Page 12 of Firestorm
“Go back down,” Zephyr ordered as water began seeping through the front door. He arranged the sandbags carefully, then pulled me back toward the apartment door. Zephyr went down the stairs quickly, and I followed, then stopped.
Shit. I’d taken my mom’s favorite mug out this morning. I couldn’t leave it.
I ran back out into the café, ignoring the sizzling outlets and slapping of my feet in the inch of water. I skidded to a stop at the prepcounter, grabbing my mom’s mug only a moment before the explosion threw me to the ground.
I trembledfrom my spot on the cold café floor, feeling the men rush around me. The yelling, the screaming. I crawled over to the storage cabinet and pulled open the doors on the bottom cabinet. I had to hide. If they found me here…if they found Zephyr or–
Another explosion boomed around me, so loud I felt as if my eardrums had burst all over again.
I cried out as a flash of lightning momentarily blinded me.
Wait. Lightning?
Thunder. It was just thunder.Notan explosion.
“Zeph!” I screamed, then projected into his mind,Zephyr!
Where are you, Skye?! Show me!
My pathetic whimpers were drowned out completely by the roar of thunder that rolled overhead.
I dropped my head between my knees, panting heavily as I tried to project my location to my brother. I squeezed my eyes shut, sending through as clear an image as possible. He could only see where I was from my point of view, but I knew he’d find me.
Heavy boots pounded the squeaky tile, and then the familiar scent of Zephyr was washing over me as he skidded to a stop in front of me.
“Oh, Skye. Come on, honey. We gotta go.” My brother gently untangled my arms from my knees, positioning them on his shoulders instead.
I let him pull me up, and then I wrapped around him like a koala. Zephyr carried me, pausing only to duck when an electrical outlet sparked and hissed. More water had made it through the doors. I could hear it was at least an inch or two deep from how Zephyr’s boots splashed.
“I can help,” I mumbled. Through my terror, I knew I could be of use. I could stop the damage from this storm with a thought, but Iknew my brother. As much as he teased me about not using my affinities, Zephyr would rather die than let my secret be revealed.
“Not a chance,” Zephyr snarled. “I’ll get us out of this.”
As soon as he spoke, though, his boots slushed against more water. The tide was coming in, wave after wave of seawater rolling by and brushing against the double doors. They were rated for hurricane-force winds, but water could still seep through.
The flood alarm continued to blare outside, muffled only slightly by the cracks of thunder and torrent of rain falling from the sky in buckets. I hadn’t heard a flood alarm in nearly a decade. The eerie wail echoed through the empty café.
“Shit,” Zephyr muttered. “Can’t open the door. It’s too high.”
“Zephyr,” I whimpered, hiding my face in his neck. My arms trembled, my hands squeezing into fists as my affinity fought with me. If this got any worse, it wouldn’t matter if I held back or not.
“Skye, everything is fine. We’re fine,” Zephyr reassured me, but another boom of thunder had my affinity reacting.
With a flick of my wrist, the water on the tile moved, squeezing back through the gap in the doors and joining the waves outside. Thunder boomed overhead again as I slid down to plant my feet on the ground.
“Skye!” Zephyr shouted for me, not letting me go, but my affinity had a mind of its own. With barely a thought, I swished my hand through the air, and the wave of water stopped and crashed as if it’d hit an invisible wall. With another push, the water slid back down, then slowly began to ebb away.
Within minutes, the café was safe and dry. The storm was already dissipating, as microbursts usually did. Outside, authorities were already moving through the streets, several with water affinities pushing back the surf. Several earth affinates followed, moving the sediment tossed up by the errant waves.
Zephyr dove for me, suddenly, grabbing me and pulling me away from the door. I almost fought him, but then froze, the icy claws of dread piercing my chest as an officer appeared in the café window. He peeked inside and caught sight of how Zephyr and I clutched eachother, then raised an eyebrow. He knocked once, and Zephyr swallowed thickly before sending some air to push the door open.
“Hey kids,” the officer said. A quick glance at his patch told me his name was Stevens. Officer Stevens looked back and forth between us, then furrowed his brow as he took in the nearly dry café floors. “I’m gonna need your identification cards,” he said calmly. “We’re checking everyone over. Standard for this situation.”
“Standard,” I repeated, and Zephyr tightened his hold on me, his silent plea for me to shut up. Most cops were trained telepaths. No one had ever sensed Zephyr and I speaking to each other through our minds, but I wasn’t about to take that risk.
“Standard,” The officer repeated, his brown eyes hard on mine. “It’s been confirmed. That storm wasn’t natural.”
My blood went cold.
