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At the time, Kai remembered thinking it was strange that Neil could get a firework easily but didn’t seem to have anything to eat.
Kai genuinely thought it would be a perfect finishing touch to end the impromptu fireworks display.
Except the skyrocket wasn’t fixed as it should be to go vertical and wow everyone. It exploded the same as all the others. Except it went horizontal.
Straight at Connie and Asa.
And Finn seemed to react before anyone else and threw himself at them, saving everyone from being burned, but he managed to get his arm caught as it flew past.
Kai didn’t quite understand how it had all gone so wrong, or why Talon seemed so cross. Or, in fact, who called the fire department anyway. Because they could have handled it.
Then he saw the bad burn on Finn’s shoulder, and all the good thoughts he’d had, all the excitement,his new family, everything, seemed to vanish.
He stood frozen as the firefighters made sure everything was out, and then Talon lifted Finn in his arms and walked to the ambulance, and Kai knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was all his fault.
He’d hurt Finn.
He knew Liam loved Finn almost as much as he loved Connie. Liam would hate him. Everyone would hate him. He turned and ran.
Talon scrubbed a hand over his face. Finn had accepted first aid, but on their first night with the kids? He wouldn’t have gotten in that ambulance if his life depended on it.
And to be honest, once everyone had calmed down, they’d realized Finn’s shoulder wasn’t that bad. His jacket had gotten the worst of it. They’d been so damn lucky.
And that was the moment they discovered Kai was missing.
They had a quick confab over who would do what. Gael took Derek home. Connie insisted she’d stay with Finn to get the kids settled, and Sam elected to take Luis and Liam back to his. Jacob had to leave with his brood. Which left nearly the whole team minus Finn, Gael, and Sam but plus Matthew to look for Kai. Gregory stood quietly listening. Christopher was upstairs with Finn and Connie.
“He can’t have gotten far,” Adam pointed out.
Talon sighed. They had originally agreed among all the adults to make it an early night. They’d had a great afternoon with their kids unpacking suitcases, admiring treasures, and generally settling in. Talon had promised some net time tomorrow with the new hoop, and Finn had said on Sunday they needed to do a school inventory.
He’d had four pairs of eyes gaze at him while he was feeding Zuri. “I have no idea what your clothes or school supplies situation is like.”
“I need some new sneakers,” Asa confessed, which seemed to open the floodgates. It was pretty easy to sort what was essential from what would be really cool if money was no object.
Talon had felt really good about their Friday until the first firework had gone off. And as Richard had pointed out, it was exactly the sort of shit Talon himself would have pulled.
Except it was different. Children and family services wouldn’t dream of turning up at someone’s home just because the fire department got called out for an isolated incident. But the first time vulnerable foster kids stayed over? Talon knew Finn was expecting a knock on the door and all four kids to be hauled back to foster care and to be honest, he kind of expected the same.
It was like waiting for a bomb to drop.
It had been Matthew and Richard who found Kai in the end. Matthew had watched while a grid search was organized, and then he’d told Richard they were going back to his place to find him.
Richard had gazed at him. “But he’s run away.” Stressed the “away” part.
Matthew nodded. “Except he’s running from guilt, not home.”
Richard left the others still trying to work out the physics of how far he could get. Time versus speed etcetera. Connie appeared just as they were leaving. Matthew kissed his wife. “We’ll be back, or I’ll call. Get you a ride when you’re done. Depends on what he wants to do.”
Connie didn’t seem the least surprised. “Just like old times,” she said.
Matthew grunted and fished out his car keys.
Richard watched this exchange in amazement. Were they insane? Matthew and Connie lived over ten minutes away but that was least an hour away on foot if Kai ran all the way, which wouldn’t happen. Richard mentioned this and Matthew nodded. “If he was going the same route as a car and not through yards and over fences.”
“You really think he’ll just go home?”
Matthew considered the question while he signaled and waited to turn. “Some of the kids we had we couldn’t help. Maybe the second year in, this eleven-year-old girl—Francine—nearly finished us both off. No matter what we did, short of tying her to the bed, we couldn’t keep that kid inside. If it wasn’t for the fourteen-year-old we had at the same time, I think we’d have called it quits.”
