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“You don’t need to be afraid of us,” Holden yells after me. “Please, just slow down so we can talk.”
Jesus, are they all here?
Daring a glance behind me, I see Gabe, Max, and Holden. That makes me feel a drop better, since the three of them have been fairly nice to me.
“Sweetheart, just relax, okay?” Max jogs after me, the hood of his jacket pulled over his head. Hail is plinking off him, yet he appears unbothered—they all do. “We know what you saw looks really …” He wavers. “Odd.”
“And it is odd,” Holden clarifies, jogging beside Max. He’s pulled his hood down; little drops of ice cover his hair. “But we promise we won’t hurt you.”
As a hail pegs me straight between the eyes, I slow to a stop. “Mother e
ffer, that hurt.”
“Are you okay?” Holden asks worriedly as he jogs up to me.
I hold up my hand and skitter back. “Just stay away from me.”
They all slow to a stop and cautiously raise their hands in front of them.
“Sky, if you’ll come back to the house with us,” Gabe says, walking toward us, “we’ll explain what you just saw.”
Max’s and Holden’s heads whip in his direction, surprise flickering across their expressions.
They weren’t expecting him to say that.
“Dad …” Max starts with reluctance, his eyelashes fluttering as hail pegs him in the face.
Gabe holds his hand up in Max’s direction. “Your mother and I already talked about this and decided that we can’t keep this from her. Not when she’s going to be living with us for months.” He lowers his hand to his side. “We should’ve just told her to begin with, but we were waiting for the right time …” He presses his lips together and shakes his head. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way, Sky. I’m sure what you saw was … frightening.”
Actually, what I saw wasn’t necessarily frightening. It was the worry of what they’d do to me if they found out I saw that sent me running.
“Dad, humans can’t understand.” Max presses, crossing his arms. “You of all people should know that.”
Humans? So, they aren’t human? I guess, when I really think about it, I’m not that surprised.
“Actually, they can.” Gabe looks at me while wiping melted hail from his face. “Skylin’s father and mother knew about us.”
My jaw drops. “They did?”
He nods, inching toward me, ice crunching underneath his boots. “I was once captured by some hunters who wanted to do experiments on me. Their experiments almost killed me, and probably would’ve, if your father hadn’t rescued me.”
Hearing his story makes me relax enough that the hail shifts to rain.
My dad and mom knew about this? He saved Gabe and kept Gabe’s secret? That means they won’t hurt me … I hope.
I lower my bag from my head, and raindrops dot my skin. “And, what are you exactly?”
Gabe glances at Holden and Max, who are bursting with tension, then redirects his attention back to me. “We’re elemental protectors. Max is wind, Porter and my wife are ice, Easton and I are water, Holden and Hunter are fire, and Foster is … well, he’s complicated, but I’ll explain that later.”
“You’re the only elemental enchanter alive right now,” Emaline had said to Foster in the forest.
They had also blamed the storms on him. Could it be that Foster controls storms? Could I be like Foster? Do the Everettsons know about my ability? Doubtful since, not only did they just refer to me as human, but they think Foster is responsible for all the storms.
“Foster really needs to practice controlling his abilities more,” Max utters as he peers up at the cloudy sky.
Yeah, they definitely don’t know about me. I could tell them, but something holds me back. I’m not even sure what. Years of silence? The fear of knowing the truth about myself? The fear of finding out I’m not like them and am a freak of nature?
One thing is certain; I have a choice to make right now. I can run away from them and the truth, or trust Gabe and find out what exactly it is that I saw in the forest.
