Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,64
to sit here for a minute and think.”
The bell sounded.
He needed to get to class and start his day. He had a list of things to steal for his coach.…
That was laughable, given everything else going on. “Can I be killed?” he asked her, wondering exactly who and what he was.
“Oh yeah.”
“What happens if I die?”
“Honestly, we’re not completely sure. Other than your father’s powers will continue to grow until—”
“Wh-wh-whoa-what? My father?”
She nodded. “Where do you think all of this came from? You were born to be your father’s replacement. Once you are safe, he will have to surrender.”
“Surrender or die?”
“If he doesn’t yield his title willingly, he will be killed.”
Well, that explained why the man hated him so badly. Why he couldn’t stand to even look at him. Out of everything else he’d learned, that actually made him feel a little better. For the first time in his life, he understood his father.
And …
“The stuff my dad told the police about demons attacking him—”
“All true, and those forces will now be after you, too.”
“Move, Gautier, you worthless hobo.” Stone shoved him hard as he passed by.
Nick started after him, only to find Kody in the way. “That’s the kind of reaction that will cause you to fail. It will lead your enemies to your door. Is Stone really worth that?”
No.
Maybe?
“What about my mom?”
“You already know the answer.”
He was her protector, too. Always the man of the house. “If I died—”
“Your father would have another child. That one won’t have your humanity. Your mother is what makes you special, Nick. Adarian’s next woman wouldn’t be her. His child wouldn’t be you. All of us are a culmination of vital parts of our parents and their pasts. A vital part of the circumstances we were raised with. Everything that happens to us, good and bad, leaves a lasting impression in our souls. You take one part of that out, and you can completely rewrite something crucial about us. By and large, we’re not shaped by the big things. It’s the little, day-to-day moments that make us who we are. Who we’re going to be.”
His head was pounding from trying to digest all of this.
“I’m so overwhelmed.”
“Most of us are, Nick. Even though we look calm and peaceful on the outside, most of us are barely hanging on by our fingernails. You know why Bubba watches Oprah every day?”
“He’s insane?”
She shook her head slowly. “It was his wife’s favorite show, and she died while watching it.”
That news floored him every bit as much as the news of who he really was. “Bubba was married?”
“Bubba was a father.”
He gaped. Bubba a dad? How was it possible he didn’t know this? “Did she leave him?”
“Not willingly. She was home sick from work, tending the baby when someone broke into their house and killed them. Bubba came home from work to find them, and he had a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter. He quit his high-tech, high-paying job and opened his store so that he could provide the world with the security and arms they needed to protect what they loved. It’s why he prowls the night, looking for other predators out to take innocent lives. It’s why he can’t sleep and why he seems so obsessed. He is.”
And that explained the free classes he taught at night on how to survive. The self-defense classes where he recruited as many women and kids as he could get. The reason why he kept everyone at a distance at times.
Everything made sense now.
Nick felt sick over what she described. “None of that was a small decision. It all looks pretty major from here.”
“You’re looking at the big picture that’s made up of tiny little dots. Like that painting of a picnic on the beach. From a distance, it looks like a well-defined picture, but up close you can see all the tiny pinpricks that give the bigger illusion. Bubba’s wife decided to leave work early and go straight home and not to the doctor. She decided to pick up their baby from the sitter and to wait to go to the grocery store for supplies. She’d asked Bubba to come home early, too, but he’d decided that he needed to work. Had just one of those tiny variables changed, his entire life would be completely different.”
“Or would it?”
Kody arched a brow.
“If she’d left the baby with its sitter, she’d still be dead. How would that change anything?”
“With an infant to feed, Bubba wouldn’t have dedicated himself to his