Page 74 of Firestorm
Lana stood, clutching her bag, but she didn’t move. I waited, knowing she was just trapped in her head again, going back over the memory of the fight.
“Mr. Craig, there’s something else.”
I blew out a breath, glancing up at her quickly, but then furrowing my brow when I saw her face. She looked…scared.
“I…Skye was able to take my oxygen away.”
“Yes, you told me that.” I replied.
“Mr. Craig…I…you’ve read my file, right? About my affinities?”
I froze.
My brain moved a mile a minute, black spots appearing in my vision from how long I held my breath.
Lana was a rare affinate, something society referred to as aParalyzer. She disabled elemental affinities, making them unusable on her, hence why she was safe from Aiden’s fire blasts and Landon wasn’t.
It also meant that Skye, as an elemental affinate, shouldn’t have been able to take Lana’s air.
“Yes, I have.” I spoke finally. “What about your file, Ms. Iykos?”
Lana bit her lip. “Um…I need you to remove my memory of the fight.”
I froze again. Lana’s shoulders were hunched, while she trembled slightly.
Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke again. “I don’t want th-them to see. I don’t want Skye to get in trouble. Please just distort the memory. Landon was drunk as hell, he won’t remember anything and I already had him healed while he slept. Please do this for me, please, I know you can. I don’t want Skye or Aiden hurt. I was stupid and cruel to threaten him.”
“You understand the consequences? You’ll be unwell for several days, maybe–”
She cut me off. “It’s fine. I swear, it’s fine.Please.”
I didn’t hesitate nearly as long as I should have. I nodded lightly, holding out my hand in invitation. Lana lurched toward me, placing her small hand in mine and squeezing her eyes shut.
And then I did what I had to do to protect Skye.
Chapter 23
Skye
It had been nearlya week since I’d woken up alone after going to sleep with Aiden wrapped around me.
I knew he’d been drunk that night, and definitely high. The stench of alcohol had been strong and his pupils blown wide open.
He was an asshole. He’d clearly fucked half the girls in the school but didn’t remember their names. He told me to my face he was only trying to fuck me, too. He’d been following me for weeks as part of some elaborate ruse to get me interested in him, and to my horror, it’d worked. I’d known all of this about him, and yet…
When I’d woken up that morning after the fight, he was just gone.
And I was…disappointed.
We hadn’t had sex, so I didn’t understand why I’d expected him to stay. I’d sort of forgiven him for what had happened. I got the impression that Aiden didn’t typically regret his actions, and an apology was a big deal.
Tears prickled at the backs of my eyes, and I exhaled slowly, not wanting to cry anymore. I’d been cryinga lot. I’d never cried this much in my life, not even after I lost my parents, and that made it all the more embarrassing.
Aiden hadn’t even so much as looked at me, and he chose a different seat in the classes we had together.
I rubbed at the ache in my chest that seemed to be getting worse. Why was I so affected by this? Aiden and I werenothing. We went on a few dates, kissed and flirted a few times, and I defended him in Health class.
I knew why I was hurt, though.
