The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade by A.P. Kensey Page B

their footsteps crunching on small chunks of debris and
echoing loudly across the concrete floor. The man tilted up his
head slightly and looked at them. His face was long and thin, with
sunken cheek bones and deep-set eyes. His black, slicked-back hair
glistened wetly in the light.
    Reece cleared his throat. “So, you
already know me. This is Colton.”
    Colton took a step forward and looked
into the shadow covering the man’s face. “Thank you for your
help.”
    The man tilted his head down. “I am
Alistair,” he said in a slight English accent. “You have a good
friend here, to do such a thing without knowing who I am or what I
really want.”
    Colton looked over at Reece. “If you
say so.”
    Alistair squinted at him. “Perhaps you
are wondering why it was done at all.”
    “ It crossed my
mind.”
    “ I have been looking for
you a long time, Colton Ross. You were not easy to find. But
now…here you are.” He smiled to reveal a mouth full of perfectly
white, straight teeth.
    “ Right,” said Colton.
“Look, I just came to say thank you, so thank you. Reece, let’s
go.”
    They started to walk away.
    “ Colton,” said
Alistair.
    Colton turned just as
Alistair threw a small, round object directly at his face. Colton
ducked to the side and reached up his hand. It hit his palm with a
loud SMACK . He
turned it over—it was an apple.
    “ What is that supposed to
be?” asked Reece. “He wants you to have a snack?”
    Alistair smirked and walked toward
them. “He knows what it means. Don’t you, Colton?”
    Colton stared at the red piece of
fruit. He had always been so careful after buying the apples from
the produce stand. He made sure that no one was watching before the
fruit withered and died in his palm.
    “ Like I said,” continued
Alistair. “It took me a long time to find you. Searching for you in
the world was like throwing a rock into a big pond to try and hit
an invisible fish.” He frowned. “I threw many rocks. It took far
too long, and for that I am truly sorry.”
    “ Who are you?” asked
Colton.
    “ Me? I am just one small
gear in a giant machine. But you are a big gear. Bigger than me,
bigger than almost everyone I know. At least you will be, someday.”
He laughed. “You are very important, Colton Ross.”
    “ What is this psycho
talking about?” asked Reece. “Can we please leave now?”
    He tried to pull Colton toward the
front door, but Colton took a step closer to Alistair.
    “ What are you?” he asked.
    Alistair smiled and wagged his index
finger at him. “Now we are getting somewhere.” He walked back to
the hanging light bulb and reached up to touch it. The light dimmed
and Alistair’s skin seemed to glow ever so slightly in the
darkness. He lowered his arm and light flooded back into the
bulb.
    Alistair nodded toward the apple.
Colton held it up and concentrated on its red skin. He watched the
apple slowly wither and die in his palm, shrinking into nothing
more than a blackened core. He felt the warmth grow between his
shoulder blades and spread down to his hands.
    “ Good,” said Alistair,
laughing. “Good! You have discovered the first part. But do you
know the second?”
    Colton dropped the shrunken apple and
set his hand on Reece’s shoulder.
    “ Colt, what are you—” said
Reece, then stopped. “Hey, that’s really warm. How are you doing
that?” He looked down at his shoulder in amazement.
    Alistair clapped his hands and smiled.
“Excellent. Almost a year with no training and you can do all of
that on your own. I am very pleased.”
    “ What is it?” asked
Colton. “The thing we do, I mean. What are we?”
    Alistair looked at him. “I was born in
England,” he said, “but I am not English. You were born in America,
but you are not American. We are something different. Something
very special.”
    “ Enough with the mystery,
already!” said Reece. “My shoulder feels amazing, by the
way.”
    Colton waited eagerly for an
answer.
    “ You need