Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Eight

Haidan Tariq didn't like many things. It was the consequence of working in retail for the past few years. He was an apprentice mechanic and there were a lot of people out there protective of their cars. He found the ones who named them were the most protective; they didn't want anything happening to their precious "Pig", "Boyfriend", or "Dracarys" - they were the cars he had helped fix this week.

He had intended on spending the weekend collecting firewood for his family and relaxing, but the beginning quickly turned chaotic. He'd met Lily, then Jack, then Niall in the span of an hour. Three other supernaturals like him. He'd thought he was alone in his curse.

They had answers to the questions he'd been asking for the past year - since he woke up one morning for prayer and he felt his skin flare with the rising sun.

He'd avoided praying in public since. His mother thought he was straying from his beliefs, that his foundations were crumbling, but Haidan didn't know how to tell his own mother fire lived through his veins.

He was raised Muslim, believing in kindness, love, and only one being greater than everyone. He was told about prophets and angels, demons and sins, but no one told him about the supernatural. Haidan had thrown it aside and not listened to myths nor legends - why would he pay attention to them when he had the real thing at his side?

Haidan stared at his ceiling while lying in on his bed. How did he balance faith in something greater than humanity when he was greater in another way? A phoenix, if Lily spoke true. A phoenix, a creature of fire. Dangerous, chaotic, and completely real.

Since Lily said he was a phoenix it was as though the wool had been pulled from his eyes. He knew what he was, if she was as truthful as she claimed. It was so different from what he'd been told to be his whole life.

The supernatural were real - he was real - and he needed to know everything. Haidan just didn't want to go through it alone.

Haidan drew a deep breath in before letting it go, forcing his legs to move. He had been treading unfamiliar terrain for a year before last week when he'd used his fire abilities to stop a dreadful storm from hitting his family. His mother had been outside with a candle, calling him in. He wouldn't let anything happen to her - secrecy be damned. He didn't regret saving her life by unveiling his hidden curse.

She hadn't spoken to him since she saw the fire in his hands, since his eyes changed from deep brown to bright orange - that, Haidan did regret.

Haidan stepped into the living room, his hands brushing the smooth walls, dodging the pictures hung up. The crayon drawings his little sister Mila had done in her youth were stuck to the fridge as he walked through to the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Mila doing her homework at the dining table.

"Haidan!" Mila beamed. "Frozen 2 comes out next month!"

"Does it?" Haidan put the bag of firewood next to the doorway and crouched next to her. "Well we'll have to watch all the Disney films to be prepared then. I've forgotten what it's all about!"

"No you haven't!" Mila giggled. "We watched it last week!"

"It's about a reindeer with ice powers, right? His name's Olaf?" Haidan put his finger to his lips in thought. "And Hans is the good guy?"

"No!" Mila squeaked, her homework forgotten as she swivelled in the chair to face her brother. "Olaf's the snowman! You bought me Olaf for my birthday Haidan!"

"I thought I bought you Kristoff?" Haidan widened his eyes. "To match your little chameleon from Tangled, Sebastian?"

Mila laughed. "N-No, that's all wrong!"