Inquest

by Gladden, DelSheree

  “But I’ve been trying to convince everyone I’m not the Destroyer up until now. After tonight, no one is going to believe I’m harmless. The only way I could get the Guardian strike leader to leave Milo alone was to show him that Milo isn’t a Cipher. He’s going to tell his superiors. They’ll know I can save the Ciphers. What if the Guardians murder every one of the Ciphers to keep me from rescuing them?”

  “No,” she says shaking her head, “no, they won’t do that. They can’t. All of those Spiritualists keeping the Ciphers locked in the spirit world are linked to the Ciphers. Killing the Ciphers will kill the Spiritualists too. They won’t kill thousands of the most talented Spiritualists in the world.”

  “Not even to keep me from saving the Ciphers? I’m supposed to destroy the world, Mrs. Hanover. A few thousand lives to keep that from happening, I don’t see why they wouldn’t just do it.” It’s a cold assessment, but a logical one. A few thousand lives to protect billions, even the most soft-hearted person in the world would have a hard time turning down such an option.

  Mrs. Hanover’s fingers tighten painfully, her fingernails digging into my skin. “Libby, there are worse things in this world than destruction. Murdering the Ciphers while their spirits are locked away, it would be worse than anything you might do. Something terrible happens to a spirit if it is separated from its body permanently. I won’t discuss it in front of Celia, but trust me when I say the Guardians will not kill the Ciphers.”

  The twisted, horrified quality of her features makes me pull back. Everyone in the room seems to be holding their breath. I have no idea what she’s talking about, but she already knows more about this whole situation than I do. And I have witnessed Celia waking from a terrified nightmare of Guardians ripping her from her bed. I won’t be the one to usher in new nightmares if I can help it. I will definitely come back to this topic later, though.

  “I was wrong before, when I said I’d never contacted the Ciphers,” I say.

  Everyone’s countenance perks up. Milo and Celia nod as they realize what I am talking about. Lance notices this and frowns. Lance’s expression changes from confused, to angry, and finally to hurt as I quickly relate the bitter details of my dad’s death. Lance held me as I cried for hours in the days after my dad died. He and Jen both did everything they could to help me cope and eventually accept his death. And I never spoke a word of what happened to either of them.

  Part of me feels guilty about that now, but the memory of his knife on my throat screams that I was right not to trust him. Was it really an act of pure conditioning, leaping at me like that? He’s here now, though. When he kissed me in the hallway, when he made the Guardian Oath, he believed my lies about not being the Destroyer, but he knows the truth now and he still stayed. The honest pain in his aura that I never told him the truth about my dad pushes back on me. Before that night, what did he ever do to earn my distrust? He was thoughtless at times, obsessed with becoming a Guardian, and a dozen other minor faults, but he never once let me down. Any time I needed him, he was there.

  Distracted by my guilt, Mrs. Hanover has to repeat her question several times before I finally hear her. “Libby? You haven’t been able to contact the Ciphers since?”

  “No,” I say shaking myself.

  “Hasn’t your Spiritualism instructor been teaching you anything?”

  My whole face scowls at the thought of that class. “Mrs. Sanchez prefers to pretend I don’t exist. She helps the other students all the time, but she’s yet to answer a single one of my questions. I listen to her lectures on theory and stuff like that, but it’s just not helping.”

  “Well, of course it isn’t. Spiritualism isn’t something you can learn on your own. It is unique among the other talents because you must have a guide to show you the way. It’s not as simple as accessing latent strength in your muscles or pushing your thoughts into someone’s mind. Everyone does that on some level naturally. Finding your way out of this world and into another is a journey that takes much more than simple directions.” Mrs. Hanover’s shoulders straighten seriously. “If your teacher at school won’t guide you like she should, then I will. I won’t let prejudice and incompetence keep you from saving the other Ciphers.”

  Someone who has a clue about what I should be doing with my Spiritualism helping me get over the walls I keep running into? I suddenly feel too giddy to even say anything. I feel light for a moment, as if the strings binding me to this earth are finally starting to lose their strength. The strain of failing so consistently was wearing on me fast. The possibility of finally being able to use all of my talents brings back a serious dose of energy to my body, but there is still something I don’t understand.

  “Mrs. Hanover, I’m going to do everything I can to help the other Ciphers,” I say, “but this still doesn’t help me figure out what I’m supposed to be doing as the Destroyer. I feel like I’m just wandering around lost most of the time. When we first started this conversation I hoped I was finally going to figure out my purpose in life. Freeing the Ciphers will be great, of course, but how does that really help me as Cassia?”

  “Freeing the Ciphers has everything to do with your purpose,” Mr. Hanover says. “You won’t be able to do anything as Cassia without them.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  “Because they’re your army.”

  Chapter 31

  Planning

  The icy air of late December stings my throat and lungs as I breathe, but I need its pure, clean essence to clear my mind. The absolute madness of everything that has happened tonight was just too much. I needed to escape the still volatile air inside the Hanover home for at least a few minutes. So I snuck out onto the deck, afraid, confused, and in need of some serious alone time. I just wish I had some chocolate. Chocolate always makes me feel better.

  All I can feel right now is the tip of my nose going numb. My ears will be next. Numb is fine with me. The vast ocean of emotions, ideas, and thoughts that have been slamming against me for…I don’t even know how long anymore, they just need to be frozen until I can sort them out. The absurd mental image of tiny snowflakes, each one containing an emotion or thought, lying on a table in front of me, that I can calmly organize into their proper categories, makes me laugh.

  “It’s too cold out here for anything to be funny,” says a voice from behind me.

  I spin around and freeze, like one of the snowflakes I was just imagining. My skin prickles with goose bumps as soon as I see him. “Guardian Braden,” I gasp.

  “You can just call me Braden.”

  My eyes narrow despite his politeness. “What are you doing here?”

  “I told you I’d see you again,” he says. He leans casually against the railing that surrounds the deck, but there is still a leonine readiness to his posture. His expression is warm, though, showing no hint of anything but amusement.

  “How did you find me?”

  Braden scoffs at my question. “It wasn’t that hard. Your friend and his family didn’t even change their names when they ran. I had their information in my files. Tracking down their address was simple.”

  My mouth twists into an angry sneer. “Yeah, I suppose the Guardians would have resources like that.”

  “Actually,” Braden says, pushing away from the baluster and taking a step toward me, which sends a warning shiver down my spine, “the only resource I needed was a phone book. Their number was listed right there in the white pages.”

  “Seriously?” I ask. What were they thinking? Yes, his dad is a doctor who likes to make sure his patients can always get a hold of him in an emergency, but they were supposed to be in hiding.

  Braden takes another step toward me. “I’ve seen elephants that were better at hiding than your friend.”

  “Shut up,” I snap. “You don’t know anything about Milo.”

  “I’m pretty sure I know more than you do,” he says.

  I hate that he’s probably right. No doubt his files hold every detail of Milo’s life. No
matter how much a person is willing to share, there’s almost always more that they aren’t.

  “What do you want?”

  “Besides standing out here freezing with you in the middle of the night?”

  He’s not even a foot away from me, now. My flesh is humming, which is beyond strange and more than a little scary. He’s staring at me intently again. That same look of trying very hard to figure something out is back. I wish I knew what it meant.

  “Why are you really here?” I ask. “The Guardians aren’t coming back for Milo, are they?”

  Is he out here distracting me while his brothers sneak in and grab my boyfriend? My heart rate spikes, and I start for the patio door. Braden grabs my arm, not forcefully, but hard enough to stop me and keep me from running. Even under my jacket, the skin of my arm tingles violently at his touch.

  “Nobody’s coming after your friend. I’m not here because of him,” Braden says.

  “You’re here for me?” I squeak, fear squeezing my throat. I just found out what I’m supposed to do. They can’t take me yet!

  “No. I’m not here for you. I’m a Cipher Hunter, that’s it. They’ll send someone else for you.”

  “I won’t go without a fight. I hope Howe or Lazaro—whichever one is coming—knows that. I’m not ready to die.”

  Braden watches me, for what I don’t know, but his eyes take me in very seriously. “You’re not going to die,” he says, “not yet anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” I broke my deal with Howe. Everyone knows now that I really do have the talents of the Destroyer.

  “Howe is a monster of order. Technically, Milo was no longer a Cipher, so I had no authority to arrest him. You were in the right. Technically.”

  I shake my head. “No way that’s enough to keep Howe from coming after me. Lazaro would never swallow that reasoning without a fight.”

  Braden cringes. “Well, unfortunately for both of them, what happened tonight is already being played around the world. It went viral on the internet about ten seconds after it aired. Milo isn’t the first Cipher. Plenty of other families have lost children because of Guardians like me. When they saw what happened, saw you protecting a Cipher, they started a campaign to protect you. If Howe and Lazaro go against them, it will be a fight that will end both their careers. Permanently.”

  “Other Ciphers’ families?” I ask in disbelief.

  “Turns out you have a few more supporters than anyone realized,” Braden says.

  It’s encouraging, but Braden said the Guardians weren’t coming to kill me, not that they weren’t coming at all. “What do the Guardians want with me then?”

  He pulls me away from the door where someone might see us. My foot is still in an elastic bandage rather than a cast, and so sore and bruised that I don’t think I could run from him even if my life depended on it. But I know it doesn’t, somehow. It isn’t Vision or any other talent reassuring me. It’s something else, something I don’t understand, but I find myself trusting it easily. Braden isn’t here to hurt me. We are stowed away in a dark corner of the deck before he speaks again.

  “Look, Libby, when I got the file on your friend, it was just another assignment. Track down the Cipher, bring him in. Simple.” His hand comes up to my shoulder firmly. “You've changed that. I did what you asked. I told Captain Blackwood that your friend isn’t a Cipher anymore. He agreed that there wasn’t any point in bringing him in now, but there was something behind what he was saying. I could see the way his whole body tightened up like a piano wire. He dismissed me after that, but the whole compound started jumping.

  But not killing. Milo’s parents have to be right about the killing. I can’t handle having that on my conscience.

  “They’re sending someone to come get you for questioning. They want to know how you unlocked Milo’s talents and what you plan on doing with him now.”

  Braden’s other hand comes up to my shoulder and he leans closer to me. “Libby, do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into? Whatever spooked the Captain, it’s not good. Are you really planning something? Something that has to do with the Ciphers?”

  Now it’s my turn to scoff at him. “You really think I would tell you if I were? You’re on the wrong team, Braden.”

  He shrugs with a hopeful expression, but his mouth slips back into a frown quickly. “If you are planning on coming after the Ciphers, you’re going to get hurt.”

  “Shouldn’t that make you happy?”

  “Maybe,” he says, moving closer, “but it doesn’t.”

  I can hardly breathe with him so close to me. I can’t explain it, but his presence seems to wrap itself around me. It’s a strangely comforting feeling, but it freaks me out regardless. I try to back away from him. The rail behind me keeps me from getting very far. I’m way too strung out to be dealing with this right now, but my voice comes out strong and fierce when I finally pull myself together enough to use it.

  “You really want to know what I’m planning?” I ask.

  Braden nods, his nose bobbing much too close mine.

  I came out here to figure things out on my own and failed. Strange that being faced with Braden is the catalyst that brings me to a decision.

  “I am Cassia. And I’m going to do exactly what I was meant to do, Braden. I’m going to destroy the kind of people who lock up innocent citizens in the name of protecting people. I am going to come after your Captain and anyone else who thinks they can stop me.”

  I expect him to pull back, demand I change my mind, arrest me maybe, but he simply holds very still. When he speaks, the laughter in his voice surprises me. “I suppose that should scare me more than it does.”

  “You think I can’t do it?” I demand.

  He shakes his head grimly, grief edging into his expression. When he speaks his voice is soft and haunted. “Not at all. You took out my entire strike force tonight. I’m sure you can do anything you want.”

  “Then why aren’t you scared?”

  “Maybe because I’m not so sure I see what you’re planning as wrong.” He finally steps back from me and lets his hands slide from my shoulders, slowly, thoughtfully. I can’t believe he’s telling me the truth, but he’s no Perceptive. He can’t hide the honesty of his thoughts from me.

  “Just try to be careful, okay?” he asks. Braden turns away then, ready to sprint back into the darkness he appeared from.

  It’s stupid, very stupid, but I can’t let him go like that. There is something about him that affects me, and I find myself completely unable to ignore the sensation. “Braden,” I call out quietly.

  He turns back with a curious expression. “Yeah?”

  “If you ever want to change teams,” I say, “I’d be happy to have you.” I want to die for even suggesting it, but I had to. He would be an indispensible asset. That’s the only reason. Really.

  He smiles lightly, and says, “I’ll think about it.”

  Gone before I can blink again, Braden’s smile and answer linger with me. As do my own words. Guardians are on their way to drag me off for questioning, but I feel a sense of peace settle over me. I have a plan. I’m really going to go through with it. Milo was the first to suggest attacking the Guardians. Saying I was hesitant then would be an understatement, but now I am absolutely committed. I meant what I told Braden. No matter what happens, I’m going to rescue the Ciphers.

  All my life I have feared there is something dark and deadly inside of me. After tonight, after all the dead Guardians lying at my feet, I don’t wonder anymore. I know. The power and ability to take life and destroy is inside of me if I choose to use it. I’ve made my choice.

  I am Cassia. And I am the Destroyer.

  ###

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy

  Secret of Betrayal

  Chapter 1

  Blood and Kissing

  My life has been about betrayal from the moment I first drew breath. I should be used to it, expect it. But I never s
ee it coming.

  The plan to convince everyone I wasn't going to destroy the world unfortunately didn’t work out very well. My little episode a couple of weeks ago where I took out a Guardian strike team almost single-handedly dashed that idea to pieces. The whole thing was televised on national TV. The only thing that saved me from a swift death was a surprising rally from allies I didn’t even know I had. They saved me once, but that was a small miracle. I knew I had to come up with another plan if I wanted to stay alive. I just didn’t expect it to be actually destroying the world. But that’s exactly what I’m going to do. If I can survive my first day back at school, that is.

  Things were going so well back when I had a broken ankle and the wary sympathy of everyone who saw me. Now everyone has returned to cringing away from my presence and whispering about me. I don’t know why I expected this day to not be positively horrible. School is always a terrible experience for me. Ms. Sanchez, my Spiritualism teacher, is trembling at the front of the room. She’s trying very hard to give her lecture without ever glancing in my direction. Her normally sharp, staccato voice is barely more than a whisper right now. Which is too bad, because even with my boyfriend’s mom helping me develop my Spiritualism talent, I’m still struggling.

  How long have I been in this class? It’s got to be almost over, but I’m pretty sure I only sat down a few minutes ago. It feels like years. Just to be sure, I let my eyes wander away from my terrified teacher to find the clock. I know it hangs above the exit sign, but my gaze only makes it as far as the rectangular viewing window in the door below it. My body goes rigid with shock at the curious face staring back at me. His green eyes brighten when he sees my reaction.

  I’ve already got my boyfriend, Milo, and my ex-boyfriend, Lance, irritating me to death with their suspicions of each other. I don’t need this right now.