The socket wrench slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor. I cursed under my breath and wiped my hands on the rag tucked into my back pocket.
Grease streaked across my knuckles, but I didn't care. The Harley's exhaust system was fighting me like it had a personal grudge. Or maybe I just wasn't focused.
My mind was still spinning from the conversation I had with Nova yesterday.
I couldn't get over the look of fear in her eyes, her voice shaking, the way she looked at me like I was some kind of monster… and then some kind of answer.
She knew now. And she was scared. I won't pretend to be enamored with her but
I hated that look.
"Yo, Lucian," Hank called from the other side of the garage. "You break it again, I swear to God I'll dock your paycheck."
"I didn't break it," I muttered, grabbing the wrench. "It's just being a bitch."
"You're the one working on her. Be gentle," he said, chuckling. "She's older than you, and probably more reliable."
I smirked, only half-listening. The truth was, I liked working here. Hank didn't ask questions. Didn't poke. Didn't pry.
He gave me a roof upstairs, a paycheck every Friday, and a fridge that didn't always stink. That was more than most people had ever done for me.
More than my father ever did.
I adjusted the pipe, tightened the bolt, and leaned back. My forearms ached. My shirt stuck to my back with sweat, and the air in the garage was thick with oil and metal and summer heat.
I grabbed the water bottle off the workbench and chugged half before Hank shouted again.
"You planning on actually finishing that thing today?"
"Give me ten minutes," I called back.
"Ten minutes my ass. That's what you said two hours ago."
Before I could fire back with something sarcastic, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I wiped my hand again and pulled it out, already expecting another spam call. But the name on the screen stopped me cold.
Eleric Voss.
I stared at it for a full second.
Three years. Three damn years. No messages. No calls. Not even a quiet signal.
And now—now—he decides to show up?
The phone kept buzzing.
I walked to the far end of the garage, where Hank wouldn't hear. Then I answered.
"…Father."
There was a pause on the other end. I could hear wind. Distant crows.
"Lucian." His voice was low. Controlled. Exactly the way I remembered it.
"Didn't think you remembered my number."
"You're still my son."
"Not according to the exile you threw me into."
Silence.
For a beat, neither of us spoke. I waited for him to say something that didn't sound like it was dragged out of a script. An apology, maybe. Something that showed he gave a damn.
Instead, he said, "There's an investigation going on."
My heart dropped. "What? Why?"
"The incident in the forest. The fire that luckily had zero casualties, but it has brought unnecessary attention."
I turned slightly, glancing back at Hank, who was messing with the tire pressure machine like nothing was wrong.
I dropped my voice. "It wasn't me."
"I know," Eleric said. "But it happened in the town you live in."
I tensed. "Nova."
"Nova?" he repeated, suspicious.
"She's… someone at school. She shifted."
He went silent again, this time longer.
"You're sure?" he finally said.
"She didn't know what she was until last night. She almost lit the woods up like a matchbook. I had to tell her what she was."
"You told her?"
"She needed to know before she hurt someone. I did what you should've done for me."
His voice dropped an octave. "You have no idea what you're involving yourself in."
"Try me."
"You're not her mentor. You're not her protector."
"You weren't mine either, I guess that's why you tossed me out like I wasn't your flesh and blood."
He ignored that. "You need to come home."
I blinked. "Come where?"
"There's a meeting."
"What kind of meeting?"
"The council is holding a meeting concerning an important matter and You'll be there."
My chest tightened. "They kicked me out. Said I was a disgrace. Now they want me to come back like nothing happened?"
"This isn't a request, Lucian."
I stared at the wall in front of me. The faded posters. The grease-stained floor. The world I'd built for myself after I was cast out from the last one.
"They'll never acknowledge me."
"They don't have to," he said. "They just need you in front of them."
I almost laughed. "To do what? Apologize again? Bow down and grovel?"
"To answer for what's coming."
Something in his voice chilled me. It was flat. Dead serious.
"What is coming?"
Another pause. "Not over the phone."
I looked over my shoulder. Hank caught my eye and raised a brow.
I nodded once, turned back to the wall.
"I don't want anything to do with them," I said, softer now. "You know that."
"And yet, here you are, calling yourself a teacher to a girl who nearly destroyed a forest. You're already involved."
My jaw clenched. "Don't bring her into this."
"She's already in it. Just like you. Just like all of us. Fire doesn't sleep, Lucian. It spreads."
I ran a hand through my hair. My heart was pounding harder than it should've been.
"When?"
"Tomorrow. Sundown. You know where."
The line went dead.
I pulled the phone away, stared at it like it might tell me what the hell that was supposed to mean.
A meeting. With the fucking council.
Damn it.
"Hey!" Hank called. "You gonna finish that bike or start talking to yourself full-time?"
I walked back over, trying to shake the edge in my voice. "Sorry. That was—my dad."
"Didn't sound like a social call," Hank said, eyeing me.
"He's not the social type."
"Family's a bitch like that sometimes." He tossed me a rag. "You okay?"
I nodded, even though I wasn't.
Because nothing about this was okay.
The past I'd buried just called me back. The council—the same people who stripped me of my rights, my name, everything—now wanted a meeting.
And the only reason they'd do that is if something bad was brewing.
I shivered at the thought of what I might find.