So I was scrolling through Wattpad trailers on YouTube, I'm a loser don't judge. ANYWAY! I found the trailer on the side! And I was so surprised and amazed and I love it so much! I don't know how I never realized it! This chapters dedicated to the amazing artist who made the trailer on the side! I feel so awful for not saying thank you before, but I love it!

Autumn tapped her fist against the door, waiting for a response. The door was flung open, Ezra’s wide smile greeting her. Ezra appeared different, this time wearing glasses. Ezra was a handsome man, the glasses adding to that effect.

“Hey!” He grinned, stepping aside so she could enter the room. “Time for a checkup already?”

“I guess,” Autumn shrugged, leaping up on the observation table. “Tate was complaining that I hadn’t come in yet.” Ezra shut the door, whirling around to face her. He stepped forward, helping remove the sling. Autumn expected her arm to hurt when he did, but it hadn’t hurt in days.

Ezra set his glasses on the counter, straightening her arm. He gently rubbed his hand up and down her forearm. Ezra shut his eyes, taking in a deep breath. When opened, they morphed into their magnificent gold color.

Autumn observed them, marveled by their exquisite color. Ezra studied her arm, eyebrow raised. After a minute, he rested his eyes and they returned to their original brown. He blinked a few times, stumbling to his glasses.

“The glasses are new,” Autumn commented as he put them on.

“Yeah,” Ezra sighed. “I hate them but I can’t see without them now.”

“Now?” Autumn wondered.

“My power . . .” He paused, searching for the right words. “Has some negative side effects.”

“On your vision?” Ezra nodded. “Why did you just use it on me then?” Autumn felt guilty.

“Its fine,” Ezra shook it off. “But good news, your arm is one hundred percent healed.”

“It is?” Autumn wanted to further interrogate Ezra, but the news was shocking. She had been there for a total of two months, arm only broken for half of that. “That can’t be right. It takes more than a month to heal, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t gotten to that part yet,” Ezra shrugged, referring to his studying of the human body. “There’s so much to learn. It might have something to do with the fortis blood in your system.”

“The fortis what?!” Autumn had no clue what he was talking about.

“Right right, the kids use the term specials now. Fortis is what we used to call ourselves. But then again, Latin’s a dying language anyway,” he scoffed.

“Wait, the blood’s still in my system? How?”

“You see, our blood is different from yours. You have red and white blood cells. We have those also, but we have an additional type of cell.  It’s called a sanaret cell. It was named so, because it heals our bodies at a quicker pace than yours. The sanaret cells lasts for quite a while before it dies out. Now in our bodies, we have a sanaret organ instead of an appendix.  Our sanaret organ replaces the sanaret cells that have died, so with it we are never without sanaret cells.”

“But because I don’t have the sanaret organ, I just have to wait for the cells to die out?” Autumn was surprised she was following along so well, science was never her strong subject.

“Exactly,” Ezra bobbed his head. “So, to make an extremely long and factual story short, the sanaret cell is responsible for your healing.”

“I feel like I’m back in biology,” Autumn and Ezra exchanged laughs. Autumn stretched her arm out, happy to be free of the sling. Ezra paced around the room, his face scrunched. When Autumn peered up at him, she knew he was hiding something.

“What is it?” Autumn asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What is what?” Ezra responded.

“You want to ask me something. You're making that face, my step-dad makes that face whenever he’s hiding something.”

“How . . .” Ezra paused, biting his lip. “How are you?” Autumn was curious as to why he was asking, then she remembered. It had been two weeks since she’d learned the news of Mark’s death.

“Fine.”

“I’m sorry,” Ezra twiddled his thumbs. “I didn’t want to be that person, bothering you about it. I know I hated it so much. But I don’t know, I just wanted to see if you were okay because I hadn’t seen you in so long and-”

“Ezra,” Autumn interrupted his rambles. “It’s fine. I appreciate you checking up on me.”  Ezra grinned, scoping some papers into his hand and walking across the room. A large stack of papers rested in a chair off in the corner. He added these new papers to the stack. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What do you mean by “I know I hated it so much”?” Ezra froze, back to her. Autumn couldn’t see his face. He glanced at her over his shoulder, pain in his eyes. What is he hiding?

“Nothing,” he shook his head quickly, hands trembling.

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

“I-I don’t want you to do what they all do,” Ezra gestured toward the door, spinning around to face her.

“What is that?”

“I don’t want you to look at me the way they do. I can’t stand seeing them . . .”

“The?”

“Pity in their eyes,” Ezra’s voice was soft. Everything starting adding up for Autumn. The pain, the inability to speak straight, never leaving his office; they were all signs. Ezra had lost someone.

“Who was she?” Ezra played with the wedding ring on his finger, causing Autumn to ask this question. He hesitated, staring at his shoes. Autumn gave him the time he needed, not prying until he was ready to speak.

“They,” his voice squeaked. “My wife and my daughter.”

“Oh god,” Autumn exclaimed. She didn’t know what to say. She felt as if she should say sorry, however, he made it clear he didn’t like pity.

“Please, don’t look at me like they do. I can’t stand it! They all bow their heads, silently shuffle past me. It makes me sick,” Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, unable to look at Autumn.

“Is that why you never leave your office?” Autumn asked. Ezra tapped his finger against his arm, as if to distract himself from answering. He didn’t need to say a word, Autumn could read his expression. His need to stay away from everyone made Autumn wonder why Cade refused to leave his office for some time. “If you don’t mind me asking, what was her name?”

“My wife’s name was Astoria. And my daughter’s name was Elaine,” Ezra bore a reminiscent smile.

“What was she like?” Autumn could see Ezra’s shoulders relax when he said there names. He might put up a front, refuse to speak of them, but in reality Autumn thought it was all he wanted to do.

“My wife?” Ezra took in a deep breath, puffing some air from his cheeks. A strand of his hair swayed as he did. “A huge pain in the butt,” Ezra chuckled, Autumn smiling. “She was so unbelievably stubborn. When she wanted something, it had to be done that second or the world was over.”

“Sounds like Clarke,” Autumn bobbed her head, wearing an innocent smile; Ezra chortled.

“She was exactly like her.” The happiness died down in the room, Ezra dropping his grin. “Astoria was so beautiful. She had these big chocolate brown eyes, they were always sparkling. Her smile was so big.”

Ezra’s eyes fell back on his shoes. He stood quietly in the corner, chest heaving. He dared to peer at Autumn, eyes glossy.

“You remind me a lot of Elaine. She was so sweet. She always wanted to do what was best for everyone else . . .” Autumn wasn’t sure what to say. “Elaine was terrified of haircuts, refused to get them. It always drove Astoria crazy. Elaine’s hair was all the way down her back; it was so long.” Ezra lifted the corner of his lip to signal a smile, but Autumn could see the pain.

“How-” she stopped herself, how could she ask him that.

“Did they die?” Autumn opened her mouth to speak, but Ezra interrupted her. “It’s okay . . . Before Elaine, Astoria and I came here, we were living in a very small neighborhood. Kyra calls her and her friends exterminators, but those who oppose humans call themselves vindicta. Anyway, they found us. They offered us a deal, we said no, and they left.”

Ezra paced around the room before joining Autumn on the table.

“Elaine and Astoria got very sick. I-I couldn’t understand why. I tried everything to save them, but I didn’t know what I was doing. The council showed up, took us in, and gave me a room to watch over them. But it wasn’t enough.”

“What happened to them?”

“Vindicta poisoned them. The poison attacked the sanaret gland, then the rest of their body. They basically withered away, like dying flowers. I tried to learn everything I could about the fortis body but the council didn’t have enough . . . so they said.”

“They didn’t let you near the archives?” Ezra shook his head.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to give you,” Ezra leapt from the table, locking the door. “I was going to wait but, I think you’re ready now more than ever.” Autumn watched with cautious eyes as he stormed to the cabinet and pulled out a leather messenger bag.

He rested it on her lap. Autumn eyed it, peeking inside. It was filled with papers. Glancing over a few of the pages, she could determine they were about powers.

“Are these from the archives?” Autumn shoved the bag in Ezra’s hand. “I can’t take these.”

“You have to,” he handed them back to her.

“Can’t you get in big trouble for doing this?” Autumn searched his eyes.

“That’s not important. I don’t want you to worry about me.”

“Ezra-”

“Autumn, listen. The council hides all this stuff from us to prevent one of us turning on the rest of the group. They don’t realize we need this information to save ourselves. If I look at this, they’ll know. But if you do, they’ll have no idea.”

Autumn was scared. She didn’t want this responsibility. Why did she have to save the people who wanted her dead? Why bother learning about their powers when all they wanted was to see her burn?

Ezra rested his hands on her cheeks, forcing Autumn to look at him. He scanned her face for any sign of acceptance into his plan.

“I lost my wife and my daughter. They died because the council didn’t want to give up their precious information. I can’t . . . I won’t let that happen to anyone else.”

“Why me?” Ezra let go of her, standing straight.

“You are different than everyone here, Autumn. You don’t understand. Being human isn’t a weakness here, it’s a strength. You have humanity.” Autumn felt this heavy weight on her shoulders.

But Autumn knew what she had to do. No matter how scared she was, she couldn’t turn down the chance Ezra had given her. She could further help those who needed it. Autumn could even help Ezra.

“I’ll do it.”

“Thank you . . . You can’t let anyone find these. You don’t know if they’ll turn you in or not. Hide them in Cade’s office.”

“Cade? Why Cade’s?” Ezra set a hand on her back, shuffling her onto her feet. He shoved her toward the door.

“Cade spends a lot of his time on the computer. You think it’s always just for the council?” Ezra opened the door, Autumn stepping into the hall. She spun around to face Ezra, her hand trembling; she was so scared. “Autumn, save us all.”