Chosen - Kiersten White Page 0,99

be able to help me? Or would she see the same failure and corruption in me that Sineya does and put a sword through my belly instead of sitting down for a chat?

Tsip leans over my shoulder. “Can I have any eyes I find? It’s my birthday.”

I take a deep breath, steeling myself against the instinct to elbow her, to grab her and throw her into the wall. It’s not fair that I have to fight feeling this way about demons and people I care about. “You said yesterday was your birthday.”

She smiles slyly. “Every time I shift into the void beyond reality, I’m unmade. And when I come back, I’m remade, all brand-new. So … every day is my birthday.”

“I’m glad I didn’t make you a cake, then. Fine. You can have any nonhuman eyes you find. Except for Leo’s or Doug’s or anyone who is fighting on our side.” I’m not sure if that was necessary to add, but her slightly disappointed nod makes me think it was.

“I am coming,” Chao-Ahn says.

“Me too.” Maricruz folds her arms, angling herself away from Taylor’s shocked and hurt expression.

“What?” I turn from Tsip, taking in the three Slayers. They’ve already been through so much. And I can’t guarantee anyone’s safety. “You don’t have to.”

“Exactly.” Maricruz smiles at me. “Ever since I became a Slayer, no one’s given me a choice. It was go here, fight that, don’t die. You didn’t ask us to do anything, much less command us to do anything, other than stay safe. And you know what I realized hiding in that closet?”

I shake my head. I have no idea.

“Hiding sucks. Gimme that stake.” She holds out her hand, and I toss it. She flips it over her hand, catching it in a neat trick. Her sweet face is transformed, and I can see how much power she has simmering under the surface. “Let’s get our slay on.”

“You can’t leave me!” Taylor’s voice is high and tight with panic.

Maricruz turns to her, her face softening. She reaches up and tucks Taylor’s hair behind her ears. “I’m not leaving you. I’m going to work. And I’ll be back. You have to trust that I’ll come back, okay?”

Taylor nods, numb and silent. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Watch over Ruth.” My mother stands, shaky but determined. “Call us if there’s any change.”

“Mom—”

“I’ll patrol.”

I sigh. I know she’d be safer inside, but I can’t exactly forbid my mother to do what she does best. “You remember where the medical center is?” I ask Taylor, and she nods.

“She likes being read to,” Rhys says, his voice soft. He doesn’t look up. “Anything with romance in it.”

“I won’t leave her side.” Taylor walks out. What would it feel like to walk in the opposite direction from this fight?

From every fight?

There’s nothing in me that could let that happen. Not my Watcher training, not my Slayer abilities, and certainly not the humming dark extra that is already gathering somewhere deep inside in anticipation of what’s to come.

“Should we talk about the elephant-size prophecy in the room?” Imogen asks. Everyone freezes. They’re all so deliberately not looking at me they might as well be. Imogen quotes it from memory. “ ‘Girls of fire / Protector and Hunter / One to mend the world / And one to tear it asunder.’ So we all get the stakes, right?”

I wish it weren’t true. I wanted that prophecy to be checked off, averted, officially off the books. But maybe Artemis and I are doomed to clash again and again until one of us finally succeeds. Will it be the world breaker, or the healer? And which one am I? Artemis betrayed us, yeah. But I’m the one with actual demon inside me.

Rhys clears his throat and pushes his glasses into place. I flinch, waiting for whatever he has to say. However harsh, I deserve it. But he surprises me. “No world is ending today. We’ve been averting apocalypses for generations; ours won’t be the one to fail. Our top priority is to rescue Leo. Without Leo, all their plans fall apart.”

“Why rescue him?” Jade holds up her hands in anticipation of my anger. “Hear me out. He’s already dying. And he as good as told us all he’s fine with it. So if it’s a choice between letting them use him, or stopping them from bringing Cillian’s hellgod father to earth, which do you think Leo would want us to do? Which would you want us to do? I