Page 41 of Firestorm
I narrowed my eyes.
“Telekinetics are a different story,” the professor answered, a little exasperated as he checked the clock. He was new. I hadn’t had him while I attended the academy. The professor scrubbed a hand over his tired face before continuing. “I don’t think you all understand just how big of an umbrella telekinetics have. They don’t just wield all the affinities, they can controlanything. They can do more than summon air and earth, or water and fire. They can lift more than just a pencil or a book. Powerful telekinetics, with practice, can moveanything.”
The professor spread his arms wide for dramatic effect.
“Thinkbigger. Cars. Trees. Buildings.Mountains. Evil telekinetics inhistory have caused earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions. The ramifications of that much power arecatastrophic.”
“Like the end of days,” one girl said to her friend.
God help us, this generation was lost.
Aiden, the idiot, wasn’t paying any attention before he glanced over at Skye. His brow furrowed, and he nudged his leg against her foot, crossed over her knee. Skye shrugged him off and he sat up straighter, looking toward the front of the room.
At least he noticed her mood had shifted. Watching him nudge her so casually, whispering in her ear, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of her smile…
I felt nothing. No jealousy. A sense of longing, sure, but…thankfully, not for Aiden.
I almost breathed out a sigh of relief.I knew I wasn’t into dudes.
“But wouldn’t a telekinetic be useful for other things? In medicine? Mass production?” A girl called out.
I almost snorted. Leave it to the spoiled elite in this academy to immediately think of capitalism while considering a cursed affinity.
“The overwhelming majority of telekinetics throughout history have not been philanthropic in nature, no.” The professor said with a groan as he watched the clock again.
“You’re talking about what happened with the Pilgrims?” A kid asked, and the class murmured excitedly.
An unexpected shudder went down my spine, and it irritated me. I’d given too many years of my life to fighting off domestic terrorism for these kids toget excitedover it.
Fuck those people. Brainwashed or not.
As I glanced down at my fixation, though, my skin prickled for an entirely different reason.
Skye was completely frozen, pencil halfway to her mouth like she was about to chew another eraser out of existence –something else she did a lot.
Aiden was watching her, his warm eyes darting back and forth between her and the front of the room where the professor stood, looking pale.
“We don’t have time to discuss this,” the professor said weakly.
“My father says Wayra had a point.” One student said, and a few agreed with him.
My blood began to boil.
“This discussion is over.” The professor hissed.
“Wait, isn’t he the guy who moved the Capitol building? Because the King was ignoring his pleas for change?”
Fear clogged my throat and the back of my neck tingled. These kids seriously had no idea what the fuck they were talking about. This shit wasn’t even a decade old, and somehow society had already forgotten how horrible the Pilgrims were.
The insult to my grandfather flew right over my head. He’d been such an absolute piece of shit, I didn’t even care that the insult was technically wrong.
Below me, the professor lost control of the class quickly. Voices were sounding from every corner of the room, ranging from murmurs to near screeches.
I glanced down at my sweet Skye.
She was still as a statue.
“He’s not actually missing, right? They have him on that island prison, don’t they?”
