The Calm and the Storm [#NaNoWriMo15]

10. Tricks of the Trade

"So... ever since your mum freaked out," Nathaniel finished with a frown as he leant sideways on his arm, "you've been locked up in a factory? With magic powers?"

"It is not magic," Reyna shot back defensively, and Atticus smirked at her sensitivity. They were sitting on the floor with the rotten couch pushed back against the wall beside the broken chairs. "It is electricity. I am surprised you do not hold it too. Your parents did not have it, which makes it bizarre that Kit is the only one in his family that has it in him."

"Kit?" Nathaniel asked, surprised, and Reyna frowned.

"Why, is that not his name?" Atticus, leaning back on his hands, turned to look at his brother curiously.

"Well, it's not his real name," Nathaniel admitted, rubbing his jaw again. "No one really calls him anything other than Atticus. Not even our parents called him Kit."

"Atticus," Reyna murmured, rolling the name around on her tongue as if it were an interesting new taste. "Why would you change it?"

"It was something Nate and I used to do when we were kids," Atticus admitted. "Before Mum and Dad left, we gave each other nicknames that no one else could or would use."

He glanced at Nathaniel, expecting him to try and deny it, but instead he was looking at Atticus with a frown etched into his features. He looked confused.

"You really don't know, do you?" he asked, and Reyna shot a glare at him that Atticus would have missed if he weren't waiting for it.

"Don't know what?" Atticus asked nonetheless. "About the nicknames? I just explained it." He added a shaky laugh to convince himself, but he knew that it wasn't working. Don't you dare bring it up, he begged to himself, and as if he could read minds, Nathaniel shook his head and looked down.

"Yeah, nothing," he replied hoarsely. "Just thinking aloud. Don't have to worry about it."

Atticus nodded solemnly but didn't push for information. If he did, he'd be bringing back even more unwanted memories, and that wasn't something he wanted.

The flashbacks aren't your enemies.

"So, is that everything we need to know?" Atticus asked with a clap of his hands as his legs, unmoving before him, itched to start moving. Of course, he couldn't move at all.

Following his words, however, silence and an intense feeling of tension settled down in the room. Atticus stiffened, lifting his gaze to lock eyes with Reyna. She was looking down, cheeks flushed. Atticus' gaze shifted to his brother, who was watching Atticus without bothering to hide his nerves that were reflected clearly on his face.

"Okay, what's going on?" Atticus asked eventually, breaking the tension with the sound of his voice. "You're acting weird. I don't like it when you act weird."

The silence that followed dragged on for too long.

"We cannot stay here much longer," Reyna burst out suddenly, eyes wide as she connected them with Atticus'. "That man, the big one; he will find us. He knows where you live, yes?"

"The big oaf hardly knows where he lives," Atticus shot back through narrowed eyes, leaning forward so that he was sitting hunched over but not leaning back. "What's going on? You're a terrible liar," he added. "I-"

You're getting better.

"-I can tell," he finished, faltering as the voice came back to him in the middle of his sentence. "So what's going on? Anyone want to tell me what happened while I was out?"