by Nicole Thorn
Lucifer moved in front of Hale and the boy tried to stand tall. “Hale…” my father tested the word in his mouth. “You’re going to cause me so much trouble… What are your intentions with my daughter? And before you speak, know that I’ll know if you lie.”
Hale crossed his arms, looking unafraid. “Why should that matter to you? You’re hardly her father.”
“At least I didn’t cause her to have a breakdown. You said vile things to her. And, coming from me, let me tell you that you need to work on your technique. You were going for cruel, clearly, but you could have been a little less horrid about it.”
“Dad,” it felt so wrong, but I didn’t have much choice. “Hale doesn’t have any intentions with me. We’re not friends anymore.”
He turned his head in my direction. “Not at the moment. But I know you better than you know yourself. You might as well make peace with it now.”
I huffed and Hale said, “My intentions with Rory are no one’s business but hers and mine.”
“Hmm,” Lucifer looked him up and down. “Alright then, don’t tell me. I already know.”
Lucifer smiled at me and said, “Well,” as he rubbed his hands together. “I brought you a present. I left it out front.” He whistled so loudly that I thought my ears would bleed. “I picked it up in Scotland.”
Then the doors opened. Walter was walking into the lunch room. He spotted me and I ran to him. I threw my arms around him and he lifted me up in a hug.
“Miss me, sis?”
“YES! I can’t believe you’re here.” He set me down and we started walking back. “Why did he bring you?”
He shrugged, “Ask him.”
Lucifer said, “I though you could use a little light in your darkness. So I picked him up and brought him with me.”
Hale eyed him. “From Scotland? You casually went to Scotland and brought a person back?”
“Yes,” Lucifer said like it was nothing. Hale had no comeback.
I looked over my brother. He’d gotten a little taller. He was about two inches taller than Mom. His hair was still dark blond. And his hazel eyes matched our father’s.
“Ooo, people,” Ethan said as he dragged his family back over. “Who are all of you?”
“Louie,” my father said. “I’m Aurora’s father. And this is her brother Walter.”
Ethan looked at me with his eyebrows drawn together. “You have a brother?”
“Fifty-three,” Lucifer said. Everyone laughed but me, Walter, and Hale.
“Is Maddy your mother?” Mollie asked him.
He shook his head. “No. Louie is our father.”
Fuuuuck… That blew the whole story I told Hale. And he noticed. He looked at me like I owed him an explanation. One he wouldn’t ever get.
“Do you live with your mother?” she asked as a follow up.
“No. I never met my mother. I live with…” he looked to Lucifer. “My Aunt and her husband. And my cat.”
Hale was taking in every ounce of information he could and I knew I’d be hearing about it later.
“You like video games?” Ethan asked.
“Yes,” Walter smiled.
“Cool,” he said as he dragged my brother off, mumbling about the new game he was waiting on.
“Ethan!” Mason called after him before he decided to just take off with his wife.
“Hey…he stole my brother…”
Lucifer waved his hand. “He’ll be back. Let the boy make a friend that isn’t an assassin.”
I covered my eyes with my hands. Why was he doing this to me? I wish my mom were here.
“Rory, Lamb, can you tell me why he said he’s never met his mother? You told me that Maddy was his mother too.”
I uncovered my eyes and looked to my father instead of Hale. I hoped he could read my mind as I begged him for advice on how to handle this.
He decided that helping wasn’t something he wanted to do. “They never meet their mother.”
I squeaked.
“What?” Hale’s voice went up. “What are you talking about?”
“Dad,” I said in a hostile tone. “Stop.”
“Well, Hale. When they’re babies—” I grabbed his arm and hauled him away from everyone.
“What the fuck are you doing? You come in here out of nowhere and try screwing everything up? These are your rules I’m keeping here. Humans can’t know. Remember?”
He rolled his eyes. “Do you know how many people break that rule? Most.”
“But…the council kills people who know.”
“Ones that are threats,” he corrected me. “Hale is no threat. Not with the way he feels about you.”
“He doesn’t like me. He said that.”
He shook his head. “You are so human. And there’s not an ounce of human in you. Fascinating.”
I buried my fingers in my hair. “But he can’t know.”
“No. You don’t want him to know. You don’t trust him with the information and you’re scared to tell him. Don’t blame my rules as the reason for not letting him know. The truth is you care about him. And the idea of him reacting poorly is scaring you.”
He wasn’t wrong. “Why should I tell him?”
“It’s a tangled web, Aurora. If you keep him, you’ll hate yourself for lying. And it will get harder and harder to cover up the lies. Years down the road, when he starts noticing that you’re not aging, and you finally tell him, he’d resent you for lying so long.”
“This is insane,” my voice cracked. “I’m not keeping him. He doesn’t want me to.”
He glanced back at the boy. “He wants you to love him back.”
“What!?”
“He’s just a little scared.” He looked around. “Now, where is that Kenna girl? I’d like to frighten her a bit…”
“Wait! You said back. Like…BACK. What does that mean?!”
“Figure it out,” he said as he wandered off.
No. It wasn’t right. Hale didn’t love me. He hated me. And I didn’t love him. He was a jerk that I had no feelings for anymore. That was over. Forever.
I was left to walk back, confused and angry. Jenna was talking with Hadley and Mom. She was probably telling them about what happened. Hale was waiting for me too.
“So,” he said.
I shrugged. “What?”
“You told me Maddison was his mother too. But I’m starting to think she’s not even your mother.”
“Hale,” my mom walked over with Jenna and Hadley. “Louie likes to joke. But I assure you, I’m her—”
“SPIIIIIIIIIDERS!”
“—Mother…”
Kenna was sprinting by, shaking her hair out with her fingers. She ran out the door and a woman was chasing after her.
“That was easier than I thought,” Lucifer said as he approached us out of nowhere. “Hello, girls,” he greeted my family.
Hale moved forward. “I bet he would tell me if I asked.”
“Asked what?”
He turned to my father. “Rory told me some things that aren’t adding up.”
“Really?”
“Dad,” I said in a pleading voice. “Don’t make this harder.”
His eyes met mine. “Why don’t you do the right thing? Try being the opposite of what we are. On occasion you need to forget who you are to get done what you have to.”
I moved in front of him and spoke quieter. “You can’t fight nature.”
“Nature bends every day, Aurora. Trees grow around concrete and thrive. Nature doesn’t mean a damn thing at the end of the day. If you want something, fight for it.”
“Even if it’s a losing fight?”
His eyebrows knit together. “Especially then. Be like your father. Fight ‘til you don’t have any fight left in you.”
“When have you fought like that?”
The corner of his lip went up. “I wasn’t talking about me.” He put his hand on the back of my neck and kissed my forehead. Oddly affectionate for The Devil. Almost like h
e loved me. “Nothing is impossible or too much to ask for. Take what you want out of life because nothing will be handed to you. Not ever.”
I looked up at him and saw a man that could actually be a father to someone.
I smiled. “Like a thrown?”
He nodded and his grin grew. “It was a comfy thrown. Not as comfy as the one I have now of course.”
“Can I see it?”
His smile vanished. “I hope you never get the chance,” he smoothed my hair.
“Maybe that would be better. I’d just want to sit in it.”
Lightness came back to his face. “Just like your mother. So much spirit in her.”
I looked back at my mom.
“Not her,” he said and I looked back. “Your other mother.”
“Oh,” was all I could say.
“I’m going to go and find that art teacher of yours.” He smoothed his jacket. “I think she liked me last time.”
My mouth dropped and he was laughing as he walked away. “Thief!” I called after him.
“You’re not wrong,” he called back.
I rejoined my group and Hale was watching me. Even with Lucifer’s permission, I just couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tear his world apart like that. It meant so much more than what he thought it would.
“Your dad is so hot,” Jenna grinned.
“Gross,” Hadley and I said.
Hale held his hands up. “Please. Can someone explain to me what’s going on? Walter had two dads and no mom? Hadley isn’t Rory’s aunt, she’s her sister. And somehow a woman who looks hardly past twenty is the mother of a twenty-one year old and a seventeen year old?”
“I’m adopted,” Hadley said, tentatively.
“By Maddy?”
“Hale,” my mom held his face. “Love, this is a very delicate situation. We need people to believe what they need to believe. I act as these girls mother. Can you accept that?”
Hale looked at me and Mom let go. “If that’s all I can know, then I can live with that.”
“Thank you,” I said to him.
I heard a scream in the distance and wondered if my father was responsible for that one too. When Kenna came back in screaming about fire, I guessed that I was right.
“KENNA!” Her mother called as she chased her. “DRAGONS AREN’T REAL!”
“WHY WAS THERE A MEATBALL SUB!?” she yelled back before she was out of sight.
“Jesus,” I shook my head.
“A little off on that one, Damien,” Jenna laughed and snorted.
I put my hands on my hips. “Quit calling me that. I’m not a boy.”
Hale clicked his tongue. “That’s the part you have a problem with. Not the part where she’s calling you The Devil’s offspring?”
I shrugged. How could I be offended at that one?
Walter and Ethan came running at me, minus the adults.
“Flynn, we’ve gotta go,” Walter said in a frenzy. “Can I bring him to your house? We’ve got to hide out.”
“What the Hell did you—” I heard a small explosion and someone scream.
I hung my head. “Oh god…why?”
“Cherry bomb,” Walter said. “Ethan told me he’s never seen one go off.”
“Mom?” I looked to her for help. “Can you handle this? I have to go get my tubes tied so I don’t ever have a son.”
She laughed. “I thank the stars every day that I didn’t get a boy.”
“You got Hadley,” I pointed. “She gets in as much trouble.”
“HEY!” She clenched her fists. “I haven’t been arrested in weeks. WEEKS!”
“Hadley, bring them home,” I shoved the boys at her.
“THE BATHROOM IS FLOODING!” I heard a parent scream as Hadley was taking the monsters out of here and somewhere safe. She said she was going to get them ice cream. Cuz destruction of property deserves a sundae.
I saw a flood of people clearing out of the hall and running outside. The water was creeping towards us and dripping down the stairs to the eating area. It was a few feet lower than the rest of the room.
I looked at Hale and he said, “Our brothers are evil.”
“And more so when they’re together. Louie would be so proud…”
“He would,” Jenna laughed.
Chapter Nineteen: Don’t Run Our Hearts Around
The school was evacuated after my brother flooded it. Mason and Mollie took Hale home before we could talk and Mom wanted me home too. Walter stayed the weekend and went back home Sunday after lunch. Annie called and said her husband was about to stab the cat for eating another boot. So he had to go save him before Hell got another pet.
Hale called a couple times but I didn’t answer. I was too buried in sibling insanity. It didn’t help that Ethan slept over on Friday and Saturday. He wanted to spend more time with Walter before he went back to Scotland.
I tried apologizing to Mom about how our father almost blew our cover. Why am I saying almost? He straight up told Hale enough to get him curious and to want to unwind this carefully woven lie we live.
Years of keeping this up were all gone in a few minutes. He made it seem like he was doing it to help me. But he was The Devil. He didn’t help people.
I went through my clothes and picked out literally the last article of clean clothing I had. An emerald green dress. It went down to my thighs and the straps were hardly there at all. It would have to do.
I threw my backpack over my shoulder and headed to school. While I walked to class I tried counting by classes how much longer I had at this place. The answer was far too long.
I was walking to my third hour class when I was violently yanked in another direction. Hale was dragging me off somewhere.
“What are you doing? I’m going to be late for class!”
He looked back at me. “We need to talk.”
He brought me into the girl’s bathroom and the two girls at the mirror whined at us.
“Oh come on,” one said. “This is the only nice bathroom in this damn school. If you’re gonna have sex can you please do it in the locker room or something?”
Another girl walked in and was so startled at the sight of a boy in here that she just walked right out. The rest of the girls left.
“I’m sorry to kidnap you but I needed to get you to talk to me,” Hale said after he let go of my hand.
“Is this important?”
“Yes. Very.”
I sighed. “Then we’re not doing this in a bathroom. We’re going to my house.” He agreed and we ditched class. I wasn’t sure if he planned on going back later, but I didn’t.
We got to my empty house and went to my bedroom. He sat on my bed and I leaned against the closed door. I couldn’t make myself move closer to him. Not when I could so clearly remember a time when it was all I wanted.
“Sit with me,” he asked.
I gave him a look. “Last time we were in a bed together it didn’t end very well.”
His head dropped. “I know. That’s what I’m trying to talk to you about. But I’d rather do it with you beside me.”
“Why?”
His eyes were sincere when he said, “Because I need you beside me. Especially for what I’m about to tell you.”
I walked over and stood in front of him. “What are you planning on telling me?”
He took my hands in his. “I’m going to tell you what was in my file.”
I felt my eyes widen and my heart pick up double time. “But I told you I didn’t care about what you did.”
“I know. But I care about it. I want you to know everything. Because I think you deserve to.”
I tried to pull my hands back but he wouldn’t let me. “Why do you care what I think? You told me—”
“I know what I told you. And it was a lie. When you found me, I was sitting in my car trying to work up the courage to tell you that I didn’t want you around anymore.”
My eyes stung at the memory.
“No,” his hands went to my face.
“Don’t cry. I’m going to explain everything to you. Will you sit with me now?”
I didn’t answer. I just moved onto the bed with him. I sat across from him and he held my hands again. His were warm as they trapped mine.
“I’m not quite sure where to start. So I’ll just pick a place. When I was kissing you,” he almost smiled, “I thought that was it. I thought all of the issues we had were gone. And then I realized something. When you tried taking my sweater off…I realized you would see. Somehow I never thought about that before. Stupid of me. Then it all hit me at once. What it would really mean for us to be together. How I’d need to be open. Vulnerable. I didn’t want that. The idea of laying everything out in front of me and having to trust another person, it terrified me. All I could do was leave.”
“What did you not want me to see?”
He held my hands tighter before he let go. “I was planning on telling you about that today.”
“Was?”
“Am. I am going to tell you.”
The fear in his eyes was obvious. Whatever this was, it was a lot for him to let me in on. He was worried, like I was, about trusting someone.
He put his hands on the bottom of his sweater and pulled it over his head. I looked down at his arms and had to actively stop myself from gasping. Each were covered in scars. Some deep and some shallow. They were every size you could think of and absolutely everywhere. Many of them disappeared under the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing.
My hand ran over them and I realized what a few were. There were circles that were scattered all over. Some small and some much bigger. Burns from cigars and cigarettes.
“Is it worse than this?” I asked and he knew my meaning.
“Yes.” His hands hesitated when he started pulling his shirt off. When he did, my hand went to my mouth and quiet tears poured from my eyes.
His entire torso was covered in scars so much worse than the ones on his arms. More burns and more cuts. The very worst of what I saw was one long scar that ran diagonally down the center of his chest. It was about two inches thick and eight inches long.
“What happened to you?” I whispered.
He put his shirt back on and his hand went to my leg. He started picking at a loose strand of fabric on my dress. “My father was a troubled man. Even before my mother died, he wasn’t kind. But he didn’t start hitting me, until she was gone.”
