April Ross

Whatever is responsible for this, April doesn't notice when it happens.

She and Caden have been back in town for a few days now and she knows he'll need to go back again in the next little while, but she plans on staying here. Not because she hadn't enjoyed her time in California, but given how much she's banked on Coop's generosity when it comes to her job -- the first legitimate job she's ever had and currently her only source of income -- she really thinks it's a good idea she stay and actually work a little.

She's unpacked, she's settled back in her apartment, and she spends a few days just settling back into town. It's a strange thing to feel, settled in any way, but she does. And she isn't entirely sure what she thinks of it, whether she likes it or hates it, but she's allowing herself to exist in this state, to give it a chance instead of rebuffing it as soon as she feels something out of the ordinary.

Whenever she uses her powers in Siren Cove, she does it almost without thinking. There are times she uses them to get what she wants, times when she's irritated and makes someone do something for her, but none of it is truly harmful in any way. Though it seems someone disagrees.

She's in a coffee shop, she's in a hurry, and she needs to get to the front of the line quickly, so she taps the guy in front of her on the shoulder, gives him a smile and asks him in a gentle, melodic voice if he'd mind letting her go ahead of him. In response he only rolls his eyes and turns away from her.

For the rest of the day she tries it on everyone she meets. She asks people easy favours, she suggests things for them to do, and while some people help her just out of the kindness of their heart, most just ignore her suggestions, and that's never happened to her before. She has never met anyone immune to her powers.

By the end of the day she's so furious she's trembling and she stands near the boardwalk, unsure of what to do or where to go. She needs to see Caden, she needs to tell him something is wrong, but she needs to see her father, too. Maybe he'll be able to track down whoever is responsible for this.

Staring out at the ocean, her jaw clenched tight enough to hurt, April finds the only thing she wants to do is scream.

April would say the past few weeks have been a strange series of events, but she'd be lying. The truth is that her life has been one long strange series of events ever since arriving in Siren Cove and in any other town, in any other situation, she knows she'd be long gone. She hasn't stayed anywhere for longer than a year since she was eighteen years old and free to get out of the foster care system and while she hasn't been in town quite that long, it's long enough that she's beginning to get nervous. She's here and she isn't working anyone. She's here and she isn't making any money except the income she's making legally working for Coop.

There are a few things keeping her here. Les, of course. Caden, certainly. Her father, though she will never admit that to anyone.

And the ridiculously handsome man currently crossing the room toward her.

The amount of affection she feels for Coop is a bit surprising from time to time. She hasn't slept with him, she hasn't even kissed him, and while that's certainly not required for her to form an attachment to someone, she's formed so few over the past ten years, that any kind of attachment comes as a bit of a surprise. But she can't pretend he doesn't make her feel lighter simply by being there.

"We probably shouldn't have come," she tells him when he's close enough to hear her. She knows she looks stunning in her long silver dress and he looks incredible as well. "We're just putting everyone else here to shame."