Chosen - Kiersten White Page 0,69
want to fight, it’s hard to deny the instinct.
“You’d protect. The Littles and each other.”
She nods, reluctant. Taylor still seems extra on edge, so I decide our first stop on the castle tour will be the medical center, where I can give her some natural anxiety reducers. I don’t have anything powerful—I’m not a psychiatrist or a real doctor—but something’s better than nothing.
The tour takes way too long. I show them the grounds, avoiding the shed where Jade is apparently making bombs. I always wondered what she’d be like if she weren’t sleeping all the time. This was not on my list of possibilities. We visit the gym, where Doug is hanging out. It’s a clever place if he wants to avoid Jade, who has always avoided the gym. Taylor doesn’t disguise her glare. I shoo them out, but Doug holds up a hand for me to wait.
“I overheard her this morning when I was passing the kitchen. And she might have a point. If me being here makes everything more dangerous …”
“Nope. You being here is exactly the point of everything. You’re not going anywhere, and no one is taking you. Ever.”
Doug nods, then sniffs, then looks confused. “Why—why do you smell so happy all of a sudden?”
I shouldn’t be. I have a looming conversation with Leo once I can ditch enough people to make it happen, and I’ve started texting Artemis because maybe she’ll respond to that, then I have to go visit Cillian’s mother to find out more about this potential baddie. But last night, when I was drunk, I decided to use some of my ill-gotten funds for a good cause. I can’t keep it secret anymore. “Guess what we’re doing next month?”
Doug lifts one patch of cracked skin where an eyebrow would be. “Inventory. Training. Housebreaking the tiny purple demons.”
“Eew, no. I got tickets to Coldplay.”
The sound he makes doesn’t register on any human scale of notes. He rushes to me, throwing his arms around me and spinning me in a circle. “You didn’t! You didn’t!”
I laugh. “I did.” To prove to him, and myself, and everyone else that we’re okay. We’re normal. Nothing bad is going to happen to any of us. Including knucklehead Leo. I got a ticket for him, too.
“But how did you get the money?”
“Von Alston is treating us from beyond the grave.”
Doug’s smile is even better than a hit of his artificial happy. “You’re a good friend, Nina. Whatever it was that brought us together—fate or demonic power object or luck or—”
“My mother?”
“Or your mother, I’m glad it did.” He hugs me again, and I rest my head against him for a few heartbeats. If I were a bad person, if I were all the way broken, Doug would know. He wouldn’t be my friend. Leo will give me answers about the darkness of my power, and we’ll figure it out, and everything will be fine.
I head back out to the Slayers and introduce them to Pelly. The tiny purple demons are harder to track down, but eventually we find them. It … doesn’t go over well. The Slayers are clearly on edge around the chaotic energy of the three little demons. I hurry them along, moving on to the kitchens—where the pantry nags at me, knowing that Leo is there—and then the bathrooms, the Council wing, the dorm wing, and finally the secret passages. Sufficiently impressed, I leave them to explore on their own.
It’s been hours. I send another text. The first one said I had a deal for her. These ones are just question marks and exclamation points and random letters to make her phone chime with notifications. And now I can’t wait any longer to go visit Leo. I hurry to the library to check if my mom is there, mostly so I’ll know where she is when I’m defying her wishes.
When I open the door, my mother and Rhys are in there. But they both look … twitchy. Guilty. Rhys slams a book shut. I step forward and look down at the cover. “Why are you wasting time reading Arcturius the Farsighted’s prophecies?”
“Just checking something.” Rhys pushes his glasses up and slides the book off the table.
“No. Tell me. Why are you reading that?” It would be nothing if he were reading any other book. This one is personal.
My mother sets her hands on the table, regarding me coolly and calmly. “We had some questions about the last prophecy.”
“That one’s done. We can check it off