Adelyn Aspen - Genesis

If you want to survive, you must hide.

Words spoken over a cradle, pressed into her mind since before she was old enough to comprehend them.

You mustn’t stray too far. You mustn’t look people in the eye for too long, or speak to strangers without us present, or unleash your claws.

The warnings came from a place of love and understanding, but Adelyn still found them terribly confusing. Her instincts told her one thing, and her family told her another.

Regardless, she loved her family and she didn’t want to cause trouble for them, so she put in the colored contacts they bought for her and she ignored the itching under her skin and she explored only the woods around their house and not the nearby town.

In the woods, she could run as wild as she liked. The adults whispered about old photographs and new recording devices and the dangers of curiosity, but they melted under her eager smile every time without fail. And so she grew up amid the Oregon wilderness, with streams to splash in and trees to climb and flowers to pick, and for a while everything was good.

Her family got a little smaller when her uncles finally found their own place to live, somewhere south and secluded and not too far to visit. It was a good change for them, but it drew attention, and attention drew scrutiny, and scrutiny brought that man to their doorstep. The one who knocked on their door and pointed a gun in her momma’s face and looked her right in the eyes and saw the misalignment where the contacts didn’t quite sit right.

Her momma’s powers were too deeply buried to call upon; she’d suppressed them for so long that she could not and would not change. Adelyn had no such barrier. When she reached for the power that was waiting just under her skin, she found it eager to respond. It gave her legs that were fast enough to spring forward and claws that were sharp enough to rake across that man’s arm, making him drop the gun in shock and pain.

He left still cursing them, and her momma shut the door quickly. When she saw her daughter with blood still on her claws, she started crying. Adelyn didn’t understand at the time what she was so upset about - she’d protected her family, which was all that mattered.

So what if the claws never went away? Her mother was safe, and so was her father, and they all crowded into the car and headed east, hastily packed boxes crammed into the trunk and piled high in the empty seat beside her in the back.

So what if she scratched her lip in her sleep, and the scar never quite faded all the way? She learned to live with it eventually, learned to walk slow and measured instead of springing around on all fours like her body now wanted her to. She gave herself better ears, so that she could listen for threats. So that she wouldn’t be taken by surprise again.

That was the real talent of the Aspen family - they adapted like no other.

So what if she never got to go to school like the other kids, and had to wear long sleeves and pinchy boots? She could… she could live with it.

Until, all of a sudden, she couldn’t. She knew, deep down, that there had to be other people like herself and her family. She wanted to help them. She didn’t want anyone to have to hide anymore. All the resentment and the fear could’ve turned her heart cold and black, but she staunchly refused to go that route. She would help people, not hurt them unless she had to.

But, in order to make a difference, she had to get out there and try. Leaving hurt, but her parents understood. Or they pretended to understand. Either way, they let her go, and that’s all she could ask for.

Her grandparents welcomed her with open arms, and, even if they didn't understand her entirely, they at least gave her a place to stay in the city. She had to know the ways of the world if she wanted to change them, after all.

As she looked for a good place to start building a better world, she added a new declaration for herself to follow.

You mustn’t ignore someone in need. You mustn’t give up, or turn back, or wait for someone else to take action when you can do it yourself. You must be strong.