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She hummed a little under her breath. “I wanted you to come stay with us, but I was told you were at the chief’s home.”
Nick slumped down in his chair. “Yeah.”
“Safest place you could probably be.”
“I suppose.”
She pulled the blanket covering his dad a little higher. “Bob wanted to be here. But there was an emergency at the building he manages. Something having to do with a potential gas leak. He wanted me to tell you he loves you, and he’ll be here as soon as he can get away. Funny thing, gas leaks. Ignite a single spark, and it could lead to disaster. Tell me. Did they find out the cause of the explosion yet?”
“It was Pyro Storm,” Nick said, voice hard.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“You seem sure.”
Nick shrugged. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Can I tell you a story?”
Nick loved Martha. He did. But he wasn’t in the mood for this. Not now. “Visitor hours are almost—”
“A boy came to live with us once. We didn’t expect it. We weren’t ready for it. Especially not one who had lost so much. We were grieving ourselves, and then suddenly we had a child with nowhere else to go.”
Nick closed his eyes.
“He’d been hurt,” Martha said. “In the accident. His parents had died, and he had lived, but his heart was broken, and he was covered in bandages. They called it a mechanical failure. Something wrong with the train. I don’t remember specifics. Bob’s better at these things. Many people died. But this boy, this sweet, little boy somehow managed to survive. He was found buried under scorched metal, his mother and father lying on top of him. When I saw him for the first time, it was in a room almost like this one. His eyes were closed, and I thought he was having a nightmare. So, I did the only thing I could—I held his hand and told him that everything was going to be all right. That even though his heart was breaking, we would keep him safe.”
Nick shuddered, trying to keep from curling in on himself.
“He shouldn’t have survived. He was our little miracle. Stronger than people gave him credit for. And he lived. He was sad,of course. And he had terrible nightmares. He would wake screaming in the dark, calling out for his mother and father, trying to get to them. Trying to save them. He never could before we would wake him, and we had to witness his heart break all over again each time he woke.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Nick asked through gritted teeth.
She acted as if he hadn’t spoken at all. “Bob and I didn’t know how to be parents. We did the best we could. I worried it wouldn’t be enough. Thatwewouldn’t be enough. Oh, we loved him immensely. We gave him everything we thought he could ever want. Love is such a weapon in the face of darkness, if you only know how to wield it.”
Nick felt a tear track down his cheek.
“He was always quiet. Always watching. He barely talked. Until one day, he came home from school, babbling a mile a minute about a boy who came onto the swings with him, even though neither of them could actually swing. He said this boy was smart and kind and nice, and that his father was a police officer. He announced quite loudly this boy was named Nicholas Bell, and that they were going to be best friends forever. It was the most I’d ever heard him speak at one time since he’d come to live with us. I didn’t know who this Nicholas Bell was, but I thought it was possible he was the godsend we’d been waiting for.”
Nick sniffled as he shook his head. “I’m not worth—”
“Youare,” Martha snapped, and Nick opened his eyes. She was staring at him, her own eyes shining. “I know you have trouble believing it, but you are. I know how you see Seth, Nick. I’ve spent years watching you both. You think the sun rises and sets with him. That all the stars in the sky appear because of him. But what you fail to see,always,is that he thinks the same of you.”
“Then why isn’t he here?” Nick growled, standing from the chair. He started to pace back and forth. “If what you’re saying is true, then where the hell is he? This is my d-d-dad.”
Above the bed, the light sizzled and went out.
They both looked up. The bulbs were dark.
“Huh,” Martha said. “Would you look at that?”
Nick rubbed the side of his head. He was getting another headache. Mary Caplan was supposed to bring him one of his pills. He’d forgotten to take it this afternoon.
“We were at home when the call came,” Martha said, still staring up at the burned-out light. “It was Gibby’s parents on the other end.”
Nick was confused. “They called you about my dad? But—”
