Chasing Ashes

XXXIV

RYDER SHUFFLES CLOSER to me as I look down at everyone. We are sat on the rooftop of my house, looking down at the dark grass with only the sound of adult laughter running through the air. My parents decided to throw an extra late Halloween party if one would classify this small get together as one. My mother was too lazy to take down the jack-o-lanterns that Brody and I carved a while back, and my dad loves the mood of Halloween so normally our Halloween decorations are up until the first snowfall. Then the bright Christmas lights are brought out with our big blow up Santa that Brody nicknamed Jr. Saint Jr.

    I have no idea why.

    For some reason, I'm excited for Christmas. Maybe it's the fact Ryder has never seen snow in his life--barely even knew of it until I told him of it--and his grin was face splitting when I told him snow was on its way. I made sure not to tell him about Christmas though because I didn't want a gift from him. I didn't want a gift from anyone, in fact.

    Looking down at my family, a smile forms on my face. Vanessa and Raphael have connected once again (my relationship is slowly growing with them). Everett and Kayne are always teasing me while Axel always snuggles close to Suze, his new girlfriend (even though he says they are just friends). I wonder if Ryder and I were ever like Axel and Suze because Axel seriously never lets the poor girl go. But she's nice and beautiful. Her long black hair is straight like Vanessa's and she has bright, soft, green eyes. The moment Axel introduced Suze to everyone, I thought she would be shy. It's never every day you get to meet a man the size of a fridge. Surprisingly, though, she came forward with a smile and hugged Satan like he was a big teddy bear, which he practically was. Still, though, she had absolutely no idea that Satan was, in fact, Satan.

    My father was struggling to get along with Raphael. They were so different, yet so alike it was odd. They both were obsessed with being prim and proper while my mothers were busy taking shots and hooting out music. Turns out behind Vanessa's strict facade is a college party girl.

    Brody plays around with Misha while Prince lays down in the grass next to our desk, casually eating a pumpkin my mother set out for him. I asked mom if Hansel could pop up, but when I told her Hansel was a coyote, she immediately shot me down. Somehow, though, my mom was thinking of Prince as our second pet. I once caught her brushing Princes back. Prince noticed me and puffed out his chest arrogantly smirking at me. I just rolled my eyes. Prince was such a precious creature.

    I thought Prince and Princess broke up though because Princess hadn't shown her face in a while. But when two little fawns came skipping out of the forest one day, I think I almost passed out. Prince was a dad!

Wow, I'm a teenage girl who is obsessed with my pet deer's love life. Something is seriously wrong with that.

    Everett keeps on trying to hook Satan up with a girl, going as far as to bring human women to Satan. Satan was adamant at first about not dating a human, but then he decided, what the hell?

    If his son was dating a hybrid and that hybrids parents were dating again, why couldn't he date a human? I think one woman, in particular, is growing on Satan. I asked him about this woman named Teresa the other day, and his eyes glowed in excitement.

    Slowly, my family was adding on more people. When my family was once a four-person thing, it was turning into one where fourteen plates were set out at our small dining room table.

    Abby and I are also on good terms. She comes over almost every Friday to chill with my family, along with Mac. Mac and I are still good friends, but Abby and I are slowly rebuilding ours. She was a little freaked out when I told her that "Gregory" was, in fact, the little red man everyone got tattoos of. Now, Abby and Mac show up for my family dinner. I know my mom secretly loves it.

    Mom was one to always want a big family since she was an only child with only her mother. Hence the reason she adopted twice and welcomed everyone with open arms.

    Oh, and then there is Elliot. How could I forget about him? Elliot, Kayne, Axel, and Everett are oddly best friends now. Even Ryder jokes around with Elliot every once in a while. It was true that Elliot was healed from the hospital, but it wasn't by Gabriel.

    It took us a while to figure out who healed Elliot when Everett came up with a shocking theory. I remember Everetts eyes widening before turning to me and pointing.

    "You. You healed him." I just stared at him. Had I healed Elliot?

    There was only one way to find out. Apparently, the healer of the person grows an odd bond with the person they healed. Sort of like a loyalty thing where they follow your every command. They trust them and will do anything for them, so when Elliot showed up at my house the next day, I offered him a plastic bag with a tight smile.

    "Here, clean up Misha's poop." Normally, Elliot would shove the bag in my face, but he groaned and just turned around to clean up the property. Everyone was shocked: I did heal Elliot.

    A fire crackles beside my porch, all the adults sat around it as they laugh and talk about whatever adults talk about. There's the faint smell of alcohol wafting through the air and Brody's occasional giggles as he messes around with Misha and the boys.    

    "You know, they are going to start to wonder where we are?" Ryder whispers next to me. He makes no move to get up, though.

    "It's okay," I look at him and smile. Ryder glances at me before pecking my lips.

    "Well, I'm going to grab that last piece of cake before Kayne." Somehow, Ryder and I have come to the conclusion that Kayne loves cake more than anything. He stands up beside me and flaps his wings once before dropping down onto the ground. I watch him go, walking right up next to my mother with his wings out. My mother's eyes widen when she looks at Ryder, but a slow, tentative smile floats across her face as she gets up and hands him a fork, pulling him in a for a quick conversation.

    I tense for a moment before relief sags through my body. It was a hard decision for me to come to, but I figured I should tell my mother the truth about what Ryder and everyone was. I had sat her and my dad down, along with Brody, and told them everything. I told them of how I was a hybrid and how I had special powers. I didn't expect them to accept everyone. In fact, I expected them to run out of the house screaming.

    Imagine my surprise as my mom nodded slowly. "You aren't scared? Confused? Freaked-the-eff-out? Wanna run away? Scream? Try and steak one of them with a wooden stake?" I had rambled on possible theories I had. I never expected them to just stare at me with blank eyes. My father glanced at my mother before looking at me. I didn't think his next words would stick with me through the rest of my long life, but they I know will.

"Everleigh," he leaned forward. "We are family. It doesn't matter what you are or what your like, families accept each other."

I just stared at him. Who knew he was so wise? He was right, though.

Families don't care what you look like, what you prefer in life, or even how you act because that's what a family is.

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A/N

:))))))))))) ITS OVER! Yeah! I hope you guys liked everything. I worked very hard on this book--especially with the plot because I seem to have a hard time working out a cool plot.

Whatever, vote on this story (or if you don't I'll deploy the hellhounds on you) and thanks for reading!