Theo decides to follow me, and I wonder if he’s potty trained already. I don’t see the volume of a diaper under his pants, so I hope he is. The small restroom only has one stall and a urinal. While I’m busy doing my thing, Theo decides he has to use the bathroom too. That answers my earlier question. But when he doesn’t leave the throne, I go investigate.
“Are okay, buddy?”
“Yeah. I’m done dropping a deuce.”
I snicker, almost choking in the process. “Dude, who taught you to say that?”
“My dad.”
“Well, if you’re done, then hop off.”
“I can’t. You have to wipe my butt.”
“Uh, come again?”
“I can’t do it. My arms don’t reach that far.” He demonstrates by stretching his arm and twisting his torso.
I step back. “Oh no, no. I’m not wiping your butt, dude. No way.”
He shrugs and jump off the toilet seat. “Okay.”
“What are you doing?” I ask when he reaches for his pants.
He glances down and then back at me, sporting the cutest frown. “Getting dressed.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I can’t let you walk around with poop all over your butt.”
He gasps, widening his eyes. “You said a bad word.”
“Ah, hell. I did. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I won’t tell your mommy.”
“Thanks, buddy. Now come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Five minutes later, half of which I spent washing shit off my hands, we’re finally on our way back to find everyone. We meet with my mother first, but her attention goes straight to the kid.
“Theo, where were you? I’ve been searching for you everywhere.”
“I was with Phoenix. I had to go poo. He wiped my butt.”
I throw my head back and groan. “Go ahead, say it a little louder so everyone can hear it.”
“You helped him in the bathroom?” Mom watches me with eyes that are filled with amusement and surprise.
“Yup. Didn’t have much choice in the matter. Have you seen Daisy?”
“I believe she went out with Xavier.”
“What do you mean, she went out? Where?” I raise my voice. “I thought we were supposed to stay put because it was too risky to go anywhere.”
“Calm down, honey. I’m sure Daisy is safe. Toby and Rufio also went with them.”
“What the fuc—I mean, what the fudge? Why didn’t they wake me?”
Bryce walks out of the room to my right, eating a doughnut. Naturally, if there’s anything with sugar in the area, Mr. Sweet-tooth is the first to find it.
“Relax, bro. They’ll be fine. Have a little faith,” he says.
“I can’t believe you’re okay with this.”
His carefree expression changes swiftly. “I’m not okay. I would have gone with them if I could. But you and I have a target on our backs. Chaos is tracking us through our tattoos, remember?”
Almost as if the son of a bitch can hear us, the tattoo between my shoulder blades begins to burn. I’m so fucking angry, I could destroy things. I settle for stealing Bryce’s breakfast. Using a bit of telekinesis, I pry the treat from his fingers as he was about to take another bite, then stuff the whole thing in my mouth.
“What the hell, Phoenix!”
“Bryce! Language.” Mom looks meaningfully in Theo’s direction.
His remorseful expression makes me laugh, but since my mouth is full of doughnut, I end up choking on it.
“Serves you right,” he pipes up.
Theo pulls on my sleeve. “I’m hungry.”
“Come on, honey. Let’s get you something to eat.” Mom takes his hand and steers him into the room Bryce walked out of earlier.
I swallow the huge lump of food and ask, “Do they have coffee in there? I could use a pick-me-up. I’m so fucking tired.”
“Yeah, there’s some.” Bryce’s line of vision follows my mother and Theo. “It seems the little kid has stolen your mom’s heart.”
“Yeah,” I reply, trying not to let the resentment take hold. I wish I’d had that kind of relationship with her when I was little. All my memories are tainted with pain. “We haven’t heard anything about his father yet?”
“No. But I don’t dare hope he’s alive. There have been many losses among Norms.”
My dark mood plummets completely, and it would have continued its spiraling descent into a pit of despair if I didn’t sense Daisy’s approach just then. Bryce’s spine becomes taut too as he whirls around, facing the front of the warehouse. A minute later, the larger gate opens, and the van we stole drives in. Another car follows. A quick scan reveals there are Idols inside, including a familiar signature.
Bryce and I head toward the vehicles using our Idol speed. Xavier and Toby are the first to exit, but when Daisy finally follows them, my stomach bottoms out. She’s covered in blood.
“Daisy!”
We’re by her side in a flash but refrain from touching her.
“Are you hurt?” Bryce asks.
She shakes her head, not meeting his eyes.
“She killed Delta with her bare hands,” Rufio answers for her.
Rosie comes running and then collides into Toby. A bunch of mushy nonsense leaves her mouth, but I block her out.
Soren and four other guys join our circle, looking grim as fuck.
“Is anyone going to tell us what happened? Did you manage to get the Neo Gods’ headquarters location?’ I ask.
“Yes,” Daisy replies, lifting her face. “I got that from Delta.”
“We came back to acquire weapons and strategize,” Xavier adds.
I crack my knuckles. “Awesome. I can’t wait to inflict some pain.”
“You’re not coming with us,” Daisy says, then looks at Bryce. “None of you.”
“The fuck we aren’t,” Bryce retorts. “I don’t care about Chaos. I’m not going to let you head out again to fight those men, Daisy.”
“It’s not wise, Bryce. We’ve talked about this,” Xavier butts in.
“No offense, Mr. X, but we need every man on this operation. You went alone last night and almost died,” Soren replies.
“What?” I ask loudly.
“It was a trap. Two of the agents were traitors. They had killed one of their own, Rick, and wanted to do the same to Daisy,” Toby explains.
My nostrils flare as fury erupts from the pit of my stomach. “I hope you killed them all.”
“Yes. They’re gone,” Daisy replies with a vacant glimmer in her eyes.
Damn it. She’s not okay.
Felicity, who joined us at some point, steps forward, pushing Bryce and me out of the way. “Let’s get you out of those filthy clothes, hon.”
She steers Daisy away from us, and my instinct is to follow, but Bryce puts a hand on my arm. “Give her some space.”
I’d bark at him if I didn’t read the sorrow in his eyes. It’s killing him too to stay away from her.
“Is Daisy going to be okay?” Soren asks. “We’re going to need every single person on deck when we storm the Neo Gods’ headquarters. Going without the Unmaker would be a blow.”
“I’ll go talk to her.” Rosie steps away from Toby.
Xavier gets in her away, leaning down. “Please try not to put more burdens on your sister’s shoulders.”
Rosie twits her face into a grimace. “I won’t. I promise.”
DAISY
I let Felicity take my clothes off and then wipe the grime off my skin as if I’m watching the scene from far away. The numbness has taken over, and I don’t know how to snap out of it. My entire life I fantasized about killing Delta, and now that I’ve gone and done it, there’s no sense of joy or vindication. I’m empty.
Rosie comes into the office space that Travis and Morty let us use. She watches me in silence for a moment, but I’m sure she has a lot of questions.
“Go ahead. Ask away.”
“Did you really kill him?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“You didn’t want to kill him before. What made you change your mind?” There’s no accusation in her tone.
I take a deep breath, letting my shoulders drop.
“Rosie, give Daisy a break,” Felicity chastises her.
“No, it’s okay, Fefe. I don’t mind talking about it. Maybe it will help.”
“At least get dressed first.”
And by getting dressed, she means put on the oversized hoodie with The Freaks logo. We raided their merchandise closet. There’s still blood on my jeans, but we don’t have a replacement for them.
Finally dressed, I sit on the leather couch, folding my legs underneath me. “My plan was to only unmake him, but when I was inside his head, I saw every single atrocity he committed in his life. It was horrible. Then the realization hit me that he wouldn’t stop his evil ways even if he didn’t have any powers. Unmaking him wasn’t enough. So I snapped and crushed his skull with my bare hands.”
“Holy shit, girlie.” Felicity widens her eyes. “No wonder you had so much gunk on your clothes.”
“Why do you feel guilty now?” Rosie asks.
“I don’t think guilt is what’s swirling in my chest. I feel numb.”
“It’s understandable, sweetie.” Felicity pats my shoulder. “To end a life, no matter how despicable that person was, is a heavy burden. It marks your soul forever.”
“Well, I don’t care about my soul.” Rosie lifts her chin angrily. “Give me a lightning-glass dagger and I’ll gladly end as many Neo Gods as I can find.”
“I wish you didn’t feel that way, but you’ll get your chance sooner rather than later,” I reply bitterly.
Before she can reply, the foundations of the building begin to vibrate and the lights flicker.
“What the hell” I jump to my feet while my heartbeat accelerates.
Looking at the ceiling, Rosie asks, “You don’t think it’s Chaos, do you?”
Expanding my senses, I attempt to guess who—or what—is approaching. All I see is a great mass of darkness. Shit.
I run out of the office and almost collide with Bryce. “What’s going on?” I ask.
“We don’t know, but something powerful is coming our way. We’d better brace for an attack.”
Just then, the lights go out completely. The patients in our hospital shriek in fright. Ellen and the other volunteers attempt to calm the children down, but it’s pretty hard to do that when we’re shrouded in darkness. Monsters love the dark.
38
Daisy
The lights return just in time for us to see a great vortex of black smoke build up near the ceiling. My body is as tense as a coiled spring, while my heart feels like it’s a fucking freight train. Bryce’s powers are also engaged to the max as he stares upward. The vortex converges down, not too far from where we’re standing. Slowly, a shape takes form. The shadows recede, and Morpheus appears in front of us in his demigod form.
“What the fucking hell!” Bryce yells my exact thoughts.
I can’t believe I didn’t recognize Morpheus’s signature. My heart demands that I run to him, but my brain is commanding me to stay put. And when another shape materializes next to him, a woman with pale skin and jet-black hair, I become even more leery.
“Morpheus, you son of a bitch.” Phoenix strides toward him. “Did you want to give us a heart attack? What kind of bullshit entrance was that? We thought you were Chaos.”
The woman smirks and glances at Morpheus. “I told you they wouldn’t recognize you.”
Her tone denotes intimacy, which awakens the possessive side in me. “Who the fuck are you?”
She arches her eyebrows, looking surprised. “Oh my. You don’t recognize me?”
“Should I?”
“Daisy.” Morpheus takes a step forward. “This is Eris, my half sister.”
Magia’s mother. Shit. My anger deflates, but not completely. I’m still mad as hell at Morpheus for taking off. “Where have you been?”
“I had to take care of something important.”
“And you couldn’t tell us before you vanished?” Rufio steps next to me, glaring openly at Morpheus and his companion.
“No.”
“Don’t mind Morpheus. He hasn’t completely adjusted to being a demigod yet. He’ll be a cold asshole for a while,” Eris pipes up.
He furrows his eyebrows, and his eyes, which were glowing like molten gold, return to normal. “Am I still acting like that?”
“Yes,” everyone replies in unison.
“Morpheus!” Mrs. Malek pushes through the crowd to get to him.
She, unlike me, doesn’t hesitate to pull her son into a hug. He tenses for a second but then returns the gesture.
“I was so worried about you,” she says, easing off to look at his face. Then she does something wholly unexpected. She pinches his arm. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“Ouch! Mom, come on.” He steps back, rubbing the spot.
“No way he felt that,” Phoenix whispers to me.
Mrs. Malek glances over her shoulder. “Oh, he felt it.”
Oh, motherly powers. Good to know someone can keep him in check, even if he’s a demigod now.
“Sorry to interrupt the party, but we have an attack to plan.” Xavier approaches our group.
“An attack? Where?” Morpheus asks.
“We have the Neo Gods’ headquarters location,” I say.
“Then tell me and I’ll take care of it.”
“Alone?” My voice rises to a pitch.
“Yes, alone. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve just destroyed every single lightning-glass mine in the world. I can level another mountain to the ground and bury Neo Gods with it.”
“You did what?” Soren pushes through the small gathering to reach the front.
“You heard me.”
“Hold up.” Rufio raises his hand. “I must have misheard you.”
“Am I not speaking English? I destroyed all the lightning-glass reserves.”
“Why would you do that?” Jodie asks. “We needed those weapons.”
“Exactly. My father spent years to gain the trust of the leaders of the church, and you’re saying you fucking blew everything up?” Soren yells.
“I’m sorry that Gunther’s work was in vain. But destroying the reserves had to be done.” Morpheus glowers at him.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because they would do more harm than good in the long run. Surely you can see that. Those religious freaks had made an alliance with mercenaries. Their goal was to end all Idols, not only the Neo Gods.”
“You had no right!” Rufio takes a step forward, shaking with fury. “Norms deserve a way to fight. You just took that option from us!”
“I’m sorry, Rufio.”
“Bullshit! You’re not sorry. You did it because you don’t fucking care about anyone else now that you’ve mastered your demigod powers. You’re just as bad as Chaos,” Rufio spits out.
“I’m nothing like him.” Morpheus takes an aggressive stance, moving forward.
Fuck. This is escalating too fast. I jump in between them with my arms raised. “Stop it! We can’t start to fight among ourselves.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Morpheus clearly stated which side he’s on, and it’s not ours,” Rufio replies.
“You’re acting like a spoiled brat. It’s not my fault you don’t have your powers anymore,” Morpheus rebuffs.
Damn it. That comment hurt. It’s not his fault; it’s mine.
Ellen marches in our direction, almost spitting fire from her nose. “You two!” She points a finger at Rufio and Morpheus. “If you can’t behave, get out. You’re scaring the children.”
Bryce pulls Rufio back. “Come on, bro. You need to calm down.”
“Let go of me.” He jerks free from Bryce’s hold, and for a second, dark veins appear on his face.
“Rufio, your face,” Bryce points out.
“What?” he
snaps.
The veins are gone, but if Bryce saw them too, then I didn’t imagine it.
“You had markings, just like when your powers used to manifest,” I tell him.
Jodie peers closely at her son. “He can’t possibly be regaining his powers, can he?”
I glance at Eris, who must know more about Magia’s powers than anyone else. I notice she too is looking at Rufio with rapt attention.
“Is it possible for an unmade Idol to recover their powers?” I ask.
“No. It’s never happened to any Idol Magia unmade. There’s no reason to believe it would be any different with him.”
“My powers aren’t returning. I’d know otherwise,” Rufio adds.
“Something is definitely happening to you. Remember when that mattress you were lying on simply turned into dust?” Phoenix chimes in.
Heat creeps up my cheeks remembering that night. God, he’d better not keep talking about it.
“Okay, I’m bored,” Eris says. “I’m gonna go.”
She vanishes in the next second, leaving me annoyed as hell. I didn’t have the chance to interrogate her.
Morpheus is suddenly by my side. He can obviously move much faster than us Idols. “Daisy, I need that address.”
“I’m not giving it to you.”
He narrows his eyes to slits. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, dead serious. This is not your personal fight, Morpheus. We should be working as a team.”
“Why, when I can deal with the Neo Gods in the blink of an eye?”
“Cocky much?” I raise an eyebrow.
“No, just realistic.”
“I liked you better when you didn’t know about your heritage. You’re an ass now.”
I turn on my heels and stride away. I’m too fucking pissed to have a reasonable conversation with him. I’m being petty and immature by not giving him the address, but he can get it from Xavier anyway. I don’t realize I’m crying until my nose gets stuffed up.
I head for the restroom, hoping it’s empty. I just need a moment alone to calm down. But apparently that’s not in the cards for me. When I enter, Morpheus is there, waiting for me. Naturally, he can now appear and disappear at will.
Broken Knights: A Paranormal High School Bully Romance (Gifted Academy Book 4) Page 25
