Darkness circles me, wrapping around me like snakes. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. I need to get free, need to protect myself.

I dig deep inside me, for the first time ever, begging for my powers to manifest.

Lightning flashes above me and fizzles across my skin, as the wind kicks up, sending darkness swirling through the air. A fire ignites from somewhere. Ice crackles. And then the mysterious stranger appears in the center of the chaos—

Knock. Knock. Knock.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

The obnoxious noise pulls me from my trippy dream.

“Oh, my God, what the hell is that?” Gage groans from beside my feet.

After the whole disaster with the mysterious stranger yesterday, we decided to spend the night at my house and have one final hurrah before my new guardian shows up to drag me away. I was nervous for half the night as the wind continued to howl and rain flooded the streets, but then Nina got a bottle of whiskey out from my parents’ stash and one thing led to another, and then … Well, let’s just say I passed out right about when Gage started throwing up.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

I try to force my eyelids open, but my entire body feels heavy. “I have no idea what that noise is,” I mutter. “But maybe, if we ignore it, it’ll self-destruct.”

“If it doesn’t self-destruct soon, I’m going to destroy it myself,” Nina grumbles. “It’s making my fucking head hurt.”

“You should stop talking. It’ll help with the noise a bit.” Gage rolls onto his side and accidentally kicks me in the shoulder.

Why his feet are so close to my face is beyond me. Then again, I’m unsure what room we’re even in. Or house. For all I know, I could be lying in a car right now.

“Shut the fuck up, Gage,” Nina growls.

“Make me,” Gage quips through a yawn.

“Guys, I’m too tired and hungover to listen to you two bitch,” I intervene before their fight escalates.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

“For the love of all sanity,” Nina whines, “Sky, please make that noise stop.”

Sighing, I pry my eyelids open and take in my surroundings. Relief washes over me that I’m not in the car but lying on the sofa in my living room. Gage is curled up at my feet like a cat with one leg stretched out across me, and Nina is sprawled out on the floor with a mountain of throw pillows surrounding her, along with a half-empty bottle of whiskey and several boxes. The place is a mess, but at least we went out with a bang.

I smile a little at that. But it’s a bittersweet smile.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

My gaze darts to the door where the annoying noise is coming from there.

I pick up my phone from off the table to check the time.

“Shit. That’s probably that Mr. Everettson dude,” I mumble as I stumble to my feet.

Combing my hair out of my face, I trip around the mess of pillows, pizza boxes, and the empty beer bottles that I don’t even remember drinking and throw open the door. Then I instantly cringe.

Standing on the other side is a tall, middle-aged man with short brown hair, a scruffy beard, and crazy silver eyes. He has on a T-shirt, worn jeans, and worker boots, looking as though he’s about to go to work at a construction site. But that’s not what has me cringing.

The front yard is covered with fallen tree branches and the grass is so soaked it looks like a swamp. The street isn’t any better. Tree branches and large puddles cover the asphalt.

Lovely, Sky. You destroyed every tree within a mile radius.

“Skylin?” the guy asks with hesitancy.

Tearing my gaze away from the street, I blink at him. “Yeah.”

A smile breaks out across his face. “I’m Gabe Everettson. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” His smile slightly fades. “Although, I wish it were under better circumstances.”

A beat of silence passes. My head pounds, and my throat is as dry as my frizzy hair. I want to tell him to leave, that I’m fine living here on my own. That I’m fine.

Fine. Fine. Fine.

Maybe if I repeat the word in my head enough times, it’ll actually come true.

The sky grumbles as if warning me that I need to at least pretend to be fine.

He studies me with his lips pressed together. “Look, we don’t know each other, and I can only guess how hard this must be for you, but I promise my family and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure you feel comfortable living with us.” He massages the back of his neck while muttering, “I owe your father that much. Maybe even more.”

My brows dip. “Owe him for what?”

He drops his hand to his side as a drop of worry flickers in his expression. “For saving my life once.”

My brows rise toward my hairline. “My dad saved your life?”

He nods. “He never told you the story?”

I shake my head. “Honestly, up until my parents’ lawyer read the will, I didn’t know you existed. Or that my parents even had a lawyer. Or a will.” My parents have never been the type to plan for the future. Or, at least I thought so. I guess I was wrong.

Maybe that officer was right. Maybe I don’t know my parents as well as I thought.

I hastily shove the thought from my mind. No, I knew—know them. They wouldn’t just take off and leave me on my own. At least not for this long.

“Yeah, your father and I sort of drifted apart after college,” Gabe explains. “But, up until then, we were pretty close. And he did save my life once. If you want, I can tell you the story sometime.”

I smash my lips together and nod. “All right.”

“Good.” He claps his hands together, matching the clapping of thunder. Then his gaze wanders over my shoulder. “Let me get my sons, and then you can show us what you’re taking with you and what we’re putting in storage, okay?” He turns to walk away.

“Wait … Sons?” My gaze flicks to the truck and trailer parked in the driveway where I can make out two figures inside, one in the back seat and one in the front, but the windows are too tinted to make out faces and ages. “You have kids?”

He stops at the bottom of the stairs and faces me. “Six actually. Six sons. But don’t worry; they’re not too scary.” He smiles, but it looks a bit forced.

Lovely. He’s afraid of his own kids.

Being the only child, the idea of living in a house with six other kids, not to mention all guys, just seems straight-up crazy. And emotionally challenging.

“Do they all live with you?”

He nods. “My youngest are seventeen, and my oldest is twenty-one and in college, but he hasn’t wanted to move out. Hunter and Holden are in college, too, though Max, the second oldest, isn’t. But they all still haven’t moved out yet. I blame my wife. She spoils them all too much.” He laughs it off, but again, a hint of nervousness edges into his expression.

Considering I have plans with Nina and Gage to move out the moment we graduate and then travel, the idea that even one of his kids wants to stick around after they turn eighteen is mind-boggling. Don’t get me wrong; my parents aren’t terrible, but I’ve been taking care of myself since I was old enough to work the stove, so moving out of the house won’t be that much different. Nina is the same way. Gage, too. We’ve practically run wild since we were kids, which is fine—I enjoyed the freedom, for the most part anyway. It’s part of the reason I am so agitated that I can’t live on my own now.

I can take care of myself. My parents know this. Yet, they decided that, until I’m eighteen, I can’t live on my own? That living with some strange family will be better?

I don’t want to live with strangers. What I want is for this unsettling feeling of unknowingness that’s been plaguing me to go away.

I stare at the road, as if expecting my dad’s truck to suddenly appear. It doesn’t. But a lamppost flickers on and off.

Blinking a few times, I focus back on Gabe. “How old are your other kids?”

He actually has to think about it. Really, I guess I can’t blame him. He has six kids for crying out loud! He probably has a hard time keeping track of them all.

“Porter is twenty-one, Max is twenty, Holden and Hunter are nineteen …” When I pull a funny face, he adds, “They are twins. Identical, too. Can be sort of a problem telling them apart sometimes, but the trick is to never refer to them by their names. That way, they don’t know when you’ve confused them.” His eyes glint with humor. “I’m just kidding. Holden actually has a small scar above his right brow. And I brought Easton and Foster with me. They’re the youngest and twins, too. Not identical, though. And they’re seniors, like you, so they should be able to show you around school and stuff.”

“You have two sets of twins?”

He nods then steps forward to pat my shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but trust me; after a while, you’ll get used to it.”

I bob my head up and down, kind of in shock. Six kids. Two sets of twins. That’s eight people in one house. Nine counting me! Jesus, how big is his house?

“All right.”

He points a finger at me. “You’re kind of a quiet one, aren’t you?”

I shrug. “Not always, but sometimes.” Around people I don’t know.

“Well, I don’t want to frighten you”—he backs for the porch steps again—“but you might want to consider being a little more outspoken, or the chaos of the Everettson family is going to swallow you up.” He smiles then turns around, leaving me with a huge lump of fear wedged in my throat.

Might want to be more outspoken? Yeah, every time I’ve tried that, I ended up humiliated.

Zap. The lamppost on the street sparks.

Dammit. I’m already an emotional wreck. Makes me worry how the day’s going to end.

As he jogs back to his truck and opens the passenger side door, I step inside and attempt to collect myself. I’m still wearing the plaid shirt and T-shirt I had on yesterday but traded out the jeans for a pair of cut-offs sometime during last night’s drunkenness. I smell like beer, whiskey, and stale pizza, just like this living room. Hopefully, Gabe doesn’t have issues with the mess or the evidence that I was drinking last night. My parents never cared, just as long as I never drove drunk or got arrested.

Gage sits up on the sofa and rubs his bloodshot eyes. “Who was that?”

I pick up the half-empty bottle of whiskey from off the floor. “Gabe. My … temporary guardian, I guess.”

Nina buries her face in a pillow. “Did you tell him to go away?”

“I wish I could.” I rotate the bottle in my hand as an unspoken silence blankets over us. “God, I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“Me neither.” Nina sniffles then staggers to her feet and wraps her arms around me. “You have to come back every weekend, and we’ll drive out there when you can’t come here. And promise that none of our plans will change. We’re still moving in together after we graduate, okay?”

I nod, giving her an awkward hug back. “Nothing’s going to change. I promise.” But I feel like such a liar. Because things are changing.

Everything is changing.

Too quickly.

And I can barely keep up.

As tears threaten to pour out, I start to pull back when Nina abruptly stiffens.

A jolt of static currents through my body. Why are my powers going off right now? I’m fairly collected…

“What the fuck are you doing here?” She crosses her arms as she glares at someone behind me.

“Who are you talking to?” I ask, twisting around.

Then my heart slams against my chest and another burst of static hums through me.

No. No, no, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.

I blink. Then I blink again. I blink so many times my eyes begin to water. Yet, the guy standing in the doorway remains.

The mysterious guy I tried to hit on yesterday.