Page 192 of Firestorm

I sniffed and pulled back slightly, glancing to the door at the end of the hall. The utility room.

“Will he want to see me?” I asked in a small voice. I’d been gone for so long. Everything had happened so suddenly. I hadn’t been able to explain anything before I’d left, and he’d been in such a mood in the weeks leading up to the storm…“Isn’t he angry?”

“No,” Zephyr reassured, still holding me while he waited for my answer. “You should see him. I’ve made…some advancements in my healing affinity.”

“What?” I breathed.

“That book we read,” he explained easily, gesturing toward a journal on the table I hadn’t seen. “I copied down everything as we read it together. I’ve learned a few things.”

Zephyr touched his finger to my chin, and a warmth spread through me as the rash there melted away into nothing. I touched my chin in shock, smiling at my brother while he beamed at me. He’d never been able to do that so easily.

“Where’d that book even come from?”

“My shadow,” I replied, then saw the confusion on his face. “The prince of darkness,” I corrected.

Zephyr snorted. “Not surprised to find out he’s your stalker.”

I wiped away more tears as I set down the book.

“Let’s go.” I said with a sniffle.

Zephyr led me down the hall to our kitchen, and then we slipped into the utility room, stopping when we faced the bomb-grade steel door that led to the basement. Safe in my home, I flexed my fingers, allowing my affinity to flow through me. I waved my hand to undo the numerous locks we had protecting the door.

My heart pounded while Zephyr followed me down the dark staircase until we reached the plush carpet at the bottom.

I hadn’t been down here since the fateful day of the storm, but it still looked the same. Things were tidy. It still smelled the same, that typical musty basement odor still detectable underneath the wall plug-in we used.

“Watch,” Zephyr said, practically bouncing on his feet. “Say hello to him, Skye. Out loud.”

I paused, looking at my brother in disbelief. “Out loud?”

I looked to the corner of the room, where the hospital bed still sat with every machine and wire imaginable surrounding it and its occupant.

And when he saw me, his eyes lit up, widening in excitement.

I choked on a breath.

I hadn’t seen those eyes light up inyears.

“Le-…” I swallowed around the lump in my throat.

Zephyr squeezed my shoulder, a beaming smile on his face as he looked between me and our dad in the hospital bed.

He nodded encouragingly. “Out loud,” he repeated.

“Out loud,” I repeated shakily. “H-hello, Levi.”

Hello, my sweet Skye. Where have you been?

To be continued…