Flames and Starlight

9🌘

Peter

The ride home was filled with tense silence. I sat in the back, nervously watching my parents in the front. They hadn't said a word to me the whole car ride back to our house, not even when I first got inside. I'd rather them yell at me than not say anything at all; it's when they got quiet on me that meant I was in serious trouble.

We were halfway to our house when I couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Look, I'm sorry," I blurted out. "I know I shouldn't have left school like that, but Patterson -"

"Pete, we're not mad," Mom interrupted and twisted around in the passenger seat to look at me. "We're just really, really worried."

"About me being suspended?"

"No, son," Dad said, his jaw tightly clenched. "It's about your powers. We think we know why you're having such a hard time with your shapeshifting."

I blinked. That was not the answer I was expecting. "What did you find out?"

"We'll explain everything when we get to the house," Mom said and turned back around in her seat.

It became silent again, this time the tension was not as thick though it still made me incredibly nervous. My heart was racing wildly with nervous anticipation. My parents knew how much I was struggling with shapeshifting and had been trying to find something that could help me. I was insanely curious to find out what they had in mind and if it could really help me.

At our house, there was a small, round, pink car that caused me to stare for a long time at its vibrant appearance.

As Dad parked the car, he exhaled a sigh of relief. "Good, she's here."

Somehow my heart started racing even faster as we got out. I wanted to see who this person they were talking about.

We walked inside and there was an elderly African American woman sitting on our couch, dressed in a bright purple business suit, her gray hair twisted into a tight bun on top of her head, sipping on a cup of tea.

She rose as we walked in. "Elisa, Drew - nice to see you again. I hope you don't mind that I let myself in. I needed to make sure you still had that book I gave you."

"It's fine, Lydia," Mom said and walked over to give the woman a hug. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Lydia smiled and patted Mom's back. "Of course. I meant it when I said I'll come whenever."

They pulled away and she shook Dad's hand. "Drew, nice to see you again. It's been a long time."

"It has," Dad said. "Sorry, we haven't been in contact much."

Lydia fluttered her hand dismissively. "No need to worry about it. I know you all have a pretty busy life."

She turned her coal eyes on me. "And you're Peter. I haven't seen you since you were three years old. You've grown up on us, son."

"Uh, thank you?" I said hesitantly, unsure of how to respond.

She smiled. "I know you don't remember me, which is fine since you were still so little and had the brightest orange hair I'd ever seen on a kid. I'm an old friend of your parents and the one who gave you to them at the orphanage."

I shot a sharp look at Mom and Dad. "She helped with my adoption?"

Mom nodded, tears starting to swim in her eyes. "Yes. She's the one who let us see you at the adoption center. No one else would even look at you because you're a. . ."