“That’s not what we’re here to talk about,” Aunt Sarah said. “Again, yes, I think it would be good to focus on success, but we should be prepared for the other cases. If something happens, if you have a really bad day and you get hurt or scared or angry, then it’s possible you could have a bad trigger event. And it’s hard. Right now, Crystal is going through a lot. Neil, me, Mark, Carol, we all went through it.”

“All bad?” Amy asked.

“Yes, Amy.”

“What happened?” Eric asked.

I braced myself, ready for my mom to shut it down.

“Your mother and I were kidnapped,” my mother said. “They kept us in a dark basement for a long time. And then they tried to kill us.”

I blinked, my head swimming as I absorbed that. Things made sense now. I had so many more questions.

“Neil had the accident, which you know about,” my Aunt Sarah said. I knew. They’d met in the physical therapy after. Her for a riding injury, him for his trigger. “Mark—”

“I was on a boat when we were attacked,” my dad said.

“The point is,” my Aunt Sarah stressed, “we need you to be aware that this is a thing that happens. Very often, when we get powers, it isn’t always easy, fun, or great. We need you all to be gentle with Crystal, not to pry, not to pressure, give her space, and let her handle things in her own way.”

I felt frustrated at that, yet I couldn’t say anything. They were saying this because I’d been asking her questions before.

“As you grow up, and we bring you to more events where capes are present, it’s important to remember that many of them have been through the same,” my mother said. “It’s a question of courtesy and cape politics.”

I nodded at that.

“It’s not just others. We need you to be gentle with yourselves,” Uncle Neil said. “Be prepared and be aware. When Sarah triggered, she hurt people, badly. I did the same.”

“And I took a life,” my mother said.

My eyes widened at that.

There was a pause, a break in the flow of conversation. And it was my mom, wearing a sweater, her hair long, looking much like a mom, with sunlight coming in from the window, and I could see it in her eyes. The fact that she had come to terms with that.

“…We weren’t going to mention that,” Aunt Sarah said, indicating Eric.

“I almost killed someone too,” Crystal said.

I wasn’t sure how to even imagine that. I wasn’t sure Crystal could even imagine it, from the look on her face.