“Hey,” Jeremy’s voice made me jump about a mile and I looked up to see him carrying a tray with milk and cookies on it.
“God, you scared me.” I chuckled nervously at him.
“Sorry. But the good news is that I bring a peace offering from Jenna. She wanted me to drop these off on my way to workout. She even made me promise not to steal any for myself.” He smiled at me and set the tray on my nightstand. “I’ll come by on my way back, okay? To talk”
“Yeah, okay,” I interjected before he could finish. I was letting my nerves get the best of me and it was probably better if he just went to go workout so he wasn’t in danger himself.
Jeremy eyed me curiously, probably picking up on my nervous energy. “She also said to tell you she’d be down to check on you in a bit, and if you wanted to talk, then she’d be ready.”
Yeah, I bet she’d be down to check on me—to make sure I was dead. I had to fight back the laughter that bubbled up in my chest. “Yep, I’ll be here . . . ready to talk.”
Jeremy gave me one last curious glance before ducking out of my room. “Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”
I didn’t know what was weirder . . . the fact that Jeremy seemed so cavalier about how I had tried to fry his lady love earlier, like we’d had a normal girl fight, or that my best girlfriend was trying to kill me. Or maybe the weirdest thing of all was how I was now taking all of these things in stride, like they were totally normal. Oh yeah, my life was definitely not turning out the way I had thought it would, not by a long shot.
“Khol,” I called out on shaky breath. “I need you.”
Khol appeared almost before the last syllable of my request had left my mouth, and he rushed to me with worry etched into the furrows of his face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
I looked up at him and tried to mentally record every last detail about him, from his long auburn hair, to his high strong cheekbones that flowed up to his dragon green eyes. When I was with Khol I always felt so tiny in comparison to his large proportions, something that I’d always liked. He made me feel safe and protected, like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. I was going to miss him . . . more than I wanted to admit to myself. Khol had become a constant in my life from the first day he had literally popped into it. I loved Bryn too, but the fact was Bryn had been ripped away from me when I had needed him the most. I knew it wasn’t his fault, and I never blamed him, but he didn’t have an excuse now for walking away from me. Because he had done just that . . . walked away from me. His intentions might be sincere, and he might be doing it out of love for me, but that still didn’t change the fact that I felt like he had abandoned me and that I couldn’t trust him to always be there for me. I knew emphatically that Khol would never ever walk away from me, no matter what. He’d proved it time and time again, and truth be told, that was very important to me, especially with me having a baby on the way. I wish I wasn’t going to have to leave him behind soon. It wasn’t like I had a choice if I wanted to live, according to my birth mother, but it still didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. How would he react when I was gone and he couldn’t find me? My chest tightened as I thought about what he might do. I shook myself internally. I had to deal with the task at hand. “Jenna is trying to kill me. I mean not Jenna really . . . but a Rider got into her.”
Khol studied me with sharp eyes. “Are you sure?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes, my birth mother left me a letter. She told me a Rider had slipped into her and she was going to try and poison me and not to accept anything to eat or drink from anyone tonight.” My lower lip began to tremble. “And sure enough Jenna sent Jeremy down with milk and cookies for me. She had to send him because . . .” Tears began to track down my cheeks much to my chagrin. I had told myself that I wouldn’t get emotional over this. It wasn’t Jenna, not really, and I would find a way to save her just like my birth mother said I could.
“Because if you saw her you would see the Rider in her,” Khol completed my sentence for me.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“Then I must—”
“Don’t hurt her!” I said in a rush. “I mean I know you’re going to have to lock her up or something but don’t hurt her—please! Promise me you won’t! I can save her! I know I can! Just not now!”
Khol came to me and wrapped his comforting frame around me. “I know what she means to you. I promise not to hurt her.”
“Thank you,” I croaked.
“Drake,” Khol called with his arms still around me.
“Yes, my lord,” I heard Drake’s low voice rumble in response a moment later.
“Go to the little Speaker, escort her to a cell, a Rider has taken up residence in her, so expect a fight.”
“Should I just not kill her then?” Drake asked as if he was inquiring about the weather.
“No!” I exclaimed, pulling free of Khol. “Don’t hurt her!” I met Khol’s sympathetic eyes. “You go—please. I trust you.”
Khol nodded. “I will see to it myself then. Drake, get rid of those . . . They are poison.” He motioned briefly to the plate, and then he turned back to me and brushed his lips across mine. “I will be back shortly.”
A feeling of sadness washed over me as I thought about how I wouldn’t be there when he got back. I knew he would feel my sadness, but I was hoping he thought it was connected with Jenna’s situation. Soon I wouldn’t have to worry about him reading my emotions at all, and for the first time ever that made me sad too. “Okay,” I said.
Both Khol and Drake disappeared, Drake taking the milk and cookies with him and Khol off to imprison my best female friend.
I inhaled and exhaled a few times to try and center myself. It didn’t work, and for the millionth time in my life, I wondered who that kind of crap ever actually worked for? I raced to my closet and pulled the duffle bag with my things in it out of its hiding place. It was now or never, life or death, I had to do what I needed to do in order to save my world . . . and the people I loved. I placed the letter that my birth mother had intended for Khol on my bed where I knew he would see it when he returned for me. Again my chest tightened thinking about how he would react when he discovered I was gone and realized he couldn’t track me. But there was no time for thoughts like that now.
I reached into the bag and snapped the shiny bronze bracelet onto my left wrist. It was a perfect fit . . . of course. I turned my thoughts to the task at hand, steeling myself for what needed to be done and set out on my way. It was only the fate of the world that was depending on me to be successful. Yep . . . no pressure at all.
11
“Your transcripts have already been sent over from your previous school. I just need you to fill out a couple forms and I need to see some form of identification from you.”