Remember

Chapter 17

Jacob caught up to me and grabbed my hand in his.

"You alright?" he asked and I nodded

"This is good" I smiled, "They trust me and trust is important"

"You're their family, of course they trust you" he chuckled and I beamed, "I have a question" he said, cocking his head to the side.

"Go ahead" I nodded

"What do I call you now? Allie or Alexandria?" he asked. I laughed at his question,

"Well, Allie sounds wrong now. It feels like it was never my name so... Alexandria I guess. But that's too long..." I frowned as I thought out loud

"What about Alex?" he asked and my ears perked up at that.

"Yes" I agreed, "Alex... I like that."

"Good." He replied as we continued to walk.

I knew it was cold and it was dark but today I wasn't freezing or scared. I felt confident in myself and the people I was with, my family. They were my family.

"Alexandria" my father said from the front

"Yes, papa?" I said and he began walking with Jacob and I

"Your powers, when we get there you'll need to use them and I understand that you don't fully know what you're supposed to be doing." He said, practically reading my mind. I had been worrying about that for a while actually.

I nodded.

"When I gave you back your memories, among them was your memory of how to use your powers. This knowledge will come back to you when you most need it. It may not be right away but they will come to you at some but, you just need to trust that they will, do you understand?" he asked

"But when I killed that guy using them, that was before you gave me back my memories" he queried

"That was because you felt such a strong emotion your powers just flooded out of you. It wasn't directed at anyone it was almost like you were leaking power. Because he was close to you his body absorbed all of it, if anybody else had been closer you would've kill them instead. Think of it like a pot boiling over on the stove. It was an accident that wasn't supposed to happen."

"Ok. I think I understand." I nodded, "Does this mean I need to keep my emotions under control when we get there, in case I hurt somebody?"

"That's exactly what it means" he said and I nodded.

We walked for a little longer in silence when he stopped,

"You're just like your mother, you know?" he smiled to himself, "She would be proud of the young woman I see standing before me today"

"What was she like?" I asked, he thought about her with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

"She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. She was kind and generous and loving. She was also a bit of a handful at times but I'm positive that I was too. She made very good jokes and could make me laugh whenever she wanted. She was strong willed and opinionated and wouldn't ever give up on anything or anyone. But she was also broken." He had sadness in his eyes and I felt Jacob squeeze my hand,

"She had experienced more hurt in her life than anybody could ever imagine and there were times when she couldn't cope but she was strong and she was powerful and she held herself together so well for so long but when we had to give you away... the grief ate her alive. It hurt me so much when she died." He looked at the ground and sniffed, quickly rubbing his eyes. I could tell he was still hurt.

"I'm sorry" I whispered,

"She loved you so much" he shook his head, "I loved her so much"

I reached out an arm and hugged my father, comforting him as he chuckled a little.

"Look at me" he said, "I'm a grown man and I'm crying. She'd make fun of me if she were here right now."

I laughed at him and we continued to walk. He ran up to the front of the group so he could continue guiding them to wherever Blackwood was and Jacob wrapped an arm around my waist.

"You're incredible" he smiled

"Why?" I asked, looking up at him

"Nobody has ever been able to get him to talk about Melissa since she died. Except you." He said and I looked over at my father who was leading the group.

He was a strong man who lost everything.

His wife.

His daughter.

And by the looks of things, his pride and his dignity.

I wanted to be able to be there for him now, I wanted to show him that I was never going to leave him because I loved him. He's my father and I know that and I understand that and it makes me so happy that I'm here but there are bigger issues at hand right now.

We walked for a few more minutes when we came to a stop in front of a large cave.

"What is it?" somebody asked

"This is the place" my father replied.

Well, I guess this is it.

-

Ok so the next one is, like, the mother of all chapters so be ready. Emotionally and physically - just a warning.

Predictions? What do you think?

All of the love to you

-V