POWERS OF NATURE Book 1 - Into the Storm

Chapter 22

The journal entry she had made in the journal the night before made Stephanie cringe and she physically slapped herself on the forehead. She hadn't meant to turn it into a diary. She had started out wanting to explain things for whoever would read it, instead she had ended up using it as her own personal Dear Aunt Agony. She supposed she could rip the pages out, but then she'd have to stay all over and the person would probably figure out she'd ripped pages out and probably wonder why.

Frowning, she chucked the journal onto her desk and flopped back onto her bed. Friday, the last day of the second to last week she had to go to school and it was honestly the last thing she wanted to do. Still no word from Matt or Aiden, and her mind was working overtime trying to come up with reasons why. Surely one of them would have contacted her by now?

"Boys." She muttered, slowly pulling herself up to face the day.

~~~

Matt sat in his father's study, waiting for the aforementioned man to show up. He'd arrived the night before, his mom had welcoming him with her usual delight, and they'd sat down to a family dinner. Which would have been normal if not for the gap left by Aiden's non attendance. His mom had said he wasn't feeling well, but judging by Juliette's open smirk, he didn't think that was the case. His father had dismissed it without a comment, instead launching into a fake discussion about the restaurant and how it wasn't doing well. Matt knew this was code for he wasn't doing well where the Kairós was concerned and had to physically clench his fists under the table to stop himself lashing out at his father.

A click alerted Matt to the sound of the door opening, and turned to see his father walking in, followed by Aiden who was flanked by two men Matt knew to be other Hunters. This surprised him, until he actually looked at Aiden and his mouth fell open.

Aiden's once bright grey eyes were dull, his cheeks were hollow and his lips were a pale thin line on his face. His shoulders were hunched forward, but Matt could see he was straining to put as much distance between his father and himself.

Michael strolled leisurely to his side of the desk before sinking into the chair, his impressive frame seeming too big for the leather chair. For a man in his forties, he still looked young with a lean and muscled body. His dark blonde hair was short, his blue eyes alert and sharp in his angular face. Placing his hands together so his thin fingers formed a steeple under his chin, he leaned back in his chair and gave a small nod to the men beside Aiden, who was than roughly pushed into the chair next to Matt.

"Leave us." Michael said softly, although his tone was hard and left no room to be disobeyed. The men left and Michael turned to Aiden, a flash of warning in his gaze before he turned to Matt.

Matt noticed the flinch Aiden gave under his father's gaze out of the corner of his eye but kept his face neutral as he met his father's stare.

"What is going on, Father?" Matt asked, trying but failing to keep the anger out of his tone. Michael raised a brow at him, and sighed.

"Your brother," Michael said, disgust in the word, "refuses to do his duty."

"And that would be?" As far as Matt knew, their duty had been to watch Stephanie. He hadn't known that had changed.

"The Kairós," both Matt and Aiden flinched from the term but Michael only seemed to notice Aiden's flinch as he glared at Aiden who visibly shrank in his seat, "is taking too long to come into her talent. This could potentially be disastrous as the talent is building inside of her with no means of an outlet. So when she does come into the power, she will explode."

Matt's eyes widened at the words. It made sense, but since Matt knew better than that, he couldn't believe his father expected him to believe that and take his word for it. It didn't only mean what his father was saying, it could also mean that the talent was dormant. They'd had it happen before, why not now?
Taking Matt's wide eyed look as belief, Michael gave a grim sigh. "Yes, son, its bad. And when I gave the order to your brother to terminate her," another glare was aimed at Aiden as his fists clenched, "he refused. Said it wasn't necessary as she wouldn't explode, she could control it."