“What are we going to do with her? It’s not safe here.” The black haired man, the one that held me back from the fire asked. Uncle Gavin’s eyes flicked to me, meeting my dull eyes. The archway let a sliver of light fall across my face.

“Ezra, you and Rowan take her to France, to the family’s home there. She’ll be safe. Protect her and train her but wait until she’s detoxed and recovered. She needs refreshing on her spell and combat skills. They’ll both be needed for what’s to come.”

“Yes, sir.” Ezra said.

“Oh, and Ezra,” Uncle Gavin’s eyes bored into mine, holding so much worry it clenched my shattered heart. “Don’t let her think she’s alone. We’ll update you if we manage to locate any of the family.”

“Yes, sir” Ezra whispered. Uncle Gavin turned and left, probably to make his way back to my house. After the door shut, the blond fae that had been quiet until now muttered something. Ezra just shot him a glare then made his way softly into my room. His eyes softened and he smiled weakly down at me.

“It’ll be okay.” He whispered. I looked away from him and let my eyes drop to the floor. His thumbs wiped the trial my tears had left off my cheek. “I’ll keep you safe Logan.”

I didn’t reply. I was too tired too reply, too tired to cry, too tired to move. My body was craving the drugs and my heart was gone, burnt in the fire that took my family. He let his hand linger on my cheek and I closed my eyes. His touch was familiar but I couldn’t place how. Not that it mattered anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

*********

The small village slid past us as we drove. Children laughed and ran around while their parents watched protectively. Every face I saw was the face of a family member that was gone. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them for the rest of the drive.

As soon as we got to the house I went upstairs and locked myself in my room. I didn’t want to see anyone. I looked around and felt tears well up. Four bunk beds still stood from the time when we all had to share this room. Mom and dad would take us here every summer while we were growing up. Sometimes we’d also spend Christmas in this house. I began to take a step but the room spun and my stomach clenched.

It had been 24 hours since I had put anything in my system and I was a plane about to crash nose first into the ground. I rushed to the bathroom and threw up anything that was left in my stomach. I leaned against the cool tiled wall and sat there. I was crashing, my family was dead, I was alone. Tears wouldn’t fall. I was empty.

“Logan,” I heard Ezra’s soft voice call, “Unlock the door please.” I ignored him and crawled over to the nearest bed, pulling myself onto it. Even moving was hard. Shaking overtook me as I lay there and itching. I knew withdrawals would kick in soon, and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

“Logan I’m not going away.” Ezra called again. “I’ll stay out here all night if I have to.” I ignored him still. His familiarity was still confusing to me. I couldn’t place his face anywhere. I heard him sigh. “Fine, I’ll sit out here and talk. You can’t fool yourself into thinking you’re alone Logan.”

Sure enough he sat there and talked to me through the door. All. Night. Even as the moon rose high into the sky and began its fall back down he talked. I don’t know what of. I wasn’t paying attention. Even when I would get up to go throw up or when the withdrawals began to kick in and I would fade out of consciousness for a while, he would still be talking when I came to again. Somewhere, deep beneath this numbness, I was glad he never left. It was comforting to know I wasn’t alone.

I’m not sure how much time passed. I was in a haze, going through my withdrawals from the drugs I had been on for nearly two years. Sometimes I would come to and see food setting just inside the door, but I was always alone in the room. I wasn’t sure how they got the door open I was just glad they didn’t stay. Through it all Ezra’s voice persisted. Sometimes he spoke, sometimes he sang, but it was always there.

One day I woke and my nausea was gone. The aches and pains I had been feeling, the bouts of unconsciousness, they were all just gone. I still felt like I had gone through some major sickness, my body was still tired, but it wasn’t bad. Ezra’s voice still rambled outside my door and for the first time since I got there I stood up and walked towards it. I rested my hand on the door knob and took a deep breath, slowly turning it. Ezra’s voice stopped.

I pushed the door open and found Ezra on the other side. He looked tired but there was a smile on his face.

“I knew you’d come out sometime.” He said. I looked down. “Do you want to come downstairs? I can make you some breakfast, whatever you want. Rowan stocked the fridge full with everything you could think of.”

My stomach did ache from hunger. I had barely touched any of the food they had left for me. I nodded and followed him downstairs.

“You’ve got a couple more days to recover. Then we have a meeting. You’re welcome to sit it on it if you want so you can get caught up on everything. It’s been almost two weeks since we got here.” He smiled as he dug through the fridge. “How do waffles sound?” He looked back at me. I just nodded again. His smile grew wider and he pulled the ingredients out and began to cook.

A fire was spreading through my body. I wasn’t sure what his eyes held, or how he felt about babysitting me. I wasn’t sure if they had found all my family’s bodies or who had done this. I wasn’t sure if Alex had been killed or if he was still out there looking for me. But I knew that I would getting better and I would work hard on my combat and spells so I could hunt everyone down and kill them like they had killed my family. The fires of anger and revenge were burning down my walls of numbness and I welcomed it.