Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
The other guy ran a ragged hand through his own brown mop of curls. “Yeah, sorry. We didn’t know you were in the car. We weren’t thinking.”
“So, if it was someone else’s car and someone else had been in it, you’d still have thrown the boy? Do you do that a lot? Throw people at cars?”
The first guy flushed. “No, I mean…look, this isn’t…I mean…”
“Shay.” Kellan stood on the other side of my car. He’d materialized like he always did. As he gazed questionably at the two guys, he came around to join us. When he stood above the boy on the street, Kellan looked once at me, confused, but the look disappeared. He was amused, and he only leaned against the car, just behind me. As I looked from my brother to the other two, images of a panther keeping company with hyenas came to mind.
It wasn’t too far off from reality.
“Um, I mean…hi, Kellan.”
“Pete.” Kellan tucked his head, content to let me handle the situation. Whatever situation it was, I wasn’t quite sure.
“Look, you can’t throw people at cars.” I decided what the situation was. The boy was an obvious victim. The two idiots were bullies, and I was the one who needed to stop it.
A part of me cringed, knowing that Kellan wouldn’t have cared either way.
It didn’t matter. I’d just decided my role, and I clarified it again as I repeated, “You’re bullying him. How old are you?”
Pete looked like his mouth had become glued shut as his eyes skirted from me to Kellan and back again. The other guy had yet to make a noise since my brother’s appearance.
“His name is Scott,” Kellan informed me. He didn’t move from his leaning stance.
I kept my back to him. “Why would you even throw—what’s your name?” I turned and glared my question. The boy seemed to tremble, but I wasn’t sure if it was because Kellan’s feet rested just around his, entrapping him, or if my attention was too much too handle.
“What’s your name?” I repeated slowly.
Pete jerked forward. “Look, uh, this is just…ah hell.”
I was starting to get irritated. “What’s his name? Does he have a name?”
Scott came alive. “His name is Luke. We were just…we didn’t mean anything bad by it. The kid was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Like my car?” My irritation was growing, and in the back of my head I knew that Kellan was enjoying it. That sparked my irritation into anger.
I drilled holes in Scott and Pete, but something paralyzed them. They couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. They just stared, in horror. Luke had been sniffling during the entire exchange, but even that quieted. Everything just stilled, and my anger was nearing its exploding point.
It was like a battle had been waging inside of me. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. And then I decided to do the right thing, to save the boy, but nothing was happening. They wouldn’t talk. I didn’t know what to do because I knew Luke would be bullied again the next day, maybe even the same afternoon.
Kellan was loving it.
I took two threatening steps toward Pete and Scott. “You will leave Luke alone. You will be kind and courteous to him from now on. You will befriend him. You will do this, and you will be loyal to him, to each other, until you die.”
I felt a spark ignite from my hand and explode in the air. Just as quickly as everything had quieted, everything slammed back into reality.
Pete and Scott’s terror morphed into friendly smiles. Each helped Luke up and threw an arm around his shoulders. As they walked toward the school, Kellan noted, “That was…a nice thing to do.”
“We’re nice people.” I grabbed my bag and headed toward the school.
Kellan kept pace beside me, his hands stuffed in his jeans. “We’re not nice people, Shay.”
“Shut up.”
“We’re not people, Shay. And what you did just there, a normal person couldn’t have done that.”
“Shut up.” I didn’t want to hear about what I’d just done. I didn’t know what had come over me.
“You just bonded those three guys for life. You did it with magic, Shay. You don’t ever use that stuff.”
“Shut up, okay?” I shrugged him off, but Kellan caught my elbow. We turned a quick corner, another, and he shoved me against the wall.
“What is your deal?” I pushed back at him. “I thought this is what you wanted. You want me to use my powers, like you do, right? Like Gus and Vespar? Isn’t this what you wanted last night?”
Annoyance flashed over his features before he gripped my arm tighter and leaned close. “You’re on edge, Shay. Your powers don’t come naturally to you like they do to us because you don’t use them. We use ours all the time. I’m not going to accidentally kill someone if I get a little angry.”