Chapter Eight
The word hung between them, heavy and unreal. No spoke.
“Well?” she demanded, breath shaking. “What’s a… a caster?”
The man with dark eyes ran a hand through his hair, jaw tight. “Okay. Fuck. I didn’t imagine this happening when we came to talk with you.”
Blue eyes exhaled slowly. “It’s complicated,” he said carefully. “And definitely not a conversation to have out in the open.”
“No,” she snapped immediately. “No, I don’t accept that.” Her voice rose, sharp with panic and fury. “You can’t just show up in my life, throw words around like they haven’t just flipped my world upside down, and expect me to be okay with you withholding information.”
Her chest heaved as she looked at them...really looked this time.
“So,” she said, pointing, head snapping from face to face. “You two clearly don’t want to talk.” Her gaze landed hard on the other two. “Hazel eyes. Brown eyes. Talk to me.”
The man with hazel eyes lifted a brow, surprise flickering across his face. His heart skipped painfully in his chest before he spoke. “Rian.”
She blinked. “Rian?”
He nodded. “Yeah. My name’s Rian.”
The man with blonde hair and brown eyes added, “I’m Cameron.”
Blue eyes inclined his head. “Dominik. Or Dom. Whichever you like.”
Dark eyes grunted. “Joshua.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Okay. That still doesn’t answer my question.” Her voice hardened. “What the hell does caster mean?”
Rian took a small step forward, not crowding her, not touching. Just enough to signal he was serious.
“There’s no easy way to say this,” he said gently. “So I’ll just come out and say it directly.” He swallowed. “A caster is a child born from a human and a supernatural.”
She stared at him.
The world seemed to tilt.
“You’re not serious,” she whispered. Then louder, disbelieving, “A...a what now?”
Dominik stepped in, voice steady, grounding. “A long time ago, five types of supernaturals arrived here on Earth. Over time, we… formed a community. There are safeguards in place to keep humans from finding out about us.”
Her laugh came out broken. “Of course there are.”
“But,” he continued, “sometimes...through forces outside our control, or personal choices made, we mingle. When a supernatural and a human reproduce, a caster is born.”
Cameron added quickly, “You’re technically still human. Just with added abilities. You can manipulate ether...energy.” He gestured vaguely toward her hands. “That’s what you just did.”
She gaped at them, mouth open, heart racing.
“You’re insane,” she said hoarsely. “All of you. That’s not possible. I would know.”
Her thoughts spiralled wildly, memories crashing into one another: her childhood, her mother’s quiet life, the absence of answers she’d never thought to question. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Unless…
Her stomach dropped.
Was it her father? She never met him, could this be the reason why?
Or was this worse...did her mother lie? No she wouldn’t have. Please Gods no.
She looked at them again. They were watching her with a mixture of apprehension and hope, like they were braced for impact.
“You said five,” she said slowly, swallowing hard. “Five types of supernaturals. Any one of them can… produce a caster?”
“When mating with humans, they are not destined to be with, yes.” Joshua confirmed with a nod.
Cameron spoke up. “There’s the Fae Faction. We control elements, magic comes naturally to us.”
Rian followed, nodding to Joshua on his right. “Then there’s the Shifter Faction. We can shift into animals. Wolves are the most common.”
Her eyes widened, breath catching.
Dominik continued calmly, “The Demon Faction. We have a variety of abilities. We also shift into our demon forms.”
Joshua finished for them, “And then there are the Fallen Angels Faction and the Draconis.”
She stared at them, openly now.
“This...this is...fuck.” She ran a hand through her hair, pacing. “This is a joke, right? Some elaborate prank meant to distract me while you kidnap me? Torture me? Sell me off somewhere?”
Rian’s eyes widened. “Gods, no. We would never hurt you.” His voice broke. “You’re everything to us.”
She stopped dead and turned on him. “I don’t even know you. How could I possibly mean anything to you?”
Rian winced, instinctively rubbing at his chest as if something ached there.
Silence fell.
After a moment, she spoke again, quieter now, frayed. “How do you know? Truly know? Is there a test? Something concrete?”
“No test,” Cameron said. “Abilities manifesting is the sign. Like what you just did.” He hesitated. “There’s… a protocol. For newly discovered casters. It involves our council.”
“Council?” she echoed faintly.
“Yes,” Cameron said. “Five individuals. Each of them are the leaders of their Faction. The most powerful among us. Everything goes through them.” He nodded to the others. “We work for them. Technically.”
Joshua shifted, then said bluntly, “For you to be a caster, one of your parents had to be from one of the factions. You would’ve been around them. Seen something. Our instincts are hard to hide.” He paused. “Unless… maybe they left you to keep you from finding out. Your mother, maybe your—”
She whirled on him so fast it startled even her.
“How dare you,” she hissed. “How fucking dare you.”
Joshua took an instinctive step back.
“You do not speak about my mother,” she continued, voice shaking with venom. “You do not bring her up and assume she abandoned me. She would never. Do you hear me?”
Her chest burned. Anger roared through her, hot and blinding, and beneath it all, exhaustion threatened to drag her under.
She turned away from them abruptly and strode toward the Ferris wheel operator just as Emmett was being unstrapped.
“Sissy!” Emmett shouted happily, running to her. “I did it and I wasn’t even scared! It was amazing. The town was soooo pretty!”
“That’s good, baby,” she said quickly, scooping him up. “Here, hold onto me real tight.”
He wrapped his arms around her without question.
And then she was gone. She vanished into the crowd, weaving between bodies, ducking down side streets and alleys, doubling back twice before heading straight for the car. She didn’t stop to collect their things from the hostel.
Didn’t look back. Didn’t listen to the pounding of her heart or the impossible truth echoing in her ears.
She just ran.
Because whatever they were...whatever she might be...she wasn’t ready to face it. Not today.