Angel of Fire - the Breath of Immortality - Book One #Wattys2014

Born Stubborn

Chapter 7 - Born Stubborn

Thomas seemed surprised as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of my defiance.

Oh well. He'd get used to it.

His stormy hazel eyes narrowed in protest. "Do you really expect me to believe you're going to be that stubborn?"

I shrugged. "If stubbornness were a super-power, I'd be invincible."

"I can't believe you're being serious." His breath huffed out in frustration. "You're really not going to help me?" When I didn't answer right away, he groaned, "You have some powerhouse personality problems."

I yawned at the insult. My bed was calling my name. "You'll figure it out, I'm sure. When you do, you can come back to tell me all about it and I'll pretend like I care."

Moving around to each lantern responsible for tossing deep shadows all over the barn, I carefully extinguished the flames. When finished Thomas silently walked me to the wooden doors, swinging them wide open with something close to anger. A silvery glow from a stray moonbeam illuminated his face, making him look ethereal. The effect took my breath away.

As I continued to stare at his beauty, I amassed a wealth of questions. "I just thought about something..."

He smiled ruefully. "Don't hurt yourself."

Angel humor. Nice.

I rolled my eyes at the sarcasm. Hesitating, I had to ask. "So, does this mean my mom's a pyro?"

He shook his head. "From a very young age your mother always knew how to control her gift. She was never a pyromaniac." He paused thoughtfully. "And, in case you're wondering, she doesn't know she passed on the ability to you."

I thought about that for a moment. "If I'm an angel..."

"No," he interrupted. "Not an angel. You are the Angel of Fire. There has never been, nor will there ever be another angel quite like you." As soon as the words escaped his lips, a flicker of regret flashed in his eyes.

"That's real comforting," I scoffed. "With all that genetic tinkering, leave it to me to be a scientific anomaly." An unexpected bubble of excitement burst inside me. "Speaking of super-powers, do I have any?"

He tilted his head to the side, face solemn. "Yes. You are quite powerful. Extremely dangerous, in fact."

"Yeah, you said that already." I decided to try and play it cool. "What kinds of things can I do?" I asked, sounding as if I didn't care. But, truth be told, I did. I really, really did.

Despite the fact that weird things had been happening to me lately, sitting here beside him I honestly didn't feel an ounce of power. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I knew this to be true for the simple fact that I'd already run through a mental checklist and failed miserably. I was utterly and hopelessly normal. Just a regular dork.

Maybe Thomas had me confused with somebody else.

As I continued to mull the possibilities over, my thoughts returned to Gonzer. Could I really be responsible for what happened to him?

"Chaos..." I jumped at hearing my name. "Do you remember when I admitted that I've been watching you?"

"Of course." How could I forget? "I thought you were a creeper."

He looked at me confused. "What's a creeper?" I opened my mouth to explain, but he held up a hand to cut me off. "It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you don't hurt yourself, or anyone else until you've learned how to control your abilities." He paused to smile. "And that's where I come in."