Chapter 23
Skye
Zephyr was pissed, and it was ruining everyone’s mood.
I wasn’t happy to be hanging out with Wyatt, either, especially not after learning he’d hurt Rafe during…
roughhousing? But Zephyr’s dislike toward him was really beginning to annoy me.
Wyatt was my problem, not his, and he needed to stop taking everything Wyatt did or said as a personal slight.
He’d tried several times to turn Wyatt’s unassuming comments into insults against me, and it was getting pretty old.
Wyatt was a pain in the ass, but…he was trying. I think.
We touched down on the ghost island, and a shiver of awareness shot through me.
“He’s here?” Zephyr asked in disbelief. “Why is he here?” He swallowed uneasily as he looked toward the mountain peak.
I shook my head. “Rafe said his wife and son died in the massacre, so…”
Zephyr shivered. “I love you, Skye, but I’d never live with a bunch of ghosts for you.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said dryly.
“I would, baby.” Aiden smacked a kiss on my cheek and I batted him away. He snickered while Rafe and Wyatt watched the three of us with confusion.
“Wait,” Rafe pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t tell me this is where the mass grave is.”
I nodded in confirmation, and Wyatt suddenly looked sick.
“You set him up at the site of a mass grave?!” Wyatt hissed.
“He set himself up here!” Rafe replied defensively. “She pointed this island out to me in the dark, how was I supposed to know it was the same?!”
“You’re a shit tour guide,” Wyatt snarked, and Rafe’s jaw dropped.
“You’re a dick.” Rafe sniffed. “Maybe I should show Skye my shoulder–”
Wyatt launched himself at Rafe, and Rafe laughed like a maniac as they tumbled into the dirt, even as he winced from pain.
“Holy shit, they’re both insane.” Zephyr muttered.
I stared in shock as Wyatt and Rafe rolled around in the dirt so hard, some rocks nearby began to vibrate. Shadows were trying not to get involved, and the dirt and grass around them rattled as they responded to Wyatt’s anger.
Finally, Wyatt managed to slap a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. Rafe whimpered, and I took a step forward to do…I don’t know what, and then Rafe sagged in what appeared to be relief.
“Dick,” he panted.
Wyatt stood and dusted himself off.
I wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened.
Zephyr laughed. “He healed him.”
I shook my head, not sure if I wanted to laugh or be disappointed in their antics, and then a prickle of awareness trickled down my spine.
Zephyr and Aiden felt it a moment after I did, and Zephyr moved in front of me.
My affinity didn’t react, so I turned, peeking under my brother’s arm to see the old man, Vince, standing at the tree line watching us.
“Drink your tea,” Zephyr hissed at Wyatt.
“No,” Wyatt replied at full volume.
I cringed. From beside me, Rafe loudly slurped at his tea, then clanked it down onto the saucer, and then again onto the coffee table.
Zephyr and Rafe were the only ones brave enough to drink the tea Vince had offered. Aiden and I hadn’t touched ours. Wyatt hadn’t even been offered any.
Aiden, Rafe, and I were all squished together on an old loveseat couch while Zephyr and Wyatt loomed behind, bickering like an old married couple.
“Well, here we are again.” Rafe said, gesturing toward me. “Here she is. What would you like to say to her?”
Vince wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was over my shoulder, staring hard at Zephyr, like he was trying to work out the pieces to some puzzle.
“This is your brother,” Vince said, looking from Zephyr to Wyatt.
Zephyr made a sound of disgust while Wyatt scoffed, “Wrong.”
Rafe sighed. “You’re not helping your case, old man.”
“He’s my brother,” I corrected, drawing Vince’s attention back to me.
The old man studied me for a moment, then looked back at the other two. A look of understanding passed over his ancient features, and then he nodded.
“You have questions for me?” I prompted. Vince looked back to Zephyr, and I knew my brother well enough to know he was starting to get pissed about it.
“Can you guarantee no one will hurt me?” Vince asked.
I raised my eyebrows. Wyatt let out an almost inaudible groan while Rafe and Zephyr narrowed their eyes at the old man. Aiden, right next to me on the couch, swirled a tiny spoon through his untouched tea.
“Why would anyone hurt you?” I asked.
“You’re not going to like what I have to say,” he answered slowly, looking at Zephyr again.
I glanced at Zephyr, who only shrugged and gave me a look that said he thought this old man was crazy. And maybe he was. He had lied for me at the risk of his own life and sanity, after all.
“Fine,” I said, sitting back on the couch to show I wasn’t on edge, even though I very much was. Aiden put his tea down and sat up straighter as he eyed Vince.
The old man looked between us, then looked directly at me before he spoke.
“Do you remember everyone you’ve killed?”
“Dude…” Zephyr groaned, and I could somehow feel the irritation coming off Wyatt.
For my brother. Not the old man.
Rafe sighed, then glared at Vince, who didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
I breathed out slowly while Aiden studied me. He was the only man who didn’t react negatively. He tilted his head the way he’d been doing, and I opened up our minds.
You don’t have to answer anything, baby. We can just threaten him into signing your ticket and go.
I couldn’t help but grin. It was that easy understanding, the unquestioning loyalty that made me feel comfortable as I turned back to Vince.
“Yes.” I said, halting the commotion behind the couch.
“Skyes,” Zephyr hissed.
“I do,” I said, ignoring him. “Why?”
“I think you killed my son.”
I felt as if the floor fell out from under me.
Around me, Wyatt and Zephyr began shouting at Vince while Rafe watched.
My stomach dropped as if I was actually falling.
Aiden turned on the couch, taking my clammy hands, warming them with his affinity.
He didn’t speak, but he exaggerated his breathing, puffing out his chest and then relaxing.
After a few seconds of realizing I couldn’t fucking breathe, I shakily copied him.
He nodded encouragingly, giving me a soft smile and tucking some hair behind my ear.
“Skye, just squish him, I’ve had enough of this shit.” Zephyr snapped at the same moment Rafe’s teacup began to rattle on the coffee table.
My affinity perked up as the clanking coffee table grew louder, and then the entire ground seemed to rumble around us.
My heart rate spiked again. Earthquakes in this region were incredibly rare, but they could happen at any time. Every atoll was a dormant volcano. One could reignite at any moment, and that was–
“Wyatt, knock it off.” Rafe hissed. “You’ll set off a fucking volcano.”
The rumbling dwindled, but didn’t completely stop.
“I can’t–” Wyatt cut off abruptly, and his hazel eyes darted around the room, finally resting on me.
“You can’t what, Wyatt?” Zephyr asked darkly. “Control it?”
Wyatt worked his jaw, and Vince chuckled, drawing everyone’s attention. He looked away from them, fixing his gaze on me again.
“I’m sorry I upset you.”
Aiden squeezed my hand.
I cleared my throat. “Who was your son?”
“His son died in the massacre,” Rafe said slowly.
Vince nodded while he sighed. “I hadn’t spoken to him in months. He’d joined the Pilgrims right after turning eighteen. I couldn’t get through to my son.”
His son was in the cult?! Zephyr practically screeched into my mind. I winced and Aiden squeezed my hand before shooting my brother a glare.
“Why were you at the massacre?” Wyatt asked sharply. “You’re not from the islands.”
Vince swallowed thickly, still only looking at me as he spoke. “I started working with the Pilgrims in an attempt to get through to him.”
“Fucking hell,” Aiden muttered beside me as Wyatt and Zephyr raised their voices again.
I cringed, then snapped, “Shut the fuck up!”
The room fell dead silent, and I rolled my neck.
“And?” I snapped at Vince, unable to hide my annoyance any longer. My brother and Wyatt were pissing me the hell off.
“They were looking for someone,” Vince said, and my stomach dropped again.
“I told them before, but my affinity has evolved over time. I can sense affinities over long distances. My son knew this, and when I tried getting back into contact with him, he encouraged me to join up so I could be of use to the cause.”
“There’s that mysterious cause again,” Rafe said to Wyatt.
“They had you looking for her?” Wyatt asked, gesturing toward me.
“No,” Vince said, shaking his head. “The higher ups were looking for someone specific, a full elemental affinate. Male. But I couldn’t focus. The day of the massacre, I felt several strong affinates in the same area. I got scared, because I felt you.”
I took a deep breath to keep my hands from shaking, but then Vince looked above me to Zephyr.
“I thought it was you,” he said, then shook his head. “I still can’t tell which one of you I felt, you’re both so strong. I can only recognize certain affinities from each of you.”
The tension in the room was stifling. I felt like I needed some fresh air, but I didn’t know if I could stand. I wanted to teleport, but I didn’t want to leave Aiden, and something told me if I teleported away with just him, Zephyr would be fuming mad that I left him with Rafe and Wyatt.
“So they were looking for a man, not Skye?” Aiden asked after an awkward silence.
Vince nodded. “A very powerful male. Someone with multiple elemental affinities, and something else I’d never sensed before. A new affinity.”
A new affinity?
The science part of my brain was excited, and I opened my mouth to ask more questions before realizing Vince had just said he’d never sensed this affinity before.
I chewed my lip.
Vince continued. “I was supposed to see my son that day. I thought he’d be at the parade, but…”
But the bombs had gone off in the middle of the parade, and then the Pilgrims were there.