The Witch Uniter (Chapter Twenty-Three)
The Witch Uniter
By tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant or The Nine Lives of Chloe King
Summary: Chloe is a witch of the Covenant moving to San Francisco to complete her Uniter duties. She meets Alek and feels an instant spark but can a witch and a Mai really work it out?
“So, I kind of need a favor,” were the first words Chloe heard as she got into school the next morning. Chloe looked up from where she was shoving a book into her locker and stared at Amy, “My Dads want to meet you.”
“Meet me?” Chloe asked confused, resuming her earlier activity, “Why?”
Amy shrugged, “Well, I guess I’ve sort of been talking about you kind of non-stop. Plus, I’ve been spending a lot of time at your house and now I’ve started mentioning a bunch of new friends who I’ve met through you like Alek and your brothers… They just want to meet you,” she replied sheepishly.
The other girl sighed but nodded in understanding. She could see how Amy’s parents might want to meet their only daughter’s new friend and the massive amount of boys that seemed to come with her. “Sure. When?”
“Today after class?” Amy said, once again in a sheepish tone.
Chloe nodded, “Okay, but it kind of has to be quick. I’ve got Voice at six.”
“Voice?” the brunette girl asked in confusion as they made their way down the hall, “What’s that?”
“I told you how I’m doing an album, right? Part of our basement is a recording studio. Audrey, my voice coach, is driving up from LA to work with me so that I can finish some tracks. The record label is getting antsy with my lack of progress, but what do they expect? I just moved here like a week ago,” Chloe rolled her eyes at her overbearing bosses.
Amy reached out a hand and stopped the strawberry blonde in the middle of the hall. The girl’s eyes were wide with barely contained excitement, “Oh my God, you have to let me come.”
“Where?” Chloe asked in confusion.
The petite girl looked at Chloe like she was crazy, “To watch you sing!”
Chloe blinked in surprise, “Oh. Sure. Why?”
Amy shook her head, “I’ve spent my entire life dreaming of becoming a singer. I want to watch you do it.”
The other girl looked down at Amy, a contemplative look on her face before smiling, “Okay, we’ll go after I meet your dads.”
“I’ll call Paul. He can come too. Oh, and Jasmine…” Amy trailed off as she began speaking her thoughts out loud, totally forgetting about Chloe.
At the end of the day, Chloe and Jasmine decided to sit in the gymnasium to watch Alek’s practice. Jasmine had to wait for her cousin and Chloe had to wait for Amy to finish at choir practice.
“Are you coming also?” Chloe asked vaguely to the taller girl.
Jasmine turned to look at the girl, “To hear you sing? Yeah. And I know Alek wouldn’t miss it,” She teased, watching a light flush go up Chloe’s neck, “What’s going on with you two? Really.”
“He asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday,” Chloe confessed softly, “And I don’t know. At first I was terrified. Things have been going well between us and I didn’t want to rock the boat.”
“But?” Jasmine prompted, turning to face the girl fully, crossing her legs as she sat sideways on the bleachers.
Chloe turned and mimicked the position, “But when I thought about being his girlfriend… I don’t know. My heart like… skipped a beat.” Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the cheesiness even as a small smile took over her face. Chloe rolled her eyes, “I know. It sounds so stupid, but it felt like my heart knew even when my head didn’t. And then he asked and before I’d even realized it, I’d said yes.”
“That’s really great, Chlo,” Jasmine said sincerely, a hand reaching out to grasp Chloe’s arm. The action earned her a grateful smile.
“Talking about me?” an arrogant voice asked from beside them. While they’d been talking, basketball practice had finished. Chloe gave Alek an amused smile but tilted her face up towards the boy. Complying easily, Alek leaned down to give her a quick kiss, “I have to shower and change,” He motioned toward the locker room.
Chloe nodded in understanding and stood up with Jasmine, “We’ll meet you at the car,” She said easily, already heading down the bleachers.
As Chloe and Jasmine exited the school, they noticed a small gaggle of girls herding near the side of the school towards the road. Needing to get to her car, Chloe made her way through the crowd before pausing in surprise.
“Pogue?” Chloe asked, walking up to the man leaning against his motorcycle.
“Hey,” He nodded at her, not moving from his comfortable position.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, leaning next to him. Pogue opened his mouth to answer when something caught his eyes. Chloe turned and noticed Mimi leaving the school, “Ooh. Someone has a date,” Chloe smirked mischievously.
“Shut up,” He grumbled with no heat in his words.
Chloe paused for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out her car key. She dangled it in front of his face, “Wanna switch? You shouldn’t take a girl out on a motorcycle on the first date.”
Pogue raised a brow, “Seriously?”
“Pogue?” Mimi spoke from behind them both before Chloe could answer, “Hey.”
“Hey,” Pogue replied, snatching Chloe keys from her dangling fingers and tossing back his own, “Ready to get out of here?” He asked Mimi as he slid a hand to her back and led her to Chloe’s Audi.
Chloe smirked before picking up Pogue’s yellow helmet from where it rested on the back. She heard someone call her name and turned around to see Alek and the rest of her friends looking at her.
“Hey,” She said before turning to Amy, “I’ll follow you, okay?”
“Sure, but why do you have a motorcycle?” Amy asked.
“Pogue borrowed my car for a date. I don’t know why he didn’t just take the Escalade,” Chloe rolled her eyes, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder and swinging her leg over the bike, “You coming?” She asked Alek before smirking, “Unless you’re one of those guys who gets embarrassed getting behind a girl on a bike,” She teased.
Alek raised an eyebrow before walking forward, aware of all the stares they were receiving from Pogue’s fan girls from before. He slid on behind her and took the yellow helmet with a slight wince of distaste before putting it on. Chloe reached into her purse and pulled on a large pair of sunglasses since Pogue didn’t carry an extra helmet. Finally she turned the bike on and smoothly followed after Amy, Paul and Jasmine in Amy’s Bug.
Amy pulled up to her house first. Her dads were already waiting for her on the porch. She was honestly surprised to see both of them since one of her fathers, Jacob, was a doctor and was on-call today. Her other father, Marcus, had a home internet business so she expected him. “Hey!” She waved enthusiastically up at them. San Francisco was in the middle of rolling hills and her house happened to be on one of them so even though she was in the driveway, she had to crane her neck in order to talk to her parents on the porch.
“Is this Chloe?” Marcus asked, nodding his head toward Jasmine who was climbing out of Amy’s car.
Amy shook her head, her day-old curls flying, “No, this is Jasmine. Chloe should be here-“ Her words were cut off as Chloe’s motorcycle appeared, driving up to park, “right now,” Amy finished lamely.
Alek swung his leg and hopped off the bike, taking off his helmet while Chloe kicked down the stand and shut the motorcycle off. She also got off the machine and secured the yellow helmet to the seat. Smiling, she looked up at Amy’s parents, “Hi! Sorry about that. Nice to meet you,” She said, seeing the disapproving looks on their faces, “My brother had a date, so I switched with him so he could take my car,” She explained. The men’s expressions lightened at the fact that the dangerous motorcycle wasn’t hers, but didn’t fade completely.
“Let’s go in, shall we?” Jacob offered, gesturing to the front door. Five teens trooped up the walkway stairs and into the house.
“You have a beautiful house,” Chloe offered generically, but something in her voice made it sound like it was her genuine opinion and not just something one said.
“Thank you,” Jacob nodded as they all got settled in the dining room, “So, why don’t you kids introduce yourselves. We were only expecting Chloe.”
“Sorry about that,” Amy said, “But we’re going to listen to Chloe sing later so we just decided to all come here together so we can follow her home.”
“You sing?” Marcus asked the strawberry blonde but before Chloe could answer, he interrupted, “No, sorry. Introductions first.”
“I’m Alek. I’m Chloe’s boyfriend,” Alek started, speaking sort of awkwardly. He hesitated slightly before saying the word boyfriend. This was the first time in a long time he’d been one.
“I’m Jasmine, Alek’s cousin and Amy and Chloe’s friend,” Jasmine smiled softly.
“And I’m obviously Chloe,” the girl finished, figuring Paul didn’t need to introduce himself, “And yes,” She turned to Marcus, “I sing.”
“Are you guys going to a karaoke night or something?” Jacob asked, knowing his daughter went to those frequently.
Amy grinned, “No, Daddy. Chloe’s recording some music for her album tonight and we’re going to go watch.”
Jacob and Marcus looked impressed but Chloe just looked uncomfortable. She shrugged slightly, “It’s something my agent wanted. I dunno,” She fidgeted awkwardly.
“You have an agent?” Jacob said while looking at Amy out of the corner of his eye, “We’ve been thinking about trying to get an agent for Amy, since she wants to become a singer.”
“Dad!” Amy gasped, eyes wide, embarrassed at what her dad was saying, “Don’t-“
Chloe interrupted, “You should. I haven’t actually heard her sing so I don’t know if she’s any good, but I can still put you in touch with some people. My agent’s great, but kinda pushy…” She trailed off before re-focusing, “I’m not sure if she’s taking on any more clients but she can definitely search around for a good agent for Amy. I was thinking about giving Amy Veronica’s number anyway,” Chloe pulled out her cellphone and began pressing some buttons, “I just texted you her number,” She told Amy, “Don’t call her until at least Monday so I have time to tell her that I gave you her number.”
Amy nodded in surprise. She knew Chloe was famous, but this made it suddenly seem very real.
“So, you’re recording an album?” Marcus asked, bringing the conversation back on track. While helping Amy was nice, the reason they were there was to get to know Chloe, “What kind of music will you be singing?”
“Rock mostly,” Chloe answered easily, “But I’m not entirely sure. I sent some songs I wrote to the label and the label sent me some songs they had rights to and I chose what I liked. I’ve sung quite a lot of songs already and we’ll just see what fits together.”
Marcus nodded understandingly, “And your family is okay with all of this?” He asked.
Chloe nodded easily, “My family’s the one who got me into the entertainment industry. They’re perfectly fine with me starting a music career.”
“Do you do other things besides sing?” Jacob asked, noting she said entertainment and not music.
“I’m a model,” she replied, “Have been since I was a kid. I act a little but because of school, I don’t get to do it as much as I like. Music was a compromise between me and my agent as a way of expanding my career without necessarily taking me out of school.”
“Your education is important to you,” Jacob nodded.
“I’m a teenager,” Chloe admitted easily, “Education doesn’t really rank on my list of priorities. But it’s important to my family, so it’s important to me.”
Marcus smiled at her honesty and loyalty, “Tell us more about your family. You have a brother?” He recalled.
“Sort of,” Chloe paused as she tried to explain her situation, “I was adopted by the Simms so I have one adoptive brother, Tyler. My family’s really close with a couple of other families and we all grew up together, so they’re like my family too. I call them my brothers, but they aren’t really.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Jacob asked.
“Five,” Chloe answered, smiling when Jacob and Marcus’ eyebrow raised, “Yeah. And I’m the youngest of our group so I get babied a lot,” She grinned, illustrating that she didn’t really mind.
“Five older brothers,” Marcus turned to look at Alek, “Brave man.” Alek let out a chuckle but otherwise said nothing.
“They haven’t been too hard on him actually,” Chloe’s eyes squinted, “Which is highly suspicious.”
Marcus laughed, “I’m sure they will be. I have a lot of siblings too. They were always minding my business. Still do actually.” Amy giggled at her father, well aware of what her aunts and uncles were like. “Tell us about your siblings.”
“Well, Chase is the oldest, but we didn’t always know him. He’s… uhm, illegitimate,” Chloe tried to explain without giving too much truth away, “We didn’t even know he existed until last year. So he didn’t grow up with us. But he’s a Putnam so he’s family,” She realized that didn’t make much sense, “What I mean is… Okay, our five families have been together since Europe; before we sailed to the New World, before we founded Ipswich, before everything. We thought the Putnam family died off hundreds of years ago but when we found Chase and realized he was a Putnam, we welcomed him even though we didn’t know him because he was a Putnam, you know?” Chloe gave a highly edited version, “It’s been drilled into our heads since we were kids. Five families - Our families. So Chase became family.”
Jacob smiled, “That’s an admirable quality your families have to take in a stranger like that due to history.”
Chloe shrugged, “Anyway, after that, there’s Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler. And I also have sisters.”
“You do?” Amy asked in surprise. The other teens were also shocked. They knew about the boys, but this was the first time they’d heard about sisters.
Chloe nodded, “Yep. We haven’t really mentioned them, I guess. Probably because they’re either a little older or a little younger. The boys and I are in the same age group.” Marcus nodded in understanding. He was one of the younger siblings and was closer to them than his older siblings. Chloe continued, “Pogue’s sister Rebecca is a journalist up in Toronto. Essence is Reid’s older sister- he has a lot of sisters- and she’s studying at Oxford to be a linguist or some sort of translator. Honor is twelve and Justice is eight. They’re both Reid’s little sisters. Plus, Aunt Samantha is pregnant and we all think its gonna be yet another girl to torture Reid. And of course, little Victoria is seven and she’s Caleb’s little sister.”
“So how many siblings is that?” Alek asked, unable to keep track.
“Eleven,” Jacob kept mental track, “But that’s for five families, so that’s a little less crazy,” He smiled.
“Oh, I disagree. It’s plenty crazy,” Chloe smiled fondly.
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By tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant or The Nine Lives of Chloe King
Summary: Chloe is a witch of the Covenant moving to San Francisco to complete her Uniter duties. She meets Alek and feels an instant spark but can a witch and a Mai really work it out?
“So, I kind of need a favor,” were the first words Chloe heard as she got into school the next morning. Chloe looked up from where she was shoving a book into her locker and stared at Amy, “My Dads want to meet you.”
“Meet me?” Chloe asked confused, resuming her earlier activity, “Why?”
Amy shrugged, “Well, I guess I’ve sort of been talking about you kind of non-stop. Plus, I’ve been spending a lot of time at your house and now I’ve started mentioning a bunch of new friends who I’ve met through you like Alek and your brothers… They just want to meet you,” she replied sheepishly.
The other girl sighed but nodded in understanding. She could see how Amy’s parents might want to meet their only daughter’s new friend and the massive amount of boys that seemed to come with her. “Sure. When?”
“Today after class?” Amy said, once again in a sheepish tone.
Chloe nodded, “Okay, but it kind of has to be quick. I’ve got Voice at six.”
“Voice?” the brunette girl asked in confusion as they made their way down the hall, “What’s that?”
“I told you how I’m doing an album, right? Part of our basement is a recording studio. Audrey, my voice coach, is driving up from LA to work with me so that I can finish some tracks. The record label is getting antsy with my lack of progress, but what do they expect? I just moved here like a week ago,” Chloe rolled her eyes at her overbearing bosses.
Amy reached out a hand and stopped the strawberry blonde in the middle of the hall. The girl’s eyes were wide with barely contained excitement, “Oh my God, you have to let me come.”
“Where?” Chloe asked in confusion.
The petite girl looked at Chloe like she was crazy, “To watch you sing!”
Chloe blinked in surprise, “Oh. Sure. Why?”
Amy shook her head, “I’ve spent my entire life dreaming of becoming a singer. I want to watch you do it.”
The other girl looked down at Amy, a contemplative look on her face before smiling, “Okay, we’ll go after I meet your dads.”
“I’ll call Paul. He can come too. Oh, and Jasmine…” Amy trailed off as she began speaking her thoughts out loud, totally forgetting about Chloe.
At the end of the day, Chloe and Jasmine decided to sit in the gymnasium to watch Alek’s practice. Jasmine had to wait for her cousin and Chloe had to wait for Amy to finish at choir practice.
“Are you coming also?” Chloe asked vaguely to the taller girl.
Jasmine turned to look at the girl, “To hear you sing? Yeah. And I know Alek wouldn’t miss it,” She teased, watching a light flush go up Chloe’s neck, “What’s going on with you two? Really.”
“He asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday,” Chloe confessed softly, “And I don’t know. At first I was terrified. Things have been going well between us and I didn’t want to rock the boat.”
“But?” Jasmine prompted, turning to face the girl fully, crossing her legs as she sat sideways on the bleachers.
Chloe turned and mimicked the position, “But when I thought about being his girlfriend… I don’t know. My heart like… skipped a beat.” Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the cheesiness even as a small smile took over her face. Chloe rolled her eyes, “I know. It sounds so stupid, but it felt like my heart knew even when my head didn’t. And then he asked and before I’d even realized it, I’d said yes.”
“That’s really great, Chlo,” Jasmine said sincerely, a hand reaching out to grasp Chloe’s arm. The action earned her a grateful smile.
“Talking about me?” an arrogant voice asked from beside them. While they’d been talking, basketball practice had finished. Chloe gave Alek an amused smile but tilted her face up towards the boy. Complying easily, Alek leaned down to give her a quick kiss, “I have to shower and change,” He motioned toward the locker room.
Chloe nodded in understanding and stood up with Jasmine, “We’ll meet you at the car,” She said easily, already heading down the bleachers.
As Chloe and Jasmine exited the school, they noticed a small gaggle of girls herding near the side of the school towards the road. Needing to get to her car, Chloe made her way through the crowd before pausing in surprise.
“Pogue?” Chloe asked, walking up to the man leaning against his motorcycle.
“Hey,” He nodded at her, not moving from his comfortable position.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, leaning next to him. Pogue opened his mouth to answer when something caught his eyes. Chloe turned and noticed Mimi leaving the school, “Ooh. Someone has a date,” Chloe smirked mischievously.
“Shut up,” He grumbled with no heat in his words.
Chloe paused for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out her car key. She dangled it in front of his face, “Wanna switch? You shouldn’t take a girl out on a motorcycle on the first date.”
Pogue raised a brow, “Seriously?”
“Pogue?” Mimi spoke from behind them both before Chloe could answer, “Hey.”
“Hey,” Pogue replied, snatching Chloe keys from her dangling fingers and tossing back his own, “Ready to get out of here?” He asked Mimi as he slid a hand to her back and led her to Chloe’s Audi.
Chloe smirked before picking up Pogue’s yellow helmet from where it rested on the back. She heard someone call her name and turned around to see Alek and the rest of her friends looking at her.
“Hey,” She said before turning to Amy, “I’ll follow you, okay?”
“Sure, but why do you have a motorcycle?” Amy asked.
“Pogue borrowed my car for a date. I don’t know why he didn’t just take the Escalade,” Chloe rolled her eyes, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder and swinging her leg over the bike, “You coming?” She asked Alek before smirking, “Unless you’re one of those guys who gets embarrassed getting behind a girl on a bike,” She teased.
Alek raised an eyebrow before walking forward, aware of all the stares they were receiving from Pogue’s fan girls from before. He slid on behind her and took the yellow helmet with a slight wince of distaste before putting it on. Chloe reached into her purse and pulled on a large pair of sunglasses since Pogue didn’t carry an extra helmet. Finally she turned the bike on and smoothly followed after Amy, Paul and Jasmine in Amy’s Bug.
Amy pulled up to her house first. Her dads were already waiting for her on the porch. She was honestly surprised to see both of them since one of her fathers, Jacob, was a doctor and was on-call today. Her other father, Marcus, had a home internet business so she expected him. “Hey!” She waved enthusiastically up at them. San Francisco was in the middle of rolling hills and her house happened to be on one of them so even though she was in the driveway, she had to crane her neck in order to talk to her parents on the porch.
“Is this Chloe?” Marcus asked, nodding his head toward Jasmine who was climbing out of Amy’s car.
Amy shook her head, her day-old curls flying, “No, this is Jasmine. Chloe should be here-“ Her words were cut off as Chloe’s motorcycle appeared, driving up to park, “right now,” Amy finished lamely.
Alek swung his leg and hopped off the bike, taking off his helmet while Chloe kicked down the stand and shut the motorcycle off. She also got off the machine and secured the yellow helmet to the seat. Smiling, she looked up at Amy’s parents, “Hi! Sorry about that. Nice to meet you,” She said, seeing the disapproving looks on their faces, “My brother had a date, so I switched with him so he could take my car,” She explained. The men’s expressions lightened at the fact that the dangerous motorcycle wasn’t hers, but didn’t fade completely.
“Let’s go in, shall we?” Jacob offered, gesturing to the front door. Five teens trooped up the walkway stairs and into the house.
“You have a beautiful house,” Chloe offered generically, but something in her voice made it sound like it was her genuine opinion and not just something one said.
“Thank you,” Jacob nodded as they all got settled in the dining room, “So, why don’t you kids introduce yourselves. We were only expecting Chloe.”
“Sorry about that,” Amy said, “But we’re going to listen to Chloe sing later so we just decided to all come here together so we can follow her home.”
“You sing?” Marcus asked the strawberry blonde but before Chloe could answer, he interrupted, “No, sorry. Introductions first.”
“I’m Alek. I’m Chloe’s boyfriend,” Alek started, speaking sort of awkwardly. He hesitated slightly before saying the word boyfriend. This was the first time in a long time he’d been one.
“I’m Jasmine, Alek’s cousin and Amy and Chloe’s friend,” Jasmine smiled softly.
“And I’m obviously Chloe,” the girl finished, figuring Paul didn’t need to introduce himself, “And yes,” She turned to Marcus, “I sing.”
“Are you guys going to a karaoke night or something?” Jacob asked, knowing his daughter went to those frequently.
Amy grinned, “No, Daddy. Chloe’s recording some music for her album tonight and we’re going to go watch.”
Jacob and Marcus looked impressed but Chloe just looked uncomfortable. She shrugged slightly, “It’s something my agent wanted. I dunno,” She fidgeted awkwardly.
“You have an agent?” Jacob said while looking at Amy out of the corner of his eye, “We’ve been thinking about trying to get an agent for Amy, since she wants to become a singer.”
“Dad!” Amy gasped, eyes wide, embarrassed at what her dad was saying, “Don’t-“
Chloe interrupted, “You should. I haven’t actually heard her sing so I don’t know if she’s any good, but I can still put you in touch with some people. My agent’s great, but kinda pushy…” She trailed off before re-focusing, “I’m not sure if she’s taking on any more clients but she can definitely search around for a good agent for Amy. I was thinking about giving Amy Veronica’s number anyway,” Chloe pulled out her cellphone and began pressing some buttons, “I just texted you her number,” She told Amy, “Don’t call her until at least Monday so I have time to tell her that I gave you her number.”
Amy nodded in surprise. She knew Chloe was famous, but this made it suddenly seem very real.
“So, you’re recording an album?” Marcus asked, bringing the conversation back on track. While helping Amy was nice, the reason they were there was to get to know Chloe, “What kind of music will you be singing?”
“Rock mostly,” Chloe answered easily, “But I’m not entirely sure. I sent some songs I wrote to the label and the label sent me some songs they had rights to and I chose what I liked. I’ve sung quite a lot of songs already and we’ll just see what fits together.”
Marcus nodded understandingly, “And your family is okay with all of this?” He asked.
Chloe nodded easily, “My family’s the one who got me into the entertainment industry. They’re perfectly fine with me starting a music career.”
“Do you do other things besides sing?” Jacob asked, noting she said entertainment and not music.
“I’m a model,” she replied, “Have been since I was a kid. I act a little but because of school, I don’t get to do it as much as I like. Music was a compromise between me and my agent as a way of expanding my career without necessarily taking me out of school.”
“Your education is important to you,” Jacob nodded.
“I’m a teenager,” Chloe admitted easily, “Education doesn’t really rank on my list of priorities. But it’s important to my family, so it’s important to me.”
Marcus smiled at her honesty and loyalty, “Tell us more about your family. You have a brother?” He recalled.
“Sort of,” Chloe paused as she tried to explain her situation, “I was adopted by the Simms so I have one adoptive brother, Tyler. My family’s really close with a couple of other families and we all grew up together, so they’re like my family too. I call them my brothers, but they aren’t really.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Jacob asked.
“Five,” Chloe answered, smiling when Jacob and Marcus’ eyebrow raised, “Yeah. And I’m the youngest of our group so I get babied a lot,” She grinned, illustrating that she didn’t really mind.
“Five older brothers,” Marcus turned to look at Alek, “Brave man.” Alek let out a chuckle but otherwise said nothing.
“They haven’t been too hard on him actually,” Chloe’s eyes squinted, “Which is highly suspicious.”
Marcus laughed, “I’m sure they will be. I have a lot of siblings too. They were always minding my business. Still do actually.” Amy giggled at her father, well aware of what her aunts and uncles were like. “Tell us about your siblings.”
“Well, Chase is the oldest, but we didn’t always know him. He’s… uhm, illegitimate,” Chloe tried to explain without giving too much truth away, “We didn’t even know he existed until last year. So he didn’t grow up with us. But he’s a Putnam so he’s family,” She realized that didn’t make much sense, “What I mean is… Okay, our five families have been together since Europe; before we sailed to the New World, before we founded Ipswich, before everything. We thought the Putnam family died off hundreds of years ago but when we found Chase and realized he was a Putnam, we welcomed him even though we didn’t know him because he was a Putnam, you know?” Chloe gave a highly edited version, “It’s been drilled into our heads since we were kids. Five families - Our families. So Chase became family.”
Jacob smiled, “That’s an admirable quality your families have to take in a stranger like that due to history.”
Chloe shrugged, “Anyway, after that, there’s Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler. And I also have sisters.”
“You do?” Amy asked in surprise. The other teens were also shocked. They knew about the boys, but this was the first time they’d heard about sisters.
Chloe nodded, “Yep. We haven’t really mentioned them, I guess. Probably because they’re either a little older or a little younger. The boys and I are in the same age group.” Marcus nodded in understanding. He was one of the younger siblings and was closer to them than his older siblings. Chloe continued, “Pogue’s sister Rebecca is a journalist up in Toronto. Essence is Reid’s older sister- he has a lot of sisters- and she’s studying at Oxford to be a linguist or some sort of translator. Honor is twelve and Justice is eight. They’re both Reid’s little sisters. Plus, Aunt Samantha is pregnant and we all think its gonna be yet another girl to torture Reid. And of course, little Victoria is seven and she’s Caleb’s little sister.”
“So how many siblings is that?” Alek asked, unable to keep track.
“Eleven,” Jacob kept mental track, “But that’s for five families, so that’s a little less crazy,” He smiled.
“Oh, I disagree. It’s plenty crazy,” Chloe smiled fondly.
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