Chapter 27 #2
He turned away, guilt twisting his stomach in knots.
“I’m not ready yet, Tink. We can’t just have you using your magic to take care of us.
People will start to notice, and that could put you in danger.
You know how cruel people are. They don’t understand your kind, and we can’t have you ending up like the rest of them.
I need to be able to take care of you, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to do that yet.
In just a few months, I’ll be old enough to work side by side with one of the craftsmen as an apprentice.
I’ll learn a trade. Until then, I’d only be a burden to you. ”
If she knew half of what went on at the orphanage, she’d have insisted they leave a long time ago. But he was so close to the end now. As much as he’d love to walk away and never look back, he needed to see it through.
“You wouldn’t be a burden, Peter. You’d?—”
He held up a hand. “I can’t, not until I’m sure I can build a good life for us. The other boys need me, anyway. They’d be lost without me…”
“Well, we can’t have you leaving behind a house full of lost boys, can we?” She flashed a sad smile before pressing her face into his chest. When she pulled back, her expression had hardened some. “There’s one more thing, Peter, something important…”
“You can tell me anything.”
A loud crash broke them out of the moment, and Peter sprang to his feet, his magic welling up to the surface as the Headmaster’s spindly form came into view.
“Damn kid. I knew you were hiding somewhere. How dare you?” the man roared, tearing the belt from his pants in a smooth motion.
Peter turned toward Tink in a panic, opening his mouth to call for her but closing it when he saw she had disappeared. Thank god. He could bear whatever came next so long as she wasn’t there to see it.
He whirled back toward The Warden, raising his arms to cover his face. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again, I just?—”
The belt snapped forward in a blur, connecting with his jaw like a lick of fire.
“Do you know how much time I wasted looking for you? Fucking useless gobshite!”
Peter’s face screamed with pain, but he repressed the urge to fight as the belt came down once again, cutting into his neck. He’ll pay for this, he reminded himself for the hundredth time. One day, The Warden would get a taste of what he dished out .
Peter used that thought as fuel as he fought back the rage, terror, and shame that welled up inside him.
He bit back a howl of pain, determined not to give the bastard the satisfaction even as the belt rained down again and again. Agony radiated from every inch of his body, but still he stayed quiet, even though he knew it’d only be worse for him in the end.
“You ungrateful, motherless bastard,” the Headmaster bellowed, tossing Peter headfirst into the chimney. “Clearly I’ve gone too easy on you until now, but that all changes here and?—”
A blinding flash of light from behind lit up the chimney, followed by a deafening crash, and Peter whirled on him, cringing back with his hands raised in front of his face. But his jaw dropped at what he saw.
A shimmering tower of blue flame had consumed the Headmaster where he stood.
His face contorted as if he was about to scream, but the skin bubbled and melted from his face before he could let it out.
It scorched him through to his very core within seconds, transforming him into a horrific, motionless statue.
Peter stared in stunned silence as his tormentor’s body fell to the ground.
“You bastard ,” Tink roared as she charged toward them, letting out a feral scream, her magic surging even higher.
Shimmering blue flames shot from her fingertips in waves as she roasted The Warden’s already very-dead body into ashes.
Tendrils of flame licked at the building’s wooden roof, igniting it as well.
Peter’s vision went black at the edges as he lurched toward her, trying to stave off the shock threatening to swallow him whole.
“Tink, stop!” he pleaded, his lungs burning from the greasy, acrid smoke that had already begun to fill the air.
She turned, wild, violet eyes softening as she met his gaze.
“You have to stop now,” he whispered, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder with an icy hand.
Horror washed over her face as looked around, as if noticing the fire around them for the first time. “Hell, Peter, we need to get out of here! The whole place is ablaze!”
“The others!” Panic clawed at his throat as he caught sight of the ocean of fire that now lay between them and the door.
“Peter. It’s too late for that.” Tink’s fingers closed over his wrist, and he let out a shaky breath.
“We can’t just leave them,” he said, less sure, now.
Her fingers snaked up his arm, going all the way to his chin. She grabbed it, standing on her toes to kiss him. “Let’s go, Peter. We can leave all this behind, forget this place even existed.”
He opened his mouth to protest a final time, then slammed it shut. No. You have your Tink, and that’s all that matters. “Let’s go.”
“I shared my magic with you when our souls touched,” she said, her index finger pressing into his chest. “Just put your trust in it, and jump.”
He stepped up to the building’s edge without the faintest bit of fear, feeling the newfound energy bubbling up to the surface.
They stepped off the edge and a wave of pure, unbridled joy washed over him as they flew toward the stars in the distance without so much as glancing at the devastation he’d left behind.