“Let me guess, because of me?”
Kalen’s brows furrowed, but he said nothing else.
“Okay, well, can you tell me why everyone calls me a traitor?”
“Because of conspiracy theories surrounding the plague.”
“Conspiracy theories?”
“I can’t. That is all you get,” Kalen growled, resting his head back on the couch. “This is so stupid. Believe me, if I could, I would tell you everything.”
“I know,” I told him, gripping his knee.
“Okay, your turn. How about you answer some of my questions?” Kalen asked, and I chewed my lip. “Might help get you some answers,” he continued.
“You’re going to see if I can answer my own questions?” I asked, and he nodded.
I shrugged. What could it hurt if it meant learning more about them? Why not? The door opened, and I almost sighed when Darius entered the room, knowing how this strange game would be over.
Chapter 51
However, Kalen still asked,and I noticed Darius fall onto the bed. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my skull.
“Tell me something. You remember the night of the fire?”
I blinked at Kalen, wondering how that helped anything. Yet the look on his face told me he was trying to prove something to Darius or maybe to me, I wasn’t sure.
“I remember coming home sick from school. I think I got food poisoning,” I told him, and he nodded.
I thought back to that day, but it was kind of hazy. My brows creased as I tried to think. “My mom was angry; she and my father were arguing, and I threw up on the floor.”
Why couldn’t I remember after that? I remembered my father cleaning the mess up. I also remembered my mother giving me a drink, but that wasn’t it until the actual fire.
“What else do you remember?” Kalen asked, leaning forward, and I noticed Darius hop off the bed and walk over to us. He dropped into the armchair across from us and loaded more wood into the fireplace, though I knew he had only come over to listen.
“I remember the smoke woke me, and I remember calling out to my father. He called back and told me to hold on. That he was trying to get to me,” I answered.
“What else?” Kalen nodded.
“Just trying to move, trying to get to the door, but I felt so heavy, and my lungs burned. I think I crawled to the door,” I told him.
“Anything else?” Kalen asked when the bathroom door opened. Tobias stepped out, followed by a billow of steam.
“I remember burning, which must have been my side. Then waking up to see Darius standing in front of me, his hands out. My mother’s screams when the roof fell in and the forest behind the house caught fire but that is it.” I averted my eyes when Tobias dropped his towel, catching a glimpse of his ass as he slid some gray tracksuit pants on.
Kalen chuckled as my face flushed. Darius raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing, nor did he add anything about that night. He simply sat back and watched Kalen and me.
Looking over at Tobias, I stared at the burns on his back and his skin, patchy in places. “Your burns. Why didn’t you heal them, and why are they so bad?” I asked.
He looked at me over his shoulder before turning to Darius, who nodded at him.
“Because it took all of our power to heal you,” Tobias said simply.
I looked at Darius, who had an indecipherable expression on his face.
“Your back would have looked ten times worse than his and your legs. When we got to the house, the roof over your bedroom was partially collapsed. You were trapped on the floor with a beam on you. We dragged you out just before the entire room caved in after breaking the wards that trapped you in there,” Darius finally said.
“Wards?” I asked, a little confused.