Chapter Five

"Sage, where," Maverick starts, and I interrupt him.

"I ran into my parents, and they didn't recognise me at all, and then Creep laughed and said boohoo, poor Sage, so I think that he's done something to them to make them forget me." I rush out, aware that it was a bit more of a ramble than I intended it to be.

"What's that in your hand?" Kysen asks and then adds with a confused frown. "When did you pick that up?"

My eyebrows crease, I have no idea what the fuck he's talking about because I have nothing in my hands, I look down, and my mouth drops open in shock when I see a scroll in my hand. "I have no idea."

"Right, before we get into the first thing you said because, quite frankly, I am still trying to process it, I suggest that you open the scroll that magically appeared in your hand instead," Jax suggests.

I have to admit that although this is a serious situation, the fact that he is shirtless is extremely distracting, and I smirk at Kai when I catch him looking too. Jax catches me looking and winks before he heads back into his room and comes out with a shirt on.

I clear my throat as I take a seat on the couch, everyone sitting down with me, all of them looking curious.

Frowning down at the roll of parchment in my hand, I have to force myself to open it. I have a feeling that I'm not going to like what's written on it, but with everyone staring at me, I know I have to read it, so I simply just open the scroll.

At the last second, I change my mind. I don't think I want to read it, and I hand it to Mav, who is sitting next to me, "Can you read it, please? I've got a feeling."

Mav's eyes fill with understanding, "Of course, I can."

"Thank you," I reply gratefully, as I lean my head on his shoulder.

He kisses my forehead and then starts to read, "Daughter, I'm sorry that I've had to resort to talking to you like this, but Kronos is proving to be a nuisance. I am so sorry that he took your parents" memories and others too. I feel that you deserve to know that although I had every intention of eventually telling you that they aren't your biological parents, I had absolutely no intention of taking you from their memories. That was all Kronos and was designed simply to hurt you and distract you from finding more information about his Order and stopping the hold that he has on the teachers at Blood Moon Academy.

"Now that he has taken you from their memories, not only do they not remember that you were their daughter, but no one else will either. I am so sorry for this hurt. Everything will make sense in time, and I'm sorry that I can't give you more answers right now. Your journey is going to be far from easy, but I am sending you some help along the way. All my love, Nyx."

The room is silent as everyone waits to see what my reaction is going to be. I feel a bit numb, if I'm being honest. I don't have parents again. They were never my parents, so this significant anomaly of me being born isn't even true. Am I even a Centre? I mentally roll my eyes at myself; I'm obviously a Centre; I wouldn't have my Bonded if I weren't, but the question of who the fuck I am is still a very valid one.

"Sage?" Levi asks, and I realise that at some point in my musings, he's perched himself on the table in front of me. "Are you okay? What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

"A couple of things mostly," I reply, "one, who the fuck am I, really? And two, it feels like I take one step forward and two steps back. It's ridiculous. Why do I keep having fake parents? I mean, one set is insane enough, but now I have two sets of fake parents? There had better be a damn good freaking reason as to why, and I mean truly epic."

They all stare at me for a second since I started to reply calmly, and then it sort of derailed toward the end.

"I'm sorry, Sage. I wish I could give you answers, but I really don't have any for you. None of us do; the only thing we can do is hope that the Goddess decides to give you more information soon," Levi replies.

I sigh and rub both of my hands over my eyes, "I know, it's just so fucking frustrating," with my hands still over my eyes, I say quietly, "It hurts; I just found them, I spent so long without them, and we didn't really get to know each other properly, and now I've lost them, and I'm back to having no parents. Everyone else may have lost their memories that I was their daughter, but I haven't. Those that I do have are still there, and that makes it hurt more."

My voice is very small by the time I finish my reply, and I suddenly find myself surrounded by my men, all of them putting a hand on me in comfort in some way, as Mav pulls me into his arms, and I sink into him.

I allow myself to feel this grief, and it is grief. I thought I'd found my parents. I remembered them and the little memories that we did have, and now that's all been taken away because although they aren't dead, I am very much grieving them like they were because they don't even know who I am.

It hurts.

"Thanks, guys," I say, my voice muffled in Mav's chest. "I'll be okay. It has just taken me by surprise. I mean, of all the things that could be thrown at us next, that wasn't even in the Realm of the list."

"I know," Hunter replies and then continues, "Do you want to curl up and watch some movies with some snacks? Do you want us to get Erin?"

"And Cole?" Kysen adds he's been silently observing until now, and he's watching me with worried eyes now.

I shake my head and glance up at the clock, "No. I'm emotional, I'm mad as hell, and I want to beat the shit out of someone. My magic is mad too, and I want to use it."

"Are you sure?" Levi asks, studying me closely, "it might not be a good idea to play with your magic while you're angry. I know for a fact that mine plays up even more if I'm angry."

I take a deep breath, "It's more hurt than anger that I'm feeling. I hear what you're saying, and if I thought there was a chance that I could lose my control, then I wouldn't use my magic, but I'm confident that I can."

Levi studies me for a moment longer before he nods his head, "Okay, we'll go and get changed then. We need to meet the others at Erin's dorm room in about five minutes."

I nod, turn my head, and kiss Maverick, silently thanking him again for reading the scroll so I didn't have to. There's no way that I would have been able to get through the words without getting emotional.

I glance around at everyone and notice Jax frowning; he meets my eye and says, "What do you think she meant by sending you some help along the way?"

I shrug, "I imagine exactly what she's already been doing, sending scrolls and visions as well as talking to me directly when she can. It's all been helpful in some ways, and I imagine that's what she was referring to."

Jax is still frowning as he replies, "Yeah, I suppose. It just felt like she meant something more. I mean, why would she feel the need to mention something that she's already doing, and we're already used to her doing?"

Levi tilts his head, "You know, actually that's a really good point."

"All we can really do is stay vigilant and keep an eye out for any of this extra help that she's referring to. Sage said that she was worn out from fighting against Kronos unexpectedly, so maybe she just forgot or something?" Kai suggests.

"Yeah, I guess that's a possibility," Jax agrees, still not sounding one hundred percent convinced.

The way that they've said a couple of things has suddenly made some pieces snap into place, and I jolt upright, making Mav jump. The others all look at me in question.

"Creep is Kronos," I state. It's obvious, but with the whole my parents not being my parent's thing, I somehow managed to skip past that, and judging from the looks on the guy"s faces, they hadn't connected those dots either.

"Fucking hell, your right," Mav is the first to speak.

Jax turns wide eyes to Kai, "Dude, that means that you fought a God and held your fucking own!"

Kai's eyes widen along with everyone else's, and he says, "Well fuck I definitely would've been more nervous had I known. He must've been having a bad day or something; I mean, he's a freaking God!"

I frown, "Don't sell yourself short; you made him struggle."

"She's right. I'd be damn proud if I were you," Hunter agrees.

"At least we know who Creep is now," Levi replies.

"I"m still calling him Creep, or maybe giant fucking asshole," I reply, the anger in my tone unmistakable.

Levi glances at me and agrees, "Sounds good to me. Why don't we all go and get ready, and then you can beat some stuff up?"

"Alright, good idea. I'm going to get dressed," I say as I get up, and everyone else does the same. They must have all felt my distress through the bond and just got up since they're still in pjs. I do not doubt that if Kysen and I hadn't walked through the door when we did, then they would've come looking for us.

It's only when I get to my bedroom that I realise that I'm already dressed appropriately, and Levi must've just assumed that I wanted to get changed. I briefly contemplate allowing myself to have a moment now that I'm alone, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that I don't actually want to fall down that rabbit hole, at least not right now.

In a swirl of magic, Ghost and Knot appear. If it weren't for the fact that they both look frazzled and immediately circle me to check for injuries and to see if I'm okay, I would've just assumed that they were off wherever familiars go. Neither one of them will tell me; however, their behavior tells me that something is wrong.

As soon as Knot turns into her fox form, I sit down on the floor, and she jumps into my arms; placing her paws on my shoulders, she rests her forehead against mine, and I instantly know that they couldn't get to me and that she wants to know what happened. I try to separate myself from the memory as I close my eyes and play it over in my mind for her, but I'm not that successful as hurt stabs my heart. Knot"s face rubs against mine in comfort as Ghost nudges my hand until I stroke him. Somehow, I know that what I'm sharing with Knot, she is sharing with Ghost.

I'm incredibly glad that I have the ability just to know some of these things. No one has ever had two familiars before, which means not only do I get lots of stares, but there's no help, no information on how they interact together or what they're capable of, and I honestly don't think they know either, which essentially means we're all learning as we go and relying on our intuition. I should probably be writing all of this down and documenting it in case it happens to someone else, but really, when am I going to get the chance? Maybe eventually, our lives will calm down enough that I can write the information down for future generations.

My distraction into all things familiars has effectively distracted me, and I give Knot one more squeeze and Ghost another pet before I put Knot down and stand up. Now I need to go and kick some ass.

All of the guys look at me worriedly as I step out of my room and then seem to all breathe a sigh of relief at the same time as my familiars follow them out. That Darkness hiding within my magic stirs, and I start to worry whether I really will be able to control it if it gets set free while we're working out.

"That's what your familiars are there for. They can redirect it and pull a certain amount into themselves,"the Goddess"s voice whispers through my mind. She must still be weak because, usually, her voice is as clear as a bell.

"Are you ready to go?" Hunter asks me.

"Yep, let"s do this," I reply.

We live on the same floor as Erin and Cole. This is the Centres floor since they require unique rooms for their Bonded and now that there aren't any other Centres here we have the whole floor to ourselves, which is quite nice actually and offers us a certain level of not only freedom but protection as well.

As soon as they see me, they both ask, "What's wrong?"

I smile that they said it in sync and then reply, "I'll fill you in later properly. The short of it is my parents aren't actually my parents, surprise!" I just about stop myself from sarcastically doing jazz hands. Their eyes go wide and fill with questions, but before they can ask, I add, "I promise I will fill you in, but right now, I just want to beat the shit out of something and play with my fire. The gym is fireproof, right?"

My question is aimed at the guys since they have lessons in there, although I do keep forgetting that Erin and Cole did too, until the teachers got controlled by something or someone.

"Yes, it's made to withstand all known magic and supernaturals. There are wards upon wards protecting the space and the rest of the school in case something goes wrong," Asher replies reassuringly.

"Thank fuck for that," I grin.

I'm suddenly pulled into a group hug, and Cole whispers in my ear, "I know that you don't want to talk about it right now, and that's fine, but we love you."

"What he said," Erin agrees and then steps back and claps her hands together, "right, everyone stay as close together as possible. It's going to be a slight challenge covering us all while moving since there are so many of us, but I'm sure that it will be fine."

We all share a look but don't get a chance to say anything as she wraps her magic around us, and we all head down through the stairway, and the halls to the gym that the guys tell me is used the least and is the furthest away from any dorms or anything like that, so we should be save here even if in the the unlikely scenario Erin's shield fails. We don't run across anyone on the way there, and when we arrive, I realise why it's not used as often. It seems to be in not as good condition as the rest of the school, and it's pretty small too. From what I'm aware, the classes are reasonably big. There is no way that a whole class would fit in here. I can feel the magic in the walls though, and I know that despite its appearance, the magic that keeps the building and the people safe is as strong as it needs to be.

We all stay silent as Erin does her thing and works to put her shield up on the other side of the wards so that the wards still work because otherwise, that would be completely counterproductive.

As soon as she nods and gives us the go-ahead, Levi takes charge and pairs everyone up, warning everyone to warm up first. He then looks at me when he reiterates his point; I smirk and stick my tongue out at him in response, and I bounce on my toes.

I got paired up with Kai, but I realise pretty quickly that I have far too much pent-up energy to start by sparring against someone; I don't want to hurt him accidentally.

"I think I should probably start off on one of the bags," I tell Kai, whose eyes fill with understanding, and I add, "They're spelled right? So, they're stronger than the average ones in the Earth Realm?"

He smirks, "Oh yeah, Beautiful, do your worst."

I grin, excitement buzzing through my veins, and I kiss him quickly before I head for the bags at the far end of the gym. I thread my way through my chosen family, impressed with their skills as they spar using their magic and supernatural abilities too. They're all holding back so that they don't seriously hurt those that they're sparring with, and I have no doubt that if they were up against enemies, they'd be utterly formidable, and very few supes would be able to go up against them.

As I get to the bag, I shake off all thoughts of my chosen family, the fact Kronos is Creep, that my parents aren't actually my parents, I push all of it from my mind as I glance at Knot and Ghost who nod, I know that if shit goes wrong, they've got my back and will stop my magic from hurting anyone in this room.