paid her doctor bills. This is unbelievable.” I turned my back on him and placed my hands on my hips. Anger coursed through my veins as my eyes slowly took in the sterile room—the exam table, the two carts with two bodies under blue cotton tarps set against a wall of small square doors that probably held more bodies. …
Seriously unbelievable. I spun back round, forcing myself to remain there. Putting your back to two dead bodies was definitely not something that felt anywhere near comforting.
I shook my head and cursed softly, not understanding any of it. My mother’s warning, the attack, the disappearing dead guy. The curse that now apparently extended to me, and now this—a head of the Novem actually paying my mother’s medical bills. Did they know about me, then? Is that why they wanted to see me? Had they been looking for me this whole time?
“So, what now? Go have a talk with dear old Grams? Askher why she tried to have me
killed
?” I ran my hands down my face, shaking my head and denying this was all even happening.
“Yeah, that was the plan. I think we should go talk to her.”
“Sure you do. That’s what you do, right? Do what they say.” I backed away, the rush of paranoia fueling my fear like lighter fluid on hot coals. “Thanks, but no thanks. I think this is where we part ways.”
I moved to the other side of the exam table, putting some distance between me and Sebastian. My hands curled around the cold edges, ready to shove it at him if he so much as twitched the wrong way.
One corner of his mouth lifted up slightly into what might’ve been a sad smile. “That would hardly stop me if I wanted to hurt you.”
I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, looking for another way out of the room. But there was none. Sebastian stood in front of the only exit. He regarded me patiently, like a parent waiting for a child to get over a fit, and it made me want to slap the look off his face.
“Ari,” he said finally, “Josephine Arnaud is a bitch and a manipulator, but she’s not a killer. The Novem doesn’t employ sword-wielding foreigners, and I’ll stake my life on that. If she knew your mother, then she probably has every answer you’ve ever wanted. I won’t let her or anyone else hurt you.”
“You don’t even know me! You don’t even
want
to know me, so why the hell are you going to protect me?”
He was quiet for a long moment, completely unreadable. His eyes darkened to steel gray. The muscle in his jaw ticked a few times before he said, “We’re the same. I know what it’s like—”
“Oh, please. You don’t
know
, okay? You don’t know anything. You have no idea what—”
“—it’s like to be different? A freak among freaks? Try me. You’re in New 2, Ari. Half the kids around here don’t even go to school. They have jobs.
Jobs.
The other half are Novem and more fucked up than you could ever imagine.”
So much of me wanted to meet his challenge, to tell him exactly how bizarre I really was, but I bit my tongue. It wasn’t worth it. And it wasn’t like he was going around telling me all about his weird-ass hypnotic abilities anyway. Why should I share mine?
“Whatever,” he finally said, and opened the door. “Do what you want.”
Screw him. He could leave if he wanted to. I was better off on my own. I’d
always
been better off on my own. This was New 2,
the
place for all things supernatural. If there was any way to learn more about my curse, it was here. I didn’t need Sebastian.
Yeah, and your own mother lived here, yet she’d failed to lift the curse.
Ichewed softly on the inside of my cheek. It was still raw from where I’d bitten it before.
I let out a frustrated sigh as that realization sank in. “How much do you know about curses?”
Sebastian stilled. I knew what he was thinking, that he should just leave and be rid of me and my bad attitude, and maybe it was for the best.
He moved backward and closed the door, turning to face me. It didn’t
Seriously unbelievable. I spun back round, forcing myself to remain there. Putting your back to two dead bodies was definitely not something that felt anywhere near comforting.
I shook my head and cursed softly, not understanding any of it. My mother’s warning, the attack, the disappearing dead guy. The curse that now apparently extended to me, and now this—a head of the Novem actually paying my mother’s medical bills. Did they know about me, then? Is that why they wanted to see me? Had they been looking for me this whole time?
“So, what now? Go have a talk with dear old Grams? Askher why she tried to have me
killed
?” I ran my hands down my face, shaking my head and denying this was all even happening.
“Yeah, that was the plan. I think we should go talk to her.”
“Sure you do. That’s what you do, right? Do what they say.” I backed away, the rush of paranoia fueling my fear like lighter fluid on hot coals. “Thanks, but no thanks. I think this is where we part ways.”
I moved to the other side of the exam table, putting some distance between me and Sebastian. My hands curled around the cold edges, ready to shove it at him if he so much as twitched the wrong way.
One corner of his mouth lifted up slightly into what might’ve been a sad smile. “That would hardly stop me if I wanted to hurt you.”
I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, looking for another way out of the room. But there was none. Sebastian stood in front of the only exit. He regarded me patiently, like a parent waiting for a child to get over a fit, and it made me want to slap the look off his face.
“Ari,” he said finally, “Josephine Arnaud is a bitch and a manipulator, but she’s not a killer. The Novem doesn’t employ sword-wielding foreigners, and I’ll stake my life on that. If she knew your mother, then she probably has every answer you’ve ever wanted. I won’t let her or anyone else hurt you.”
“You don’t even know me! You don’t even
want
to know me, so why the hell are you going to protect me?”
He was quiet for a long moment, completely unreadable. His eyes darkened to steel gray. The muscle in his jaw ticked a few times before he said, “We’re the same. I know what it’s like—”
“Oh, please. You don’t
know
, okay? You don’t know anything. You have no idea what—”
“—it’s like to be different? A freak among freaks? Try me. You’re in New 2, Ari. Half the kids around here don’t even go to school. They have jobs.
Jobs.
The other half are Novem and more fucked up than you could ever imagine.”
So much of me wanted to meet his challenge, to tell him exactly how bizarre I really was, but I bit my tongue. It wasn’t worth it. And it wasn’t like he was going around telling me all about his weird-ass hypnotic abilities anyway. Why should I share mine?
“Whatever,” he finally said, and opened the door. “Do what you want.”
Screw him. He could leave if he wanted to. I was better off on my own. I’d
always
been better off on my own. This was New 2,
the
place for all things supernatural. If there was any way to learn more about my curse, it was here. I didn’t need Sebastian.
Yeah, and your own mother lived here, yet she’d failed to lift the curse.
Ichewed softly on the inside of my cheek. It was still raw from where I’d bitten it before.
I let out a frustrated sigh as that realization sank in. “How much do you know about curses?”
Sebastian stilled. I knew what he was thinking, that he should just leave and be rid of me and my bad attitude, and maybe it was for the best.
He moved backward and closed the door, turning to face me. It didn’t
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