My mother came running up and hugged me. "Are you okay sweetie?" I hugged her back. "I'm fine mom." My father came up and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "We're taking you home." I opened my mouth to explain that I knew everything, but he turned to gram with an angry expression. "How could you let him get hurt?!" He yelled. Gram became angry. "Excuse me?!" Gram yelled back. I looked over at Addy, she was slowly backing up. "Dad calm down I'm fine." I said trying to calm the situation. "No! I'm sick of this! I can't trust my own son around you!" I looked over at my mother. I could see the sadness clouding her eyes, she was stunned. "Dad stop! You're scaring mom!" I yelled. He kept his gaze on gram. "My son will never visit you again, let's go." He grabbed my arm and began dragging me towards the front door. "Stop it!" I heard Addy say. I tried shaking out of his grip, but he was too strong. "Don't hurt him!" Gram yelled, I continued to squirm. My mother placed a hand on my arm. "It's okay, you're going home now." I shook my head. Everyone was yelling now. My dad was yelling about his gram will never see me again. Addy was begging everyone to stop shouting, and gram was yelling at him to let me go. I closed my eyes, a feeling of rage was rising in me. I knew what anger felt like, but this wasn't just anger. This almost felt, evil. "Melting Shadow!" I burst out. My voice shook the room. Everyone went silent. I opened my eyes, my father and mother both looked at me with wide eyes. I looked back at gram and Addy, they wore the same expression. "Melting Shadows. That's the thing that's in the room at the end of the hall. I opened the door because I felt like a child. I wasn't going to let a dumb door scare me." I rambled in to fill the quiet room. He dropped my arm, I took a step back. "Oh my god." He muttered. Tears filled my mother's eyes, she shook her head. "You weren't supposed to find out." She said quietly. I nodded my head. "I know that now, and I'm sorry for what I did. But right now, I need to understand everything." My parents only stared at me, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I looked over to see gram giving me a somber look. "What you did is in the past now, what we need to do now is look to your future." I smiled and placed my hand on hers. I looked to my other side, Addy smiled at me. I looked forward at my parents. "I'm not sure what I'm about to face, but I promise to work harder than ever." My father and mother looked at each other. My mom looked at me and smiled. "You've always been my strong boy." She walked up and hugged me, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back. I looked over at my dad, his jaw was tightened and his eyes were stern. He looked down at his shoes and sighed. "I guess, you finding out was unavoidable." For the first time in a long time, I saw sadness in my fathers eyes. I walked up and hugged him, he was shocked by my action. Eventually he hugged me back. "I heard about home base." I said as I backed up. My mom nodded her head. "That's where you'll have to go. You can meet Mr Elliot." I looked at my mom confused. "Mr Elliot? Who's he?" I looked over at my dad. "He's the one that'll tell us what power you have." It looked like he was about to explain the "powers" thing to me. "Like how Addy and gram are purity. I get it." He looked a little shocked then nodded his head. "Are you coming with us?" I looked over at mom, she was looking at Addy. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go back. After all the last time I was there was when I had just turned thirteen." Mom nodded her head. "Of course! That's perfectly fine." Mom turned to gram, her expression hardened. "Can you head to the kitchen? I'll be there in a second." Gram looked confused. "Okay?" She walked into the kitchen. Once gram had disappeared behind the corner mom turned around and glared at dad. "Follow me." I knew that glare anywhere, dad was about to be taught a lesson. I watched as dad lowered his head and followed mom into the kitchen. "It'd probably be best if we went outside." I whispered to Addy. She gave me a questioning look, then moms shouting began. She nodded her head and we walked out the door. I sat down on the step and took a deep breath. "Did your parents fight when you were younger?" Addy asked while sitting down next to me. "No, there was a few arguments here and there but it wasn't shouting or anything like that." Addy nodded her head. "How'd you know they were going to fight?" I chuckled. "I said my parents never fought, my dad and gram. They couldn't find something to agree about!" Addy giggled. "Thanksgiving was always the moody glares across the table, the little sass comments. They'd push it until my mom would hit the table or drag both of them into the kitchen." Both Addy and I laughed. "Give them a couple minutes and they'll be fine." We sat their for a while in a comfortable silence. Eventually the front door opened, I looked behind me to see mom sighing. "Okay, all good now." Addy and I couldn't help but chuckle. We stood up and entered the house. Gram and dad were both sulking on the couch. "So where is this home base?" I asked. "It's in the woods, a days trip from here." My mom explained. "So is this place full of magic or something?" I asked excitedly. My mom chuckled. "It looks like an ordinary town, a little more peaceful though. Once you enter you'll understand." I looked towards Addy with confusion. She just smiled and nodded. "Okay. So when are we going?" I asked anxiously. Mom looked back at gram and dad. They still had their heads down. "Have you two learned your lesson?" Mom asked. Dad stood up and nodded his head violently. "Yes! I promise to never raise my voice when it is unnecessary." Mom smirked, then looked at gram. "I promise to never raise my voice when it is unnecessary." She mumbled. Both gram and dad walked out the front door. I looked at mom with a smile. "You still got it mom." She laughed. "I still got it." Addy walked out the front door, mom followed behind. I grabbed grams keys to her vehicle on the way out. "I can follow behind you in grams car." I said. Dad looked at me than looked at the car. "We can all fit." I opened my mouth to speak, but gram beat me. "Addy and Jacob can have my car! We'll lead you there." I shrugged and looked at my parents. My mom looked at gram, then at me, then at Addy. Her eyes widened and she smiled. "Of course!" I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. Now gram had mom hooked on this nonexistent relationship. "Alright fine, just stay close." My dad was obviously oblivious to what was going on around him. Dad, mom, and gram got into my parents car and backed out of the driveway. Addy and I jumped into grams car. I began following my parents down the road. "Your gram is very determined to get you in a relationship huh?" I chuckled. "I don't think determined quite cuts it, I'd say obsessive fits more." Addy laughed. "She's certainly trying." I smiled. I followed my parents out of grams town. We drove for a few hours. The sun had finally set and I could feel myself drifting in and out of sleep. "We gotta pull over." I said. My parents must've been tired as well because they pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. I parked the car next to them and got out. "We're staying here for the night." I stretched my arms over my head. "Fine by me." We entered the hotel, it's wasn't the cleanest looking but it was a roof over our heads. Hopefully a comfy bed to lay on as well. "Two rooms please." My father ordered. Gram tried to trick him and get Addy and I a one bed room, but dad caught on. "I better not hear anything." He warned me as he handed my the key to the room. "C'mon dad, you know grams just trying to get me to date." He shrugged. "Still, not a squeak." We entered our rooms. I let Addy in and closed the door behind us and locking it. "This isn't half bad." Addy said. I looked around, the carpet was a maroon color. The walls had cracks in it, and the wallpaper was chipping away. "Hopefully the beds are good." I sat down, they were firm but still a little soft. "Good enough for the night." Addy sat down on her bed. We both began taking our shoes off and getting comfy in our beds. I laid down and closed my eyes. For a moment it felt like I was back home. It wasn't the same bed, it wasn't the same room. Maybe it was just the exhaustion messing with my head. But I felt safe, I felt comfortable. Sleep came easy to me that night, but the nightmares were right there to greet me.