" This family is so toxic our crest should be a fucking black hole "

" Because were beautiful and endless? "

" No, because it's dark and consumes all happiness. "

Clairvoyance was a loose term that the public liked to use to describe her Family. To them, it meant fun and creepy, like an old amusement park or late-night stroll through a harvest maze. It was an act for the outsider, something to enjoy for a short thrill before returning to their normal lives, but for Hollis, it was something much more heinous. The parlor tricks, the seances, even some of the exorcisms, were just to draw the crowds and make extra cash. Their real livelihood was built into saving lives and purifying souls. They traveled around the city, helping families with their supernatural problems. Most big families had the room in their deep pockets to compensate well, and when the church's refused to help them, The Balflours would.

Merry was clairvoyant, to a degree. The matriarch of the Balfour household, Merry could read moods and pick up on memories, she had a gift for making even the most stubborn non-believers change their ways. She was bright, charismatic and beamed a warmth that Hollis would never see in anyone else again. Her father, on the other hand, was much quieter and predictably serious. He took their family business with a grain of salt, never hesitating to remind Hollis or her older brother that they had people's lives in their hands and should behave accordingly.

Huey had followed in his father's footsteps, the young demonologist had gotten into the Church hierarchy and at nineteen years old had decided to become a pastor for a local flock. He too had fully embraced their lifestyle, and although not as psychic as other members of his family, his handsome features and charming smile made him the front runner for their brand.

And then there was Hollis.

Hollis the outcast, Hollis the strange. She was the sour milk that would ruin their good time. Always hesitant, always second-guessing what they were doing, she was the outcast to the batch of supernatural weirdos.

Before she could really form what she was seeing into a coherent sentence, Hollis could see things that other children should never see. Creatures, demons and the paranormal became the new normal and when brought to her parent's attention, they were overjoyed. Their daughter would fit right into their perfectly strange little world, not really knowing or understanding how much strength and psychic energy rested in their little girl's body.

As she grew, her powers amplified and as she matured through puberty, things became unbalanced. Where she could normally tune the creatures out, they now followed her mercilessly, trying to whisper their wants and desires into her ear, growling over her shoulder about their pain and misery. She couldn't take it anymore.

Ending her own life had become her only solution to the endless vortex she'd found herself fallen into. She couldn't see another monstrous creature, watch another demon stroll past her wearing the flesh of a person or see another fucking person's memories. None of it. Just as she'd planned on ending her misery, her parents uprooted their family to the other end of the country.

The family had gotten a large offer to uproot their life in New York City and to move to LA. So they packed up everything, and just like that they left. The Balfours had become famous in the underground scene. Demons, ghouls, and witches, nothing stood a chance against them. Their mother's family had been killing things that went bump in the night for hundreds of years, and her father's family had been religious leaders in their communities for just as long. It seemed as though they'd been made for this, and their children were expected to be also.

Hollis wouldn't say she loved New York, but the climate agreed with her and people were rude enough to mind their own business, a stark contrast to Los Angeles where your business was everyone else's and the days were hot. Huey reacted beautifully to the warm weather and young women flocked to him in droves, while their parents had already made a solid name for themselves and were attending local church brunches and evening prayer sessions. Hollis had decided to stay home, away from everyone and had convinced them that she simply was lagged, when actually she was frightened and a little depressed. Uprooting a 17 year old her senior year was a little selfish but no one seemed interested in her rambles. It isn't until she starts school and makes friends that she learns she's not the only weirdo on the block.