Prologue
Skye
“Give it back!”
“Give it back!” My older brother said, mimicking me with a high-pitched, girly tone. He’d been doing that a lot, lately. He’d taken one of my dolls and was threatening to shave its hair. He’d been doingthata lot, lately, too.
I stomped my foot.
Zephyr laughed.
I could feel my hair begin to float.
Zephyr’s laugh cut off, his eyes widening. “Skye, you’re–”
“Give. It.Back.”
Zephyr’s eyes widened even further a second before he cried out in pain, then dropped the doll.
I gasped as he stumbled, and I ran to him, the doll forgotten on the floor.
“I’m sorry!” I cried, looking for an injury and finding that he clutched one of his hands.
Stupid. I was sostupid.
Mom and Ben hadjustsat me down and explained how careful I needed to be with my newestaffinity.
The conversation was somewhat pointless. My new affinity did what it wanted, it didn’t listen to me.
My parents didn’t listen to me either. Mom had just sighed deeply when I tried to explain.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I cried as tears began to stream down my cheeks. Zephyr held his hand, sniffling. It looked okay, but I’d already learned the hard way that I could hurt people on the inside, not just the outside.
“It’s okay,” Zephyr gasped, trying to hide that he was crying, too. “I think it’s just my fingers.”
I sobbed.
Zephyr handed me my doll, then wrapped his good arm around me. While holding me in a hug, he used his other hand to heal himself. He hissed through his teeth, and I sniffled.
A minute later, he flexed his fingers.
“See? All better.”
“Really?” I asked in a small voice.
Zephyr gave me his hand, letting me look it over. I bent his fingers back and forth for several seconds before I was satisfied.
“Sorry,” I said again, then turned to hug him.
“It’s okay,” Zephyr said, hugging me back. “It was an accident. And I was being stupid again.”
“What was an accident?”
Zephyr and I froze.
We turned at the same time before ducking our heads.
Levi was here.
