Page 33 of Firestorm
The militant tightened his fist and Levi choked harder below him, his hands desperately clawing at his neck.
I felt it like I was the one being choked. Oxygen was stalling in my throat. I was gasping right along with my dad, my body trembling.
Mom was gone. Ben was probably gone. Levi was all we had left. We couldn’t lose him.
My worst fucking nightmare was happening right in front of me. I had to do something. Ihadto.
I lifted my shaking hands.
“Skye,” Zephyr warned.
“Sk-ye,” Levi gasped. “Don’t.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Phantom.” One of the other men said. “Just come with us.”
“I’ll kill him. You think I won’t? You hurt any of my men and I’ll make you watch him die.” The main one, the affinate stealing Levi’s oxygen said. Levi’s eyes rolled back in his head, his dark skin turning ashen.
“There’s nothing you can do. Come with us.” Another man said, almost pleadingly.
I slowly raised my hands, opening my fists so my palms faced the sky.
My heart pounded. Terror coursed through me.
I’d never done this.
I knew I could, though I’d never dared to try.
I had to try.
I took a deep breath, and then I squeezed both hands into fists.
All at once, every man screamed, then dropped to the ground like fish being thrown onto the beach.
My breath stuttered out. It was a scene straight from a horror movie. One man bled from his nose, his eyes, his mouth. Another writhed on the concrete, screaming unintelligible curses before gurgling, then going silent. A third was simply frozen, his empty eyes staring up into the clouds.
I fell to my knees beside Zephyr, completely numb as he started CPR on our dad. The color was already returning to Levi’s rich skin.
“Help me,” Zephyr breathed.
I nodded, reaching out and placing my hands on Levi’s chest.
A broken sound behind us caught my attention. The affinate who’d tried to kill Levi was still alive. He bled from his eyes and nose, gasping for air. “Ph-phan…please. P-please,” he croaked.
My hands shook, but I felt nothing.
Zephyr was on his feet in an instant. He raised his leg, then slammed his boot down, right on the man’s face. The man wailed, the sound so shrill and haunting–
As usual,I woke with a gasp.
I breathed heavily while my eyes darted around the empty room. Willow was with Mia for the night, so I was alone. The earbuds I usually slept with to keep the nightmares at bay lay on the carpet beside the bed, clearly having fallen out.
They’d been Zephyr’s idea. He was convinced my nightmares were worsened by my homesickness and silence outside. I was used to the sound of waves crashing against the pier mere yards away from where I slept. The forest around campus dampened most sound, making it feel like the academy was in a quiet bubble away from the outsideworld.
My heart pounded in my chest while I became aware of the cold sweat I was sitting in. I jumped out of bed, pulling on a hoodie and slipping my feet into my sneakers, ignoring how the fabric of the hoodie stuck to my sweaty back.
My skin itched as I made it outside, the cool air making me shiver. A few people were outside on benches, smoking and chatting, having come from parties. They eyed me warily as I strode past them.
It couldn’t have been any more obvious that I was about to freak the fuck out. A girl stumbling around outside in a hoodie and booty shorts didn’t exactly screamstable. I ignored the other students, making a beeline toward the edge of campus, where the trees created an even darker shadow under the moonlight.
