POWERS OF NATURE Book 1 - Into the Storm

Chapter 3

Aiden sat at the bar, staring at the clock. He wondered once again why he had agreed to open the place today on his own. It only made it worse to know Stephanie was with Matt. A part of him knew that he was being a jerk. Him and his brother had always had a rivalry, but this was different. It was 1pm and no one had come into the place. "Screw this." He got up and locked the place up, his mind on his bed and a decent amount of sleep.

Stephanie watched as a war went on in Matt's eyes, waiting for him to answer her questions. Finally, he shook his head and stepped away from her. Stephanie felt her anger rise, as a rumble of thunder sounded outside. Matt glanced out the windows, then back to Stephanie. Swallowing, he ran a hand threw his hair.

"Can you talk to me? You're freaking me out?" Stephanie snapped, growing tired of his silence. Another rumble of thunder went passed, and the wind picked up.

"What do you know about your dad?" He finally spoke, his nerves on edge. Stephanie gaped at him.
"I tell you I had a dream where I killed you, and you're asking me about my dad?!"

"Just answer me, please."

"Nothing, Matt. He died while my mom was pregnant. Does that satisfy you?"

"What do you know about your family history?" Matt carried on, ignoring her sarcasm.

Stephanie crossed her arms. It felt like he was playing with her again and again she felt annoyed. "What has that got to do with anything?" Matt glanced outside again, at the storm brewing, then looked back at her.

"I want to show you something." He turned and walked out the kitchen, assuming she would follow. Stephanie didn't know whether to follow him or stomp her foot like a child. Letting out a growl of frustration, she followed him as he took her upstairs and into a study.

It was a room filled with books, shelves going around the room, from the floor to the ceiling. The one big bay window showed a view of the barn and the valley beyond. The walls were dark, and on the floor was a cream carpet. A desk stood on one end, papers covering it. Matt paused at one of the shelves behind the desk as Stephanie stood by the door trying to control her annoyance.

"Have you noticed anything weird about the weather?"

Again, Stephanie gaped at him.

"Seriously? It's been storms every night this week in the middle of summer. Anyone with half a brain knows that's weird. What the hell has any of that got to with this?!" She repeated, gesturing to the whole room. Matt held the book out to her but she just eyed it warily.

"Will you relax and just humour me?" He snapped. What he had to tell her wasn't easy, and she was making it harder. The storm brewing outside wasn't helping either.

Stephanie glared at him before snatching the book from his hand. "Fine." She didn't open the book and held it like it contained the worst horror story.

"Yesterday, how did you feel during the storm?" He gave her a point look as she rolled her eyes.

"Gee, I dunno Matt. Pissed off? We were arguing, and you were annoying me. Then I was upset because of that."

"Okay, and when we were talking about Aiden?" Something flashed in his eyes as he said his brother's name but it was gone before she could figure it out. She shrugged. "Annoyed? Why?" Matt glanced outside, her rising impatience showing.

Stephanie slammed the book onto the desk. "Why do you keep looking outside? What are we doing here?" Matt pointed at the book under her hand. "Just look please." Pinching her nose in frustration, Stephanie did as he asked and opened the book. It was more of a scrapbook, or a diary. Every page had writing on, with newspaper clippings here and there. She paged through it, not understanding what he expected her to see until she came across a black and white photo and the book fell from her hands.