Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,17
one. Not like it’s not hard enough to get up the nerve to ask one out. Can you say inappropriate content? And then they tell me my manga’s bad. Riiight … Is it too much to ask that we have one book, just one, on the required reading list that says, ‘Hey, girls. Guys are fun and we’re okay. Really. We’re not all mean psycho-killing, bloodsucking animals. Most of us are pretty darn decent, and if you’ll just give us a chance, you’ll find out we’re not so bad.”
Grim let out a bored sigh. “Are you through ranting?”
“Maybe.”
Grim slapped him on the back so hard, he stumbled. “Puberty is embarrassing. That’s the point of it. Get used to it. And look on the bright side: Once you survive the teen horrors and degradations, adulthood is easy.”
Great. Just great.
Nick scoffed. “And for the record, I do read. Lots of things, which is how I know it can be painful. Very, very painful.”
Grim rubbed at his forehead like his head was starting to hurt. Then he pulled at the gold chain around his neck to expose a strange hematite pendulum that had a gold skull securing it to the chain. He held it out toward Nick.
Nick hesitated before he took it. He ran his hand down the cold stone, noting that the skull had eyes made of bloodred rubies. The point of the hematite was so sharp, he could probably use it to stake Kyrian should his boss ever get too frisky with him.
Epically cool.
He could also use it to prick his finger if he needed to ask his book a question. Yeah, this thing had a lot of uses.
“What you hold is one of the keys to the universe.” Grim’s voice had dropped an octave. “You can use a pendulum to answer questions, locate things and—”
“What sort of things? Can it find my mom’s keys when she loses them?”
“Yes,” Grim said between clenched teeth. “It can also locate people you seek.”
Okay, now that was handy. Nick swung it back on forth on its chain. “How does it work?”
Grim captured it in his hand and used the sharp tip to point at him. “It allows you to get in touch with your higher consciousness. In time, you won’t need it to do that. You’ll be able to access that part of yourself anytime you need to. But for now, you’ll require a tool to help you channel all the teenage hormonal ADD that’s bouncing around and through you.” He touched the tip to Nick’s nose. “The best part of this one is that the stone will change to meet your needs.”
“What do you mean?”
“For simple questions, it won’t matter what the stone is. You can use any kind of pendulum, made out of any substance. A ring, a stick, even a pen or pencil. But as we progress to other tasks, the material it’s made out of will matter exponentially. This one is currently hematite because that’s the strongest stone of protection. It limits and deflects negativity. Something you need, kid. And it will protect you. Evil and negativity gravitate to the hematite, and if you’re attacked badly enough, the stone will shatter and warn you while it deflects those powers away from you.”
Yeah, Nick could be pretty negative most days. And that was without trying. Once he put his mind to it, he could be really pissy.
Grim gave it back to him. “Pull your book out.”
Since Grim had already bogarted it from his pocket without touching it, he knew better than to delay. Nick grabbed it and handed it over.
Grim flipped to a blank page.
Nick frowned as words and letters magically appeared with arrows. In a weird way, it reminded him of a Ouija board. The two arrows intersected, forming a square cross with the words Yes and No highlighted.
No, wait. They were glowing.
“What’s it doing?” he asked Grim.
“This is your pendulum map. It’ll answer any yes or no question you ask. All you have to do is focus your mind on the question and hover the pendulum over the page. In time, you’ll be able to ask more complicated questions and it’ll spell out the answers.”
“Duly awesome.” Nick did as he suggested and hovered the stone above the words. He carefully kept his hand steady as he focused on the most important question he wanted an answer to. “Will I lose my vir— Hey!”
Grim snatched it from him. “Stop being stupid and take this seriously.”