“–gets his head out of his ass, he can access some of the more secret books on affinities.”
“Skye, there isn’t going to be a fucking book on teleporting.” Zephyr said, exasperated.
“You never know!” I snapped back. “There could be something in there. It could help–”
“Even if therewasa book on teleporting,” Zephyr barreled over me, now, still speaking as if I hadn’t responded. “This book won’t magically say,‘here’s how to teleport to places you can’t see!’”
“You’re a dick,” I muttered.
“What does that mean?” Aiden asked. He stood straighter now, fully focused on the conversation. “You can’t teleport to places you can’t see?”
I shot a glare at my brother, and he had the sense to look sheepish. I turned back to Aiden. “I have to imagine where I’m going, but I can’t teleport there if I don’t know where I am first. I have to be able to completely map my location as well as the location of where I’m going.”
“If you practiced more, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Zephyr muttered.
“Good one,dad.” I sneered.
“So if you woke up in a closet somewhere, you couldn’t just teleport out?” Aiden asked, completely ignoring the juvenile exchange between me and Zephyr.
“Not unless I knew what closet I was in,” I replied. “I mean, it’spossible, I’m sure…I’ve just never been able to do it. The affinity like…short-circuits and I don’t end up going anywhere.”
“Well that’s fucking annoying,” Aiden said as he began to rummage through the laundry basket of clothes Zephyr had given him.
“One time, when we were kids, she teleported into a locked cleaning closet at the mall.” Zephyr said.
I groaned.
“What happened?” Aiden asked as he piled some clothes together.
“I was mad at my mom in the dressing room, so I decided to leave. But I didn’t know where to go, and I appeared in the closet. It didn’t take long to find me, since I was screaming.” I sighed.
Aiden shook his head. “That’s crazy. Powerful affinities like those on a kid is just unfair. No wonder Telekinetics only live to be twelve or thirteen.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You really did read that book, didn’t you?”
Aiden grinned, and then Zephyr spoke, drawing our attention.
“Skye,” Zephyr said, his voice softer. “Stay here.”
“Zeph,” I started, but he shook his head.
“I don’t want something to happen to you. I can’t lose you.”
I froze.
Aiden quickly slipped into the bathroom with his clothes, quietly clicking the door shut to give us privacy.
“Zephyr,” I breathed.
“No, listen to me. When you showed up here, covered in fucking blood…” he ran a hand over his face. He kept his gaze downturned, hiding that he was close to tears. “When you left for the academy, I came back inside and the silence was…fuckingsuffocating. And then hearing all this stupid shit you were going through, and then you showed up covered in blood…”
The bed creaked as I stood, and I threw myself into my brother’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me almost too tightly.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, my voice breaking. “I missed you, too. It was so hard.”
“I know,” he murmured, probably so his voice wouldn’t crack. “Iknow Levi is getting a little better but…shit, Skye. You’re my best fucking friend. I don’t want to be away from you.”
I nodded against him, feeling very much the same.
