Page 138 of Axis of Fire

“Living shadows,” my mother muttered bitterly. “They wrapped around my throat.”

“You should feel honored,” Airis said with a detached shrug.

“Did that creature explain why it chose you?” I asked my parents. “Why you specifically?”

“No,” my father answered. “It only said we had been chosen.”

“And since we never planned on having children,” my mother added coldly, “we considered that ‘honor’ more of a curse.”

A quiet scoff escaped me.

“Judging by the fact that you still decided to have Adeline afterward, I’d say that curse taught you something.”

Neither of them answered.

Of course they didn’t.

They would never admit I had served any purpose in their lives at all.

“What else did it say?”

My father hesitated.

“It mentioned that you were connected to its bloodline.”

My thoughts immediately began racing.

According to my parents, the creature controlled shadows.

What world did that kind of magic belong to?

Darkness?

Death?

And what if it could control fire too?

What if it possessed more than one ability—

just like me?

“We were always afraid of you,” my mother admitted suddenly.

I could see the hatred in her eyes.

“But we tried to understand you right up until the moment you almost burned down our lake house.”

I swallowed hard.

The guilt from that incident had never completely left me.

“That was an accident,” I said quietly.

Then I asked the question that still refused to make sense.

“Why did you take me to a psychiatric hospital four days ago? Were you trying to get rid of me—or burn the entire building down with me inside?”

My mother frowned.