Page 99 of The Firefighter's Fate

She showed it to my father?

Did she do all that knowing that I will never know?

“Is this what you really want to do?” Waylen asks me quietly. “Being a firefighter for Crystal River?”

I look up at him.

“Yes. It is.”

“Helping the community here?”

“In any way I can.”

My father nods.

“Just like this?” he asks.

“Yes. Just like this.”

“You came here tonight and ran into that fire to save someone without a moment’s hesitation,” Waylen says. “You risked your life, and I saw that with my own two eyes. I can see that this is what you were put on this planet to do, son. I came to a realization tonight... that you’re not wasting your potential. This is your potential.”

“It is,” I reply. “This is what I want to do. Above anything else.”

“Ember is a lucky girl to have you, Connor.”

“I’m a lucky guy to have her, Father.”

And we don’t say a word about it, but we both realize that this is the first time I’ve called him Father in years.

“Make sure you tell me who did this, and who nearly killed her,” I say.

Father nods.

“I will, son. I will.”

50

EMBER

I wake up in a hospital with Connor Penmayne sitting next to me. The moment I open my eyes he turns to my bed. He’s got one hell of a serious expression on his face.

“Where am I?” I ask him.

I don’t need to question - I can pretty easily guess where I am. It doesn’t take a genius to get that I’m in some hospital room. There are machines and everything.

“You’re in hospital,” Connor replies somberly. He’s still guessing as to how hurt I am.

“Where?”

“You’re in New York. It’s the best hospital we could fly you to.”

“I was... flown here?”

“Yes,” Connor says. “From Crystal River. By my family.”

What?

“I don’t need the best hospital,” I mutter. “I can’t afford the best hospital.”

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