The Gemini Reign

I didn’t know what to think, how to feel, and how I should have reacted. My whole world turned upside down.

Except I think I knew all along. Everything. About having another life. It had always felt like there was some part of myself missing. I showed anger and shock towards my brother, but the truth is that I felt peace and relief that I wasn’t going crazy. I needed time to process all of this. I had that time now.

Accept this? Go home? Cry? I honestly felt as if I was stuck in a nightmare. My life was all twisted, and I didn’t think I could accept being a princess. A princess!

I was not cut out to be a princess. I could barely walk without falling on my face, let alone in heels and a tiara. And the freakout phase began—all of the insecurities rooting into my thoughts and taking over all at once. I pulled over and breathed. I started driving again. I decided I should go home. It was almost dark out anyway. I took a U-turn and hoped that Justin didn’t yell at me for staying out so long. It had been four hours since I left the house. I left somewhere around noon. It was almost five p.m now. I went to the mall to pass the time and think. He would be worried and angry. I was in for a good treat, wasn’t I? The thoughts took over again.

Hopefully Principal…or I suppose Selene and…Aiden were not there still. I still hadn’t thought about him. I had a connection with him. A part of me longed to embrace the new adjustments to my life. Except it was a small part, and the other part of me that wanted to reject and retaliate was big. I guess it was an instinct to stay angry and stubborn. To hurt the people who hurt me. However, I also wanted to go back and ask questions about…everything and anything. To learn everything about the world, I was denied to know.

I had so many concerns swirling around, threatening to attack. I couldn’t address all of them without going mad. So instead, I just drove and listened to the radio, the music, the lyrics, good or bad, and I drove.

When I finally turned into the neighborhood, it was around five-thirty p.m. I pulled up to the house, and all of the lights were open. There were two new cars parked there, along with Selene’s. Justin was sitting on the steps.

Oh no. He looked upset.

I parked the car and walked up to him. Surprisingly he didn’t acknowledge the time or how long I was out. Justin just stood and stepped inside, leaving the door open for me. I walked in cautiously, wondering who else was here.

I followed Justin into the living room. Selene and Aiden sat on one of the black sofas and were looking up at me. I heard more voices in the kitchen. I walked the short distance to the kitchen and opened the door slowly.

What I saw nearly gave me a heart attack. There they were—Justin, two of my teachers, Ms. Cornelius and Mr. Cedar and Valerie from school. What in the world were they doing here?

I pulled Justin into the pantry.

“Why are my teachers here? And that—that girl?” I asked him frantically

“Aunt Dahlia, Uncle Amel, and our cousin Valerie. Well, technically, she isn’t our cousin, but actually a super close family friend. It’s complicated.” I almost died right there. What?

“Are you serious?” I asked, shocked.

“Are you? Why were you out for so long? Do you know how worried I was? I couldn’t even call you! Are you stupid? Why would you stay out for so long?” He yelled.

“Don’t call me stupid! Me not having a phone is your fault, not mine!”

“Having a phone can mess with your mind, but don’t change the subject! You said you needed time. Was that enough? Or do you need another five hours? Where were you?”

I cringed. I would have to tell him that I was at the mall. “I was in the car.”

“The entire time?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Why do you care?”

“If I don’t care, who will? Who will care about you but for me? I am on your side, believe it or not.”

“Why were you so cruel towards me after moms’ death?” It hurt when he shut me out.

“I— it was a plan to get you ready for the truth. Obviously, it was stupid, but it was mom’s wish to keep you in the dark for as long as possible. To let you live as normal and safe as possible until you couldn’t anymore.”

“Then, for once, tell me the truth—all of it. I can’t live in the dark anymore. I won’t. I assume there’s more to the story.” I said.

Justin nodded and led me into the living room, where Selene, Aiden, Ms. Cornelius, Valerie, and Mr. Cedar were sitting. They were all so silent I could probably hear the sound of a pin dropping.

I didn’t know what to do first, cry or yell. Why was everyone so quiet? Why wasn’t anyone speaking? I looked at all of them one more time, then huffed in annoyance and plopped down beside Princ—Selene. She looked shocked. I just sat next to her because it was the only seat left.

Finally, I had enough of the silence. “Is someone going to start talking, or are we just going to sit here looking at each other?” I said, hoping I sounded tough even though I was nervous inside. I sank a little more into the couch. Suddenly, Aiden stood up. He walked out of the living room, and Selene left after him. Mr. Cedar, Valerie, and Ms. Cornelius got up and went, too, both of them making an excuse to leave us alone. I still couldn’t believe that they lied. All of them. Except for Aiden. I didn’t know what to think when it came to him.

I looked at Justin, waiting for him to look up at me. This morning he wasn’t this gloomy. He was in more of an excited mood. I wonder what changed? Did he finally think about his actions instead of pushing his guilt away? My anger restarted as I thought more about being lied to my entire life. I couldn’t trust my family. I didn’t even know my family. All the rationalizing I had done in the car had left my mind, and I yelled, “Look at me! Do I mean anything to you? Am I worth something? If I am, then tell me…tell me the rest of the story.” I cried out. He looked up at me, finally. I looked back into his eyes and knew one thing for sure. He knew what he did was wrong. He hated himself for lying.

“Okay, I will, but you need to promise me one thing,” he said slowly. I nodded. “You have to forgive me.”

How was I supposed to forgive him if I didn’t know the extent of his crime?

I nodded anyway. Justin may or may not have deserved forgiveness. I still had yet to figure that out. First, I had to hear the truth.

“Okay, this time i’ll start from when you and Aiden were born.”

Justin explained that our mother didn’t know she was having twins, so when Aiden and I were born, it was a surprise—Ultrasounds didn’t work on dragons. (Aiden was older by three minutes.) We were born like all mammals, but usually, dragon shifters were born when the mother was a dragon. Justin, Aiden, and I were born when our mother was human. This changed our DNA and made it so that we had to unlock our dragon gene. It would be triggered when we had a massive emotional outburst. Selene and Aiden had all of their dragon traits since birth, but Justin had to unlock his dragon side.

All dragon shifters had enhanced intelligence, athleticism, senses, and the power to manipulate or compel human minds. They also had powers when human. There were elements like Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit. Each dragon specialized in one element, but we could use a little bit of all of them if we needed to.

Then he explained the two clans. The red clan was where our maternal grandfather was from. The blue clan was where our maternal grandmother was from. The blue clan ruled over Russia, and the red clan ruled over Italy and other small countries in Europe—Italy was right in the middle of where the red clan ruled. That’s why we used Italy as where we were from. (The actual kingdom in Zabaria was way bigger than Italy.) Our mom was half red and half blue, which also meant she was the heir for both the red clan’s throne and the blue clan’s throne. Later, when her maternal grandfather died, she took over that throne because her grandma gave up her right to the throne. The blue clan was where our father was from. He was a commoner, so he didn’t have a significant background. That meant we were half red and blue too, which was why we had blonde hair like dad and Selene had red hair like mom.

When I asked what Justin meant by ‘over Russia,’ he said that Zabaria was a separate supernatural world above the clouds. It was basically a mirror version of the continents above the clouds and that the air substituted the ocean.

My brain was overloading from all of this information. “Wait, so how did you keep this from me so long? I mean, am I that oblivious? Why couldn’t I know about my other siblings? What about when Angelica kidnaped me? How come I didn’t find out then.”

He looked at me with apparent guilt in his expression. “Well, I said that dragons had the power to compel humans, but since you had not triggered your dragon gene.

We could also compel you to do things.” He said, slowly and solemn.

“Things? Like what?” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Things like making you forget stuff. Or telling you to lock away a few memories. Important memories…” He said guiltily. “I was getting to the things you don’t remember. Things like your sister, she left on her own. She was the firstborn and would-be queen. She wanted to learn the customs. Things like your twin. Aiden was taken at three years old by…Angelica and others she was working with. After Aiden was taken, Selene was never the same. That was the main reason she left. We all loved him so much. It was hard. You and Aiden had a powerful bond. Even for twins, abnormally so. You cried yourself to sleep at three years old. Our parents didn’t want you to go through that, so they erased our memories, you and I. You acted much more like yourself after that. Our parents wanted us to be happy, and the more we knew about the truth, the more risk there was of you finding out or remembering Aiden. Mom sent rescue teams to find him. She went with them for years. Up until two years ago. When you and mom were captured by Angelica.” Justin looked down.

Wait, what, “That was six months ago. Not two years ago.”

“No, it was two years ago. We altered the truth for you. You were taken two years ago and were rescued a few months ago. You found out half of the story. Just that you were a dragon and that you were royalty. You thought of Angelica as your savior for telling you the truth, and she trained you to be one of her mercenaries. You killed and maimed anyone she asked you to for two years. You were never introduced to Aiden in those two years. We thought he was dead because of that. We erased your memory so you wouldn’t feel the guilt weighing on you for the rest of your childhood. You also were keen on killing us all at the time. We had to erase the past two years of lies Angelica had poured into your brain. I am sorry. I went through the ‘being lied to for my whole life’ part too. But you have to see that we did this to protect all of us.”

He got up and was about to leave the room when I asked, “Where is dad?”

He stopped and looked back. His face deathly, “He isn’t worth your time worrying about,” he said in a voice that scared me.