“No, we can use my dad.”
It’d been two weeks and I’d made absolutely no improvement. My commands could travel about a mile out, but no further than that. I’d been practicing at school. Making Destroyers in my classrooms do things. Nothing that brought too much attention, or hurt anyone. Raise your hand. Cross your legs. They never disobeyed me. I could also make my commands work in the whole school or in certain rooms. But long distances eluded me. I suspected that’s why Jason wanted to exercise with my dad. He was sick of my whining.
“Dad, we’re home,” I called.
“On the deck,” he called back.
I found him at the grill.
“What’s for dinner?”
“Brats and potato salad. I have the potatoes boiled, you think you can chop them up and put the salad together?”
“Sure, Jason’s here. Do we have enough to feed him, too?”
“Only if you want to. I didn’t think you liked him.”
“I don’t, but we need to talk to you about some stuff.”
My dad winked at me. “Then I’ll make sure to burn his brat.”
I grinned. He was almost back to normal. Another six months, and it might be like the last eight years never happened.
Jason made the sauce for the potatoes and I kept messing with him. Stir clockwise. Now counterclockwise. Drop the spoon. Sing Old Macdonald.
After the song, he laughed and flicked mayo at me. “This is not a good use of your power.”
“Just practicing.”
My phone rang. It was Tiff.
“Whatcha doing tonight?”
“Homework. Then nothing. Kai had to go out of town for the weekend.”
“Oh.”
I could hear the disappointment in her voice. Poor girl.
“You wanna come over? We could have a campfire down by the creek, and maybe watch a movie.”
“That sounds fun. Desi got dumped today. I’ll bring marshmallows and chocolate, and we’ll help her forget about the loser.”
I looked at the clock. It was five. “How about you come over at seven?”
Once I hung up the phone, Jason sprang. “Can I stay?”
I shrugged. “Sure. But if you are going to use the night to try to encourage things with Tiff, you might want to invite a friend to entertain Desi. A good guy, not a loser.”
He was already scrolling through his contacts.
I was starting on my second brat when Dad asked what was it we needed to talk about.
“You know how you can sense Mother inside of me?”
He flinched. “Yes, but I’ve gotten so used to you that I hardly even notice anymore.”
“It’s not exactly her. It’s her energy.”
“Yeah, I knew that. But it was her energy that made me do all those horrible things.”
I cringed. “I know. But wasn’t really her. It was the Master Destroyer energy. And I possess it now.”
My dad stopped mid-chew. He looked from me to Jason. Then he swallowed.
“Exactly what does that mean?”
“I guess it makes me the Master Destroyer.”
To my surprise, he burst out laughing. He laughed for a good two minutes. Jason kept looking at me funny. Dad finally got a hold of himself and wiped tears from his eyes.
“I’m sorry, it’s so absurd. My little girl, the Master Destroyer. You’re nothing like a Destroyer. You must be joking.”
“I’m not. I need to figure out how to stop Destroyers from killing all the Guardians. But I can’t make anyone do anything from a long distance.”
He jerked his head up. “You mean you can control us already?”
Stand up. Both he and Jason stood up. My dad looked down at me with disbelief.
“I can only send commands within a mile.”
My dad sat back down and fiddled with his food. He didn’t look up as he spoke.
“It took your mother two years to figure out, and I was the first one she learned to control. After that, it only took her a few months to learn how to control all the Destroyers.”
“How do you know it took her that long?”
“Because she told me. She told me a lot. She knew I couldn’t tell anyone. Revealing her secrets is something I still have trouble doing.”
I leaned forward, excited. “Did she tell you how she controlled everyone?”
He shook his head. “No, she said it was instinctual, not something that could be taught or explained. Sorry.”
I slumped, disappointed. How was I going to do this?
“Well, let’s have it. Make me do something again.”
Payback time.
Throw some potato salad at Jason.
To my surprise, not one, but two lumps of potato hit Jason in the face.
Jason wiped the sauce off his face. “Next time, leave my name out. I had no choice.”
I laughed, then looked at my dad. His face was somber.
“What’s the matter?”
“That was incredible. There was no question of what I was supposed to do, or how to do it. I just acted. Your mother didn’t have a tenth of the power that you do.”
“That’s what I said the first time she showed me. When she gives a command, there is absolutely no way to refuse. That’s pretty dangerous,” said Jason.
My dad frowned. “It is. We’ll have to keep a close eye on you.”
“You can’t tell anyone. Kai doesn’t know.”
My dad smirked. “You realize that since you said, ‘You can’t tell anyone,’ I literally can’t tell.”
I dropped my shoulders. “Sorry. You can tell, but please don’t.”
“I won’t.”
“I haven’t figured out yet how to send a command to only one person. I don’t know if I have to use a name, or if it works some other way. Will you practice with us?”
“Of course.”
Turned out, it was easy to single out a person to do something. All I had to do was put his name in front of the command. Sometimes, I didn’t even need to do that; just thinking about that person was enough. We wrapped up with my dad in thirty minutes and went back to practicing over long distances. By the time Tiff arrived, I was frustrated, angry, and ready for a fight. I didn’t have to look far to find one.
Jason’s friend arrived at the same time as the girls. Andrew was good looking, a Romeo clone. I pulled Jason aside.
“You brought a freakin’ Guardian? What were you thinking?”
He smirked. “You said a good guy.”
“This is Destroyer headquarters. You can’t bring him here.”
“You brought Puck.” He strolled away from me, like our conversation was over. I grabbed his arm.
“That was different. This guy doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in either world. What makes you think he’s not going to see something he shouldn’t?”
He jerked away from me. “He’ll only see something he shouldn’t if you’re careless enough to show him.”
I stewed all the way through the campfire. It didn’t help that they all got along fabulously, especially Andrew and Desi. She didn’t even have time to whine about her ex-boyfriend. From the looks of it, she didn’t even remember his name.
The movie was even worse. They were all snuggled up together, and I wanted Puck. About halfway through the movie, I went to bed.
Christmas was not a season for roses. They all lay dormant in their beds, but that didn’t stop rose breeders from trying. Christmas Snow and White Christmas are brilliant white roses, whereas Christmas Beauty and Christmas Cheer are deep red.
I’D REALLY BEEN LOOKING FORWARD to Christmas. This year, the holiday was going to be special. The last several years, it was just another day in my house. When I was little, Santa Claus had been generous and exciting. My father went all out; I was surrounded by presents. My grandma baked cookies that tasted divine, and we had traditions that I loved.
But then Grandma died, Mother became Master Destroyer, and Dad became her minion. After that, Christmas
was just another reminder that my family wasn’t normal.
This Christmas would be different. When Kai asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said I wanted a traditional celebration, with all the things normal people do on that day. Baking, decorating the tree, watching football, piles of presents, even oranges in my stocking.
For the past two weeks, he and Dad have been super secretive, planning out every detail of our Christmas. Kai told Tiff what he was doing, and she introduced him to Pinterest. She was a little too eager to show him how it worked, in spite of her budding relationship with Jason. They both were coming over after breakfast today to help us decorate the tree.
In the kitchen, my dad was making bacon and eggs. I sat at the table; Kai sat across from me.
“I got a call last night. We have another lead on who might know something about the murders,” Kai said.
My dad pointed the spatula at Kai. “Hey, we promised no Destroyer stuff today and tomorrow. You get calls every day. Not one has led anywhere useful.” His trip to Florida was a complete dead end. He’s gone on three more trips since then, and we still had nothing to go on.
“Yeah, but this one might be the break we need,” I said.
Dad shook his head. “You wanted a real Christmas. Real Christmas means no work.”
The cat jumped on the table and stole a piece of bacon off Kai’s plate.
“Hey,” he yelled.
I swear Lincoln grinned at him before disappearing around the corner, bacon in mouth.
Kai took a couple more slices. The counter was piled high with chocolate chips, sugar, flour, sprinkles, and everything else we needed to bake cookies. The Christmas tree was propped up in the corner, next to four big boxes full of decorations. We were ready.
The day was truly spectacular. Jason and I didn’t fight that much, and Tiff didn’t spend the entire day flirting with Kai. I noticed she actually stuck pretty close to Jason. We baked cookies, decorated the house, played games, and had a fun afternoon. By the time Jason and Tiff left, I was exhausted and stuffed.
That night, I fell asleep in Kai’s arms blissfully happy.
I woke up with my head resting on Kai’s chest, his arms wrapped around me. We slept together every night, by we didn’t do more than kissing. Though I often woke up in his arms.
I had to somehow untangle myself from Kai’s embrace without waking him up. I wanted to make breakfast for everyone. My Grandmother always woke early on Christmas morning and made breakfast, and I desperately wanted to follow in her footsteps.
I gently peeled away Kai’s fingers from my ribcage and removed his other arm from my back. I shimmed away from him and rolled over. He moved; I froze. I waited from him to stop moving, but instead, his arms snaked around my waist and he pulled me close to him. He looped one leg around both of mine so that I was effectively trapped.
He kissed the back of neck. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you too. I’m going to make breakfast.”
“I’ll come help.”
I sighed. Traditions were meant to be remade, I guess.
“Okay.”
We wandered out into the living room to find my father already building a fire.
“It’s snowing,” he said.
I looked out the window. Sure enough, huge white flakes were coming down. I raced to the door. I wanted to feel the snowflakes on my face. I loved the first snow of the year.
I flung open the door and nearly tripped over a box on the porch. It was wrapped with candy cane wrapping paper and an oversized red bow.
I brought the box inside, smiling. “Someone loves me.”
Kai creased his eyebrows. “Where did that come from?”
“The front porch,” I said, and tore off the wrapping paper. Underneath the paper was a plain cardboard box. I ripped the tape off the seam, pulled open the flaps and peered inside.
Then I screamed. Louder than I’d ever screamed in my life.
Lying in the bottom of the box, facing me, was a human head.
Don Juan Rose = dead.
I BACKED AWAY FROM THE BOX, still screaming. I shut my eyes to erase the image, but all I could see was the blood-crusted neck, the blank stare, the complete deadness of it all.
My body filled with rage and I could feel the Master Destroyer energy take over. It filled every cell of my body. My throat was raw and my voice all but disappeared.
But in my head, I screamed, with every ounce of meaning behind it.
STOP KILLING GUARDIANS.
My father flinched and looked at me with wide eyes. Neither he nor Kai had stepped up to look in the box. They didn’t know the horrors it held. My phone rang. On autopilot, I answered.
“Holy hell, Naomi, what was that?” Jason asked.
I knew then how to control the Destroyers. It seemed almost instinctual at that point. But I was too late.
“Alejandro’s dead.” I replied, and hung up.
I wish there were a rose that described my grief. Something about mourning, sadness, and the emptiness that appeared where my stomach should be. For once in my life, I was roseless.
IT FELT LIKE A LONG TIME, but really it’d only been about thirty seconds since I opened the box. I’d backed into the wall. Kai and my dad both looked into the box together. My dad threw up and Kai backed away with his hand over his mouth.
The gory head wasn’t real to me. I knew he was dead, but I didn’t feel it yet. I never realized that the death of a loved one is like that. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t cry. “What are we going to do?” I asked.
All three of us sat at the table. My hand was shaking as I dialed the number. All I could think was that Ginny had gone to stay with Alejandro last night. Every ring on the phone seemed to take a year. Julio, Alejandro’s brother, answered on the fourth ring.
“Where’s Ginny?” I asked.
“Not here. Listen you might want to sit down. Something horrible has happened.”
“I know. Is Ginny alive?”
“We don’t know where Ginny is. Her phone was here, but she’s not. The guards say she came to stay with Alejandro, but she wasn’t in the room when they checked on him in the morning.” He dropped his voice. “Listen, this does not look good for her. The guards think she is involved somehow.”
“Why would they think that?”
“Because she kicked them out of the room for the night. They think she did it.”
“You don’t think that, do you?”
“No, of course not. But it does look suspicious. Where is she? And how did you know?”
“We got a box this morning. It had his….” I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
Julio let out a breath. “At least we know where his head is.”
“How are you so calm?”
“Experience. I can’t afford to go to pieces right now. I need to find the murderers and your aunt.”
I heard a scream on his end of the line.
“Hang on.”
“Wait you can’t….” But he’d already set the phone down. I prayed that Ginny was okay. I tapped my fingers. Nothing felt real at the moment. A few minutes later, Julio picked up the phone again.
“Ginny’s safe. She was with Puck. She had a client who decided to throw a last minute Christmas party and needed some help. By the time she was done, it was late and she just slept on the couch. She left her phone with Alejandro by mistake. Listen, things still look bad for her. The safest place for her might be with you. I have to go. I’ll have Ginny call you as soon as she can.”
“Wait. What do I do about, you know?”
“I don’t know. Give me some time to process.”
He hung up. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins. I didn’t know what to do either. My dad was cleaning the mess on the floor. Kai grabbed a towel, flung it over the top of the box and moved it to the garage. Then he sat next to me. He took my hand in his but didn’t say anything. After my dad cleaned up the floor he sat across from me.
“Are
you okay?” asked Kai.
I shook my head, afraid of what would come out of my mouth if I actually spoke. The phone rang again.
“Naomi. It’s Puck.”
I lost it at that point. The tears exploded out of my eyes and I began to sob. The phone slipped out of my hands. Kai picked it up and spoke with Puck briefly. All I could hear were my own sobs. My dad put his arm around my shoulder and I curled into him, grateful for the comfort.
After Kai hung up, he sat next to me and waited until I quieted.
“Ginny’s a prime suspect. They are leaving the police out of this, but the guards have already alerted the Guardian council. They are meeting this afternoon. Julio is bringing Ginny here and he’ll take the head back with him. They’ll be here in a few hours. I’m going to go to the airport and pick up Ginny. Do you want to come?”
“Of course.”
Jason showed up just before we left for the airport. He rode in the back seat. I’d been crying on and off. I wondered when I’d run out of tears. Kai filled him in on exactly what happened as we drove.
“Can I ask an obvious question?”
“Sure.”
“Won’t this make Ginny more of a suspect? I know she wasn’t involved, but won’t it look suspicious if she’s suddenly living with the Master Destroyer?”
“No one will know where she is. She will not be allowed to leave the house. Puck is going to tell the council that he’s hiding her to protect her. He knows how to handle his council. He’ll convince them that she didn’t have anything to do with it.”
We waited at the private airport instead of the commercial one. Jason handed the box to Julio. Ginny followed Kai to the car, her shoulders slumped. She looked awful, for the first time in her life. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend her pain. I would have to let her grieve in her own way. I let Jason sit in the front and I sat in the back with her, my arm around her shoulder. She wasn’t crying, and she didn’t say a single word.
And the roses cried Tiny Tears with us.
ON MONDAY, GINNY CRIED.
The Thorn Chronicles-Books 1-4: Kissed, Destroyed, Secrets, and Lies Page 38