You can catch up and read part one here!

3.

"What is your deal?!" Cora growls. Her wings puff up behind her as she stands, reacting to her annoyance and anger, and Rowan falls off of his pillow in his scramble to back away from her.

"Wh-what –?" His eyes are wide, and he's shoved himself into the back corner of the van, as far away from her as possible. A little part of her feels bad, knowing that her temper is once again scaring people away, but she really doesn't care. This guy has been with them for a month now, and his shadiness has gone on long enough.

"I know you've been through some stuff, but in order for me to trust you, you have to let me know what the heck is up with you."

Cora rips the headset off of her head and sets it back on the computer. Her friends will be fine without her monitoring for a couple minutes, they've done this kind of infiltration before. This guy needs her full attention.

She whirls back around, stalking over as well as she can with her wings fluffed up in the cramped space of the van. "Alright. Here's how this is going to go. I ask questions, and you answer them. Got it?"

Rowan nods mutely, looking petrified and not making eye contact. Good. He'll be less likely to try anything stupid.

"What are your powers?"

"Hydrokinesis," he whispers.

"Water? Bull crap," Cora hisses. "How did you freeze us the day you woke up in the infirmary? We couldn't move."

"I can control people! I mean, I can control the water in them." His voice is pleading. "I swear, I'm telling the truth. The human body's almost 70% water."

He looks like he's two seconds away from crying if she doesn't believe him. She almost feels bad. But, an elemental being able to control their power that precisely? That's insane!

"Okay. Fine," she relents. "What about Lynn? Why can't she get a read on your emotions?"

"I... what?"

"Lynn. She's an empath. And you're the only person in her entire life that she isn't able to get an emotional read on."

Lynn, as much as Cora loves her, is too naïve. Too trusting. She's managed to convince Trent and Seb that Rowan is harmless. Cora doesn't get it! Lynn keeps insisting that Rowan will "open up to us when he's ready." Totally.

"I don't... I don't know...?"

Cora gets down on a knee and plants her hand on the wall by his shoulder, caging him in and leaning close to his face. "If I find out you're lying to me..."

Rowan flinches, his breath catching audibly in his throat as he shakes his head once. Cora suspects that he legitimately stopped breathing for a second. She pulls back, mildly concerned. There's a single, glistening trail blazing its way down one cheek. He's tense, but unmoving.

It's like he's bracing for a hit.

Cora backs off. She didn't... she didn't mean to freak him out that bad. She wanted to scare him, sure, but... she wouldn't have hurt him. But he doesn't know that. The thought causes a weird tightening in her chest, and she frowns.

"Chill out a little," she says, her words coming out maybe a bit rougher than she intends. "I'm not gonna hit you."

His eyes open. His gaze is somehow simultaneously wary, exhausted, and disbelieving. Cora should apologize. She knows she should, it's what Lynn would want her to do. Instead, she stares at a spot by his foot and says,

"I'm just looking after my friends, okay? I've... we've been betrayed too many times." She looks up and meets his gaze now. "One last question. One more, and I'll leave you alone."

When he nods mutely, she gestures at his wrist. "The bandages. You try to cover them up. Why? What is on your wrist?"

He sighs and pulls up his sleeve, staring sightlessly at the dirty strips on his arm. Finally, he says,

"On my wrist... is a countdown to when I die. I don't like looking at it."

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.