Elementalist

8

Stephanie manages to get her voice back, "Stop." She is fighting tears at this point and so isn't sure just how she managed to say that without her voice breaking up. She takes a step away from them, which was a bit difficult since they had surrounded her when they started kissing her.

"I don't want to get in between you two, and telling me that you want me to stay because you love me after I tell you that I'm leaving doesn't cut it for me." Stephanie shakes her head. "Had you showed this to me before I said I was leaving, it might have been enough, but now, it's like you are only doing this to manipulate me into staying. If I'm wronging you in saying that, I'm sorry, but it's what it feels like." With that she pushes herself through them and out of the door.

At the other side of the door she turns and faces them. "I will always be grateful for the care, protection and instructions you've given me and I'll miss you all terribly. Thank you, but I'll be leaving in the morning."

"So will we." Talon's voice tells her and she stops in her tracks. "We've stayed here long enough, there are signs of hunters in the area." All of them stare at Talon, at his announcement. "We will be packing up our things as well. This house is compromised so we likely won't ever return to it."

Ethan and Jet get angry looks on their faces but Stephanie can tell it's not at what Talon said about abandoning the house. "What? What aren't you saying Talon, that the others understand?"

It's Jet that answers her though. "Compromised locations only come when we are betrayed by someone that knows us and knows our safe houses. There's only one person, possibly two but the other was too young when she was with us to give this location away."

Stephanie is intrigued in spite of herself. They never talk about others that they've known. Part of why she doesn't think they trust her.

Jet's anguished cry is enough to get Stephanie to back up. It's Talon that goes to comfort him, though, not Ethan.

Ethan watches sadly as Talon does his best to help Jet with his pain. Feeling decidedly like an unwanted spectator Stephanie slips away to her room and only then allows her own tears to fall. She had planned to leave here, yes, but didn't expect them to leave as well. She had thought to visit them occasionally, but now, she won't know where to find them.

Ethan follows Stephanie up to her room once Jet had started calming down. Twice with in one day, Jet is starting to lose control and with that news, he needs to find an outlet for his pain and anger or there will be problems.

Ethan knocks softly on Stephanie's door and when she doesn't answer tries to open it. Fortunately he has just enough skill in earth that he's able to open the lock on her door.

Seeing Stephanie on her bed crying, the pain fights to take predominance in his emotions. He goes over to her and holds her. He feels more than a little overwhelmed and helpless at all that's happening right now. He never thought that Stephanie would want to leave them. She seemed to blossom and bloom under their care. He hadn't realized, none of them had realized that she felt like they didn't trust her. But after her words he can see why she would say what she did.

"There are things I'm going to tell you, that none of them know, not even Jet. I need you to listen and not interrupt because I've only told one other person and he was killed. He was a friend of ours, part of our group. He was killed when another of our group betrayed us to the hunters. The same person that Talon was hinting at downstairs."

Stephanie gasps at his words. She wipes her face with the tissue that Ethan gives her and stays as still as she can as Ethan begins his story.

"Jet told you how our families are close. Very close it turns out. I'm not sure if Jet even knows this. His little sister that he told you was killed? She was my half sister. My little brother, he was two at that time, was his little brother."

Ethan looks at her when she gasps and nods. He continues rather bitterly. "I don't know if Jet knew that our parents were sleeping with each other or not.

"I'm not sure that my mother knows about what my father did after she went to sleep." Ethan stops and takes a breath. Stephanie has a sick feeling that she knows what he's going to say.

"It was about a year before Jet's family was killed that my father made his first visit to my room at night. He told me when he was finished that if I told any one that he would kill me and them. Then he did up his pants and left the room.

"I was sore for days afterwards. I couldn't tell any one. I didn't want any one to be hurt from me being selfish." Ethan has to take a moment and regain his control. He hadn't realized that it would be so difficult to tell his story, not after all these years.

Stephanie wraps her arms around him. "We were worried that you had been abused like that as well when you first came here. Talon was already furious at the state of health you were in, but the idea of any one abusing you that way...he wouldn't let any of us alone with you for any length of time. He didn't want us to lose control and hurt you or make you feel like you were in a position where you had to give to us sexual favors. That's why we never made any moves on you.

"Any way, what my father did went on for nearly a year. It only didn't happen when Jet was over or my father was visiting Jet's mother.

"When Jet told us that his family was killed, my father was furious and my mother was heartbroken. We took him in, no questions asked. But I was afraid that my father would do to Jet, what he'd been doing to me."

Ethan looks and sees that the was no condemning look on Stephanie's face and gratefully accepted her hand squeezing comfort that she offers.

"That at least stopped once Jet came to live with us. I'm not sure why though."

"Because I told him that if he touched either of us like that I would kill him and his body would never be found." Jet tells them from the open doorway.