Chapter 19 #2
She didn’t like loud noises. She didn’t like thunder.
I knew that. Willow had told me that, Zephyr had confirmed it.
As much as I wanted to run out to the café to get to Skye, I decided heading into the apartment was better.
Zephyr could use my help, and Aiden would be better suited to calm Skye down if she was upset.
But as I made my way into the apartment, my unease only grew.
It really was empty.
“Zephyr?” I called out during a lull in thunder.
No reply.
A strange sensation stirred in my gut. Something…wasn’t right.
I made my way down the hall, peeking in the bedrooms, the makeshift gym, the spare bathroom. I finally came to a stop at the utility room.
The shadows prodded along the concrete floors, but as I turned to leave, I heard a creak. I turned back to see that the large, heavy door leading to the basement was cracked open. One of the shadows poked at it, making it creak again.
Neither sibling had allowed me to go into the basement with them. Part of me knew I shouldn’t go down there alone, but I was searching for Zephyr, and the storm was only getting worse. Maybe it wasn’t a tsunami headed for us, but clearly there was a massive storm sucking up the ocean water.
The shadows were intrigued, slipping past the door unbidden while I contemplated what to do.
At best, no one would be down there, and I could come back up and pretend it’d never happened. At worst…
The shadows pulled the door open wider, revealing a set of clean stairs.
Clean because they were used often.
My chest squeezed just slightly as I made my decision. I carefully stepped down the silent stairs, and as I mapped out the home in my mind, I figured this room had to be right beneath the living room and kitchen. Almost where the thump from earlier–
A cold sweat drifted down my spine, and as my feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I froze.
There, in one corner of the room, was a bed.
With an occupant.
A black man, with his hair braided back in neat cornrows.
Although his eyes were dark, he was a spitting image of Zephyr.
“Holy fuck,” I murmured.
This was it. This was the secret.
Levi Aria was alive.
I almost couldn’t believe it, except I was looking right at him. He appeared just as shocked to see me. He was braced as if he’d been about to stand, but then frozen at the sight of me.
The strange thump during dinner suddenly made sense. Aiden had looked away quickly because he knew. He knew about Levi, and he’d committed to keeping it a secret.
But…why?
I opened my mouth to speak, but then Levi’s gaze jumped to my shoulder, and I whirled around to face the threat, surprised the shadows hadn’t reacted.
Oh. It was Zephyr.
And he was pissed.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he growled, then shouldered past me.
“Another storm?” Levi asked, his voice deep. He sounded just like his son. I’d have confused the two if I hadn’t watched Levi as he spoke.
“Yeah,” Zephyr replied. “It’s bad.”
“Is Aiden back?” Levi asked. He hadn’t moved to help Zephyr, remaining in the bed.
The hospital bed.
For the first time since entering the basement, my eyes really took in the scene. Levi was in a hospital bed, surrounded by medical equipment, hooked up to a bunch of wires.
This was…
I didn’t quite understand what was going on yet, but my brain caught on Aiden’s name.
“You know Aiden?” I asked, dumbfounded. I figured Aiden knew of Levi, not that they’d met–
“Not now, you Royal fuck!” Zephyr snapped, shoving sandbags at me. “This is exactly how Skye got caught, there was a storm just like this. Help us before she reacts!”
“That girl is always causing trouble,” Levi sighed.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I tilted my head to the side.
Did Skye’s father just…insult her?
Zephyr hadn’t reacted, so for a minute I thought I’d imagined it. Zephyr pushed sandbags at me, his expression tight.
No, I hadn’t imagined it.
Before I could even think of what to say, Skye’s voice rang out from up the stairs.
“Fuck, Rafe. What are you doing here?!” She came into view a moment later.
She was disheveled, a little damp from the rain. She wore a cropped hoodie with low slung sweatpants, and for a moment, I was very distracted. But then I saw her face and her eyes were wide…in…fear? She was afraid for me to know about Levi?
What the hell was going on?
“Focus on the problem, baby girl.” Levi said sharply.
Skye winced.
Just barely.
But I saw it.
She winced. At her father?
My head tilted further, and the shadows looming at my feet began to slide across the floor, seeking out the threat to our Key. Just as I was weighing the options of what to do with this new revelation, someone grabbed my arm, tight.
Again the shadows hadn’t reacted, and I whirled around as best I could to find Aiden, his expression hard. He tilted his head to the side, and I opened up our minds so he could speak to me, instinctively knowing that’s what he wanted.
Save it, he practically snarled, pulling my arm. I’m already working on it.
You’re aware of this? I hissed. What the fuck is going on here?
I allowed him to pull me up the stairs as he snapped, “Now’s not the time.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong, there. Now really wasn’t the time.
Our boots thundered up the stairs, and we pushed through the doorway into the café.
Sandbags were already in place to stop water from flowing down into the apartment, but water was starting to trickle in through the cracks in the front door, bringing water into the café.
The pier was visible through the front windows, and so were the towering waves crashing over the barriers.
“This is…” I trailed off.
“This is not normal.” Aiden breathed.
I looked out across the water, spotting the waterspout that held Aiden’s attention.
Visible only in flashes of lightning, it was massive, looming ominously out in the lagoon, spinning so fast it appeared as if it stood still.
It was slowly making its way toward us, though, and that would be a very real fucking tornado if it made landfall.
Wyatt? I called out desperately, but I wasn’t sure where he was.
My telepathy had never been strong enough to stretch long distances like Skye’s.
I hadn’t seen Wyatt today. He hadn’t texted me where he was or what he was up to, and I was desperately worried he’d been at Carissa’s, so I hadn’t tried speaking to him in an effort to delay the inevitable.
“Wait…” Skye skidded to a stop, looking between us and then spinning almost in a circle. Her silver eyes locked on mine. “Where’s Wyatt?”
“I don’t know,” I rasped.
Skye’s eyes widened. “We need to find Wyatt.”
“I can look in his normal spots, but–”
Skye practically growled, having realized that meant he was probably with a woman. But we didn’t have time for that. I could punch him in the nuts and avenge her later, right now we needed to act.
Just as I summoned the shadows so I could travel toward Carissa’s, a dark form appeared through the sheets of rain. How someone could be out in this…
Holy shit, it was Wyatt.
My friend appeared at the door, soaked from the downpour, shivering so hard I could tell his teeth were chattering. Another wave crashed over the pier, slamming right into Wyatt and throwing him against the glass like he was a piece of trash.
“Holy shit,” Aiden said in disbelief.
Skye gasped, moving forward and then stopping. Her silver eyes darted toward mine, and for the second time during this storm from hell, I instinctively knew what she wanted.
I threw shadows at the street lights, making them flicker on and off for just a few seconds, but that’s all Skye needed. In a blink, she’d teleported outside, grabbed hold of Wyatt, and come back inside.
Another wave crashed against the windows just as Skye reappeared inside. Wyatt, off balance, stumbled before he fell to his knees and coughed up some water. Skye’s hand twitched again, like she was going to pull water out of his lungs for him, but she stopped at the last second.
Wyatt gasped before looking up at me.
“It’s her,” he gasped. His eyes were wild, his skin flushed from being soaked.
“What?” I took a step toward him.
“It’s her. It’s Wilson,” he grabbed the back of a chair, pulling himself to stand just as Zephyr came into the café.
“Oh, great,” he snarked. “Go for a swim, Wy?”
“Not now,” Skye hissed. Zephyr shook his head, but his humor ebbed away as he took in the scene.
“Wilson?” Aiden asked, his face a little pale. “Regina Wilson?”
Both Skye and Zephyr, at the same moment, went preternaturally still.
I cringed.
“Wyatt,” I started.
“No,” he snapped. “No, Rafe, I…I swear to God, it was her. She was…she was with him. I saw them before Carissa showed up.”
“You mean while you waited for Carissa to show up,” Aiden muttered.
“Who was she with?” Skye asked quietly. Zephyr took a step to the side, closer to his sister. She was too still, her chest barely moving with her breaths.
“The Crusader,” Wyatt said.
Zephyr cursed viciously. Skye flicked her fingers, and all the blinds on the front windows slammed down, darkening the café even further and blocking any view from outside.
“Wyatt,” I said slowly. “Why would the Crusader be here? Where everyone would recognize him?”
“He was here, though,” Aiden said. We all looked at him. He swallowed nervously. “There was supposed to be a gathering. Zephyr had a pamphlet.”
“Show him to us,” Zephyr demanded with a nod. “I want to see this fucker who thinks he can come here after what he did to us.”
I flashed the two of them an image of him from the night I met him. His too-nice suit, his soldier’s stance, the arrogant look in his eye.
Skye made a crazy sound, something between a gasp and a shriek.
Every man in the room reacted. Wyatt was halfway to his feet, even as he slipped on seawater, and through the dark of the room, I was able to shadow-walk to her in a second flat.
Zephyr grabbed her arm just as she began to tumble to the ground, and Aiden was on her a moment later, wrapping his arms around her middle to keep her upright.
“You know him?” Zephyr asked, breathless.
“I saw him,” Skye said, her voice shaky. “I…I spoke to him. He…”
She faltered again, her knees giving out. Aiden was holding her, though, so she only slumped slightly.
“You spoke to him–”
“What?” Zephyr demanded. “He what?”
She looked at her brother, her eyes shining with tears. Her lip even fucking wobbled.
“He thought I was mom.”