Page 98 of Quiet
He looked inside and pulled out his worst memories and fed it into the power pouring out of him, unleashing everything upon the people who’d done it to him. He harnessed the fear, self-loathing, and pain of not being loved by the people whose job it had been to do so and dumped it all where it belonged.
He poured more and more memories into them. His family could have them all. It was theirs now. Isa didn’t want them anymore.
All three of them cried out, writhing and falling to the floor as his magic took hold. Now they would know what it felt like to be Isa. Thomas was the last to fall. He kept his hateful gaze locked onto Isa until he was forced to his hands and knees by the magic.
Isa turned to walk out of the mess Briar had made of the doorway, planning on leaving his father, sister, and mother behind. Trapped in a nightmare world of their own creation.
But . . .
He paused.
If he left them that way forever, it wouldn’t fix what they’d done to him. It would only leave a nasty place inside, ready to breed something dark and dangerous. Something like the thing that dwelled inside his father.
Isa would let them go once they drove away. But they would get to keep his memories. They would always know what it felt like to have grown up raised by them.
He walked out the doorway, leaning heavily on Briar, using his injuries as leverage to get Briar to leave without punishing Thomas further. He wanted to keep punching things but wanted to take care of Isa more.
“Isa, honey. What did you do?” Will caught up to Isa on the porch.
“Only what they deserved.”
Isa picked up Will’s thought that even the nicest people in the world could be pushed past their limits. He didn’t hear any fear in his friend’s emotions. Only pride and awe. His pumpkin was growing up.
“I’m not a pumpkin,” Isa said just to be a little shit.
Will started a little but recovered quickly. “No, but calling you an asshole seems wrong when your face looks like it’s been used for baseball practice.”
Briar’s anger spiked again, and Isa soothed it away with a kiss. He was really starting to get the hang of this fairy magic.
* * *
Dealing with the police took forever. If it hadn’t been for Cedar, Isa wasn’t sure Briar would have gotten away with injuring Thomas. It didn’t hurt that Isa had left the fairy magic on his family during the process. Cedar’s evidence, Isa’s battered body, and Thomas’s ravings about the demon inside his son had convinced the officers on the scene to take him away.
Isa hadn’t even had to pull out his trump card. But on the drive home he’d explained his plan and his findings to everyone. From Briar’s lap, of course. He had a feeling he would be there for some time to come. He would allow it. The head pets were really nice after all.
Cedar had been very interested in Isa’s discovery and insisted he send him the pictures.
“I’ll take care of everything, Isa. When I’m done, they’ll never be able to touch you again.”
Isa fell asleep against Briar’s chest to the sound of Cedar talking about restraining orders and putting Isa’s father away for fraud and assault with the intent to kill. Before he drifted off, he realized he’d never removed the fairy magic from his family. Maybe after their trial he’d do something about it.
Epilogue
BRIAR
“Your fan club is watching you,” Briar signed to his brother, laughing silently when Cedar stepped smoothly away from the sliding glass door and ducked out of sight of hisfan club.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
Unlike his brother, Briar had no compunction about being seen by the inhabitants in the backyard. In fact, he was fully invested in being able to keep his eyes on Isa at all times. Briar was still touchy about losing him for two days.
“They’re both nice people.”
“They’re also a little young, don’t you think?” Cedar asked, finally giving up on pretending he wasn’t being stalked by Will and Alice.
The two had become inseparable since they’d met at the party, combining to create a well-oiled chaos machine. One that had seemingly set its sights on Briar’s reclusive, work-obsessed brother.
Briar hadn’t paid attention to anything other than Isa the night they’d rescued him from his family. He was still finding it challenging to pay attention to anything else. It had been two weeks since that night. Isa’s bruises were fading, but the haunted look in his eyes was taking longer to go.
