I squeezed his arm in support, but quickly snatched it back when ice began to crust his sweatshirt. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “My Infernus is keeping me warm.”
Oliver snorted, his teeth chattering. “My second foster home had a son named Forest. A big ole carrot-top, like that Power. One day, Forest—who already hated that I was eating their food, taking up his parents’ attention, and whatever else—found my journal. I begged him to give it back. I told him I’d do anything. And he said he would, in exchange for two things.”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“The first, to pack up, leave, and never return. That one was easy.” He bowed his head, then continued, almost as if the next part hurt more than he wanted to admit. “The second, to lick the bottom of his boots. Said I was a ‘gay piece of shit’ and should know my place.”
I stopped in my tracks, understanding what his bowed head meant. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“That journal was everything to me, Lucy.Everything. I was so lost. And I was willing to do anything, even that… So I did. I licked his boots—which were smeared with dog shit—just to get it back.” He shook his head, his face a mask of disgust. “And while I puked on his bedroom floor, while he laughed at me, Forest pulled out a lighter and burned my journal to ash.”
I clenched my hands into fists, enraged. “Tell me something horrible happened to him.”
Oliver’s voice softened. “Something horrible did happen to him.” He paused, his eyes distant. “I was so angry, I tapped into my powers and touched him. We both relived his greatest fear.”
His face twisted—drawn and haunted.
“You know what his greatest fear was, Lucy?”
“What?”
“Getting raped by his father.”
“What?” I whispered. “Why would he do that to you then? If his father…” Ugh, I couldn’t even say the word. It was difficult enough to think about when I was almost raped not long ago.
“Evil breeds evil.”
I wrapped my sopping arm around his waist, keeping my flaming hand away from him. “I’m so sorry, Oli.”
He sighed and leaned his shivering body into mine. “It was a long time ago. But I’ve got a thing against bullies now. Especially bullies with carrot-tops.”
The sound of crunching gravel and pounding feet had us pulling away from each other. The rest of the Tormentors rounded the turn ahead. I immediately dropped my Infernus, and the cold rushed back in. The chilling wind brushed against my half-frozen clothes. Numbness worked its way back through my toes, and goosebumps spread down my spine from my dripping hair. I shook just as much as Oliver did.
They cursed, spat, and kicked slush at us as they passed. No one blasted us with water this time, but their message was clear. We weren’t welcome here.
The only two who passed us amicably were Ichi and Ni.
Then cameMoira.
She eyed us up and down, a slow smile spreading across her face. “Maybe I’ll enjoy training you more than I thought.” She pointed behind her. “You have two more miles until you turn around. I usually wait for my squad at the halfway point, but since you two are sospecial,I thoughtyou could figure it out alone.” She smirked. “Oh, and you’ve got thirty minutes to get back. If you’re late, you’ll be our honorary targets. Hope you don’t freeze to death before then.”
With a flick of her wrist, she pulled up her fur-lined hood, effectively dismissing us. But I still caught the cunning, vile twinkle in her eye as she jogged away.
“I’ll owe you big time if you make her live her worst fear,” I stuttered, coating my body in my Infernus flames once it was safe again. My eyes felt heavy with the warmth, but I couldn’t stand the cold for one more second without my powers.
“If we could get away with it, I would,” he replied, hunching into himself. His lips were blue, and his cheeks had taken on a bruised shade of red.
“How are your toes and fingers, Oli?”
He gave me a weak wince. “What toes and fingers?”
I stared down the winding road, my frustration mounting. We hadn’t even made it halfway yet. But if we didn’t turn back soon, he’d become hypothermic. My mind screamed to keep going, to prove I could do this, but my body ached with every movement.
“Oli, we need to lusceler back. Running will take too long, and we need to get out of the cold.”
“What about what Moira said? Or Ichi andNi, for that matter?”
“We are both frozen through, and only one of us has the power to stave off hypothermia. That is, until I pass out from exhaustion. Then we’ll both be left here to die.”
