Rain Gently Tapping Against My Skin

“Happy tenth birthday, Soph!”, Alison yells, smiling as she uncovers Sophie’s pale blue eyes. Sophie’s eyes glittered excitedly, as her smile took up her entire face. Yep, Sophie’s now ten years old. She’s still pretty tiny, though, which is kind of shocking. “Make a wish, Sophie. I’ve got a good feeling this year.”

“What’s there to wish for? We’re all alive and well.”, Sophie giggles, her voice still holding that angelic ring even though she has matured. You could hear it, too.

“Just make a wish. Anything you want.”

Alison had secretly charmed the cake. Whatever Sophie wishes for will definitely come true.

“Alright, fine,” Sophie sighs, closing her eyes and waiting a moment, before blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.

“What’d you wish for, Sophie?”, I ask, smiling at her.

“Nah-uh! I’m not jinxing it.”, Sophie says, smirking. It was shocking how much she’s grown, while all of us have stayed the same. “Alison told me never to tell a wish.”

“I’m very superstitious,” Alison says, rolling her eyes. “I believe nearly everything I hear, though …”

“Hey, hey! Anybody wanna explain how we got here?”, a guy asks, ruffling Kevin and Josh’s hair.

“Sophie,” Alison says disapprovingly.

“Don’t blame me, y’all. I just wished for one big happy family. And Kevin’s related to you, so he must be related to Kevin …”

“Good guess,” Josh says sarcastically.

“Ah, Katharina’s reincarnation. Her little angelic sis? Oh, and the legendary Melody Jordan Knight.”, he says, his blackish-blonde hair getting in the way of his silver eyes.

“The one and only,” we say in chorus.

“Chris, why are we here?”, a woman asks, popping up behind him with four other young girls and two young men.

“Katharina’s reincarnation —”

“My name is Alison.”

“— must’ve charmed that birthday cake.”, Chris says, nodding toward Sophie’s birthday cake.

“With a little certain witch’s help,” Zoey says, smiling.

“Ooh, let me guess this one, Aly! I’ve been practicing!”, Sophie says excitedly, bouncing happily. “You’re Christopher Nathanson. She’s Laura Austen-Nathanson. Then those are your five kids: Cassandra, Jessica, Kimberly, Randall, and Kenneth Nathanson.”

“Okay, what’s up with that?”, Chris asks, staring at her oddly.

“Little sister. Low psychic power. Kenny was Randy, and Randy was Kenny.”, Alison corrects. “And Cassie was the blonde. Not Jessica. Jessica looks most like her dad, remember that.”

“Drat! I was so close!”, Sophie snaps her fingers, pouting.

“Powerful witchy niece. Whatcha gonna do?”, Kevin says, smirking. “Been awhile, though, Chris. Whatcha been up to? Other than … umm, that.”

“Not much.”

“Sooo, Sophie, if you wished for one happy family …”, I say, thinking over her wish. “Damn …”

“Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap …”, Alison grumbles, running around. “Kevin!!! Where’d you frickin’ hide my sword?!”

“Where I can make sure you don’t try killing me in the middle of the night.”

“Oh, thanks!”, Alison says, reappearing with her sword.

“Wow, whatcha gonna do there, girly?”, Chris asks, as they all back away.

“Kill Raine!! Kill, kill, kill!!”

“Okay, no more sword for you, missy,” I say, taking it away from her. “What did we talk about after I died? Again?”

“Umm … finish school or your gonna get Kevin to kick my ass?”

“Not that.”

“Hate is a sin?”

“When did we talk about that?”

“Oh, right. That was with Sophie …”, Alison says, nodding. “Umm … revenge never gets you anywhere in life?”

“There we go!”, I say, smiling at her in approval.

“Yeah, but I’m not an idiot who believes everything she hears.”, she grabs the sword from me, grinning hugely.

“Kevin!”

“What did we talk about Alison?”, Kevin sighs.

“I’m always right.”

“When did we talk about that?”

“Oh, yeah … that was Sophie …”, she says, glancing at Sophie, who threw her arms up in the air dramatically.

“I’m being raised by someone who’s being raised!”, Sophie sighs.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Princess. We’re being raised by these two.”, Alison says, pointing to Kevin and me. “Oh, yeah! When you and Melody agree, the world is ending!”

“You frickin’ told her that?!!”, I yell, whacking his shoulder.

“That was a long time ago. Before we started raising her.”, Kevin yells.

“How long you two been married?”, Chris asks, staring between us oddly.

“We’re not married,” we say together, taking a step away from each other.

“But you’re raising her.”, Laura — I think — says, moving her straight dark brown hair out of her face. “That alone is enough committment to be considered married.”

“We are not together!”, we say defensively, taking another step away from each other.

“Raine’s here!!!”, Alison sings, nearly running straight past me.

“Oh, nooo,” I say, glaring. “Give me your sword.”

“Keevvviiiinnnnn.”

“Give her the frickin’ sword,” Kevin grumbles.

“Fine,” Alison grumbles, handing me her sword.

“Now, stop trying to set her on fire.”, I say disapprovingly.

“You have no sense of humor.”

“Yeah, why can’t we just make her a little crispy,” Kevin asks, pointing at where Raine stood. “Just burn her a little? I mean, c’mon! She’s right there.”

“Don’t encourage her!!!”

“She killed you and her!!!!!”

“You staying awhile, Raine?”, Alison grumbles.

“Ohmyfinggod!!!!!!! Chris!!!!!!”, Raine squeals, hugging him. Kevin makes stabbing motions behind her back, making me hold back laughter.

“Sophie, next year, I’m not charming your frickin’ birthday cake.”, Alison grumbles, as we all get a slice of Sophie’s delicious home-made cake. I had helped her make it, which took hours to figure out how to do.

“You charmed my cake?!”, Sophie says, shocked.

“And that’s the last time I do that. Sending the devil is a sin, missy!”, Alison says teasingly, shaking her head. “Just enjoy your cake, Soph.”

“Six more years,” Duncan sighs happily.

“Eight if you don’t control yourself,” I say, before Alison had the chance. “She can make it happen.”

“Yeah, whatever. He already made a deal with me.”, Alison says, sitting down in a chair, holding a thin piece of paper. “Hmm … that’s no good.”

“What?”, I ask, sitting down beside her.

“A large amount of paranormal activity has been happening in Louisville, Kentucky.”, she says, frowning. “I knew something was up. The death rate is too high for this to be normal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ten people died in less than twenty four hours. That’s not normal. And the amount of natural disasters is through the roof.”, she shakes her head. “Something smells like Donovan.”

Oh, yeah. Donovan left right after the Angel-War. None of us really know why or how.

“What makes you think of him?”

“He’s the only person I know who could cause that big of a riot.”, she nods toward the Psychics, who all shrugged in sync.

“Y’all could cause that big of a riot. The psychic-energy is high. Odd things have been happening all through town.”, Sophie says, rolling her eyes. “We just sorta kept it under control, and now that we’re gone, it doesn’t know how to deal with the low amount of psychic-power.”

“That’s not possible, Soph. I told you. Only odd things happen with a high amount of it.”

“But you all did sorta balance each other, Al. Think about it a moment.”, I say, rolling my eyes. “You’re a witch, she’s an angel. You two have hardly ever left the city until recently.”

“Then explain why it happens so suddenly?”

“Lots of things can set off things like that.”, Chris says, rolling his eyes. “If you all were born and raised there, then the area was probably familiar and anything you may have caused wouldn’t seem so odd. But, now that you’ve left, it must be having some trouble dealing with it.”

“Or it could just naturally be a high psychic area. If all of you Psychics were there for so long, you must’ve kept it stable, instead of the other way around.”, Laura says. “Sometimes that’s what happens.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s not my problem. Yet,” Alison says, throwing the piece of paper back on the table, where it disappeared. “Today’s Sophie’s day, guys. Lets just let her enjoy it.”

♠ ♣ ♠

Alison, Sophie, and the rest of the younger ones had left for school. I had persisted that Alison go back and finish school, even after our graduation. All the other young ones went, too, just to lower the chance of any suspicion.

“So, you talked my little brothers into enrolling into high school?”, Chris asks, as we all sat around. Oh, and it turned out that he’s part of a Riddle group called “Cloud.”

“Yep. One of my old friends had spotted Dylan, and it would just look too weird to have him around without him going to school. It would actually look too weird to have all of us walking around without school.”, I say, shrugging.

“And what about that witch?”

“Alison,” Kevin and I say together, annoyed.

“Yeah, whatever. Why is she still going to school with the rest of them?”

“Melody likes to play mom and argued to the point where I practically kicked Alison into the school.”, Kevin grumbles, rolling his eyes. “And she slapped me when I said school was pointless with a witch.”

“She needs to finish school. She died of paranormal causes.”, I say stubbornly. “And we were already in deep enough water since that Miranda thing, and then when we came back, remember?”

See, Alison had still been so ticked off with Raine, that she had nearly set the entire school on fire when Miranda showed up and immediately started talking crap about us.

“Alison has Kevin’s temper,” Josh says, chuckling. “She fights like him, too.”

“Really? That sounds pretty interesting to watch.”, Chris says excitedly. “You guys have seriously never witnessed fighting until you watch Kevin beat the crap out of Josh!”

“So, the witch can beat Kevin up?”, one of the boys — I think Kenny — asks.

“Nope. I’m still the threat to keep her in line.”, Kevin says cockily. “What’s that password you and her have?”

“Or I’ll send Kevin after your sorry-ass.”, I say, rolling my eyes.

“Who died?”, Alison asks, popping up beside me, making me jump.

“No one! Now get back to school!”

“I’m goin’! I’m goin’!”

“She got the dark hair and eyes.”, Chris says, nodding almost to himself.

“Lucky. I look like I’m adopted. And I’m related by blood!”, Cassie — the only blonde in the Nathanson family.

“Hey, I’m her sister,” I say, shrugging.

“Half sister,” Kevin corrects. “And not my niece.”

“She was born before you were reincarnated, right?”

“Yep.”

“Soo, we’re cousins with a witch?”, Kim asks, scrunching up her nose.

“Your aunt Katharina was also a witch, Kimberly. And Alison’s her reincarnation.”, Laura says, patting her daughter’s head.

Yeah, I realized Chris and Laura are married, and that they have two sons and three daughters. Talk about shocking. Oh, and they were the ones to figure out that Riddles still get pregnant. The mom and dad also age a year for every kid they have.

Oh, and get this! Chris is the first Riddle ever! Katharina told him everything he needed to know, too. Like who he should be looking for. So, once Raine, Kevin, and Josh came up, he was gone searching for Laura. How romantic?

“It’s really confusing if you think about it …”, Randy says, scratching his head. “I mean, she isn’t related to us by blood or anything …”

“But she’s family,” Kevin snaps fiercely.

“So, how long are y’all —,” I’ve been talking to Alison too much, “— staying?”

“I dunno. Maybe a couple weeks.”, Chris says, shrugging. “It’ll be nice to catch up. It sounds like we missed a lot.”

“You have no idea,” Josh and Kevin say together, chuckling.

“We actually get along now!”, Josh says, gesturing to Kevin. “And he takes orders from the witch willingly.”

“I do not!”, Kevin yells, glaring. “Only whenever we’re fighting a war!”

“Either way, you’re getting bossed around by two chicks if not one.”, Josh gestures to me.

“I couldn’t get him to eat even if he’s hungry.”, I say, rolling my eyes.

“School’s out!”, Alison sings, as all of them come plopping down in seats around, grinning hugely at Kevin and me. “Did y’all tell him about when Melody died and —”

“No!”, Kevin growls. “We were telling him about —”

“The time Melody got kidnapped by Josh? And then I gave all of y’all these riddles to find her?”, she guesses smugly. “Or about the Demon-War, when we fought along with Rebel Demons?”

“Rebel Demons?”

“They’re really nice! The Prince of Hell is the leader of them, and my best friend …”, and so began the tale of our Demon-War, as we call it.