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were sitting around the
table after dinner. A sense of betrayal washed over him as he
stared at the unassuming house. His parents had gotten him ready
for school every day of his life, sat around the table during
meals, and tucked him in at night. The entire time they knew what
he was and hadn’t told him.
    It’s passed down through
your family , Sammy had told him. As much
as she had betrayed his trust as well, he had no reason to doubt
her.
    He turned off the engine and climbed out of
the car. The night air seemed far cooler than it had been during
the spring formal. A wind gusted around his legs, pulling at his
suit pants. Xander frowned, suddenly not sure if the wind was
natural or if he was creating it as a response to his bad mood.
    The porch steps creaked as he climbed to the
front door. He knew it would be unlocked; his parents rarely locked
it until they were going to bed.
    He turned the handle and the door swung
open. Xander could hear the chairs being pushed back from the
dining room table as the door opened, his family curious about
their unannounced guest.
    His father was the first one around the
corner but his mother and grandfather followed closely behind.
    “ Xander, thank God,” his
father said. “We’ve been worried sick about you.”
    “ Have you?” he replied
harshly.
    His father seemed taken aback. He stopped in
the hallway and stared at his son. “Of course we were worried. We
haven’t heard from you since you left the other day. We wanted to
make sure you were okay.”
    “ I’m not okay, Dad. I’m
angry and I’m hurt.”
    “ What are you talking
about?” his mother asked, stepping up beside her
husband.
    “ What’s a Wind
Warrior?”
    The silence in the house seemed deafening.
No one spoke but their expressions confirmed what Xander suspected
all along. Slowly, his father turned toward his grandfather and
they shared a knowing expression.
    “ Where did you hear that?”
his father asked, surprisingly calm for the situation.
    “ From a Fire Warrior who
tried to kill me tonight!”
    “ A Fire Warrior,” his
grandfather said, though his inflection didn’t turn it into a
question as much as a statement of fact.
    Xander turned his attention back to his
father. “You knew what I was this whole time, didn’t you?” He
didn’t wait for a response before he continued berating his father.
“I could have been killed tonight all because you were too
egocentric to bother to tell me the truth! You could have been
training me to use my powers! You could have been helping me
prepare before something like this happened!”
    “ No, he couldn’t,” his
grandfather said sadly. “He couldn’t because he’s not the Wind
Warrior. I am.”
    Xander felt deflated. “You?”
    “ It follows family lines
but not every member of a family becomes one. It skipped your
father. He’s just a normal man, like you were until a couple weeks
ago.”
    “ Why?” Xander asked, unable
to find a more articulate question. “Why didn’t you tell me the
truth?”
    “ Because I asked him not
to,” his father said. “I grew up the son of a Wind Warrior and it
was a living hell for me. Your grandfather had a perpetual
obligation to save the world but he never thought about what his
responsibilities did to our family. We’d settle somewhere new and
your grandfather would go off to right some wrong in the world.
Next thing you knew, someone would claim they saw him flying
through the air or making a hurricane to put out a forest fire. And
just like that, we’d have to pack up our things and move somewhere
new, somewhere where no one knew us so we could start a new life. I
moved six times during high school alone. Six times!”
    His father looked exhausted and aged. “I
didn’t want that for you, Xander. I wanted you to have a normal
life. You don’t know how hard it’s been for me since I found out
you were one of them.”
    “ How hard it’s been for
you?” Xander replied. He empathized with his