Chapter Fifty - Ethan Hernandez & Jason Havelock
CHAPTER FIFTY
Ethan Hernandez & Jason Havelock
THE WARM STEAM of the shower curled around Ethan, softening the edges of the bathroom mirror. He let the water drum a steady rhythm against his skin, rinsing away the night’s events. He tilted his head back, letting the stream flow over his face, his dark hair slicked against his scalp. His body ached with a sore, heavy pain. But, his head, was clear. The voices and the images had all quieted — not even a faint whisper.
For the first time in weeks, he had evaded his migraine. The relentless pounding in his temples had left him. Ethan felt something he had not dared in weeks, hope. While the voices were quiet, his mind was still troubled.
Flashes of the night before played on repeat in his mind — fragments like broken shards of glass. The storm swirling around the bell tower. The golden light that had poured from his body. Bellamy’s startled face, the man’s shouts drowned out by the hums of power. Ethan’s own voice tore through the night “No!” Bellamy’s startled face, the scream of fear as he fell to the ground below.
And Jason. Jason’s voice called him back to the ledge, grabbed him from the air, and whispered into his ear.
What had he done? How had he done it?
He leaned forward, pressing his palm on the cold tiles, his breath fogging the glass walls of the shower. That power, felt like it controlled him. Even the surprise apparent on Bellamy’s face at Ethan’s awesome demonstration. As if he hadn’t anticipated Ethan’s potential. The memory of the bullets hanging mid-air all sent a chill through Ethan, even now under the steaming hot water. Bellamy’s fear had been real, but so was his greed for Ethan’s power.
He clenched his jaw at the thought of Jason — a concealer. Bellamy had called him that. The way Jason’s presence had soothed Ethan’s mind. The way — somehow— Jason was able to block out Ethan’s attunement. It all made a sort of sense, but did Jason know? Why hadn’t he told Ethan?
The questions lingered in his mind as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair, he breathed in the crisp fresh scent. The one thing he couldn’t ignore was how Jason had been there to protect him — even in the face of uncertainty. As Ethan’s power — awesome and raw — Jason ran towards him and grabbed him from the air shielding him. Ethan turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel from the rack he dried himself. He caught his reflection in the foggy mirror — his brown eyes, though tired, seemed calm and clear.
The faint scent of coffee drifted into the bathroom pulling him back to the present. Jason. Breakfast. Home.
For now, he had that.
Jason moved through the kitchen with ease, he hummed quietly to himself flipping the crepes gently in the pan. The mundane act of cooking grounded him, leaving the stove, he stepped to the counter and squeezed a large orange into a plastic pitcher— smiling at the irony.
His mind flicked to Bellamy’s book, still sitting on the coffee table where he had left it. The answer they needed was somewhere in there — or so he hoped. Although after the brief but intense interrogation from Detective Farmer, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answers.
Jason heard the water cut off in the bathroom, he smiled at the thought of him and Ethan sitting down to breakfast. Why hadn’t the demonstration of Ethan’s power last night disturbed Jason? Why didn’t the news of his concealment attunement frighten him? Jason supposed he had known all along and while he had no real control over it — it didn’t seem to have the same impact on him as Ethan’s attunements did.
“That’s something we can worry about later,” he muttered to himself. He flipped the final crepe onto a handsome stack of freshly prepared crepes and set them on the table with two placement settings prepared for him and Ethan. As he set the plate down he heard a soft knocking on their front door. Jason glanced at the door and then the bathroom.
“Hey, Stormy. There’s someone at the door,” he called out to Ethan.
The bathroom door cracked, “Can you get it? It’s probably Detective Farmer here to follow up about last night. I’m almost done getting dressed.”
Jason smiled and stepped towards the door.