Brothers by Corinna Turner

Author:Corinna Turner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, action, young adult, teen, catholic, action adventure, youth, christian, vocation, dystopian
Publisher: Corinna Turner

K

“Joseph Verrall Whitelow, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”

Feeling more than a touch of…of reverse déjà vu?...I carefully trickled water from the bottle over Joe’s forehead, three times, traced a cross there, then gently blotted the water out of his tightly closed eyes with my sleeve. “There, all done. Simple, you see. But God is now your Father, the Lord Jesus is your Brother, the Holy Spirit is…well, something like your Sister, and Mother Mary is your mother. Spiritually. Your physical mother and father are still your…your earthly parents, of course.”

Joe’s face tightened at the mention of his useless mum and dad. I tried to censor that judgmental thought, removing the ‘useless’, but I knew my heart wasn’t entirely in the correction.

Would my mum and dad flee with Margo? If her Math didn’t improve, these next three years? Bane certainly would. If she told him. And fat chance of that, when it would put him at risk.

But she’d be fine. She was confident.

I choked off that cycle of worry and focused on Joe again. It was full light outside, and sunlight streamed down into the crack, which only allowed me to see just how grey and awful his face looked. His lips were bluish and permanently parted as he drew in slow, strained breaths.

Pain tried to wring my insides out at the sight of him like this.

Oh Lord…oh Lord, give me strength. Help me to be strong for him. Don’t let me fall apart.

“All the saints and all other Believers are your brothers and sisters, as well,” I went on, somehow keeping my voice steady. “So you’re my brother twice over, now.”

Despite the fact he was clearly fighting for his life with every breath, Joe looked…calmer. “You should go,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to die too.”

I slipped my arms around him and held him close. “I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered back. “Not until you’re safely home. So there’s no point going on about it.” But a few tears escaped at last—I tried to draw back but one splashed onto Joe’s face.

“K? Are you…crying?”

“Maybe a little,” I admitted.

“Why?”

“Why?”

“I mean, if you really think I’m going somewhere wonderful?

Goodness, even lying there half-dead, the kid asked such perceptive questions. It did nothing to stop the tears, though, since it simply reminded me of all the things I loved about him. “I’m not crying for you, Joe. I’m crying for me, because I’m going to miss you such a lot. These are very selfish tears, I’m afraid.”

“Oh.”

“And my name isn’t K. It’s Kyle. Kyle Verrall.”

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