Knock. Knock. Knock. Molly Hernadez can already hear herself knocking on the Yorkes front door. A front door that's only about six skips away. Or so it was before.

But Molly has grown taller since her last visit to the Yorkes household. In fact, she's grown tall enough to reach the shelf of rocks that her parents were assigned by the King and Queen of Gibborim to study. Rocks that she was never allowed to touch which she didn't understand because they looked perfectly normal.

Her parents, however, had told her the rocks were dangerous. They had told her to not even think about touching any of them but Molly had thought about it. A lot. She had thought about it when her parents had taken her to their volunteer trips to help feed those less fortunate than them. While her mother and father were checking on the kids around her age, she was imagining herself sneaking into their study room and well, touching the rocks.

Now Molly knew it was wrong to think about it and she really did try to push down the thoughts that kept showcasing in her mind but in the end, Molly had snuck into her parent's study and touched one of the rocks. She had felt guilty while rolling the rock around her palm. She had even felt scared of the impending danger that might come. But in the end, nothing happened.

Well, until her father woke her up in the middle of the night and carried her to the front of a wagon. A wagon that her parents had used to deliver the rocks they researched to the King and Queen. At the front of the wagon, sat Molly's mother who swept Molly into a big hug. She stroked Molly's hair and held onto her as if Molly would disappear with the snap of large purple man's fingers.

Molly had fallen back into her deep sleep and now she and her parents were in front of the Yorkes house door. A door that prior to Molly's latest growth spurt was six skips away. Molly starts skipping and her parents trail behind her with footsteps that sound oddly cautious

Knock. Knock. Knock. The imaginative sound of Molly's knocking gets louder, so loud that it drowns out the footsteps of her parents and her own. Molly stops skipping.

Molly wonders for a moment if the knocking sound she's hearing is the sound of her excited heart beating. Except, her heartbeat had never sounded like that before. Even in her most exciting moment, Molly's heartbeat was more of a happy rhythm that always seemed to match the sound of her skipping feet.

At the moment, Molly's excitement feels different from any other time before. Probably because it's been so long since she's seen the Yorkes last. It feels like it's been centuries. Although anytime, she asks her mom, she's told it's only been six months or so. Still, it felt even longer than that because Molly didn't even get a chance to see the Yorkes daughter, Gert on her last visit.

Gert who was kind of like an older sister to Molly because ever since Molly was little, Gert had always looked out for her. Plus, Gert was super admirable. She always stood up for what she believed in and when Molly got older she wanted to do the same. Molly's excitement somehow grows even more and she begins to skip again but this time she holds her hands out with ready to knock.

The door looks like it's moving farther away. Molly blinks, knowing that her eyes were deceiving her because doors didn't move on their own. She gets close to the door. Close enough to knock but with a blink the door isn't in front of her at all.

Molly wasn't scared. No, she was just cautious which is definitely not the same as being scared.

She pulls her arm back and lets it fall to her side. She stands still, concentrating on her parent's footsteps. The footsteps that are oddly cautious. The footsteps she realizes for some reason aren't catching up with her.

Molly looks behind her, wanting confirmation that what she just experienced didn't happen at all. So Molly turns around and sees that even though her parents are walking they aren't moving closer to her. In fact, they seemed glued in place.

Molly turns and starts walking to where her parents are. She puts her hand out and readies herself to grab her mother's hand when suddenly she hears another sound. A sound that comes from in front of her. A sound that is definitely not footsteps. A sound that she's now convinced isn't her heartbeat. Or her imagination.

Knock. Knock. Knock. The sound is frantic. The sound is pleading. The sound terrifies her. Molly wants to run into her mother's arms and silence the sound but Molly also wanted to be brave like Gert. Molly looks in the direction of the Yorkes front door and sees that no one is standing there. No one is even close enough to knock.

"Did you check on her?" Molly hears her mother ask in a concerned tone. Molly whips her head back in the direction of her parents and sees them both looking at her with worried eyes.

Knock. Knock. Knock. The sound is louder than before.

"She'll be fine." Molly's dad responded in a gruff tone that didn't match the worry on his face. "It's us we should be worried about."

"I am worried about us. All of us." Molly's mother emphasizes the word all. "We should've just told them everything. Maybe if we did they wouldn't want to hurt us. Maybe we would've both been spared."

Molly's father responds with a laugh that holds no humor. It's a laugh that Molly's never heard before. As her father's laughs are usually full of life and joy. This one, however, was full of bitterness.

"Okay, you're right but maybe they would've spared Molly." Molly's mother continues.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Molly runs to her parents and this time she grabs her mother's hand.

"Spare? Hurt?" Molly repeats. "Mom, what are you talking about? Why would anyone want to hurt any of us? What's going on?"

Knock. Knock. Knock. Her parents are both silent to her questions and Molly feels afraid.

"No one will hurt, Molly." Her dad says in a firm tone that doesn't relinquish Molly's fear. "She's stirring, must be having a nightmare."

Molly goes to say something but she hears a soothing rhythm and then her parents who are no longer glued in place bring her into a family hug. The fear she feels disappears as she listens to her mother sing an old lullaby off-key and even though she was standing outside the Yorkes family door Molly finds herself falling back into her deep sleep.

Sleep. Molly had been sleeping a lot lately and she didn't know why. Neither did her parents but they assumed it had something to do with her recent growth spurts. Her dad had even joked that one day she'll wake up and be a giant. Something that Molly definitely didn't want to happen.

Although, if she was a giant, she could lift up all the boulders and rock piles that her parents had to spend hours using various tools to make smaller. It would be great! She would help her parents and never be left behind because it was too dangerous. In fact, Molly could easily pick up any danger they encountered and laugh in its face. Hmm, maybe Molly did want to become a giant after all.

Molly leans over to where her mother sits but finds herself falling onto an empty seat. She wakes up, eye to eye with the smooth wood of the seat. Still groggy, Molly calls for her mother but her tone is low and a little rough from just waking up so her mother doesn't hear.

"Where is she? How could she just disappear?" Molly hears her father say in a voice drenched with worry.

Before Molly can respond to assure her parents that she was right here, her mother speaks. "We'll find her but whatever you do, remember that we can't let the Yorkes become suspicious of us."

Molly jolts upward. Her voice sanded down as she says it in a louder tone. "Why would the Yorkes be suspicious of us?"

Molly's words catch the attention of her parents. They both walk to the front of the wagon and greet Molly with nervous smiles.

"The Yorkes are our friends, aren't they? Why would they be suspicious of us?" Molly continues, straightening up her posture.

Molly's mother steps on an elevated step to enter the front of the wagon and Molly slides to the opposite side so her mother can sit.

"You see, Molly…" Her mother looks to her father who nods her on."Your father and I found something. Something that we can't let anyone know about."

"Even me?" Molly asks with a pout.

Molly's mom bops her nose. "Especially you."

"I can keep a secret." Molly insists.

"I'm sure you can, Molly but for now it's best if you don't know." Her mother responds.

"But you will tell me, right?" Molly pushes.

Molly's mother doesn't say anything more, she just kisses Molly's cheek and gets out of the wagon once again. Molly pouts, feeling disappointed that her parents didn't trust her with their secret. Clearly, they didn't know how good Molly was at keeping them. Molly could only blame herself because she was such an expert at sneaking in and out of their study, full of rocks that she wasn't allowed to touch.

Molly's parents now stand side to side but her father reaches a hand out for Molly to take. Molly grabs ahold of it, lifting herself off of the wooden wagon seat.

Once Molly is out of the wagon and standing in front of her dad, he starts to speak.

"No, we won't." Molly's father states firmly, answering Molly's question.

"Why?" Molly objects, her voice coming out in a whine.

"You're too young." Her father responds.

Molly starts to protest, her mannerisms childish as her foot is partially off of the ground. She lowers her foot and tilts her chin up high.

"I'm not a child," Molly says, gently biting down on her lower lip.

"You're fourteen." Her father reminds her. As if she wasn't constantly reminded every day of her life!

"When you were my age you went on your first cave exploration alone." Molly counters. "So why am I not old enough to know your secret?"

Molly's father lets out a frustrated breath that causes Molly's mother to break her silence.

"Alright, you two, let's talk about this later. Are you forgetting where we are?" Molly's mother points behind her and Molly's gaze follows.

The Yorkes front door. The door that Molly dreamed of. The door that kept slipping from her reach.

Molly wonders for a second if she's dreaming. She pinches herself on the wrist to make sure. After letting out a sound of pain, she's assured that she's not dreaming at all.

She starts to skip. No sound of knocking is playing in her ear. Once she reaches the Yorkes front door, it doesn't slip away. Molly finds herself forgetting all about that terrible dream.

She knocks. Three Times. Even with that dream forgotten, she still feels a shiver crawl up her spine. Again, the door doesn't move away or pull itself out of her reach.

Molly feels at ease when the Yorkes front door opens and they greet her by sweeping her into a big hug. They start asking her questions but she doesn't get to answer because her parents reach the Yorkes front doorway and bring the Yorkes attention to them.

The Yorkes and her parents exchange greetings and short hugs. Everything is like it always is. There's no suspicion rising in the Yorkes eyes and no secrets are hidden in her parent's expressions.

Molly decides to forget all of her earlier concerns. She even decides to forget how badly she wants to know the secret that her parents are hiding. All Molly wants to think about is how much fun she and Gert were going to have.

Which is why she curiously asks where Gert is now.

"No." Gert's mother answers, her expression regretful."We sent her to work at the stall earlier."

"Can I go to the stall?" Molly begs, turning to her parents.

"Molly, no. It's…" Her mother's voice trails off and Molly's father starts to speak.

"Of course, you can go." Molly's father says while affectionately patting her shoulder.

"Gene." Molly's mother protests but Molly's father holds his hand up to explain his reasoning.

"Alice, we wouldn't want to bore Molly with all of our work talk, would we?"

"I can easily whip her up a snack to eat in the kitchen." Mr. Yorkes suggests and continues on. "We've actually finally got one of our experiment fruits to ripen and would love some feedback on it."

"Ooh," Molly says interested but then thinks of the past Yorkes vegetables she sampled. "It's not going to taste weird is it. Because last time the broccoli tasted like a rock."

The Yorkes and both of Molly's parents laugh.

"You always think broccoli tastes like rocks, Molly." Her mother points out.

"It's because it does," Molly complains. "But it doesn't matter because I'm not hungry at all. Right now, I just want to see Gert!"

"It has been a while since the girls have last seen each other." Mrs. Yorkes muses. "Maybe we all should go down and see Gert. Then we can stop by the Wilder's for lunch."

"No!" Molly's parents object. "We would prefer to stay here at the moment."

"Is it okay if we send Molly off alone then?" Mr. Yorkes asks while adjusting his glasses.

Molly can see that her father wants to say no but whatever he has to say to the Yorkes outweighs his usual worried thoughts.

"You go straight to Gert. You speak to no one you don't know and if you feel unsafe in any way you come back here, okay?" Her father says in a stern tone.

Molly smiles a wide smile that felt almost the same distance between her and Gert.

"Thank you!" She shouts, giving both her father and her mother a big hug.

"Remember, Molly, anytime you feel unsafe, you run back to us." Her father reiterates again.

"I will."

Molly's walk to the town square was perfectly safe and perfectly boring. Once she got closer to the center of the square that all changed. She sees a crowd all gathered together and blocking the view of whatever they were looking at.

Molly's curiosity triumphs over any apprehension she feels, so she decides to go over to where the crowd is gathered. It takes her a minute to fully realize what's going on. To fully take in the cruelty of their actions. Her hands curl into fists.

Molly darts over to one of the boys throwing vegetables and realizes that those vegetables were the ones Gert's parents grew. Meaning…the girl these people were harassing was Gert.

Gert Yorkes, who she hasn't seen in so long. Gert Yorkes who she greatly admires. Gert Yorkes who now looks consumed by fear.

Molly quickly yanks the vegetable out of the boy's hands.

"Stop it!" Molly demands with a glare at the boy.

Molly then goes to rush over to Gert but someone jerks her arm back. Molly hears someone protesting what the village boy is doing to her but whoever it is doesn't bother to do anything more to help her. Molly turns around, her eyes in a fiery glare. The person who jerked her arm back is the same village boy she yanked the vegetable from.

Wax drips of anger fall from his face, making it grow redder and redder. Molly pulls away from his grip but he pulls on her arm harder.

Suddenly, Molly feels something rising inside of her. Something that turns her irises orange and makes all who catch sight of her eyes jolt back in fear. Molly grabs a hold of the shirt of the village boy who jerked back her arm, she lifts her arm up, holding onto him. He rises. The waxy drips of anger harden and leave him cold with fear.

With a smile, Molly throws him into the fountain that lies in the middle of the village square.

A.N. Thank you all for the reviews! I was super nervous about not having Gert's voice down, so I'm so relieved that you guys felt that I did it right. Yes, I am a huge young avengers fan! I love Wiccan and Hulkling! Though I'm currently not caught up on any of their or the current original young avengers arcs at the moment. But I did hear that Wiccan is now sorcerer supreme and I'm just so proud. Anyway, thank you all again for the reviews/fave/alerts!