A cold grip encased my heart. My feet felt so incredibly rooted to the spot that I thought I’d never move again.

  ‘Pardon, ma’am?’ I said shakily. ‘‘Santrrer’?’

  She smiled sweetly. ‘Why don’t the two of you come inside? I can make you both a cup of tea if you’d like.’

  Harvey put his hand on my shoulder. ‘That’d be great, thanks, Aunt Emma.’

  The two of us stepped inside Aunt Emma’s house, me doing so much slower than Harvey. The first thing I noticed about the house was the fact that it smelled exactly as I had subconsciously predicted. It smelled like Rob’s house.

  The corridor that we were led into was narrow, meaning we were forced into a single-file line. The wallpaper was a sort of light beige colour with dark brown flowers. It complemented the dark grey carpet at our feet rather nicely.

  Aunt Emma led me and Harvey to the left, into what was evidently the living room. A flower pot sat atop the window sill on the left, housing flowers that looked as though they were clinging to life by a thread. The fire was lit on the far side of the room, blasting us with cosy heat.

  A beige sofa sat with its back to the window, and it was facing two armchairs of the same colour. Between them was a dark brown coffee table with a bowl of fruit on top.

  ‘You two can take a seat on the sofa,’ Aunt Emma said, smiling. ‘I’ll just head into the kitchen to make your tea.’

  ‘Thanks, Aunt Emma,’ Harvey replied, grinning, as he descended lazily onto the sofa. He was clearly making himself at home.

  ‘Milk and how many sugars, Albert, my dear?’ she asked, looking at me as I just awkwardly stood there.

  ‘Uh, yes, please,’ I managed. ‘Three sugars.’

  She nodded and began to hobble away to the kitchen, the door to which was at the far side of the room.

  As I sat down, I looked at Harvey. ‘What are we here to ask again?’

  ‘About why I blacked out when I got mad at Maltor,’ he said, sounding rather sheepish. ‘And just anything else that comes to mind, I guess.’

  ‘Did you know that she was related to us?’

  ‘She told me when she first took me in,’ he explained. ‘I guess it’s a shock for you?’

  ‘I’ve always been told that Amy killed my entire family,’ I murmured. ‘I thought we were the only Santrrers left alive.’

  ‘Surely somewhere out there there’s gonna be more,’ Harvey said with a tone suggesting he was merely thinking out loud.

  It got me thinking, too. Surely one woman couldn’t kill an entire bloodline. Not every last one. Somewhere out there I probably had a sixth cousin three times removed or something. She couldn’t have gotten that far into my family tree.

  ‘I feel like we should just talk to her first,’ I said. ‘Let’s not jump straight into that question. I need to get to know her.’

  Before long, Aunt Emma had returned to the living room with our drinks. The instant mine was in my hand, I had raised it to my lips to take a sip, prompting a gasp from the elderly lady.

  ‘Be careful, drinking that thing straight away, dear,’ she warned. ‘It’s hot.’

  I felt as though it would have been rude of me to take a sip after that, so I cupped the drink in my hands and held it in my lap.

  ‘What brings you here?’ she asked after she had taken a seat in the armchair on the left. ‘It’s been what’s felt like years, Harvey.’

  Harvey awkwardly ran his hand through his hair. ‘It’s been too long, it really has. I just, uh, thought it would be nice for you to meet Albert.’

  She turned her head to me and smiled. But there was something off about her smile. It wasn’t warm or anything. It was…sad. As though she felt sorry for me.

  ‘Oh, yes, I know Albert,’ she said sombrely. ‘I think we all do.’

  I glanced at Harvey out of the corner of my eye before once again making eye contact with Aunt Emma.

  ‘Have we met before? Like, when I was little or something?’

  ‘Oh, no, no, my dear!’ Aunt Emma exclaimed, smiling jovially. ‘This is the first time I’ve seen you in the flesh. But everyone knows your story.’

  I fought back the urge to roll my eyes.

  ‘That foul, foul woman. Trying to kill an innocent baby. And your poor, poor mother,’ Aunt Emma continued.

  I wouldn’t have really cared for what she was saying if it weren’t for the comment about my mom. I had no interest in hearing how sorry people felt for me. I had heard it way too many times for it to mean anything anymore.

  ‘It broke my heart when I heard about it, you know,’ she began again, wiping her eyes. ‘You, your parents, the baby-’

  ‘What?’

  The room descended into pin-drop silence. A small, insignificant part of me felt sorry for interrupting her. But every other ounce of my being had become encapsulated by nausea. What in Titan’s name did that woman mean?

  I thought I knew my own story. I thought I knew every minute detail.

  ‘What do you mean, ‘the baby’?’ I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

  Aunt Emma looked horrified. Harvey merely looked on in confusion.

  ‘Oh, dear, did you not know?’ Aunt Emma breathed, sounding close to tears.

  ‘Not know what?’

  ‘Your mother was pregnant when she was killed. About five months,’ Aunt Emma answered, her eyes seemingly wet. ‘She didn’t actually go in to find out the gender, but I know it was a girl. When you’ve lived as long as me, you can tell. You would’ve been an older brother if it weren’t for that Amy Wright.’

  I felt like I’d been punched everywhere. I would’ve had a younger sister.

  I began to feel a sense of such incredible rage that I thought I would burst. I had not caused Amy nearly enough pain. Her death had been far too quick for what she had done. If I could bring her back I would’ve done so a million times and killed her more and more painfully each time.

  That woman had killed my parents, aunts, uncles, baby cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, and now my unborn sister.

  Regret. I suppose that is the only word that could even begin to summarise what I was feeling in that moment. I should’ve done more. I should’ve activated my Power that night on the hill and torn her to inconceivably small shreds. I should’ve ruined her.

  ‘Hey, Albert,’ Harvey’s voice echoed in my head as he nudged me. ‘You’ve gone pale.’

  ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled, coming back to my senses. ‘It’s just…I didn’t know that my mother had been…expecting.’

  ‘I’m sorry that I was the one to break the news to you, Albert,’ Aunt Emma tried, sounding apologetic from the bottom of her heart. ‘It’s just…I thought you ought to know.’

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  ‘No, I suppose I should thank you, ma’am,’ I said reassuringly, looking at her. ‘I want to know as much about my past as possible, and you just revealed a large part of it to me. So, for that, I thank you.’

  She smiled slightly, before turning back to Harvey. ‘But that’s not why you came, is it? I doubt you came just so I could say that.’

  ‘I wanted the two of you to get to know each other, Aunt Emma,’ Harvey repeated, not taking his eyes off of me.

  ‘Oh, yes!’ Aunt Emma said quickly as I took a shaky sip from my tea. It was nice. ‘Well, Albert, I’m Anna Emma Hall, but I was born Anna Emma Santrrer.’

  It was clear that she was trying her hardest to be cheery, and I tried to return the favour. It was hard to ignore the churning in my stomach, but I just about managed it.

  ‘Well, what a lovely name that is,’ I replied, smiling. Then, feeling that the room was about to descend into silence, I asked, ‘If you don’t mind me asking, how are we related? Just out of curiosity.’

  Aunt Emma seemed to perk up. ‘Ooh, I do like the topic of genes and such, so please do forgive me if I ramble on a bit.’

  ‘Oh, no, don’t worry,’ I reassured her. ‘I’ll listen for days if that’s how long you take.’

  Her smile grew in size to be the largest I had ever seen it, and then she began.

  ‘Well, I was born Anna Emma Santrrer in June 1909 to-’

  ‘1909?’ I exclaimed, cutting her off rather rudely. ‘Wouldn’t that make you…one hundred and thirteen years old?’

  Aunt Emma chuckled gently. ‘Yes, dear, I am that old.’

  ‘You must be one of the oldest humans alive, no disrespect, ma’am,’ I said, awestruck. ‘Did you get a letter from the Queen?’

  ‘Oh, yes, it’s framed in my bedroom upstairs,’ she replied. ‘Good old Liz.’

  There was a rather awkward two seconds of silence before Aunt Emma broke it.

  ‘Where was I…oh, yes, the family. As I said, I was born in June 1909 to Henry Santrrer and Pearl Wilson. I was the oldest of two, with my little brother George coming to the world in 1914.

  ‘My father’s parents were Albert Santrrer III and his wife Mary. I never did get to meet my grandmother, as she died in 1902, but I heard she was a lovely lady. But my grandfather was Prime Minister of RoCity from I believe 1887 until he died in 1917.

  ‘When he died, he was succeeded by his eldest son, my uncle Frank. And Frank would be your great-great-great-grandfather, as he was Steven’s great-grandfather.’

  The thought of Grandad having a great-grandfather was strange. Like, obviously, he had ancestors just the same as me. But I had never really thought about it. There was someone that he called ‘Grandad’ just as I did to him.

  ‘That would make me your…first cousin four times removed if I’m correct,’ she finished with a smile.

  Just like Aunt Emma, I found the topic of genealogy incredibly fascinating. Of course, I didn’t really know my family due to them all being dead, but if they were all alive, I would’ve scoured them all for information about how we were all connected.

  ‘So that makes you a descendant of Titan, too?’ I asked. I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to make small talk.

  'Oh, yes, but I haven’t used my powers in years and years. It’s a peaceful life here in Llangollen. There’s a relatively low crime rate. Nobody’s really in any danger.’

  ‘Must be nice,’ I murmured so that only Harvey could hear me. Then, louder, I said, ‘But why didn’t Amy come to kill you when she murdered my family? Are we too distantly related?’

  ‘Exactly that, my dear,’ she answered almost sorrowfully. ‘She thought that there was no way that you would ever come into contact with me. That’s why she left me alone.’

  All of a sudden, Harvey perked up. ‘If you know so much about the family, do you know anything about our Grandad’s? Like his parents and stuff?’

  ‘Oh, of course I do,’ Aunt Emma said as though he were asking a stupid question. ‘I take it you’d like to know?’

  I looked at Harvey, who nodded eagerly. Then, I shrugged. ‘It’d be cool.’

  Aunt Emma thought for a moment, as though collecting her memories, before beginning, ‘Steven’s father was Albert Santrrer V, who I believe is your namesake, Albert. She was your mother’s favourite grandparent. His mother was Barbara, who was a witch. The Santrrer family had no magical blood until your great-grandfather married Barbara. She’s the reason the two of you can use magic.

  ‘Albert was Prime Minister from 1978 until his passing in 1988. When he died, the position went to his eldest, Sarah.’

  My face must have changed, because Aunt Emma paused and looked at me.

  Once again, a strange feeling had flooded my entire body. I felt both sick and curious. I had a question that I didn’t exactly want to know the answer to.

  ‘Albert, dear, you’ve gone rather pale,’ Aunt Emma commented, sounding worried. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘I-I-’ I was struggling for words. ‘I didn’t…I didn’t know Grandad had siblings.’

  Aunt Emma’s face became rather horrified. ‘Oh, I don’t suppose you would.’

  ‘Did…did Amy kill them, too?’

  ‘Oh, no, no, she did far worse to your grandaunts and uncles.’

  ‘Were they tortured?’ Harvey asked, clearly not caring nearly as much as I did about the answer.

  Aunt Emma took a deep breath. ‘Amy Wright killed your immediate family. But killing your extended family was too great a task. So she took their memories. They’re all still alive and well, but they have no idea that they are descendants of Titan, nor do they know of the existence of the mutant world, and much less the existence of Albert Santrrer.

  ‘She sort of reprogrammed their brains so that if their Titan powers ever do show, their minds immediately write it off as a coincidence or a phenomenon.’

  ‘So…even if I wanted to contact them and ask about my story…’ I began, ‘they’d…they’d have no idea?’

  Aunt Emma shook her head slowly. ‘Amy implanted false memories of a fake family into their heads. Sarah’s name is still Sarah Santrrer, but she has no idea what her surname really ties her to.’

  I balled my fists on my knees, gripping my trousers tightly. There was more hatred for Amy than blood in my veins at that moment. If I had known even half of this two years ago, I would’ve torn Amy Wright limb from limb instead of just giving her an easy death. I would’ve hurt her.

  Trying my absolute hardest to keep my voice level, I murmured, ‘Sorry. But, if my aunt was made Prime Minister, how did the position end up in my Grandad’s hands?’

  ‘Right. Well. When Sarah was given the position, she wasn’t happy. Her father had just died and she didn’t like the responsibility anyway, but her eldest child was just fifteen. Although it was allowed, she didn’t want to give the responsibility she couldn’t handle to her daughter.

  ‘So, instead, she passed the position to the child after herself, your uncle Vincent, after only a year of being Prime Minister. Vincent held the position for a bit longer, about two years, but the responsibility was too much for him. But there was trouble again. His eldest child was only about thirteen. So he passed the position to your grandfather, Steven. And the tale from there is pretty simple. There wasn’t any more trouble, other than when your parents died and the position went backwards back to your grandfather.’

  I didn’t exactly know what to do with the information we had been given. After all, it hadn’t even been what we came for. All it had done was give me a new level of hatred for Amy that I had previously thought impossible.

  I guessed I could use it to fuel my hatred for Maltor. He was following in the footsteps of the woman who had done all of this to my family. Yes, he hadn’t wiped the memories of my relatives, or killed any of them, but he idolised the woman who had.

  ‘You really do know a lot about our family,’ I remarked, still fighting a desperate battle to keep my anger inside.

  Harvey glanced at me. I almost smirked. He knew exactly what I was trying to lead onto.

  Aunt Emma chuckled. ‘You’re quite right. I’ve gone on for so long your tea’s probably gone cold.’

  I almost flinched. I had completely forgotten about the cup of tea in my hands, and it seemed as though Harvey had, too. The two of us took a rather awkward couple of sips from our mugs as Aunt Emma smiled at us.

  I was grateful for her hospitality, I really was. And, as much anger as it was causing me, I was really thankful that she had shared so much information with me.

  I wondered what Harvey was thinking about. Was he as affected by this information as I was? Part of me thought that there was no way he possibly could be, right? He hadn’t fought in the first war like I had. He hadn’t seen Amy. Felt her terror.

  Grandad had been through so much. His children, wife, parents, and grandchildren had been killed. And, on top of all of that, his siblings and probably his aunts and uncles had had their memories erased and wouldn’t remember who he was. No wonder he had treasured me. I really was the only person that he had had left.

  Harvey sighed after finishing his tea, clearly growing impatient. It was time to ask the question. No more procrastinating it.

  ‘Aunt Emma,’ he began. ‘Thanks for telling us all of this, but that isn’t why we came. Something happened last week and neither of us know what it was, how it happened, or why it did. And we were hoping you did.’

  Aunt Emma seemed almost a little bit intrigued. Maybe she did know something.

  ‘Well, there’s only one way to find out,’ she said with a smile.

  Harvey glanced at me and then took a deep breath before beginning his explanation. He told her everything that he could. About why were invading Paris to begin with, how he encountered Maltor, what his fight with Maltor was like, what it was like watching me fight him, all up until the point where he blacked out. When he was done, I explained what I had seen happen to him and then how he had collapsed when he had tried to charge Maltor and Quinn.

  Aunt Emma had been nodding throughout our entire explanation, and she continued to do so for a few seconds once we were finished. She didn’t seem nearly as talkative as she had been merely a few moments ago. I feared the worst.

  She sighed. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like that happening to anyone in our family, no. Sorry, dears, but I would tell you if I could.’

  ‘No, no, it’s fine,’ I said firmly, taking a sip of my tea. ‘All it means is that we’ll have to do a bit of our own research.’

  Harvey seemed a little disturbed by the fact that Aunt Emma didn’t know what had happened to him. But there had to have been an explanation. All that this meant was that this one woman couldn’t explain why he’d gotten fiery veins and blacked out. No matter who we asked, that was not an easy thing to explain. I didn’t blame Aunt Emma at all for not knowing.

  I nudged him. ‘Hey, man, we’ll find out someday. This is the first of many outings to find the truth.’

  He perked up a little, but I could still see a bit of hurt deep in his eyes.

  ‘No matter who tries to stop us, we’ll find-’

  Something changed in my body, and a mere second after the same thing changed in Harvey’s, too.

  Without even saying a word, I dived across the living room, spreading my arms wide and covering Aunt Emma’s body with my own.

  Behind me, I heard the window smash.