Chapter 21

Kaida tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was a shy kid and had trouble making friends. Part of me thought that's what he wasan imaginary friend I'd conjured. My parents were nice people and very supportive, but they were...distant. We'd often spend hours in the same room and not say anything. They gave me a lot of space, more than most parents would give a child." She huffed a sarcastic laugh. "I could've snuck out of the house to have an affair with Ozzy Ozbourne and snort eighty grams of coke up my nose, and they wouldn't have been the wiser."

She glanced at the cliffs in the distance and the moonlight glittering across the inky water. "I had no inkling of what to do when my powers kicked in as a teenager. The few friends I did have began to distance themselves when I stopped wanting to hang out. I was already considered a freak. The last thing I needed was to prove to my peers they were right. Worse, I was afraid I'd hurt someone."

Refocusing on the flames, she tugged the