If I had my way I would be a total recluse hidden away in my laboratory. Where I work on my inventions. I crave learning new things, and read everything I can get My hands on. I rarely talk unless my friends can get me going. At a young age I never spoke, letting my siblings do the talking for me. I didn't feel a need really just to talk. Not when I could be studying, reading or working on my inventions. When my close friends do get me out of my shell I can be quite fun, sometimes the life of the party when I've had a few one too many. I care about my friends and my family. It comes out in rare ways from me that you never know what just happened.

I was born on a dark and stormy day to Cobalt and Solstice Falcon. I was the seventh child of my parents. My parents were alright parents, but they loved me in their own way. Though it was always dad that took care of me. It wasn't till I was older that I realized there wasn't a bit of love from my mother. I seemed to be a problem child from the beginning. Always cranky and discontent until I had something to focus on. When there was a storm though I would quiet and smile looking toward the window where the lightning would light up the world from outside. It was like the storm the day I came into this world. Once I was old enough to crawl I would crawl to a door or window looking out at the storm mesmerized.

As I grew older I was a very quiet child. I picked up on things fast and easy it seemed. After a book was read to me a few times I was able to read on my own. I was around four by this time. I remembered the book by heart and I learned the words able to pick up putting the words together in other books, and I came to love reading. One thing I had yet to do was utter a single word. Two more siblings had been added to the already large family. I’d listen to my older siblings as they did their homework talking out loud, and I learned to count. No one knew this though since I didn’t talk. They probably just figured I was looking at the pictures in the books instead of actually reading them. Things didn’t keep my interest and I would grow bored which wasn’t good. I would fidget then and grow anxious till something else would catch my eye.

When dad got me a mini bike I frowned at him. He was about to explain it to me when I started it and took off doing a couple of laps around the track like I owned it much to his surprise. I wanted a bigger bike, but I knew dad wasn't going to put me on one. To me a mini bike was boring. Though it would be a while before I was able to touch the ground on a dirt bike. So there was that problem. I'd already read lots of books that I'd stole from my older brother's rooms on how to ride, riding, and motocross. As well as how to fix a bike. River didn't know it, but one night while they were sleeping, I snuck down to the garage took his bike apart cleaning parts like I had read in the book, and put it all back together. The next day I heard him say something about his bike running the best it ever had. I just grinned. I parked the mini bike by dad who was gaping at me got off, and went back over to a rock I had been sitting on reading an adventure book. I'd rather be inside reading, but dad had made me go outside for the day and go to the track with them.

Storms still totally calmed me and made me happy. At an early age I would take my toys apart and put them back together in different ways in which I thought was better. It wasn’t till I was of an age to start school that my dad realized I wouldn’t talk. Not even when he was directly asked a question. The school officials wanted me checked for autism. They put me in special classes which I hated. My anger resulted in taking stuff apart and not putting it back together again. Those items included the pencil sharpener getting the pencil shavings everywhere. Dismantled the teacher's chair so when he sat in it he found himself on the floor. Oh and I took apart the intercom speaker which really got me into trouble. This was only preschool too.

When my older siblings would come home from school for the day they would do their homework and then leave their textbooks on the table. So I'd steal them and stay up all night long reading the book. They'd be looking everywhere for it all evening when they were told to clean off the table for supper. Come morning it would be right back on the table where they had left it making them think they were going crazy. It became a favorite time of mine was when they were done with their homework, and I would steal their books learning all I could about math, science, history, and others.

I shied away from other kids at school too except for a couple of boys which one was my cousin Cesar, who was used to me not talking, and it didn't bother him. The other was Jace Youngblood. Cesar must have explained to him that I just didn't talk. As for girls if they weren't my sisters they had cooties in my opinion and I would run and hide from them. Till Cesar would coax me back out telling me the coast was clear. Dad finally caved and got me checked for autism, but there was nothing. So they ruled that out. At home my sister Skyler usually did the talking for me. Though with her as well as Cesar I would at least nod agreeing with them or shake my head. Sometimes shrugging.

I seem to shoot up in height the next year. So when Sly wasn't looking I tried out his dirt bike. My feet actually touched the ground so I started it up and my eyes lit up really feeling that thunder from the bike. I was out on that track and going over in my head what I needed to do. I heard my name being shouted out, but I ignored it. Halfway through the course on my first taking flight I was more than elated. I came down hard though not having expected that and I wiped out. Dad and my older brothers were there fast and calling out my name. I groaned a bit, but sat up. "Now that was blast! I want to do it again!" I exclaimed already calculating in my head how to do the landing the next time.

Dad and my brothers were gaping at me. I was a little over five and the first time they had ever heard me utter a word. While they were still in their stupor I jumped to my feet, and struggled a bit picking the dirt bike up, but I got it up. Got on starting it, and started again. It was a minute or so before I heard dad yelling my name again. I ignored him, and completed a whole lap this time including landing the jump with a whoop. When I finished I parked the bike back from where I stole it and went back to my rock picking up my book I had been reading and started where I had left off.

Dad hadn't let me start competing in Motocross till I was six same as my siblings had been, but he had gotten me my own dirt bike after I had snatched Sly's that day and rode it. When I had laid it down I hadn't realized I had messed it up a little pissing my brother off. When I did find out later I fixed it in middle of the night making it as if it were brand new. When the guy came to fix it he thought dad was crazy saying what was wrong with it. I had been spying on them, and dad had frowned looking around. Still don't think he figured out who had fixed it.

I was around eight when I discovered a secret panel behind my bookcase in my room. There were steps going up, but it was really dark. Fearlessly I grabbed a flashlight turning it on and went up the staircase that was dusty and dirty, and I kept taking cobwebs out as I went up. Obviously no one had been in here for years. There was another door at the top, and I opened it. Sun streamed in from lots of windows almost blinding me. Turning the flashlight off I moved into the room shielding my eyes some with my arm. When they were focused I looked around. It was as bad as the stairway, but there was an old desk with papers on it, and bookshelves with lots and lots of old books.

Rushing over ignoring how dirty and dusty they were I began to look through them. They were all kinds of books, and had to be a hundred years old or more so I was more than careful of them. Grabbing a book about inventing things I moved over to the dusty window seat. When I sat down dust billowed everywhere, and I sneezed a few times. Most kids would be more curious about looking out the window to see the view outside, but not me all my attention was on that book. It wasn't till I realized it was getting hard to read with the sun disappearing outside the window that I came back to reality. I put the book carefully on the desk and headed downstairs. Shutting up the room and it was then I heard my name being called out.

I was late for supper and dad was yelling my name. So I rushed downstairs where he was waiting at the bottom. His eyebrows shot up as he looked me over and asked me what I had been doing. Looking in a mirror on the wall pack behind him I saw I was covered in cobwebs. In my hair and they were clinging to my clothes. Dad actually picked a couple of spiders out of my hair. With a sigh as he knew I wasn't going to answer he told me to go at least change and brush my hair which was longer than most boys. Just like his. He ruffled my hair much to my dismay and I ran back upstairs and did as I was told.

The next few weeks I spent cleaning up my secret room. Taking a break to read now and then. I opened the windows and got some fresh air in. One day behind some shelves I found another door and opened it. It opened onto the roof so I explored it being adventurous. You could see all of Big Sky from up here, and I thought it was awesome. I made me up a little area out there for reading which sometimes turned into daydreaming. It took a while to get the room clean, but I accomplished it. Within a couple of years I had probably read each and every book on those bookshelves.

I still wasn't talking since there really was no use to. I'd rather be buried in what I was working on in my secret room or buried in my book. Dad tried to no avail to get me to talk knowing that I could after that day on the track. He'd be about pulling out his hair when I would just give him a hug, and head off to do what I had been doing leaving him shaking his head. Mom on the other hand when she was actually home would hit me when I wouldn't talk back to her. I just took the hits not giving in.

Aunt Carmelita saw her hit me one day, and she came unglued going after her and hitting her asking her if she liked it. We were having some kind of a party that day, and they were in expensive dresses. They were actually fighting and somehow got too close to the pool in our backyard falling in. Aunt Carmelita had laughed, but mom screeched like a wet hen not happy one bit. They continued to fight in the pool till dad and Uncle Cavalier took off their suit jackets and shoes jumping in and pulling them part. The guests that day were enjoying watching the fight.

When dad found out why they were fighting he'd come to check on me. I'd retreated to my room about to go to my secret room when he was there checking me over. I sighed and when he asked if I was alright I just nodded. He asked if she had hit me before, but I just shrugged. He wasn't happy, but he hugged me before heading to change. The party was over now thanks to that fight. I could hear my mother and dad yelling at one another and her screeching that I had ruined their little party they were having. Things got quiet soon after that and with a sigh I disappeared up to my secret room to get lost in a good book.

When Junior high came around I didn't go out for sports. I loved going to classes and learning new things, but once that last bell rang I was running out the door to head home to my secret room to get back to what I was working on. It wasn't that I was lazy. I did run all the way home which was a few blocks away. I was still doing Motocross, and loving the thrill of competing. At least I made dad happy when I won most of my races, and did my best. Helped that I loved doing it. It was about the only thing that could tear me away from my secret room.

I was working on gloves using different chemicals that I had snuck in trying to figure out an alternative to heated gloves that used batteries or those chemical reaction packs that never really lasted that long. I'd heard dad and Uncle Cavalier complaining about the gloves they use as High Mountain Rangers during the cold winters. There was a few times that they'd almost got frostbite. So I was trying different types of materials and microfibers. Trying them myself trying to perfect them. One day when I was trying them out outside I thought I had gotten it right till I got a chemical burn from that combination I had used. It was bad enough that I wasn't able to do anything myself to help them. Unfortunately mom was the only one home, and she just laughed telling me I was on my own when I walked up to her showing her my hands that were bright red with sores on them.

I ended up walking down to Falcon's Roost which was about a half mile away. It was freezing cold and there were blizzard warnings. I was walking through snow halfway up to my knees which was getting deeper with the snow coming down. By the time I got there I was freezing. My teeth chattering. I had stopped every once in awhile to stick my hands which were burning into the snow to try and cool them off. When I got there my hands were useless trying to open the door or ring the bell. Finally I started kicking the door even though it hurt as cold as I was. The door suddenly burst open, and I saw it was my cousin Cammie who looked at me then around seeing my footprints coming up the long drive and sidewalk. She gasped pulling me inside seeing I was alone. Right away she noticed my hands, and got to work on them.

Cammie was in nursing school and had become an EMT working as a Medic for the high Mountain Rangers part time while going to the university. She got some burn cream stuff on my hands, and then loaded me up behind her on a snowmobile not going to trust a vehicle right now in the snow that was getting deeper. She got me to the ER calling her mother who had been out somewhere telling her what was going on. She had no idea what I had done, and hadn't asked not expecting to get an answer out of me. Our dads were out on an emergency so she knew that she wouldn't get a hold of them. My aunt had legal permission in case of emergencies with us to sign papers. With dad on call most of the time, and busy and mom never around dad had thought it wise.

Finally I got treated with Cammie calling Drea James who was quickly there. She got me in the ER and treated my hands which had a second degree chemical burn by the time I got there. There were big blisters too that were more than painful. She asked what I had done, and of course I didn't answer. I wasn't about to tell anyone about my secret room or what I had been doing. When Cammie asked why I walked down to Falcon's Roost that I did answer saying that Mom had laughed and said I was on my own which caused her to curse. Aunt Carmelita had finally gotten there and signed the paper work. She wasn't happy one bit when Cammie told her what my mom had said. Drea wanted to keep me over night so Cammie offered to stay with me since there was no way to tell how long dad would be out on the rescue he was on.

Dad showed up in middle of the night when I was sound asleep. Where Cammie had gone I have no idea. She was back in the morning though looking like she had gotten some sleep. Dad was dozing in his chair but when Cammie walked in he woke up seeing I was awake. When he asked me what had happened I just shrugged as if I didn't know, and thankfully he believed me. Though he kept trying to come up with how I could have gotten the chemical burns. I stayed quiet as usual. I just wanted to get back home so i could figure out what I had done wrong. Drea came in and changed my bandages leaving them off for about an hour or so to get air to them. Then she came back treated the burns and wrapped them back up.

Since I couldn't eat Cammie had fed me my breakfast before she left to be able to go to classes for the day. Drea came in later and did the same thing in the afternoon after Dad had fed me lunch. She gave dad some cream that needed to be put on the burns three times a day, and dismissed me. Dad didn't take me home though with the blizzard supposed to hit yet tonight. He took me to Falcon's Roost in case he got called out on a rescue during the blizzard and after. That way Aunt Carmelita could take care of me and Cammie. The rest of my siblings were there too. Mom when she found out Cammie had taken me to the hospital had left abruptly to go on another of her trips.

I was more than bored and walking the halls of Falcon's Roost when we got snowed in there for a week. The electricity had gone out for half that time. I didn't even have one of my books to read. Not that I could turn a page with my hands wrapped like they were though. I couldn't do anything. Getting teased by my brothers and cousins when Cammie would sit down and actually feed me too was irritating. If she was busy then Skyler would help me. If anyone could get me to talk it was usually her, but I wouldn't even tell her how I had gotten the chemical burn. She actually asked if mom had done it, and I shook my head no.

When we were finally able to go home dad checked my room, backpack and anything else he could think of that could have caused the burns. Finding nothing he left me in my room and told me to get some rest. I wasn't having to use the bandages anymore, and the blisters were gone, and the redness about gone. At least they weren't painful anymore. I waited a bit till he was gone, and then snuck into my secret room. I got right to work studying the formula I had used. It took me a few sleepless nights, but I finally figured it out. I carefully discarded the last batch making sure it was thrown away right.

I started on the next try. A few weeks later I was ready to try them out, but I did hesitate. Suck it up buttercup I told myself and with a deep breath I stepped outside into the frigid cold air, and put the gloves on. It didn't take long for them to activate and I was out there for a few hours. Even joining in a snowball fight with my brothers and sisters. I tried them off and on for about a week, and didn't have any trouble with them. Though at that time I had no idea about how to get them out there so they got sat on a shelf with other things I had done when I was younger, and I moved on trying to come up with something else to invent.

Cesar and Jace always tried to include me in things. During Club Wild Wolves club stuff and family stuff I would hang out with them. Get into trouble with them once in awhile, but dad never got after me when I got in trouble. He was just happy I was out there and not hiding myself away and not interacting with anyone. Swimming and riding our dirt bikes was what we did the most during the summer. Once in a great while I would go to Rosewoods Soda Shop with them joining a few other guys. I was more at ease with just Jace and Cesar so it would get a bit awkward when others would join in. I handled it though.

On my sixteenth birthday dad and my older siblings took me to get my first Harley. After looking through half the store I finally found the one! It was a cherry red sportster. I tried it out for size and it was just right. I couldn't wait to tear it apart that night and put it back together even better adding to it. Since the roads were still good I got to ride it home and not have to trailer it. Once the others were in bed I went to the garage and spent the night taking the bike apart cleaning it and putting it back together. It was more shiny and the motor was running superb when I was done. Dad had gotten me some better saddlebags that he said he'd help me put on this weekend hopefully. I had them on already, and when dad got up the next morning he found me laying beside my bike on the garage floor covered in grease and grime fast asleep. Instead of waking me up he'd picked me up and carried me up to my room and laid me on my bed covering me up with a throw blanket and then headed into work.

Skyler and I were getting closer. We'd been close before, but we actually talked about stuff now. Well some as a lot of the time it was more listening to her which I was fine with. It wasn't always about her either. My sophomore year something was going on with her. She wouldn't talk to me, and she pushed me away as she did to Sly too. I kept watch over her, but let her have her space. I wasn't ever able to find out what was going on either. Not till got so bad that River, Ransym, and Jethro ended up beating the crap out of her boyfriend Emery who we found out had been abusing her. Come to find out Mom had been too and she was behind the abuse with Emery. I hadn't realized that mom was hurting her. With me I stayed away from her when she was home otherwise hers was more verbal to me, but once in a while got physical.

Dad left mom after that and we all packed up moving over to Falcon's Roost. I wasn't happy about that since I was having to give up my secret room. Looking around I finally found a hidden area up in the attic there at Falcon's Roost and made a few trips back to Nightingale Manor getting all my stuff out of my secret room. On my last trip mom caught me. I didn't know she was even in the country let alone at the Manor. Thinking I was alone I'd left the Secret door open. I jumped having been packing the last thing when I heard her voice. "So this is where you hide away." I whirled around with my heart beating fast and my breath was a bit erratic now. She looked all around the room taking in the empty shelves and even found the other secret door out to the roof.

I was frozen where I was. I was skipping school to do this too, so I figured I'd be in trouble now. When she was done inspecting she shook her head. "How about you hide away a little longer." She smirked, and walked out the door I heard it shut and the lock in it click. I realized that she had locked me in. I rushed over to the door trying to open it and couldn't get out. I groaned and pulled out my phone, but I had forgotten to charge it. So it died as I was about to send a text to dad. I don't think it went through. Walking over to the window seat I sat down on it looking out the window. I should have just went to school and finished this later I thought. It was my junior year this year, and I did have a test the next day. I was more than ready for it though as I had already read through the textbook twice. Somehow I was always at the top of my class. From the window I saw mom's limousine heading out the gate and groaned. Nobody was going to find me here. By the time the sun was going down I was starving and bored out of my mind. I finally fell into a restless sleep on the window bench.