The Thorn Chronicles-Books 1-4: Kissed, Destroyed, Secrets, and Lies

by Kimberly Loth

  We walked through a cozy living room and into a small kitchen. An old woman stood at the stove.

  “It’s about time,” she said in a gravelly voice. She lifted a spoon out of the pot and toward Andrea. “Try this.”

  Andrea tasted it and shook her head.

  “It needs more red pepper.” The she pointed at me. “This is Sunday. Sunday, meet Elizabeth.”

  I held out my hand but the woman embraced me instead. The energy coming off of her was so strong that it made me lightheaded. She held me at arm’s length and looked me up and down.

  “Let down your shield child so I can get a good look at you.” I hesitated for a few seconds—I’d always kept myself shielded, and even when I forgot there were still a few up. “Don’t be shy. I’m not going to hurt you and you are completely safe here. No one outside of this house will know anything.”

  I took a few deeps breaths and dropped my shields. It felt good, like I was stretching out my muscles.

  “Whooie child, you’ve got a lot of power. You must be in with some mighty strong Guardians.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  She looked and Andrea. “She doesn’t know?”

  Andrea shrugged. “I don’t know what she knows. She talked to Beth, not me.”

  “Why would I talk to you about this at all?” I asked.

  “Because I’m a Shade too, but I’m better at shielding than Beth is. I’m surprised she never got caught with her shield down.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Oh she got caught a few times alright, she just cleaned up her messes.”

  I sat down. The conversation was entirely confusing. Before I could ask any questions, the front door opened and slammed shut.

  Beth rushed into the room. What on earth was she doing here?

  “Oh, thank goodness you are okay. You still have your power and everything. I’d feel horrible if something happened to you because I clammed up when you asked me about it.” She threw her arms around me and held me tight for a few seconds. Then she sat at the table with me. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. A little confused, but okay.”

  Andrea got two cokes from the fridge and handed me one. She took a long sip out of the other one and sat next to me.

  Beth rolled her eyes. “Gran, can you get me a coke?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “So what happened?” asked Beth.

  “I’m not sure. What do you mean?”

  “Well, you went out with Wyatt and didn’t come back all night. Then you stopped talking to him altogether. He’s been bellyaching to Andrea and Morgan.”

  I closed my eyes for a second. Then I looked from her to Andrea. “How do you know this?” I asked.

  “Andrea told me.”

  I looked at Andrea. “But you two hate each other.”

  “This is far bigger than our silly feud. I don’t like her, but we stick together on this issue. Besides, I can’t protect the girls on my own. She’s an asset. And her Grandma’s in charge. If it weren’t for them, my power would’ve been gone long ago.”

  Beth snorted. “Yeah, but you would’ve gotten it back.”

  Andrea shrugged. “Maybe. Who knows how long that takes. Maybe it never comes back.”

  My head was spinning. I didn’t understand anything they were saying.

  “Can you all explain? I’m confused.”

  Beth laughed. “Of course you are. But first, you need to tell us what happened with Wyatt that night.”

  “I don’t remember. I literally have no memory of that night.”

  Beth exhaled. “I was afraid of that. I wonder what you learned. I was afraid he’d tried to take your power.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Andrea spoke. “That secret little group’s job is to protect the world from female Shades. They take our power away from us so we aren’t a danger to them. Thankfully we have Beth, so they only succeed every once in a while.”

  “What can Beth do?” I asked.

  Beth grinned. “I can take memories too, just like Wyatt, but I’m better than him because I can implant false memories too. Every time we rescue a girl from them, I always wipe their memories and plant new ones so they forget they even had captured one.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  Beth thought for a second. “Around forty to fifty.”

  Holy cow. Naomi was right. This was what I came here to find.

  “And your Grandma is in charge?”

  Grandma spoke up. “Sure am. But the girls manage themselves. I just make sure they have a safe place to relax.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “This is unbelievable.”

  “Yeah, we are very proud of our little group. It’s nice to meet someone new though. We knew others had to be out there, we just didn’t know how to find you. How big is the group in Vegas?”

  “I don’t have a group. I hang with the Guardians. In fact, as soon as I get back I intend to join them.”

  “No way! How can you? Didn’t you just hear what I said? They steal our power from us.”

  I snorted. “No, they don’t. Not the ones I know. Most of them don’t even realize that girls can have power. They trained me.”

  “Why?” asked Andrea.

  “Because I’m powerful. They think I can be an asset to them.”

  “But do they know what you can do? Because if they don’t, as soon as they do, they’ll be calling the group down here and begging them to take care of you.”

  “They don’t know about the group down here. What is it that I can do? No one will tell me.”

  Beth grinned. “We can steal their power.”

  I shook my head. “What? How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know. But they are totally threatened by it.”

  “You’re saying that they take our power so we won’t take theirs? That seems kinda messed up. How do they do it?” I asked.

  “We don’t actually know. We’ve seen girls go into their creepy cave bursting with power and come out with nothing.”

  “A cave? If you can place false memories, have you tried raiding the cave? You could always cover it up. Seems like an easy thing to do.”

  “No. We’ve tried, but we can’t get in. We usually intercept the girls before they get anywhere near the cave.”

  This was that stupid secret power Puck was talking about. Why didn’t Naomi tell me about this? Did she think I’d go stealing power from everyone? She should’ve trusted me. But really I wasn’t mad at her, I was mad at Wyatt. He had a lot to answer for. Maybe Beth and Andrea weren’t willing to search for answers, but I certainly was.

  We hung out for the rest of the evening and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with them. I showed them how I could heal and Beth explained how her memory tricks worked. I wanted to push for more answers, but I didn’t really want to tell them about Naomi. I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted them and if I asked for more information they would expect the same from me.

  I got up early the next morning and worked on my painting in Nan’s art studio. I knew I should call Naomi and tell her what was going on, but I needed more answers first. I needed to know what Wyatt stole from me. And there was only one person who had those answers. It was a risk. I knew that. Confiding in and trusting Wyatt was probably a stupid thing to do. But what other options did I have? Tell Naomi and have her come swooping in and deciding I still wasn’t ready to do anything real? No, I had to do this on my own, to prove that I was capable of solving problems. Or at least finding answers.

  The picture in front of me was turning out to be slightly creepy. I drew myself floating above the rose. On a whim I gave myself angel wings and a long flowy dress. I stretched stalks from the rose up and twisted them around my arms. The whole thing was bizarre because I never drew myself. I could do awesome portraits but I didn’t like drawing myself. Though this felt right somehow.

  I stood up and stretched. Nan told me I could help myself to any of the paints. I gathered
a few grays and blues.

  Naomi had somehow infused Alejandro’s energy into paint. That meant she had at least some of his power, that she must have stolen it from him. It was the only explanation that made sense. But why would she do that? And if she did, why wasn’t Puck scared of her? I wondered if I could put my own energy into the paint.

  I focused on my energy center. I pictured it as a sun in the middle of my chest. I siphoned off a small piece. Concentrating on that small piece, I held my hands over the paint and sent the small ball of power right out my hand. I took a couple of deep breaths and checked the paint.

  The colors were glowing with my energy.

  I spent the whole day painting. I took a small break and ate a sandwich that Nan brought me. She gave me some tips on how to make the rose feel alive and I could tell she was impressed by my skills.

  I finished just before dinner. I took a shower and joined both Nan and Esteban in the kitchen. They smiled at me and my heart skipped a beat. It was almost like having real parents again. My life was in Vegas, but I was starting to realize I wanted to stay here with them. Maybe that was the real reason I still hadn’t said anything to Naomi. I wasn’t ready to go.

  The doorbell rang just as we were finishing up and I froze. I wanted answers and Wyatt was the only one who could give them to me, but I was unprepared for this to happen right now.

  “I’ll give you time to escape back to your room if you want me to tell him to go away,” Esteban said.

  I smiled. “Thanks, but I’m okay. I’ll talk to him.”

  “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”

  I stood up. “No, I do actually.”

  I checked my shields, just in case it wasn’t Wyatt.

  It was him though. His ocean blue eyes revealed his hurt. He handed me the sunflower he was holding and turned around to leave.

  “Wait,” I said.

  He turned slowly. He looked so sad. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “We should talk,” I said. “Why don’t you come in?”

  I didn’t wait for his response; I walked back into the house and down the hall. He followed me to my bedroom, and sat on the floor, waiting for me to talk. I was immediately aware of how alone we were.

  I sat across from him and dropped all my shields. He shuddered and inhaled.

  “Your turn,” I said.

  He nodded and closed his eyes. I could feel his power right away. It filled the whole room. I’d never known anyone who could do that. I supposed Puck probably could, but I didn’t know for sure because he was always shielded.

  “How long has it been since you did that?” I asked.

  “A long time. It feels nice not to hide.” He smiled.

  I snorted. “You have no idea how much I understand that. I’ve never been allowed to drop my shields since I found out I had power. That was the first lesson I learned.”

  He stretched out his long limbs and lay down on the floor, his hands resting on the back of his head. I mimicked his pose. Our powers brushed up against each other. It was raw and intimate. I chanced a glance at him and his eyes were closed, but he had a lazy grin on his face.

  I wanted to try something. I pushed some of my power toward him. He responded immediately by pushing back. His power was bright and warm. He looked at me and smirked.

  “Think I can tickle you?”

  “First one who laughs loses?”

  I focused my energy on laughter, which was odd, because that wasn’t something I’d done before. I chose the smell of popcorn and the feeling of feathers running along the skin; then I sent it to him. At the same time he sent me the sound of a baby giggling and the taste of cotton candy. We both busted up laughing at the same time. It felt so good to laugh, to feel carefree for just a minute.

  I turned toward him and smiled. He brushed my hair out of my eyes, then wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me up against him. I knew what was about to happen, but I was so caught up in the mingling of our powers that in that moment I didn’t care if he was dangerous.

  His lips met mine and sunbursts exploded behind my eyes. Our energies fused together and I couldn’t tell where his began and mine ended. I tasted dark chocolate and held him close to me.

  But then something very strange happened. I could feel myself taking his power. I didn’t want to, but I was. I pulled away abruptly and threw up all my shields again. Hurt flashed across his face.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “I lost control of my own power. That’s never happened before.”

  He nodded even though he still looked lost. I could feel him put up a few shields but he still let some of his power flow freely.

  I wasn’t sure how this conversation was going to go, and it was entirely possible it would end with me throwing sharp objects at him, but for now, while he was holding me, I was content.

  “What happened that time we spent the night out in the desert? And don’t try lying, I know you took my memories from me.”

  He sighed and ran his fingers lightly across my lower back. It was distracting.

  “You healed a cactus in front of me and I immediately knew what you were. Scared the hell outta me, actually. I’d never seen anyone display that kind of power before. Anyway, my training kicked in—you were a threat to my group so I took you to a place where I could deal with the problem.” He pulled me closer to him and his voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I took you to a place where I could remove your power.”

  “Why?” I asked. I knew this all already, but I didn’t understand why he would do it to me.

  “Because I thought that was the only way to protect myself and other Guardians. I’m very, very sorry. I couldn’t bring myself to do it right away. You—” his voice caught, “You begged me to reconsider. You told me about your past and what your power means to you. I was already struggling with the idea of taking your power, and after that I realized I couldn’t do that to you, no matter how dangerous you were. I brought you back home, but then of course I panicked and took your memories from you so that you wouldn’t tell anyone what happened.”

  I propped my head up and looked deep into his eyes. “I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens, never take my memory again. I know when you do because I have gaps. I’m willing to move past what’s happened so far, but never again.”

  “I promise as long as you promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “Never take my power from me. It’s all I have.”

  I kissed him lightly on the lips. “I promise,” I lied. I had no intention of taking his power, but I’d already taken a little bit without even knowing it. I had to get to Naomi and figure out how to control this.

  He grinned. “I know you don’t have memories from the night we went out, but you promised me something else that night and I intend to hold you to that promise.

  “What? That’s not fair. If I have no memory of it, I didn’t make any promise.”

  “This isn’t that hard. I asked you to draw me a self-portrait.”

  Huh. That would explain the picture I just painted. Maybe there were some residual memories that lingered.

  I stood up. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

  He held my hand as we walked down the hall to the studio.

  “You have to understand, I never draw self-portraits. But I started this the day we got back. Close your eyes.” I wanted to see his reaction. I had a feeling my picture was more accurate than I knew.

  He obeyed. I pulled him into the room and positioned him right in front of the painting.

  I watched his face. “Okay, open your eyes.”

  His eyes flew open, but his face revealed nothing. He reached out and touched the rose.

  “This picture feels so alive. Before I opened my eyes I couldn’t tell whether you were standing in front of me or next to me. How do you do
that?”

  I ignored his question. “Does that rose exist?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “It’s what takes our power, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, how do you know that?”

  “Because I know of another rose that is very similar. It takes power, but not from girls. I think it only takes power from Destroyers, but most people won’t get close enough to it to check.”

  “I’d like to see that with you someday.”

  “Sure.”

  “Listen, I have to go, I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me so I only planned to spend a few moments here. But would you like to picnic in the desert tomorrow morning?”

  “That would be nice.”

  He leaned down to kiss me and for a minute I wasn’t sure if he was actually going to leave. He pulled away and laughed.

  “You are impossible to leave, you know that?”

  I blushed. He turned to go.

  “Wait,” I said. “The picture is yours. I meant what I said. I don’t do self-portraits and I don’t want to look at this one anymore. You can have it.”

  Maybe it would remind him how evil that rose was.

  He picked up the canvas. “I’ll send you a message tomorrow when I’m on my way.”

  I nodded, and then realized that I should turn my phone back on. Beth and Andrea had probably already sent me messages. I didn’t know how I would explain my relationship with Wyatt to them.

  It was dead when I found it on my nightstand. Just how I left it. I plugged it in and then went to sit on the front patio with Esteban and Nan.

  “You and him are friends again?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. It was mostly a misunderstanding.”

  Esteban grinned. “Well, next time you come to an understanding, can you leave the door open?”

  I blushed, embarrassed, but pleased they were being parent-like again. If it weren’t for this nefarious power-stealing group of Guardians, I could totally live here.

  The Saguaro cactus can live up to two hundred years old. But it doesn’t just suddenly die. It takes years, eventually decaying to its ribs and then falling over. I wished I’d had years to prepare for death. It came so suddenly.