Destroyed (25 page)

He was in love with Ruth. Ruth! He had a thousand girls to choose from and he picked my best friend. Screw everything. I scrolled through my contacts until I found Puck. He picked up on the second ring.

“Naomi? Are you okay?” My racing heart immediately slowed. Somehow, just hearing his voice made me feel better. I curled into a ball on the couch and tried very hard not to cry.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to talk to you.”

He paused.

“You know we aren’t supposed to be talking at all. It’s risky.”

“I know, but I needed to hear your voice. I miss you.”

“Something’s wrong, I can tell. What happened?”

I played with a loose string on the couch.

“Kai and I had a fight.”

“About what?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

He hesitated. “Why does getting in a fight with Kai bother you so much?”

I didn’t answer. I knew exactly what he was getting at.

After a minute of silence he asked another question.

“Are you considering staying with Kai after this is all over?”

“No.”

“But you were?”

“No, it was always only about you. I swear.”

“Yet, when you have a fight with Kai, it bothers you so much that you endanger your mission and breach our protocol by calling me.” My stomach flip-flopped.

“Puck, it’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “You have no idea how hard this is. Being the Master Destroyer is so hard. I needed something good to hang on to. So yes, I clung to Kai. I couldn’t turn to you, you know that. But that doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is saving my dad, giving the Master Destroyer power to someone else, and going home to you.”

I expected some kind of a response to that. But instead, I got deafening silence.

“Are you saying
you're
the Master Destroyer?”

Oh, no. I’d forgotten he didn’t know. He still thought it was Kai.

“I forgot you didn’t know that. Yes, I am.”

“You didn’t think it was important to mention that to me? What kind of a spy are you? Who else knows?”

“Kai, my dad, and Jason. I had to keep it a secret.”

“From who? It sounds like I’m the only one who doesn’t know.”

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

My insides felt hollow. I’d screwed up so bad, dug myself into a hole so deep I couldn’t see the top. I had to make him understand.

“I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t ask to become the Master Destroyer, but when I stole my mother’s power, the Master Destroyer power came along. It didn’t seem that important at the time to tell you. Besides…”

“I’m the effing Master Guardian and the love of my life is the Master Destroyer. That will never work. You might want to go make up with Kai.”

“I won’t always be the Master Destroyer…”

But he already hung up.

When I came back to Arkansas, I tried to kill my Collette Rose. I thought I did it, but two weeks later it sprang back to life.

The snow stopped around midnight and the highways had been plowed overnight. It was tricky getting onto the highway, but after that, we were able to make good time.

We had to slow down when we got close to town. Thankfully, Kai had rented an SUV with four-wheel drive or we would’ve never made it. A few miles from my house, he spoke.

“You realize I’m going to be no help without my power. I feel so unbelievably helpless.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop that. You chose not to be in control of your power. You’ve been reckless and emotional and stupid. This is your fault and I’m not going to let you get out of this. But for now, we need to focus on saving your father.”

His words stung but he was right. I knew that, but I didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t know what we’d find at the house.

“I’ll follow you, but I won’t have the ability to shield myself from influence. I’ll keep hidden and try to assess the situation and how I can best help,” Kai said.

I nodded.

We arrived home at around five. The sky was starting to go dark, but there was still enough light to see a path shoveled to my garden. We heard voices coming from there.

We raced to the garden.

My father stood in the middle of the garden. He was alive, thank goodness, but Dwayne stood behind him. I took a few cautious steps forward then saw that Dwayne had a gun pressed to the back of Dad’s head. I gasped and I raced forward, my heart pounding in my ears.

A figure stepped out from behind my father and I froze. This couldn’t be real.

My mother smiled at me. My chest felt tight and I resisted the urge to scream.

“Don’t move another inch. You and I have unfinished business.” She caressed my father’s arm. I still couldn’t see his face. “If you cooperate, he’ll be fine.”

Anxiety filled my chest. My mother must’ve been the one pulling all the strings.

“Please don’t hurt him,” I said.

Her smile widened. “We’ll see about that. Took you long enough to get here. Imagine my surprise when I arrived and discovered that your father had no power. It took me a few minutes, but I figured it out. Then all I had to do was wait for you to come back. Did you take care of my pets, Romeo and Hayden, for me? They were helpful but had become too powerful.”

I shivered. “What are you doing out here?”

“Oh, your dad led me to believe that you got rid of your power and put it in this rose here. Interesting prospect, but I’m afraid it’s false. I can feel Destroyer energy in it, but not mine. Now come here and give me my power back. You still have it, I can tell.”

I laughed out loud. “Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, Dwayne will kill your father.”

Dwayne snorted. “I might kill him anyway, just to see the look on your face when he dies. You took everything from me.”

I inched toward my mother. She was standing only a few feet away from the Destroyer rose.

“If you are threatening to kill him anyway, what incentive do I have to do anything for you?”

My mother let out a manic laugh. “Because you don’t know for sure. He might leave him alive, he might kill him. But if you don’t do what I want, he’ll kill him for sure. It’s a gamble you’ll take. You won’t risk your poor father’s life.”

“You’re right, I won’t risk my father’s life. What makes you think it will work though? I took all of your power, and I’ve never tried giving power to another person.”

“Then it will be an experiment. If you succeed, he lives; if you fail, he dies and I kill you to take the power by force.”

I inched closer and closer to her. She hadn’t killed me yet, because she had no power. If I died at her hand, my power wouldn’t transfer. It only worked if she were already a Destroyer. The only way she’d get any power now was if I gave it to her. That made me the one in charge.

“Alright, I’ll try.”

“You better try hard. If you don’t, he’s a dead man.”

I blinked rapidly, thinking. This was the person who orchestrated all of the Guardian murders, just to get revenge on me. I couldn’t let her have any power.

I gripped her hands with both of mine. She grinned, showing crooked yellowing teeth. I pushed forward just a little bit, and she took a couple of steps back. Her grin didn’t falter. Then, I shoved as hard as I could and let go. She stumbled a little and then fell backwards into the Destroyer rose. For a second nothing happened. She sat there with a frozen expression on her face.

Then the rose came alive. It wrapped its lethal branches around her wrists and torso. Blood seemed to come from everywhere. She screamed, louder than I thought possible. Behind me, there was a scuffle, a gunshot went off and another scream, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. I couldn't take my eyes off my mother.

I could tell the rose to stop, but I didn’t. My mother needed to die. As long as she was alive, she would be searching for a way to get her power back. I couldn’t let her do that. But it didn’t make it any easier to watch. After a minute, I couldn’t see her face anymore and the screams had stopped. The rose seemed to envelop her. The thick branches devoured her until there was nothing left. No evidence of her body remained. It was like she never existed. When the branches stopped moving, I remembered my father. I spun around and saw his body in the snow. I couldn’t see any blood. Kai had the gun, and he was standing over Dwayne who was whimpering on the ground. Blood stained the snow next to his leg.

I approached him carefully.

“Kai?”

He looked at me. “He’ll live. I only got him in the leg. Your dad is fine. Just knocked on the head.”

I knelt down next to Dwayne’s filthy face and smelled his familiar manure breath. I whispered in his ear.

“We’re going to call the police. You will confess all of your crimes or I will feed you to the rose, too. Don’t think I can’t do it.”

There is more than one kind of Freedom. It can be white, red, yellow, and sunset colored. Today, I can feel them all.

That night, after the police and the paramedics left, Kai and I found ourselves alone. My dad was fine. The paramedics checked him out and determined that he was okay but should spend the night at the hospital, just in case. I offered to go with him but he grumbled that it would be stupid.

“Just pick me up first thing in the morning.”

I agreed.

Dwayne told the police everything, leaving out the part about my mother. He told them that he was angry because he felt like I belonged to him, and that was why he did everything. Hopefully, he would spend a very long time in jail.

Kai collapsed on the couch, and I fell in next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head. I was surprised by this show of affection, but then we had been through a lot.

“It’s finally over,” he said.

“Not quite,” I replied, though I hoped it would be over very soon.

He shifted. “What do you mean?”

“I still have to right my wrongs and I’m tired of being the Master Destroyer. It’s time for me to hand over the reins.”

He nodded and squeezed my hand. Just when he opened his mouth to speak, his phone buzzed. He held up a finger, then answered the phone.

“Hey Mom, how’s Ruth?”

He nodded a couple of times.

“How’s the baby?”

He nodded again.

“Okay, tell her I’ll come see her as soon as I can.”

“How is she?” I asked.

“Good. A little sad, but relieved that it’s over. She’s recovering well. The adoptive family is there with her.”

We both stood up. He looked down at me, his eyes sad.

“Do you think we’ll have our shot at a normal relationship now?” he asked.

He kissed me before I could answer. This kiss was different. He had no power now. Only I did. It carried none of the feelings that I once knew. There was no cinnamon or dark chocolate. No roaring waterfalls. Nothing that I associated with Kai. Even though I planned on giving him his power back, too much had changed.

He pulled away. Maybe he felt the nothingness too.

I sighed. “No, Kai, I don't think we’ll ever get our chance at normal.”

He held me that night as we slept, but I knew that I would never kiss him again.

The next morning, he was gone by the time I woke up.

I showered and dressed carefully. Today would be a day of many decisions. With luck, tonight I would go to sleep as a Guardian once again. I planned on going out to my garden, but I found Kai and Frankie talking in the living room.

“Give it back,” Frankie growled the minute he saw me.

I sat down on the couch and tried to isolate his power. It wasn’t the warm sunny power of the Guardians whom Hayden and Romeo had killed. Frankie’s power would be dark and stormy. I had four Destroyers inside of me. It was difficult to find Frankie’s. Eventually, I settled on the one that tasted like cigarette smoke.

I motioned for him to sit down next me. I gripped both of his hands in mine.

“This might not work. I’ve never done this before.”

He didn’t say anything.

“This will also probably hurt. A lot.”

“Just get on with it.” His lined face looked tired and scared.

I concentrated with all my willpower to send the energy into him.

My hands burned and bubbled. The pain was worse than when I sent it into the ground. The man’s face contorted in pain and I knew he was feeling the same thing. After I sent his energy back into him, I pulled away, breathing hard. I looked down at my hands and then over at Kai. He couldn’t heal me anymore. I remembered that I had his energy inside of me. I concentrated very hard and thought,
heal
. I smelled aloe and heard a newborn baby cry. Then I looked down at my hands. The blisters were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Frankie lay on the rug clutching his hands to his chest.

“I can fix that.”

His eyes were bloodshot.

“I think you’ve done enough.”

“No, really, I can make the pain go away. Look at my hands, they looked just like yours a second ago.”

He grimaced and held out his hands. I gripped them hard and thought,
heal
. As soon as I broke away, he was back on his feet, looking at his hands in wonder.

“Do you have your power back?” I asked, hoping against hope that it was the right power.

The man cocked his head for a second. “I think so, I need to try it out first.”

Kai walked over with a mad twinkle in his eye.

“Go ahead, old man, make me cry.”

The man smiled. Within seconds there were tears flowing down Kai’s face.

He wiped his eyes.

“Looks like it worked.”

The man waved as he walked out of the house.

“You okay?” asked Kai.

“Yes. I’m very tired though. But I’m going to get rid of all this extra energy today. Before Jason gets here, I want to get rid of Romeo and Hayden. And give you your power back, too.”

He smiled for a second. “Let’s go feed that wicked rose of yours.”

It didn’t take much out of me to push them into the rose. The plant seemed eager to receive more. I had a few minor Guardians’ energy floating around that I didn’t want to feed to the Destroyer rose. I had a better place for them.