Inquest (41 page)

“I, uh…I have
to use the restroom,” I say quickly. No need to hide my Speed
anymore. I have my bag packed in under a second, and I’m rushing
out the door before anyone can take another breath. The door
whooshes closed behind me with a noise so soft it sounds like a
sigh, a grateful acknowledgement of me leaving. Even the building
hates me.

I realize I’m
standing in the middle of the hallway staring at the wall in front
of me like an idiot, and wake myself back up. Where did he go? I
glance around and nearly cry out when I find him standing right
behind me. A good six inches taller than me, his presence instantly
crowds me.

“Braden,” I
gasp, “what are you doing here?”

“I thought you
might be happy to see me given your invitation to switch
allegiances,” he says, “but you didn’t even give me enough time to
move away from the door. If I knew you were that desperate for new
recruits I would have come to see you sooner.”

Irritation
boils under my skin to the point of making my entire body itch.
Cocky, arrogant jerk. I didn’t make that offer because I was
desperate. I mean, I am - I can use all the help I can get - but I
only made the offer because having a Guardian on my side would be
invaluable. After two weeks of quiet, I thought I was through with
Braden surprising me. “I ran out here so fast to make sure you
weren’t going to try and kill any more of my friends.”

“I only ever
tried to arrest Milo, not kill him,” Braden argues.

“I think you
mean kidnap.”

He stares me
down. “Call it what you want. I still wasn’t trying to kill him.
And I’m not here to kill, arrest, or kidnap any of your friends
this time, just so you know.”

“Then why are
you here?” I ask.

Stepping in
closer to me, Braden is only inches away from me before I can think
to stop him. My skin reacts with a strangely familiar burst of
electricity. It’s a weird feeling I don’t understand in the least,
and don’t like. I shove him away from me and glare at him as I wait
for his response.

“I’m here for
you this time,” Braden says.

A scouring
flash of terror runs through me. I scramble and tap into my Vision
to make sure he isn’t going to try and kill me where I stand. It
fizzles and doesn’t tell me a thing. Luckily, my other talents are
going strong. More than that, some instinct tells me Braden won’t
hurt me. He may try to kill me one day and prove me wrong, but my
heart rate slows back down as I realize it won’t be today. He takes
a step back to reinforce my instincts, but his presence lingers on
my skin a moment longer. I can’t explain the way he affects me.
He’s a Guardian, a member of the brotherhood whose sole purpose in
life is to murder me, but his brash curiosity and honesty refuse to
let me really fear him. Or maybe it’s more than that. The physical
sensation touching him elicits isn’t hormones. It’s something else.
It takes me a few seconds too long to take a step away from
him.

“Why are you
here, Braden?”

“Penance,” he
says with a grimace. I don’t understand and he knows it. He leans
back against a row of lockers with a frown and shoves his hands
into his pockets. With a build somewhere between offensive lineman
and dancer, Braden is obviously capable of taking care of himself,
but his posture makes him look momentarily vulnerable. “Well, you
didn’t think I could lose my entire strike team to a girl and not
be punished for it, did you?”

Is he actually
here to accept my offer? I’m not sure how I feel about that
possibility.

“Did you get
kicked out of the Guardians?” I ask. A tiny sliver of guilt that I
might have cost him his job tries to wriggle its way into my mind.
Braden’s laugh takes care of that.

“Kicked out?
No. It’s much harder to get out of the Guardians than you might
think.” He says it lightheartedly, but his expression darkens as he
speaks. My own stomach turns queasy as I remember Mr. Walters, my
Destroyer teacher, showing me the ugly scars that crisscross most
of his body. He was not only a Guardian once, but a member of the
elite, and very secret Seekers, as well. I still don’t know how he
got those scars, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. Braden
and I may be pretty far from friends, but I don’t necessarily want
the same thing to happen to him, either.

“So what does
your punishment have to do with you being at my school? If anyone
sees you they’re going to report you. You better go before we both
get in trouble.” Or before Milo or Lance see him. They have no idea
that Braden came to see me later that night after he attacked Milo,
but just the sight of him near me will put them both on the
offensive. And after weeks of having to deal with each other, both
convinced the other is going to get me killed, they are more than
ready for a fight.

Braden doesn’t
look interested in leaving. “My punishment has everything to do
with being at your school, Libby. And I wouldn’t worry about people
seeing me, or getting in trouble,” he says cryptically.

“What do you
mean,” I ask. A sinking feeling is already gathering in my
belly.

“People are
going to see me a lot starting today, especially you,” Braden
says.

What does he
mean by that? Does he want to be here…around me? I don’t know how
to take that comment. The reason he’s here does finally sink in
regardless of my confusion about his motives. My stomach drops out
completely. I groan as I finally understand. “You’re the new school
Guardian, aren’t you?” I heard that our old school Guardian had
been transferred, but I hadn’t thought much of it. Until meeting
Braden, I thought one Guardian was pretty much the same as any
other.

He nods,
looking rather amused at my fallen countenance. He’s enjoying this
way too much for it being a punishment. “My captain thought a
fitting reprimand for losing my team was to put me in charge of
keeping a close eye on you. He thought it would be helpful to get
to know you better for next time.”

And I didn’t
think my day could get any worse. “Next time?”

“You know
there’s going to be a next time,” he says gravely.

“Will you be
there?” I ask.

Braden sinks
against the locker, his expression truly serious for the first
time. The color of caramel, his hair is too short to hide him, but
he seems less oppressive, unsure. He sighs. “I don’t know.”

Not exactly
the answer I was hoping for, but I suppose it’s better than an
emphatic yes. Braden only gave me the barest details about what
happened when he told his captain that I had performed a second
Inquest on Milo and unlocked his supposedly absent talents, but I
suspected there was much more. Something changed Braden from
willing Cipher hunter to possible defector. I told him that night
that if he ever wanted to switch teams I would take him. Every time
I think about the offer I tell myself it’s purely because his
inside knowledge will be invaluable, but to be perfectly honest I
can’t stand the thought of having to kill Braden. There is
something about him that makes even the idea of hurting him turn my
stomach.

He knows
that’s what it would come to as well as I do. For some insane
reason I told him I’m going to go after the Guardians who are
keeping all the supposedly talentless Ciphers locked away in the
spirit world. If he stays with them, he’ll be one of the ones I
have to kill to rescue them. And I’ll do it if I have to. The cold,
logical side of me I hate listening to has already convinced me
that as much as I believe Braden is a good person when you put
aside his profession, his life isn’t valuable enough to risk losing
the Ciphers. Not when they’re the only ones who can help me, the
ones meant to be my army.

Pensive
silence crowds around us, filling the empty hallway. The pressure
of it pushes me toward Braden. I lean against the lockers next to
him. I don’t want to think about this anymore. As if in answer to
my wish, Braden spins toward me so he has me trapped against the
lockers before I can react. My heart lurches, but this time it’s
not in fear. And my mind is miles away from Ciphers. Braden’s body
is mere inches away from mine. His eyes are still troubled, but his
wolf-like curiosity has returned. He presses in a little
closer.

“You know,” I
say at barely more than a whisper, “I doubt the principal would
approve of you standing so close to me. I’m a student,
remember?”

“She’s not
around to see me, is she?”

“Braden,
please,” I beg.

“Please
what?”

I could throw
him across the hallway if I wanted to. I could grab his neck and
snap it in two. But the confusion pulsing through me makes it hard
to think. Part of me doesn’t want to push him away. The rest of me
says I don’t know anything about him, and Milo would kill him if he
saw him like this.

“Braden, let
me go,” I demand.

“Why?”

“Because
you’re making me uncomfortable.”

He peers at me
so intently I have to remind myself he has no Perception to know
what I’m feeling right now.

“Uncomfortable,” he says. “I would have chosen a different
word.”

“I don’t care
about your vocabulary skills. Let me go.”

“I’m not
keeping you here,” he says. I cringe at the truth of his words. I
could easily get away if I wanted to.

“What are you
so worried about?” Braden asks. “Afraid one of your boyfriends will
see you with me?”

“Lance is my
ex,” I remind him, “but yes. I doubt Milo would appreciate you
standing so close to me. This might look a little hostile to him.
Milo is very protective of me.”

Braden hardly
looks concerned. Taking a different route, I say, “Or he might make
a different assumption and decide your interest in me is physical.
He also tends to get a little jealous when it comes to me and other
guys.” Just ask Lance about that.

Braden seems
to have lost all his earlier melancholy. His expression turns
serious, with a hint of amusement. “Well,” he says as his lips
moves closer to mine, “if he’s going to be jealous of me
regardless…”

Alarm bells
start blaring in my head. Even so, for a split second I hesitate.
Then I shove him back with both hands. I expect him to laugh, or
tease me, but the sudden burst of pain I feel from him surprises
me. He tries to cover it up quickly, but I’m too good for him to
elude. I approach him cautiously.

“Are you
okay?” I ask. “I didn’t shove you that hard.”

“I’m
fine.”

He turns away.
Shame rolls off of him, but with a heavy dose of pride as well. It
takes a moment to realize the shame is for letting me see him in
pain rather than for the injury itself. Whatever got him hurt, he
thinks it was worth it. I didn’t do this, but now I’m curious about
who did.

I walk around
to face him and ask, “Who hurt you?”

He doesn’t
look interested in telling me. I don’t know why I should care, but
the same oddity that makes my body react to his presence inspires a
strange sense of protectiveness toward him. My need to know who
hurt him makes me reach for the buttons on his shirt. His hands
grab mine, but he doesn’t push me back, just stops me from going
any further.

“Let me see,
Braden.”

“Why do you
care?” he asks, an intensity behind his question that startles
me.

“I don’t
know,” I admit, “but I want to know what happened.”

You’d think
Braden would be thrilled to unbutton in front of me given what he
just tried, but his reluctant sigh is quite the opposite. He does
seem to realize, though, that I am not going to back down. I need
to know how badly he was hurt. Pushing my hands away slowly, he
leaves them at my sides and takes his own hands back to his shirt.
He unbuttons the first few buttons.

I know full
well how this will look if anyone happens to walk up, but I don’t
really care at the moment. Another couple of buttons pop loose. The
bright red crosshatching all over his chest makes me suck in a
sharp breath. If I know the Guardians, they’ll be covering his back
as well. I took out his team two weeks ago, but apparently the
Guardians aren’t terribly swift with their punishments. These cuts
still look fairly fresh. My fingers reach forward in awful
fascination. I don’t even come close to touching him. Braden grabs
my hand immediately and pulls it back down.

“Was this part
of your punishment?”

Looking at me
without any doubts, he says, “Yes, but it was worth it.”

Scared by his
admission, I try to take a step back. When I don’t get very far I
realize Braden never let go of my hand. I yank it away easily and
say, “Why would that kind of pain be worth it to you?”

“Does my pain
make you doubt your decision to save Milo? Would you have made any
other choice just to save me a little punishment?”

“No,” I
say.

“Because you
knew you were making the right choice. And so did I. Forget you
ever saw it.”

I won’t. Just
like everyone else I know that has suffered under Guardian rule,
the sight of his mutilated flesh will haunt me. But for now I will
pretend.

I quickly
begin to re-button Braden’s shirt with the intention of getting
away from him. The hint of fresh blood where I shoved him makes me
falter for a second. I have to shake myself to finish closing up
his shirt before anyone else sees the cuts. Not that there’s anyone
else out here with us, but I also want to get out of this hallway.
Besides, I’ve already had one mortifying hallway incident when
Lance tried to convince me to take him back by practically
attacking me with his mouth. Milo witnessing that was worse than
any of the thirteen broken bones I’ve had. I really don’t want to
repeat the experience.

Stepping clear
of Braden, I change the subject in an effort to get as far away
from blood and kissing as possible. “So, you’re really going to be
here every day, ghosting through the halls like a stalker?”