Sins of the Innocent - Jamie McGuire Page 0,11

ever would.

“Samuel,” Dad said.

Mom looked around the room, waiting for an appearance that wouldn’t come.

“First drudens, and now this,” I said. “I told you. Culmination.”

“For the love of … Eden. Try not to upset your mother,” Dad said, his teeth clenching.

It was too late. Mom paled, her lips parting as she sucked in a breath. “Jared,” she said to my dad. Her tone warned him that she demanded an answer before she could ever ask. “What are you not telling me?”

Dad reached out, and she did the same. He pulled her into his arms, as he’d often do when she was rattled by something from our world. “Nothing, sweetheart. It means absolutely nothing.”

My face fell as Dad rested his temple on Mom’s hair, and then he glanced at me. He didn’t want to upset Mom, so he was asking me to let it go.

I trudged up the stairs to my room, leaving behind soiled footprints on the carpet.

Mom touched the banister and called up to me, “Eden, come back down, honey. We’ll figure it out.”

“We’re all liars,” I said under my breath, knowing Mom couldn’t hear.

I lay back on my bed, looking at the ceiling while thinking about the familiar irises hovering above me earlier that afternoon. It hadn’t been murder in Levi’s eyes but curiosity, maybe even a bit of excitement. The book my dad had studied spoke of prophecy, one that included Leviathan and me and a great battle with spilled blood. Levi, the son of Satan, would threaten the balance, and one of two things would happen—I would kill him, or he would kill me.

Levi had had a moment of opportunity, but he hadn’t hesitated. He’d had an objective, but killing me hadn’t been it. He’d admitted that he was unafraid of the consequences, something I could attribute to him being a moronic teenage boy.

But it was more than that.

Levi was right. I hadn’t been trying. I had no intention of showing him my full capabilities. I chewed on my thumbnail. There were so many questions and no answers in our world. One more shouldn’t have been a big deal, and I didn’t want to care, but Levi had left me flustered—a feeling that I wasn’t at all familiar with.

After a soft knock, Claire called my name, “Eden? Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” I said, still staring at the ceiling.

A second later, she was lying next to me, looking up at nothing, too.

“No answers are up there. Trust me, I’ve looked. No answers on any ceilings anywhere.”

“I’m not looking for answers,” I said.

“Yes, you are. We all are. And waiting for them is the worst.”

I pressed my lips together. “Tell me what you know about the prophecy, Levi, and why you think he came today.”

“I don’t know.”

I groaned and turned away from her. “Not you, too.”

She hooked her arm around my middle and pulled me against her. Leaning down, she whispered into my ear, “He’s been sniffing around for almost a year now.”

“I know. I mean … I didn’t know it was him, but I sensed something. Something big.”

“Eden, tell me the truth. Why didn’t you defend yourself when he came at you?” Claire asked.

I didn’t have to see her face to know she was concerned.

I thought about that for a moment. “The truth?”

“Of course, dummy.”

After a short pause, I said the words, not knowing what they would be until they tumbled from my mouth, “I think I know him.”

“How?” she asked.

“It’s just a feeling,” I said. “I can’t explain it, but I know him. And he knows me.”

Claire turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling, looking for answers of her own.

I’d never seen all of my classmates smiling at the same time, but freedom lit the face of every person wearing a maroon graduation gown. Freedom had that effect on people. That was probably why I was the only one not baring all of my teeth.

Grandmother, Grandma Lillian, Claire, Ryan, Bex, Mom, and Dad all took turns with the camera, taking a thousand pictures of me in the same pose, standing with a variant mix of my family.

I carried the hat I’d just tossed, a nice conclusion to the human living experience Mom had insisted upon. It wasn’t that I hadn’t enjoyed them. Something about going to dances, attending high school classes, and even graduation had felt disingenuous. I was mostly human, but pretending for the sake of perspective had been a waste of time.

I looked at Mom. She was dabbing her eyes, laughing, and