I needed to find Neal. He had lied to me. He was on Puck’s council and one of the only ones I liked. Ruth and Kai were staying with him since he was married to Kai’s mom. Apparently, he was also well acquainted with my grandmother but told me that he didn’t know anything about her past.
I picked up my phone and messaged him.
Call me.
Busy. Will call later.
I rolled my eyes. Of course he was busy. I read for a while longer. She talked about her life and my mother. How she tried to stop her but by the time she discovered what was going on, it was too late and all she could do was damage control. But the thing is, she never discovered that my mother was the Master Destroyer, only that she was a Destroyer. She also talked a lot about her relationship with Elizabeth. She’d always regretted not making up with her. Elizabeth would be my great-aunt. That would make Beth my second cousin. My family was growing without me even realizing it. I wasn’t sure how I felt that.
After a while, I put the journals down and I stepped out on the balcony, which overlooked the front yard. A roadrunner darted between green spaces.
I now understood how Tiffany and Ruth had power. Tiff obviously got it from Jason. She’d be so tickled when she found out. Her power and position could be useful. I’d train her right away, but we’d have to be sneaky because I didn’t want Jason finding out until later, if ever.
This also meant Ricki could probably become one, if she wanted. I was surprised she hadn’t picked up any power yet. Maybe she’s immune to it. Ruth worried me though. I wouldn’t train her. Kai needed her and he wouldn’t want her to be a part of this. Maybe when they moved out of Neal’s house, Ruth’s power would fade.
A car pulled into the driveway; Puck was home. He looked up and smiled at me and my insides warmed. Even after all these years he still made me swoon.
“I’ll be up in a sec,” he called.
I nodded. We had a lot to deal with and discuss, but for now all I wanted was to kiss my fiancé and forget for a moment that a war was brewing and it was all my fault.
Sunday
There are over two thousand different types of cacti. My goal is to find and draw them all. But only the ones I find in the wild. Garden plants seem too easy somehow.
I NEEDED TIME TO CLEAR MY HEAD, and just spend some time away from everyone else. So I locked myself in my room, sketching. After a while, I heard a knock. I jumped up and answered it, expecting it to be Naomi. I was sure she was going to fill me in on the secrets she was keeping from the other girls.
But it was Jordan. He looked so yummy standing there in swim trunks and a towel slung over shoulder.
“We just got back and I’m dying to get in the pool, you wanna come?”
Instead of answering, I grabbed his hand, pulled him into the room, and shut the door.
He creased his eyebrows. “You okay?”
I smiled. “I’m more than okay. Do you notice anything different?”
He looked me up and down. “Nope. Still as hot as I remember.” He sounded nervous.
Jordan had been cautious since I’d returned from Tombstone. He’d hold my hand and let me snuggle him, but he hadn’t pushed further. I’d been grieving, plus there was that issue of him disappearing without a word.
But right now, I was dying to kiss him. If it meant that my power would get stronger, he wasn’t leaving my room tonight.
I ran my fingers along his bare abs and he shivered.
“Sunday, you can’t—”
“Shhhh,” I said and slid my hand around his bare waist and pulled him close to me.
He met my eyes and I could see the desire in them so I didn’t hesitate. I stood up on my tiptoes and planted my lips on his.
He kissed me back eagerly. Our powers responded to one another. It was different, stronger somehow, even though I didn’t have as much. It felt like a day at the beach. Full of sunshine and ocean waves. After about thirty seconds I pulled away.
“Do you know what’s different now?”
“You have power again.”
I nodded.
“You sure this is okay?” he asked.
“Um, I pulled you in here. Seriously, you showed up at my door half-naked, what did you expect?”
He grinned that sexy half smile he always pulled off so well. “I just wanted to go swimming.”
“Well, I don’t want to go swimming.”
I lay on Jordan’s chest, completely relaxed. I could feel my power increasing already, though I still had a long way to go.
A knock sounded at the door again.
“You’re popular today. Should I hide in the closet, like last time?” Jordan laughed as I stood up and headed for the door.
“Nope. No one is threatening to send me away. They’ll have to live with finding you in here occasionally.”
I opened the door and Naomi slipped in.
“We need to talk about…” she stopped when she saw Jordan sitting on my bed.
“What?” I crossed my arms, wondering if she would say anything.
“Nothing, but we need to talk and not in front of him.”
“Not a problem,” said Jordan. “Sunday, I’ll be in the pool if you want to go swimming after you’re done.”
I nodded. He hopped off the bed, kissed me on the cheek, and left the room.
As soon as the door shut, Naomi grinned at me.
“Did it work?” she asked.
I dropped my eyes and stared at the floor. “Did what work?”
She grabbed my arm. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You and Jordan just had a steamy make-out session. Did it help your power?”
I blushed. I wasn’t sure what I was more embarrassed about—getting caught making out with Jordan or using him to increase my powers. I sighed and looked up at her.
“Yeah, but it’ll be a while before I’m as strong as I was before.”
“I imagine this will come in baby steps, which is probably frustrating, but it’s better than nothing at all.”
“Yeah, of course. What’s up?”
“Puck’s ready to go out searching for more groups. This whole thing with Julio betraying the Guardians and starting his own group really freaked him out. He’d have left earlier but he wanted you to come, so he waited until I could give you some power. He wants to leave tomorrow morning. He doesn’t know I’ve talked to you about helping him, so you’ll have to play dumb.”
I sighed. “I guess that means I can’t go swimming.”
“Sorry, no. I told him I was coming to get you.”
“Let’s go then.”
Puck was waiting for us in the library.
“Sorry that took so long. I had to chase Jordan out of her room,” said Naomi.
“Sure. Sunday, how does it feel to have your power back?”
I was getting annoyed with this whole thing. I wished I could just go back to the way things were before. Then I wouldn’t have to be frustrated with the weakness, use Jordan for kissing, or hide the fact that I was a Guardian from Naomi.
Not that I wanted to go back to being a Shade. I liked being a Guardian, but growing this new power was going to take forever. I took for granted how strong I was before that stupid rose took it all.
“It’s not mine, but it’s better than nothing. Can we try something?” I needed to know my limits.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I don’t know if I can still heal. Can you cut yourself again?”
He laughed. “You want me to hurt myself so you can see if your healing power still works? Don’t you have a boy out in the pool who will do anything for you? Ask him.”
I didn’t see what the big deal was. Puck did it once before.
He rolled his eyes and pulled out a razor-sharp pocketknife. He winced as he dragged it across his palm.
At first I tried to heal like I had before, without touching him. I felt the sunshine on my face, tasted rain, and smelled the dirt. But that didn’t work.
“Any day now, Sunday.
You know Ginny will be pissed if she finds her couch bloodstained.”
I covered his hand with my own and tried again. When I pulled away, all that remained of his cut was dried blood.
I sighed a breath of relief. At least I could still do this.
“Thank you. Now what did you need to talk to me about?” I asked.
Puck took a tissue and rubbed his palm, while filling me in on the recruiting mission I’d already heard about from Naomi. I pretended like I didn’t know anything.
“So what do you say? Will you help me?”
I looked at Naomi. “Are you okay with me helping him?”
She nodded. “As long as there is no more talk about you becoming a Guardian.” Puck and I both glared at her, but she forged ahead. “I mean it. If you want to make that decision eventually, Sunday, that’s fine, but for now I want you to remain neutral.”
“Okay,” I said, surprised she still couldn’t tell that I was a Guardian, not a Shade.
“We’ll leave first thing in the morning.” Puck stood up and I knew I’d been dismissed, which was fine. I had every intention of using the rest of the evening to go swimming and get some more kissing time with Jordan.
“Hey Puck,” I said on my way out.
“What?”
“I’ll only go on one condition.”
Naomi shook her head, but Puck was looking at me, not her.
“What’s that?”
“Your hair. It has to match mine.” I still had the sunrise colors in my hair.
He scowled. “This is serious.”
“And so am I.” I crossed my arms and waited.
He spun and looked at Naomi. She held her hand over her mouth, but I could see the smile in her eyes. She giggled. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“You think this is funny?”
Naomi nodded. “I’ll see if Gloria can do a home visit tonight. What color do you want?”
He waved at me. “Some combination of what she has.”
Content, I raced up to my room and threw on my bathing suit.
Sunday
The other day I was in a shop that sold cacti. I looked at a few that had beautiful small blooms. I took pictures so that I could do some research before buying them. After posting the pictures on an online cacti board and asking for help in identifying the plants, I was informed the flowers weren’t real and, in fact, had been glued on the cacti.
THE NEXT MORNING PUCK met me in the foyer. His hair was bright pink and orange. It looked more like a sunset than a sunrise.
“Love your hair. Is it just you and me?”
“For now. We’re going to check out a group that should be easy to bring into the fold, and then we’ll meet up with Jordan who’s going to scout out a harder one.”
“Where are we going?”
“A spot near Reno. Then we’ll head out to the north coast of California.”
I loved California and had never been to the north coast. Puck handed me a book as we climbed into his car.
“What’s this?”
“A list of all the groups that Alejandro knew about.”
“What’s it say about Tombstone?”
“Check it out. It’s alphabetical by state.”
I found Arizona, easily. Each group had their own page. There were three groups in Arizona. Under the heading “Tombstone” I read the following.
Very secretive group. Tried to recruit me when I was younger but I refused. The entire town feels like a dead zone. Harmless though. Leadership is elusive. Julio knows them and keeps me informed if anything is amiss.
“Harmless, huh?” I asked.
“That’s exactly why we are going to check out these other groups. Even if they don’t want to operate directly underneath me, I need them to at least acknowledge the Master Guardian and report things to me a few times a year. I’ve got members of my council on it as well, but I’d like to do as much of this myself as possible.”
This was a huge task. I wondered how he would manage his other duties while he did this.
“Why do you want to do it yourself? Won’t you give yourself away as the Master Guardian?”
“No. No one would suspect the Master Guardian himself to do this. Everyone thinks I’m on the council. I need to do this because I feel responsible for what happened in Tombstone. I should’ve seen it. Your power never should’ve been taken from you. I’m still not entirely sure how Guardians can use their powers for evil purposes. But it might be because they truly thought they were doing the right thing.”
As we drove out of town, the urban sprawl quickly gave way to barren desert. I liked the desert down in southern Arizona much better than Nevada. I flipped through the book. Most of the descriptions were similar. Harmless. Secretive. Small.
“If they are supposed to be a secret, how did he find all of these groups?”
“He didn’t. Notice that the handwriting on some of them is different. Some of those descriptions could be over fifty years old.”
“We could be walking into some pretty dangerous situations.”
“Maybe. But between the two of us, I think we can hold our own.”
I dropped my eyes. “I’m not nearly as strong as I was before.”
Puck smirked. “No, you’re not. But you have something you didn’t have before.”
He knew. “You mean the Guardian thing?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“How does Naomi not see it?”
“Chances are she doesn’t want to see it. The distinction between Shade and Guardian from the outside is subtle. It’s a little like opening your eyes in a brightly lit room and trying to decide if the light is coming from a light bulb or the sun. Obviously I can feel it, but I’ve misread people before. A Destroyer wouldn’t miss it though. How’d it happen?”
“The power Naomi gave me came from a Guardian. Not a very strong one either. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be neutral again.”
“But isn’t this what you want?”
“Yeah. No. I don’t know. I wanted it to be my choice.”
Puck shrugged. “Things are forced onto us all the time. You can either embrace it or fight against it. I would hope that you’d embrace this.”
I smiled at him. “Give me some time.” I didn’t want to feel pressure from him on this. “Tell me about the group we are going to see.”
“I thought we’d scout out the most interesting one first. Check out the description.”
There were only two groups in Nevada. One in Boulder City and another in Jena.
“Which one is it?”
“Jena. I went to see the group in Boulder City yesterday. They were easy. Their leader agreed to check in with me once a month.”
The description under Jena was a little longer than the others.
Very open about their powers. Shields are not allowed on their compound and they have a leadership similar to Major Guardians over the city. They resent central control and refuse to become part of the main body of Guardians on principle. They also do not recognize the US government. They thrive only because they all have Guardian powers and are able to influence government officials when they come to visit. All men in the camp are Guardians. They do not allow those who are not Guardians to stay, though there are many women and children who live there.
“So it’s some kind of hippy camp?” I asked.
“That’s what it sounds like. Honestly, I don’t know any more about it than you do.”
“Huh. This could be fun.”
I expected a scuzzy camp with tents and trailers, but when we pulled into town several hours later we saw cute craftsman-style houses and a lively downtown with a café and a few shops.
“Are you sure we are in the right place?” I asked.
Puck pointed to a sign that said, “Welcome to Jena.”
“Shall we get a coke at the café and see what’s what?”
The first thing I noticed when I entered the café were the overwhelming waves of energy. It was nearly impossib
le to tell where it was coming from because it all mixed together. I was nearly blown away by the sheer volume of power, even though there were only seven or eight older men in there and a smattering of women and kids. Everyone turned to look at us, but Puck acted unbothered by it all. I followed him to a booth and kept my eyes down.
When the waitress approached us, looking wary, Puck ordered two hamburgers, chocolate shakes, and cokes. I guessed he wanted to stay here for a while and scope it out.
Before the waitress left our booth, she asked another question.
“What are you doing here in Jena?”
“Just passing through. My sister and I like to check out small towns.”
She didn’t respond, but I knew she wasn’t convinced. She had no power coming off of her at all. Which was extremely strange, because according to Beth, most girls who hang out with Guardians will pick up the power. I tried to focus on other girls. It was hard to tell, with all the Guardian power saturating everything, but nothing came off of them. Either this was an anomaly, or they were shielding.
My job with Puck was unnecessary here, since he wanted me to sniff out the Guardians, but what I needed to do for Naomi would be difficult. I had to provoke one of the girls, and I knew from experience that the best way was to make them angry or jealous.
“What do you think?” Puck asked.
“This is bizarre.”
“That’s one way to describe it. Do any of the girls show power?”
“No.” I wondered why he asked me that. Was it possible he knew what Naomi was up to?
The waitress set down our food as the door jingled. I turned to look.
A couple walked through the door. They were young, late teens or early twenties. The guy had dark, piercing eyes, chiseled features, and lean muscular arms. The girl was busty, blonde, and wore way too much makeup. The entire room seemed to relax when they entered. The guy was obviously a Guardian and I’d bet money that the girl was shielding. She clung possessively to his arm as if someone was going to come snatch him right up. Getting her to reveal her power would be easy.
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