Chapter 8: The First Test
The first test came two nights later in a safe house on the edge of the city.
Ethan woke to the sound of coughing from the next room. Walter was ill—old lungs that had never recovered from years on the run. The coughing turned wet, then desperate. Ethan slipped out of bed and found his grandfather slumped against the headboard, face gray, breath rattling.
The gift surged before he could stop it.
He placed his hand on Walter’s chest and whispered the words his mother had taught him.
“Come back.”
The cost was immediate. Blood from his nose. A wave of dizziness that made the room tilt. Walter’s breathing eased. Color returned to his face. But when Ethan pulled his hand away, he collapsed to the floor, vision narrowing to a tunnel.
Walter caught him, voice rough with fear.
“You shouldn’t have.”
Ethan’s voice was faint. “You were dying.”
Walter held him until the dizziness passed, then made him promise never to use the gift on family again unless there was no other choice.
The promise lasted three days.
On the third night, Horizon Pavilion found them.
Not with guns. With a quiet team that cut the power and filled the house with gas that made the world go soft. Ethan woke to Walter shaking him, voice urgent.
“They’re here. Run.”
They ran through the back alley, Walter slowing, Ethan supporting him. The gift pulled at him again—Walter’s heart stuttering, lungs failing under the strain. Ethan fought it, but when Walter stumbled and fell, the pull became too strong.
He dropped to his knees and placed his hand on his grandfather’s chest.
“Come back.”
The cost this time was worse. Blood poured from his nose. His vision went black at the edges. Walter’s breathing steadied, but Ethan collapsed beside him, the world narrowing to a single point of pain.
When he woke, they were in a new safe house. Walter was watching him with tears in his eyes.
“You can’t keep saving me,” the old man said. “It’s killing you.”
Ethan wiped blood from his face.
“You’re all I have.”
Walter held him.
“And you are all I have left of her. So we find another way.”
The gift had saved them again.
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But each time it took more.
And Horizon Pavilion was still coming.
