A COURT OF SHIFTERS AND SECRETS

F I V E

NOVA NYX 🌙

The next time I woke up, I was strapped to a freaking chair in a tiny cream colored room that sat in front of a one-way mirror.

My breath caught in my throat when a switched flicked on and my mother's glare gazed back at me, her face as red as her fiery read hair.

Well she wasn't glaring...at least not at me...

More like at the person currently interrogating her.

My Kidnapper...Phoenix...or whatever the hell his weird ass name was.

'And Nova Nyx isn't' The snarky voice in my head snickered at me.

I scowled because as much as I hated to admit it, that stupid voice was right, silently cursing my mom for naming me after the stupid cosmic event that occurred during my birth.

"For the millionth time..." My mother's frustration rang out through the overhead speakers, startling me at how crisp the sound is considering how dingy the room was "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I think you do Mrs. St.James" a manila file was slapped down on the metal table in front of my mother "As you can see on page six, isn't that you signature on the dotted line?"

A brief pause.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?"

Silence.

"No" she croaked "Why would I open it?"

"Well, since you're not going to open it, I will" the sound of pages flipping reached my ear "Nova Nyx St.James. Born Thursday November 20th at Midnight. three pounds, eight ounces. Dark brown hair. Glass color eyes. A small Crescent like mark located on the center of her chest, directly over her heart. Does that seemed to ring a bell Mrs. St. James?"

"That's my daughter's birth details" Mom croaked "But I don't see how that's relevant..."

"Don't worry, it's relevance comes into play on the next page" I wanted to smack the smugness right off of this dickhead's stupid face as he flipped the page "Ah, here it is. January 1st. Here's the official record and original copy of the adoption papers you and your husband signed, taking full custody and responsibility of said baby, now known as Nova Nyx St.James, when she was founded bloodied and abandoned in back of a hospitals service exit."

My heart stopped beating at his words.

What?

I was abandoned?

At a hospital's exit?

I was...not my parents biological daughter?

I mean sure, we didn't really look alike with Mom's natural red hair and dad's equally pale blonde hair, but I just thought I took after my great-grandma whose hair was just as dark as my own and had blue eyes like me.

And while my brothers did take after each of our parents, I thought it was just a weird genetic thing that happened to me since I was the first born.

I never would have fathomed that the people that raised me, the people I have vivid memories of snuggling on the couch and drinking hot chocolate, or building snowmen together on snowy days, weren't actually related to me.

They never treated me differently, even when my brothers were born, always making sure they reminded me everyday of how much they loved me and that we still spent quality time together.