Page 58 of Ashes to Ash’s

He frowned. “Wow, that was deep. I’m kinda impressing myself here. Dory, does that make you horny?”

Here we go. Mum slapped his leg and ignored his laughter. It was typical of him to drag every conversation to the gutter, but he made sense too. Weirdly enough.

“He’s right, for once, ugh, he’ll get bigheaded now.”

“You enjoy my big… head, Wilms.”

“Gray, shut it.”

I waited for them to stop bickering, but secretly I loved it. They were so in sync with each other, smiling even as they pretended to be pissed at each other. Wasn’t that how it should be?

“So, the kid, Ren? He’s staying?” Mum asked, trying to get us back on track, like that’s ever possible with these two around.

“Yeah. Are we okay here? I don’t think my flat’s big enough, and Cal was staying with those asshole parents, so we can’t go there. I don’t think you want us all coming to yours either?”

Dad Gray snorted, sitting back again and crossing one ankle over the other knee.

“Not with Nix and ‘Pyro’ causing so much trouble, no. They’d be bad influences. You’re fine here.”

Wait, what?

“Pyro? Who the fuck is that?” What the hell had I missed? Nobody was called Pyro?! Did they adopt someone too?

My parents all sighed, and dad Dory finally spoke up.

“Cole is now Pyro. He felt his name wasn’t right for him, and you know what, if that’s how he feels, then he’s called Pyro now. I mean, Gray likes it, of course, but the trouble is the school. They were insisting on calling him Cole, and he’s getting into all kinds of shit over it.”

“Burned down the fucking school office! I was so prou… I mean, we have to discipline him, of course,” dad Gray tried to save himself, but mum slapped his leg again.

“Expelled is the word. Well, potentially facing criminal damage charges, but I think deadnaming him will put them in some trouble too. He was pushed into it.”

“Figured destroying the school office would wipe out their records and references to his old name, bless him.”

I’d been out of the loop for a few weeks at most, and this had all happened? Jesus fuck. What the hell was my little bro going through that he felt the need to take such extreme action? And he was expelled too? Was Nix going to be the only one who made it through an entire school career?

“Is he okay?”

“Mad at the world, but embracing his new fire obsession, so not all bad,” dad Gray said with a grin, dodging mum’s hand as she made to slap him again. Instead he caught her fingers and lifted them to his lips, kissing them gently.

“I’ll always be proud of our children, sweetness, don’t expect me to change now.”

Cal

Ren seemed to be bouncing back from his horrific night far better than Ash or I had. Maybe that was the benefit of his youth, and of course, the fact that we stopped things from going too far. If we’d been just twenty minutes later, things would have been very different. We were meant to get there in time. I firmly believed Ren was supposed to be a part of our lives. It wasn’t that I still believed in a God, if I ever had, but I believed in fate. In things happening for a reason. Ash came into my life for a reason. To help me find the real me inside, and fight to keep him, but he’d gone through his own hell because of me too. Was he fated to suffer like that? At what point did I wonder if fate was also bullshit?

“I’m bored.”

I shook myself free from my thoughts, slowing my pace to see where Ren was. I thought a run and some fresh air would be good for him, as good as it usually was for me, but he’d complained several times already, and kept slowing down and stopping.

“We can turn back.”

I leaned my hands on my knees and took a moment to breathe slowly. I’d been moving at a slow pace for Ren, but clearly a few days away from running had affected my fitness enough that I needed this break too.

“Sorry,” Ren said, glancing at his feet, “I know you didn’t sign up for having an annoying kid around. I can try.”

I sighed, straightening up and stretching my back for a moment. He seemed to be losing confidence since he’d arrived with us, like maybe the excitement of the previous night had given him courage he didn’t normally have. He’d still been half doped up by what those fuckers used on him, so did he even realise what he’d been saying or asking of us? He was suddenly acting like he thought we’d take him back to his old life, like he had to perform a role to get to stay.

“It’s okay if you don’t like the same things I do, Ren. Same with Ash, in fact, it’s probably a good thing in his case. You tell us what kinds of things you enjoy, and we’ll make them happen for you.”