Elijah's POV:

There were some memories that I wouldn't give up for the world.

"How about we stop and get some pizza?"

I glanced at Carter, diverting my attention from the silver trophy that rested in my lap, and onto him.

"I would like that." I grinned excitedly when he gave me a thumbs up.

I knew I was still slightly on what my mom liked to call an "adrenaline high," from the soccer game I had just gotten done playing in, but I didn't care.

We had beat the other team by ten whole points. My dad always said that those types of scores only happened because my team was still in the junior leagues, but his opinion mattered less than it usually did.

I knew this would be one of those unforgettable memories.

Unfortunately, my parents couldn't make it to my game, because of prior engagements. Their words not mine. But Carter had offered to take me. He hadn't missed a single one of my games since I started playing when I was five. Restlessly, I stared out the windshield as we stopped at a red light and Carter signaled to turn right.

"Carter, when I am old, will you teach me how to drive just like you?" I asked, deciding that I needed to ask him now, or I wouldn't get the chance to that night.

"Well yeah bud. Of course, I can. As long as it's okay with Mom and Dad."

My lips curved upward.

"Oh, it will be okay. You are the best driver out there. They will see that."

He smiled at me through the rearview mirror.

"Sshhhh," he said, with feigned seriousness and a wink. "Remember it is a secret you can't tell mom and dad."

I laughed, giving him a thumbs-up. I personally didn't think he had anything to worry about. I could keep a secret. I was eleven years old now and finally knew how to keep my mouth quiet about the important things.

Like the fact that Carter was training to be a professional racecar driver. He had taken me out to a public track, and let me sit in the passenger seat while he drove super fast. I wasn't even scared. Okay, maybe a little bit. But I knew I had been safe. I was with Carter.

Nothing bad happened whenever he was around. Secretly, sometimes I believed that he was a superhero. He always knew when I was sad, and how to fix any problem. I couldn't ask for a better brother.

We drove in silence, as I looked out my window, eager to eat and then go home to tell my mom, all about tonight's win. I knew it would have been pointless to tell my dad since he would be working.

"Hey, what type of pizza are you going to get?"

"I think I'm going to go with pineapple," he said with a knowing smiled that I returned. It was both of our favorites. To be honest I didn't like it until Carter had told me that he did. I wanted to be just like him in every way.

"Do you think that you will ever tell mom and dad that you want to be a racecar driver and not a lawyer?"

"I don't know buddy. I don't think that they would like that too much."

"Well, they will find out eventually right?"

"Yes, but I am not ready to tell them just yet."

"Why not?"

He glanced back at me in the rearview mirror, and his mouth opened to respond.

But, he never got to answer.

My eyes widened when I saw the flash of light, the next few seconds filling with terror. Carter's eyes followed mine.

"Shit!"

The car swerved violently, the tires screeching chillingly as we spun. Fear clenched at my heart when I glanced out the window. Fearful gray eyes flashed past mine at the same time I realized the collision was unavoidable. I clenched my eyes shut and braced.

The impact was bone-shattering.

The air in my lungs was knocked out of me, as my body flew forward, jerking against my seatbelt. I hissed in pain as I was flung to the side with the second vicious lurch of the car, this one more dangerous than the last. I groaned when my head smacked against the window, with a sickening thud that ricocheted inside of my skull, causing my teeth to clench.

I wanted my mom.

I gasped, my eyes watering as the pain radiated up my spine, intensifying as the seconds passed. The car had stopped moving, but my vision had yet to. It bounced from left to right as I tried to breathe, trying to do anything to escape the burning of my lungs.

"Carter," I croaked, my head pounding, as I opened my eyes. Maybe he hadn't heard me. "Carter, everything hurts."

I craned my neck, still unable to lift my head completely. A needle-like sensation ran over my skin and the blood drained from my face as soon as I did.

My brother was draped limply across the wheel, with a bloody gash on his forehead.

"Carter?"

I reached for my seatbelt, only to find that it wouldn't budge. The wail of police sirens echoed lowly from around me, as I continued to struggle to get free. Hot tears scorched a trail down my cheeks, as my heart leaped to my throat and stopped all in the same second.

Dad said that men didn't cry, but I couldn't control it.

I was terrified.

"Please wake up."

My breathing quickened, my heart pounding painfully against my rib cage as my movements slowed and my vision cut in and out. Still, I was persistent, clawing at my seatbelt as I tried to get to him.

My stomach dipped, as nausea arose.

Carter himself had told me that if an airbag didn't deploy in a bad crash people could get seriously injured. And as I stared at the mangled front of the car, one thing was jumping out at me.

The airbag was nowhere in sight.

"It's okay, I'm not hurt." I knew it was a lie considering I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in so much pain. But that didn't matter. "If you wake up, I won't even tell Mom that you said a bad word."

Nothing.

I gave one last jerk to my seat belt, the action leaving me more winded than I had been before. I opened my mouth again, but no words came out, as my thoughts muddled together. For a moment, my gaze traveled out the window, the blue and red lights of police cars from the other side of the street nearing before my gaze traveled to a heaping pile of smoke tipped over on its side.

The other car.

My eyes fell back to the sight of my brother's ashen face.

With one last ragged breath, I eyed the crimson trail of liquid from his temple to his chin. A single drop fell, landing on the dashboard.

Everything would be okay.

He was asleep. It was the only explanation.

Superheroes didn't die.

****

I woke up calmly, not phased by the memory-turned nightmare that had awoken me from my sleep. I'd experienced the disguised form of torture so many times that it now came as more of an expectation rather than a surprise.

Sleep was the last thing in my mind as I lay in the dark, knowing it would be fruitless for me to try and escape the visions that played in my mind. Instead, I focused on the fact that something in the dream had changed.

Eyes.

They had been unfamiliar but raw with fear. Young.

This was all too much.

I flung my covers off of me, standing up and snatching my shirt off the end of my bed. Light washed over me when I opened the door, finding Cole hovering over his phone on the couch.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, noting the fact that he was still wearing his clothes from the day. Cole glanced up.

"First off it is only like eight-thirty." He paused. "I just got done at the gym. Got a late start. You good?"

I nodded, walking into the kitchen and pulling a water bottle out of the fridge.

I frowned as my mind momentarily went back to the dream, the shiny eyes of the little girl playing in my mind and causing my stomach to flip inside out.

I had known that another child had been involved in the accident, but I never found out who it was. Strategically the family, as well as mine had managed to keep our names out of the news.

"Hey," Cole called said when I made it back into the living room. "Are you going to go back to bed?"

I frowned. I wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. Even if I tried.

"No. Why?"

"Cassian said that some of the guys on the team are meeting up at a place on the corner of Ridgefield street." He glanced up from his phone. "Think you would be up to go?"

I thought about the offer, before nodding.

I didn't have anything better to do anymore.