05-. Secrets

That night, Lincoln had difficulty falling asleep. It was true what everyone always told him: he worried to much. Perhaps he was too young to have an ulcer, but the truth was that he already felt a certain stinging in his stomach at the thought of the overwhelming weight of a responsibility that should be alien to him, and yet he insisted on carrying on his back. He was really suffering from being so perceptive.

Lori had once told him that he had always been like that, even showed him a picture from when he was only six years old: since then his look had a slight touch of anxiety in it. His dark blue eyes were always restless, looking around for something to help. His permanently worried expression amused Luan and his dad, but neither of them had noticed that the look had intensified over time.

During the last year, Lincoln felt the full weight of the accident. It took him a long time to convince himself that he was not to blame for anything that had happened. However, it was not too difficult to feel anger at the situation. Lynn's mood swings, the echoing footsteps that woke him up in the middle of the night every time his parents came home from work, the strange bottles piling up in the older sisters' room... all of these things soon pushed him over the edge. In the end, Lincoln ended up an insomniac at the age of fourteen.

Some nights he would kill time with his phone and the Wi-Fi of his neighbor, Mr. Grouse. Other nights, he would open the window and smoke, trying not to let the smoke enter the room and disturb Lily; all the while contemplating whatever the night had to offer… just like he was doing now.

He, who kinda represented the hope in the house, always looked forward to every night. At that magical time of the day, he would reveal to the night sounds his goals and dreams that he was giving up for the welfare of his family, those weren't serious thoughts and much less a secret, those were only private and selfish thoughts that he preferred to hide from the girls.

Of course, now things were different. Until a few hours ago the world was devoid of monsters and heroes, but now Lincoln could really help not only his family but the whole world, he could get rid of the teasing at school, no more 'Scar face' no more 'Kimba's uncle.'

Needless to say, Lincoln didn't like school, he always had to be on guard against potential trouble, always looking for the right words to trick the teachers or to distract the bullies. Of course, the problem with the latter was getting worse by the day as he never responded to the toughs' provocations because of a promise Lori had forced him to make on his last birthday: "not to get into trouble".

Lincoln felt good when he was with his sisters, the strange combination of noise and silence allowed him to think and feel at ease. Lori, on the other hand, was too perfect, observant, and manipulative; her demands, though well-intentioned, were ridiculous and impossible to meet.

In those moments of privacy and meditation that he only got at nightfall, Lincoln thought about the future. It was certain that they would never again be like the family they had been in the past. It was clear that was not possible. But there was still a nagging question: How much worse could things get?

And the answer, inevitably logical, was: they can get much worse.

He hoped that at least now, thanks to the champion's powers, he could take somewhat the reins of the family and at least ensure a good future for his little sisters and a more bearable workday for his older sisters and parents.

The third cigarette of the night burned down to the stub, Lincoln flicked the ashes off his clothes. Dawn was still no closer to coming but Lincoln already felt tired. He liked the feeling, he felt lulled and didn't need to strain to fall asleep.

He was already taking off his clothes to finally go to bed when out of the corner of his eye he saw something, at first he mistook it for a pole... a much smaller pole than the others and one that wasn't there before. Curious, he peered out the window one last time and saw a young woman with her back to the house, barefoot, and immobile on the sidewalk. The woman was wearing a light aquamarine-green dress that was far too dowdy for such a cold night.

Her whole body had a milky pallor, her white skin reflecting the glow of the moon. It was evident that she had had an enviable figure for any woman, but her poor posture made it quite difficult to define her size accurately.

The deep golden hair waved slightly in the frosty air, but the woman didn't seem to feel the cold temperatures. She was completely calm, so Lincoln's thought about her being the victim of a rape was ruled out, although she could also be a drug addict who was lost on the way home.

The pale woman remained static for several minutes in front of the house, her back always to Lincoln, the boy thought about calling the police, but that would alert his sisters and parents, and he wanted to hide from them that he had insomnia, he would not worry them with a meaningless problem.

At last, the girl moved, her arms were relaxed at her sides and by her drooping, still chest, Lincoln discovered she was not breathing.

Following the movement of the wind she turned around, and for a brief moment their gazes collided. Lincoln stifled a scream and turned away from the window, startled by the apparition.

He knew that beautiful face. But was it possible?

He couldn't be afraid, not anymore, just that afternoon he had obtained powers that made a fool of all the fictional stories he loved to read so much. Shivering, Lincoln went back to the window, now Franklin Avenue was empty; his older sister had disappeared.

The blonde's absence frightened him instead of reassuring him, Leni really had been in front of the house. Now the corpse-ghost-or-somethinglikethat could be anywhere. She could be entering the house at that very moment, Leni knew the kitchen window was unlocked after all. She would slowly walk up the stairs with that smooth, rhythmic pace she was known for, barely making a sound, and then… SNAP!

Lincoln needed to get ahead of that thing and confront it before that apparition reached the second floor and attacked one of his sisters. Yes! Lincoln would cross the hallway with the old baseball bat Lynn had given him on his last birthday and then...! and then what? He dreaded hearing his precious sister's voice, facing that dead carcass with the shape of Leni.

Maybe he only thought he saw her because of lack of sleep, he was used to staying awake but maybe he was finally overdoing it with the sleep deprivation; what if his sister standing on the sidewalk was a hallucination of his tired mind and he went out into the hallway to confront an imaginary monster? That would surely alert everyone at home of his insomnia problem…

No! Lincoln was absolutely sure that he had seen Leni standing in front of the house.

His mind quickly put together a plan; he took the old crooked baseball bat from inside the closet, sat on Leni's old bed being very careful not to squash his little sister feet, and waited staring at the door, if he didn't hear anything in the next few minutes he would go to bed and get some sleep… and stop watching horror movies late at night with Lucy, just to be on the safe side.

-o-

Lincoln woke up when the bat slipped from his hand, sleepily he checked his wristwatch: it was 6:20 am, his parents had just left to start their workday and he would have to start his in another ten minutes, taking advantage of the fact that he had beaten the alarm clock he decided to stand up at once.

He was already dressed and had bathed before going to sleep, so he only had to prepare breakfast for his sisters and Lisa's friend, they would have to settle for a couple of eggs per person and maybe some toast.

The strange dream of Leni lurking in the front yard came back to his mind as he settled the bat in place. Had he really seen her? That was impossible...as was getting incredible abilities from an old man with the power to rejuvenate.

Making sure his footsteps didn't make any noise, Lincoln left the room and advanced down the hallway. He was already halfway down the stairs when the ghostly image he was determined to forget reappeared in front of his field of vision; his older sister was sitting on the living room couch, staring at the turned-off television. With a sweaty brow, Lincoln tried to return to the second floor. He wouldn't risk turning his back on that Leni-looking thing, carefully he tried to walk backward but as soon as he started backing up the step below him creaked, immediately alerting the pale being on the couch.

The thing turned so that she could look up the stairs. Until that moment Lincoln had not seen it directly, from the window of his bedroom he had only caught a glimpse of its back and for a very brief moment part of its face, but this time there was no air moving its long hair and now they were closer to each other. Lincoln could clearly see the expressionless face of the Leni-thing, the left eyebrow was pierced by a huge open wound that was not bleeding.

Her completely gray and dry eyes were framed by a pair of dark circles under her eyes so pronounced that they looked like black stains. Worst of all was the expression on her face, the always sweet and relaxed face that characterized Leni had hardened until it looked like a porcelain mask carved with a frown of constant apathy.

Those dead eyes began to fill with frantic anxiety, they were focused on him, looking at him undoubtedly.

Without daring to blink, Lincoln and the Leni-thing were trapped in that uncomfortable situation for what seemed like an eternity, until suddenly the sisters' alarms began to sound in every room, the house would be filled with movement in a few moments. Lincoln heard a flap-flap-flap-flap in the hallway, the sound of slippers on the carpet was growing louder, someone was approaching.

Choking on his own fear, Lincoln forced himself to act, he needed to take charge of protecting his family so closing both eyes tightly he leaped from the step he was on to the couch, mid-air he stretched out both arms and prepared to shout his word of power as soon as he had that thing resembling his beautiful Leni in his hands.

"SHAZA...!" The boy's face hit the coffee table hard, he had pierced the creature instead of tackling it.

However, the adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, so as soon as he fell he turned around as fast as he could so as not to turn his back on the specter. A trickle of blood ran from his nose to his chin, he was already gathering his breath to exclaim his spell when the unthinkable happened.

"Lincoln, are you all right?" Despite being very different from the Leni he knew, the voice was identical, maybe just a little more serious.

«Does that thing really care about my well-being?» Lincoln thought «Well, maybe the creature that looked like my sister wasn't necessarily evil, but why did it look just like my sister in a coma?»

"Yea… kind of fine…"

"Oh my gosh... can you hear me? YOU CAN SEE ME AND HEAR ME TOO!" A flash of happiness flashed across Leni's dry, empty face. Suddenly, as if she had known all along who the sister was who had come downstairs, the thing-Leni turned around to face the stairs again "LUCY, HE CAN SEE ME!"

The goth was watching the scene with her mouth open, so great had been the surprise that the girl had forgotten to hide her emotions, Lincoln was as surprised as his sister as he again saw an aura similar to a gray smoke coming out of his younger sister's body.

The black-haired girl, feeling discovered, sniffed her snot, breathing in the magical aura that covered her. With a finger on her lips, Lucy told her older brother to keep quiet.

"What was that noise?!" Luna's hoarse voice came from above and Lincoln was about to answer when the goth shut his mouth with one of her hands. Although Lincoln couldn't see Lucy's eyes, he guessed what she meant to imply with her gaze.

"I'm sorry girl, I bumped into Cliff on my way down the stairs," Lucy gave her a pink handkerchief with 'I luv the Princess Pony' embroidery at one end to wipe the blood off his face. "Don't worry, sis, nothing happened to me."

Both siblings were silent until they heard the noise in the rooms return to their normal routine.

Sensing that the worst was over, Lucy weakly tugged on one sleeve of Lincoln's pajamas and without saying a word, led the white-haired boy to the basement, leaving Leni alone in the living room. With great care not to make any noise, the black-haired girl opened the door and both siblings entered without bothering to turn on the light. In the pitch blackness, Lincoln could feel his sister's breathing quicken, a slender hand gripped his arm tightly.

Then the sound of a finger-snapping reached the white-haired boy's ears and a faint floating light instantly formed above his head. As the light returned to the boy's eyes, Lincoln noticed two things; the first and one that instantly caught his attention was that his little sister seemed to be furious, and the second was that even though they had left the thing-Leni in the living room she was there with them, watching them impassively with an attentive gaze.

Making a great effort, Lucy managed to master her emotions and recovered to a greater extent her stoic expression, very similar to that of the Leni spectrum. The gothic girl took a breath and spoke using her cold and monotonous tone.

"Listen, brother, I know you have almost as many questions as I do at the moment, so I propose that we talk about this later, calmly and in a more private place. Do you agree?"

His older brother had no choice but to nod.

After an uncomfortable breakfast, where Lucy insisted on ignoring her brother completely and he, in turn, tried not to notice much the presence of his sister Leni who prowled around the dining room and kitchen ignoring her other sisters who couldn't see her.

The twins went upstairs to their room; Izzy would have babies soon and Lana had asked Lola to help her prepare a new terrarium to receive the future family. Darcy and Lily had a MonsPocket fight pending and as soon as they finished eating they ran upstairs, dragging Lisa with them; to finish with the game. Only the older sisters and Lucy were left sitting at the table, all drinking a cup of coffee, Lincoln had a glass of juice in his hand.

"So... May I ask what's wrong with you two?" Lucy lifted her face from her mug to meet Luan's serious gaze. Like Luna and Lynn, the comedian seemed to be very concerned about the attitude the goth had with Lincoln.

The middle siblings talked quite often. At least once a day Lucy or Lynn would seek out Lincoln to tell him about their day or to ask him about his, the three of them were very close and spent a lot of quality time together, so seeing two of them avoid each other was very rare.

"Nothing's wrong," Lucy replied in her usual sepulchral tone, "only Lincoln crushed me when he fell down the stairs and he hasn't even apologized to me."

Lincoln didn't fight back, he hadn't heard Luan's question or Lucy's answer because he was distracted watching Leni walk through one of the dining room walls, not even noticing it, to finally disappear from sight. A nudge from Jr. brought him back to the conversation at the table.

"What?!" The sisters' expression was enough for Lincoln to interpret the expectant silence. "Oh yes, this ignoring-Lucy thing… that was your fault, Lucy! You left a blanket halfway up the stairs for the cat to sleep on!"

"The nights are cold," Lucy understood her brother's game instantly, "Cliff is getting old and his joints hurt when it's cold."

"But let him sleep on the stairs! I could die, woman!" Lincoln exclaimed in the best 'old man's' voice any of the sisters had ever heard in their lives, before playfully slamming his glass tumbler on the table.

"Apologize to me!" Lucy said, trying to imitate the voice of an old woman herself.

"MAKE ME!" Lincoln exclaimed, exaggerating the grandfatherly voice he had learned to imitate during pop-pop visits to the nursing home.

The scene brought a smile to the three older sisters, especially Luan. Managing to get past the initial doubts, both siblings managed to interact with each other better. They still had to talk to clarify their corresponding doubts but they knew that it would not be possible to do it inside the house without any of their sisters overhearing them, so each one announced on their own that they were going out for the rest of the day. Lucy had no problem, after all, it was Saturday so she had the whole day off, she only had to say that Lisa had asked her for a book from the library and she would go out to get it so that the two older sisters would leave her alone. In Lincoln's case, things were not so easy, Luna and Luan still had the memory of yesterday very fresh in theirs minds, so they refused almost immediately to let him go out.

"What are you going to do Lincoln?" Luna asked suddenly, "Any special plans why you want to go out again so soon?"

"It's nothing important" although he was nervous, his hand unconsciously reached again for the cigarette pack that remained hidden in his trouser pocket, both Lincoln's voice and his body expression only reflected a very well-feigned apathy. "Nothing important... just a few things I still need to take care of."

"I see, bro..."

"After yesterday, Linky, I would not recommend you to go out so soon."

"Nah, it's perfectly fine, I won't be long," Lincoln knew that trying to fool them would be impossible under the current circumstances so he simply didn't try. With the friendly smile he had practiced so much over the years he said goodbye to the trio of big sisters and without waiting for a response began to prepare to head out into the cold streets. Lincoln's plan was to simply walk away from home without giving his sisters enough time to stop him.

But Luna caught up with him in the living room and stopped him by grabbing him firmly by the arm.

"Wait, boy, I won't let you to be like ur fa..." she seemed to be struggling to find the words, at the end she sighed and let him go. "Forget it, I didn't say anything"

"You know we love you, don't you?" Juan took advantage of his sister's silence. "What we told you yesterday was only... it was only because we care about your wellbeing and I want to tell you that... we trust you, we know that what happened at the mall won't happen again."

There was something strange about Luan's tone and Luna's expression... they seemed resigned, as if they both knew that Lincoln would disobey them as soon as he walked out the door.

A sour and unpleasant feeling grew inside the boy at the sight of them like this, the need to comfort them forced him to come clean, even if it was only in part.

"Listen, I have some money saved up and I want to buy Lily a gift for Christmas," he said as he continued wrapping himself in a sweater, a scarf, and his coat, "she's been insisting on some brushes but I don't want her to know that I'm going to buy them for her... so she'll be more surprised when I give them to her as a surprise."

His words managed to calm his sisters, but in Lincoln's eyes, it wasn't enough. Keeping his fake smile, he caressed Luna's face and gave Luan a kiss on the cheek.

"You know I love you very much, and I will never do anything to upset you... I promise I won't get into trouble, okay?"

Hearing her little brother's words, Luna managed to make eye contact with the white-haired teen again. In the rocker's eyes there was a guilty expression, when had Lincoln ever given her a reason to doubt his word? That she should so easily lose confidence in him after a single stumble made her a bad sister? She was about to apologize and hug her only brother when a shout from the kitchen interrupted her.

"WHAT'S THAT? NO KIND WORDS FOR YOUR FAVORITE SISTER?!" Lynn's squawk reached Lincoln just as he was walking out the door.

"Oh, you're right, how clumsy of me!" In a solemn voice, the albino replied. "Tell Lily that I love her and that I won't be long in coming back."

Lincoln quickly closed the door as he heard his two older sisters laughing at Lynn's expense. 'You should always leave your audience laughing!' exclaimed Luan's voice in his mind, eliciting for a few seconds a sincere smile from him.

But as he approached the corner bus station, that smile slowly faded. Lincoln was feeling a plague of emotions that he didn't want and could no longer bear. He needed to release pressure. Despite the stares he received from the few people waiting at the stop and the nearby signs forbidding it, he lit a cigarette.

«I won't let you to be just like your father» sang Luna voice in his mind.

-o-

The meeting point they had agreed upon was a café in the center of town, only a half hour's walk from their home.

The place in question was a large four-story red brick building, which Lisa had explained to all the family had been built in the mid-eighteenth century and was designed as a military prison for convicts during the War of Independence. It was now a favorite meeting place for the book club and the Gothic club to which Lucy belonged.

Only the first floor functioned as a cafeteria, in the windows of the second one were some "for rent" signs, on the third and last level there was a small bar that was only open at night and where the owner of the place supposedly slept.

As soon as Lincoln entered the premises, he was surprised to see the kind of customers that attended the café; a not very large group of outcasts teenagers, all of them dressed in every possible shade of black.

His sister was sitting in one of the more secluded armchairs, almost to the back of the place. Of all the Louds, Lincoln was very fond of Lucy, not because they had similar tastes in poetry and philosophy, no… obviously not because of that! But because Lucy always had timely advice and knew how to listen like no one else. Lincoln thought of her as more than a sister, he thought of her as a great friend.

Just what he needed, a kind friend, one that he knew could help him.

"Hello Luz," Lincoln sat down in the armchair opposite of her, a few inches away from the table in the middle. Ever since her tenth birthday, she had insisted on maintaining ample personal space whenever they were anywhere she might run into any of her friends and club members... which included practically every time they went out on the street.

"Good afternoon... brother," Lucy didn't look up from her little pink notebook in which she was writing. "You look more miserable than usual."

"Well... thank you, it was not a very ordinary morning."

"I must admit that recent events also took me by surprise," the rough voice Lucy always feigned trembled a little. "I didn't think it was possible to gain so much magic power so quickly... or did you always have that gift and kept it a secret from me?"

Lincoln took a little more notice of his little sister's appearance. She had finally stopped writing and had lifted her pale face a little, her hands rested in fists on her thin legs, her lips were also so tightly pressed together that her mouth had turned into a thin pale line. The little black-haired girl was clearly annoyed.

Lincoln wasn't the smartest guy ever, he wasn't even capable of giving advice as good as her friend Haiku. But always, if something happened, if Lucy needed him or if she just wanted to talk to someone, she just had to call him and he would listen, he would be there to help. It was nice to know that someone like her big brother was always looking out for her.

And that's why Lincoln hiding something so important to her was painful. So much so that a couple of tears threatened to leave her eyelids.

Seeing his sister on the verge of tears, and breaking the rule about staying away from her personal space imposed by the goth, Lincoln sat as close to she as he could to wrap her shoulders in a hug and take both of her slender hands between his, his only priority was to comfort her.

"I'm as surprised as you are, Luz, I don't quite know how or why I got what you call "gift", and that's exactly why I want your help. Of all the people I know, you are the only person I would think of going to deal with this whole thing" The urge to cry left Lucy as her cheeks began to light up when she heard her brother's words. "Besides, you also hid from me your abilities to create light out of nothing just by snapping your fingers."

"I never hid anything from you. But I admit that long ago I learned to accept that any effort to prove to you the veracity of magic was a futile effort."

Lincoln couldn't help but laugh at his little sister's words and Lucy's eyes rested with renewed intensity on Lincoln's face when the little girl spoke again.

"Lincoln, tell me, how did you get your magic? Was it some elixir? Or did you use some secret training behind my back?"

"You won't believe it, Luz, but a very strange old man gave it to me," seeing how his little sister's gaze sought his, Lincoln allowed himself to show off a little to amaze her even more, "whatever you see every time you look at me is but a small part of the power he bestowed on me."

The reaction he got from Lucy was not what he had expected; real fury could be discerned in the goth's seemingly indifferent expression despite the thick bangs that hid half of her face.

"I... I killed myself reading and practicing to get to where I am... and you just get it as a gift…"

The girl wanted to cry and her brother knew it, Lincoln took a moment to think his words.

"Believe me, I am more disturbed by all this than you can imagine, it is an unexpected change, it is something I never prepared for and I understand that you feel uncomfortable…"

"You know I would never get jealous, don't you?"

Lucy's voice had lost that whispery, husky monotony she feigned every time she spoke aloud and was now the voice of a normal girl; a high-pitched, vulnerable voice, full of fear and confusion.

"Of course I know that, Luz. But I am also aware that you still have a lot to live for. Your fascination with the gloomy helps you hide behind a mask of disinterest, but I know you are as vulnerable to emotions as Lola or Luna, that restlessness you have when you feel betrayed is normal."

"But I'm not normal, I gave up those emotions."

"Lucy," Lincoln squeezed her hands a little tighter, a reassuring smile beginning to form on his lips, "you're very mature, yes, as much as Lisa or Lori are. But deep down, we're all the same, with fears and insecurities."

"But..."

"I'm not asking for your help because i know that you know about this... well, it's a big help that you are an expert in the this magic and auras thingy... but I want you to help me understand what just happened to me because above all that, even before my younger sister, you are my friend."

Lucy was not convinced, only last week Lincoln had said something extremely similar to Lola during one of her tantrums. Lucy was already getting upd up to leave without helping him when her brother's arm wrapped tighter around her shoulders, pulling their bodies together and cradling her against his body almost as if she were a baby. Although she tried to keep her expression unperturbed, a slight blush began to show much more intensely on her pale face.

"Well, well, well, I'll help you, only if you promise to help me practice my magic," supporting both hands on her brother's chest, Lucy broke away from the embrace when she felt a small caterpillar fall into the turtleneck of her sweater, "plus I also want you to show me that 'hidden potential' you told me about."

"I'll tell you what, Luz, if you agree to tell me what you've been doing secretly with Lisa you have a deal."