Page 201 of Claim Me
I reach out to pull him closer, but he avoids my hands and says in a stiff voice,
"The plane crashed."
I blink in shock.
"What?"
"The plane, the commercial one I was supposed to take…"
"I don’t understand…" I mumble, still half asleep, and it sounds like something out of a nightmare.
"It took off without any problems. The bomb exploded when they were a few hours away from Japan. They crashed somewhere over the Kuril Islands."
"Fuck! That’s it… Snow warned me about this. He was right, damn it!" I rub my temples fervently.
But Blue is still pale.
"Yes, he was. On board were… people sent to meet with the Japanese…" he trails off.
"Who?" I freeze.
"My nephew, Sariel. And…" he closes his eyes briefly. "Your cousin, Winter."
I go completely still.
This is something that’s almost hard to believe, a situation straight out of a movie.
"Oh dear Fate… poor Uncle Lake and Aiden, they lost their son…" I whisper, my voice shaking. "Poor Winter…"
For several heartbeats, we both sit in a strange daze, in shock. A message of this scale refuses to fully become real, and yet…
"Do you know Winter is the reason I’m here, Blue? He spoke to Jacob on my behalf, he helped negotiate my transfer to Second Chance! If not for him, we never would have met."
Blue blinks, his face almost translucent.
"I’m sorry."
"And I’m sorry about Sariel. I didn’t know him, but I know you were close."
"He was an exceptional young man. And just twenty-two," Blue whispers and sinks onto the edge of the bed, sitting with his head bowed. "I killed him, Gabriel. The attack was meant for me.Whoever did it didn’t remove the bomb from the plane after I canceled my flight. I thought they would, that whatever had been planned for that plane would be called off if I withdrew… The terrorists had almost three days to do it!"
I reach to wrap my arms around him and pull him close.
He finally lets me and we fall back onto the bed, Blue pressed tightly against me. I can feel the nerves, the stress, the pain in his whole body, as if he wants to cry but won’t allow himself to. I feel the urge to soothe him, to calm his nerves, and suddenly something rises in my chest, an unfamiliar sound.
Purring?
A low, vibrating sound fills the space, and Blue’s head pressed to my chest vibrates with it. For a moment I worry it might irritate him, but nothing like that happens.
He just lets it be.
My thoughts drift toward my cousin. I wasn’t close with Winter, but I know his parents well. These people are loving and deeply caring toward their children, and I’m sure they’re now living through the worst nightmare imaginable, losing a child, and my heart sinks at the thought of their tragedy.
Didn’t Snow warn his brother about the flight? Or did Winter… not listen? Those of us with special abilities know what it’s like to talk about them to others. Before anyone believes you, they needproof.
We lie there while I keep purring. It calms me too. After a while, Blue falls asleep, and I drift off with him.
I dream about falling from the sky, but somehow, miraculously, I end up flying over the sea and landing safely on a volcanic island.
