The Secrets Last Stand
:.Kody's Pov.:
I sat outside until it was too dark to see. I went inside to find dad and Hayden...watching TV? Dad hasn't had a television in over two years. As far as I know, he never owned one.
"Um, when did we get a TV?" I asked. Dad smiled and Hayden looked annoyed.
"Remember when I went to the store? Yeah, it was on sale and I was tired of Hayden's belly-aching. Which hasn't stopped by the way." Dad answered
"He's watching a show about bitchy brides. I didn't even know this kind of show existed." Hayden said. I could tell by her face that she was not liking the show.
"Hayden, you didn't even know the channel existed." We all laughed at the face she made and I realized how easy it really was and how good it felt. Dad smiled at me and Hayden looked elated.
"So. How was your evening?" She asked, I looked down at my notepad and smiled.
"Great, I nearly filled it. It's just too dark to see anything out there." I looked around and noticed Ian wasn't anywhere to be found. "Where's Ian? I didn't get a chance to thank him." I said. I noticed the house was quiet, which never happens. All you could hear was the bride yelling at some poor bastard over perfectly nice flowers saying he 'ruined her wedding.
"Well after he finished gawking at you from the door, he told me to tell you that he will back tomorrow to help us, but he had to leave. He's still cleaning out his dad's house." Hayden explained. I pulled my hair down and ran my fingers through it to get the knots out.
"He was watching me? For how long?" I asked, as I felt my stomach flutter. I found myself hoping that things were different, things we're going to get back to normal but that 'maybe' kept playing in my mind.
"Kody, don't. Okay? You're the one who wanted to move on, remember? That's what you said." I just nodded and went to bed.
Three weeks later, things were better but today, I woke up feeling like shit. My head was pounding, the room was spinning, I couldn't breath and my heart was racing.
"You're resisting." I jumped to see Malak standing at the foot of my bed. "You weren't given this power to help the king. You were given it to stop him." He looked angry and my heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to rip right out of my chest.
"Stop resisting and the pain will cease." With that, he was gone, but the pain wasn't.
"Dad!" I yelled out as best I could. "Hayden?" I pulled my phone up and it was still early. They might not even be up yet. I tried to use my phone to call one of them but my hands were shaking too hard so I gave up on that idea.
"Dad!" I cried out again. I tried to get up but I just fell to the floor, holding my chest. "Somebody please help!" I started crawling over to the door and I pulled it open before fully collapsing on the floor. I looked beside me and saw my bag next to the doorframe where I placed it when I came back home. My familiars were hanging out of the pocket so I yanked them out and threw them on the floor. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with a hippo and a falcon, who also didn't look so good.
"Get help." I said to them and they listened. Jenner went to dad's room and Delia went to Hayden and Vincent's. They were making so much noise that I had to cover my ears.
"Delia? what the..."
"Hayden, help!"
"Kody?" She ran over and helped me up. Dad came running over and started asking questions as they both got me to the bed.
"Kody, what happened?" I started pounding on my chest. "You can't breathe?" That was only part of it. I pointed to the left side of my chest.
"Dad." Hayden seemed to realize what I was trying to say. "Her heart." I gave her a thumbs up and closed my eyes. I felt like I was dying and I didn't know how to stop it.
"What do we do? Do we go to the hospital?" Dad asked. That's when I remembered the last time something like this happened. I was in the hospital for over a week. But just as sudden as it started, the pounding stopped. My heart was beating normally and I was able to catch my breath. They seemed to notice and brought their attention back to me.
"Kody?" Dad said, clearly uncertain if I'm really okay.
"I'm okay. I'm good, I think." I said, still breathing hard. They both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.
"What was that?" Dad asked as Vincent came in, handing me a glass of water. I drank some before answering.
"I woke up and I felt like...like I was dying. My head hurt, the room was spinning, I couldn't breathe. My heart was racing but I couldn't slow it down and then I saw Malak. He told me to stop resisting. If I stop resisting, the pain will stop."
"Kody, you've overcome your anger. You learned how to control it. You worked hard on it for three weeks. You're not resisting anything." Dad said. I looked up at him and winched in pain.
"Not so much overcame as I did suppressed." I answered. Dad crossed his arms and looked at Hayden.
"Suppressed it? What do you mean suppressed it?" He asked. I could feel it again, the anger in the pit of my stomach. So I pushed it down, way down deep inside me where it won't come out. That's what I taught myself to do.
"I mean that I couldn't find a way to overcome it or make it go away so I figured out how to suppress it. I found a way to get rid of it before it gets out of hand. But it's not gone." Dad looked frustrated.
"Okay, why is this the first I'm hearing about it? I don't understand, Kody. I thought...I thought you were making progress." This time the anger wasn't going to stay down, it wasn't working.
"I am making progress, dad. I'm able to live my life now. I've learned how to cope in a stressful situation. I've learned what to do so no one gets hurt." I could feel it. It was festering and clawing it's way to the surface and I couldn't stop it. Dad wasn't understanding I was making progress. Just his idea of progress is the problem going away completely.
"Kody, progress would be you starting to overcome the anger, to beat it. Not letting it sit inside you and grow. People will get hurt that way." I walked away. I walked into the kitchen, I didn't want to get into it with him. Not again.
"Kody, stop! Now!" He yelled and without realizing what I was doing, I used my air power on him. He flew back, right into his bedroom door.
"Kody!" Hayden yelled. I didn't even pay attention to her, or Vincent. I was in shock. I couldn't do anything but look at my shaking hands through blurry eyes. I looked up at them as the tears fell down my cheeks before I ran out the door and just kept running.
:.Hayden's Pov.:
"Dad, are you alright?" I asked as I helped him up from the pile of wood that was once his bedroom door. He just shrugged me off and straightened out his clothes, dusting himself off.
"Alright? Are you kidding me? She keeps breaking my damn house." He was angry.
"Dad..." But he wasn't listening. He just stumbled over the broken wood to his room. I can't believe this is happening.
:.Kody's Pov.:
I needed to stop running away. It only made things worse, especially with dad.
"Finally, you're getting it." I already knew it was Malak before I turned around. "You understand what you need to do. Those powers are for you to use against your family." He finished.
"I don't want to hurt them, Malak. I won't." I quickly replied. He really needed to leave me alone. I turned away and started running, I didn't get very far because he showed up, right in front of me.
"You're only going to feel worse if you don't follow me. You thought this morning was bad, it only gets worse. Trust me. I used to be in your shoes. I didn't want to follow the Council but I'm glad I did. It's worth it." I looked over my shoulder to run but then back at him.
At that very moment, everything changed in my head. The way I felt about Dad, and Hayden, Vincent and even Ian changed. How I felt towards going home to my parents, none of that mattered anymore.
"Alright, I'll do it."
:.Hayden's Pov.:
"Dad you need to stop getting mad at Kody every time she does this. You know she can't control it. I'm going to call her cell and get her back here." I yelled as dad picked up the pieces of his door. He didn't answer at first, but as I was walking away, he answered.
"She keeps breaking everything, Hayden. Every time she has a tantrum, something gets broke and then she runs away. First my table, now my door. Can something please happen in my house where something survives?" He yelled and I had to laugh.
"That's why you're mad? Because your house is damaged?" I couldn't help but laugh.
"This isn't funny, Hayden. This isn't cheap to fix." I just put my hands up and walked away. I walked into the kitchen and it wasn't until I was standing in the doorway that I saw Vincent sitting on the couch, he was hunched over with his head in his hands.
"Vincent? Is everything okay?" I asked, moving closer. He still hadn't moved so I knew he was having a vision, and this one seemed to be unpleasant. I called for dad but he didn't come.
Finally, after what felt like hours but was merely minutes, Vincent came to and he started gasping for air, lashing out. I quickly stepped in to stop him but he was stronger than me and too out of it.
"Dad! Dad. I need your help, please!" I shouted. I fought with Vincent until he calmed down. Finally he settled, remembering where he was. Dad ran in then, and saw me with Vin. I was still trying to get him to relax when he looked up at me, tears in his eyes, breathless. This one was bad for him to look so...erratic.
"Vincent, what is it? What did you see?" I asked, whispering. He seemed frantic like the world's going to implode or all hell's going break loose.
"It's Kody." He said looking up at dad. "She joined the Council."