"Kai, give it back," Joey whines, making grabby hands for the red fire truck toy tucked in his older brother's arms. His chubby five-year-old face is flushed and his sandy hair is ruffled with cowlicks sticking up all over the place. Kai privately thinks he looks like some kind of evil cherub with a tantrum-throwing disorder, but he doesn't tell his brother as much. He knows JoAnne Parker would have both of their heads on a platter if they were to start a quarrel in the sandbox.
"It's mine, Joey," he says matter-of-factly, holding the toy close. "I was just letting you borrow it because Uncle Martin said to share for a little while." Uncle Martin, Kai recalls, had been particularly sympathetic towards him and his twin Josette ever since the family had revealed to them the Gemini Coven secret about twin merging. It seemed learning you were either going to kill or be killed by your own twin as a coming-of-age-ritual earned you a fair bit of brownie points with relatives who brought gifts.
"But I was playing with it," the young Parker boy cries, lunging towards it. Kai utilizes his longer arms and holds the truck just out of his reach, causing Joey to fall face-first into the sand and quickly burst into tears.
Just as Kai is about to stand up and leave his brother to his own turmoil, he feels a surging motion around both of his feet. "Joey?" he asks, glancing down in surprise.
The sand curls around his ankles, hardening and swirling and dragging him down. He drops the truck and falls on hands and knees, coughing and sputtering as sand flies into his face. It all happens too quickly for him to clearly discern, but he knows for certain that sand is flying and Joey is responsible.
Almost on instinct, he reaches out and seizes his brother by the forearms. For some strange reason, Kai is greeted with the sensation of a suction cup and feels a pulsing and radiating power underneath the boy's skin. The sand stops flying and rapidly dissipates back into the box, but Kai almost doesn't notice.
He senses energy coursing from his brother to him, and suddenly the warmth is translating into power- fresh, raw power. Kai has never known magic, but he's seen it. His brothers and sisters have spent all of their early years lighting candles and making dead flowers bloom while he stood on the sidelines watching. This is magic, he realizes, breathless. All of this time without magic and he finally knows it.
But then Joey begins to scream. It's a raw, guttural sound, as if the boy is in immense pain. Kai thinks maybe he should stop, but he doesn't. He's transfixed with the fascination of the power siphoning into his limbs, and he's even the slightest bit in awe of Joey's reaction. All of this time and Kai had never felt anything- not magic, not happiness, not belonging. He watches Joey writhe in the sand up until he hears his mother shouting.
"What in God's name is going on out here?" she exclaims, taking the back porch stairs two at a time. She bounds across the backyard, ripping Joey out of the sand and into her arms. "It's alright, it's alright," she coos, desperately trying to calm the bawling younger Parker brother. "Mama's here."
"I-I didn't mean to," Kai says, standing up. The realization of what he's done only comes crashing down when he sees the shocked and disgusted look in JoAnne's eyes. "I'm sorry, Mom, I just-"
"You should be," she says stiffly, and he knows right then he will not find any sympathy from her. "Your father will be out shortly to deal with you. Don't move a muscle."
xxxx
And dealt with he was. Kai spent days and days alone in the smallest bedroom upstairs, only being allowed out to use the bathroom or occasionally join the dinner table. Joshua Parker's reasoning was that it was a danger for Kai to be around his younger brothers and sisters with his condition.
Kai often pressed his ear to the door and listened to the ambient sound of his siblings going about their day-to-day lives, but even this was a risk since he really wasn't allowed to move from his spot on the bed or find any means of entertainment.
He went to school sometimes. Joshua and JoAnne gave up on homeschooling, and because of this, Kai spent a lot of time watching other kids being dropped off and even hugged by their own parents. He stopped remembering what physical contact with an adult was like at all.
xxxx
It doesn't take long for him to realize. His first 'condition', he concludes, is that he is a Siphoner. The second is that he is alone. Indefinitely and perpetually alone.
