Chapter 17

Jonathan was standing in front of a small army of guards. He had a smug look on his face, like he thought he had already won. That just made me HAVE to beat him up!

"Give up now, and we won't hurt you... that bad," Jonathan told us, smiling at the end.

"Are those the only options cuz' I think I know one more," I said, starting to form ice on my hands.

"Blair? People could see," Jax said, giving me a meaningful look.

I guess we were in a parking lot. Even if it was employee-only lot, there's still a risk of someone seeing our powers. That would just bring more people like Mr. Moore.

"Guess we'll just have to do this old school," I muttered, preparing for a fight.

"Attack," Jonathan ordered, stepping back and letting his goons fight for him like a coward.

It became instinct. I had to hold back on using my powers, but years of hand-to-hand combat training came in real handy. Every punch, kick, and hit flowed together. All I was focused on what getting to Mr. Moore. He was standing in the back watching us fight.

Soon enough, the was just one guard left standing, the one that had been assigned to protect Jonathan. I saw fear in the way the goon was holding himself. He didn't want to be here, but he was ordered to fight us, so he would do just that. He probably used to be a soldier or something. The trained eye sees all, as some would say.

"Do you really want to do this?" dad asked the guard as we all stood next to each other.

The guy seemed to contemplate it for a second, and then he ran, "Hell no! This is NOT what I signed-up for!"

I actually laughed at that, "Not as loyal as you thought, huh Jonathan?"

His answer to me was him grabbing a cattle rod from a fallen guard. He held it up with a shaky hand. Did he really think that was going to scare me? If anything, it made me even angrier.

"He's mine," I said, giving a look to my family.

They backed away. When I'm this serious about something, nothing will get in my way. I wasn't going to use my powers, but I was going to teach this douchebag a lesson that he can never forget.

"Don't. Ever. Touch. My family. Again," I gave him a punch to the jaw with each word.

He had already fallen to the ground by then. He was so close to passing-out, but I refused to let him not feel the pain. The dark part of me that yearned for him to pay was shining through.

To seal the deal, I gave him a hard kick 'where the sun don't shine'. He deserves more, but I wouldn't waste my energy on him.

"Ready to go home?" Mom asked with a smile.

"Beyond ready," I said, hooking arms with her.

We must have looked pretty weird, a family with bunch of cuts and scrapes walking down the road towards the houses, but we didn't care. We were together again, and that's all that matters.

When we got home, our house looked like it always did. It was as if nothing had happening there. The only difference was the group of worried teens sitting in the living room. Those teens were Lucy, Lux, Cole, Caitlin, and Lucas. Caitlin was crying, and the others seemed to be on the verge. Through all of this, I had almost forgotten about my friends. What had THEY thought happened to us?! Knowing them, they assumed the worst, which was probably right.

They all came rushing towards us once we had walked into the living room, giving us a huge group hug, even our parents were involved.

"Hey guys," I said.

"Oh, not that again! What happened?! You were just gone! We didn't know what to think, you jerks!" Lucy yelled at Jax and I.

The familiarness of the situation made a small smile play at my lips, "It's a long story."

"Bullshit! Let me guess, Mr. Moore took you guys and tortured you until you used your powers. You fought your way out and found us there. Did I get it all?" Lucas explained.

"Well... yes," Mom said, "Minus the details."

I was right. Our friends had guess exactly what was going on with us. They may be new to this world, but they were well-adjusted. Why didn't I tell them earlier? I'm an idiot.

"Well, we have some stuff to tell you guys, too," Lux said, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, yeah! We do!" Cole exclaimed.

"Great," I said, "But first, showers."

It was as if a switch had gone off in my brain. I starting realizing how terrible I looked. I may not have any injuries because of my powers, but I sure did smell like blood and sweat. Pretty unappetizing!

Once we had all cleaned-up, we all met back in the living room again. Our friends seemed to have calmed down a bit now that they knew we were ok. My mind was still trying to figure out what they meant by stuff they had to tell us. What could have happened that would be so important?

"What was it that you wanted to tell us?" dad asked.

"While you were gone, people starting to make rumors. We did everything we could to say that you were just on vacation, but that didn't stop them. One specific rumor, everyone started to believe it," Lux started.

The imaginations of this town could NOT be very large. I mean, the town's called Apple Valley.

"What's the rumor?" I asked, not worrying at all.

They all looked at each other like they were fighting about who had to tell us. I started to worry a little.

"People think your a mob family," Lucas exclaimed. Well it sounded more like 'peoplethinkyouramobfamily.'

"Well, crap," Jax muttered, falling back onto the couch.

Mom was too shocked to call him out on swearing. I wasn't shocked though, I was confused. I mean, I GUESS it works, but really? A mob family?

"Well, we'll just have to convince them that we're not. We just go back to our normal lives, minus mom and dad working at Mr. Moore's company, and ignore anyone who thinks we are criminals," I said.

It's a little ironic, people thinking that MY family our CRIMINALS. How wrong they are.

"How do you do that?" Cole asked, incredulous.

"Do what?" I was confused.

"How do you come up with plans on the spot?" he answered.

"Oh, that. Did you forget who my parents are?" I asked him.

"Still awesome," he muttered.

I laughed, a real genuine laugh. A couple hours ago I would've given anything to be laughing like this again. Everyone else in the room starting to join in. Maybe we were all in shock still, maybe we were just happy. Who knows!