Ignited (38 page)

My mouth quirked. “You never know. Who can guess what the future will bring?”

“An O’Malley can always tell the future,” he teased. “ ‘Of every weather, ye are prophets.’ Enjoy being a ghost, Remy.”

He quoted from the tapestry in the hall, and I smothered a laugh. With a wave of his hand, he disappeared down the stairs to the first floor.

“He’s not pressing you to stay again?” Asher asked, staring after him.

I shook my head.

“Good. Because I think it’s time we all moved on.”

My stomach clenched, and I had the childish urge to cover my ears to close out his words.

“You have to let them go,” Asher said in a soft voice.

I glanced at the door to the sitting room. What had Asher and my father been talking about? Was he desperate to get away from here? Was being here making his nightmares worse?

Asher tilted my jaw up in a rare touch, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Not for them. For you. Nobody blames you for taking your time after everything that’s happened. But it can’t last forever. Not telling them is killing you.”

I stared at his throat. “It’s going to be worse when they leave.” Red color flowed up Asher’s neck to stain his cheeks, and I realized he looked guilty. I frowned, wondering at the possibilities, and it hit me. “You’re going, too.”

He nodded, tucking his hands in his pockets. “Lottie and I thought we would accompany your father and Lucy back to Blackwell Falls and watch over them for a while. Just to be sure nobody bothers them.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and didn’t say anything.

“You knew I wouldn’t stay. It’s one thing to know you and Gabe are together and another to see it.”

My eyes flew to his. He didn’t look angry or hurt. Just accepting that this was the way things would be. I sighed. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”

“So you’ll tell them?” he asked.

“Today. I promise.”

“Good.” He tipped his head and turned away.

“Hey, Asher,” I said. “What made Lottie decide to go with you?”

He smiled with genuine amusement. “All my sister ever cared about was family. Lucy is part of our family now, and so is your father. She’ll be in heaven trying to boss everyone around.”

I pictured Lucy’s reaction to that and the resulting battle that would ensue. In the end, Lucy was getting another sister. She really wouldn’t be alone. A small part of me winced with jealousy, but most of me found comfort in that fact. “Thank you,” I told Asher.

“We’ll take care of them. I promise.”

He kissed my forehead and I wished that none of us had to say good-bye. But that had never been part of the plan.

After Asher walked away, I went into the sitting room. My father stood in front of the Phoenix paintings. I approached him, and he glanced at me.

“You look a little alike,” he said, tilting his head at the painting of Seamus’s wife.

I’d hoped that knowing I was doing the right thing would make it easier to talk to my father, but I hadn’t counted on how my heart didn’t want to let him go.

“What is it?” he asked, his brow wrinkling in concern.

I twisted to face him. “I didn’t tell you everything about the day we rescued you, Dad. You know the Phoenix that Seamus talks about? I’m one of them. I’m more powerful than before.”

It was the first time I’d said it out loud. I hadn’t even admitted it to Gabe yet. The words didn’t scare me like I’d thought they would. Rather, they filled me with pride.

The silence stretched on for a minute before he said, “I don’t care.”

I gave him a small smile like this didn’t hurt and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Yes, you do.”

He stared at the painting, avoiding my gaze. It didn’t take a mind reader to understand that this news bothered him.

I touched his arm. “It’s okay. You can tell me.”

He finally looked at me. “I’m scared. Not of you, but of what happens if everyone finds out what you can do . . .” He gestured helplessly, leaving the sentence open-ended.

Misery appeared in front of me like a brick wall, and there was no way around it. “I’ve thought about that. A lot.” I took a deep breath. “That’s why when everyone thought I died the day we rescued you, we let them believe it.”

Comprehension lit in my father’s eyes. “You’re not coming with us,” he said in a voice heavy with accusation. “You never planned to come with us.”

I tried to smile, but it felt like a macabre grimace. “So long as they think I’m dead, you and Lucy can go home. You can start over and live a normal life in Blackwell Falls.”

“Don’t do this, Remy,” my father begged. “I know what I said. I’m scared, but we haven’t had enough time together. Come with us. If not Blackwell Falls, then we’ll find somewhere new.”

When I’d thought of this plan, I’d never expected him to fight me. I’d only thought of how desperately I wanted my family to be safe and away from this ongoing war.

I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “I can’t do that. You know I’m right. This is the right thing to do. If I come with you, there would always be a chance that someone would find out who I am and what I can do. They wouldn’t think twice about hurting Lucy to control me.”

His face took on a hollow, glassy look of pain. “You’re asking me to choose between my daughters. I can’t walk away from you again.”

He sounded so helpless that my defenses cracked a little more, and I couldn’t stop the tears. “You’re not walking away, Dad. I am.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I threw my hands in the air to ward him off. “Can’t you see that this is going to kill me? I’ve only had you and Lucy for such a short time. But if it will keep you safe, I will give you up. Gladly.”

My father’s throat worked, and he clamped his mouth shut. I wanted to take it all back, but I couldn’t. This was the right thing to do, no matter how much it hurt.

“Asher and Lottie have agreed to go with you and see you settled. They’re going to watch over you for a while to be sure no one bothers you. Don’t be surprised if they show up at the house all the time. They’ll be good for Lucy.”
And for you.

My father seemed to accept this. “What will you do?”

“I’m going to start over in a new place with Gabe, if he’ll have me. Go to college if I can.” My sigh sounded wistful. “Is it stupid to still want to be a doctor when I grow up?”

A rueful smile finally curved my father’s mouth. It had taken him a couple of weeks to get used to the fact that I was with Gabe now. “Something tells me that Gabe will follow you anywhere you go. I’ve never seen a man so head over heels.”

My cheeks heated in a blush. “It’s mutual. He makes me laugh,” I blurted out. It sounded lame to my ears, but it was too late to take it back.

“Well, then,” he said in a soft voice. “He’s given you the world, hasn’t he?”

I smiled. “Yeah. He has.” Then I sobered. “When will you and Lucy go?”

“Do we have to decide now?”

“The longer we draw this out, the more it will hurt,” I confessed. I’d already waited too long to tell him the truth.

He hated my answer, but he nodded reluctantly. “Tomorrow, then.”

I accepted his decision, even as my stomach burned. “Will you tell Lucy?”

“Yes. Promise me you’ll find a way to visit. We’re going to miss you.”

Unable to get a word past the knot in my throat, I squeezed his hand. Then, because I was going to fall apart completely, I almost ran for the door. My father’s broken voice called after me.

“You’ll make a brilliant doctor, Remy.”

Dinner was a party affair. Seamus had thrown together a feast, and everyone had gathered for a farewell meal. Through dinner, I managed to put on a bright show, teasing a morose Lucy into a better mood and reminding her of everything that waited for her at home. It worked. Too well. She and Lottie began to talk about all the things they planned to do, and I listened with a big, fake smile that made my teeth ache.

Gabe leaned over and whispered in my ear, “One more day, sweetheart.”

He offered me his hand, and I squeezed it desperately. This last month, I’d been so intensely focused on my family and the time I had left with them that I’d neglected Gabe. He’d moved into a room with Asher so that I could share my bedroom with Lucy. I’d missed him, though. We hadn’t discussed the future. What if I’d blown it with him by putting him on hold?

I stared up at him. “I didn’t mean to push you away.”

Noise continued around us, the sparkle of it hurting my ears. Gabe bent to drop a small kiss on the corner of my mouth. “You didn’t push me away. I’m right here.”

“We have things to figure out,” I said.

He smiled. “Tomorrow’s soon enough. Don’t worry about me, okay?”

He meant it, and relief flooded through me for one too-brief moment. Then the meal was over, and I followed Lucy to our room to watch her pack. She didn’t have a lot, but every item that went into her bag felt like another piece of me being taken away.

“You know, I figured out why I don’t have Protector powers like you,” Lucy said out of the blue, landing on the bed beside me with a bounce.

“What?” I asked in genuine surprise. “What is it?”

“I’m adopted,” she said.

I laughed, thinking she was joking, but her serious expression didn’t change. “No way,” I said. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t have kept that from you. Besides, you look like them.”

“No. I look like Mom, except I have black hair.” She wrapped one of her curls around a finger, fidgeting with nerves. “It was the only thing that made sense. So I asked Dad and he told me the truth. Mom was pregnant with me when they got together. It was just an accident of fate that my birth dad had black hair, too.”

I stared at Lucy in shock. “Where’s your birth dad?”

“He was a soldier. Mom met him when he was on leave, but he died before she could tell him that she was pregnant. And then Dad moved back to Blackwell Falls, and they started dating again, and here we are.”

She rose and began to get ready for bed, changing into pajamas. She didn’t look sad or mad, and I couldn’t quite tell what she was feeling. “Are you okay with all of this?” I asked.

“Honestly?” She tipped her head, considering the question. “Yes. What does it really change? I guess I would have been upset a year ago.” She paused and laughed. “Heck, I would have thrown a fit, and we both know it.” She shook her head. “But with everything I know now, it doesn’t seem to matter.” She sat on the bed again, pulled her knees up, and rested her chin on them. “Blood doesn’t always make a family. I was lucky to have Mom, and I’m lucky to have Dad and you.”

“You’ve changed, Lucy.”

“I’ve grown up. Because of you. Because of the example you set. I understand why you’re not coming with us. You’re doing it for me. So that I can have a normal life.”

I nodded, too choked up to speak.

“I don’t want to give you up,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

I hugged her. “It’s not forever. We’ll see each other again.”

She wiped her face on her shoulder and stood up to go to the bathroom, pausing in the doorway with her back to me. “I’m not saying good-bye tomorrow. That’s bullshit, and I won’t do it. And you had better figure out a way for us to write to each other. I need you in my life.”

The bathroom door shut behind her, leaving me alone in the room, and I wondered how I would make it through tomorrow.

The next day my family climbed into Sean’s SUV and drove away, taking a huge chunk of my heart with them. I did not go outside to seek comfort. There was no sky big enough to fill the hole their absence had left behind. So I went to my room, closed the door, climbed into bed, and pulled the covers over my head.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-
TWO

“R
emy? Are you in here?”

The covers were yanked off my head, and Brita’s face appeared. She wrinkled her nose. “No way. You are rank, girl. When is the last time you showered?”

“What day is it?” I asked, trying to grab the covers from her hand. I was pretty sure it had only been three days, but the nights had kind of blurred together. Sleep was the only time the pain went away, so I’d spent a lot of time seeking it out.

“If you need to ask, then you’ve blown way past the acceptable limits of personal hygiene.”

“Shut up, Brita, and go away while you’re at it.”

“Fine,” she said with an indifferent shrug. She let go of the covers, and I readjusted my cocoon. I heard her walking toward the door. “I just thought you’d want to know that while you were moping away in here, Gabe left.”

That caught my attention. The covers fell to my waist when I sat up. “What are you talking about? Gabe wouldn’t just leave.”

She pointed toward the nightstand. “He left you a note.” And then she flounced out of the room.

I vaguely remembered him coming in a few times, but I’d checked out. And now he’d gone. Panic sparked in my belly, quickly followed by anger. Okay, so I wasn’t a prize these days, but give me a break. I needed a little time to get over saying good-bye to my family. For all of his promises of loving me forever, he’d jumped ship at the first speed bump.