After a few seconds the door opened and I could almost feel Tara's frown.
He was in his late twenties, younger than me. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and if you squinted you could see a similarity in the face shape between him and Tara. Other than that there wasn't much of a likeness.
"Yes?" He asked, only looking at me, of course he couldn't see Tara.
"Are you Thomas Grey?"
"Yes, who wants to know?"
"My name is Jacqueline Davies, I have some information on your aunt, Maria." I decided not to go all out, if I mentioned the boy first he might grow suspicious and slam the door in my face.
Thomas tilted his head to the side. "What about her? She's dead isn't she? I mean she disappeared, so..."
I almost winced at the tone, what with Tara standing right next to me and hearing this.
"Well, I have some news around that. May I come in?"
He shrugged. "Sure."
Thomas held the door open and Tara and I stepped in. The hallway was a tasteful shade of yellow, and the floor was scattered with a couple of school bags and some sports equipment. To our left was a staircase going up to the second floor.
"Sorry, my eldest is a bit of a sports nut, and very messy."
"Not a problem." I said, smiling.
We went into the living room, where the rest of the family was. The two boys and the wife. There was a sofa facing the TV, which the boys were using, and another sofa and an armchair off to the left, also angled to face the TV.
The oldest looked like his mother, dark hair and dark eyes. The youngest however looked so much like a young Tara I almost a double take. There were so course differences, the gender for one, but also the face shape, similar, but not quite the same, a bit squarer.
"Who is this?" Asked the wife calmly.
"This is Mrs Davies."
"Miss, sorry."
"Ah right, Miss Davies, and she knows something about my aunt Maria. The one who went missing years ago."
I'm not sure the wife was actually all that interested, and the boys were too wrapped up in their video game to really care either. However, she managed to try and look interested for Thomas's sake.
"Oh, well, sit down Miss Davies."
"Thank you." I said sitting down on the closest seat. Thomas had decided to take a polite interest, but it was clear that he wasn't sure if he really cared.
"So, you found her?"
"In a way."
"She's dead isn't she?"
"Yes. I'm afraid Miss Maria Grey has been dead for twenty eight years."
Thomas whistled and shrugged. "Figured as much. I assume you know how."
"She died in childbirth at Burgess's Home for the Orphaned, the child went missing ten years ago and is presumed dead. I'm sorry."
Tara looked more than disconcerted at the fact I was talking about her like this, but I couldn't comfort her.
"Wait, Burgess?" Thomas recognised the name, and I nodded.
"Yes, where your sister was sent. I'm sure that was coincidental, as Maria didn't give her name. I only know that from her daughter, who got it from the father, who is not in the picture."
"How did you find all this out?" Asked the wife, Thomas seemed to be still processing the last bit.
"As I said, I knew her daughter. When she went missing I tried to find her family to at least let them know. It wasn't easy, which is why it took so long. I'm sorry."
It wasn't a complete lie, we just did after she became immortal, a time difference of less than two weeks. It wasn't all war stuff we were doing.
Thomas appeared to want to be taking it well. She had died before he knew her, so I guess it was to be expected. However, on the back of this news I had to try and talk to them about their youngest son, and look really insensitive while doing it.
"And now I'm going to be honest. This wasn't the sole reason I came here tonight."
"It isn't?" Asked the wife, her voice a little hard. Wonderful.
"I'm afraid so." I said, trying to make it clear that I knew this wasn't my best idea. "I need to discuss something with your youngest son."
"What?"
"Your youngest is different, yes? He has something that makes him different from anyone else in this room, am I correct?"
Silence fell, even the boys stopped playing their video game.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about. Cole is perfectly normal."
"Of course he is." I said, confusing everyone in the room. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong. He's just got something that makes him stand out a little."
"There is nothing." She hissed, her demeanour having completely changed. I'd had experience dealing with the aggressive parent in denial, so I wasn't fazed.
I instead turned to Cole, who suddenly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
"Why don't we compare, Cole?"
"Compare?" Asked his mother, but my focus was entirely on the boy to my far right.
"I'll show you what's different about me, and you show me what's different about you. Is that okay?"
I think everyone was curious by this point, so there were no verbal objections as Cole nodded his head.
I stood up and held out my open hand palm up. I blew across it and snowflakes floated into the air, dancing around the room.
All four of them just stared at the show and I stood there, occasionally manipulating their flight with a wave of my hand.
After a while the snowflakes melted, and I turned to Cole. "Your turn."
Cole nodded, standing up. I could sense his mother behind me also standing up, maybe to stop him, but he extended his wings anyway.
They were large, easily large enough to lift him off the ground and as white as snow.
I smiled and nodded. I had the right guy, definitely a Descendant.
All too quickly Cole withdrew his wings and sat back down. I also sat down as Cole asked.
"Are you like Professor X?"
"I wish I was that cool." I said chuckling, "Although the point of this isn't all that different."
"That is enough!" Went his mother, making me jump. "You are not going to do anything with my son."
"Ma'am, please."
"I am not putting him danger!"
"This is his choice, not yours!" I said sternly, losing a small fraction of my temper. I also didn't deny the danger comment, which she probably noticed. "And maybe if you let me explain, then your son can come to an informed decision."
"He is nine!"
"It's still his decision. May I continue?"
His mother glared at me for a few moments then said. "Fine."
"Thank you."
I turned back to Cole.
"The people I'm from, we call ourselves the Human Order of Guardians, which makes us sound more exciting then we actually are. We are Descended from a group of people called the Guardians, who you may have heard of."
"Who?" asked Cole.
"Before I tell you, can you tell me if you still believe in the likes of, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, that kind of thing?"
Cole looked down, then back and forth between his brother and his parents.
"...No."
I saw Tara practically deflate next to me.
"Well, that makes my job a little harder. Basically I'm trying to say that they are the Guardians."
I heard his mother snort with disbelief but I kept going. "Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Easter Bunny, Jack Frost and the Guardian Angel. They are real and we are Descended from them."
"Yeah right." Scoffed his brother. "Then why don't I have wings."
"Alan!" Hissed his mother, but we both ignored her.
"It doesn't occur in every child in every generation. It often skips generations. I knew someone who was a Descendant and their twin wasn't. Descendant with a capital 'd' by the way."
"So, who am I Descended from?" Asked Cole.
"The Guardian Angel." I decided to leave the fact that Tara was the Guardian Angel. That would have been hard to swallow and disrespectful to Thomas.
"Okay, what about you?"
"Jack Frost."
"This is all rubbish." Snorted his mother.
"Try telling that to seven hundred people worldwide."
"Seven hundred people believe this sh- rubbish?!"
"Yes, because seven hundred people can either control ice, earth, plants or sand, can fly or can use magic. This is the explanation. We've existed for a thousand years, I think we'd have worked out if we were wrong by now."
"You are a cult!"
I managed to chuckle. "You know, I said the same thing when I first joined. About twenty eight years ago."
"What changed?" Asked Thomas, having recovered. "What convinced you to join them?"
"Because they understood. They understood what it was like to have these abilities with no explanation and the problems they can bring. Sometimes that's all you need."
The three males in the room seemed to understand, but Cole's mother still didn't look happy.
"Why now?" She hissed.
"Because it took this long to find you. Guardian Angel only became a Guardian ten years ago and we had no idea how far the family had spread."
"Have you found any others?" Asked Cole.
"No, you're the first. I can only assume that everyone else is very good at hiding their powers." That was rubbish. As far as we were aware, he was the only one.
"Oh." Cole seemed to deflate.
"As the only one we've found, you'd answer to me. I am Head of the Descendants of Jack Frost, but there's so few of us that I don't mind taking you under my wing as well. Not to mention that my Branch is the closest."
"No! He is not joining you!" His mom was on her feet now, glaring at me.
"And why not? He is safe with us."
"Are you suggesting that he isn't with us?"
"Right now, no I'm not. But as he gets older it's going to be harder to hide those wings properly without advice, and there's another group of Descendants out there who have a prejudice against the Guardian Angel and her Descendants. If he joins us, he'll be safe from them."
"How can you be so sure?!"
"Because if he is attacked while with us it will be a declaration of war, and they aren't ready for that."
While his mom struggled for words I got a piece of paper and a pen out of my pocket and scribbled down my phone number.
"Here." I said, giving it to Cole. "I'm not asking you to make a decision now, you don't have to get involved with us if you don't want to. But feel free to give me a call if you have any more questions. I think I've overstayed my welcome."
"Too right you have!" Snarled his mother. "Get out of my house!"
"Millie, please..." Started Thomas, but I stopped him.
"Millie is right. I've dropped two bombshells on you tonight. I think that's enough." I stood up and started to leave the room. "Have a good evening."