Letting Go

"Okay. Now, Rae, I don't think you should look. You might-"

I roll my eyes at Scott. "Really guys. I'm sure I can handle it, whatever it is. What could really be that bad?"

Raija looks distraught. "But Saige, it's-"

I push her gently out of the way, walking towards the mirror. "Really, you two worry too much. Nothing will be so bad that..."

My sentence trails off as I look at myself in the mirror fully. Oh my gosh...what happened?

I don't look anything like myself. My hair is now pink at the roots, and then separates into strands of every color of the rainbow. My arms now bear long, intricate tattoos, made to look like rainbow ribbon, twisting and turning around itself in some type of long pattern. The markings on my left arm end higher up on my bicep, while the ones on my right arm trail all the way down until they meet another design.

These, on the back of both my hands, are circular, shaped like compasses, and they're white. They swirl clockwise as I breathe.

I lean in closer to the mirror, examining my eyes with wonder. They too are rainbow-colored. The irises are made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink, black, and gray, all in order in the ring around my pupils, blending together seamlessly.

I look so out of sorts in this bathroom. More like I should be in a clown outfit, even though I don't look completely ridiculous. I wish I hadn't woken up this morning...

About ten minutes ago, long before I was ready to awaken, Scott came barging in our room, since he couldn't just wait to see me again like everyone else. It was he who alerted Raija, who then woke me up with her exclamations.

Raija of course had to explain my entire situation to him, and again I had to restrain someone from going to kill Glen, since he's so hated here. But once we got him calmed down enough to reason, he insisted I see what "that monster" had done to me. Only to chicken out of showing me when I got in here.

"I... I don't understand," I whisper, equal parts amazed and horrified at the changes.

Raija and Scott both look as confused as I. Scott frowns, coming closer and touching my hair.

"I have no idea. All I can guess is that somehow, our heritage, mixed with his... just didn't mix well. Somehow you seem to have inherited all the different types of elements when you two bonded. Maybe the genes were just in recession, waiting until you had bonded? I don't know. This hasn't happened before, Rae."

Panicked, I look at Raija. "What am I supposed to do about it? Glen is supposed to come back today, but what if Dad tries to go after him before then? Can I hide this? Pretend to be sick?"

She shakes her head slowly. "Mom would just get all worried and make you strip down and take a bath with the mineral water we use to heal. There's no way to hide this, Saige."

Scott nods. "Unless you wore a hoodie and jeans, and gloves, and a mask. Which would probably draw more attention. You're just going to have to hope nothing too bad happens. But it probably will still be bad."

Frustrated, I groan, stamping a foot. "Are you serious? Do you guys want them to kill him?" When they open their mouths, I hold up a hand. "Don't answer that. Of course you do. But I don't. So I need to figure something out."

As I'm thinking, pacing back and forth, I hear a knock at the bedroom door. We all look at each other with wide eyes, and Scott rushes to close the bathroom door.

"Anyone in here?" I hear Dad call, his voice getting closer, and I run to jump in the shower, terrified.

"Um, we're busy," Scott calls.

The footsteps stop at the door. "Noa?"

"Yes?" I answer, tentatively.

"Are you hungry? You've been sleeping a long time. It's past noon."

My stomach growls, and I sigh. When was the last time I ate? "Actually, I am starving. But I'm a little scared of the food on this planet..."

He chuckles. "How about I get you some Mallow? It resembles cantaloupe I believe."

"That sound great," I say honestly. "Thank you."

"What are you three doing in there anyway? The rest of the family wants time with you as well."

I look at Raija, wide-eyed. She rolls her eyes towards the ceiling, looking just as worried. "We're trying to find some of my clothes that Saige likes until she can get some of her own."

"You need your brother for that?" Dad sounds skeptical.

"Yeah, for a guy's opinion, you know," Scott lies effortlessly, unlike us. I hear a bit of rustling on the other side of the door before Dad speaks again.

"Well, I had something for you, Saige. Scott, can you give it to her?"

Scott motions for me to get behind the shower curtain, before he opens the door.

"It's your 'crown'," Dad says, his voice lighter than before when he was behind the door. "You don't remember, but when you all got your powers, you didn't want a normal tiara like Raija, so we had your orb made into a necklace for you. You set a huge trend when you were in school."

I laugh nervously. "Okay, I'll take a look at it. Thank you."

"Your food will be downstairs when you're finished up here. Don't take too long, your siblings are getting impatient." He chuckles, and I hear his footsteps leave the room, and the bedroom door close.

I close my eyes and sink to the shower floor, burying my head in my arms with a groan. "I can't do this. He's going to kill Glen, after he kills me."

The shower curtain slides back, and suddenly there are two sets of hands helping me up and over to the sink. Scott hands me my "crown", and I glower at it.

It's a clear orb of some sort, encased in a black metal cage and strung on a delicate silver chain. "How does the chain not break?" I ask in wonder, as the orb weighs quite a bit more than the skinny thing.

"It's made out of Dema. Dema is like steel but almost two-hundred times stronger," Scott explains.

Raija moves my hair out of the way, and Scott takes the necklace from me, slipping the chain over my head.

The orb falls down to right above my navel, and starts to glow a steady blue. As I open my mouth to comment on it, the color changes to purple, and then to red, and orange, and so on, until it reaches blue again, going in a continuous circle of colors.

"Is it supposed to to this? " I ask, looking up at the mirror to see their faces. But they're staring at the orb. When I look back down, I squint from the brightness, which continues to get brighter and brighter with each color until I have to squeeze my eyes shut.

All at once, the light disappears, and I open them again, to see the orb steadily changing colors now, the light only bright enough to illuminate my nightgown a bit.

Slowly, Scott and Raija tear their eyes from my orb, to look at each other.

"Okay...um, I'll go get you something to wear that will hopefully help," Raija says, rushing front the room.

Scott watches me, a perplexed look on his face. "How are you feeling?"

"How should I feel right now?" I mutter, staring down at my crown.

"No one can tell you that. Only you know how you feel."

Heaving a sigh, I turn to the mirror, observing myself. I can't even tell I'm me anymore...

Raija runs back in with a small stack of folded clothes, and shoves them into my arms, a pair of shoes on top. "Change. Quickly," She orders, taking Scott's hand and dragging him from the bathroom.

I obey, slipping on the dress and accessories without much trouble. The items each feel so light, it's as if I'm wearing nothing more than a layer of silk, but it's not at all see-through. It's amazing.

The door opens as I'm running my hands over the material, that feels like cotton to the touch, and Raija gapes at me.

Looking back in the mirror, I carefully look at myself, and not just the fabric.

The dress is short, but not to immodesty, and it's a cream shade at the bodice, with rainbow-colored silk petals that make up the skirt, that falls straight to a bit above the middle of my thighs. The thin straps look like they're made of rainbow-ribbon, matching the markings on my arms. The shoes she gave me are decent ballet flats, in cream, and they tie in nicely.

"This outfit is nice and all, just not on me, I think," I whisper, not brave enough to look at her or Scott.

"Saige, you look amazing! How can you not think so?"

I shrug, uncomfortable. "I've never worn a dress before..."

"Well that's going to change being here. All girls wear dresses, Saige. And this one is perfect for right now. It says, ' I'm old and mature enough to make my own choices'. Mom and dad still think of you as the little girl they sent to earth, so this should show them you've grown up. You look hot."

I sigh, and we walk out of the bathroom.

I can't do this.

"You have to do it! Glen is on his way. Everything will be okay, but you have to do it now," Willow says firmly.

Pulling myself up to my full height, I nod to myself. "Let's go."

Scott waves me in front of them, and I lead the way slowly through the hallways, to the kitchen. I pause outside the door, hearing the soft buzz if conversation from my thirty-five plus siblings. And then my nieces and nephews. And my cousins. My aunts, uncles, and grandparents too. This mansion covers hundreds of thousands of acres to fit our whole family. It's more like it's own town.

Apparently royalty all live in their family home forever, unless they specifically want to leave. I still haven't met everyone yet. There are so many of us.

"Saige? Are you okay?"

I snap out of my daze, nodding at Raija. "Yeah... Are you?"

"I'm nervous. I don't know how dad will react, but I know it won't be good."

Somewhere in my head, I know this too, but I shake it loose anyway. "It'll be okay. I... I know it will. I just got back. Dad can't get that mad at me..."

Scott laughs humorlessly. "True. But he can get mad at him. To the point of murder."

This thought makes me shudder, and I start to take step back, but they both put their hands on my back. Trembling, I clear my throat, and deep breath before quickly walking forward and through the swinging kitchen door.

The brightness of the kitchen momentarily blinds me, but when my vision clears, I can clearly make out the crowd that is my family.

My brother Leon is the first to see me, and it's almost comical to see a man of his enormous size stop in his tracks the way he does. His eyes almost fall out of his head in shock.

Slowly, heads of other family members turn towards me, and they too stop wherever they are in the room. Soon, all of them except the children have stopped, and stand staring at me in disbelief.

A pathway begins to firm in the middle of them, and I just manage to brace myself before mom and dad emerge from the group. Deja vu hits me as I remember the similar scene that happened to Glen me at his family home, and my heart pounds so hard I find myself hoping they can't hear.

Mom trails a little behind Dad, her face soft, but her eyes are filled with confusion, and... fear?

Dad already looks close to popping a fuse. He stops a couple of feet away from me,and I straighten up, staring up at him fearlessly.

He touches a lock of my hair, dropping it just as quickly, and crosses his arms, his jaw clenched so tightly I expect to hear his teeth cracking very soon. He's silent for so long I get nervous.

"Noa."

In this one word, I know just how careful I'll have to be to keep this from escalating into violence.

"Before you say anything, I want to say that no one forced me into anything. I was never hurt by him, and he has tried his best to be civil towards me, even though neither of us wanted this. It wasn't our choice."

Mom steps to Dad's side, astonishment now covering her features. "Your soul mate, honey?"

I nod, and a collective gasp sounds from my family behind them. Dad's expression doesn't change at all.

"Who is it? Tell me who had the audacity to bond with my daughter, and I will hunt him down personally."

My blood chills, and I shake my head. "I won't let you hurt him. If you don't promise to stay calm, I won't tell you at all."

"Noa you are much too young to make these decisions on your own. You will tell me his name. Now."

I cross my arms. "No, I won't. I am quite cable of handling my own life I'll have you know. I've been doing it for myself since I was sixteen years old."

At this, he winces slightly, before his face hardens. "Saige Noa Glade, I am your father and you will not disrespect me like this-"

"Disrespect you? How are you not disrespecting me, telling me that I have no say in whether or not you hurt my soul mate?

When it looks like he's about to explode, I uncross my arms, and laugh a little, disbelieving this whole situation.

"His name is Glen Mykel," I state firmly, and wait.

When you drive up a mountain, that feeling of the air getting more compact until your ears pop? Well that's the feeling in the kitchen. The pressure mounts in the long silence, until everyone just explodes.

I step back as they yell, seemingly at everyone and everything. But something seems off about their voices. It's at an odd pitch.

"That's the Siren pitch," Willow tells me. "It's what allows us to influence others that aren't Sirens. We can make people happy mad, or any emotion with different pitches, even making them do certain things. Our voices can pitch whenever we get too worked up about something. When a group of us gets like this, the pitch can carry up to a mile radius."

This isn't good... Glen on his way, and if he's exposed to this...

Something builds in my head as I watch my family yelling, and without thinking, I raise my hands with my palms held out towards them, and watch as a shiny layer spreads out in a globe shape around the whole of them, until it blocks their noise completely. It looks like they're inside of a giant bubble.

I realize that without even thinking, I excluded Mom from that bubble. She stands a bit away from them, rubbing the small bump of her stomach with a sad look on her face. But when she turns to me, she smiles, walking closer.

Lowering my hands, I'm sure to keep my mind focused on the bubble to keep it up. Mom sighs, shaking her head.

"How does he treat you, honey?" She asks, worry creasing her brow.

"He hasn't hurt me. He's distant, and detached... But I trust him. His family hates me, except for his brother, and mother, but he protected me from them. You don't have to worry."

She still looks unhappy. "You deserve someone who loves you, not someone unattached. But I realize there's nothing I can do." She touches my face with a soft, warm hand, like only a mother can. "I will try not to judge him, and get to know him, as long as he doesn't hurt you. And I will try to make your father understand."

I smile at her, somewhat relieved, and hug her tightly. "Thanks, Mom."

As in pull back, the door bell rings. I turn around to book at Raija. "Can you-"

"No."

I give her a look. "Yes. And don't start anything, I mean it."

With as much attitude as possible, she stomps out of the kitchen, and if the door wasn't a swinging one I'm sure she would slam it in my face.

Turning to the rest of the family, I jump when I notice Dad glaring quite heartedly at me, no longer yelling. The others look quieted as well. Dad crosses his arms, and I release my hold on the bubble, and it fades away.

Dizziness overtakes me, and I stumble a few steps backwards, before hands are under my back, supporting me. Energy flows through me again, and I look up at Glen.

"You should be more careful," he murmurs, setting me back flat on my feet. He looks at my father, who looks ready to kill, and then to my mother, who is observing him quietly.

He walks to her, and I watch as he touches two fingers to his temples, and bows his head slightly. "I am terribly sorry for the nature of my visit. It was not my intention to-"

Mom stops him, waving him back up. "Just don't hurt my little girl," she says, her face serious.

"Of course. Thank you."

Now, Glen looks to Dad, looking like he'd rather chew off his foot than approach him, but does anyway. "Sir-"

"You have got some serious nerve, haven't you, boy?" Dad says, his voice oddly quiet. Before I can blink, he rears back and punches Glen so hard he spins away and his head hits the marble counter making a sickening cracking noise.

As he advances on him, I run in between them. "Stop it!" I yell.

"Saige, stay out of this," Glen says orders quietly, straightening up. His forehead bears a long, thick tear, that drips blood, and I gasp, rushing to him.

"Glen, your head!" I fret, going to get a towel from beside the sink. I press it against the tear, and Glen hisses in pain. "I'm fine, Saige. Just leave it alone-"

"Leave it alone? No, I don't think I will. You're hurt, and you expect me to do nothing about it?"

He grabs my wrists, lowering them and the towel, which has a big blood stain on it now. "That's exactly what I expect you to do."

Hurt, I pull my wrists from his hands and turn away to face dad. "Leave him alone, or I swear-"

"Saige, you have one more chance to apologize to me before you receive a punishment. I will not be defied in my own home."

I just stare at him. "There's nothing you can do to me that would be worse than sending me to Earth. Maybe that's what you should do. Maybe that's what you both want." I glance at Glen. "To get rid of me. Since I'm not the perfect daughter or mate you expect me to be."

They don't answer, but Glen sighs.

Dad stares at me, his face unreadable. Then he turns to Glen. "I'd like to speak with you privately." He walks towards the door, and Glen starts to follow, but I grab his arm, nervous.

"Why?" I ask dad, who stops and looks back at me.

"Because there are things I need to explain to him, that you don't need to hear."

When I don't let go, Glen leans down a little to looks into my face. "Relax. I'll be back."

My fingers won't loosen, and he gently peels them away from his arm. "Just wait for me. Eat something, okay? You're starving."

With a last look, he walks out of the kitchen. I stare after him, feeling empty for some reason.

Mom walks over and takes my arm, leading me to a seat. "I'll get you something to eat, honey."

She walks away to the fridge, and I sit obediently, waiting for her. My sister Sky sits across from me, along with Leon.

"You have some explaining to do, little sister," he says.

Sky nods, her bright green braids swishing back and forth. "I mean, we all know the Mykel twins are very attentive boys, but they're the enemy. And well, we always thought Glen was mute. So how did you end up with him?"

I shrug as Mom puts a plate of red and blue swirled fruit in front of me. I taste a cautious bite, and barely stop myself from moaning in delight. This stuff tastes like a mix between apples and mangoes. Amazing.

"It just happened. Nothing was planned."

"But how can you be so calm, knowing you're going to have to live with someone like him. Knowing what he was."

I look up at her. "What are you talking about?"

Now she looks shocked. "No one has told you what he used to do for a living?"

I shake my head no, and she laughs shortly. "Wow. That's terrible."

"It isn't your business to tell her, Sky," Mom says from the sink where she's washing dishes. "You have to let them figure this out on their own."

"But mom, if she doesn't know, she could get hurt."

"They're bonded. Glen won't hurt her."

"Not on purpose. But what if he-"

Mom slams her hands down on either side of the sink and everyone jumps. "Sky, I said it isn't your place! You will ruin them before they've even begun, I swear. Leave Saige alone, Glen told her to eat."

Sky, shuts up, and gets up, walking away, but Leon stays. I stuff my face unashamedly with the delicious fruit, and Mom refills my bowl twice.

"Are you close to full yet?" Leon questions, chuckling, and I pause, shrugging.

When the kitchen door bursts open, a piece of fruit goes down the wrong way, and I start to choke. A hand hits me on the back a couple of times, and quickly dislodge the offender. I gasp for breath, looking up at Glen. "Thank you," I whisper. Then I notice his clothes.

His white button down is ripped and blood-stained, and his black jeans show faint red stains. I touch one of the tears, and look at his face. It's unscathed. But his beautiful hair is wild.

Standing, I try to straighten it a little, horrified. "What... were you doing?" I exclaim.

He licks his lips, and I'm momentarily distracted. "Tradition. We fought. I won."

If I didn't know any better, I'd say he looks proud. Trying to hold back my panic, I stare at him. "What do you mean you won?"

"No need to panic. I didn't kill him." Now, his lips curve as he looks away. "I could have."

He looks at my bowl, and eats a piece of fruit, still smug. Then he pulls back my chair, and me to my feet. "Come on."

He looks at Mom. "I'm taking her to see my family. It was... interesting, meeting you. Excuse us."

I wave at everyone, following him in confusion until we get to the fence. Here, he takes my hand, pulling my through. Once on the other side, he let's go, and I stop.

"Glen, where are we going?"

He turns. "To see my family again. They want to apologize."

I really don't want to go back there. My head throbs just thinking of it. But I also need to know something.

"What did you used to do for a living?"

His whole demeanor goes from slightly lighthearted, to stone cold and closed off in two seconds. "That isn't your business."

Crossing my arms, in stare him down. "No? Because my family has hinted to me that you're dangerous to be around. But they won't tell me why. So, I'm asking you. Should I be worried?"

He seems to think for a minute, before he nods. "Yes. You should be terrified."

"Why?"

"I've been involved in horrifying things, Saige. If you had any idea exactly what I'm capable of, you would run for the hills. I'm still hoping you will."

Stunned by this revelation, I look away, eying the distance between me and the fence. "How will I, if you won't let me? And what you've done can't be that bad."

"Trust me it is. I'm a terrible person, Saige. Don't let me fool you into thinking otherwise. I'm a good actor. I've had to be, for most of my life. I won't ever be a good person, I won't ever 'fall in love' with anyone. I hope you don't think you'll change that."

Hurt creeps into my mind. "People change," I whisper.

He laughs bitterly. "I won't. Not because of you, especially. Look at you, you're a freak of nature, in more than one sense."

My arms wrap instinctively around my waist, and I look down, holding my tears back like I've learned to do, and nod. I knew it... he's just like every other guy I've known. Polite, until he gets tired of being polite.

"Well, I guess you'll be happier now. Because you won't have to deal with me again. I hope you and your family the best, and please tell Guy thank you for everything. I owe him so much."

I step back behind the fence, where he can't reach me, and meet his eyes now. "I still believe you can change. You just have to believe it too."

His eyes stay cold, as I turn and walk back up the cobbled driveway to my house.

In the kitchen, Mom stands with Dad, straightening his clothes and hair not unlike I did for Glen. She looks surprised when she sees me. "Did you forget something, honey?"

Shaking my head, I walk up to her, and with intense motherly instinct, she holds out her arms, frowning.

I reach her, and hug her tightly, dissolving into tears.