Excerpt from Chapter Five of Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven by Vanya Hargreeves:
"I once had a best friend. For a short, but memorable amount of time I had someone to share my insecurities and feelings of isolation.
Rachel Truesdale made me feel less alone in this world for the short time she was in my life. I met her at the age of five when her parents brought her to my father in a panic. Mr. Erik Truesdale was a scientist and, it seemed to me, a man after my father's own heart. Their obsession with the super powers of children brought them together due to Mr. Truesdale's scientific interests. Rachel was an unfortunate victim of her own father's experiment, a project my father was fully aware of and funded. Mr. Truesdale tested a serum to create more students for the academy, using his own daughter as a vessel for testing. On all accounts, she was a success. But her father's serum, was not. After a few days of manifesting a power, Rachel came to the brink of death, her body rejecting the serum that began to burn away and change her DNA. My father was able to save her, in a way that is a mystery to this day, but that led to health complications throughout her childhood. This previously healthy young girl became prone to seizures and anxiety. During her anxiety attacks, it became difficult for her to breathe until someone would distract her and calm her down.
Somehow, these developments never took from her personality and general pleasantness. She just had one of those infectious personalities. When she was happy, so were those around her. When she was sad and worried, everyone else felt some degree of melancholy. Though my father offered her parents to keep her at the academy, they insisted she stay at home with them, but could be a part of the academy as far as education, training, and crime-fighting were concerned. Mr. Truesdale gave up on his scientific research, hoping to never harm any child like he had harmed his daughter.
Rachel, the sweet angel that she was, frequently escaped from the others to spend time with me in my loneliness. She may have been the only person in existence to not fear my father and his anger. It also helped that she could sense him coming from a mile away. Literally. The powers the serum granted her allowed her to sense the emotions and intent a person held in their hearts. She could find and pinpoint anyone within a mile radius with true criminal intent. If any of these bad emotions weighed on her, she never said. Her ability to shut the emotions out was truly convenient and something that Klaus was very jealous of. He once joked that he should take the serum and see if it allowed him to turn off his power. Either way, her desire to spend time with me in my loneliness was welcome and I loved her dearly, like another sister.
Her relationships with my siblings were varied. Luther paid her no mind, unsurprising as he only had eyes for Allison. Allison treated her like another sister. Diego had quite the crush on her, as she was as patient with him through his stuttering as Mom was. Klaus and Rachel got along well enough, but his jealousy got in the way of them being quick friends. He only began to warm up to her after the age of ten. Five teased her mercilessly. Picking on her and scaring her by popping out of nowhere were some of his favorite pastimes. Ben got along with her well from the beginning…until her disappearance.
On the same day that Number Five disappeared from our lives, and maybe even our time, my best friend disappeared. Due to it being the same day, many questioned the idea that Rachel and Five actually ran away together. Under questioning of their strained relationship, people would answer that kids were always mean to those they liked, and girls liked mean boys. Even as a thirteen-year-old, I was skeptical about how easily people accepted these ideas. They were ridiculous. As far as I knew, Rachel had no interest in any of my brothers and the one who cared for her the most was left devastated in her absence. My belief is that pure coincidence played a part. No trace was left of either. Five had left our meal in anger and Rachel had last been seen on her way to the academy. Kidnapping could be an answer, but after seventeen years…it is fair to say I'll never know what truly happened to my dearest friend.
As far as her pare-"