The Calm and the Storm [#NaNoWriMo15]

8. Dead Wood

He didn't know how long he had been alone in Bones' basement for but all Atticus could think about was Reyna and whether she had made it out alive or not.

He shouldn't be concerned, though. If anything, he knew that Reyna could take care of herself and she'd be much better off without him. But then again, what if they had captured her or something? What if she couldn't hurt them, so they decided to hurt her? And how did Nathaniel know about Felix and Katarina? Atticus didn't know them in person like Nathaniel seemed to, but he probably knew more about them than his brother. He had a reliable source tell him what happened to the couple. Reyna's anger spawned from her parents, just as Atticus and Nathaniel's had, but was that really the reason behind everything? It couldn't all be anger. Nathaniel couldn't be angry all the time. Nor could Reyna. So what was going on with them both? Why couldn't Atticus see through either of them?

Despite the fact that Atticus knew he was getting through to his brother, he began to wriggle the ropes around his wrists anyway. They were tight, too tight to pull out or loosen. Gritting his teeth with the hopes of not moving his demented leg anymore than he could handle the pain, Atticus craned his neck around the room, searching for anything he could possibly reach to help him in his situation. But he was gone, there was no way he was going to get out of that chair, through that door, up those stairs and out of this house all with a devastated knee that had shards of bone sticking out of place basically everywhere they weren't meant to stick out into and it was breaking him more than he was broken already, draining what little strength he had left from his body. He didn't know what was going on with him; one minute all his energy was literally stolen from him, then it came back in full-swing and boosted his confidence and now he felt useless.

Stolen.

Where had that come from? His energy had been drained, just like it was now. As soon as Reyna grabbed his arm, he...

...well, that's just it, isn't it? As soon as Reyna grabbed his arm, the electricity left him unconscious for 10 hours. Did Reyna steal Atticus' electricity? Even if she didn't mean to, did she know that it was going to happen?

He was overthinking things. That was the only explanation. Of course something like that would have happened; they were both different vessels, one that conducts and the other that controls. Something was bound to happen, but it still made Atticus uneasy. He felt sick. Not the stomach sick, either; the sick that told him something was going to happen. Something bad. It could have happened already, or it could be happening at that very moment. Being harshly tied to a chair with a crushed knee limited his ability to know what was happening outside the room he was in, so he had no idea.

"Nate, you can't keep me here forever," Atticus called in a slur, rolling his head around in slow circles. "Nothing is going to happen. The longer you keep me here, the older you get."

"I'm going to get older no matter where you are, Kit," his brother replied smoothly as he re-entered the room, obviously hearing Atticus' calls. His strides were long and steady, matching his expression. He was calm. Not angry, but calm. "I'm going to tell you a story, Kit," he added, leaning against the door he'd closed after he entered the room. He crossed his strong arms over his chest as Atticus watched him attentively. "I think you ought to know why I blame Mum and Dad's deaths on you. Why I've hated you for all these years... I'm going to give you a reason. And I just want you to listen, for once in your pathetic life. Listen to me."

Atticus didn't say anything. Was Nathaniel possessed? Had Reyna gotten to him? Had the electricity gotten to him? He'd have thought any of these possible if his brother didn't call his life pathetic, because that was the only thing that made it certain that it was Nathaniel talking.