Chapter Five: Family First
January 4th, 1993
Lyn watched Liz and her sister across the schoolyard with sad eyes. She had liked Liz, and enjoyed talking to her, but ever since they'd found Max and Isabel, they didn't really spend time with anyone outside their group.
Michael did not mind as he had never really wanted any other friends, and Max did not seem to mind either, although she had noticed him watching Liz as well and wondered why since they had never spoken to each other.
Isabel was the one most reluctant to make new friends even though the teachers thought she was the most social of the four of them, and had asked her several times to help the two boys make more friends.
The teachers did not know that Isabel was afraid all the time. It was not like Michael's and her fear of Hank; Isabel was afraid that people would find out who they were and think they were freaks, and then take them away and do bad things.
The other little girl didn't seem to have a good idea of what those bad things were, but Lyn did, and she could not help but be afraid when she felt Isabel's fear. Maybe it was better that they didn't have other friends, that way there was less chance of anyone finding out.
That was why she had lied to the social worker who came once a year and told him that she and Michael were very happy, that Hank was a great dad. That was why Michael and she had cleaned the house and used their powers to get rid of the beer stains on the carpet before he came over.
If social services took them away, they might never see Max and Isabel again. Worse still, Michael and she might be separated from each other and placed in different foster homes. They all needed to stay together; it was the only way they would be safe.
October 31st, 1993
The two girls sat next to each other on the bench outside the school, watching the other kids run around the parking lot as they waited for Isabel's mom, their group leader, to gather the rest ofthe children.
Two little boys ran past, one dressed as a cowboy, and the other as a bright green alien. The cowboy was pretending to shoot the 'evil alien' with his toy pistol and both were shrieking with laughter.
Lyn felt the fear and sadness rising in her friend, always present but at that moment a sharp stabbing pain she felt as if it were her own. She squeezed her hand, sending love and affection through their bond. Isabel turned towards her with a smile, squeezing back until they were interrupted by the sound of a click. They both looked up to see Diane smiling and holding a camera. "You girls look so beautiful."
Isabel just smiled with all the superiority of the princess she was dressed as while Lyn blushed and stammered out a thank you. Isabel's mom had made her costume as well as Isabel's, and the difference between the shimmering blue silken dress of that year, and the makeshift ghost costume she had put together with old sheets the year before, had caused her to burst into tears when presented with it - almost as many as when the woman hugged her, confused by the crying her gift had caused.
Michael too had a costume that year and he was clearly uncomfortable in the blue tights and red cape as he stalked towards the bench, closely followed by a grinning Max, much happier in his own pirate costume.
Her brother slouched onto the bench, a dark scowl on his face and his arms folded defensively in front of him, the cape bunching oddly behind him like a hump.
The two girls collapsed into giggles, provoking an even deeper scowl. Max sat on the bench next to Isabel, still just grinning, while his mom snapped a few more pictures, determined to preserve these moments forever.
May 12th, 1994
Raelyn stared without shock at the man looming over her. She had known that this day would come, had been anticipating it for years with a combination of fear and anger that caused an almost constant ball of dread to tighten her stomach. Her cheek was throbbing and she could feel the blood trickling down her chin from where her lip had split.
The faintest flicker of guilt flashed in his dark eyes before he turned away, stalking towards the fridge to grab another beer before and returning to the living room with its trash covered couch. She slid down the wall to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to hold back the tears.
Michael could never know. He would do something to Hank and he would get in trouble. He would use his powers and then they would take him away and she would never see him again. Her eyes burned and she leaned her head back, trying to ignore the pain in her face.
She needed a plan; Michael would never believe any lie she told him about the bruises, so she needed to get rid of them. And since she could not do it herself, that not being one of the abilities she had gotten over the past few years, there were only two people who could help her.
Michael was out with Max and his dad on a fishing trip, the only reason he had not been home, and it could not have been better timing for his friend to guilt him into it.
Half an hour later she reached up and tapped on Isabel's window, knowing better than to try and use the front door and the inevitable questions her appearance would command from Mrs. Evans. Isabel's face appeared at the window and her eyes widened in shock as she opened it, her hand instantly reached up towards the darkened swelling before she dropped it back to her side at Raelyn's pained wince.
"What happened?" she demanded as Lyn lowered her feet to the floor and then slid the window shut before turning back to face her.
"Hank." One word, filled with pain, rage, and fear, the word that defined her every nightmare.
Isabel's beautiful face darkened with anger and she half turned towards the door. "We have to tell."
"N..No!" Lyn said in a quiet but intense voice, hints of an old stutter coming through with her anxiety. "No one can know! You, you have to make it go away."
Isabel turned back to her, anger and worry in her eyes, "Why? What he did - it's wrong. He has to be stopped."
"If Michael finds out he, he'll do something. You know he will. And th..then they'll take him away and then they'll find out and then..." she trailed off, letting her friend fill in the blank with her own deepest fears.
She could see the fear for her family and the desire to stop Hank warring for control and waited, holding her breath, praying that the other girl would make the right choice.
Finally her friend, her sister, reached up and touched her face again, a tingling warmth spreading from the tips of her fingers. She closed her eyes in relief, both from the pain, and from the fear that had been practically choking her ever since Hank first raised his hand to her that morning.
Her eyes snapped back open and bored into Isabel's. "You can never tell anyone, not even if it happens again."
The blonde nodded reluctantly; there was nothing else she could do.
