Celery and Fairden dropped them off in the hospital parking lot, and, after exchanging hasty goodbyes, Kayden and Blaze ran in through the emergency room entrance. Kayden lied to a nurse, telling the woman in purple scrubs that she and Blaze were Lexi's siblings, and they were escorted through the hospital to Lexi's room. It was just one of several small cubicles shielded off from the rest of the emergency ward by a grey curtain.

When Kayden stormed through the curtain, she saw Lexi sitting on top of the bed. She had expected to see her wearing a hospital gown or hooked up to tubes and bags of IV fluids, but she was still dressed in her normal clothes and looked perfectly fine. "What happened?" Kayden demanded.

Kayden's mother stood up from a chair. She smoothed her hands on her jeans. "Lexi wasn't feeling well. She started having chest pains and felt dizzy. She couldn't breathe—"

"What's wrong? What did the doctor say?" Kayden cut her off. Her heart hadn't stopped racing since she had received the phone call at the café.

Lexi couldn't look her in the eye. She played with the thin sheets and her cheeks flushed red, as if she had liberally applied blush to them. "I had a panic attack," she said softly.

Kayden blinked. "That's it? A panic attack?"

"It was scary," Mrs. Lee said, sending her daughter a stern look.

"But it's not that serious, right? Why did she have to go to the emergency room?"

"It lasted a while and the symptoms are very similar to a heart attack," her mother said. "The staff admitted us immediately, but after a few minutes, her heart rate slowed down. The doctor is going to give her an EKG just to make sure things are fine, and then they'll discharge her."

Lexi hung her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to scare everyone. It just caught me off guard." She looked between Blaze and Kayden. "And I'm sorry you had to leave breakfast early."

"It's fine," Blaze said. "It's good to know you're okay."

Kayden nodded with him, but her lips were pressed into a line. She had been terrified that something terrible had happened to her cousin. But now, instead of feeling relief, she felt drained. "Do you know what caused it?" she asked quietly.

Lexi looked down and shook her head, but Kayden didn't believe her; she had a feeling that Helio's absence was affecting her cousin more than they all thought.

Kayden did not want to be in the cubicle any longer.

"Do you mind if I sit out in the lobby?" she asked.

"Go ahead," Lexi murmured.

Kayden left without waiting for Blaze. In the waiting room, she found a green padded chair and spent a few minutes staring at a rack of magazines without picking one out to read. The other people in the room, people nursing wounds and breathing in through clenched teeth, swam past the corners of her vision, mere blurs of colors and shapes.

Blaze eventually materialized in a chair beside her. "You okay?" he whispered.

Kayden sighed, air hissing out through her teeth. She had been ignoring Blaze for five days now; she was used to deflecting his questions or dismissing them entirely. But now, with her cousin on her mind, her words slipped out without a second thought. "Why is he like this?"

"Who?"

"Helio!" she said, clenching her fist so hard that her nails dug into her palm. "He's such an ass, but he seemed to like Lexi... at least for a bit. I just can't figure him out."

Blaze looked down at his hands. He seemed to be thinking about something, chewing on his thoughts, before he finally said, "You have to understand that things haven't always been easy for Helio."

Kayden laughed, a short bark, and Blaze shook his head. "Hear me out," he said, looking her in the eyes.

Kayden pressed her lips together. Blaze looked serious, and a bit sad. After a moment, she nodded.

Blaze breathed in. "I've told you before that the Congregation isn't always stationed in one place; they move every few years so that they can focus on issues in different areas of the country. The year Helio and I were born, the Congregation was stationed in NYC. Helio's dad and mom were both from New York, so they bought an apartment together. That worked out until Helio was five, when then the Congregation relocated to Boston and Mr. Ruke had to move. That wasn't too bad; he came back to New York almost every weekend, and Helio's mom and my mom used to swap us back and forth every few days so we always had someone to play with. I think it made it less stressful for Helio's mom, since she was kind of a single mother for a bit without her husband around."

Blaze frowned. "But the year we turned ten, that's when things changed. The Congregation moved again, this time to Phoenix, so Helio rarely saw his dad. Maybe once a month if he could. And my mom... That was the year my mom passed away."

"I'm sorry," Kayden whispered, her voice barely audible.

Blaze was silent for a moment, and Kayden watched as his face fought back what she knew must be a wave of emotion. But he kept it under control and continued.

"And being ten... that's one of the most chaotic years as a potestas. Your powers just don't make sense, don't do what you want them to do. Helio tried to help me, but I still couldn't get it and I was devastated about my mom. And although he didn't mention it much, Helio was struggling too. He was always better than me at casting, always quicker to get a new concept or learn a new language. But he wasn't perfect. His power still got out of hand at times. He never talked about this with me, but one day, when we were eleven or twelve, his mom showed up at my apartment in tears. She went to talk to my father in his office, and I overhead their conversation through the door. Apparently Helio had lost control, shattered a window or a vase or something. And his mother was scared. Of him.

"I think that's when he started closing himself off, when he realized he couldn't connect with his mother because she didn't know how to handle him and he couldn't connect with me because... well, I was a mess." Blaze looked down at his hands. "Sometimes, I feel like Helio is the way he is because of me."

Kayden opened her mouth, about to protest that, when Blaze shut her up with one finger and a shake of his head. "I was pretty needy at that time. I needed a lot of help and didn't really think about anyone else. So when we were fourteen, Helio switched out of all my classes. At Sir Mallard's, all the students are randomly assigned to one of three groups: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. We'd always been Betas together, but one day, he filed for a transfer into Alpha. He said it was because the classes in Alpha were more challenging, but I don't think that was the reason he switched. I think he wanted to get away from me, away from everyone he knew, and start over."

Blaze rubbed his arm, his eyes now locked on the magazine rack Kayden had been looking at before. "I can't say I know why he turned into such a dick in Alpha, and I can't say that his past justifies the way he's acting, but I think it makes sense on some level. He has a huge problem with relationships and a huge problem with non-ers. And Lexi... she's both of those things. Maybe he just finally realized that."

Kayden didn't know what to say so she just remained silent, picking at the thin scab that had formed on her elbow from a scratch she had received out in the fields. On one level, Blaze's explanation made sense. On the other hand, Helio's life didn't matter to her; Lexi's life did. And it wasn't right for Helio to ruin her cousin's life, no matter his past.

Their shared silence was suddenly broken when Blaze squinted and tapped Kayden on the arm. "What's Walter doing here?" he asked.

"What?" Kayden said, following his gaze. Sure enough, Walter Voyle was sitting on the other side of the waiting room, chatting with a man with a full beard and an even fuller belly. The other man was writing in a small black book, erasing marks and blowing eraser dust into the air.

Blaze's breath caught in his throat, an audible sound that made Kayden look at him. His eyes were huge, locked onto the man. "That's Joseph Beckett."

"Who?"

"He's an illusion-crafter. He's... famous." Blaze looked like he was at a loss for words. "I follow his work online. He's absolutely brilliant. I... I need to meet him."

And before Kayden could react, Blaze had stood up and begun to cross the room. Kayden felt the tug on her stomach as he moved away, and she followed him with a sigh.

---

As I mentioned before, this was a chapter I changed a lot. I actually added in the whole bit about Helio's past. So please let me know what you think and let me know if you see any errors!

How do you feel about Helio now that you know about his past? Do you feel bad for him? Or do you still think he's a jerk for avoiding Lexi? Let me know! (Helio is actually one of my favorite characters...shh!)

Thanks for all the support and please consider voting if you enjoyed it :)

<3 Bdicocco