Destroyed (21 page)

Something was bothering me. I thought it was about my dad, but now, talking to him, I thought it might be something else. Something was off. The feeling snuck up on me at dinner, the unsettling feeling in my stomach.

I put the dish down and then looked directly at my dad. “Do you think Kai is lying about Ruth?”

Dad snorted “Yes. I do. You know where Kai went just a few weeks ago, right?”

Florida.

I flung the dishrag down, stormed past Ginny, who was finally sitting down to eat, and into the office. I didn’t bother to knock.

“You lied.”

He turned and looked at me. Behind him, on the computer screen, was Ruth’s face. I rushed over to him, pulled him out of the chair, and sat down.

“Ruth!”

“Naomi!” She squealed.

“How are you?”

Her curls bounced as she shrugged. “I’m fine. I like living in Florida. It’s warm. I miss you though. Kai told me you moved to Vegas for a while. Your hair is cool.”

I forgot she hadn’t seen me since I left. I had to fill her in. Kai hovered behind me.

“Do you mind giving us some privacy?” I asked.

He looked at the screen again. “I guess.”

After he left, I relaxed.

“How often do you talk to Kai?” I asked.

“He checks on me every once in a while. I keep pretty busy with school and stuff.” Something wasn’t adding up. But I didn’t want to grill Ruth about it. Kai would have to tell me.

“Do you like your new family?”

She grimaced. “I miss my foster family in Arkansas. But these guys are okay. They take good care of me. I heard my foster mom and dad are dead.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“I also heard you’ve had a rough time. I’m sorry about your mom.”

I wondered if she knew about the Guardians and Destroyers. It would be nice to have someone else to confide in. But I couldn’t risk saying anything if she didn’t know. I just smiled at her. It was so good to know that she was alive and well.

“So, how long you and Kai have been together?” she asked.

I laughed. “That’s up for debate.”

She creased her eyebrows.

“Well, we got together before I left for Vegas, right after you went to Florida. But then, in Vegas, I met Puck. Now I don’t know who I’m with half the time.”

She frowned. “Who’s Puck?”

“Kai’s brother. It’s all very confusing.”

Ruth laughed. “Who knew you could go from the mousy girl I sat next to on the bus to this sexy girl with purple hair who has two boys fighting over her. Which one do you like better?”

I didn’t think I could trust her. My heart felt heavy at that thought. She must have talked to Kai on a regular basis. So, I lied. I had to.

“I don’t know. When I’m with Puck, I want Puck. When I’m with Kai, I want Kai. I’ve never been around them both together for very long, so I don’t know who I’d choose. I sound like such a player. Though I wish this were my biggest problem.”

She cocked her head. “What’s your biggest problem?”

“I don’t feel like talking about it. Ooh, Ruth I miss you. Maybe I can come see you.”

She beamed. “I’d love that.”

A voice sounded from behind. “Ruth, it’s time to go.”

She turned around so I couldn’t see her face. “Okay, give me a minute.”

“Are you talking to Kai? You can take a few more minutes. They won’t kill us if we are a bit late.”

“No, it’s not Kai. I’ll be done in a sec.”

She turned back to face me.

I grabbed a pen and paper.

“Give me your cell and we can text.”

“Okay.”

“Miss you.”

“You too.”

Blue roses are nearly impossible to grow. It’s a primary color, so mixing two roses together doesn’t work. I tried for nearly two years before I realized it was a lost cause. I’m still a little peeved by that.

At seven forty-five, we parked on the gravel lot at the state park. This was a small park in the middle of nowhere, so we’d see anyone arrive. I tapped my foot on the floorboard and twirled my hair. My dad and Kai had been out most of the day. I spent the entire day worrying about things I couldn’t control. Mostly, I was mad at Kai, but I felt like I couldn’t say or do anything about that until after we fixed this mess. Hopefully, after tonight, we wouldn’t have to worry about death anymore.

“Do you really think this is going to work?” asked my dad.

“Why wouldn’t it?”

“I just don’t remember your mother ever summoning people like this before.”

I grimaced. “Maybe she didn’t have to.”

Dad shrugged. Why did he have to bring this up now? I was irritated enough as it was. Kai turned on the radio. Every time a car went by, I tensed. At eight fifteen, a car pulled into the lot. It was dark and we couldn’t see it. We waited for it to park, and then got out of the car. Stupid? Probably.

“Man, you guys would be dead by now if I were the killer.”

“It’s just Jason,” said Kai.

“What are you doing here? Unless you’re the one we’re awaiting.”

Jason came into view with an envelope in his hands.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. You can’t just summon the killer like that. You can only summon by name.”

“Why didn't you tell me that last night, when you got the command?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t seem important. Anyway, we have a problem.”

Jason shoved the envelope in my hand. It contained three pictures. Guardians, by the looks of it.

“Puck sent me these last night. Three more Guardians have been killed.”

I leaned back against the car, not quite believing him.

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. These are all minor Guardians. From the same area, near Tulsa. On top of that, they were all murdered by different people.”

“How do we know that?”

“The murderers all confessed.”

“What are you saying? That I can’t control them anymore?” My stomach burned with fear. This was not good at all.

“They aren’t Destroyers.”

“What?”

“Yeah, the murders were done by civilians.”

I thought for a second.

“Tulsa’s near us.”

“Yep.

I rubbed my eyes. “Why would people who know nothing about Guardians or Destroyers kill them?”

“It could be a Destroyer who is influencing others to do it for them.”

“Good point.”

I concentrated very hard.

You may not influence others to kill Guardians for you.

Jason smirked. “That might work for now, but whoever is doing this is trying very hard to work around your commands. We need to find them and stop them.”

I sighed. “I know. Who else can we talk to?”

Kai shifted next to me. “I know of someone who might be able to give us information, but it won’t be easy. He’s been impossible since I took over. He was your mother’s second in command, and the real reason why I knew I wasn’t the Master Destroyer. I couldn’t control him.”

“Who’s that?”

“Mr. Yerdin.”

I gagged and closed my eyes. “Oh, no. Not tonight. We’ll go see him in the morning.”

Kai snorted. “I knew that would be your reaction.”

I no longer dread Sundays. In fact, I now relish a Gardener’s Sunday. The three-inch double bloom canary-yellow rose smells divine. I find God in those moments in my garden. How else could something so perfect have been created?

Sunday mornings were my favorite time with Kai. He always brought me a blueberry muffin and a banana to bed. It was a reminder of the time we had before I went to Vegas. We would lay in bed and share the food. We would talk about silly things and forget for a moment about Destroyers, Guardians, and responsibilities.

But life didn’t work like that. We had lives to save.

I stood up, brushed the crumbs off my side of the bed, then leaned over and kissed him.

“Mmm,” he said and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Why don’t you come back in here with me?”

I laughed and pulled him up instead. He sat on his knees, facing me.

“We have places to go and people to see,” I said.

He pressed his forehead against mine. “I don’t want to see any of those people.”

“Neither do I, but duty calls.”

I wrapped him in a hug and whispered in his ear, “Will we ever get a normal life?”

He stiffened in my embrace, then he whispered back. “Normal is for the birds. If we lived a normal life, I wouldn’t be able to share your bed every night, with your father sleeping in the next room.”

I laughed and pulled back. “True. I'm going to go shower, then we might as well get this over with.”

“You better make sure you dress appropriately.”

“Why?”

“Because we are going to church.”

I froze. That was my place of nightmares. “You mean that awful place is still operating?”

“Yes. I tried to shut it down, but Mr. Yerdin wouldn’t listen. My hands were tied.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” If I had known other girls still had to bear that, I’d have been there the day after I arrived in Arkansas.

“Too many other things were going on.”

“Well, after today that church won’t exist anymore. Even if I have to burn it down.”

I showered, then deliberated about my outfit. I didn’t know when what I wore became such a big deal, but I knew the impression I gave would make all the difference in the world. Especially if I wanted to make a good impression on the girls. I needed a power outfit, but it couldn’t be too scary.

I poked my head in Ginny’s room. “I need help.” She looked up from her computer and nodded. No smile, no light. I yearned to reach to her, but I didn’t know how to comfort her.

She followed me back to my room.

Ginny picked a long fitted black dress with a purple corset. The neck dipped low and she dug out a silver chain with a rose pendant from my jewelry box. She put my hair up in a twist, lined my eyes with black, put on a deep purple-red lipstick, and proclaimed me finished. She didn’t smile or laugh. She hadn’t lost her touch, but her heart wasn’t in it.

Ginny went back to the office and I headed out to my garden. I would have to hurry. It was freezing. I took my clippers with me. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I clipped a bloom from the Destroyer rose, but now was as good a time as any to try. Church was a scary place; I could use all the protection I could get. The rose purred when I stroked it, and it didn’t react when I clipped off the bloom. The flower in my hand vibrated with energy. It was alive. I clipped one more and threaded the stalks into the twist on the back of my head. I felt the stalks twist and turn and I wished I could see it.

I walked back into the kitchen and found my dad and Kai talking. Kai looked up and stopped short.

“How the hell do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“When you woke up this morning, you looked like an angel. Now, you look like a goddess of the underworld. Gorgeous either way. I can’t decide which one I like better.”

“I have an image to uphold. Am I not the Master Destroyer?”

“That you are. You ready to go?”

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s get this over with.”

Ginny walked in from the living room. “The rose is cool, how’d you do that?”

She reached to touch it and I jerked away. “Sorry, it's a Destroyer rose and I don’t know what will happen if you touch it. It has a life of its own. I don’t even know what it looks like.”

“You should see.”

I found a small mirror into the bathroom and held it up over my head so I could see the back of my hair in the big mirror. Both blooms were sitting on top of my twist. The stalks curved on the bottom in a J-shape. The cool thing was that throughout the whole twist there were thorns poking out. It looked wicked.

*

The church parking lot was full. I hoped we arrived before the punishments. I’d be mortified if we walked in on a woman getting whipped. Maybe I’d be able to prevent the last punishment. Today would be the last time any of these women had to be a part of this.

We walked in through the side door, but we were noticed anyway. I’d never seen the congregation from this angle before. Three rows of pews were filled with masked men and the three rows behind them contained women bowing low to the ground, like they had when I attended. Every man turned when we walked in; the women kept their heads down like good women are supposed to. Though I did see a girl in the corner peek at me. I smiled at her.

“What is this devilry?” asked the man giving the sermon.

“We’ve come to shut down your church.”

“You will do no such thing. Grab them,” he pointed to a couple of men who sat near the door. The two men rose and descended upon us.

You will not touch us. You will go and restrain the man on the dais so we can question him.

Without a word, they moved up to the front of the church and seized the man by both arms.

Remove his mask.

One of the men grabbed the top of the man’s hood and yanked it off.

I grinned at him.

“Ah, my almost-father-in-law. It is so good to see you again, Mr. Yerdin.”

Roses rarely contain the names of powerful women who’ve changed the world. Sure, you’ll find roses named after all sorts of females, but there are no Joan of Arcs, Isabella Castiles, or Hapshepsuts. No, roses are traditionally named after women who didn’t change the status quo. Probably because most roses are named by men. From now on, when I breed a rose, I will name it after a powerful woman from history, so that those who follow me will have the strength and courage to make a difference.

I gathered my skirts and walked toward him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, struggling against his captors.

“We are here to end this whole thing.” I waved my arms around the church. “And to find out information about the killings of the Guardians.”

Kai stepped up next to me. We’d already decided he would question the people and I would silently command them to answer. That way, it would look like he was in charge. I was already drawing a lot of attention; we didn’t need people making correct assumptions. With any luck, it would still appear as if my father were the Master and Kai was his second in command.