Chapter 2
Aiden
I groaned, rolling over and grimacing at how my sweaty arms stuck to the vinyl under me.
Wait. Vinyl?
I cracked one eye open, glancing around at my surroundings.
Okay…so I had no idea where I was.
A diner, maybe? My eyes darted around the room, taking in the small wooden tables and a few booths, similar to the one I was lying in. I sat up slowly, my gaze catching on a checkout counter with a large pastry case beside it.
The smell of coffee was strong. I breathed it in, feeling calmer by the second.
I was in a coffee shop. Or a café of some kind. It didn’t seem dangerous, and I wasn’t tied up or anything, so I probably wasn’t about to be tortured.
I moved to stand, then promptly crumpled to the ground, landing with my face flat on the thankfully clean floors.
“Fuck,” I breathed into the linoleum. The floor was cold.
I tried to maneuver so that I was sitting, and a stabbing pain shot through my hands into my arms. I hissed through my teeth, then plopped back on my ass with a wince. I held my hands out in front of me, trying hard to hold them still enough to examine the burns.
They were bad.
The tips of a few of my fingers were blackened and feeling no pain at all. I wasn’t any type of health expert, but I knew that was a bad sign. No pain meant nerves were probably dead, and only an actual Healer could fix that.
Filing that bullshit away for later, I focused back on trying to stand. My legs shook as I forced myself to my feet, using the edge of the booth and the table to steady myself.
Eventually, I was able to make my way over to the checkout counter.
I ran the back of one of my blistered hands over the smooth, dark wooden finish while I eyed some mismatched coffee mugs set to dry next to a large sink.
I turned back to look at the rest of the space, noting how the tables were all shining clean, the floor freshly polished.
Blinds were pulled over the front door and wall of windows, the dim glow from outside street lamps barely bleeding through.
My eyes fell to the pastry case near the checkout counter, and my mouth watered.
I hadn’t eaten since…I actually wasn’t sure.
Between my mother trying to kill me, the academy being attacked and the revelation that my new Key was the modern-day equivalent of a Salem witch, I hadn’t had any time for snacking.
And I didn’t even know how long I’d been out.
Fuck my life. My mother actually tried to kill me.
Also, double-fuck my life. My new Key was the modern-day equivalent of a Salem witch.
I had no idea how to feel about that. Skye was perfect, nothing could change my mind there.
Even the memory of watching her kill the two men who were trying to drag away Carla didn’t deter me.
I should’ve been terrified, but watching Skye use her affinity without restriction was a stunning sight, one I wanted to see more of.
And unfortunately for me, even as safe as I felt in this island café, I knew there was more danger awaiting us.
Especially since my mother now thought I was dead.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, either. Betrayed? Definitely. Angry? Well…I was probably more sad than angry. Part of me felt a little stupid. Mother trying to kill me shouldn’t have been such a shock. It was right in line with who she was and how she’d treated me.
My lips twisted and I scratched at the back of my neck.
Why did a mother beating her child make sense to me, but a mother trying to kill her child seem completely insane?
The more I considered it, the sadder I got.
A mother shouldn’t have wanted to inflict any type of pain on their child.
Harm of any kind should have been wrong.
Huh. I figured that out all on my own, and I didn’t even need Wyatt rooting around in my head. He’d be so proud of me.
Too bad he was a piece of shit.
I scowled just at the thought of his smug fucking face. I understood why Rafe brought him to try and fix me during the overdose, but it still pissed me off. He didn’t even do anything to help. I’d been in and out of consciousness, so I’d heard him tell Rafe he couldn’t do anything.
I’d heard the panic in his voice, too, though.
More bullshit to file away for later.
“Hey man,” a deep voice from behind startled me. I jumped slightly, surprised someone had snuck up on me.
It was at that moment that my body really remembered we’d just gone through a battle, and that maybe I should be a little more aware of my surroundings. At least until I found Skye.
Skye.
Where was she? Was she safe? She must have brought us here, but…
I turned to face the possible threat, flexing my sore arms and widening my eyes as I took him in. Dark skin, perfectly coiled hair, tight sweatshirt and some basketball shorts…and the palest eyes I’d ever seen, besides those that belonged to Skye, of course.
This was Skye’s brother. I knew it instantly.
“Zephyr,” I said without hesitation, my shoulders dropping in relief. “Hey.”
Zephyr grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling just like Skye’s. “Hey. So, she’s shown you my picture, huh?”
“Nah,” I replied with a laugh. “You look just like her.”
Zephyr’s grin turned into a beaming smile.
“Aiden,” he said. “I’ve actually seen you before.”
I grinned, my heart fluttering. “She talks about me?”
Zephyr snorted, sounding just like Skye, and he shook his head. “Yeah, I thought you’d be like this.”
“Like what?” I asked eagerly.
Zephyr shook his head with a grin. “Like that,” he said, waving a hand around at me. “All eager and excited.”
My grin turned shy, and I ran a hand through my messy, greasy, possibly bloody hair and winced. I’d already forgotten that half the skin of my hands was…sort of dead. Zephyr’s sharp gaze missed nothing, and his focus zeroed in on my hand.
“You’re hurt?” he asked, reaching out for me almost instinctively and then pausing.
I groaned. “Yeah,” I murmured, looking down at my hands.
I mean…I did catch fucking lightning, didn’t I?
It’d burned, I remembered that. Like I’d put my hand down on a sizzling hot grill in the middle of summer.
The jolt of energy that came with it had been exhilarating, though, like my heart had been attached to a car battery jumper cable.
But the pain afterward almost meant it wasn’t worth it.
I rubbed at my chest, remembering my erratic heartbeat and the sensation that I couldn’t take in a full breath.
It reminded me of the sensation of actually not being able to take a full breath, when the drugs were about to kill me.
I let out a shaky exhale, and Zephyr’s voice dragged me back to the present.
“You were burned?” he asked, twiddling his fingers in a clear effort not to touch me.
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Long story,” I replied.
Zephyr gave me a tight smile. “I’ve actually…seen the whole story.” He blew out a breath. “Skye showed me everything, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I replied easily. “We’re family, Zephyr. Skye can share whatever she wants about me.”
Zephyr’s expression seemed a little surprised for just a moment before his brow furrowed and he chewed his lip. “May I?” he asked nervously, gesturing toward my hands.
I shrugged, holding them out for him to see.
He studied the burnt fingertips and the raw, oozing skin on my palms for so long that I actually started to feel a little self-conscious.
His face was awfully close to my hands. Wasn’t I super susceptible to germs now?
Could dead skin even catch germs? Wait a minute, didn’t dead skin smell–
My flare of anxiety ignited into full-blown anxiety as Zephyr laid his hands on top of mine. I barely had time to think what the fuck and try to pull back before a strange warmth began to spread over my fingers, radiating up into my wrists.
I stared, dumbfounded as the pain in my fingertips slowly began to dissipate. The aching in my wrists followed, and then the tightness in my chest eased.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “You’re a Healer?!”
No wonder Skye was so obsessed with those ancient books with the healing symbol all over them.
I’d tried to read them once or twice, just in case she ever tried talking to me about it.
I didn’t want to seem like an idiot. I’d thought my smart girlfriend was just being a smart girl reading about smart things, I’d never really considered the idea that she knew a Healer. It made complete sense, now, though.
Zephyr grinned. “Only recently can I really do anything useful.” His brow furrowed slightly and he glanced toward the back of the café, near an ‘employees only’ sign. “Skye is awake. She’ll want to see you.”
That had me perking up. Of course Skye was here. I slapped him on the shoulder with my brand new hand. “Thanks, brother.”
“You got it,” he replied. “She says she’s just in the living room. I’ll take you there.”
My heart rate spiked as we made our way to the back of the café. Skye was the only person I wanted to see right now. I needed to tell her so many important things.
Like how cute this café was. I liked Zephyr, but I could tell the dude wasn’t one for decorating. The vibes here were all my sweet Skye’s doing, I knew that instinctively.
Also, she needed to be told she was a fucking goddess among us and maybe I needed to beg her to put me on my knees again.
My hands vibrated.
She picked me.
Wyatt and Rafe had been there when Landon died. Skye was panicking, looking around like a trapped wild animal, ready to bolt. I asked her not to leave me, and she didn’t.
She looked right at Wyatt and Rafe, and she took me with her.
I didn’t know what the hell that meant for our disaster of a family Chain, and at the moment I didn’t really care, my ego was big enough to sink a cruise ship. I couldn’t wait to rub this in Wyatt’s smug face.