"You're Heather Smith."

"I don't use that name anymore, Bruce-bag."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Your name isn't Phoenix Storm."

"I chose it, it's mine!"

"You were born in Park Slope, Brooklyn."

"It may not have been into a fucking ostentatious manor but it was, at one point, home."

"Your parents abandoned you when you were 10."

I scowl. "That was something known, you mook. Ditto for the fact that I got fostered by the fucking Pierces. What else do you feel the sudden need to rehash, asshole?"

"You were burned on your arms and sexually assaulted by William Pierce."

I clench then un-clench my fists but, before I can say anything, I end up puking my guts out, just missing Bruce and Gingie's shoes.

Gingie glares at Bruce. "You just had to push her, didn't you? Don't you damn dare have Alfred clean this! You should clean Firecracker's puke."

She gently takes me by the right hand and, soon, she's helping me clean myself up kinda how I imagine a Mom would, though I can't say she really feels like a Mom. More like a big sister, really.

I feel my eyes well up and I decide to let the tears fall as I whisper under my breath that I never had a sister before.

She smiles and I know that she heard me. "Well, Firecracker, you do now."

I wipe my tears away. "Damn it, Gingie, don't make me cry again. I don't really wanna have to."

"Well, I can try not to but I should tell you not to be emotionally constipated like Bruce."

I laugh. "Well, I can try to work on it." I avert my eyes then shrug my shoulders. "You kinda learn to numb yourself when you're a foster. It just becomes easier not to care."

"Firecracker. Look at me."

I do, though kinda slowly and finding myself feeling a little nervous.

"Abuse is never okay. Especially when it's by people who are supposed to look out for you."

"But..."

"But nothing."

I snort. "Nothing is what I was made to feel like. If I'da complained, it would only further enforce my label of "damaged" making me harder to place with whatever new family I'd be put with. So, like a good little girl, I suffered in silence. It's not like I'd magically be placed with my birth family. I don't know where those assholes are and I'm not sure I wanna know anyway."

"That's why you changed your name. You chose Phoenix because you faced fire and survived."

I nod. "The bird that rises from its own ashes to be born again. The fact that it sounds pretty badass was a bonus. I wanted a name that made me seem tough enough not to go and mess with."

"Why Storm?"

I breathe out slowly then, finding myself feeling a little reluctant, start to tell her... "They are brothers and, truth be told, I wanted some. I know that I do now but I don't have any intention of changing my name."

"Well, New Zealand is pretty cool."

"Yeah, if it's good enough for the Lord of the Rings movies, it's sure as hell good enough for me."

"That's the spirit!"

I run one hand through my hair. "Now, changing the subject here. When can I expect to get used to this place? I mean, a girl could get lost here."

"In the bathroom?"

I shove her lightly then lead her out. "No, in this fucking manor! It's so ostentatious, it has a butler straight out of Downton fucking Abbey!"

Alfred shows up. "Well, miss, surely you know Jeeves was only a valet."

I laugh nervously then roll my eyes. "Oh, I am pretty well-read. THEY made sure of that."

"They, miss?"

"My foster parents. Reading fantasy was a way, though small, of rebellion. Especially if there was magic involved. It was considered frivolous and, as such, "inappropriate for consumption". Classics were in high regard, though not the film adaptations."

"They controlled what you read?"

"You used to work in a library, didn't you, Gingie?"

"I did, yes, Firecracker. How did you..."

I cut her off with a hug whiwhich I can tell she's questioningly returning then, after I let go, I grin at her, wide and toothy. "Some librarians in Brooklyn were kinda like Moms to me. They would slip me fantasy. Illicit as the Pierces considered it to be, it was always a good escape. A portal of sorts, no, like I was doing the porting to another world. A better one, where I could be accepted for who I was and what I could do."

I reach into my pocket for my wallet then open it, pull out my library card and show it to her. "In fact, I still call this my passport. My magic carpet, though I never used that phrase around the Pierces."

She grins. "I like it though. You got your whole new world."

I put the card back in my wallet, close it and put it back in my pocket then scuff with my right foot. "Yeah, but I don't really like Disney's Aladdin. The original story says he was Chinese.*"

"Robin Williams still made a good genie.**"

"Yep. The now dead Robin."

Jason shows up.*** "Hey, Nyx and Barbie. One of you mind telling me what I missed?"

"Geez, Jay-Todd, you call her Barbie?"

*This is 100 percent true.

**This, on the other hand, is obviously a matter of opinion.

***Yes, his timing was 100 percent on purpose.