Page 77 of Firestorm
I crawled into bed that night, confused, but…sated. Maybe even…happy.
Happy because…I liked Aiden. And Aiden liked me. And we could figure this out. I was positive.
Chapter 24
Skye
“Phantom,”a ghostly voice rasped.
My blood ran cold. I turned on my knees, facing one of the men who hadn’t yet died. I’d somehow missed him when I’d squeezed the others. He seemed young, maybe college-aged.
“Phantom…save me. I…love the…I’ve w-worshipped…”
“What the fuck?” I mumbled the forbidden curse word I only dared use around my brother.
But Zephyr didn’t reply as he took a gun off one of the dead militants. I eyed him warily as he took a few knives and extra ammo from the others laying around us, then began bundling everything into my backpack.
The dying man let out a pained moan, and my gaze snapped back to him. The more I watched him, the more I couldn’t look away. Under different circumstances, he could have been handsome. His hair was messy and damp. Sweat beaded his forehead and his upper-lip. His cornflower blue eyes shined with tears.
His body was broken, though. His neck was bent at an odd angle, and he was clearly in pain, yet he wiggled his arms and legs like he was trying to move toward me.
“Phantom,” The man rasped again. I tilted my head.
More shouting started from a few blocks away, though it didn’t sound like theauthorities to me. Even if it was, it would be hours before they could clear the entire area of the festival.
“Are those more…more…” I couldn’t say the word.
“B-brothers,” the dying man gasped through a ragged breath. “P-pilgrims.”
I gulped.
“We gotta go, Skye.” Zephyr said urgently from behind me.
“Right,” I mumbled, finally looking away from the man, then cringing as he let out a pained cry at the loss of my attention.
“P-please, Ph…phantom,” the man called out again. “J-just…look upon me, p-please–”
I had no idea why the fuck he kept calling me that. I wasn’t a ghost.
And he’d stood by while his friends hurt my dad.
Without so much as a second thought, I flicked my wrist, and his cries of pain went eerily silent.
Zephyr’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t question my decision. My brother knelt down next to me, nodding and then taking my hand. I reached across Levi, holding his broken body gently before taking a deep breath.
Once.
Twice.
Then we–
Somehow,I didn’t wake up screaming.
I didn’t jump when I sensed the shadow nearby, either. It’d stayed overnight before, but tonight it was almost…alarmed. It pushed and shoved at me, like it’d been trying to wake me up.
You’ll get used to it, I projected.
The shadow seemed to pout, though it was still afraid.
