Chaos (Kardia Chronicles) (Entangled Teen) (11 page)

“I need to know what happened with Eric that night.” His eyes were focused straight ahead, but I could feel the tension rolling off him.

My heart stuttered in my chest and I dragged my gaze from the not-so-interesting-anymore window and stared at his tense profile. His lean jaw worked as he waited for me to respond.

“No.”

I didn’t bother explaining why and made sure to use my strongest outside voice so he would know it wasn’t up for negotiation.

“I know what you are, Maggie. And I’m afraid I’ll have to insist you answer my question.”

His words barely registered because the menacing tone took precedence. I put my hand on the door, pushing through the tendril of fear curling inside me.

“And I’m afraid this conversation is over.” Had he heard the tremor in my voice? I hoped not. I yanked the handle but before the door swung open, his hand closed over my wrist tightly. Fear evaporated under the heat of fury that came rushing in.

The tremor was gone. “The last boy who touched me is laying in a hospital bed right now hooked up to a catheter and shitting into a bag. If I were you, I’d let go.”

I had to get out of there—it was literally life or death—and although the harshness of my words made my stomach heave, I didn’t take them back.

And he didn’t let me go.

“Go for it, Magpie. Hit me with your best shot.” He narrowed his eyes at me and squeezed my wrist tighter.

I don’t know what happened next. Same as that night with Eric. One minute I was me. Frazzled but in control to some pathetic degree. In control enough not to try and kill someone. The next, I was like a wild animal, caged too long without food. With a snarl, a tiny part of the thing inside me broke loose and
took.
Like sucking in a breath, it drew the love from whatever I touched into me. Only this time, it was like trying to take from a brick wall. I could still feel Mac’s energy pulsing enticingly under his skin, but there was a very real block between us.

I gasped, jerking my hand away and staring at it like it was a five-headed snake. The rage vacated in such a rush, it left me weak, and I thanked the gods I hadn’t hurt him.

Hell, I wished I could take credit for that, but if I could have hurt him I would have, and that scared the hell out of me. He stared at me, totally alive, totally unharmed. In fact, he looked pretty self-satisfied and blasé about the whole thing.

Suddenly, all the outside pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. I didn’t know the whole of it, but the perimeter was there. Mac Finnegan wasn’t just an annoying guy at all. He was something…other.

Like me?

“What are you?” I whispered.

“That’s not important right now.” If possible, his tone had gotten even colder, and I shivered, still shocked and floundering. “We’re here to talk about you.”

My mother’s warnings ran through my addled brain.

Don’t tell anyone what you are. They won’t understand.

And then, after I admitted I had already told Libby,
Promise me you won’t tell anyone else. Ever. Your life could depend on it.

Was that the case now? Eric hadn’t been what I would have called the most loving guy in the world and when I’d…“touched” him, it had been right there, at my fingertips. Love. For his dog, for his mom, for baseball. When I touched Mac? Nothing. Nada. Was he devoid of the emotion? Or worse? Flat-out, pure evil? Before I could decide whether to make a break for it and kick the door open or answer him, he spoke again.

“I’ll save you the trouble and lay my cards on the table. You’re a semi-god and so am I.” He could’ve been a waiter at Applebee’s reciting the pasta special for all the emotion he displayed over that announcement. That didn’t stop my pulse from thumping so hard I thought my jugular was going to explode.

“And I’ve been sent here to take care of that burden for you.” The polite smile was back, and I almost wanted to suggest a job in sales in my best, sarcastic voice.

He sounded warmer now, kind, even, and that put me on edge more than anything else so far. Take care of that burden?

“What are you talking about? And sent here by who?” I demanded.

It took him long enough to answer that I knew he was picking and choosing what parts he wanted to tell me and what things he should keep to himself. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

“Have you heard of the Council of Amaranth?”

Fuck. I’d heard of it, a little from my mom, more from my grandmother in her less lucid moments. None of it good. From what I could piece together, it was a sort of watchdog unit. They made sure the old laws of demi- and semi-gods were enforced and whatnot.

Because my mother and grandmother had chosen to bind their powers, we didn’t have anything to do with them, the annual meetings or the semi-culture at all, but apparently, we were still on their radar. Which made sense. I hadn’t even come into my power for real yet, so they couldn’t just ignore my existence or assume that I would try to force my powers to go dormant, too.

I nodded my head slowly. “Yes, I’ve heard of them. Very little, though.”

A flicker of something passed over his face. Relief? Sadness? It was too quick to tell.

“So you know they reside in a place called The Sacred Grove, oversee semis, and keep order, then? Sort of like a government?”

I shrugged, still unsure if he really was like me or was some creeper alien-hunting conspiracy theorist trying to milk me for information that could land me in a box in his basement while he probed my orifices.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Well, they do. They descend from Athena, the goddess of wisdom, courage, and justice. So they maintain order and our judicial system. But they also keep tabs on semis who seem to be struggling with their newly forming powers so they can catch…
problems
before they start.”

Problems.
Like me.

“After the incident with Eric, they sent me here to observe you. Make a determination about what to do next.”

What to do next?
What did that even mean? I folded my hands together and squeezed, resisting the urge to rock like a child for comfort. So Mac had sort of been a stalker all along. As scary as it was, part of me was a little relieved because that explained a ton. “So that’s how you knew where I would be all the time?”

He had the grace to look slightly ashamed. “Yeah. And full disclosure, I hacked your e-mail accounts. I’d apologize, but again, part of the job.”

I had a mini-freak-out wondering what else he’d seen there, but after a few seconds, I settled down. I almost never used e-mail. Now if he had my phone tapped…

“Just your e-mail,” he said, preempting my question again.

Well, that explained how he knew what I was going to write in my column. I leaned forward and rested my head in my hands, the news filling my brain so far beyond capacity that it needed the extra support. So the Council sent this thorn in my side, making my life a living hell? And he was a semi, too. Why was he only telling me that now?

I opened my mouth to ask, but he beat me to it. Was he a mind reader? Was that even a thing for my kind?

“There’s a certain protocol. I had to watch you unannounced until I got a feel for what you were about, how well you were dealing with your power and what we should do about it. Now I know.” And judging by his grim expression, he wasn’t impressed.

I let that sink in and nodded. That made sense, I guessed, but I still managed to work up some indignation. “So why in God’s name have you been fucking with me all the time? Seriously, was it also part of your job to come to the school, ruin my advice column, blackmail me, and basically wreck my life?”

He shifted in his seat and gripped the steering wheel. “It’s more complicated than that. I’m also to see how your control holds up under pressure and stress. You don’t have a boyfriend or a job, and the only thing you really seemed to care about was the column. It was the easiest way to push your buttons and get you cross with me.”

A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature settled over me, coating my heart in a case of ice. My voice was barely a whisper served on a puff of steam. “So that I would do what?”

He didn’t answer but turned to face me full-on and laid a hand on my shoulder. I shook him off and spoke louder this time. “I need you to answer me right now. No more jerking me around, no more BS. What was going to happen in your perfect little world when you set me off for real, Mac?”

“Dial it back, Maggie,” he said, his voice and eyes going flat. “Understand, my job requires—”

“No, YOU have to understand.” My voice shook, and I could feel my control slipping, but there was nothing to be done about it now. I just had to say what I needed to say and get out of the car and into my house, where I couldn’t hurt anyone.

“If your little game worked? If you made me so mad that I blew up for real? I could have killed you. Do you get that, you stubborn asshole? That little taste you got? That was nothing. Now maybe you have some freak-o kind of death wish, or maybe the crones running the Council have made it one of your job requirements, so dying wouldn’t mean that much to you. But killing someone?” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. A girl could only take so much and in the course of twelve minutes, my whole world had been flipped on its ass. Again. “That means something to me. Now do me a favor. Go back and report to your bosses that I’m doing fine and managed not to murder you, which is more than I bet a lot of human girls would be able to say after the crap you’ve been pulling. Then don’t come back here. I don’t want to see your face ever again.”

Before I could open the door, the lock clicked ominously. He leaned forward and turned the heat up a little. It was only then that I heard the chattering of teeth. Mine. Maybe it was shock. Sure felt like it. As if I was in a cloud looking down at myself and my fucked up life, almost dispassionately now. All the fear had gone, even the ever-present annoyance with Mac had faded, leaving behind an eerie calm. A strange acceptance. I wasn’t getting out of the car unless or until he let me. Maybe I would die here.

“We’re not through yet. I need to ask you again.” His jaw was set at a stubborn angle and his all business, matter of fact tone somehow set me right again. My teeth stopped chattering and the floaty, blessed shock faded, sending me crashing back to reality.

I sensed it coming, and when it came, it came like a sledgehammer this time.

“Tell me about Eric. Did you do that to him?”

My face went hot, and I let my chin fall to my chest. Not again. I couldn’t listen to myself say the words out loud. I couldn’t relive it again. I’d already told it once to Mom. Not even Libby knew the whole truth, although I think she might have suspected.

“What happened that night, Maggie?” His voice was soft and gentler than I’d ever heard it.

A shudder ran through me, and I shook my head. “I can’t t-talk about it.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“I do.” Now I was pissed because that was the whole thing about that night. The thing I hated most. The part no one else knew about that happened before the wreck. And the idea that someone stronger than me could take my freedom to choose away again. Even now it made my blood boil. “I always have a choice.”

“That’s your human side talking, and not to be rude, but that side of you has got its head up its arse. When the Council is involved, choice is a matter of interpretation.” His fingers drummed out a beat on the steering wheel before he turned to me again. “Look at me.”

I did but only because I couldn’t seem to stop myself. His gray gaze locked with mine and my heartbeat skittered.

“If you didn’t do this, or there is more to the story, now is the time to speak. Beyond this moment, it won’t matter anymore.” The stark expression on his face sent a trickle of dread running through me.

Part of me wanted him to know. Wanted him to understand, but I couldn’t make my mouth work. If I told my story, who was to say he’d even listen to the semantics? Because, details aside, the truth was, I was responsible. And for the first time, he was treating me like a human being. I wasn’t ready for that to be over.

In the end, it didn’t matter anyway. My silence was all it took to set the hands back to hate o’clock.

His eyes went dark and steely, and I knew for sure his next words were going to be one hundred percent truth, and I wasn’t going to like it.

I shook my head at him miserably. “What do you give a shit about me or my life? You can’t stand me anyway.” I didn’t know how much I wanted him to deny it until he didn’t.

“My personal feelings about you have nothing to do with the job.” His lips twisted and he shrugged. “You said you wanted choices, I’ll let you have two. If you don’t pick one, one will be selected for you. Either I make myself your shadow.” He leaned close enough that his breath stirred my hair. “I will ride you until you break and commit another transgression, and we will take your powers by force, or you come with me to the Council, tell
them
what happened with Eric, and willingly renounce your power. All will be forgotten, and you can move on. Have a normal life.” He said it like he was offering me a house in The Hamptons. “I’m giving you your best option right now, Maggie. Be smart and take it.”

Take it.
Take a normal life. Thoughts of growing up, riding bikes and carefree days filled with sled-riding and board games filled my head. The days before I’d changed into what I was now…what I had yet to become. And all I had to do was agree to go with him, and the Council would just turn them off? Like a faucet? Hope blossomed in my chest and then shriveled almost instantly. If it was so easy, then why hadn’t my mom and gram done that instead of just binding their powers on their own? And why hadn’t they brought me to the Council sooner to have it done? Could all this with Eric have been avoided from the beginning if they had?

I needed some time to think. Some time to talk to Mom before I went any further with this conversation. This couldn’t be as easy as it sounded. “I can’t choose. Not yet.”

And just like that, the very last of his pretend patience went out the window. “Like most things, it’s pretty black and white. If you regret what you’ve done, you’ll come with me to the Council and get this taken care of. If you don’t, then you won’t. And then we have a serious problem. I can promise you this, though.” His face was pale and tight in the moonlight, and his voice was low and harsh. “You’re one bad day away from killing someone.”