Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

exhaustion-fogged mind couldn’t tell. The phoenix summon flashed in front of his eyes again and the pounding his head didn’t make thinking any easier. Esset knocked again. This time he heard footsteps after a moment, and after a few moments more, the door opened.
    “Hi,” Esset said weakly. He had just enough time to register the shock on his father’s face before a tide of black washed over him and he collapsed.
     
    Again Esset woke to a pounding head. Before he could even open his eyes, the phoenix’s summon flashed beneath his eyelids. Then he tried to move and found that a massively heavy blanket had been laid atop him; that also explained why he was so hot. He pushed the blanket back and his mother immediately descended upon him. She was a little smothering and slightly damp—the latter would be from the tears, since she was crying.
    “I can’t believe you’re alive! My little boy is alive! Oh Jonathan, I’m so happy!” She babbled as she hugged him and kissed his face repeatedly. She called him by his first name, of course; Esset didn’t like his name—too common, in his mind—and everyone besides his mother called him by his last name.
    His father appeared in the doorway a moment later.
    “Awake! You have no idea how good it is to see you, my boy,” he said. Esset could hardly believe it when his father wiped a tear from the corner of his eye—Mr. Esset was not an emotional man, known instead for his intellect and cool thinking. And as his son, Esset, of course, didn’t think of his father as a mere mortal.
    “You too,” Esset admitted to both of them. It was then that he noticed how thin his mom had gotten. She’d always been a sturdy, plump individual, but now there was barely an extra pound on her. She didn’t necessarily look unhealthy, but she didn’t look like herself, either.
    “Mom, are you okay?” he asked her.
    “I’ve…I’ve missed you. Both of you,” she said by way of explanation.
    “You have to take care of yourself, Mom. Promise me that you will? And Dad?” Esset said, looking between his parents and suddenly feeling strangely protective of them. His father had always been a bit gaunt, but he noticed now that Mr. Esset looked far more careworn than he ever had before. Losing their sons had been hard on both of them.
    “I will. We will,” his mother promised, and Esset hoped she could keep that promise, especially since he knew she’d probably lose him again soon.
    “I’m so sorry, Mom,” Esset apologized, standing and drawing her into a hug which she fiercely returned. Esset looked over her shoulder at his dad, an apology to him in his eyes as well.
    “I want to ask about everything that’s happened to you, but I don’t know how much time I have.” Esset was still hugging his mother, and he felt as much as heard her sob of horrified objection, but he kept holding her close.
    “And I have a lot to tell you,” Esset finished, and he let his mother go. She gave him a last squeeze before stepping back; tears streamed down her face.
    “Toman?” his father asked. It was the question they dreaded to ask, but had to. Toman may not have been born to them, but he was as much their son as Esset was now.
    “Is he alive?” his mother echoed. Esset squeezed his eyes shut in shame and pain.
    “I hope not,” he said. His mother gasped. “Because if he is, he’s been Moloch’s captive for the last two years.” He opened his eyes.
    “Has it really been two years?” he asked, hoping that somehow the scavengers who’d found him had been mistaken.
    “About that,” his father replied with a nod. Esset sat back down on the bed, and his mother sat beside him. His father pulled up a chair.
    “I should start at the beginning,” Esset said. The phoenix summon flashed across his vision and his head pounded; he hoped his parents wouldn’t notice his flinch. Of course they did, but at least they didn’t say anything.
    “You know how it started. We found the artifacts