Chapter 0 :Weirdest Family I Know

Anika Sen Rayne was born—at least, that’s what they told her—into a family that was anything but normal. Not just strange, but the strangest. If she had the words, she might have invented a new one just to describe it. And yet, in all the chaos, there was something else too—something steady, a quiet warmth hidden beneath the madness. In her world, impossible things happened all the time, as if they were nothing. Just another Tuesday.

Anyone might scoff at the idea. She’s just a baby. What could she possibly know? But Anika knew more than they thought. She watched. She listened. She understood.

Her father moved like a shadow, slipping in and out of sight, never quite there but never fully gone. If she could explain it, she’d tell people, Let’s start with Dad. He’s a secret agent. But not like the ones in movies—no sleek suits or fancy gadgets. He was something quieter, something harder to see. A ghost. A whisper.

Then there was her mother. People called her an assassin. Anika didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she knew her mother moved like a dancer—graceful, fast, sharp. Like a knife. Her eyes were cold, like the silver things she carried, glinting in the dim light.

Her grandfather was different too. Not like other grandfathers—no warm hugs or bedtime stories. He spent his days locked away in a hidden lab, staring at the sky, searching for something no one else could see. There’s something out there, he believed, something in the dark between the stars. Aliens, maybe. He wanted to find them. Or maybe, deep down, he was afraid they would find him.

And then there was her grandmother. People whispered about her, always lowering their voices when she walked by. They said she spoke to people who weren’t there. Spirits. Anika didn’t know what that meant, but she knew her grandmother’s room was full of strange things. And sometimes, when no one was around, the air still felt full, as if someone—or something—was listening.

Her step-siblings were no less strange. There were nine of them in total—nine older brothers and sisters, each as unusual as the rest of the family. Five brothers, loud and strong, like storms waiting to break. Four sisters, quieter but just as dangerous, like poison wrapped in silk. And one, the quietest of them all, who could create things—things that weren’t there before. Not just objects, but worlds, conjured from nothing but thought.

They all lived in a huge house, too big and too empty, no matter how many people filled it. A house full of secrets. None of them knew what the others were hiding. None of them wanted to know. But Anika saw it all. She watched. She listened. She understood more than they ever would.

This was her world—a place where strange was normal, where real and unreal blurred together. And she, Anika Sen Rayne, was the only one who truly saw it.

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