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

by Kimberly Loth

  “Because you won’t let me date any of your Minor Guardians.”

  “Jordan’s not a Minor Guardian. Plus he knows what you are, so it doesn’t matter.”

  “Why is that you told him but you won’t let anyone else know about us?”

  His face went hard. “I don’t really care who knows about you. But Naomi doesn’t want anyone knowing. She was spitting fire yesterday when she found out I told Jordan.” He looked at Jordan and scowled. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

  Jordan grinned. “No prob.”

  “Where is Naomi anyway? I thought she was doing my lesson today.”

  “She had some business to take care of and asked me to fill in.”

  “What are we doing today?”

  “Well, we already know you are incredibly powerful. You seem to have a good grasp of your powers so you don’t need to practice much. I’m going to start training you like I would one of my Minor Guardians. With any luck, by the time we are finished you’ll be one.”

  I grinned. “Excellent. Where do we start?”

  “How well can you perform when you are distracted?”

  I shrugged. I’d never had to before. Jordan nuzzled into me and kissed me on the neck. I stopped listening to Puck and closed my eyes. This boy was amazing. Suddenly, vipers swirled in my head and I tasted sour grapes. Fear sliced through my insides and all I could think was that I needed to run. I jumped off the couch and was nearly out of the door when I heard both Puck and Jordan laughing.

  I turned and narrowed my eyes at them. “That wasn’t funny.”

  Puck crossed his arms. “If I were a real Destroyer you wouldn’t have lasted more than five seconds. Looks like we’ve found your Achilles’ heel. You’re a powerful little thing, but you need to work on your skills in a distracting environment.”

  I scowled. “And you’re going to use Jordan to do that?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  I stomped back into the room and sat on the couch. This didn’t seem like fun anymore. I didn’t want to have to think about defending myself when I was kissing Jordan.

  “Can you at least explain what it is you are doing?” I asked, because truthfully I had no idea how they did that.

  “Jordan distracts you while I send you emotions that Destroyers will typically use as weapons. Chances are, if he weren’t kissing you then I wouldn’t have been able to penetrate your shield. But when you aren’t expecting it, I can get in. If you want to run with the big dogs you’ll need to be able to defend yourself under all circumstances.”

  Jordan sat next to me again. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into my ear. “I don’t like this any more than you do.”

  I pouted. “You laughed at me.”

  He stared deep into my eyes. “Can I make it up to you?”

  Before I could answer, he planted his lips on mine and I could taste strawberries and chocolate. I leaned into him and forgot all about Puck once again.

  Ten seconds later, I was on floor bawling like a baby. Jordan leaned over me, concern written all over his face. At least he wasn’t laughing this time.

  I climbed back up on the couch.

  “Let’s do it again,” I said.

  This time, I concentrated on not losing myself in Jordan’s charms, but it didn’t work. Puck’s stupid Destroyer emotions still got through.

  An hour later I still wasn’t performing any better. What made it worse was that I didn’t know if I’d enjoy kissing Jordan ever again. Every time I’d kissed him, Puck did something awful to me.

  Puck finally declared the lesson over. “Maybe we need to start with a different kind of distracting environment.”

  I snuggled into Jordan, exhausted. This was torture, but at least Puck saw something promising in me. Promising enough to continue to train me instead of giving up and sending me away.

  Then it dawned on me. He still didn’t know.

  “Did you know Naomi is sending me away in a week?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She’s sending me to live with Alejandro’s parents for the summer.”

  Jordan pulled me closer to him, like he didn’t want me going anywhere either.

  Puck crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “Tombstone, right?” He shook his head. “This is stupid. Let me talk to her.”

  I began to argue, because I didn’t want Naomi thinking that I was going behind her back, when suddenly the library door flew open.

  “What the hell have you done with my best friend?” Ricki stormed into the room. She dropped her massive Louis Vuitton bag and marched up to Puck, her six-inch heels clicking on the floor.

  Puck stood up and towered over her, though he still looked a little frightened.

  “I’m not sure what you are talking about.”

  “Naomi’s not responding to any of my texts and she won’t answer her phone. I haven’t seen her in weeks. What did you do with her?”

  Puck smirked. “What are you talking about? You just spend a whole day with her last week.”

  She rolled her eyes, recovering quickly. “Whatever, it feels like it’s been weeks. That doesn’t explain why she isn’t answering my calls.”

  “She had to go out of town and will back tomorrow afternoon.”

  Ricki nodded. “Fine. She’s going dancing with me tomorrow then. Be sure to remind her. I’ll be here at seven to pick her up.” Ricki glanced at me. “Pipsqueak can come too.”

  “Really?” I loved going dancing.

  “But you must wear something appropriate. Have Naomi dress you. I will not haul around a girl who looks like she just came from the backwoods of Arkansas.”

  I started to argue, but she continued before I could even say a word. “I don’t care if that is, in fact, where you’re from. You will wear what Naomi tells you to, or you will not come at all.”

  She gave Puck a kiss on the cheek, picked up her bag, and stomped out of the room just like she came in. Ricki was always a bit of a tornado but I loved hanging with her. Weird and wonderful things always happened when she was around.

  Naomi

  The world’s largest rosebush is found in Tombstone. It only blooms once a year. It is taking every bit of willpower I have to send Sunday instead of going there myself. Someday I will make my way down there and see the thousands of flowers.

  I TRIED TO SLEEP ON THE PLANE, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Sunday. She reminded me so much of myself. She wanted nothing more than to make a difference. But she was so young. I didn’t want to burden her; if she knew everything, she might feel obligated to do something about it. Then she would lose her carefree attitude.

  When she asked me to find Alejandro’s pictures for her and I saw how young I looked at the wedding, it nearly broke me. The woman I saw in the mirror now carried so much weight on her shoulders. I thought life was hard then. I had no idea.

  Once I arrived in Florida I was grateful for GPS, because even though I’d been to the house before I wasn’t certain I could find it again.

  I took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door. I wasn’t quite sure what I would find here. I told Puck I wouldn’t be back until the next day so I had time. He desperately wanted me to be a Guardian. When I told him that meant I would be searching for answers and he couldn’t butt in, he readily agreed. Now, anytime I told him I was looking for answers he let me go. No questions asked. For that, I’m extremely grateful.

  The door handle twisted and I braced myself for who would be standing on the other side, but it was just Neal.

  He pulled me into a hug. “How are you doing?”

  I smiled at him. “Fine. Thanks for agreeing to see me.”

  “You are very welcome. Let’s go sit in the living room.”

  Once we made our way inside, I looked around nervously. “Are they here?” I asked.

  Neal knew who I was talking about. He chuckled. “No. Both Ruth and Kai are taking college classes and they won’t be home until this afternoon. I told them
you were coming, and Ruth very nearly skipped her morning classes, but I told her I needed you to myself first.”

  I let out a breath. “Thanks. I am looking forward to seeing her.”

  “So what did you want to talk about?”

  “I’m looking for information on my Grandmother. You were on her council, right?”

  “That I was. She was one of the best Master Guardians we’ve ever had. She held her cards very close to her and no one stepped out of line.”

  “Why did she keep herself secret?”

  He exhaled. “I don’t know. She wasn’t open with me. Or anyone else, for that matter. She kept most of her thoughts and feelings to herself. My interactions with her were mostly business-oriented and she was very good at persuading people to do the things she wanted.”

  “She lived with me for a while, did you know that?”

  He shook his head. “She never hosted the council meetings. We always held them at my house or Alejandro’s. He knew her better than I did. She was a very private woman.”

  This was not going well. I was hoping for more information. It would help if I knew what I was looking for, but really I was just fishing around until something, anything, made sense.

  “Do you know how she came to find the Guardians?”

  “I think it had something do with your grandfather, but I’m not certain. I never knew him.”

  “He died right after Ginny was born. Grandma never talked about him.”

  I dropped the subject after that, since there didn’t seem to be anything else he could tell me. We ate lunch and gossiped about the Guardians until Kai and Ruth arrived home.

  Suddenly my palms were sweating. I didn’t know how I would be received.

  Ruth entered the house first. She didn’t hesitate. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight. Then she pulled back and waved her finger in my face.

  “Don’t you ever go this long without seeing me again. I missed you.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’ve been busy.”

  “I know, but I thought I was your best friend.” My heart tightened. That ship sailed a long time ago, but I didn’t know how to explain things to her if Kai was going to keep her in the dark about Guardians and Destroyers.

  I looked over her shoulder and smiled. Kai hadn’t changed at all. His dark brown eyes still made my heart race. He reached over and gave me a hug, but didn’t say anything.

  Ruth grabbed my hand. “Come on, we brought dinner. Let’s go eat outside.”

  Things were a lot easier than I thought they would be. Kai kept his distance, which was understandable, but it still hurt my feelings. I knew that was silly—after all, I had Puck. But Kai was my first love and he’d always hold a small piece of my heart. I expected he felt the same. Though I was extremely happy for him and Ruth. They deserved one another.

  Ruth told me all about her classes and her plans for the future. I envied her for the normalcy of everything; I’d probably never go to college or have anything resembling a normal life. I understood why Kai asked me to keep his power that I accidently stole when we were fighting Destroyers together.

  “I only have a year left, then I’ll be a nurse,” Ruth said.

  “That’s cool. I’m happy for you.”

  I felt a flicker of power and glanced around. Kai’s power was gone and Neal was inside. I dropped my shield a little to gauge the strength. It was faint, not strong enough that I’d consider recruiting, but definitely there.

  But there was no one here, except someone who felt like a Shade. No one here but Ruth.

  The next afternoon, when I arrived home, Puck was waiting for me in our room.

  I barely set down my purse before he started talking.

  “I don’t usually need to know your every move, but you’re up to something and I don’t like being kept in the dark. These are more than just fact-finding missions.”

  My hands trembled as I brushed my hair back behind my ears. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Why’d you go to Florida?”

  I sighed and sat down on the bed next to him. I hated keeping secrets like this from him. But even though he was my fiancé, he was also the Master Guardian, and so everything I told him would be tainted with that judgment. I decided to go with a half-truth, since it was the easiest way to get away with what I was doing.

  “I was looking for information on my grandmother.”

  He shook his head. “What does that have to do with sending Sunday to Tombstone?”

  I let out a breath. “Nothing. Sunday needs an opportunity to prove herself and Tombstone seems like a good place to start. It’s a Guardian dead zone and you’ve never really given anyone a chance to spend a significant amount of time down there to see what’s up.”

  “No offense, Naomi, but isn’t that my call?”

  “She’s not a Guardian, so no, it’s not.”

  He snorted. I knew he wasn’t convinced, not by a long shot. But I’d been as honest with him as I could be. I almost told him about Ruth and Tiffany. It was still so strange to me that two girls who never before displayed any power were suddenly showing signs of being Shades.

  Puck grabbed my hand, surprising me. “You know I don’t believe you, right? But I still love you, and I trust that you will do the right thing even if you don’t trust me. If you really are looking for information on your grandmother, I have something you might want to see.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, suddenly feeling foolish for not asking him first.

  He led me into the library, removed a couple of books from one of the shelves, and opened a small cupboard that had a switch. When he pushed the switch, the bookshelf swung open, revealing another bookshelf behind it. It was full of old books that had no titles on the spines, except a few that were scribbled on. They looked like Sunday’s sketchbooks.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Master Guardians keep journals during their time so that if they die while on the job the next Master can get up to speed. It’s also a nice resource any time I have a problem. Some of these journals are hundreds of years old. Your grandmother would’ve kept journals as well. I don’t read these as often as I should. I haven’t even gotten half way through Alejandro’s.”

  He started pulling books off the shelf, opening them up, and shoving them back in. “Huh,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Your grandmother’s journals should be here. But they aren’t.” He pointed to a gap in the row of books. “It goes straight from the Master Guardian before your grandma to Alejandro.”

  “Why would they be missing?”

  Puck creased his eyebrows. “I don’t know. The only person who would know the answer to that is dead.”

  “You mean Alejandro?”

  He nodded and pulled me close to him. “Hey, I know you really want answers. I’ll see if I can find out anything else for you.”

  “Thanks. This can’t be easy for you, but there are things I need to know.”

  “I know. No matter what, I want you to remember that I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  I really, really hated keeping secrets from him.

  Sunday

  If you chop the top off of a barrel cactus, you’ll find water. But it’s extremely dangerous. If one of its curved thorns punctures your skin, it can take months to heal. And the water can actually make you sick and make your dehydration worse.

  I FOLLOWED RICKI AND NAOMI into a club that had a long line of people waiting. We never had to wait. Even if I went out by myself, I could get into any club in town. I never bothered to ask why and I got used to the glares as we walked right in.

  We sat at a small table. Before we had time to even start a conversation, a waiter brought us all drinks. We never ordered, they always knew what we wanted. Once, Ricki changed her preferred drink and later that night, at a different club, they already knew and brought her the new drink.

  I sipped at my Virgin Daiquiri and tuned in to t
he conversation.

  “Why are you lying to Puck?” Ricki asked.

  Naomi coughed. “What are you talking about?”

  “When I came looking for you yesterday, Puck told me you spent the day with me last week and I had to pretend like it was true.”

  Naomi sighed. “I’m working on some stuff that he can’t know about. You were a good excuse. Sorry.”

  “No problem, but maybe tell me ahead of time so your cover doesn’t get blown.”

  Naomi smiled and sipped at her drink. “Thanks Ricki, I appreciate it.”

  “Don’t think you are off the hook, you spill. I know about the secret Guardian and Destroyer world now, so you can don’t have to hide things from me.”

  Naomi glanced at me.

  “I want to know too. I’m not going anywhere.” I looked at Ricki. “She went to see Jason.”

  Naomi glared at me as Ricki let out a stream of curses. I had no idea she hated Jason so much.

  “Why the hell would you go see him?”

  For a brief moment I hoped that Ricki’s reaction would distract Naomi long enough to forget that I had been the one to spill the beans. But Naomi wasn’t distracted at all.

  “Sunday, you claimed that you could handle more responsibility, that you could be trusted, and yet you couldn’t keep a simple secret. You’re not ready for this, not by a long shot. Why don’t you go dance so Ricki and I can talk?”

  My cheeks burned at I stood up and stalked to the dance floor. I moved to the middle of the crowd, while opening the “Hurtful Things Naomi Has Said to Me” box in my head. I shoved in the statement and slammed the lid back on. Then I forgot all about it.

  After a few songs, a hand gripped my elbow and Ricki put her lips close to my ear. “Paris is here. We need to bail.”

  I laughed. “What’s she gonna do? Why should we let her chase us out?”

  Ricki grabbed my hand and pulled me off the dance floor. I let her. I tried to catch a glimpse of Paris as we skedaddled out the door but she had a huge entourage around her.

  It was probably for the best, because I totally and completely embarrassed Paris Hilton at the hottest Halloween party in town.

  In the car, I finally spoke up. “I don’t understand why we had to leave. Halloween was months ago.”