Weather Control

Chapter 10

I walked back down to the kitchen. I had a lot of catching up to do. Jason was on break at this point, so I went to sit with him against the back wall.

"What have you been up to?" I asked curiously.

He grinned. "Follow me." 

He jumped up from the floor and I did the same. We went up to the office where Dad worked sometimes. Jason grinned as he opened the door. The room looked the the exact same as it had three years ago.

"What?" I asked. Nothing was different.

He just grinned wider and pointed to the ceiling. I looked up, and my jaw dropped.

Hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier made of metal, complete with intricate design and it was just beautiful.

"Did you make that?" I breathed. Making things out of metal was hard enough, but to do it with trembling hands, as Jason would've done...

When he nodded, all I could say was, "It's beautiful."

"So you like it then? I thought you might," he remarked.

I glanced at his hands as they shook uncontrollably. He wanted to be a doctor when he was younger. Mrs. Chase explained to him that with his shaking hands, it wouldn't work. The intricate  details of the job would be too laborious for him.

He noticed where I was looking and rolled his eyes. "I did have help, you know. It wasn't like I did it all by myself, just most of it."

"Of course," I said.

The door creaked open, and I froze. I knew who it was, who it had to be. I didn't turn around until long after Jason had excused himself.

Dad stood in the door way. He walked the short distance between us and embraced me. He was still in his fancy work clothes. 

"I love you, daughter," he promised. 

Something in me broke. "I lied, I lied, I lied!" I sobbed. I had lied to him. Lies, lies, lies.

"I know, Thorne. I know." 

His words barely calmed me. No matter how happy he was to see me now, I knew how much I had hurt him. I had told him I didn't care about him and his wife and his family and I wanted nothing to do with him and he almost believed me. Because then maybe it wouldn't have hurt so bad when I died. Then I didn't die, and those words were that last things I told him.

I didn't deserve to have someone so loving to take care of me and he did it anyways.

Dad said, "Spike told me what you were trying to do after you... well, you know. I guessed before he told me though." He paused. "What did they do to you?"

I stepped back from his so I could untie the cloth circling each of my wrists. He inspected my once-covered skin sadly. One wrist was branded with banishment from the clouds, three straight, horizontal lines. My other wrist, the right one, had the mark of a thief. It was a triangle inside of a circle. That one I had gotten on earth.

"Oh, Thorne, I'm so sorry," he sighed.

I shrugged. "It's not the worst. There are worse things that happened." Like being stripped of my shirt and whipped until I lost consciousness and waking up in the medical building surrounded by strangers. And still there were things worse than that. 

I shook my head, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm going down stairs," I said.

He sat down to finish some work. "Shut the door on your way out," was all he said.

I shut the door on my way out.

As I traveled down the hallway, I couldn't help but think of how much I had missed this house and the people living in it.

I went back down stairs. Matt and Drew were gone, doing who knows what. Jason was doing laundry upstairs. Gust was sitting at a table with his friend Caleb, who had saved my life a few times. Now that almost everybody was at work, the dining room was vacant.

I sat at the table with Gust and Caleb. 

Caleb held out a hand. "Come on Thorne, give it back."

My eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Caleb just rolled his eyes and I dropped three bronze species into his hand.

Gust laughed. "She got you good, Caleb."

Indeed. We had been at odds for years to determine who was the best pickpocket. The answer to that quest was more likely than not Caleb, but that didn't keep me from trying for the fun of it.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" I asked Gust.

He looked at me for a few seconds. "What plans should I have?" He countered.

"Well, I'm going to the end of the world."

He did a horrible job of hiding his delight, not that any emotions could be hidden from me.

I went up stairs to wake Sunshine.

Happy thanksgiving to all of you lovely readers. I've had so much free time with the up coming holiday that i have been working hard to update as much as possible. Don't forget to comment on what you think needs to be better. I would love to hear your opinions!