I nod. “I see it with animals.”
“You work at a vet, right?"
“Right.”
“Good, then you’re not squeamish.”
“Not normally,” I tell her, wondering just how many injuries she’s patched up over the years. “I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”
“Thanks. If anyone can talk sense into him, it’s you.”
My eyes meet Ethan’s, and I smile. “I don’t know about that.”
“Lean back,” Julia tells Ethan, going back to cleaning the wounds on his chest. Thankfully, those don’t need stitches. “Are you sure you’re okay, Anora?” She glances over at me as she dabs ointment on the scratches.
“Yeah. Physically, at least. I—”
“Got lucky,” Ethan interrupts, eyes meeting mine for a fleeting moment, but that’s all it takes for me to know he doesn’t want Julia finding out about my fire powers. Hell, I still don’t know much about it.
“Right.” I force a smile. “I got lucky Ethan was there to defend me.”
Nodding, she steps back and tosses a bloody piece of gauze on the table. “Good.” She opens a cabinet and sorts through pill bottles, shaking out two in her hand and setting them on the table. Ethan picks them both up, puts them in his mouth, and downs them with whiskey. “You need to—” She lets out a sigh.
“What?” Ethan asks, and she shakes her head.
“You need to wait until the whiskey is out of your system before taking a narcotic for pain.”
“Oh, oops.” Ethan shrugs.
Julia waves her hand in the air. “You’ll pass out in about twenty minutes.” Her eyes go to me. “Take him to bed?”
Ethan gives me a cheeky grin. “I don’t think having her take me to bed will be very restful.”
Julia rolls her eyes. “I’m not stitching you back up if you pop those open. Rest, and then we’ll hit the books again. Since the bird-demons, as you put them, almost killed you, you definitely got a closer look.”
“Closer look and a closer smell,” Ethan says, getting to his feet. “They reeked like sulfur.” That must mean something, but I’ll ask later.
“Careful,” Julia says.
“I told you, I’m fine,” Ethan counters. “I don’t think I needed stitches in the first place.”
Now I roll my eyes. I grab Ethan’s hand and tug him forward. My arms go around his neck and it’s only then I let myself feel the fear I was holding back. I could have lost him. The demon could have ripped him to shreds, leaving him to bleed to death on the forest floor.
And I can control fire.
What the fuck?
“Where’s your room?” I ask Ethan when we get to the bottom of the stairs.
“First door,” he tells me, and I go up in front of him, pausing for a second at the landing. The stairs empty into a loft area, which is totally empty, unlike the rest of the house, which is decorated to the max. It’s odd, and I get the sense I’m missing something, but it doesn’t matter.
What matters is Ethan got hurt and will probably be fast asleep soon. He needs to get in bed and out of his clothes so he can sleep comfortably.
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” I tell him as soon as we get into his room. Like the loft, it’s oddly empty. One wall is painted navy blue while the rest are light gray, and a full-sized bed is centered under a window. There’s a dresser, a TV mounted on the wall, and an Xbox on the floor underneath it, but that’s it. “The demons were after me, and it’s not fair that you—”
“This is what I do, Anora.” Ethan wraps one arm around me and pulls me onto the bed with him.
“I know, but we both thought the dagger would have some sort of effect on the demon, and when it didn’t, you got hurt.”
“It’s my fault for assuming. It must only work when you use it.”
“Or maybe…maybe it wasn’t the dagger at all. Maybe it was me the whole time.” I hold up my hand, feeling heat gathering around my fingertips. “And I’m starting to remember.”
“Remember what?”
“That I can do this.” I close my eyes and think of fire, of the blue heat the glows around my fingertips. When I open my eyes, a single flame gently flickers against the palm of my hand. My lips part and my eyes go wide.
“Does it hurt?” Ethan asks softly, leaning in.
“No. It’s hot, I can feel the warmth, but it doesn’t hurt, which is wild, I know.” I close my hand and the fire goes out. “Is being pyrokinetic normal for witches?”
“I have no fucking clue,” Ethan says, eyes looking a little bloodshot. Whatever pain pill he took must be mixing with the alcohol already. “But it’s really fucking hot, and I don’t mean that in the literal sense. You fucking destroyed those demons, Anora.”
“It was all instinct,” I admit, sucking at being able to just take a compliment.