Chapter: 4: A Promise of Secrets

Joy spread warmth to my cold limbs when my eyes caught the face hidden beneath the wild nest of jet-black hair.

“Koa!” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his broad neck in an overwhelming embrace. “I didn’t think you were supposed to be back for another two weeks!”

His wide shoulders muffled my voice. He smelled like coal and smoke, but beneath all that, I still recognized the scent of my childhood friend.

“They let me go home a little earlier than expected,” Koa explained and pulled me closer.

I allowed myself to enjoy the moment for a few seconds before I pulled back to look at him.

It had been months since I’d last seen him. It was a wonderful surprise to find him at our doorstep so soon, but even in this dim light, I could see he’d lost weight.

His cheeks were hollow, and his jawbones looked even sharper than usual. His messy hair had grown past his bushy eyebrows, almost hiding his dark eyes.

Spots of soot and dirt stained his pale face, and the black locks were probably hiding even more filth than I could see.

A miner’s job wasn’t glorious. It wasn’t even decent, but I’d at least expected them to be adequately fed. They needed proper nutrition to perform the way they were expected to.

At least, I thought so.

I didn’t want to ruin the nice moment with my questions. I’d have time for that later.

Mom’s second son was home, and they were still sitting, unaware, in the kitchen.

I grabbed Koa’s soiled hand and dragged him through the living room toward the dining table.

His skin felt rough and scarred underneath the dirt. The feeling made my stomach cramp and my eyebrows cock.

A series of images flashed before my eyes, forcing me to imagine the worst possible scenarios of what Koa could be going through on a regular day in the mines.

“Look who I found!” I exclaimed, pushing Koa in front of me.

“Big Brother Koa!” Tristan shouted, an excited smile growing on his face as he climbed down from his chair. He nearly turned the entire table upside down in his quest to reach Koa.

“Where have you been?” Tristan asked, raising his arms for Koa to pick him up. “I lost another tooth. See?”

Tristan grabbed his lower lip and pulled it down to expose the cavity of his missing tooth.

I chuckled as Koa finally picked him up.

“I’m sorry, little guy,” Koa said, grunting as he adjusted Tristan to sit comfortably, “but I have to work so I can take care of my own family.”

His words made my heart ache with guilt.

I’d known Koa my entire life, and I’d never seen him break that tough exterior in front of anyone other than me. Not once.

Koa’s dad left them half a year before Koa reached the age of thirteen. Koa then became the man of the household, responsible for the lives of a broken mother and his three younger sisters.

Ania hadn’t been dealing so well with the unannounced disappearance of her husband. Not even Mom—Ania’s best friend—had been able to pull her from the grave she’d buried herself in.

Koa, however, had refused to give up. He’d stayed by her side through countless nights of endless screaming.

Ania had blamed herself for the loss of her husband because she hadn’t been able to give him what he truly wanted: a child that could make everything in their lives better—a child like me.

Most families in this neighborhood didn’t have more than two children—an extra pair of hands for work meant an extra mouth to feed.

In Koa’s family, however, there were four children.

It was four more mouths to feed, but it gave them a bigger chance of conceiving a child destined to receive the gift. Fate, unfortunately, had other plans for them.

The pressure of a large family had supposedly crushed their father’s spirit.

Finally, his patience had run out, and although their youngest daughter had been no more than five years old, he’d left them without as much as a proper goodbye.

Koa had always looked up to him before that, so it broke the boy when he read the note on the kitchen counter. After that, Koa became a man, and he’d never spoken a word about his father since.

I could only imagine the pain Koa must’ve felt when he realized he’d never been good enough for his own blood.

During the first couple of years, I’d wanted Koa to talk to me and depend on me to help him move on, but he’d hardly been able to look at me.

He already knew about my powers back then, and knowing that the world had granted me powers instead of Koa—the one thing that could’ve made their father happy—had to have cut some deep wounds in his soul.

Koa eventually realized how idiotic it was to be angry with me instead of his deadbeat dad, but a child’s thoughts are not always driven by logic. I’d not asked about the bastard since, either.

“Why don’t you sit down, Koa?” Mom said, pulling a reasonably clean plate from the cabinet to prepare another seat. “We still have a little dinner left, and we—”

“Thank you very much, Elia,” Koa said, cutting her off before she could pull him to the chair, “but I have to get home.

“Sammy has her first client tomorrow, and I was hoping to take her to the corner store for some new sculpting tools before they close for the day.”

Sammy was Koa’s second sister.

She was only sixteen, but she’d already found her passion, and she was good at it. It probably wouldn’t be many years before we saw her creations on display in fancy galleries.

We had some of her early work on display all over the house. They would hopefully be worth a fortune someday.

Koa kissed my parents goodbye and hugged Tristan one last time before I followed him back to the entrance.

Our neighborhood might be quiet, but the darkness hid many dangerous things. Predators with yellow eyes could be searching for easy prey, or unexpected visitors could be roaming the shadows.

“Koa,” I said, leaning my shoulder against the door frame and wrapping my arms around me.

Koa looked back at me, his dark eyes sparkling like stars in the dim kitchen light.

I wanted to tell him to stay safe, but he would roll his eyes and laugh at me like he always did when I tried to care for him. So, I swallowed the words and pulled my lips into a smile.

“By the river tomorrow? Same place as always.” I said.

I had so much to tell him.

Koa smiled and pulled me in for one last hug. “After dinner. Same time as always,” he said, pressing my face into the crook of his neck.

“Deal,” I said, chuckling. “Remember to say hi to Sammy and the others for me.”

It stung my heart when Koa pulled back to look at me. “I wouldn’t dream about forgetting it,” he said, putting the dirty helmet back on before he let go of my hand.

“See you tomorrow!” he shouted, spreading his fingers to wave at me.

“By the river!” I shouted back as his silhouette merged with the shadows.

I sighed heavily when I closed the door behind me.

It worried me to see him leave alone, but the smile on my face wouldn’t fade.

It hadn’t been more than twelve weeks since I’d last seen him, but time had passed so slowly without him here to make me laugh.

“Koa still looks good,” Dad said when I stepped into the kitchen again. “A healthy, well-mannered young man.”

He turned a piece of paper with the word ~patience~ written across it for Tristan to spell out loud.

I rolled my eyes and sighed a breath of defeat. “Not this again, Dad,” I said, grabbing the back of my chair. “It’s not like that with Koa. It’s like… It’s like being in love with Tristan. It’s just not right.”

Tristan frowned as he heard my words.

“Exactly,” I said, pointing at Tristan’s descriptive grimace.

Mom then decided to intervene before Dad could defend himself.

“Koa might be your best friend, Will, but your father isn’t wrong,” she said, placing a jug of relatively clean water on the table.

“Koa would be a fine choice for a husband when the time comes. You’re twenty, and we haven’t exactly seen you invite any other boys into—”

“Mom!” I exclaimed, my cheeks burning. “That’s none of your business. Things like that shouldn’t be rushed.”

Truth was, I had been thinking about it.

I was twenty years old, and I’d never seen as much as a shadow of a potential relationship.

An intimate relationship with Koa had once vaguely crossed my mind, but it had been too strange.

He was my best friend—the one I could rely on at all times.

I needed him like that, and a lover’s relationship might ruin it. I didn’t want to take that risk in case it didn’t work out between us.

Then another thought grazed my mind.

“Actually,” I said hesitantly, bracing myself for their reactions. “I met a boy today.”

“Oh,” Dad said, straightening his back as if that particular pose would give him super-hearing. Mom didn’t say anything, but I knew she was listening too.

“Yeah,” I said, looking down to pick my nails. “His name is Milo. I met him today when I almost—”

Mom nearly choked as she took a sip of water. And probably not because of the foul aftertaste that would linger on your tongue for hours.

“Milo?” Mom said once she’d caught her breath.

“Is there something wrong with this Milo boy, honey?” Dad asked, cocking his eyebrows into a suspecting expression.

“No, nothing,” Mom said. “Milo is a-a lovely boy. It’s just—”

“Just what?” I asked, crossing my arms.

Was she going to tell Dad about Milo’s inappropriate use of his suit? Would she really dare do that to Dad’s protective heart?

“I just—I’ve never really thought of Milo as a possible part of our family,” she explained. “He has a very clear vision of his future and what he wants to achieve with his life.

“With a secret like ours… I’m just not sure if he’d understand.”

Our secrets were another reason I’d never cared to consider introducing a boy to our family.

Koa and the people in this room were the only ones who knew what I was really capable of. Bringing a new person into our lives would complicate things and possibly jeopardize us all.

It was a terrifying thought, but I also knew that I couldn’t stay with my family like this forever.

“Maybe meeting someone with a plan isn’t bad,” I said and shrugged, not daring to look into Mom’s brown eyes. “Maybe a plan and something to distract me is what I need to stay in control of these powers.”

I was only partly joking.

My powers were growing faster than I dared to recognize. I could feel them begging me to let them roar every day, and it was becoming more and more challenging to resist temptation.

Occasionally, I’d even caught myself contemplating sneaking into the forest in the dark to give in.

I’d kept my powers under control so far, but I had an unsettling feeling that pure discipline wouldn’t cut it much longer.

“No one will ever be able to control you!” Tristan suddenly exclaimed, startling us all.

A wicked smile spread on my face as I began approaching him from behind while he was distracted by Mom’s laugh.

“That’s right!” I laughed, tickling him until tears sprung from his eyes. “Because I am a master of the wind, and if anyone as much as—”

“Willow!” Mom hissed, her eyes widening as they frantically turned to search the darkness outside our windows.

I immediately realized my careless mistake and let Tristan go. “Sorry, Mom,” I muttered, lowering my eyes.

“They were just playing, Elia,” Dad said as Mom pulled the thin curtains.

Mom sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for you to stop playing, but Willow…darling,” she said, squatting before me.

“There are ears everywhere, and if the guardians ever find out that you’re an Iridis… I don’t even dare to think of the consequences.”

The dungeons… I knew.

I’d said that bit much too loud for it to be safe. The walls in this neighborhood were thin, and the one thing that people loved more than food around here was gossip.

Rumors of an illegal Iridis hiding in the poor streets of the Bronze Region would spread like wildfire until the guardians finally heard the whispers of that same rumor.

I’d never hated my family for not sending me to an academy, but it hadn’t stopped me from imagining what could’ve been if I’d had a master to teach me.

The thought sent sparks of thrill scurrying across my skin. The emotion alone was enough for an impossible wind to graze my cheek, which made my chest grow tight.

I needed to figure something out soon; otherwise, everything around me would, in time, turn into a wasteland of nothing more than past memories between the remaining ruins.