listen. You idiot.”
He remembered what Ambrose had said about Caleb’s loyalty. “Why do you care?”
Caleb curled his lip into an expression that was purely demonic. “I don’t. Really. You die and I walk free. To me, that would be a great day.”
“Then why protect me?”
Caleb looked away from him as if the sight of Nick sickened him.
But Nick wanted answers, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had some. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s like a bad movie, Nick. You were born the most cursed and blessed of any creature. An abomination that should never have been created, and yet, here you are. Like an unprotected infant who has no understanding of the world that created it. No understanding of the power and destruction you’re capable of. That you’re destined to kill everyone who loves you. Everyone you love.”
His heart pounded at what Caleb described.
No, it wasn’t true. He refused to believe it. He would never kill the people he loved. It wasn’t in him.
“You’re lying to me,” he accused Caleb.
“It’s true. You’re a plague, Nick. A pox on the—”
“Stop it, Malphas! Don’t you dare.”
Nick gaped at Kody’s outraged tone. Astonished beyond belief, he turned to see her approaching them from the south hallway.
Why wasn’t she frozen like the rest of their school? Instead, she was moving every bit as freely as they were.
Caleb sneered as she joined them. “I would suggest you leave us. This doesn’t concern you.”
She scoffed at his curt dismissal. “Of course it does. What are you trying to do?”
“He needs to know the truth. Not glossed over and prettied up. The pure, unvarnished truth of what he is and what he will do. If we were smart, we’d kill him now and do the world a favor.”
She gestured at Caleb. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Like you wouldn’t cut his throat if you were told to do so? Go ahead, Nekoda. Tell him who you work for.”
Panic darkened her eyes as she refused to meet his gaze.
This wasn’t good. Just when he thought he could trust someone, they turned out to be …
What?
“Kody? Are you a demon, too?” Nick asked, desperate to know what he was dealing with now.
“No,” Caleb said in a breathless tone. “She’s something that makes us look kind.”
Nick swallowed hard with that realization. There was something worse than a demon? That thought was highly sobering. “What are you, then?”
Caleb raked her with a smirk. “Humanity doesn’t have a word for her. She’s absolute agony.”
Kody glared at him. “And what are you?”
“In a word? Damned.”
Nick had heard enough. “And I’m gone.” Before he could move, they both threw their hands out and froze him in place.
This feeling of being a fly trapped on flypaper was getting really old. If they kept this up, he’d start charging them rent for the time of his they were eating alive with nonsense.
Kody shook her head. “This is not how I wanted him to find out about me. I was supposed to be incognito. Thanks for outing me, Malphas.”
He gave her a fake bow. “My pleasure. Anything to ruin your day.”
She cast a meaningful glare at his groin. “Yeah and I’m about to ruin your nights, lover boy. For eternity.”
Caleb snorted. “What else is new? Not like I have free time, anyway.”
“I don’t understand where your head is,” she said in a disgusted tone. “How can you be so cold after everything?”
“I’m tired, Nekoda. Unlike you, I don’t get a break from my hellish existence. And I don’t see why we’re doing this ridiculous dance when we both know how this play ends. Prophecy is prophecy. Nothing ever changes it. Nothing.”
She disagreed. “And human will is the strongest force ever created. There are those born to succeed and those who are determined to succeed. The former fall into it, and the latter pursue it at all costs. They won’t be denied. Nothing daunts them.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “Do you really believe what you’re spouting?”
“Yes.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve never once had a single doubt.”
She screwed her face up. “Of course I have. Without doubt there can be no faith.”
Shaking his head, Caleb stepped around her. “And I grow sick of your pithy little sayings. Really. Change your tune, hon.”
Kody didn’t try to stop Caleb from walking away from them.
“What’s going on, Kody? Who are you? What are you doing here?”
She appeared heartsick. “Think of me as a guardian.”
“For what?”
“I can’t tell you that. It’s forbidden.”
Like everything else seemed to be these days.