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

by Kimberly Loth

  Custos dragged me down the hall. I pummeled him with my fists, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. He went down one hall then another, with Perdere right on his heels. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t pay attention to where we were going.

  “Sunday!” someone yelled.

  “Help!” I shouted. I continued to scream in the hopes that my friends could find me in this maze.

  “Shut your mouth,” said Perdere, slapping me across the face.

  I spit at him and continued to scream. My only hope now was in my rescuers finding me.

  Shadows came around the corner and voices were yelling and fists were flying. Custos let go of my hair and within seconds both Custos and Perdere were unconscious once again.

  I looked up and found Puck, Jordan, Wyatt, and a few other people I didn’t know. I threw myself at Wyatt, crushing him a big hug.

  “I’m so glad you are okay.”

  He squeezed me right back. “You too.” He moved to kiss me, but I pulled back and reached for Puck.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “Anytime.”

  As soon as I let go of Puck, Jordan gathered me up in a hug and managed to get a quick kiss on my lips before I could do anything.

  I pulled away and deliberately did not look at Wyatt. “Let’s go before they wake up.”

  “Are you sure they’re going to wake up?” Jordan asked.

  We looked down and watched as the men’s skin wrinkled right in front of our eyes. The scene was both horrifying and captivating. Within minutes, they went from old men to skeletons.

  “Did you do that?” I asked Jordan.

  “No, I just made them go to sleep.”

  “So did I do that?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Puck asked.

  “I took their power. Did that make them die?”

  Puck inhaled sharply. “Probably. But it was self-defense. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  Lincoln wrapped himself around my ankles and I scratched him behind his ears.

  “Thanks, buddy.”

  Jordan grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall.

  “Do you know your way out?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “But we’ll figure it out.”

  I let go of his hand and looped my arm in Wyatt’s, leaning into him.

  “Are you sure you are okay? You were captive a lot longer than I was. Then you immediately came on this rescue mission.”

  He leaned his head toward mine. “You really think I was going to be left out of coming to get you? I’m just glad you are okay.”

  We got a little lost on the way out but eventually found the front door again.

  The door wouldn’t budge so we had to climb out through the window. I grabbed Perdere’s picture before leaving. I didn’t know what I would do with it, but I also didn’t want anyone else getting a hold of it. I’d probably end up destroying it.

  There were several cars and even more people out past the fence. It no longer buzzed with power, so we knew it was safe to pass through.

  I didn’t know what to say to everyone, so I turned to Puck.

  “Can I ride with you?” I asked.

  He nodded. I climbed in the front seat of his car without looking at or talking to anyone else. I was glad Wyatt was okay, but I couldn’t stand the drama between him and Jordan. I held the picture in my lap and Lincoln curled up next to me.

  I leaned back and closed my eyes. The new power swirling around inside of me felt foreign and wrong. But powerful. So powerful.

  A few minutes later Puck climbed in the driver seat and handed me his phone.

  “Naomi wants to talk to you.”

  I took the phone from him.

  “Sunday? Are you okay?” she asked, panic in her voice.

  “I’m fine. A little worn out, but not hurt.”

  “Puck said that you took the power from both men. Is that true?”

  Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t know why I felt so bad about this.

  “Yeah, I feel weird.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll help you when you get back here. We can get rid of it, if you want. You did a good job. I’m proud of you. You’ll have to tell me the whole story when you get back. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  I handed the phone back to Puck. Both back doors opened and I turned to see Jordan and Wyatt getting into the car.

  What had I done?

  Wyatt sat behind me and he put his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t push it off but I didn’t acknowledge it either. I guessed if I turned around and looked, Jordan would be staring daggers at me.

  Puck set the phone down. “We’ve got to get out of here before anyone else shows up. We don’t want their kids knowing you are responsible for their fathers’ deaths.”

  We drove out of town. My hands shook as I pushed my hair back away from my face. The adrenaline was wearing off.

  “We slept most of the day, but if you’re tired, go ahead and sleep. We can talk after we get you home,” said Puck.

  “I’m still too wired.”

  “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

  “Not really, but I do have a question for you.”

  “Shoot.”

  I looked right at him because I had to know if he was lying to me or not.

  “Custos said there was no way that Raven and Julian were hiding on their own. He’d said that you hid them, otherwise he would have been able to track them. Is that true?”

  Puck shook his head, but his lips were pursed together and he wouldn’t look at me.

  He was lying.

  I sighed. “Look, I have literally just been through hell. The least you could do is be honest with me. I expect Jordan already knows the truth and I hope by now you trust Wyatt.”

  Puck grimaced. “I know you want answers, but I can’t talk about this. Ask me anything else.”

  “Let me guess, the reason Naomi isn’t here is because you didn’t want her knowing about that either.”

  He shrugged.

  “When are you two going to stop lying to each other?”

  “You know as well as I do that she is hiding a helluva lot more from me than I am from her.”

  “Whatever. You can let Raven and Julian out of hiding now. Their fathers won’t be coming after them.”

  I was so sick of not getting any answers. I turned around to face the boys in the back seat. They both had adorable puppy dog eyes. I was so in for it. When we got back to the house I had no idea who I was going to stay with. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.

  “Wyatt, what happened in Tombstone?” I asked.

  He grinned at being addressed first.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “This is a long drive.”

  “Well, you remember the day I called you and told you to get the hell out of Tombstone?”

  I nodded.

  “Morgan and I were with all the guys. We’d just convinced them that we were doing the wrong thing and the whole lot of them were going to ask if Puck would train them.”

  Puck interrupted. “I’d actually already talked to the Major over Tucson about that.”

  “But you didn’t know.”

  “I had faith that you’d be successful.”

  “Anyway, just as we were all getting ready to leave, Julio came into the room. He was covered in scratches and obviously looked worse for the wear. He’d heard the whole thing and very quickly won over the guys. He threw Morgan and me into the jail cells in the cave. We didn’t stand a chance.”

  “What about that memory thing you do?”

  “I was more focused on informing you all to get out, so by the time I got around to it, it was too late. Besides, Julio knows my trick and he won’t look me in the eyes. I can do minor memory modifications without eye contact, but for something like that, it’d be impossible.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then we waited. We were in different cells and it was impossible
to converse through the rock walls.”

  “That sounds boring.”

  “You’re telling me. But I did keep track of the girls they marched past me. Apparently, Andrea and Beth did a really good job at making sure we didn’t do ours, because in that week and a half that I was locked up I counted about forty girls who came in with power and left without it.”

  “But they didn’t have your memory stuff to work for them.”

  He dropped his eyes. “Except they did. They actually held Lincoln hostage. Told me if I wouldn’t help them, they’d hurt him.”

  My heart tightened a little bit.

  “For what it’s worth though, I didn’t feel that bad about helping them because it’s better for the girls if they don’t remember what happened.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know about that. But thank you for keeping Lincoln alive. How’d the rescue go?”

  Jordan grinned. “That’s where my talents came in.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, looking at him.

  “We waited until it was the middle of the night and the number of Guardians there were at a minimum. Then I put them all to sleep. It was quite brilliant, if I do say so myself. We actually had to carry both Morgan and Wyatt out. Lincoln followed us. We weren’t equipped for a big fight so we just left.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He smiled.

  “Your turn, Sunday. Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

  I sighed. “Okay.” Then I told them all about my adventures in the creepy house. I also told them about Custos and Perdere being the originals. I left out the part about all the prophecies though. I’d tell Naomi about them and then decide what to do about Raven and Julian. That prophecy made me nervous, but Custos could’ve been lying.

  I fell asleep after that and woke up several hours later.

  “Where are we?” I asked rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  “About an hour outside of Vegas. Naomi wants to talk to you when we get there. Is that okay?” asked Puck.

  “Sure. What time is it?”

  “About five in the morning.”

  “Did you get any sleep?”

  Puck laughed. “No, I’ll get a nap this afternoon. Red Bull and coffee kept me going. But your loverboys back there snoozed.”

  I had to stifle a laugh when I looked back and found Jordan and Wyatt all curled up together.

  Puck grinned at me. “Just so you know, the whole council is staying until we fix all of these messes. We are also going to get to all of these rogue groups as soon as possible. We’ve only done four, and three of those have resulted in a fight. I don’t know when this is going to end.”

  “It’s part of your job though, right? You’ll do well. You have so far. Morgan and Wyatt were rescued, I was rescued, and three hundred women are no longer under the hypnotic trance of those Jena Guardians.”

  “I wish I had your faith in me. I’d also feel better if both you and Naomi were on my side. With everything else going on, I can’t deal with her secrecy right now. Do you think you can talk to her?”

  I grimaced. “Sure. But I don’t know that I can make much of a difference.”

  We drove right up to the front door and Naomi practically dragged me out of the car into a crushing hug.

  “I’m so glad you are okay. I’d like to take you out so we can talk.”

  “Okay.” I sighed. What I really wanted to do was escape to my room and sit for several hours and just draw so I could process everything that happened, but that wasn’t possible. Not with everything else that was going on.

  We climbed into her car.

  “How are you handling your new friend?”

  I creased my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

  “Your energy is different. More powerful. Do you want to keep him or get rid of him?”

  That was one of those things that I really needed to think about. On the one hand, it was very bizarre having Custos’ power. On the other hand, he was extremely strong and I could use that to my advantage.

  I twisted my hands. “I don’t know.”

  “Fair enough. You think about it. I would guess if all you had was your own power, you wouldn’t want to keep this new one, but with someone else’s essence already running flowing through your veins, you could use the power.”

  “Exactly.”

  “We’ve only got about fifteen minutes before we arrive at the hotel and I expect you will be attacked by Beth, Andrea, and Faith, so I need you tell me everything and I need you to talk fast.”

  I did. Everything gushed out.

  “Do you think I should tell Puck about the prophecies?”

  “Yeah, I do, actually. If he’s hiding Raven and Julian, it’s time for them to come out. You can tell him when we get back. Though you aren’t staying at Alejandro’s tonight. You’re staying at our headquarters. Your room is done.”

  I didn’t want to stay at Alejandro’s anyway, though I expected it would be guarded more than the hotel.

  I followed Naomi inside. Beth, Andrea, Faith, and Elizabeth were all sitting in the lobby.

  “Speak,” demanded Beth as soon as we were done exchanging hugs.

  “I don’t really want to talk about it. I just rehashed it for both Puck and Naomi. She can tell you about it. I would actually like to find my room and be alone for a little while.”

  Beth looked hurt and I immediately regretted my words.

  “I’m sorry, I only need a couple of hours. Then we’ll have popcorn and I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”

  She nodded, but I could see she wasn’t really appeased.

  “Can you show me my room?”

  “Sure.”

  We walked down the hall, past all the training rooms. Nearly every room was packed full. Most women were just practicing alone, but a few had instructors helping them. I saw Elizabeth in one room with about a hundred girls hanging on her every word.

  “Are these all from Jena?”

  Beth nodded. “They are amazing. Fast learners. They’ve all jumped on board with Naomi’s vision and can’t wait to get started.”

  “You know nothing can happen until she tells Puck, right?”

  Beth nodded. “Yeah, but she wants to make sure she’s ready.”

  “She’s building a small army.”

  “Maybe. She’ll be a force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure.”

  We stopped right next an elevator. When we got on, Beth pushed a button for the twentieth floor.

  “I’m high.”

  “Yeah, you, me, Andrea, Naomi and Elizabeth are all on the top floor.”

  We stopped at room 2002. She gave me a key. “Here. I know you want to be alone so I won’t come in with you.” She looked at her phone. “Meet me at the pool at noon. I’ll bring lunch. Is that okay?”

  “Sure.” I reached over and gave her a hug. “Thanks for being so understanding.”

  I opened the door, entered in, and stopped immediately. It was like I’d stepped back into Tombstone. The room was painted a soft brown and there were pots with cacti everywhere. The couches and chairs were an off-white with green pillows. There was even a terrarium with a wicked-looking scorpion. I’d have that removed pronto.

  I opened the door to the bedroom to find even more cacti and a large bed with a soft green comforter. Ginny definitely had her hand in this.

  Then I heard a knock.

  I peeked out the peephole, then opened the door. “Hey Dante, what’s up?”

  “I just came to see how you liked your room.”

  “It’s lovely. Thank you. But can we lose the scorpion?”

  He shuddered. “It was not my idea. That Andrea girl insisted we put it in here. I’ll send someone else up to retrieve it. What would you like in the terrarium? We can put a lizard or a snake.”

  “A lizard would be nice.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  He chatted with me for a few minutes before leaving. Then I went to the bookshelf, pulled out a brand new
notebook, and began to sketch. I sketched everything in my head.

  Custos and Perdere. Julio and the rose. Wyatt and Jordan. I added hearts and daggers. The boys were going to be the death of me. I liked them both and I had no idea how to deal with either of them.

  I wondered what they wanted out of me. I supposed the best way to find out was to ask. Maybe the next time we were together I’d have to do just that.

  I texted Wyatt to pick me up at five and then sent a message to Jordan to meet us at Heart Attack Grill. I wanted a few minutes with Wyatt before we all met together. First though, lunch with the vultures.

  I found Beth and Andrea sitting at a table down by the pool. They were both eating sandwiches and there was a plate with a chicken sandwich for me.

  I sat and immediately took a bite because that meant I didn’t have to talk to them. As soon as I stopped chewing, Beth jumped in.

  “No, no eating. Talk. We want details.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I got kidnapped, was locked up at this really creepy house, and then I took away all the power from the kidnappers. End of story.”

  Andrea laughed. “Not about that, silly. Naomi already told us all about that. We want to know about Wyatt and Jordan. Is it weird having both of them back? What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea,” I said and shoved the sandwich in my mouth again so I couldn’t elaborate.

  “Well, I think you should pick Jordan,” said Beth.

  Andrea snorted. “That’s only because you’re still in love with Wyatt.”

  “Uh, not true. I’m totally seeing someone else. It’s just you and Jordan seem so adorable together.”

  “Who are you seeing?” I asked, trying to deflect the attention off of myself.

  “Nope. You aren’t doing this. His name is Jeremy, he’s one of Puck’s Minor Guardians, and that’s all you are getting out of me.”

  I giggled. “I know Jeremy. Hot.”

  Beth twirled her hair. “Yeah, not all that bright, but he’s definitely fun to kiss. Back to your boy problems. What are you going to do?”

  “I dunno. Andrea, what do you think?”

  “Duh, I think you should be with Wyatt. Jordan is an ass.”

  I threw up my hands. “You two are no help.”

  Naomi