Dear Alex A.

Chapter 29

That night I slept fitfully, which was odd seeing as tomorrow I would have to break out my biological father from a high security facility. I dreamt of my family, when it was whole. When I was just Fay. I was that sporty nerd who kept to herself until a competition came her way. I loved to read and sing and dreamt of being an actress or a successful recording artist. I didn't have many friends because of my blackouts, I was too afraid of what I'd do if I ever lost it with them. Manuel always said I'd find the right people, those who'd understand me, I just had to reach out. Suddenly Manuel was gone, and my sisters slowly faded into the background. Instead, a man stood there, in the middle of a grassy field. We just stood there, staring at one another.

If I didn't look like my mother, I looked like him... I wanted him to look repulsively chauvinistic. With looks like kind of man women usually have dark fantasies with, it'd be easier to hate him that way. He looks the part, acts the part, that is his role. He was just a player, 'hit it and quit it' type of guy. That's the character I cut out for him to play so I could lock up the crying child in me. But he didn't fit in my box...

"It's time to get up." Luke murmured in my ear. My eyes snapped open and I rolled away from him. In my rolling I clashed with a leg of a little table, knocking over a vase. "Are you ok?!"

"I'm fine." I grumbled, trying to get up without knocking anything else over. Luke never did finish telling me what he was going to say. Instead he sighed and walked out of the room after telling me to cool my head. I called Sam repeatedly but it never rang more than 3 times before he hung up.

"Breakfast is ready." Luke kept his distance, giving me his best impersonation of a guilty pup. Once we were downstairs I apologized to everyone for snapping. I was more mature than this. I had had to be my whole life. The one who could keep things together when they were falling apart. Ever since this mess started, I realized just how little control I really had over what happened to me. My father was supposed to be the stupid loose canon, not me. It is my job to stop the war. It's my job to keep my family and friends safe.

"I'll tell you, when the time is right. I promise." My mate was still trying to regain my affections, I simply nodded with disinterest,

"We can sort that out later, for now we need to focus on what's important, right?" His shoulders hung low and wounded. The rest of the team turned away as if they hadn't seen Luke's cold rejection.

Eliza furrowed her eyebrows at me disapprovingly, was it wrong to give him the cold shoulder when he was keeping something from me? I could feel it in my bones, whatever he's hiding isn't like a 'When I was in 6th grade I accidentally wet my pants watching a horror film' kind of thing. Lucio knows his secret, yet he refuses to tell me. Still, my body was also responding to me pushing him away,like each time a piece of me was being torn. Something in me was begging to forgive him and hold him; she wanted to punish me for making him hurt.

"Speak of the devil..." I growled when I felt his presence. He was dressed all spiffy again in a white suit, top hat and cane to match.

"Missed me so soon darling?" The man winked and my bird greeted him with no shame. "You'll have to behave better than that in front of your father, I don't think he'll approve." I bristled but Daniel cut in before anymore venom was spit.

"How about we focus on getting into the facility?"

"That is simple. I've a few contracts on the inside who's keepers are going to help us as well. I'm not usually allowed to use magic inside, or else I'd get caught. There are special sensors in place to detect changes in energy, temperatures, etc. My contracts will temporarily shut off these sensors as we enter, but we still have to get past the guards. We must be down in the lab where your father is within 15 minutes. Every second counts. The less we have to engage, the better. I can't use too much magic to conceal us, otherwise they'll sense it and catch on. Once we're down there I'll shut off his machines. The second I do an alarm will notify Joshua, the one in charge of this facility."