Page 155 of Firestorm
“The divine affinity…” I trailed off, confused as fuck. My excitement completely dissipated, dread filling my gut in return. Something told me that whatever Landon was about to say was really going to upset me.
“Yes. You’re…you’re a God,” Landon said matter-of-factly.
My stomach dropped.
“He is, too. My parents follow him, I’ve seen him speak since I was a child. You’ve probably heard of him. The Crusader?” Landon explained. “He’s a…well, he calls himselfdivine. He has followers all over the world but…they’re all sort of…zealots. And my parents are deep as fuck in it.”
“A cult,” I said, my blood chilling.
“Sort of,” Landon scoffed. “But…the Crusader is evil. He…I watched him kill a man, once. I wasn’t even a teenager yet, and I went to my father’s office for something, and he was there, but so was the Crusader. And…this man had wronged him. Had questioned him in front of the flock. And the Crusader killed him, right there. He used his divinity to reach inside that man’s chest and…that man? His heartexploded. We were all told he had a heart attack, and the coroner said the same.”
“You were a kid…how do you know what the coroner said?” I asked in a whisper.
“I broke into the coroner’s office myself last year and found the original report. It claimed the man’s heart had simply exploded in his chest, a ‘massive heart attack’.” Landon replied easily.
Silence descended as his words sank in. It was simultaneously too much and not enough information. I had no idea what to think of anything he’d just told me, and now I was so close to panicking that my affinity felt like a living thing writhing up and down my arms.
“What does this have to do with me, Landon?”
Landon breathed out sharply. “I can’t tell you too much. I shouldn’t even be telling you this much, I just…I need your help Skye. You’re not like him. You’re…good. Forgiving. Compassionate.”
I scrunched up my nose. I wouldn’t have chosen any of those words to describe myself.
“How is that supposed to help?” I asked.
Landon tilted his head back to look at the sky, then he sighed deeply.
“You can kill me.”
“W-what?” I gasped, stumbling back a step.
“You can kill me. Just like what the Crusader did to that man. Only it won’t be so brutal, I just know it, Skye. I know you’ll be careful with me. You’ll show me mercy. You’re stronger than he is, I can feel it.”
“You want me to squeeze your heart until you die,” I repeated, wincing at my own statement.
“Yes,” Landon whispered.
We stared at each other.
“No.” I said finally.
Landon deflated.
“Skye, please.” He begged, desperation threading every word. “They use me. They all know I’m a Sensor. They make me sense people’s affinities, and the Crusader goes in my mind and…he rifles through my memories. He sees what I saw, and he kills people if they’re too strong. Good people.Innocentpeople.”
“That’s not my responsibility,” I said, my heart pounding harder as if in disagreement.
“It’s not. Fuck, of course it isn’t.” Landon gripped his hair. “I’m just asking you to do this for me. You don’t have to. You don’t even have to be nice about it. And you can say no. I just…I need this, Skye. Nothing else will save me. I’ve tried everything. I can’t kill myself. He did something to me…he saw suicidal thoughts in my mind and he did something to me so I can’t hurt myself.”
I breathed out slowly. I felt for him, I really did. His angry attitude suddenly made sense. He was miserable. But killing him? I couldn’t kill someone…not again. The guilt would consume me until I was nothing but a ball of anger.
“If you say no, I’ll respect it. I will continue serving you. I am grateful you let me this close, allowing me to fulfill myself this way, but I just…please reconsider it.”
“You’re not serving me, Landon, you’re m-my friend.” I argued.
Landon gave me a sad smile. “I’m honored you feel that way.”
We stared at each other for several minutes, my breathing growing heavier as I found it harder to breathe. I needed to run. I needed to leave this goddamn school and get away from all these crazy fucking people and go home to my island and visit the gravesite–
