Page 4 of Firestorm
“Don’t make me ask again,” the man warned, clutching his gun more firmly.
Levi glanced at me, giving me a pointed look. I opened my mind to him and Zephyr.
Run, Levi projected, and then he turned and grabbed the gun.
The gun fired, and I screamed, covering my sensitive ears and squeezing my eyes shut. What was Levi thinking?!
“Fuck, Skye. I didn’t see your ears…” Zephyr whispered close to me. “You’re going astronomical.”
I slowly opened my eyes, then froze.
My hair floated in the air like it was super-charged from static. The two dumpsters on either side of me hovered a few inches off the ground, along with some bags of trash. The bullet that had been fired from the gun was suspended in mid-air, frozen from my affinity.
The man’s eyes widened slightly, then his voice shook.
“Phantom,” he breathed, then Levi tackled him.
I screamed again, dropping the floating objects back to the ground.
Zephyr ran forward, but Levi shouted to him, “No!” He wrestled with the man, then gritted out, “Get her out, Zephyr.”
“Dad,” Zephyr stood helpless while my hands pressed into my temples.
The man punched Levi in the jaw, then Levi slammed his head into the concrete. The two struggled back and forth while the man reached for the gun. I squeezed my hand into a fist and pulled, using my affinity to yank the gun away. No use hiding if he’d already seen me.
“Go!” Levi shouted as a shrill beep began to emit from the man’s radio.
I couldn’t tell who was winning or losing the fight anymore. Levi was bleeding, the other man was bleeding. More shouting came from down the street, no doubt in response to the ringing alarm.
More men spilled into the alley, converging on us. Zephyr pulled me back to the other end of the alley, where a ladder reached the ground. He pushed me to the ladder like he intended for me to climb.
“Wait, Levi,” I said. Zephyr ignored me, pushing me toward the rusted ladder. “Wait!” I cried. “We can’t leave–”
Chapter 1
Skye
I awoke with a gasp.
Memories from the worst day of my life ebbed away from my mind slowly, like the ocean changing to low tide.Thank God I’d woken up before the worst part this time.The blaring siren that was my wake-up alarm helped, too. I shivered before rolling over and slamming my hand down on my old-fashioned alarm clock.
Three sharp bangs sounded at my door, and I jolted.
“Wakey, wakey!” Zephyr shouted through the door.
I groaned, pulling my pillow over my face to shield me from the pale morning light streaming through a crack in my curtains. I eventually rolled out of bed and stumbled my way over to my bathroom. I showered quickly, then dressed in my usual uniform for the café.
I stared at my face in the mirror, my pale skin seeming paler than normal. My silver eyes weren’t bloodshot, even though I’d tossed and turned from a nightmare. My long, dark hair, though? Dull.
With a grimace, I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail, then left my room and made my way down the short set of stairs into our living area, right next to the kitchen.
My older brother was already dressed, as always, making us breakfast. His hair was still covered by the silk bonnet he wore to bed andnot for the first time, I almost snickered as I imagined him pulling it out to sleep over at a girl’s place. The man cared about his hair. A lot.
“Good morning,” I grumbled.
Zephyr took a sip from his coffee mug as he turned to face me, and then he snorted and coughed, almost spitting out his drink. Then he burst out laughing. “You look like shit.”
“Oh, fuck you.” I replied without any heat. Zephyr pushed my usual bright blue mug, our mother’s favorite, across the island toward me.
