When Lightning Burns [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9: Home Sweet Home

           

"Mom?" Julie called out as she got to her parents' house on Seelie Island. She still felt weird calling Andromeda 'mom' again. The lies over her parents' lifetime, which had finally come to a head this last year, still hung between them. It didn't matter if the rational part of her understood what had happened. These were her parents. What they had done wasn't supposed to happen.

Where was her mom anyway? She had probably waited until the last minute to go shopping for dinner tonight.

"Dad?" That felt even weirder to say. "Jamie...Lamie?"

Julie looked around, her nose crinkling at the new paint smell. The dining room was a soft orange. Her mom must have painted it for the fall. Who painted their house for the season? She didn't know if her mom would ever be normal again.

Or—this was a bad thought—what if this was normal, and she had been suppressing it for years, pretending to be a normal, stable human in Atlanta? Maybe this was her real mom.

Julie's mouth twisted in a smirk.

No. The business suits and talks of deals were too exciting to Andromeda back then. She was just bored here on the magical, mystical, screwed–up isle of Seelie.

She headed upstairs, dropping her bag on the floor and falling onto her bed, tired from getting up early. Her family would all be back soon enough.

Her room looked the same with the dance posters and bright pillows. But she liked her apartment more. Maybe she was growing up. This room felt like it belonged to a different person now, in only a couple of months. Weird.

At least Rory had left her alone when she got a book and her ear buds out on the plane. Maybe he was learning not to push her all the time. He had been more subdued with her ever since he pushed his mind into hers that night. Maybe it was a turning point for them. But turning to what?

A slight noise made her sit up. Was that music? The low beat of bass was barely audible.

She got up and walked down the hall. Yup, there was music coming from her brother's room. She knocked. There was no response. She pushed the door open. The room was dark, and angry music played softly. Jamie sat on the floor near his door, his head resting on his knees and his long arms wrapped around his legs. His blond hair was lank and greasy against his too–pale skin.

This was new. He wasn't the sort to play soft angry music and pout in his room.

What was going on with him? He hadn't ever been dumped before, but this seemed extreme.

"Why are you up here moping in your room?" Julie asked, laughing. Her brother was so weird sometimes.

"Go away, Ghouls," Jamie mumbled.

"So sweet. I haven't seen you in months, and these are your first words." She sat beside him. He had called her Ghouls, his old nickname for her, so she knew that he actually wanted her to stay. Now if he had called her Julie, she might have paused. That would've been cold.

He looked at her, his blue eyes sad and standing out in a starker, hollower face than she remembered. "Melly won't return any of my calls. Not since the Gathering."

She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Melly was a real—

"You knew this might happen." She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, but he jerked away from her, moving to sit on his bed. "I told you—"

"You told me so," he shot back. "Yeah, I know."

Julie stayed calm. Her brother was still trying to get himself under control. Melissande messing with him right now wasn't just cruel but deadly to him. If the council didn't think he could control his powers, they would have no choice but to kill him. If she happened to run into that girl in the next few days, she was going to punch her perfect, little nose.