The Blood of Three

Chapter 38

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"Riley, wake up," Kyle whispered. I awoke from my dreamless sleep to find someone entering our room. I quickly sat up and leaned against the wall. My head was pounding and my throat was dry as sandpaper.

My mother's killer knelt down in front of us, making sure he had our full attention. "Have you decided to help us?"

"It's never going to happen," Kyle assured him with a determined glare. Terran's eyes hardened and blazed with rage. I watched his muscles tense and his fingers curl into his palm. "Forget it, Terran," Kyle said. "You're never going to get what you want."

He clenched his teeth. "I will."

I chuckled at his determination. "Well, neither of us is going to help you achieve that, so good luck without us."

Suddenly, Terran slapped me across the face. I slowly reached up and touched my stinging cheek. Gritting my teeth and biting my tongue, I fought to keep my anger at a low level. Kyle, however, couldn't keep control. His hands flared with fire and his eyes hardened with rage. He tackled Terran and pinned him to the ground, yelling and punching him until Drake came in and threw him off the man.

Terran scrambled to his feet with his face red from embarrassment. "I will become a god," he barked through gritted teeth. "I can promise you that." He stormed out the door.

Drake scowled at Kyle before leaving us alone in the dark room. We sat in silence for the next few hours. Neither of us felt the need to speak up—we knew what was on each other's mind. How in the world were we going to get ourselves out of this position?

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Days passed. Each day, we were given an amount of food and water that we would split between the two of us.

One night, we both had trouble falling asleep. The two of us complained of horrible headaches and couldn't get them to lighten up. After hours of tossing and turning, Kyle had finally fallen asleep. He was facing away from me and after a few minutes, his breathing became heavy.

After several minutes, I sat up to make sure he was okay. His eyes were clenched shut and his forehead was beaded with sweat. He was whispering something under his breath and with each word his voice raised.

"This is all my fault. I'm so sorry," his voice trembled.

"Kyle?"

"Please, stop saying that—I promise, I don't know why..." A tear slipped down his cheek as he continued, "Michael, I don't know...I'm so sorry."

"Kyle, wake up." I shook his shoulder and his head shifted. "Kyle," I repeated. His eyes slowly opened and immediately turned glassy. "You were dreaming," I told him. Shaking his head, he sat up and rested his forehead on his hands and his elbows on his knees. He didn't speak, only closed his eyes as his hands trembled. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded and once his breathing steadied, he laid back down. He didn't bother trying to go back to sleep, only stared into the black void around us. I took a risk. "Who's Michael?"

He looked at me and sighed. "He was my little stepbrother," he said in a quiet tone. "I used to live with him, my older stepbrother, Hunter, and my stepmom."

"Why don't you ever visit them?"

"Because they're dead."

My heart skipped a beat. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I did it a long time ago."

I stared at him, confused by what he meant. "You did what a long time ago?"

A shaky breath escaped his lips. "I killed them." My eyes widened with disbelief. "I swear I didn't mean to," he insisted, turning to look at me. "I didn't know about my powers. It was an accident."

Nodding, I let him know it was okay. "What happened?" I whispered.

"I was nine and didn't know anything about my dad," he started explaining. "I was told he walked out on us when we were younger. One day, my brothers and I were fighting. They were picking on me because I wasn't interested in the kind of stuff they were. I was angry at them and I didn't know what I was capable of." His eyes were full of the tears he refused to let fall.

"First, the flames emerged from my hands. I panicked—I didn't know why my hands weren't hurting and I most definitely didn't know why they were on fire. I tried putting it out, but with all my attempts, everything caught fire. Then, a line of fire shot around the room." His voice trembled as he spoke. "It wasn't long before the whole house was in flames. None of us could get out. I watched my family burn, and they watched me as I remained unharmed from the fire."

By the time he finished, my eyes were filled with tears. The only thing I wanted to do was comfort him, so I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him. "I'm so sorry." I hated seeing him in pain. The sadness in his eyes made my heart ache.

He continued speaking, his voice slightly muffled in my shoulder. "They stared at me in fear...like I was a monster. I had to watch them die. Oh gods, Riley, I watched my family die...and it was all my fault," he cried.

I comforted him for a while until he gathered himself together. Once his breathing, slowed, he pulled back from me and stared into my eyes. "I can kind of relate," I told him in empathy. "I was also nine when I watched my mom die."

I searched his sad, brown eyes and in his gaze I saw respect and affection. "I might have failed at getting my family out of that burning house, but I promise I am going to get you out of here, Riley."

I shook my head and looked down. "You can't promise that," I spoke softly.

He nodded. "I just did. We're going to make it out of here. Everything will work out and we'll make it back to Safe Haven. We'll train, and hang out with our dads...it'll be great," he told me.

"How do you know?"

He looked down at me. "Because there is a light at the end of every dark tunnel." I nodded, believing him completely. He put his hand out and let flames materialize from his palm. Warmth surrounded us.

We spent another hour tossing and turning, trying to go to sleep. After a while, my eyelids grew heavy and my mind finally calmed. I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, a shrill ringing filled the air.

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