siblings’ powers. ‘For not helping me.’ It was a strange thing to thank him for. ‘No use in helping you. You’ve got to get on with it, or you’ll never…’ His words trailed off but I knew what he meant. He didn’t want to say that I would never walk again but he was right. If I didn’t learn to do everything for myself, I would have less chance of surviving. I needed to do it on my own. ‘You know me too well,’ I muttered. He nodded and ran his hand through his hair. ‘Did you not use your hairdryer today?’ I asked, looking at my can of lager on the floor. He bent down and grabbed it, holding it out of reach. ‘Say that again.’ He brought it forward and pulled back when I went to grab it. ‘I’m sorry. I forgot that we’d agreed not to take the piss out of your hair drying habit.’ He shook his head and thrust the lager towards me. I took it and saluted him with it. ‘Here’s to…’ I froze. There was nothing I could toast to. What did I have to look forward to? ‘Here’s to the fact that you’re still alive, you lucky son of a—’ ‘Will you ladies keep the noise down?’ Leo sang as he came into the room. The door was wide open. Leo had a six-pack hanging from his hand and a chocolate birthday cake in the other. ‘Whose birthday is it?’ Scorpio asked. Leo’s darker blonde spikes had glitter in them. He stank of fags and alcohol. His T-shirt had his band logo on the front. It had been ripped at the back. He had obviously got lucky. ‘It’s my very happy un-birthday cake. I was on the way back from the club. I had worked up a bit of a sweat so I popped into the shop and saw this beauty.’ He sat in the other chair and put his stuff on the small table. ‘Who wants some?’ I smiled to myself as he ripped open the box and pulled the cake out very gently. He placed it on the table and looked at us. ‘I’m always up for some cake with my tea,’ Scorpio said. Leo looked at me and pointed at our brother. His nickname was Grandpa. We hadn’t called him that in a while. ‘Grandpa’s back!’ I downed the rest of my lager. ‘Here, have some cake.’ Leo held his hand above the cake as if he was about to do a karate chop. He did actually karate chop it, sending chocolate icing flying everywhere. ‘Why didn’t you get a knife, you knob?’ Scorpio said. Leo’s mouth dropped open. ‘I’ll have you know, I’m a black belt.’ ‘Yeah, a black belt in bull crap,’ I joked. They laughed as Leo somehow managed to cut the cake roughly in three. He picked up a chunk and handed it to me. ‘Why didn’t you—’ Scorpio started. ‘Why don’t you calm down, Grandpa,’ Leo said, handing him his slice. For a moment I forgot about everything. I was back with my boys, and we were living life as we did before. We would often sit up in the middle of the night, eating and drinking. Especially if we had been on a night out. ‘Had fun tonight, then?’ I asked Leo. ‘Groupie…’ he answered, shoving the chocolate cake in his mouth and smearing it over his face. ‘You wish.’ I slapped my thigh. They both looked at me as the sound of my hand hitting flesh bounced around the room. I was only wearing pants but I hadn’t felt uncomfortable. Until they started to stare at the end of my stumps. ‘It’s going to look even weirder when you’ve got metal things sticking out the end. You’ll be able to stab someone with them. Actually, when you come and help us rescue Father, you can walk over Nick with your stumps and metal rods. That would be cool.’ I could tell Leo was drunk. He would never say something like that when he was sober. It didn’t bother me though. ‘That would be cool,’ I replied, smiling at Scorpio’s horrified expression. Leo nodded as he licked his hands clean of the cake he had devoured. I started to laugh. The sound bubbled up and out of me. I couldn’t hold it in. Images of a bloody Nick where I stabbed him with my stumps