Ginny broke down sobbing. “You can’t go with them.”
I ignored her. She made this that much harder. I waited for the detectives to sit back down then reached for the door behind me, the one that opened out to the hall. Jason, understanding what I was doing, was right behind me. We sprinted for the elevator. I knew I had only seconds of a head start. I punched at the elevator button.
The elevator doors opened as the detectives raced for us.
Some roses are impossible to hide. They are so unique that they catch your eye no matter how hidden they may be in a garden. Striped roses like Lifelines and Double Treats. Multicolored Cherry Parfaits and Distant Drums. Enormous Moonstones and Brandys.
WE’LL ONLY HAVE ABOUT THIRTY SECONDS once we hit the ground. You run,” Jason commanded.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, trying to still my shaking hands.
“Follow. And trip up the feds. Don’t lose your phone.”
The elevator doors opened and I ran.
“There she is,” yelled a voice behind me.
I shoved and pushed and squirmed through people. I slammed open the front door and ran right into Ricki.
“What the hell? Where you going?”
I didn’t answer, just pushed past her. She seized my shirt and dragged me back. I staggered and slapped at her hand.
“Let go.”
The first detective pushed through the front door. I wrestled free of Ricki and ran. Well, shoved through people as fast as I could. The crowds were stifling. Behind, there were cries of “Move” and “FBI.” I ignored them and kept moving. A sharp heel came down on my toe and I squealed and shoved. Someone fell to the ground, but I didn’t stop to help. Ahead of me the Venetian loomed. Throngs of people crowded the sidewalk, but there was a clear path straight to the side door. I raced for it.
That was a mistake. At least in the crowds I could hide among the people but in the clear path, I stood out like a green rose. The detectives were within three feet of me before I even reached the door. Then I heard a thump.
As I reached for the handle of the door I looked back. The two detectives were sprawled out on the cobblestoned sidewalk entangled with Jason and Ricki. I smiled, grateful for my friends who would probably be locked up now for attacking federal agents.
I didn’t know where to hide, but I knew I had to find someplace fast, Jason and Ricki would only be able to hold them off for a few moments.
The Venetian wasn’t nearly as crowded as the streets outside. Hiding would be more difficult. I wish I had just stayed out there. Maybe I could find another exit. I headed for the mall knowing the casino floor would be harder to find my way out of. I knew there was an exit next to the newsstand, but that would set off all sorts of alarms and I didn’t want to attract any attention.
I raced back toward the food court hoping there would be an exit back there when an arm grabbed me from behind. I punched my hand back, hoping to inflict enough pain to get them to let go.
“Shit, Naomi, that hurts.”
I spun.
“Puck!” I threw my arms around him and he spoke in my ear.
“Go hide in the bathroom. I have a plan. Wait there until someone comes for you. Hide in a stall.”
He pointed to the “Women” sign a few shops down. I ducked in there just as I heard shouts of “FBI” behind me.
I wondered if they saw. I hurried into the marble stall and locked it.
A detective burst in, kicked the door open, and grinned when he saw me sitting there.
Surprises come in bright yellow. Sometimes peach, pink or white. There is even a Rainbow Surprise. But no Surprises are colored in betrayal.
BEING A PRISONER SUCKS. The agents may not have had me in handcuffs, but it was close enough. On the airplane they seated me in between them both and followed me to the bathroom. And they took my phone. Ginny must have been beside herself. We tried so hard to elude them, and yet here I was on a plane ride home.
Puck wouldn’t have done this to me, right? I trusted him.
The plane ride home was too short and before I knew it we were in the car. We made our way quickly up the freeway toward my house. I missed all the cars. In Arkansas there was no traffic. I fought the waves of nausea and loneliness by taking deep breaths and trying not to cry. I watched the blur of green as we drove down the winding road. Cows dotted the fields and occasionally I saw horses. We passed a chicken house and I held my breath, reminding myself that I hadn’t been gone that long. It felt like a bad nightmare about to come true.
I was going home a different person than I left. That frightened me. Gone was the shy obedient child. Vegas had not only changed my outward appearance, but my inside as well. I was a Guardian. The sudden decision surprised me. Alejandro had said we had to choose to be a Guardian, but that the choice was hard. Not for me. The choice was easy.
It didn’t matter though because I had power to protect not only myself but those around me. The problem was I didn’t know how safe it would be for me to use my ability. If my father was who I thought he was then he would sense my power and do whatever he could to silence it. Plus, my encounters with Destroyers had been tempered by situations and other Guardians. I wasn’t entirely sure I could defend myself against one. Especially one as powerful as Father.
Escape would be impossible as long as the detectives were around. And they planned on delivering me straight to my doorstep.
Kai would come back for me though, right? If I survived long enough to make it through one night, I could leave with Kai. Even if he wasn’t ready to go anywhere, he could put me back on a bus. Then I could meet up with Ginny and she would take me far far away from this mess.
Surviving the night would be tricky though. Once Father laid eyes on my green hair and tattoo, he’d die. Then I would. Literally.
The car came over a hill and I saw my house again. My little greenhouse sat off to the side. At least I still had a refuge where I wouldn’t be surrounded by misery. Were any of the roses still alive or would I have to coax them back to bloom? Did they still contain the power Grandma gave them?
The agents led me to the front door and I stood behind them, trying to hide myself. Mother answered the door, her long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. Her month long stint in jail had had no effect on her appearance. She wore a navy blouse and a long khaki skirt. I cringed, not wanting to go back to the horrid fashion. After a few pleasantries of “we brought your daughter back” the detectives headed back out to the car and I stood on the front stoop, waiting to be let in.
Mother stared at me for a long time. After what seemed like an hour she said, “Come on Naomi, I need help with dinner.”
No lecture on my clothes, my chopped hair or the green, no mention of my mascara or the henna tattoo.
She set me to peeling potatoes and carrots. We worked silently. I itched to visit my roses. When we finally got dinner in the oven I decided to escape to the greenhouse. I turned to look back at the kitchen window and saw my mother staring at me. I’m going to rescue her from this hell.
My greenhouse wasn’t completely dead. I could feel the power coming from the flowers. Grandma had done a good job. I just needed time to tend to them. Though I was sad to see the all the brown. The heat from the greenhouse had all but killed them. If I’d been home I would’ve left the door open during the day so they wouldn’t fry. I would have to use my power to help heal them. Alejandro’s roses were in almost as bad shape when Puck was playing Destroyer. And I’d managed to rescue them. Mostly.
The roses were wilted and almost dead. I worked methodically, watering and clipping back dead blooms. I used a little bit of my power to get a few roses to bloom. I wanted to do as much of this the old fashioned way as possible to keep my power in case I had the chance to use it.
I needed a rose to bring in the house. I sat down and debated. I nearly picked the Kaiser Wilhelm. The rose I put with Kai. My mind wandered to Puck, I missed him. But my greenhouse held no Tuscany’s.
I chose instead Memorial Days, a rose that was quite common in Alejandro’s garden. They were a light pink and I would only need a few to make my entire room smell good. I forced several blooms, the smell bringing tears to my eyes with memories of better times, and went in search of a vase.
When I finished cleaning up the greenhouse and making sure all of my plants were taken care of the best I could, I decided I would bring the few roses I was able to make bloom into my room to protect me from Father.
I grabbed the vase of roses when I heard the dinner bell ring. I walked slowly, the grass tickling my feet through my flip-flops, shoes I had never worn in my life before moving to Vegas. My father sat at the table when I walked in. He looked up and anger flashed in his eyes.
He said nothing as I took the roses to my room. I thought about staying in there, but figured I’d have to face him eventually. I entered the kitchen and stood near my mother.
“What the hell are you wearing?” he asked, getting up and making his way toward me. I was still wearing the shorts and t-shirt from this morning. They were modest by Ricki’s standards but indecent by my father’s. Mother sat at the table waiting for us to eat. She kept her head down and stared at her plate.
He grabbed my arm and twisted. I cried out in pain.
“Your mother’s good-for-nothing sister let you get a tattoo?”
He glowered at the henna rose that took up most of my forearm.
“It’s…it’s fake,” I managed to get out in gasping breaths. Survive. All I needed to do was survive until Kai came. “It’ll fade in a few weeks.”
“And your nails….” Still multi-colored due to Puck’s late night boredom. “You were just one big coloring book for those people weren’t you? And I bet you loved every minute of it. Letting them let you play the part of a slut. Well, no more. Wait here.”
What else could I do but wait and obey? I needed to wait for Kai. I didn’t want to run away without him. Plus, it wasn’t like I could run far, he’d catch me in no time. As long as he didn’t kill me, I could take anything else.
He came back carrying a can of paint thinner. He put on gloves, poured the paint thinner into a bowl and dipped a dirty shop rag into it. Then he scrubbed at the rose on my arm. Whether it was the friction or the chemicals I don’t know, but it burned. I tried to stay silent, knowing my pleas and cries would only make him scrub harder. After about thirty minutes he seemed satisfied. The rose was gone. As was most of the skin.
He then made me soak my hands in the paint thinner before he scrubbed off all the nail polish, my feet as well. When he was done with that, I placed my feet gingerly on the floor. My mother still sat at the table, waiting for us to eat.
“Your hair is gone. How could you let them do that to it after we spent years growing it out?” He gingerly fingered a lock. “Well I suppose you won’t mind a few more cuts.” He took out his pocketknife and placed it near my scalp and sawed away at a chunk of hair. I stumbled, the pain finally too much. My father just laughed. He pulled and sawed, pulled and sawed and green hair fell to the ground.
“Your mother will fix the rest. Go wash your face. I don’t want to see that filth on it anymore. Mother, please put her in some decent clothes and put her hair back to its natural color.”
I’m not sure what possessed me to speak, it was probably that gene that seemed to want to bring on pain, but I spoke. “Brown is my natural color, not the fake blond you’ve been forcing me to be all these years.”
He shoved me up against the counter, my feet lifting off the floor. “You were blond, you’ve always been blond. Don’t you argue with me.”
I forced the tears back and waited for him to leave the room. “When you are done becoming a decent human being, come see me. I’ll be in my shop.”
Mother handed me a pair of socks and ugly tennis shoes along with a long sleeved blouse and skirt. Once I dressed she set to my hair. It took hours. By the time she was done the sun had long set.
“Do you want to see?”
I shook my head knowing that due to my father’s sawing and my mother’s harsh chemicals it had to look like a rats nest.
“Well, then, you’d better get to see your father.”
Comprehension dawned. “You knew. You knew he’d react this way, that’s why you didn’t say anything about my clothes earlier. You wanted him to punish me.”
She said nothing and pointed to the door. I was surprised because usually that sort of talk would bring a hand to my face, but today she seemed to want only my father to be the bad guy. The smell of gasoline overwhelmed me. I found my father standing in front of my greenhouse.
He held a box of matches in his hand. He slowly took a match out and rolled it in his fingers.
“Do you know what happens to little girls who disobey their parents?” he asked and lit the match.
I shook my head but bile rose to my throat. I wondered if he was going to burn me to death. All I had to do was survive the night, and I couldn’t even seem to do that. Ginny would be so sad.
“They lose everything they love.” He threw the lit match towards my greenhouse and the entire thing went up in a blaze of flames. I sank to the ground. Years of hard work and love. Gone in an instant. Apparently, the lack of tending caused their power to fade so they weren’t protected from fire. He didn’t have to enter the greenhouse to destroy it now. I wondered when he figured out that he could do that. Send it up in flames because they were weak? He probably wanted to wait to do it in front of me. I ignored the heat from the flames and watched as the greenhouse turned black. My father left me sitting there.
The entire building was gone in less than an hour. At least I wasn’t dead. I wondered how long he’d let me live, now that all the protection was gone. Except the roses in my room. They still had power to protect me. My father may have thought that he won, but there was no way I was staying under his tyranny. If Kai didn’t come tonight, tomorrow I would run.
I went back into the house exhausted in every possible way. Tears seemed appropriate, but I couldn’t even summon the energy to cry. I tore off my ugly shoes and climbed into bed, falling asleep in seconds, knowing that tonight at least I’d be protected from my father because the vase of roses guarded my room.
My roses are all stuff of dreams now. Pipe Dreams. Forgotten Dreams. Even Sweet Dreams.
MY DREAMS WERE UNSETTLING. Large biker tattoo artists attempted to tattoo my stomach with green hair. Then it switched to a whole forest of rose trees going up in flames. I tossed and turned trying to fight away the fear and the anxiety when a wave of peace rushed into my stomach. I awoke at once, knowing what was about to happen, but I did not open my eyes. I tried to control both my rapid breath and my racing heart.
I felt my bed sink as he sat down on the edge of it. He traced a calloused finger along the edge of my jaw.
“So beautiful,” he whispered. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
I felt his breath as he placed his lips on mine. I found the honey and cinnamon taste once again. My fingers tingled and I reached up to touch his face, but he abruptly pulled away.
“Open your eyes. I know you’re awake.”
I sat up, blinking. He looked exactly as I remembered him, with tousled hair and stubble on his jaw. I smiled, but he looked angry.
“Who have you been kissing?” he asked, glowering.
I rolled my eyes and avoided the question. I had questions too, and mine were going to get answered before his. Plus, he was going to freak when he found out that it’d been Puck. I couldn’t believe he was sitting in front of me. He was gorgeous and I’d missed him too. Even if I did have Puck to distract me.
“I know what you are and what you’re doing here,” I said my own anger building. I waited for the taste of blood, but it didn’t come. I suppose if I didn’t really want to hurt him it would have tasted like sour milk instead.
He sat back down on the bed. “Oh, really? And exactly what am I doing here?”
“Trying to take out the Mast
er Destroyer.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Hmm…and what else do you know?” He held up his hand. “Wait, don’t answer that. What I really want to know is who you’ve been kissing. You were in Vegas, right?”
I nodded.
“Then it was probably one of Alejandro’s clan. It doesn’t surprise me, someone like you finding them.”
His words surprised me. “What do you mean someone like me?”
“They told you all about me, but didn’t bother to tell you what you were?”
“That I’m a Shade? Well yeah, they figured it out eventually. But everyone seemed shocked by it, with me being a girl and all.”
He laughed softly. “Yeah, that took me by surprise too, but once I figured out what it meant, well, it changes things doesn’t it?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He leaned forward and smirked. “Really? I’ll tell you if you tell me.”
“Tell you what?” I hedged. I knew what he meant, but he would be so mad at Puck.
“Who have you been kissing?” he asked.
“How can you tell someone else has been kissing me?”
“If it had just been a normal person, I wouldn’t. But Guardians leave behind an energy. It prevents us from encroaching on each other’s territory. Someone else has definitely been kissing you. A lot.”
I grinned. He frowned.
“And he had to have known that you belonged to someone else. Who was it?”
He really didn’t know. He didn’t have to know.
“Jason,” I lied quietly, hoping he wouldn’t recognize the name.
Fury burned behind his eyes.
“And did you tell Jason,” he spat the name, “that you belonged to me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t belong to you. I can kiss who I like.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “Of course you can, but I can’t believe Jason would do that.”
“Do you know Jason?”
The Thorn Chronicles-Books 1-4: Kissed, Destroyed, Secrets, and Lies Page 21