Page 5 of Finn's Solace

"It was Finn. Remember him? I've told you about him before, haven't I?" She made a grumbling sound I took to mean agreement, and I told her all about our encounter as I put the groceries away, as if she could somehow puzzle out Finn's strange behavior when I couldn't.

Meeting again after all these years had to mean something, right? Despite him being three years younger than me, Finn and I had been good friends before I made my escape. I'd thought about him and his siblings, Amelia, and the twins, on and off for the past fourteen years. I'd imagined what Finn would look like as an adult. I'd worried if he'd even made it into adulthood.

But now here we were, in the same town through sheer coincidence. Maybe we could be friends again, if I could just find him and talk to him again. I'd enjoy having him in my life. He'd made a great friend back then, and I imagined that hadn't changed, even if much about him had.

I'd never thought I'd one day think of the scrappy young kid I'd once known as hot, but damn. Finn was all long limbs and slim physique, still as thin as ever but without the boniness that came from being malnourished and underfed. He was lean now, and taller than me! I hadn't expected that. I'd always imagined him smaller, but his height suited him.

Heading into the living room, I settled on the couch as Greta climbed from my neck to my lap. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I wished I had Finn's number so I could text him. Now that I'd seen him, he was all I could think about.

In a town this small, I was sure we'd stumble into each other sooner or later, but patience wasn't a virtue of mine. I didn't want to wait around for the universe to cross our paths. I wanted to track him down right now.

Fuck it.

"Hey, Greta. Will you help me?"

Greta peered up at me with her dark, beady eyes, and I smiled. Going into great detail, I described what Finn looked like. "Can you find him? I know he lives somewhere in town, but I don't know where."

She peered at me for a long moment, then nodded. Smiling, I opened the back door, and she raced out, disappearing through the foliage. I was confident she would find him, and once she did, I'd make Finn talk to me.

Three

Finn

For years, I'd thought Levi was dead. It was the only reason, I'd told myself, that he hadn't come back for us, forme.

My basilisk side was roaring inside me, reacting to the pain and confusion I felt. Between him and my own thoughts, I realized I was paying almost no attention to the road.

I quickly parked my car on the side before I got into an accident and hurt somebody. That would just be the icing on this shitty-as-fuck day. Rubbing my face, I exhaled loudly as I tried to collect myself.

Levi was alive. Which meant that he'd broken the promise he'd made to me, just like so many other people in my life.

I'd thought he was different. Or, at least, I'd hoped he was.

I'd met him when some very bad people—who I'd later found out were witches and shifters addicted to dark magic—had kidnapped me, my siblings, Miles, and Mateo from the group home we'd been living at. They'd taken us to theirhideout, an old, abandoned building with a basement they'd 'stored' us in when they didn't need our blood.

They'd already had two supe children when we were brought there: Levi and Amelia. He'd been older than me, sixteen to my thirteen, and far more confident than I could ever hope to be. Amelia had been only a year older than me, and much quieter. When we got here, everyone had assumed she'd been taken from the group home like the rest of us, and we'd just never corrected anyone because it hadn't mattered. I'd never asked Ames about her past, and she'd never told me.

Levi had later told me he'd been there for around four months when I got there, and yet he'd never lost his spirit. He'd told me that one day he would find a way to escape, and he'd promised he'd take me with him. When I'd told him I wouldn't leave without the others, he'd promised to come back for us once he was stronger. He was an earth mage, and unlike Amelia, he'd been taught from a young age how to use his magic.

I'd looked up to Levi, and I might've even had a little crush on him. He was strong, dependable, and that was what I'd needed.

But a few months later, he'd disappeared.

I knew now that he'd escaped, but back then, all I'd known was that he was taken out of the basement, and he never came back. The people holding us had told us they'd killed him for misbehaving, and I'd believed them. Why wouldn't I, when I'd thought Levi would never leave without telling me?

Not only hadhe left—he hadn't come back for us like he'd promised. The next two months after he 'died' were brutal because our captors had started bleeding us even more to make up for Levi's absence.

Three months after he escaped, we were rescued by a strange group of supes, before their leader—Maximus—brought us to Mistvale and our new families.

I didn't know what would've happened if Levi had come back for us. Could he have rescued us without getting caught? And what would've happened once we were out? Where would we have gone?

Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't come back. We wouldn't have found such loving parents if he had. Penny, Dean, and I wouldn't be the people we were today without Dad and Papa's influence, and I would never wish for a life without them.

At the same time, Levi had broken a promise. Just like my birth parents, and the various foster parents we'd been placed with over the years.

I couldn't just forgive him for that, which was why I'd run out of the store like a bat out of hell, even if it'd been a childish thing to do.

Knock. Knock.

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