Page 13 of Fire Bird

“Then she will return. Maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe a year from now. But it will happen, Kole.”

“You have such faith in me.”

“Because I saw it too.” The words leave her mouth quickly. When I look up, her eyes have softened. She’s watching me carefully.

“You…?” I rub my thighs. My skin prickles with an emotion I can’t label. “You saw Nova’s death? When?” I cast my mind back. She told me about accessing the prophecy, knowing we were important to each other, but she did not mention Nova’s passing.

My mother draws in a long, steady breath. Her usually stoic expression has changed. Her jaw twitches. “I had a vision. When you were in Europe.” She smooths her hand over her forehead, bracelets jangling on her wrist. “I never told you. I should have, but…” She trails off.

“What vision? What did you see?” I want to reach into the fire and grab her shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I saw Nova, and you. Luther, Tanner, Mack, Sam. I saw all of you. I saw her being beaten and abused by that terrible man she was living with. I saw flames. I saw her coming to you, finding you. I saw the six of you being reunited.” She rubs her palm over her face, then fixes her gaze on mine. “And I saw her dying. But—like you—I knew she would return.”

“You knew all of it? From the beginning? And you left us to figure it out on our own?” If I wasn’t speaking to my mother, I’d be yelling, punching the cave wall, clutching my gut to squash the betrayal throbbing deep inside it.

“You know the rules, Kole. I couldn’t tell you. I bent them as far as I could by—” She stops. A visible shudder makes her shoulders tremble. Her image grows blurry and dark.

“Stop, Mother. Wait. What did you do?”

She shakes her head slowly. Her large, brightly colored earrings dangle softly against her neck. She offers me a slow, tearful smile. And as her image fades to darkness, I hear those three familiar words… Something is coming.

9

LUTHER

I’m sitting by the falls on a rock so slick with water it’s going to leave my ass cheeks soaking wet, throwing pebbles into the swirling white foam. I can’t hear the pebbles when they fall, but the way they’re dragged under is weirdly soothing.

The spray, too, is helping cool the unrelenting heat which has plagued my skin since Nova left. It’s like every emotion I ever had has risen to the surface and is being played out again, and again, stoking a fire so violent I can barely contain it.

If we were at the cabin, I might have burned it down by now. But we’re not, so I’ve settled for throwing pebbles and letting the roar of the falls drown out the thoughts in my head.

When Kole emerges from the cave behind the waterfall, my first instinct is to get up and leave. We’ve barely been in each other’s company for more than a few seconds since we returned from The Hollow. I know I have to stop blaming him eventually but, despite Mack’s best efforts, I’m not ready yet. Not sure when I will be. I guess when—because it has to be when not if—Nova comes back to us.

I stand up and pull my damp pants fabric away from my thighs. I allow a wave of heat to surge through my legs and, almost instantly, the patch—and my skin—dries.

“Luther…” Kole is standing next to me.

“You okay?” He looks pale, and his voice is even more gravelly than normal.

“My mother—” He stops. My stomach lurches. Fuck, what happened to his mother?

“Come over here. Sit down.” I guide him away from the rocks. When we reach the sandy section of beach nearest the caves, he lowers himself to the ground and crosses his legs like he’s about to meditate.

For now, my anger has dissipated; the look on Kole’s face has seen to that. I might be mad at him, but he’s still my brother. So, I sit and wait for him to talk.

“She knew,” he whispers.

“Knew what?”

“About Nova. About us.”

I frown at him.

“She knew all of it, Luther. She saw Nova’s past, and our future. She saw her death. She…”

I’m still not getting it. When Thessaly showed us the Original Six, she told us she knew about our connection and that she’d known since Kole was born. Is it really so much of a stretch that she knew the rest too?

“It was her. She was the voice.”