Enigma

1.3

"That I am aware of, your mother wears her heart on her sleeve; I see a lot of it in Nicolas. You're more like you dad, you hide it, but there's a reason for it naturally."

"I think she reached a point tonight, and it didn't go well. I tried to control it, I really did." Kallisto's voice caught in her throat. "It just became a lot, the pain...the emotions, I guess I just lost it."

Miranda reached her hand out to smooth out her hair. "You didn't lose it, Kalli. It's not a crime to let loose once in a while. Your mother didn't just lose a daughter, you lost a sister, you're allowed to feel something and let it out."

"Am I though?"

The question hung tensely in the air. It was no shock that a lot of Kallisto's control came from maintaining her emotions, her gifts were highly located in her head, where the brain sent signals to her body that gave her her abilities. She had learned control over the years to keep a calm state of mind - it made the control clear; she gained some ticks during her life that made her gifts flow through her body physically which helped with using them, but she mostly relied on the idea of keeping a clear mind.

Kallisto pulled her finger away from Bobby. She twisted her fingers. A wood block floated from the ground and levitated to the baby who clapped his hands together at the trick. It fell into her lap.

"Everytime I let go, when I allow my mind to feel the same height of emotion that others around me feel, I make a mess."

Miranda watched as her son interacted with the wood block. Kallisto twisted the object to make it dance. Bobby reached for it and gasped when it would pull away from him and then float closer. She sighed. "But what's life without a little bit of a mess, right?"

The kitchen door flung open. Kyle ran up to his aunt and fell into her lap. He grinned at both his mother and aunt. "Daddy says dinner is ready!"

Bobby wailed at the sudden moment. Kallisto dropped the block to the ground as Kyle climbed onto her lap and latched his arms around her neck. Miranda sighed again and turned Bobby to her chest.

"All right mister, you made a baby cry, you get to be on diaper duty tonight."

Kallisto smiled as Kyle whined before standing up and hoisting him on her hip. They headed to the kitchen to join the table. Nicolas was not sitting at the table. Marcel sat patiently in his spot, with the other dog Juney sitting at his feet, begging for food that was yet to be served. Miranda locked Bobby into his highchair and sat beside him. Kallisto placed her nephew into his spot. She finally noticed the faint smoke that swirled around by the back door.

She opened the door gently and stood beside her brother. He pulled away the cigarette as he noticed his sister. He nodded his head as a greeting and took another drag.

"I thought you quit that habit back in the eleventh grade?"

"It's more for a stress thing." She nodded. Nicolas kept his eyes on the horizon as he finished the cigarette.

"Do I even want to know what happened back at home?" Nicolas glanced over to his sister. She too was staring at the horizon.

"Would it make you sleep any better if you did?"

Nicolas gave a short chuckle. "Probably not. But nowadays it's harder to sleep."

"I'm sorry."

"Why the apology?"

Kallisto broke her gaze and looked to her brother. He looked tired, he always did. Kallisto remembered the late nights her brother would stay up, not wanting to sleep because he couldn't live with the idea that he was safe and able at home while their older sister was god-knows-where. She remembered the nights where it got better for him, after he met Miranda; he had a reason to sleep, a good person next to him that unknowingly built a path that he could follow so he could move forward.

"Because you moved so far, and now it seems like you're back to square one, being haunted by something you can't control."

Nicolas put out the ash on the cigarette before stashing it in a watering can. "Nothing I can't fix. You on the other hand seemed to cause some damage that will take a bit of time to fix-" he leaned against the porch railing "- dad told me about your accident."

"Accident is an understatement."

"Mum lost it tonight?"

Kallisto drew in a deep breath. "She found out I toyed around inside her head to get to sleep the past couple of nights. And said some words to dad, and called my gifts terrible."

"What?" Nicolas had a hard tone to his voice.

"She made a valid point; the things I can do...they're not exactly good."

"Your gifts are a part of you, no matter how much our mother tries to pile on the denial. You're a good person, through and through. It doesn't matter what other people think or say about people with your abilities, the only thing that makes those kinds of gifts terrible is if the person is terrible. Like, a robber pulling out a gun - the gun isn't a terrible thing it's the person who pulls the trigger that's terrible."

Kallisto raised a brow at the comparison. "Are you comparing my unnatural abilities and my morals to a major debate that's happening in America?"

Nicolas scratched at the scruff that was growing on his face. "Not exactly the best comparison to use, but you get the gist of the meaning." Kallisto shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey! Whenever you get the time, dinner is starting and it's gonna get cold sitting on your plates!"

Kallisto stifled a smile at her sister-in-law's call. Nicolas sighed. He reached out and pulled his sister into a side hug. "You joining us?"

"I'm gonna call it a night, I'm still trying to piece together my head after tonight."

"My wife is gonna kill me for letting you out of dinner. The room is ready, you know where to find things if you need them."