[Prepare yourself for a terrible, rushed, and cheesy ending. Also, two poor attempts at writing grief. And a really badly executed plot twist.]

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The date for the 5th murder wasn't written. It could have been the next day, for all we knew. We just had to take our information to one of the teachers, as soon as possible. So we went to Mrs. Crow and spilled out everything. Even the stuff about sneaking into offices. Luckily, she was kind and told us she would tell the other teachers she figured it out herself so we wouldn't get in trouble. The next day, our headmaster was gone and Mrs. Crow was replacing him permanently. I still couldn't figure out where I had seen her before, but I was 100% sure I had!

It was around Christmas time. The place was being decorated. Teachers were talking about visiting home for Christmas holidays. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to stay or go home, but I had time to think about it.

It happened the day before Christmas holidays. Right when we thought everything was going to be fine, it happened. That night, I woke up to more screams. And when I went outside the room, Amber's dead body was on the floor.

I screamed. I screamed louder than I had ever screamed before. My throat started hurting, but I kept screaming. I fell to my knees. It wasn't possible. The headmaster was gone. There shouldn't be any more killings. It wasn't possible.

But it had happened. Amber was dead.

* * *

The next night, Aria and Rosemary convinced me to go check Mrs. Crow's office with them. It felt empty without Amber, but I fought back the tears. We hurried through the dark hallways to the headmaster's office, which was now Mrs. Crow's. And when we walked in, Mrs. Crow was waiting. We stopped in our tracks when we saw her.

"Why, hello, young ones," she said, smirking. "I knew you would come."

"You," I gasped when I saw the knife in her hand. "It was all you."

"Took you a while, huh?" she said, twirling it. "I have an offer to make."

"Why should we listen to you?" Aria demanded.

"Because if you don't do what I say, I will kill you," Mrs. Crow said simply. "I want Crystal to join me."

I stared at her blankly. "Join you?"

"You see, my one dream is to rid the world of all with superpowers so that I will be the last one left. That way, I would be the most powerful person on Earth. But, if Crystal were to join me, I wouldn't kill her. She would rule the world beside me."

"Why me?" I asked, confused. I already knew my answer, of course.

"Oh, Crystal." Mrs. Crow smiled. "You see, you are my daughter."

"I'm what? No! Angela White is my mom, not you!" I was horrified.

"She's your adoptive mother," Mrs. Crow said. "Don't you see the resemblance between us?"

I wanted to protest, but then I remembered what Kayla had told Mom that afternoon. Sometimes I feel like you have forgotten that I'm your real daughter. And when Mom had assured me that wasn't true, she hadn't said she had given birth to me. Not to mention all those feelings I had been getting about Mrs. Crow, and how sure I was that I had seen her before. When I thought about it, it all made sense.

"No," I whispered, staggering back. But I knew it was true.

Mrs. Crow was an evil lady who wanted to take over the world. And she was my mom.

"So, are you going to join me?"

I didn't know what to do. It was my mom, but she was evil. But, if I was her daughter, would she really kill me? But maybe she was evil enough to kill her own daughter. I had no way of knowing.

"Well?" she asked. I had my answer.

"No."

She stared at me like I was crazy, which I probably was. And then, she threw the knife in her hand. It flew towards me, and all of a sudden, Rosemary pushed me away and Aria jumped in front of me at the same time. Rosemary and I tumbled to the ground as the knife buried itself in Aria's chest.

"Noooooooooo!!!!!!" we screamed at the same time. But the damage was done. Our second friend was dying. Rosemary crawled over to Aria and grasped her hand. "I can heal you. I have to heal you. I must heal you!" she cried.

"No..." Aria whispered, her eyes fluttering closed. "Its...too late." Her hands dropped limply from Rosemary's hands. There was a sudden silence, and Rosemary just sat there staring at Aria's hand for a few seconds. Then--

"No, no don't go, Aria!" Rosemary cried. "You are not dead, right? You are just joking, aren't you? Don't leave us!" Rosemary's big eyes filled with tears. She kept denying the fact that Aria was gone with tears all over her face. "Please tell me you are going to surprise us and tell us that this was all fake. No..." But I knew that she wasn't playing any jokes.

She was gone. Forever.

As Rosemary sobbed over Aria, I only felt cold and angry. "Oh, and now look what you did. You got your friend killed!" Mrs. Crow smirked.

"You killed my best friend!" I shouted, and my power went loose. Ice went everywhere, and my hands went numb. I saw only white as the room temperature went below freezing. But this time, it wasn't out of control. I aimed it toward Mrs. Crow, who tried to shield herself, but it was too late. By the time the storm I created in the room died down, she was frozen as an ice sculpture.

Exhausted from using my power, I passed out.

* * *

"Crystal? Crystal? Please wake up," I heard someone pleading. I forced my eyes open and blinked in the bright light. Rosemary was standing over me, looking concerned. Her eyes were swollen and red. "Oh, thank goodness. You've been out for the past 6 hours."

"6 hours?" I muttered.

"Yeah. You ready to go back into the dormitory?"

I nodded. "Where am I?"

"On the floor in the office. It's almost dawn. Come on."

I pushed myself up and we hurried through the halls to our dormitory. Once we got in, I collapsed in my bed. Though I felt like I was going to have nightmares, I really needed sleep.

* * *

Things went pretty much back to normal after that incident--at least, as normal as things could possibly be. There was one major change. All of a sudden, everyone wanted to know me. They wanted to be friends with the girl who saved the world, I guess. I hated the attention. Even though I now had friends, I still wasn't a social butterfly. Speaking of friends, I kept forgetting I only had one left. I would turn to the side, about to ask Aria about what book she was reading or ask Amber why she was being so quiet, before realizing they weren't there. Rosemary was always there for me, so that I could have a shoulder to cry on. We both grieved together.

Aside from my sadness about my friends, I had to decide whether I was going home or staying at the school for the holidays. I also had to decide whether I wanted to continue attending this school, now that I could more or less control my power, or whether I should live at home again and go back to a normal high school. If I leave here, I would become friendless again. I wouldn't have Rosemary anymore. But, if I go to a normal high school, I could go back to blending into the background, not being noticed anymore. I wouldn't be swamped by kids as I tried to go to my classes. Plus, there was the whole thing about living with my family--adoptive family--again.

After thinking about it for hours, I finally decided to finish the year there and then worry about switching schools. Going to the school was a really fun experience, and I didn't want it to end just yet. In the meantime, I would visit home over break. Although I had a few things to say to my so-called "parents".

Speaking of parents, I was feeling super guilty about turning my own mom into an ice sculpture. Sure, she murdered innocent students. Yes, she killed two of my best friends. And of course, there was the whole thing about her being an evil lady who wanted to take over the world. But she was still my mom. How could I not feel bad about freezing her into ice? Even though she never acted like it, she was my family.

Then again, I pretty much saved the world from evil, and all of the gifted from certain death. Because, obviously, Mrs. Crow would have killed everyone before they realized what was happening. That was no small accomplishment. So I honestly had no idea what to think. Should I be sad about losing the only real family I have? Or should I be proud of myself because I pretty much saved everyone on this planet?

All that thinking was making my head hurt. I decided to go to bed early.

* * *

"Bye, Rosemary! See you after break!" I called as I saw my adoptive parent's car pull up in front of the school on Saturday morning. "I'll miss you!"

"Same! Bye!" She replied, waving.

I smiled as I skipped towards the car through the snow towards Kayla and "Mom". I had really missed them too, and couldn't wait to see them again. I figured I might as well just consider them my real family. I mean, they treated me better than my real mom ever did. I lifted my hand and waved excitedly and they waved back. I started to run. I was going to have a lot of things to tell them, but I had time.

I figured out, that even if you lose people you care about, there's always going to be someone there for you. Always.