Derrek walked me out to his car that was parked on the street in front of my house.

As he walked me around to the passenger side and opened my door for me, we saw Garrett's car pull onto the road and we waved as he passed by us and pulled into Carrianne's driveway. Garrett had kept a cool face the whole time as he drove by, waving back politely.

I ducked into the car and we pulled away from the curb and out of town. I sat back in my seat and listened to Derrek's happy chatter. He filled me in on everything I had missed at school, it wasn't much. Apparently Lucas and Brittany were in a fight over something, and our math teacher had puked in the middle of a lesson. Being around Derrek made it so easy to forget about all of the other drama that has started to take over my life.

My phone vibrated in my purse and I pulled it out to check my messages.

Garrett: What are you doing with Derrek??

I rolled my eyes at the message.

Me: What are you doing with Carrianne??

The typing icon was up for two full minutes.

Garrett: Are u trying to make me jealous?

Seriously? It took that long to write that?

Me: Are you jelly? Der is a friend...unlike Carrianne btw

Garrett: Whatever Cade

Me: W/E Garrett

I shoved my phone back into my bag with a huff.

"Trouble in paradise?" Derrek quizzed me.

I cut my eyes to him. "I don't know what you mean." I tried to say smoothly.

Derrek laughed lightly. "Oh, come on. Don't try to play me Cali Cade. I've seen you guys together."

I ducked my head in shame. "It's not what you think. We aren't cheating or anything."

Derrek reached over to rest his hand on my knee. "Sure seems like you guys have something going."

"We...We are...It's complicated, Derrek." I mumbled looking out the window.

"What about Carrianne?"

"That's the complicated part."

"I see."

"Honestly, we haven't done anything. He's still with her." I defended myself. The last thing I want is for Derrek to be thinking I am a home wrecking tramp.

"So he hasn't kissed you?" He asked, clearly a lift in his spirits.

My cheeks flushed a little as I shook my head. No, he hasn't kissed me, he's only taught me how to use my super powers like a pro. I thought to myself with a smile.

"What?" Derrek asked looking at me with a weird expression.

Oh my god. I can't believe I just did that. I accidentally telepathically said that to him.

"Is that some sort of weird sex thing I don't want to know about?" He laughed it off.

"Oh my god, Derrek!" I said slapping his hand off my knee. "You're so weird, it was just a joke." I tried to play it off, hoping he would let it go.

We pulled into the parking lot of a nice looking steak house and he killed the engine. I started to get out but Derrek's hand grabbed my arm before I opened my door. He was leaning across the console staring into my eye, she had such a natural smolder. Especially up close, Derrek was strikingly handsome. He smiled his perfect smile coyly. "Well," He said reaching a hand up to the side of my face. "If he hasn't kissed you yet, that means I still have a shot." He brushed his thumb across my cheek bone.

"A shot at what? Me?" I laughed nervously. Derrek and I have kissed a few times, but after the last day with Garrett I hadn't planned to continue that side of mine and Derrek's relationship. As he leaned in even closer though, my breath began to hitch a little. There is no denying the attraction between us, and we are definitely great for each other. "You said this was just as friends." I reminded him, but my words came out very breathy.

Derrek's nose was touching mine. "I knew you'd say no if I didn't say that." He whispered. "If you don't want me to kiss you anymore, just say so." He didn't give me a chance to say anything else though, not that I was going to. He pressed his lips to mine gently, and despite myself I kissed him back. He was the first to pull away. "I know you like someone else, but I know you like me too. So long as the other guy is unavailable anyway, I don't have a problem with fighting him for you. I like you a lot Cade. You're a dope girl, and...I don't know, I'm not great with words, I just think we could be pretty freaking great together."

My head was swimming. "I don't know what to say." I said honestly.

Derrek put his finger to my lips. "Don't say anything. Let's just go have some dinner, maybe kiss a little more, and let's just have some fun." He smiled brightly. "Now let me get your door, like the true gentleman I am." He joked hopping out of the car.

***

After dinner Derrek dropped me off at my front door, and kissed me goodnight under the glow of the porch light. When I went inside I actually did the totally cliché movie girl thing where she closes the door after a great date and then stands there leaning back against the door grinning like an idiot. When I heard the loud engine of Derrek's Trans am pulling away I locked the door and escaped to my room.

I twisted the lock on my bedroom door and got dresses for bed. It had been a long couple of days and I was starting to feel it. I killed the lights and laid down in my bed. The feel of my fluffy feathered pillow beneath my head was heaven.

A noise at my door caused me to jolt upright.

I looked at the door and saw the lock spin and the door pop open slowly.

Garrett appeared, bathed in the orange looking light coming from the hallway. I reached over to my lamp, switching the light back on. He closed and relocked the door before turning the full power of his angry gaze on me. "What the hell, Cade?" He asked with annoyance.

"What?" I asked, although I had a feeling I knew what he was angry about.

"I saw you kissing him tonight, Cade."

"I see you kissing Carrianne all the time!" I said in an exaggeration of the facts.

"That's not the same." He argued.

"Oh please, Garrett. What a double standard. It's fine for you to play both sides of Carrianne and me, but god forbid if another guy have an interest in me." I said angrily.

"Whatever." He said grumpily.

I laughed despite the fact that we were mid argument. "I'm going to buy you a t-shirt that says that, you know." I teased him.

"Whatever." He said again, this time with a smile threatening to break out.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. "So, what did Carrianne say?"

He looked confused. "About what?"

"Me."

"Why would she say something about you?"

"She didn't tell you?" I asked surprised. "I'm pretty sure she knows about me now. She set my curtains on fire when she got mad that she still couldn't burn me, and I put it out." Garrett still looked like he wasn't getting it. "I put it out with my mind dummy." I explained.

Realization crossed his face. "Cadence, you were supposed to me keeping that a secret." He scolded me. His face turned to look at my covered window with a thoughtful expression. "I wonder why she wouldn't mention it to me." He mused.

"Maybe she doesn't know if you know or not." I guessed. "I assume making me look even cooler wouldn't be something she'd want to do."

"That doesn't sound like her. Surely she would know that I know. Why does she not want me to know that she knows, even though she knows I know?" He wondered.

I laughed at him. "Look, I'm too tired for all of this." I told him. "I'm going to sleep." I huffed as I laid down in my bed again.

"Goodnight, Cadence." He whispered.

"My name is Cade." I said back.

"You're such a brat."

"I know it."

***

On Sunday I woke up bright and early. I was itching to get to Wes's house as quickly as possible in hopes that he'd explain some more to me.

The ride over was a little awkward between Garrett and I, but I don't know what else he expected. It wasn't like I had gone out with the intention of ending up in some weird love triangle. Or was it a square since there was also Carrianne? Regardless, he had no reason to be mad at me, and I think he knew that, which only made things weirder. We hardly spoke the entire drive, so I used all of that time to mentally prepare myself for this meeting with Wes.

As soon as he opened his front door he shut me down. "I'm not answering all of those questions, darling." He murmured as he turned and walked to his study. Darn his mind reading.

"At least answer me a few." I begged as I sat down on the couch.

"I'll give you three." He responded reluctantly.

I grinned widely. "Ok, who was my mom in love with?"

"Pick another one."

"Oh, come on. You didn't say it could only be specific questions." I argued.

"I choose what to answer, or no deal."

"Fine." I pouted. "Something you said the other day, you told me Stephen had served his purpose. What did you mean?"

Wes made a production of huffing and rubbing his forehead. "I shouldn't have said that. It was just a silly prophesy."

"Tell me." I urged.

Wes stood and retrieved one of the hundreds of books from one of the shelves. He thumbed through it slowly before finding the page and handing the book over to me. "One of the most reliable seers we have ever had told a story of twin children, one boy and one girl, that were to be born between a very powerful union. Many believed that this would be between the Trysaimens and the McDuffies, however that wasn't the case. Regardless, according to the story, the girl would be the most talented Potente ever known. She was prophesied to call out the evil and corrupt of our kind and to defeat them. Her brother was said to be powerless, but fiercely protective of the girl. The story said that the boy would serve as an ultimate protector to his powerful sister, and that he would help her to find her destiny."

"But Stephen was killed, he didn't help me." I said sadly. I hate the idea that my brother's only purpose in living was to be my crutch. I reject that explanation. Stephen was so much more than that.

Wes looked at me apologetically. "I know that sounds like a harsh assessment of the brother you loved so dearly, but if you will, in his death he did lead you to the truth. Had your family not moved here, and you not met Garrett, odds are you would have never realized your true identity."

"So what?" I laughed without any humor. "I'm supposed to be some super girl and save the world?"

Garrett and Wes both shook their heads at me. "Cadence dear, there is no definite proof that this prophesy is true. I am only sharing with you what you requested to know."

I couldn't dwell on that long. I needed to focus my mind elsewhere. "What about my grandparents? Shouldn't they still be alive?" I asked hopeful.

"No, dear." He answered. "They died in a boating accident long before you were conceived."

"Oh." I mumbled. "Please tell me who my father is?" Without that knowledge, I'm just an orphan all alone in the world.

"I can't tell you that." He said shaking his head. "It is speculation anyway. I don't know for sure. The circumstances surrounding the whole thing are iffy."

"Why did someone kill my mom? Please tell me. I need to know more about her...about me."

Wes walked back to his shelves and pulled out the same Trysaimens book he had used before. "I won't say specifics. It's best you don't know, and aside from that, as I have mentioned, there is no way to prove any of these things as fact." He told me. "I told you already that your mother's birth threw our whole marriage arrangements into a frenzy. Your mother was supposed to marry Dalton McDuffie, as he was from the next most powerful family. However, your mother fell for another, a man from the third most powerful family at the time, a man who was already promised to another young lady. Her name was Annabeth. Annabeth was from a lower family, the Wellburns. She had been impeccably blessed to have been awarded the opportunity to marry up into the third most powerful family. Annabeth was a social climber, and she was not very well liked. Your mother and father were only seventeen when the affair allegedly began. Rumors say that when your mother fell pregnant, that your father was begging for your mother's hand in marriage instead of Annabeth's. Annabeth, being the type of girl she was, refused to agree to such a thing. This was her big chance to move up the ladder. She was supposed to have a high born heir, but your mother was making that dream disappear. Annabeth's family tried to have her wed off to Dalton instead, but Dalton wanted nothing to do with someone from a family so beneath him. Your father has always been a proud man." He said to Garrett. "Anyway, it was looking like Annabeth wouldn't have a pair with anyone, high or low born. Your mother left town before anyone found out she was with child. Even as few years as 17 years ago, teen pregnancy was much more scandalize than it is now. Rumor was that Marrsala was going away so no one would know of the affair until it was finalized that she and your father would be married. Marrsala never came back though, and no child was heard of. Rumors circulated for years that Annabeth, or her family, had something to do with the mysterious death. Annabeth wed your father as she was supposed to. The end."

I felt so many emotions. I was swept up in the story of my mother, and her secret lover. "I need to know who my father is Wes, I need to. Can't you understand that?"

"I won't." He said simply as he returned the book to its place. "Now let's get to practicing your skills. Shall we try breathing under water today?" He asked cheerfully as if he wasn't holding the biggest secret of all from me.

The whole car ride back to my house that night I had just one thought running through my mind.

I've got to steal that book.