Page 73 of Firestorm
As Lana’s counselor, I knew a lot of things about her. She suffered from generalized anxiety and PTSD, both I suspected were from her upbringing. She often struggled with insecurity, but after a psychotic break over a year ago, she now questioned reality.
She definitely needed a real psychiatrist, and not me, a dude with a master’s in psychology.
But her parents were the source of her pain, and the last time I’d reported to them that she wasn’t doing well, she’d had her break. I had reason to believe her parents were responsible or at least involved, but given that Lana was an adult and still a ward of her parents’ Chain, my hands were tied if Lana didn’t want to remove herself from them or the cult they participated in.
Seriously. A fuckingcult.
They’d followed some asshole down to the Southern Pole, upending both their children’s lives for eighteen months, then brought Lana and Landon back in time for college. My mother could rant about the Iykos’ for hours, she hated them so much. Based on what Lana had told me, her parents were most recently camping out in igloos near the Polar Circle.
“So, something happened, but…” Lana’s face scrunched up further.
“Why don’t you just start at the beginning?” I suggested.
“So, I was at this party with Landon. He’s been a shit lately, since he’s doing work for the Crusader now. I mean, so am I, but now…Landon’s got a different job than me, I think. But he hasn’t told me.”
Oh, yeah. The fucking cult leader had recently rebranded himself asthe Crusader, as if that would make people forget he was responsible for one of the worst terror attacks in modern history.
“So, the party…” I prompted. Lana often went off into her thoughts and needed to be refocused.
“The party,” she repeated. “Landon disappeared, and I went to find him, and he was talking shit to that new girl, Skye Aria? She was with your sister and her Link, Mia.”
“And what happened? They were just talking?” I hedged.
“Well…” Lana trailed off like she normally did when she was second-guessing herself.
In most cases, I’d prompt her a little more, making sure I got the full story from her before she could spiral. Today, though? Knowing Aiden was in trouble, and Skye had defended him…
I was about to do something really, really fucked up. But I was protecting Skye. It was justified.
“Landon was super drunk. He said a bunch of nonsense, and then he…I think he tried to touch Skye, and Aiden attacked him. Then he fought Aiden, and then Skye jumped in. But Landon gotreallyburned.”
“Is he alright?” I asked on reflex. Landon had developed a fear of his fire affinity in the last two years or so. Being burned by his own fire would have sent him into a spiral.
“Yeah, he’s healing fine.” Lana said dismissively, proving she was getting really sick of Landon. Over the years, I’d gathered that Landon tended to get more attention from the family Chain, even though he was the less academically impressive of the two. In her sessions, Lana didn’t usually like talking about him, like she wanted all the attention for herself.
“So you’re not upset about Landon being hurt. What about the interaction had you panicking? The violence? The unpredictability?”
I easily drew Lana’s mind away from the fight, though I had more questions. She needed to doubt herself enough to not go to her parents about this, since they would undoubtedly go to the Brandts. I glanceddown at my phone, swallowing thickly as I saw Aiden had just confirmed his usual appointment.
“The…so, Skye…I, uh, I threatened Aiden. And Skye didn’t like that. So she jumped me, and she took the air out of my lungs and threatened me.” Lana’s voice grew quieter and quieter as she went on.
My mind blanked out for a moment.
So, Skye was a menace.Wonderful.
Though…that fact didn’t bother me nearly as much as it should have.
“Lana. How did you threaten Aiden?” I asked, my tone hard. I was feeling quite protective of that little shit all of a sudden. Threatening him like a tattle-tale was beyond fucked up. Everyone knew what a writhing, abusive cunt Lucille Brandt was. Telling her that her son had fucked something up was fair game for her to flay him.
“I…I said I’d tell his mom what he did. That’s why Skye suffocated me,” she explained in a small voice.
I breathed out slowly, but Lana’s eyes widened. She was hyper-aware of people’s actions and reactions, another curse from her upbringing. She knew I was unhappy with her, she just assumed it was because she’d threatened someone and not because she’d upset Skye.
“I should apologize to her. And to Aiden?” Lana said, still in that small voice.
I nodded as relief washed through me. If she understood what she’d done wrong, then I didn’t need to gaslight her.
“Very good. I think that will help you a lot, Lana. Why did you even make this appointment? You came to the conclusion well enough on your own.” I said, turning the conversation so she’d leave.
