"I-I can't wake him up, I-I can only put him to sleep" Serenity said, looking to Lynn, staring into her eyes for a brief moment before covering her eyes. "I can't help it! I don't want to be gifted, this isn't a gift, I can't look into anyone's eyes or else they drop to the ground and fall asleep!" She cried.

Serenity put a hand on Kai's forehead, closing her eyes. "He's dreaming of an island with other taint- uh, I don't think I like the word tainted very much, it sounds mean, and it's not like you guys can help it, is there a term you would prefer?" Serenity asked Saorise, seeing as she was the calmest one of the group. As she looked over to Saorise, she almost looked into her eyes, so she quickly covered her eyes again, looking to the ground

I clacked my beak in a warning, making another hissing screech. White feathers ruffled, I hopped down from Lynn's shoulder, over to my brother, and gently nibbled and poked his shoulder with my beak, screeching in an attempt to wake him.

"Oh whoosh you lousy birdbrain, maybe people could tolerate you gained if you weren't so rude, mean and annoying!" Serenity suddenly snapped, fed up with the bird's unwanted behavior. "Just let him sleep, he's having a nice dream" Serenity huffed

Saorise gave an awkward glance, but avoided eye contact and making sure the star mark was covered

I stopped trying to wake my brother, and stood up. I felt tension in my family. They knew what was next. I became a human in a crouching position, where I pulled out my hunting knife, and stood up abruptly, gripping is tightly. "Excuse me?" I said quietly.

Saorise flinched. This wasn't going to end well...

Lynn put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "The Gifted aren't worth it, Ash," she spat. After all, that's what they say about us. It's what Mother said about me.

She shook Kai gently, then spoke to the new girl about Saorise. "Also, the other one is a Gifted. She's not a part of us." Lynn didn't want to wake him up from a good dream, but if the Gifted found out about the Rebel Island...

Lynn hid her hand behind her back. Delicately, she wove strands of thin air into what looked like a knife. She played with it, changing the engravings and making sure the shadows and shading made it look real. Her illusions tricked people, and she loved it.

Ignore

Serenity snapped her neck to face the now human, staring deep into the tainted's eyes. "You heard me" she said perfectly calmly, though she was panicking internally. A sudden wave of calmness suddenly filled the owl shifter as the Drowsiness from Serenity's powers began to set it