Page 29 of Haunted Hearts

“Cade told me I should probably avoid using my abilities right now. I agree with him, to an extent.”

“Is it because of the nosebleed?”

I sigh and look down. “I suppose that’s part of it.” I sigh again. “I feel fine, great, actually. It’s not like I feel out of control. If I did, that would be a different story. When I’m happy, I feel safe with my magic. And—”

She runs her thumbs over my hand in gentle circles.

“You know it’s gonna be okay, right?” Gen says, lowering her head to try and meet my eyes.

I look up, smiling, fighting back the tears welling up in my eyes.

“I’ve never been happier than I have been the past few weeks. But I’m so scared to lose it, and I’m scared of what I could do, if I lose it.”

The tears begin streaming down my face and she pulls me into a tight hug. She says nothing, she just lets me let it all out. I guess we’re back to square one. I’m back to feeling useless. I want so badly to be able to control this magic, to be stronger than the people that have spent my whole life wanting to kill me. I believed that I could be more and for a moment…

Just a moment…

I believed that I could have it all, that I could fall in love and have a normal life, maybe have my own home someday.

But I was never meant to be normal.

That has been made clear since the day I found out that I was meant to be the sacrifice. The day they branded me with this infernal symbol was the same day that they took away any normalcy that I ever could’ve had.

“Do you realize what you just said?” Gen speaks up, grabbing my shoulders and making me look at her. “The fact that you have something to lose now makes me so happy, Calli. It means that you have something worth fighting for.”

My face straightens as I wipe the tears and snot away. I never even thought about that. This whole time Cade has been fighting for me to try and save me—have I been taking that for granted because I simply didn’t care whether I existed or not? Up until very recently, it never really mattered.

But Kai…

He has shifted my perspective, so vastly that I can’t even imagine not having him in my life. I have so many things that I don’t want to lose; I have so many things to fight for. And the fact that this just dawned on me tells me how naive I’ve really been.

“Thank you for saying that.” I sniffle. “I think I really needed to hear that.”

“I love you, and I’m always here for you.” Gen embraces me. “So, question.” She pulls away. “Do you have any good books? I’ve kind of been bored out of my mind.”

“Do I?” I say, unable to hold my excitement. I grab her hand and drag her behind me to the library.

“Your library is beautiful!” Gen says in awe.

“That would be Cade—he built the shelves for me.” Pride warms my tone. He really did put so much love into everything. All I had to do was explain how I wanted it, and somehow he brought it into existence. I envy him in that way. I’ve never been good with anything other than writing, mostly in journals.

“Dude has hobbies? Not sure why that surprises me.” She sits beside me. “How did you guys all come to be here, anyway?”

“Jack was Cade’s last mission for the Order before he took me; he was supposed to kill him. I don’t actually know much about what transpired between them, but Cade took him in. We’ve all kind of been like family up until recently…” I trail off without realizing I may have said too much.

“What happened recently?”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Jack and I… We were a thing for a short time when we first moved here. Cade found out and freaked out.”

“Oh shit.” She stifles a laugh. “Damn, I definitely don’t blame you. I only have eyes for Ben, but let’s be real. You’re surrounded by very attractive men.”

“I can’t speak for my brother, but we look a lot alike, so thank you.” I laugh awkwardly. “And Jack is kind of unhinged—completely obsessive about his work.”

“What does he do exactly?”

“He’s basically a professional stalker. Hacks into things, he’s Cade’s guy in the chair.”

“Seems a bit built for someone who works a desk job.”