not edited.

Adalyn's POV

It had only been a couple of days since the Nicene and Runningham's brought me to their mysterious winter cabin in the middle of nowhere. I was beginning to get mad cabin fever with nothing to do and of course, no where to go. Diara and Naveen were the only two that went out to get us supplies. 

They were gone today to get some groceries, which left Zahara, Kavita, Titus and Declan as my only form of company. Zahara was suspicious of me and kept to herself most often, but Titus and Kavita had warmed up to me as each day passed. 

I sat by the window drinking some tea that Beth had made for herself as she went over some lab results. She had been burning the midnight oil with Ray all night over a potential solution to the serum that Dr. Carson, or at least I think that is his name, had invented to use against them. Raymond feared that Grayson was being subjected to the stuff in methods of torture. I still couldn't put a face to his name, it was part of the mental block that restricted my memories of him in my subconscious. 

Declan was still sleeping as it was pretty early. I had a lot of trouble sleeping recently because I felt so empty when I woke up. Its like I didn't want to wake up at all because in the dream there was something or someone that brought me great joy. Like it filled the whole that I felt was missing from my life. I could never remember what it was though, which was super frustrating.

I sighed staring out into the yard as the snow fell so peacefully to the ground. I missed home so much today. I missed my mom, my brother and even my dad. I didn't hate my dad for fucking around on my mom, I knew he was very unhappy for a long time. The only reason he had stayed with her was because of us. I watched their marriage fall apart before the fighting even started.

I shook my head to clear those memories out of my thoughts. There was no sense in dwelling on it. 

"Good morning." I turned my head to see Kavita had just woken up. She had dark circles under her eyes and they were still slightly puffy from crying herself into slumber. She blamed herself for Grayson leaving. I was told that Amya had kidnapped her to have him turn himself over. I could imagine that she felt guilty. It was quite the burden she was putting on herself.

"Hey." I responded. I pointed to the teapot to ask her if she wanted some. She nodded and I walked over to the cupboard to get her a mug. I took the teapot and filled the mug with orange pekoe, that was still hot. I knew that she liked a little bit of sugar in hers, so I tossed in two sugar cubes before sliding it over the counter and placing a spoon inside the liquid so she could stir it.

"Thanks." She said softly. I returned to my original seat on the windowsill. She came up behind my and stared out the window, taking in the lush white blanket that covered the yard. It had snowed so much that even the tracks Diara and Naveen had left this morning were barely visible.

The longer I stared at the snow, I started having an idea.

"Do you think it's packy?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders, unsure just by looking at it. I finished off the last bit of tea in the bottom of my mug and grabbed her arm to pull her to the closet.

"What are we doing?" She asked as I slide the closet door open. I tossed her jacket to her, with a toque and a pair of mittens.

"I have an idea. Put those on and your boots too!" I ran into my room and pulled one of the sweaters Declan had given me. When I returned to the living room she was just finishing putting on her left boot. 

I quickly put my own snow gear on, that I was borrowing from Beth. The jacket was a little bit but that didn't bother me in the slightest. I motioned to the front door and her eyebrows raised a bit, but she opened the door and walked through. I was not too far behind her, as I shut the door as I exited into the snow.

The air wasn't took cold today, which may have helped the snow get to the perfect consistency for what I had planned to do. She followed me to the yard where we had just been looking at through the window.

"Have you ever built a snow fort?" I asked her, kneeling into the snow. It dampened the knees of my jeans, but it was going to be worth it. She shook her head at me, "Never?"

"Never. All the places we have lived at don't really get snow the same way Canada does." She admitted. She excitedly plopped down next to me, "How do we start?"

"Well we need to gather as much snow as possible. As you can see," I started to say gathering snow in my hand to crush it into a snowball, "the snow is sticky because it's a little warmer out today, which means we can make structures with it."

"Is it kinda like building a sandcastle?" So she had built a sandcastle but not a snow fort, for shame.

"Actually, yeah. With snow instead of sand though." I started gathering snow into a pile in front of us.

"Hold on a second!" At the speed of light she was gone and back before I could even blink. She held one of the milk crafts from the freezer in her hand, "We could use this for blocks."

"That's actually a really good idea. Is there another one inside?" Before I could finish my sentence she had disappeared and returned, holding a black crate out to me. "Thanks. Let's get to work. Do you want to a more rounded structure or like a castle?"

"Definitely a castle." She stood up and with her feet marked out a borderline or blueprint for us to follow, "We will put the door here and build two towers on either side on the door side."

'What are you guys doing?!' I heard Declan's voice echo in my head. He had almost his whole torso through the window frame. 

"Building a snow fort!" Kavita shouted back. She jam packed the crate and placed it down once it was full. She patted the bottom a couple of times before lifting it up to reveal an almost perfect cube.

'I want in on that action. Titus!' Declan called to our thoughts, closing the window and locking it. It was only a few minutes before the boys joined us outside. The were clearly talking to one another through telepathy. They started working on their own structure that was a few across the yard from us.

"Can you hear what they are discussing?" I whispered to her. She looked over at them and her face contorted in concentration.

"They put up mental blocks, I can't get through." She went back to work. I pushed snow into my crate and plopped down beside her first one. 

It took us over thirty minutes to complete the base and then pile it four blocks high. I was working on rounding out the door we would crawl through to get in and out. Kavita even grabbed some cardboard and string to make a mock draw bridge. 

The boys across the yard were going for a similar structure, with four tours instead of two like ours. Titus was hard at work on a moat and a trench following that. Declan was behind their fort, completely out of view. I finally put together what they were trying to achieve. 

"They are preparing for battle, Princess Kavita." I whispered to her. I gestured to the boys and she clued into what I meant. They were preparing their weapons for a snowball fight. 

"How dare they try and attack us with the element of surprise. I am deeply offended." She said finishing the door. 

"What should we do to prepare, Princess?" I asked looking across the yard overtop of our castle. She got started on a backdoor hole, just big enough for her to squeeze through. I shuffled on my knees to look over the back wall after she crawled through to see what she was up to. She was using telepathy to make over fifty snowballs, damn must be nice to have super powers. As she made them, I reached for the hole to bring several inside our fortress. 

The boys wouldn't know what hit them, "Is that enough?" She asked me. 

"For now. Declan and Titus are still working on their trench. I think we should turn their attempted sneak attack against them. Hit them first." We both peaked over the edge of the castle as Kavita agreed to my plan. Instead of actually throwing the first ball with our hands, Kavita threw it with her mind, hitting Titus in the back of the head. We both giggled as he screamed, very high pitched, and complaining about the cold snow going down his neck. 

"Declan, the women hath taken their first shot against us!" Titus called. I watched him enter the snow fort. We should have taken another shot before they rejoined forces. 

'This IS SPARTA!' Declan shouted to our thoughts. The snow fight began. 

Kavita and I took turns throwing snowballs over the walls in their general direction. My aim was absolutely atrocious but I was smiling the whole time. I felt truly like a kid again. I was hoping the others were taking in this moment as much as I was. Titus released a snowball with some force behind it. I watched it, practically in slow motion, hit Kavita in the chest as she jumped over the wall to the throw her own. She fell back clutching her chest.

"Avenge me." She needed a couple of seconds to recover. 

"I will avenge you Princess." I whispered to her dramatically. I released our drawbridge and gathered as many snowballs as I could carry, "For the princess!!" I shouted.

I ran across no mans land, leaping over Titus' trench. Declan was completely wide eyed when he saw my figure rushing towards them. I threw a couple towards them, hitting Titus square in the face. It was not where I was aiming for, but it would work to my advantage. Declan was too fast, using his super speed which is completely unfair. He sped out of their fortress and came up behind me, pulling my arms behind my back. 

"Not fair! You used your powers!" I shouted. He leaned in his ear inches from mine.

'Surrender yourself over to the Kingdom of-' he paused letting Titus finish for him.

"Kingdom of Shakra."

'the kingdom of Shakra.' His breath was hot on the back of my ear, causing a shiver to travel down my spin.

"YOU WILL NOT WIN!" Kavita was up again, launching herself over the wall of our castle. She used her powers to pull Declan off of me and buried him in the snow, so that only his head was above it, "Claim their castle!" 

Titus was determined to keep us from winning and made the rest of their snowballs float in the air. Jesus Christ. 

Before I could even finish the thought, I was pelted with at least fifteen snowballs. I at least reacted in time to hold my arms up to protect my head. I fell to the ground, knowing that I was probably going to bruise.

"Kavita! Finish him!" I called. I sat up and brushed the snow out of my eyes to watch her completely destroy Titus with a snow wave. He practically turned into a snowman and just groaned as Kavita took a stick she had found and turned her scrunchy into a flag. 

"I, princess Kavita, claim this castle for the Kingdom of Badass Girl Power." She jammed her little makeshift flag into the left front tower. The structure was barely standing due to her assault, but we were victorious and I could live with that. I stood up and brushed off the snow to walk over to our newly claimed territory to give her a high five.

I chuckled as the boys finally dug themselves out of Kavita's snow shackles. They were both basically pouting from their defeat. 

"Want to build a snowman before heading in? Together I mean?" 

~

After building a snowman, traditionally of course. We gave him a carrot nose, stick arms and used rocks for the eyes and buttons. We made sure he had a hat and a scarf to keep him warm. Our snowman was perfectly comfortable with the sudden chill to the air after the adrenaline of our snow fight wore off. We, on the other hand, not so much. 

My teeth chattered once we finally walked inside. Raymond and Beth were looking out the window towards our masterpiece. They were smiling to themselves, enjoying that their kids had a normal experience for once.

"I made some hot chocolate for you guys. I would suggest changing into warmer clothes, as I can see from here that all four of you are soaked." Beth told us, still beaming with gratitude. After we had all undressed and hung our soaked jackets, I went to my room and changed into a dry pair of pants and socks. 

I rejoined the others in the living room to sit around the fireplace. I knew I would warm up soon. Beth handed me a mug filled with her cinnamon hot chocolate. I accepted it with a smile spread across my lips. 

A shiver travelled down my spine and Declan opened his blanket by extending his arm our and back. I took the offer and snuggled in next to him, loving the body heat that radiated off of him. My mind drifted to my family and to my friends. I missed Cara and Simon the most, knowing that they would have really enjoyed the snowball fight we had orchestrated. 

'They probably miss you as much as you miss them.' I heard him speak inside my head.

"It's not fair for you to read my thoughts like that. It's rather annoying actually. I wish I could block you out like you can do to each other." I mumbled to him grumpily. It was hard never having any privacy.

'Do you want me to teach you how?' 

"Hold on, there's a way for me to keep you guys out of my head?" He nodded his head. The others agreed with him. 

"It takes a lot of practice, but there are ways to do it." Raymond spoke from his arm chair.

"Declan, teach me." I was desperate for a return of the privacy of my own damn thoughts. He maneuvered himself out of the blanket after setting down his mug. He disappeared for a few moment and returned with a folded chess board.

"We are playing chess?" I asked him. The confusion was evident in my voice.

'This is how we taught Raymond to put a mental block in position. When playing Chess, most people try to plan moves ahead. Reading someone's thoughts can help us defeat our opponents, because we know their next moves.' He paused for a moment and handed me the white chess pieces, 'So, we are going to play and you are going to keep me out of your thoughts.'

I opened the ziplock bag and dumped the pieces onto the carpet. It had been a while since I had played chess. I used to play with my dad all the time when my parents were still married. I hadn't touched another chess set since they separated. I set up the first row first, placing all the pawns in a row.

I placed either rook on the end corners, then the knights and bishops. Once my queen and king had been set up I looked up to see Declan was already done.

"Okay, so how do I put the block up?" I asked him moving my first pawn, since I was white, forward two spaces. 

'Well, first you need to be able to recognize when someone like me is actually reading your thoughts. To me, it feels like a soft pressure and like someone is poking their fingers around my skull.' He moved a pawn and waited for me to capture the first piece. I scanned the board and tried to picture my next move. I wanted to take his knight that he had broken out by moving it over the line of pawns.

'See, I know you are going to try and take my knight by moving this pawn here.' he pointed to the pawn I had visualized moving to distract him and take it, so my bishop would be open to take it. I tried to come up with a better plan as I scanned the board, I felt it then. There was a slight pressure in my head. I looked up to make eye contact with him to confirm he was attempting to read my thoughts.

"I can feel you inside my head." I told him, filling the silence in the room.

'Good. Now, there are many ways that you can block us from hearing your direct thoughts. One being able to redirect your thoughts to hyper focus on something else.' He took another one of my pawns and held it between his fingers. 'It's being able to multitask in a way. If you focus most of your energy to the details of this pawn, for example. All I will be able to hear is the details of this tiny piece.'

I moved my bishop to take his knight. He quickly countered by using his queen to take mine. I inhaled a breath, "What's another way."

'This one is the most challenging. It's creating a mental block. It's hard to explain, but it's like shield to your thoughts. It is a lot harder to teach, it took Raymond years to master it. So, don't get discouraged if you can't do it immediately.' He told me that I needed to picture a barrier around the outside of my skull and that that barrier could keep out anyone's mental fingers. He said that I had to believe that it would work. 

I visually pictured the barrier that I manifested in my head as Declan concentrated to penetrate my thoughts, trying to figure out what my next move. I could feel a similar pressure as before as he made his way into my head. I sighed in frustration and the block I had formed dropped. I frowned.

'Don't give up. Try again.' he spoke softly to my thoughts. I re-imagined the barrier as he retracted from my head to give me time to readjust. I tried to picture it surrounding my brain in a protective cocoon to conceal my thoughts. As I did that I planned my next move as his presence returned. I pictured his fingers poking into the mesh, but not penetrating the cocoon. I moved my rook, hoping his queen would take it. He did as I predicted and I used my queen to capture his. He looked surprised by the sudden change in the game.

'You tricked me. Well done.' he praised as he removed his queen off the board. 'I wasn't able to read your next move. At the last minute you thought of a different move that you let me hear. Very clever.' 

We continued to play, my new found skill of placing a mental block in full effect. He still ended up winning my placing me in checkmate. I had levelled the playing field, so it was a fair win on his end. I was just happy that I had some of my privacy returned. That way I could keep Declan from knowing when I was sad all the time. 

As we packed up the game I felt a brush of cold air that made my hair stand on its end. Declan paused too, feeling the same thing. We both looked around the room to see where it had come from.

"You felt that right?" I asked him, making sure I wasn't delusional. 

'It's probably nothing.' he went back to what he was doing but my eyes stopped in one of the corners near the bookcases. It was like there was a slight outline of an invisible person, faintly glowing around the edges. Someone was there in the room with us. My gut told me it wasn't a threatening presence.

"Declan look. You don't see that." I pulled at his sleeve. As my head turned back to the corner the faded outline had disappeared, along with the chilled feeling. I could have sworn someone was there, watching us.

'There's nothing there, Adalyn.' I tried to shake it off and just went back to packing up the chess pieces. 

I somehow knew that I wanted that ghost of a person here with us, as I didn't feel unsafe with it being there. Like somehow I knew deep down that it was him. 

I knew it was Grayson, even though I