Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter Twenty-eight

For some strange reason, the drive from Charlie’s house back to my own feels like it takes hours to get to when of course our houses are just ten minutes from one another.

I sit in a daze in the passenger seat of Ash’s vehicle lost in thought, anxious at the same time to talk to mom and dad. So many questions are swirling in my head that I’m not sure what I should ask them first. However, as we enter the house and locate them cooking dinner in the kitchen, I actually don’t have to say anything at all because Charlie walks in with us.

“Oh my gosh! Charlie?” I hear astonishment in my dad’s voice as he says this.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Mom adds a second later in bewilderment. At the same time, I can see happiness on both of their faces at seeing Charlie standing in our kitchen.

“Why hello Anna, Marco,” Charlie smiles, hugging each of them in turn. “I would love to say that I have just dropped by to catch up, but that would be a lie. We, that is, the kids and I have something very important to discuss with you guys.”

“Mom, dad, uh, you may want to sit down before we tell you what’s going on,” I point to the living room just off of the kitchen and see mom and dad both nodding their heads in okay. We go and sit in the living room because it is the only room in the house that has enough furniture for all of us to sit on.

“All right sweetie, enough of the suspense. What in the world is going on and how do you know Charlie?” Mom asks baffled and possibly a little anxious as well. I give them both a tight-lipped smile as I look at them sitting together, searching their faces, scanning their bodies, trying to ‘see’ their secrets. But... they just look like my parents; I feel lost at this thought.

“Well,” my dad sits perplexed. “Is anyone going to tell us what is going on here?”

“Since there isn’t any easy way to say what needs to be said to you guys, I guess I will just jump right in and tell you.” Taking a deep breath, Charlie lets it out quickly and then begins; “Sofia is The Phoenix!” I hear them both gasp and then watch as their jaws fall open and they look to me in disbelief. I nod my head confirming what Charlie has just said and then I wait for either of them to say something, anything, but they just sit and stare, making me want to run from the room.

As they continue to sit in silent shock, not saying anything to me, anger begins to bubble up inside of me. I want to yell at them both and ask why they’ve kept such a huge secret from me. Ash feeling the heat coming from my body as he sits next to me on the couch, takes my hand in his but says nothing. I think he wants mom and dad to see the flames take hold of me so they can comprehend what they are being told. As the fire surfaces, flickering across my skin and my eyes start to glow an intense gold color, my parents stir from their shocked state and finally begin speaking.

“Oh my,” mom exclaims standing from the loveseat she and dad has chosen to sit on. “Oh, baby girl!” She swiftly walks to me and pulls me up from the soft leather cushion of the couch I had been sharing with Ash and wraps me up tight in a bear hug. Dad is a second behind her in his movements but then he is there as well, hugging me tightly too. I sink into their hug, their comfort and their warmth.

“I’m so sorry honey,” dad begins. “We were told by a shifter-physician when you were born that you had no shifter powers and that we should go live among the humans and raise you as any human child would be raised. We didn’t have any reason to doubt the doctor and did as advised.”

“It makes so much sense though.” Mom chimes in. “The phoenix powers lie dormant until the individual turns 18. The doctor of course would not fathom to think that our child would be the one that is the phoenix because as far as everyone knew, there were no more. We thought it just a fluke because it does happen every now and then that the shifter gene doesn’t pass from parent to child.”

“I do have one more thing to tell you as well,” Charlie states with a smile and if my parents didn’t already look baffled enough, her saying she had something else to add to this craziness definitely set their facial expressions to baffled. “Sofia has a twin flame!”

Mom grins at me and then looks to Ash, “you? You are her twin flame, aren’t you?” Ash returns her grin and then stands from the couch as well, taking my hand in his, so that mom and dad can see the energy flow between us. Dad on the other, stares at our entwined hands and doesn’t look pleased in the slightest at hearing this news!

Laughing at my dad’s expression, mom wraps her arms around his right arm and says, “really dear, smile. Our baby is the Phoenix! We should all celebrate. And do not worry about our daughter. She can most definitely take care of herself and, Ash being her twin flame, cannot hurt her, not that he would.” She added the last bit quickly as my dad looked like he might explode.

“Seriously dad! I’m a good girl and would never do anything to cause you worry. I promise!” I cannot bring myself to say the word sex in front of him but I’m pretty sure he knows what I’m trying to imply as I visibly see him relax, slightly.

As I stop speaking, Ash speaks up next; “sir, I promise I will never do anything with Sofia that would humiliate or cause dishonor to fall upon your family. I love her and want only the best for her.” My head snaps quickly to the left at hearing Ash state those three little words. I mean I love him too; we just haven’t said it alone to each other because well, we really haven’t had alone time and have been quite busy as well. He turns his head at seeing my mine turn towards him and the biggest smile breaks across my lips and I mouth, I love you too. He in turn returns my big smile and my heart melts. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I hear Lori as she sighs appetitively and I look back at her and share my smile which she returns as well. “Right, who wants to go get ice-cream?” Mom speaks up just then and I hear dad grumble about wanting ice-cream but isn’t happy about why we are going to get some.

“I actually need to go chat with my parents,” Lori responds but I can see a wistful look in her eyes because she would rather go with us. I give her a pouty look but nod my head because I understand that she has to.

“You four go and enjoy yourselves.” Charlie says with a sincere smile but adds; “one important thing I need to tell you, Anna and Marco. Tomorrow we must move you all to The Nest. We fear that Sofia may be in danger from one of the Avian sectors because, the Eagle is here too.” A grim look sets upon her face as she states this and I see my parent’s eyes go wide, having not expected Charlie to say that.

“Really?” Dad asks with a voice of shock. “What makes you think this?”

Instead of Charlie continuing, Ash speaks up; “we overheard Blake Tama speaking to another bird shifter about Sofia actually.”

Mom raises an eyebrow and looks over at me. “Blake... why does that name sound so familiar Sofia?”

“Um, well,” I begin hesitantly. “Blake was the guy I had been dating for the last four months...” I trail off because really, what is there left to say about that situation.

“Oh my, isn’t that scary to know.” Mom exclaims with a hint of fear in her voice. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I broke up with him and have since been doing my best to avoid him,” I say with a chuckle trying to lighten up the conversation due to the tension rising in the room.

“Okay, if we are to move tomorrow into The Nest, then I say we most definitely need to go get ourselves ice-cream, now!” Dad says excitedly looking at mom and me.

We both nod our heads in agreement. “I’m going to ride over with Ash, if that is okay with you guys?” I want my parents to know that I will continue to tell them what my plans are and that if they don’t want me to do something or go somewhere, I won’t.

Just as dad is about to say something, mom raises her hand stopping him from talking. “Of course, dear, we will meet you at the ice-cream shop in about ten minutes then, alright?” I nod my head yes to mom and then with Ash’s hand in mine, we head out the front door.

After Ash parks his car, we sit for a moment. I really want to ask him to explain exactly what a twin flame is however, just as I am about to ask the question, I see mom and dad pull in. Silently I growl in frustration because I can’t ask the question, but I get out of the car and we all head into the shop. Mom and dad suggest that Ash and I grab a booth while they go to the counter and place our order. Ash asks for a mint chocolate chip cone which shocks me and makes my parents laugh. “You want your usual too, Sofia?” Dad asks with a wink and for some reason my cheeks feel flushed.

Once we sit down Ash looks at me for a moment, “why did your parents laugh when I asked them to get me a mint chocolate chip cone?”

“They laughed because it is the only ice-cream I will eat.”

“Really? That’s so crazy because it is the only kind I will eat too!” We grin at each other. Yep, he is totally meant for me, I think to myself and then I hear him trying not to laugh at me. So, I playfully shove him in the arm, “stop listening to thoughts dang it!”

Ash raises his hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry!” But he totally is not sorry, I see his heart-breaking, adorable smile on his face. I try to give him a really mean glare, but this causes him to laugh even harder. While he is laughing, my parents come up to the table with our ice cream treats in hand.

“What joke have we missed?” Dad asks as he takes a seat across from us at the same time mom asks, “what’s so funny?” My cheeks once again go red in embarrassment.

“Oh, just something Sofia said. It was more of a ha-ha towards me than overall funny.” Ash grins wide at me and shrugs his shoulders to my parents. They both look at me skeptically but don’t push for more of an answer, thank the stars.

Surprisingly, my dad was very pleasant to Ash. This of course makes me happy which I’m sure is why he was so. They chatted about Australia and where each have travelled, and I was blown away to hear about the many places my parents visited before I was born. Actually, I was a bit jealous of them but then my mom said that when I graduated high school that maybe Ash and I would be able to explore the world like they had, causing me to smile. Of course, dad gives a scowl but jokingly this time. Before we knew it, we had all decided to call it a night. I decided to ride back home with my parents but just before I climbed into their car, Ash pulled me off to the side and we shared a sweet but ever so short, kiss.

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