Tonya flew over the town quickly, nearly colliding in the air twice with other pegasi. She didn't know where she was going, only that she wanted to fly and get away. It was a primal panic reaction to danger. The only problem was that the danger in this case was herself, and there was no escaping herself.

After flying for a few minutes she came to the old docks for the town. The river from shore to shore was perhaps the length of a football field in this area. A few ponies milled about with some humans in the area looking things over to see what needed to be done to get things operational again, few others seemed to be just enjoying the view of the river, and a pair of humans were fishing. She came in for a landing on the opposite bank of the river from everypony and took shelter from their eyes in an outgrowth of trees.

She laid down and buried her face into her forelegs. How could she had done something like that to her own family members? She had gotten angry at the use of her dead name and Paul mentioning want seemed the final blow to push her over the edge. She wanted all those things she said, but forcibly mind controlling him and Devon into doing it wasn't what she wanted.

Her abilities were just far too easy for her to abuse, even when trying to avoid using them she ended up using them. For the first time since her transformation she questioned whether she had been better off staying a human, or at least if everypony else was better off if she was a human. That wasn't something that was an option at this point. She had been among the first ponies to get their cutie marks, and from what she knew of the process that disqualified her from rehumanization.

Why couldn't she just have her gift of flight and maybe some weather magic like most of the rest of the pegasi? Why did she get saddled with this extra ability that violated the free will of those around her? She didn't need to be powerful, she had simple wants. All that she ultimately wanted was to everyone to live a happy life, but not because she commanded it. She wasn't a particularly smart or highly disciplined pony, her qualifications for wielding this magic were far short of the care it deserved.

She walked up to the edge of the river and looked at her reflection in the water. And started to cry. "I'm so sorry, I'm just not good enough to be you. I'm not strong enough to be you. What am I supposed to do?"

The reflection gave no answer as she continued to stare at it. It offered no forgiveness or answers. At times in the past where she felt lost she had sought solice in singing. That was something she hadn't done since becoming a pony. She wasn't sure what the appropriate song to voice her feelings was though. She picked a song from Blake Shelton that felt close to what she was feeling.

She cut her singing off as she realized she felt magic, strong magic, building up in her; stronger magic than when she used her abilities to influence others, or what she had used just minutes before. Could singing channel magic? Did she have yet more untapped abilities that she wasn't aware of that she'd need to learn to keep in check as well?

It made her want to cry again. She didn't even know what the magic was doing just now, so there was no way of knowing if it was dangerous or not. She already had one set of powers she could barely control or understand, she couldn't deal with another group that she had no clue about as well. She wasn't a smart pony, she couldn't just figure out this stuff on her own. This couldn't continue like this, somepony was going to have to teach her what she could do and how to control it. She didn't want to be a monster.

There weren't very many options for that though. Sunset was supportive of her, but her lover didn't have any actual knowledge to help her get this under control. The possibility of begging Luna for training passed through her mind briefly since Luna was apparently going to train Phobia in how to control Phobia's abilities. However, her crime from the other day was the big deal breaker there. If they found out what she had done to Number Crunch there was no telling what they'd do to her.

Fuck, there was no telling how they'd react to what she had just done. She didn't want to be brain dead either, and that was the consequence that Phobia had laid out for misusing mind magic in such a way. She couldn't tell them what happened; the risk was too great. It wasn't a scolding she might get, it was effectively a death sentence, and she wasn't suicidal.

Luna had to know that she had powers though. There was no telling how much the alicorn had seen in her dream before Tonya had caught her spying. There had been no further visits from the alien pony last night. Maybe Luna didn't care she had this magic? That might open some possible avenues on finding help, without going straight to Luna.

After deciding on a course of action Tonya spread her wings and took to the sky. She flew as quick as she could back into the town and didn't pay much attention to anything around her yet again. All that mattered was seeking help for controlling her powers. It was a good thing that she had given her duties over to Amber, this was going to have to be her focus for the coming months. Nothing else mattered right now but making sure she didn't hurt anypony else.

She landed at her destination, the town clinic. Lavender Mist might know what to do, or at least lead her to somepony who could help her. Worst case scenario, Lavender would get in touch with Luna and the alicorn would direct somepony to come help her. Luna had to have mercy on her for whatever she might have done if she was showing she was trying in earnest to learn to control her abilities so she didn't hurt anypony, right? Phobia's declaration of no mercy echoed in her head. Tonya shivered, she didn't want to die.

Going into the clinic she found a small lobby with a pearly white crystal pony stallion acting as secretary for the office. She trotted over to him, trying not to seem to anxious. As she got to the desk she gave the stallion her most confident smile.

"Hi, I'm Tonya Middleton, I was wondering if Lavender Mist was available to see me," Tonya stated with as upbeat a tone she could force.

"She is in," the stallion said with a pleasant smile. "Let me get your basic information real fast. After I get this pen in my mouth all I need to know is full name and reason for visit. No long forms to fill out here."

After waiting for the stallion to get the pen in his mouth she quickly listed off the information. "Tonya Tamara Middleton, I'm just here for a basic check up and to get some magic health information."

The stallion raised an eyebrow at the last part of the reason, but scribbled the answer down anyway before setting the pen back into a nearby cup. She couldn't help noticing it had a large number of bite marks on it. They really needed to figure out a better system for writing than with their mouths. Strap on pens for their hooves maybe? It would require relearning how to write, but they already were relearning with just the mouth writing.

She gave her head a shake. That wasn't a concern right now. She needed to keep focused on what was important right now, and not let herself get distracted thinking about minor or stupid things like that. Build up that attention span, Tonya. Stop being a stupid pony.

The stallion touched his hoof to a com button and spoke into a microphone. "Nurse Mist, there's a pegasus named Tonya Middleton here, are you available to see her right now?"

"Tonya?" Lavender's voice came back over the intercom with a hint of shock. "Yes, send her right back. I was actually in the process of making out a request to see her as soon as possible."

Tonya frowned and bit down on her lower lip. Why was Lavender putting in request to see her? Did the Equestrian already know? Did Luna tell the night pony about her? Was she walking into some sort of interrogation right now, or worse about to be hauled off to some Equestrian jail? It made her want to turn and leave, but the fact of the matter was that would only make her look bad. What she needed hadn't changed and the fact she was coming asking for help should hopefully show she was sincere about wanting to not hurt anypony. At least, she hoped it would.

"Just walk on back through the door. Lavender Mist should meet you in the hallway to show you what room you'll be examined in," the stallion said in a friendly tone as he pointed to a nearby door to his right.

Taking a deep breath she nodded and did as directed. As soon as she walked through the door she spotted Lavender Mist eying her appraisingly. The night pony was wearing around her neck a round silver medalion with strange symbols on it that Tonya had never seen her wear before.

"What do I owe this visit? Hopefully nothing political on your marefriend's behalf," Lavender asked with with a small flick of her tail.

"Um, it's nothing like that, this is all for me," Tonya said with an anxious glance around to see if anypony else was present. "I've got some concerns about my magic and wanted to go to an Equestrian for advice and help."

Lavender lifted a hoof and clutched the medallion tightly to her chest as she answered. "What kind of concerns?"

Tonya eyed the medallion with suspicion. "I'd rather not talk about it in the middle of the hall, if that's okay with you. Can you pick a room to let us talk in private?"

The night pony pressed the medallion close to her chest again briefly, looking anxious, before releasing it and nodding. Maybe it was just something religious and today was some Equestrian holiday or something? That didn't feel likely for whatever reason. That medalion had some purpose other than decoration, and Lavender seemed to be on edge. Something was definitely up, and Tonya had to try harder to resist the urge to flee again.

Lavender guided her into one of the nearby rooms and shut the door behind them. Tonya gulped as the door clicked, feeling trapped with the alien pony.

"So, tell me what's bothering you and I can see what I can do to help. After that I'll discuss with you why I was hoping you'd come by," Lavender said as she sat down a few feet away from Tonya, again clutching that medallion.

"Alright," Tonya said as she sat down and considered how to explain this. Honesty was the best policy. She didn't need to go into full details of what she had done though. "My magic doesn't seem to be like other pegasi's magic. When I talk to ponies I can make them focus on something they want to the exclusion of other things. I'm frankly a little scared of what I might do without meaning to."

Lavender's eyes widened, then she let off a relieved laugh as she released the medallion from her chest. "Well, that makes what I needed you for simpler. Princess Luna had dreamwalked to me last night telling me that you might have powers like that. I'm glad you're here on your own volition to address that. I was scared I was going to be having to fight with you about it, or worse."

"So you can help me out? What did Luna say about me?" Tonya asked, not sure if she should be relieved or scared for herself. Lavender didn't seem hostile; if anything the night pony had seemed scared of her until just now.

"The princess didn't give me much information. She said that she determined that you could use mind magic. She wanted me to run some tests to check the extent of what you can do, find out if you are actually hurting anypony, and if you were what steps to take to make sure you don't do that," Lavender explained, the night pony then looked up at Tonya's expression and must have read some of what Tonya was feeling. "I wouldn't have told you all that normally, but as I said, you're here on your own to address those things. I'm more comfortable being open with you as a result. It's a sign I'm not dealing with some mad powercrazed pony who wants to abuse their powers."

"I appreciate that, I guess," Tonya said uncertainly. "So how do we go about this? I really want to get this under control. As you said, I don't want to hurt anypony."

Lavender tapped her medallion. "This right here is a tool that protects me from mind magic being used on me, but I can use it to get a read on how strong your mind magic actually is. Didn't think we were going to need it when Luna sent it with us, but guess that's why she's the princess and not me; well aside from her being a thousand year old alicorn and I'm not."

"So, when you walked out in the hall wearing that thing you were wearing it because you were afraid I might try to use my magic on you," Tonya said as she stared at the medallion.

The night pony looked a little embarrassed as she answered. "Better safe than sorry with mind magic. Mind magic can be nasty stuff, and shouldn't be taken lightly. The princess said you used it like, and I quote, like she was trying to smash open a nut with mountain. I'm guessing that means you were really strong and really rough with it."

"A lot of times ponies seem kind of dazed after I talk to them, could that be why?" Tonya asked. That was a detail that might not get her into trouble.

"That would definitely be a sign of strong mind magic being used sloppily, yes," Lavender said with a nod. "I was shocked when she told me about it. Normally it would just be night ponies that have that ability, and rare even in night ponies. Typically any pony else would have to be trained to use that kind of magic, and I would only expect it out of a pretty strong unicorn mage in that case. Only case of a pony using mind magic without training that I can think of is the Element of Kindness uses it on rare occasion for what she calls The Stare."

"I'm kind of a freak then," Tonya said as her ears sagged.

"What? No!" Lavender said as her eyes widened with outrage at the suggestion. "Well, all you ponies on Earth are kind of messed up in the head, but the fact that you have this kind of magic isn't a factor in that. It's unusual, but it isn't something to be ashamed of. We just have to make sure you have it under control. Magic itself is just a tool, it's how you use it that matters. Even the princesses have used what we call dark magic on rare occasion, nopony thinks they're evil despite that being typically associated with evil ponies."

"Can you do mind magic?" Tonya asked curiously. Not sure how she should take the comment about all her fellow ponies being crazy, or how she felt about the alicorns using magic that was implied to be inherently evil by its name alone.

Lavender shook her head. "It's more common in night ponies than other ponies, but it's still extremely rare. I could maybe learn it, if I really wanted to go through the training for years and years to do so, but I don't really have any desire to. Too much work to learn if you aren't naturally predisposed to using it. I'm a nurse, not a psychologist, it would be useless to me typically."

"How are you going to help me then?" Tonya said with a frustrated grimace.

"We'll get to that," Lavender said dismissively as she sat down and grabbed her medallion up in both forehooves. "First thing's first, I need to know what we're dealing with. Can you do anything to actively use it, by choice?"

"Yes, if I focus on the word want it typically will work and I can make a pony focus more on one thing they want over another," Tonya explained. If Lavender asked around enough and watched her enough she'd figure that out on her own, so no point in hiding it.

Lavender frowned and narrowed her eyes. "That sounds dangerously close to mind control. I'm not accusing you of doing anything deliberate, but that's concerning. How often do you do this?"

"I'm coming to realize I do it way too often, and it scares me. That's why I'm here," Tonya said in a flat tone.

"Is there any pony or ponies you've done that on more than others?" Lavender asked with clear concern. "I'm not saying you did anything intentionally bad; you seem like a genuinely nice pony. I'm worried you might have done damage to somepony's mind that you weren't meaning to."

Tonya's chest got extremely tight and it felt like her heart stopped for just an instant. There was one pony that she applied her power to frequently at the pony's own request. If she had done her harm...

"If I have accidently hurt a pony by doing this can you fix it?' Tonya asked in a low voice as she stared downwards.

Lavander shook her head and lowered her ears. "I'm not sure, depending on how much has been done, probably not. Mind magic is tricky, and it's hard to undo a lot of things without causing more far worse damage. Sunset Shimmer apparently used mind magic on a human and it made him crazy for years. If it was easy to fix we'd be trying to unravel what Sunset Shimmer did to all the ponies on this planet's heads. As it stands we'd probably just make things far worse trying to fix it. If there is a pony let me know, please."

Tonya's eyes started swelling up in tears as she forced herself to say the name. "Sunset Blessing, I use it all the time on Sunset Blessing. She asks me too."

If Lavender's eyebrows could have gone any higher they would have left her head and flown away. "That's a pretty big concern, considering she's the leader of this community. From what you're describing you're piling level on level of mind magic on her. It's likely that the competing commands will clash with one another. Does she show any odd behavior or emotional instability?"

"Her mood can swing dramatically in a few seconds, and it's really easy for her to get extremely angry, like white hot rage angry," Tonya answered as she stared down at the floor. Was all that because of her? Was she causing the problems she was trying to help Sunset deal with?

"That needs to stop, immediately," Lavender said as she stomped a hoof to the ground. "Explain the situation to her and I'll see about sending for a mind magic expert to see if anything can be done for her. I'm not sure anything can be done, as I already said, but it can be looked into."

"I'll talk to her. I promise not to do anything else to her on purpose," Tonya said as she felt her eyes start to water.

There was two more that needed to be addressed though, it was the right thing to do. She couldn't say anything about Number Crunch, but her family was something she had done completely without intention.

"My human brother and his wife...," she began before fear gripped her again. This could be the end of her to bring up. "...I lost control of myself this morning and did something to them. I was just so angry and I didn't mean to."

"What did you do?" Lavender said as her eyes narrowed and she gripped that medallion close to her chest again.

Tonya gulped, her chest felt tight and her throat felt dry. "I forced them to think the way I wanted. Paul was being so difficult, and Devon was being so cold. All I wanted was for everything to be right with our family. I didn't mean to do what I did, it just happened."

"That is mind control," Lavender said in a harsh tone. Tonya flinched at her voice as she looked at the scowling night pony.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it," Tonya repeated again as she shook her head and started crying. "That's why I came here. After that happened I didn't want to do anything to hurt anypony with my powers again. Don't let Luna or the Dreamwardens hurt me, I didn't want this."

Lavender's eyes shot wide open in shock "Dreamwarden is a very old term for Princess Luna that only night ponies know. It isn't just a title, it means she is judge, jury, and executioner for night ponies who hurt ponies while dreamwalking. We don't speak of it with anypony but each other, and then only as warning. How did you hear the term?"

Tonya looked at the night pony in confusion. "I assumed you knew. I was told it was for night pony ears. Princess Luna is training Dreamwardens here, on Earth."

Lavender blinked and then slowly lowered herself down on the floor, curling up slightly in fear. "Dreamwardens, plural. It makes sense, there are so many ponies on this planet, and spread out very far. Sweet Harmony, I hope your night ponies behave themselves. We on Equestria have it drilled into us from as soon as we can speak never to do wrong with dreamwalking or abuse mind magic. Your world hasn't had that."

"Is it really that terrible?" Tonya asked as she felt panic rising.

Lavender shivered as she sighed. "When I was still in apprenticeship there was a night pony that crossed the line and was unrepentant about it. Princess Luna took action as Dreamwarden for the first time in any pony's living memory. We found him, just staring vacantly at a wall. There was no mind behind those eyes anymore, not even enough to eat on his own. I never want to stare into vacant eyes like that again. Princess Luna was still trapped on the moon at the time, but she was still doing her duties as Dreamwarden."

"And will sh-she or the Dreamwardens do that to me now...," Tonya asked in a trembling voice.

"It is for those who do wrong deliberately, I think you're safe," Lavender said as she brought herself to her hooves again. "Please, when I get the expert here bring those humans here as well so we can examine them. There is already another medallion on it's way that is for you to wear that will block you from using your powers while wearing it. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow with the team that is taking care of one of your Broken Ones."

"I'll do that, just let me know when the expert arrives," Tonya said as she tried to reign back in her terror.

"Now," Lavender said as she seemed to shake her own terror away. "Let's start testing to see how strong you actually are. We've gotten sidetracked."

Tonya just nodded. She was still feeling scared out of her wits. What would happen if they found out about Number Crunch?

Wild Growth stepped outside to the backyard where her papa was taking a weed-wacker to the grass. The sound of the machine made her ears very uncomfortable, but it was bearable. She had largely avoided her parents since yesterday. She couldn't shake off the feeling they were disappointed in her.

As she approached her papa he shut the noisy machine off and looked over at her.

"Here to help?" Roger asked as he wiped some sweat from his brow. "I could use some help with all of this. I'm not sure if you have some magic pony powers that will do anything to make this any easier."

"I'm not really sure," Wild responded as she looked at the grass. "I grow things, I'm not sure if I can do anything for removing plants or trimming plants other than yanking them out. I'll help out any way I can though."

Roger gently set the weedwacker down and sat down on the ground with his legs spread out as he wiped his brow yet again. "Take your time figuring out what you can do. I need to take a breather anyway. I doubt this will get all done today."

She sympathized with him needing to take a break, but had hoped to not have any downtime where they were left to talk. Yesterday was still casting a shadow over her dealings with the family today.

Placing a hoof into the grass, and pressing it down so she could feel the ground, she gathered up her courage to talk about things.

"Papa, about yesterday...," Wild started and then grasped for what to say. "I should have spoken to you about Number Crunch without bringing her with me. She just insisted on coming and I should have insisted to her that I needed to talk to you first."

"You really shouldn't be hanging around that pony to begin with," Roger said in an emotionless tone.

As she delved her power into the earth to feel around she replied. "I had this argument with Rosetta last night. I'll be friends with who I want, and none of you have the right to stop me from being friends with Number."

"You're right, we can't force you to do anything," Roger said as he watched her. "We can tell you what we think is best though. I'd hope you respect us to take what we say seriously."

"I spent time listening and talking to her before deciding to give her a chance, Papa," Wild said firmly. She focused a little more on the root systems of the grass and other weeds. Maybe she could loosen them up somehow? "I was hesitant to give her a chance at first too. I nearly walked out on her several times because of what Rosetta said. It was not a blind decision to be friends with her."

"You're still young, and if I had to admit it pretty sheltered. You might need to consider your decision more," Roger said.

She sent a pulse of magic into the ground through her hooves. Both she and her papa felt the earth move slightly beneath them. Her papa looked at her for a moment for an explaination, but she kept focused on her task. He seemed to decide to just let her work, perhaps fearing he was going to cause an unwanted magical reaction.

"Phobia told me that Sunset Blessing and Tonya both vouch for Number's good intentions, and she thinks that I should give Number a chance as long as I'm cautious. If any pony should have an opinion worth listening to on this it's Phobia," Wild explained as she withdrew her hoof from where it had been.

Her papa seemed confused and unsure how to respond to that information and she chose to push her advantage, still staring at the grass. "And you respect the opinion of Sunset Blessing a great deal, don't you?"

"Yes, both her and Phobia's, but I also respect your sister's opinion too," Roger countered.

"As I said, she and I had this argument last night. She eventually relented about what I chose to do," Wild said as she turned to face her papa. "She's a night pony, Papa, that means she's exceedingly protective. We all have to recognize she may be blinded by those night pony instincts sometimes. Rosetta doesn't think the same way she did as when she was just Haley--and yes, I recognize I might be more willing to just be friends with anypony since becoming a pony. I can be self aware of how I've changed too."

"Just be careful. You've got so much going for you right now. I don't want you to get hurt," Roger said as he looked at her. Looking him back in the eyes she could see it for the first time, the longing that said he wished the same for himself.

"Papa...Number told me something about you and Mama, and I want you to be honest with me," she said as she walked towards him. "She said that you and Mama went to Sunset Blessing and pledged your support for trying to help find a way to make humans into ponies and that you wanted that for yourself. Is it true?"

Her papa looked uncomfortable and didn't look her in the eye. Just like with Number that told her all she needed to know.

She pressed him more since he still wasn't answering. "I can tell you did by the fact you're not denying it right away. I'm not upset, but I want to know why my human parents are secretly Shimmerists. You can believe in what you want, but I want to understand you."

"Do you promise to keep this discussion private? Especially from your brothers and your sister?" Roger said as he let out a long breath, and glanced around as if looking for listeners.

"I promise, I can't imagine Rosetta would take it well, and the boys don't need any more encouragement in that kind of thinking," Wild said as she made a rough gesture of crossing her heart.

"Your mother didn't want any of you to know yet, but she has early symptoms of Parkinson's disease. She's been doing her best to hide it from the four of you. She was just diagnosed about two months ago so it isn't that obvious yet," Roger said in a low pained voice.

Wild stepped back from him for a moment. Without thinking she slammed her hoof down on the ground and forced magic into the ground. This time trees didn't grow. This time the ground shook and split throughout the backyard, creating mini canyons and raised plateaus of stone.

She and her papa looked around in shock for a moment as they gazed at large chunks of earth that had suddenly forced themselves up out of the ground. There was more to her power than just growing trees it seemed, and she had not even consciously chosen to do this. That was a worry for another time though.

Worry for her mama soared, overriding the further display of her powers, but also some resentment as she refocused on her still dazed papa. "Why keep that from us? Parkinson's can be slowed down with treatment. It isn't an imminent death sentence or anything like that. If it's early enough we haven't noticed she can be fine for years yet and we could get used to the idea. You shouldn't be keeping this from me and Rosetta."

"She said she wanted to wait till you graduated high school in a few months before she sat down and talked to you about it. She didn't want it to be a distraction as you were finishing your senior year. Then ETS happened and you don't need me to tell you how that has become a focus of everything since. Becoming a pony would mean an actual cure, not just slowing it down, that's why she wants to be a pony. We didn't know while ETS was going on that it could do that," Roger said with a shake of his head. "Don't tell your sister, she has enough stress right now."

It was hard to argue that point, Rosetta had enough on her mind with Phobia. It was another thing that Wild needed to worry about though. She thought back to her conversation with Rosetta as she remembered one of her promises.

"Do you want me to pay for doctors and treatments?" She asked, getting a confused look in return. "Rosetta got on me for just doing things without asking permission last night, otherwise I'd be right on it. I feel like I should ask permission since talking to her."

"Your welcome to try to help any way you can, but remember, Parkinson's is incurable. There is only so much that can be done," Roger said mournfully.

"And what about you wanting to be a pony?" Wild asked as she tried to move from the painful subject of her mama.

"As for me, if your mother was going to become a pony, both my daughters are ponies, your grandmother suggests she would rather be a pony, and my sons are wanting to be ponies then I want to follow with them," Roger said simply with a shrug, then gave a small chuckle. "Plus, I admit I kind of wish I could do a fraction of what you can do. What true botanist wouldn't want the ability to just grow a plant in seconds."

Wild nodded to the answer. Her parents wanted to be ponies and her mama at least had strong valid reason for wanting it. She'd pay for whatever treatment she could for her mama. Maybe some breakthrough medical research could possibly happen that could overcome the advance of the disease.

There was another route of research that might be more promising though; the type that the Shimmerists longed for. Was backing that reasearch putting herself in their camp as well? Did it really matter if it did? It was a means to an end. If there was a way to make sure her mama didn't suffer from this it was worthwhile. It was also worthwhile for untold millions of others who also just wanted a chance to be free from illnesses that medicine had no cure for. It wasn't a question of superiority of one species over another, it was a question of doing what was merciful and kind.

Funding so many things might be more than what she had the ability to provide for. Her money was not endless. She earned millions a year, she needed to have far more resources than that. Lucky for her she had made friends with a pony that knew how to make money grow.

"Papa, I need to go see Number. I need her help to do all I can do," she said after a long moment of thought. "I know you don't like her, but she is exactly who I need right now. Don't tell Rosetta or Phobia what I'm doing."

"What's she possibly going to do to help?" Roger asked as he started bracing himself to stand back up.

She didn't feel shame in answering, only resolve. "She's going to help me grow my wealth so I can fund the best medical research possible. She's also going to tell me what I can do to help the Shimmerists find a way to turn humans into ponies."

"I'm not sure that you doing that will be a good idea," her papa cautioned. "That gets you labeled as a Shimmerist by association, and that might be something that will make people not want to deal with you."

"If that makes me a Shimmerist I don't care," she said without putting the confidence into it that she should have. She did care, but not as much as she cared about helping her mama. "But I will do my best to keep what I do with them from being public knowledge. Number can help me with that too."

Her papa came over and sat down beside her then grabbed her into a hug."Be careful Catherine. Don't sabotage your future for our sakes."

"If I don't do all I can to help my family be happy and healthy then I don't want my future. I'll be careful though," Wild said as she hugged her papa back.

Author's Notes:

No chapter update tomorrow. Next chapter update should be next Thursday. Follow me and keep track of my blog for any changes.

Editing insight. Earliest drafts of this chapter ended Tonya's section with her taking off from the riverbank and the rest that followed for her section was going to be in the next chapter. Decided on review that it was better just to run the two as one section.