The exhale that left my lips was sharp and...relieved, in a strange way. Ever since morning, I had a feeling that Cage was involved. To find out he wasn't didn't crush my world in the way I thought it would, but hearing that a man as dangerous as Romeo could be, did. For a moment, I was so stunned at what Cage just said that I couldn't move or react at all for a few seconds.

"Romeo." I repeated, my heart sinking.

Cage took a step towards me and I jumped. His eyes softened as mine filled with tears. Romeo Barsille. What the hell did he have to do with my parents' death? Or murder, if my unnerved assumption was correct. To find out ten years later that the man I met two days ago had something to do with my parents was surreal. The lump in my throat broke and let out a soft sob.

Cage looked pained, his ambiguous eyes filled with regret when his face showed detached carelessness. I could never tell what Cage was thinking, never figure out the underlying messages in his words. I was sick of it, sick of feeling vulnerable.

Romeo Barsille. That bastard.

"November, please. I will tell you everything." Cage said softly. Strangely enough, he let me have my space and didn't move any closer, an action which I was so very grateful of. I didn't know what I'd do if anyone touched me right now. What Cage said repeated itself over and over in my mind, trying to form itself in a way that my aching mind could understand.

What did Romeo have to do with my parents? What did my parents have to do with Romeo? They died because the car engine busted. It was a freak accident. Nothing more, nothing less. A terrible, traumatizing accident that no seven year old child should experience. I was just unlucky, that's all. Fate had two sides. Fern and I got the bad end of it.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped when Cage made a move to grab my wrist. Surprised, he paused and a second later, moved back. We stayed five feet apart, staring at each other with a million emotions that bubbled up and took over. I was already freaking out on the inside, coming up with potential scenarios about what could have happened ten years ago that I was too young to understand at the time.

Cage saw that I was about to lose it and thankfully kept his distance. "November, listen to me. Your parents were not who you and your sister thought they were. Everyone has secrets and sometimes, those little secrets turn into something dangerous. Your parents, Martha and Jay? They had one of those secrets and it ended up getting the best of them. What happened ten years ago, that fire they died in, was no accident. I will tell you everything you want to know, November. Just please-"

I instantly went into denial at Cage's words. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I glared at him. "My parents died because the car engine overheated and caught on fire. We were driving back from Philadelphia- a ten hour trip. The engine busted and they were locked in...that's how they died. Romeo Barsille had nothing to do with their death, Cage! Nothing! What kind of bullshit story did-"

"You were seven years old, November!" Cage cut me off, his voice dark. "You don't know what happened exactly. You don't know their history with Romeo. If it was an accident, if you think Romeo had nothing to do with it, then why couldn't your parents get out of the car?"

"The locks were jammed." I whispered angrily.

"Car locks don't jam by themselves November, especially when there is a fire. They have a specific mechanism to open in dangerous situations so people can get out. Same with seat belts." Cage said. "Their death was no damn accident and I know you believe that. You want proof? Check Heath's laptop. He has the police records."

"What did my parents have to do with Romeo?" The mirrors had a strange echoing effect on every single word and was magnified in the room we were in. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a flash of rainbow colours pass by one of the mirrors. Oh, great. There were clowns in here too. If Cage noticed them, he didn't say anything.

He leaned against one of the mirrors and watched me carefully. "People aren't always who you think they are."

"Don't I know it." I replied, my voice just as dry as his.

Cage sighed. "Are you sure you want to know? I can't take anything back. You won't be able to unhear whatever I say. And if the truth destroys the perfect image you have of your parents, then I'm truly sorry. November, there are some parts of it that even I don't understand. You'll have to ask Micheal. Romeo...he's a criminal. His psychology is just as twisted as mine. It's just an unfortunate luck of events that brought your parents into this."

I forced the shakiness out of my voice. "Tell me what my parents had to do with Romeo Barsille."

He frowned at me before continuing. "If I tell you, you have to promise to at least try and understand. If not, then at least believe what I'm going to tell you because it is the truth, no matter how traumatizing it is to you after you hear it. I can't change what happened. All I can do is tell the truth because you deserve that much, November."

"I promise." I said.

The composed, careful face of Cage Vickers returned. It was unnatural how quickly he could change faces, change emotions from anything remotely humane to someone whose mentality was so damaged they could feel nothing anymore. After a moment of carefully examining me, Cage took a seat down on the mirrored floor and crossed his legs, patiently waiting for me to sit down across from him.

What went so wrong that my life ended up like this?

Bracing myself, I slipped down and rested my back against one of the mirrors, bringing my knees up to my chest and holding them there with my arms. It helped me feel not so vulnerable. Tears filled my eyes again as I thought about my parents. Did Fern know anything about that night that she never told me?

Cage started off quietly. "Your mother, Martha Evert, was a forensic scientist for the Ivey Police Department and your father is a vet, right?"

I nodded.

Cage shook his head. "It was a cover. They worked for the Italian government."

I stared at him. "I will take your gun and make you eat one of those bullets."

"November, I told you." He growled. "I gain nothing out of telling you lies. I know it sounds ridiculous-"

"You have no idea how it sounds, Cage." I snapped angrily. I didn't want to sit in the House of Mirrors and deny every little thing that he said, but I couldn't seem to keep my mouth shut. It sounded utterly ridiculous and I was fighting every part of myself to retain the untouched perfect image of my parents. "My dad sits in his office and takes care of little kitties and dogs when they get hurt. How can he and my mother work as Italian intelligence, no less the government?"

Cage pressed his lips together and released them, fighting me down with a glare. "Do you want to know the truth or not?"

I sank lower onto the floor. "Fine. Continue."

"Your father and mother were a part of the Italian government, more specifically the civilian protection agency that maintained and regulated over three million people in Italy and part of France. Their job was to protect the people and make sure no one would fall victim to any mass homicides or hostage situations. Part of their job was to track down criminals who could potentially cause harm, intentional or not, to any Italian or French citizen." Cage said.

"How do they even get involved in the Italian government? We live no where close to Europe." I said.

"I don't know the answer to that. Your parents' history and their past was gone when they died." Cage explained. "But they were involved and that's what got them killed."

"How does Romeo add up to this?"

"The Italian government were desperate, and still are desperate, to find Romeo Barsille. Your parents were assigned to find and capture him along with several other CIA agents and Italian intelligence. Their main target was Romeo, his associates came second. Romeo was rising at the time, with several arms smuggling and cocaine deals in Nicaragua that killed nine people during the trades. Nine innocent people who were Italian citizens. They didn't catch Romeo. He was too clever for that. But they did catch someone, a man who went by the name of Benvolio."

"From Romeo and Juliet?" I asked.

Cage grinned. "Romeo always had a twisted sense of humour. Anyways, this Benvolio dude was a real bad guy. One of Romeo's best minions. He had all the information they needed to bring Romeo Barsille down. It was your father, I believe, who interrupted one of the cocaine deals and captured Benvolio before he could get back to Romeo. They took him into custody and tortured the shit out of him."

"My father?" I repeated in horror. To hear the man who raised me from birth could torture a man, even if he was a criminal, to get information about a mobster was downright shocking. I could only imagine the things that happened.

"Yes." Cage looked down at his hands. "I won't give you all the gory details, November. But eventually, they got all the information they needed on Romeo and left him for dead on the shores of some beach in Cambodia....but Benvolio survived. He somehow found his way back to Romeo and told him everything that happened. That he sold him out, basically. As you'd expect, Romeo didn't like that one bit. I'm sure you can guess what happened to Benvolio after that."

"Dead?"

"As a rock." Cage frowned. "Since your father was the one who knew everything that could bring Romeo down, Romeo went after him. Long story short, he found your parents in Ivey. Of course, Romeo didn't do the dirty work. That's what his friends were for. You'll have to ask Micheal about the details if you want to know more. One of Romeo's friends tinkered with the car engine and removed the automatic lock system so it would be jammed...and your parents couldn't get out."

The tears overwhelmed me and they fell. I hugged myself tighter and sobbed my eyes out, cried so much that I had nothing left. My parents weren't killed by a freak accident. Besides learning that my parents lived a double life, I also had to understand that they were intentionally murdered because they knew too much about Romeo Barsille. If I could see that bastard now, Cage wouldn't have to kill him. I'd do that myself.

"Do you remember the fire, November?" Cage asked softly. "Do you remember who pulled you and your sister out of the car? Do you remember what they looked like?"

I took a deep, shaky breath. "No one."

"No, it wasn't no one." He said. "Someone pulled you both out of that car so you wouldn't die. Romeo's one sick motherfucker but even he won't kill children. You and your sister were not the target, November. Your parents were. That's why you're still here and they're not. Do you want to know who pulled you and your sister out of the car before it exploded?"

I closed my eyes. "Who?"

Cage was silent for a moment. "Heath."

"What?" My face drained of all the blood.

"Heath did." Cage repeated firmly. Well, it didn't sound like he was lying. "Those rumours you heard about Heath being born in your prefect little town of Ivey?" Cage said. "They're not rumours, they're true. He was there that night, whether you remember him or not. Ask Heath about the burn marks on his back. And ask your sister if she remembers him." Cage jumped to his feet. "Story time is over, let's go."

I didn't move. "Wait, I still have questions-"

"Princess." Cage said, his eyes flitting off to the side and back to me. I thought it was strange that Cage didn't call me by my name that time. When I stood up, I saw the flash of colour pass by one of the mirrors again and realized what Cage meant. Someone was here, someone was listening. "Let's go."

The tinkling shatter of glass breaking startled us both. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a dark figure quickly pass through one of the mirrors. One of the peculiar things about being surrounded by mirrors was that images were distorted and you couldn't tell what was where. Everything looked the same, one image was repeated on everything. What one person could see, the other might not. It was the slight of hand, or in this case mirrors, that made it difficult and dangerous.

Cage reached over and yanked me beside him, taking a protective stance that made me go 'aww.' He was going to protect me. How cute. We both froze, listening intently for another noise that might alert us of somebody else's presence. The gun in Cage's hand was of some comfort.

Cage raised a finger to his lips and jerked his head in the opposite direction of where the noise came from. With my heart resonating a terrified tune, I followed him down the hallway. Since we didn't venture in that deep in the first place, it was easy to navigate the way out. We didn't hear anything else after the broken mirror.

Cage slipped his hand into mine and this time, I accepted it willingly. Suddenly, the sharp pattering of footsteps on glass that was not ours began to come our direction. I would have panicked at this point if Cage wasn't here with me. Keeping his finger easy on the trigger, Cage pushed me against one of the mirrors in a secluded hallway. His eyes were dark.

"November, I have to ask you a favour." He whispered, glancing around briefly before meeting my terrified eyes.

"What is it?"

"I need you to go outside and find Micheal, okay?" Cage bent down, muttering the words into my ear.

"I can do that."

After a moment of silent contemplating, Cage suddenly leaned down to my height and pressed a gentle kiss on my temple, sending an already hormonal mindset into overdrive. My knees shook and felt like jelly. Cage Vickers was going to be the end of me, I swear.

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look into determined green eyes. "If you get hurt, I'll kill you myself."

So sweet was the personality of Cage.

My stomach clenched uncomfortably. Whatever Cage planned on doing, I didn't get a chance to ask. He slipped away and disappeared, reflections following each mirror until I couldn't see him anymore. The light above flickered again, on the verge of going out. I hated horror carnivals so much, it was ridiculous.

I was standing just a few feet away from the exit. Searching carefully, I tiptoed to the threshold and when I got there, I broke into a run. I mean, I ran for my life. I was talking about running like the first place prize was a million dollars. I ran like at the finish line, there would be a reward of Taco Bell sitting there. Dashing outside, the cold air was refreshing.

I couldn't even catch my breath before I saw the scenery in front of me.

The carnival?

It was empty. Completely abandoned.

Well, that's a lie. It wasn't completely abandoned. I'd rather have it be abandoned than to come out and see what was happening. There were ten people standing before me, eleven if you can count me. Two of them were Micheal and Nick.

The other eight?

Clowns. With big red noses, ridiculous, frilly, colorful costumes, and painted faces that was basically the human definition of 'nightmare.'

And they were holding guns...that were pointed at the temples of Micheal and Nick. And when they noticed the newest arrival to this mess of horror, I found myself looking down the barrel of a rifle too.

Well...was I in deep shit or what?