look at Kayla and her eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Oh, good morning, Kayla," her mom began, slightly flustered. "There was something important that we needed to talk about today, so I called you in sick. And since you weren't going to school, I saw no reason to wake you up early."
"Does this have to do with what you and dad were shouting about last night?"
"You heard that?" Kayla's mom whispered incredulously.
Kayla looked at her mother as if she had grown an extra two heads. "Of course I heard that. You were arguing so loud that I am surprised you didn't get calls from the police to keep it down."
"For your information miss-smarty-pants, we were not arguing, we were having a heated discussion with a difference of opinions."
"Sure, mom. Try that on someone who isn't a teenager. I use that line practically everyday. Why don't you just admit to yourself that you guys were arguing?"
"Because we weren't-" Then Kayla's mother glanced at their guest who was smiling in open amusement and said, "oh, never mind. It isn't that important, Kayla. What is important is that we are going to have a little family chat. You, me, and…" again, she looked at the smiling guest "…my sister."
Kayla felt her jaw drop about a mile. "Y-y-y-you don't have a s-s-s-s-sister. Do you? And why have I never met her?"
Her mother and her aunt just exchanged glances and then started to laugh. "Is she always so much like me?" her aunt asked around her laughter.
"Always. Now do you see what you have landed me with?" her mother then turned to Kayla. "Yes I do have a sister. And the reason you have never met her is the same reason we need to have a talk. I think that Hope should start telling her part of the story. From the beginning," she added, glaring at her sister."
"But, mom-"
"No, that's just it. I am not really your mother and you need to know why," Joy snapped impatient with all of the questions. She quickly realized what she said and clamped her hand on her mouth and just shook her head.
Hope looked at her sister and took it as her cue to begin. "Kayla, what I am about to tell you is known to precious few people and is meant to be kept that way. I am telling you for your own safety, but you are NOT to tell ANYONE. Do you understand? NOT ANYONE!! This is highly secret and of the dangerous kind, not only to you but also to all of the people you love. You might not understand it all, but try to believe me when I swear that by all I hold dear, I am not making this up!
"It started when I was about your age. I was just graduating 8th grade and getting ready to go off to high school. And as if that wasn't enough, I started noticing that weird things kept happening when I was around. Once I remember gong to a baseball game with my family and I could tell if the batter was going to strike out before the ball was thrown. Once, I was talking to a friend and I knew what she was going to say before the words left her mouth. I could go on and on, but I think you understand.
"Then, one day, I got this strange letter in the mail. It was from Bridgeton High School and it looked harmless enough on the outside so I just assumed it was another private school trying to get me to go there so I opened it. It was strange. Inside the envelope, was a piece of paper. The weird thing was that it was blank. Nothing was written on it. I was going to throw it out when all of a sudden, the paper started to glow and my hands started to feel warm and slightly tingly. And then, as soon as it started, it stopped at once and words began to form on the paper:
"'Dear Miss Hope Forest,
It has been brought to our attention that you hold great capabilities and mind gifts. It would be our great pleasure if you would attend Bridgeton School of the Gifted and Talented next year. Please write your answer on the bottom of this piece of paper. If you are interested write yes and your address on this piece of paper and a representative from our school will arrive at your house promptly at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon at your house. Please feel free to discuss this with your family before replying.
Sincerely, Tori Rosenthal
Principle of Bridgeton School for the Gifted and Talented
"Well, I was a little startled at the strange letter, so I understood that 'gifted and talented' meant special powers, not geniuses. So I went and told my parents and they said it sounded cool, so I did what the letter asked. And sure enough, on 3:30 that Sunday afternoon, the doorbell rang and the representative showed up. Not just any representative, but Tori Rosenthal herself.
"She explained the kinds of things that I would be learning and gave me a course booklet and told me to register soon or I would be shut out of every class I wanted. I registered that very day. I can't remember exactly what classes I signed up for, and it is not very important. What is important is that whatever their names are, that isn't all of what you learn there. The course names were just cover-ups for what we were really learning. We needed to be able to tell our non-gifted friends what classes we were taking without them becoming suspicious.
"I don't remember too much from the beginning of my time at Bridgeton, except that I was very unhappy. Most of my junior high friends were at Firebrook and we didn't see each other much, and when we did get together, they always acted differently towards me than they had in the past. I lost many of my early good friends. And for some reason I had a little trouble making friends at first. I remember crying a lot during that time. It was as if I didn't fit in either with my old friends or with my new classmates
"But gradually, I began to get to know people in more than one of my classes and so by the end of the first year, I had so many friends I have lost touch with many of them over the years.
"My sophomore year I remember with particular clarity. You see, I met Charles then. He was a year older than me and was the best-looking guy in the school. It turned out that he was in both my "math" and "science" classes. I practically fell in love with him at first sight. But, I never thought that I was very good looking, so I didn't think I stood a chance with him, so I hid my feelings and pretended that I felt nothing towards him more than a good friendship. I think it was because of that that we became close. We became practically best friends and did nearly everything together. I confided in him more often than my friends of the previous year. And the same with him. However, I still thought that he never thought of me as more than a friend. I was wrong. On Valentine's Day he brought me six roses: two each in red, white, and pink. He asked me out then and of course I said yes.
"If possible, we grew closer. While we had our occasional fights, we always quickly got back together. And on our last date before he left for college, he gave me a ring. It wasn't an engagement ring; we both knew that we weren't ready for that kind of commitment, but rather it was a promise that he would always care about me. And, although, we stayed together when he graduated, we talked less. It was during this time that he changed: for the worse.
"I didn't see him again until I graduated. I hardly recognized him when I saw him, but I didn't use as much caution as I should have. After I graduated, he asked me to move into his apartment with him. My parents saw no problem with it, and frankly I didn't care. I would have moved in with him anyways.
"Soon after I moved in, we started…um…" Kayla could tell that Hope was having trouble saying this, especially with the deep red creeping into her cheeks, "uh…well…we started sleeping together. You must understand that we were young and carefree without a care in the world. At least, I thought we both were.
"My life was great. Until January. In January I found out two things that changed my life forever. I was beginning to feel sick all the time so I went to the doctor, who said I was pregnant. I decided that I would wait to tell Charles, because I didn't know how he would react. I also decided that I would name my child either Kayleen, or Drew. Kayleen because it comes from "kay" meaning rejoice, and drew comes from the word meaning trustworthy. Both are important characteristics for people to have.
"I never did get a chance to tell Charles that I was pregnant with his child. The night I found out, as we were lying in bed, he told me his plans for the future. He said that he planned on controlling the world, with me at his side. Charles said that there was nothing that could stand in his way, except for one person. He had always had a really strong gift for sensing the future, so I believed him. It was scary who he said would stop him though. He said a very young girl would stop him and her name would be Rejoice. When I heard this I became petrified, for that was what I planned on naming my baby. I couldn't have changed her name because that would have changed her destiny, and if she was meant to defeat her evil father, than changing her name could have dire consequences.
"Charles then said that this young girl would defeat him twice, because the first time she would be very young and not able to finish him off entirely. He then said that he was glad I was there, because he wouldn't have had the strength to do what was necessary if I wasn't there to back him up.
"After he said this, I knew what I had to do. I understood that the first time Kayleen beat her father was before she was born. By me leaving, I was defeating him because he wouldn't be able to do everything he needed to do very quickly. That night, while he was asleep, I left as quickly and as quietly as I could, and never once looked back. I kept myself shielded from his thoughts and teleported to my older sister Joy's home. I explained everything to her and I stayed there until my baby was born, and then left my daughter in her care. I knew that Charles was looking for me, and so I never stayed in one place for a long time. He never found me. And if he had known that I had had a daughter, he would have hunted her down and killed her.
"This might be hard to understand Kayla, but your real name is Kayleen Madison Forest. You are my daughter, and you are our last hope." Hope said this last bit very quickly.