The Fire in the Wind // Book One (Complete)

Two - An Answer, A Choice

Sunlight blinded him as he opened his eyes for the first time that day, he groaned, and covered his face protectively with his hand. There was a knock on his door, surely it was Patience, the indentured servant their father took in, with news of food, or at least, he hoped, it had better be with how early it felt.

"May I come in, Mr. Finch?" Came a timid voice, Phoenix smiled.

"Yes, Patience, you may." He answered, sitting up in his bed, a small rounded face poked into his room, Patience smiled shyly.

"Breakfast is ready, young sir." She told him, and came in with an armful of clothes to set on his dresser. "I've done your laundry as well."

"Thank you, Patience, you may leave." He said, she nodded, giving him a thin smile, and left for him to change. He groaned as he stretched, looking out his window, a small bird was perched carefully, it seemed to look at him curiously before flying away into the sky. He quickly dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers, slipping on his buckled leather shoes. He took a moment to look at himself in the small mirror next to his bed, fixing up his auburn red hair. The smell of food eventually lured him into the kitchen, where his sister was already eating, he pulled out a seat next to her and sat in front of his food.

"I have something to show you." Amber said quietly once they finished, "About the... magic..."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, they usually tried not to talk about what happened on the beach last month, he shuffled closer. "What about it?"

"I'll show you when Patience leaves for the farm." She whispered, he nodded.

"And when will that be, witch?" He asked playfully, she smacked him on the thigh.

"I'm still not psychic, brother." She told him with feigned annoyance, they waited for Patience to leave the house with a pail before Amber all but dragged him upstairs. Phoenix bit his lip when she led him to the ladder leading to the attic, she looked to him and sighed.

"Dad won't find out." She told him, "I go up here all the time."

"That's you?" He asked, "I thought the house was haunted."

"Well, as far as I know, I'm not dead. Now come on." She tugged on his arm and he sighed, climbing into the attic behind her, closing the trap door as he did.

The attic was old, dust floated freely through the air and rested upon each surface, the floor was covered in old hay, and there was a small rats nest in the corner. Phoenix sighed, father must never come up here, if he did, he'd have killed the rats. Light filtered into the small room through cracks in the roof, he ducked under a rafter as Amber led him confidently through the storage area, as if she'd been raised in it. She led him over to an ornate box, and Phoenix noticed a lack of dust on it, it was in the far back of the room, unable to be seen if you peeked from the ladder, which their father often did. Amber pushed the box aside, and dug her fingers into a crack in the floorboards, Phoenix bit his lip, he knew what she was looking for.

As if on cue, Amber pulled up the floorboards, revealing a leather bound book with an inscription on the cover, "Property of Charity Finch". The book was the same as Phoenix remembered, the letters were carved into the leather, and painted a soft silver, the spine of the book tied with golden wire and silvery string. The book had a metal frame around it's covers, that were golden and looked like they were trying to swallow up the book, it looked as good as new, not a speck of dust in sight.

"I found something that could explain the things I can do, and my eyes." She said, since the day her eyes changed color, if Amber focused enough, they would change back to brown. But now that they were alone, he eyes were aquamarine once again, and Phoenix could swear he saw the ocean churning within them. Amber turned to a certain page in the book and pointed.