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

by Kimberly Loth

  Later, Puck took me out and taught me to surf. Naomi stayed on the beach with a book. She said she preferred to watch the ocean from the shore. She shrieked every time Lincoln dropped a fish in her lap. And then she had to rescue him from the claws of a viscous crab. She locked him in the house after that. That night, he yowled at me all the way to my bedroom. I didn’t really listen though; I was absolutely exhausted. That never happened.

  I might have actually gotten a full six hours of sleep that night.

  The next morning Naomi beat me to the beach. I was surprised to find her there. She’d brought two beach chairs.

  “I know you want to draw, but we need to talk.” She looked down at the critter next to me. “I wish you’d left him inside.”

  Lincoln meowed at her and took off for the water. I’d bet my life that in less than five minutes he’d be back with something gross for her.

  The fact that she was here worried me. She’d purposely gotten up to talk to me without Puck or anyone else around. That couldn’t be good.

  I sat in the chair with caution, twisting my hair back and trying to push down the feelings of anxiety. I traced circles in the sand to distract myself.

  “What’s up?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  “I know I’ve been pretty hard on you, I just don’t want to screw this up. I feel like every time I turn around I’m making the wrong decision where you’re concerned. I need you to understand that everything I’ve done has been with a great deal of thought and concern.”

  She sighed and looked out at the ocean. Instead of interrupting the silence I waited for her to continue.

  “Did you know my Grandmother was the Master Guardian before Alejandro?” she asked.

  “Really? No, I didn’t know that. Why are you worried about us becoming Guardians then?”

  “Because she was kept a secret, more than any other Master Guardian. Very few people knew she even had power. She was not allowed to practice out in the open. She only had two or three Guardians on her council. She had all this amazing power and she wasn’t allowed to use it at all.”

  She sighed again and stopped. I could tell she was debating what to say next. So I decided to ask a question.

  “Why don’t you want to be a Guardian?”

  She grimaced. “I did, once, before I went to spend some time with the Destroyers. But when I came back, I was different. I was insanely curious about women and the role they play in the history of both Guardians and Destroyers.”

  “What’d you discover?”

  She scoffed. “Secrets and dead ends.”

  “What kind of secrets?”

  “I wish I knew. Any woman who has been part of the organization has done either one of two things: keep her power completely secret except to a close few, or pretend to be a man. Neither one of those are appealing to me.”

  I continued to trace pictures in the sand. Hearts and circles. What Naomi said make sense, but people change all the time. To me it didn’t seem like that big of a hurdle.

  “Puck wants us to be part of it. Couldn’t we change the way people look at us?”

  “I don’t think that’ll happen. Puck is young and those on his council will persuade him otherwise. They’ll put on a good face and make it look like they are only doing it for our protection. Which isn’t entirely off base. We’ll be a target.”

  “Why?”

  “My mother. She all but ran both the Guardians and Destroyers into the ground. Now the Destroyers will see us women as a threat. A few Guardians might, too. It could trigger a war. Mother’s ruthlessness is hard to forget.”

  She couldn’t have been any worse than the Master at my church. He was brutal.

  “What’d she do?”

  “It’s not so much what she did, though that was bad, but it was how she used her power. She did things a man could never do. As women, we pose a huge threat.”

  “Why are we so dangerous?”

  She hesitated. Then she closed her eyes. I watched her, hoping she’d decide to just tell me, but then she opened her eyes and shook her head.

  “I don’t want to tell you that. Not yet. Before you argue with me about this, let me explain.”

  Yeah, whatever. I’d let her explain, but then I had every intention of arguing with her.

  “This power, our secret power, is incredibly dangerous and addicting. Once you know what it is, it is super easy to use and not even realize what you are doing. You might use it on accident. You already display so much raw power, I don’t want to give you another weapon.”

  I crossed my arms and pouted. This wasn’t fair. How would she know if I was ready or not?

  “Did you ever hurt someone else without realizing what you were doing?” I asked.

  “Yes. More than once. I hated myself afterwards and I don’t want you to have to go through the same thing.”

  “When can I know?” I hated secrets. There was no reason to keep them. Secrets were the reason I never got out of my house until thirteen. If I’d learned how to open my mouth when I was younger I might not have suffered the abuses I did.

  “I’ll tell you what, I have a job for you. If you prove you can handle the responsibility of this job, then I’ll tell you.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  “What’s the job?”

  “I’m working on a way for women to use their full power and not be kept a secret. Why should boys have all the fun?” She winked at me. “But first, I need information. I need you to spy.”

  Oh, this could be fun. “Hell yeah. Who do you need me to spy on? Puck?”

  Naomi laughed. “No, Puck keeps me pretty up to date on what’s going on.”

  “Yet, you’re keeping a big secret from him.”

  She frowned. “He wouldn’t approve. Once I have all the information I need, then I’ll tell him. I don’t want him jumping to the wrong conclusion and taking over my idea. I’m sure you see how easily that could happen.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever. So do you want to me spy on the Destroyers?”

  Naomi’s eyes widened in alarm. “No way! That is too dangerous. Don’t you go near them. Not now, not ever. Have you forgotten what happened to you in Arkansas?”

  Ouch, that hurt. Of course I didn’t forget.

  “Okaaay, then what do you need me to do?”

  “There’s a small town in Arizona that has neither Guardians nor Destroyers. I want you to go snoop, see what’s going on there. I suspect there are Shades there.”

  Oh, no. She was sending me away. “Why can’t one of Puck’s Minor Guardians go?”

  “I thought you wanted a job. Besides, they already have and didn’t find anything. Puck seems to think it’s no big deal, but I disagree.”

  “What makes you think I can find what they didn’t?”

  “I have faith in you. You have a certain knack for finding out things you shouldn’t.”

  I grinned. That much was true. But I didn’t want to leave Vegas.

  “Why don’t you go yourself?”

  “Because Puck would get suspicious.” I stood up and paced in front of her, the sand hot on my feet.

  “How long will I be gone?”

  “All summer.”

  No. Flipping. Way. “Sounds like you are just sending me away. What if I don’t want to go?”

  She crossed her arms and snorted. “It’s already been arranged. Alejandro’s parents live in that area. Ginny called them yesterday.”

  “The whole summer?” Summer was nice because I spent most of it by the pool. Well, I always spent my days by the pool, but it was more fun in the summer because the boys were all out of school.

  “Yes, the whole summer. No one has found anything before, and I expect you are going to have to spend some time gaining the trust of the locals. Three months seems like a good amount of time.”

  “But I already had plans. I was set up to work with a few artists here in town so that I can get letters of recommendation and apply to Calarts this f
all.”

  “You’ll have plenty of free time in Arizona. I’m sure you can find a few artists to work with down there.”

  So much for having a choice.

  “Where am I going?”

  “Tombstone.”

  Yep, she was sending me to my grave.

  I gathered my sketching stuff and stalked off down the beach without saying anything else. Naomi didn’t call after me, didn’t follow after me either. Why would she? I was not going on a mission. No, she was sending me away so she didn’t have to deal with me. The sunrise was long gone. As I walked I could feel the carefully constructed boxes in my brain starting to crumble.

  I was very, very good at suppressing bad feelings. I put everything in small boxes in my brain and only accessed them when I had time to process. My mother’s death was one box, my father’s treatment of me was another, the cult, my feelings for all those boys I kissed, all the teachers who hated me at school without understanding my situation, and Naomi and Ginny’s disapproval. The problem was, once one box was opened, they all popped open and I became a sobbing mess.

  I made it to the top of a sand dune. The sand here was much firmer; vegetation surrounded me. I found a small peanut-looking cactus and sank down in the sand next to it. Why did everyone always want to get rid of me? My father couldn’t wait for me to get out of his house. He never said as much, but he certainly acted like it. He barely spoke to me, and when he did it was because I’d done something wrong. Mother was the only one who ever wanted me. When she was alive we were inseparable. She taught me how to cook, garden, and clean. We spent most of our days working together. She never tired of my company or got annoyed with me. I always thought that was how mother-daughter relationships worked. But then when Naomi rescued me, she immediately sent me off with Ginny, who was sweet, but cold compared to my mother. Then at school…

  I never told Ginny and Naomi the real reason I got my GED.

  Two weeks before I took the test, the principal called me into her office and explained that for my Junior and Senior year she was going to send me to a magnet school. She told me it would be a better school for my talents. But what she was really saying was, “you get into too much trouble here, and we are going to send you somewhere else so that you can be their problem instead of ours.”

  I couldn’t stop crying. Why did they all want to send me away?

  I began to sketch through the tears. Violent images appeared on the page. A whip. A knife. A gun. Fire. My breathing began to calm and the images turned more innocent. The whip turned into a monkey’s tail, the knife became a branch on a tree, the gun a book cover, and fire morphed into ocean waves. As the images changed, my tears dried up and my boxes closed. I focused on the cactus in front of me.

  It’d be easier to sketch if it were bigger; that way, I could see the details. Could I make it grow? If I could make one come back to life, then surely I could make it grow. What makes something grow? I gathered together the taste of watermelon, the smell of a gym (yeah, ew) and the sound of a piano crescendo. Wrapping these all together, I sent it to the plant. To my surprise, it shot up and out, nearly doubling in size. Which was fantastic, except I was sitting too close to it and it stabbed me. I rubbed my arm where the spikes got me and moved a few inches back.

  The now-giant stems were bright green with five-inch spines that crowded around the tip. I’d never seen a cactus with so many thorns before. They were a mixture of red and white. A small white flower poked out from among the spikes.

  It shouldn’t have surprised me that they wanted to send me away. Because it wasn’t just Naomi, it was Ginny too. She set things up with Alejandro’s parents. I’d never even met Alejandro. What were his parents like?

  I drew with ferocity, the pencil digging into the paper. Why wouldn’t they want to send me away? I was nothing but trouble. Always kissing the wrong boys, skipping my lessons, ignoring little Ale, and not acting like Ginny thought I should.

  If I changed, would they let me stay?

  I could offer to babysit, show up early to lessons, and avoid those stupid boys. It was worth a shot. I had no idea what I wanted, but I knew for sure I didn’t want to live with strangers in a town called Tombstone.

  Sunday

  Cacti flowers are so diverse and beautiful. They range in color from purple to orange and in size from small like my pinky to nearly a foot in diameter. I’m always shocked when I see one blooming. It’s as if God said, let’s take something that will hurt really, really bad if you touch it, and give you a reason to stick your hand right in the middle of the thorns.

  PUCK DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING MORE about the Guardian stuff, so I figured Naomi had talked to him and asked him to drop it. No matter, I’d bring it up with him after I’d convinced them not to send me away.

  As soon as we got home, I raced upstairs and changed my clothes. I put on a long skirt that Ginny bought with its matching blouse. Then I brushed my hair out and put on a little makeup. I wasn’t leaving the house, so I didn’t put shoes on. I grabbed a few cheap pencils and a large sketchpad and went to the kitchen. Normally I sketched in my room or outside, but this was different. I wanted to socialize. Lupe was in the kitchen making dinner and little Ale sat on the floor next to her, playing on an iPad.

  “Sunny,” he exclaimed. I sighed. Normally I would correct him, but today I wouldn’t do anything that could jeopardize operation Stay-In-Vegas.

  He dropped the iPad and I cringed. He left it on the floor and ran to me. I picked him up just as Ginny walked into the room. Perfect timing.

  “Color?” asked Ale.

  “Sure,” I replied and opened up the sketchpad to a blank page. I handed him a blue pencil. He immediately started scribbling.

  “You look nice,” said Ginny. “What’s the occasion?”

  I shrugged.

  “I like it. Gloria did a good job on your hair.” She’d had it cut into a bob and dyed it a dark brown, almost black.

  Speaking of hair. Ale grabbed a handful of mine and pulled. “Sunny color,” he said, and let go. I desperately wanted to correct him. Funny how I could withstand ten lashes across my back for my insolence, but a small trip to Tombstone and suddenly was giving in.

  I picked up a yellow and began to color with him. “If you have somewhere you need to go, I can watch him,” I said to Ginny.

  She sat down at the table and put her hand over mine. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine, why?”

  “Nothing, you are just acting different. I actually have no plans tonight, but I could use you tomorrow night.”

  “Of course.”

  Ale grabbed my hair again. “Suuuunnnnnyyyy, color.”

  I smiled at Ginny and continued scribbling on the page with little Ale. We’d work on my name when we were alone.

  Operation Stay-In-Vegas had officially begun.

  I skipped sketching the next morning so that I wouldn’t miss my 8 a.m. lesson with Naomi. Lincoln started pawing at my hair at 5:30 a.m. I stayed in bed and played fetch with him for a little bit. Then I took a shower and slowly got ready. It took me a lot longer now that I had to care about the way I looked. I put on a frilly sleeveless shirt and a short skirt. Then I straightened my hair since I didn’t really know how to do anything else to it. Make up was trickier since I only used it on occasion, but I didn’t do a half bad job.

  Naomi had said to meet her in the kitchen. I grabbed a bowl of Fruit Loops and waited, but she didn’t show. I was about to go look for her when a smokin’ hot boy walked into the kitchen. It really wasn’t that unusual, since most of Puck’s Minor Guardians were hot. But I’d never met this one before. Usually that meant a trip behind one of the greenhouses but that was the old Sunday, the one who would be sent away. Not me.

  He sat next to me. “You must be Sunday.”

  I shrugged and studied the cereal box.

  “I’ve heard you’ve got amazing lips.”

  My cheeks burned. None of them had ever been that brazen before. I stood
up and took cereal back into the pantry. Of course he followed me.

  He blocked the door. His polo was tight against his chest and he flexed his pecks. I rolled my eyes, but inside I died a little bit. He might take hotness to a new level.

  “What’s your name?” I asked. If I was going to get caught in the pantry with him then I at least wanted to make sure I could introduce him to Ginny.

  “Jordan.” Another J-name. I’d never remember it. He smiled, revealing pearly whites. It just added to his appeal. If I wasn’t being good, I’d have planted one on him already.

  He leaned forward and I lightly brushed his lips with my own. Oh heaven. Why, oh why did Guardians have to be such great kissers? I’d never survive with boys like him around.

  I heard the tell-tale sound of stilettos on kitchen tile floor. I pulled away quickly. Jordan grinned at me.

  “Of course she’s not here,” said Naomi.

  “Do you want me to go wake her up?” asked Ginny.

  I hurried out of the pantry. “I’m right here, I just had to put my cereal away.”

  Jordan followed me. Oh crap. This was going to seriously dock points from operation Stay-In-Vegas. And I was doing so well, too.

  “Hey,” he said, grabbing an apple off the table. Ginny scowled at me, then recovered.

  “What’s his name?” she asked.

  He swallowed the bite he was chewing and held out his hand. “I’m Jordan.” I let out a sigh of relief. He was one of the smart ones. Though I would’ve remembered his name.

  Ginny took his hand. “Nice to meet you, Jordan. I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”

  “Yeah, I just transferred here from Boston. Puck said he wanted to keep me close.”

  Naomi’s eyes widened. “But Puck’s the Major Guardian over Vegas, why would he care about Guardians in Boston?”

  Jordan winked at her. “You’re Naomi, right? He told me all about you. Seems you probably already know the answer to that question.”

  Naomi blinked rapidly, then ran off to the library. No one was supposed to know that Puck was the Master Guardian. All his Minor Guardians thought he was just the Major Guardian over Vegas. In reality, Puck was in charge of Guardians all over the world. If Puck told Jordan anything about Naomi then Jordan was no Minor Guardian.