Page 27 of Firestorm
“This guy Aiden was talking to me.” I explained breathlessly, embarrassed that I was so rattled.
“Oh, God.” Mia muttered. “Aiden Brandt?” I shrugged. That had to be him. Mia snorted. “Let him down gently, did you?”
“Was he even conscious?” Willow asked. “The dude is always high as hell.” I shook my head frantically and Willow cackled. “You’re so flustered, Skye. What happened?”
My cheeks heated. “He was playing with my hair.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized just how stupid it sounded.
I was a fucking mess. Out of breath because a boytouched my hair?
My brother would have laughed until he died from a lack of oxygen.
Which is exactly what Willow was doing. She completely lost it,laughing so hysterically she fell off the bed and rolled around on the floor. I stared at her with wide eyes, and Mia chuckled from the bed.
“Is this normal?” I murmured.
“Totally.” Mia replied, not the slightest bit concerned about Willow. “So what, he just played with your hair and you’re flustered? Is that a kink of yours?”
“No, it was…fucking weird.” I said, stepping over Willow who was now wiping tears from her eyes. I slid onto my bed and sighed. “He was staring at me all through class, then stood up for me against this big fucker Landon, then–”
“Landon Iykos?!” Willow screeched from the floor.
My hands flew to cover my ears. “Willow,” I hissed.
“Sorry,” she whisper-yelled. We’d only known each other for two days, and somehow, we already knew how to talk to each other. Willow knew I didn’t like loud noises, and I knew she was a loud person. She was trying not to be loud, and I was trying to be forgiving.
We were going to be amazing friends.
“Does Landon Iykos have a sister who’s a GTA?” I asked. My friends nodded. “Then yeah, that was him. I bumped into him and he acted like I’d just threatened to kill his family.”
“Stay away from him, Skye. He’s bad news. Lana too, even though she seems more sane.” Willow said.
“Which is so weird, since she’s the one who had that episode last year.” Mia added.
“Episode? Sane? What?” I spluttered and my two friends laughed.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Perfect timing,” Willow said brightly. “We ordered more pizza.”
Ten minutes later, the three of us were spread out across the two beds with several boxes of pizza between us.
“Okay, tell me everything.” I said as I took a plate.
“Landon and Lana’s parents are in a cult.” Mia said around a mouth full of pizza. “Like, everyone knows. They follow this creep who they worship like a God.”
“Fuck that,” I muttered with a shiver. I used to watch every cult documentary I could find, but I’d quickly lost interest when my parentsdied. Why watch a documentary about psychos when you’d witnessed them first hand?
“It’s crazy,” Willow said before taking a sip of soda. “This guy, though,the Crusader, he supposedly cures cancer and shit.”
I snorted, but then unease rolled through me.
I’d heard that name before.
The worst day of my life. Two blood-red triangles, their points meeting in the center to create an hourglass. Those men had said that name.Crusader.
It took me two tries to swallow down the bite of pizza I’d just been chewing without gagging. I gulped down some soda, ignoring how my throat burned from the bubbles.
Willow hadn’t noticed my panic and she laughed about something on her phone and showed Mia, who only watched me with a furrowed brow before glancing at the phone screen.
