Chosen by Kiersten White

Author:Kiersten White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2020-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

It takes me until the next afternoon to work up the guts to decide to talk to Leo. I’m so mad at him, and so relieved he’s not dead, and so mad he let me think he was dead, and so relieved I didn’t accidentally kill him, and a teensy bit afraid I might on-purpose kill him for the last few months of guilt and sadness he let me go through.

I’ve been trying to get ahold of Artemis all morning, but her number keeps going straight to a voicemail box that hasn’t been set up yet. I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t pick up soon. But I can’t delay seeing Leo any longer.

Unfortunately, I need to find him before I can talk to him. I don’t want to ask my mother. Not after she made such reasonable points about why I shouldn’t see Leo. So instead, I choose the person least likely to question or hassle me. Rhys is, unsurprisingly, in the library.

“We voted the Slayers in,” he says, not looking up from his book. “They’re all settled in the Wyndam-Pryce rooms. They seemed very reluctant to agree to learn our castle defense plans, though. It’s concerning. The castle only works if everyone does their part.”

“I’ll talk with them.” Just ask where Leo is. Just ask. “So, um, have you found anything about the puzzle thing?”

“The necklace?” Rhys has it on the table in front of him. Cillian is sitting in the corner, curled up in an armchair with the kitten purring on his lap. He looks half asleep.

“Yeah, and the matching puzzle from Cillian’s shed.”

“Where is that one?”

“His mom wouldn’t give it to us.”

“His mom?” Rhys looks over at Cillian. Cillian’s eyes are suspiciously closed now, where I swear they were open a second before. “His mom is back?”

“Yeah, he—we saw her? Last night? She said the puzzle was Cillian’s dad’s and I’m not sure why he didn’t tell you this …” I trail off. Cillian’s eyes are open now, and he’s glaring at me.

“I told you I would take the lead on this one,” he says.

Rhys has set down his book. Always a bad sign. “Your mom is back? You didn’t think that was worth mentioning? And this is all connected to your father somehow?”

“No! I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not. Just find something in your books.”

“Shouldn’t we go to a source who already has information?”

“We’re not talking to my mum.”

“Why?”

“Why would we?”

“Because I could spend weeks looking through books trying to find something, when your mother could point us in the right direction in a single conversation.”

He could and will spend weeks looking through the books, because the one he needs is gone. But I’m fixing that as soon as Artemis answers the dang phone.

“I don’t want to talk to her.”

“What a privilege, to decide you’d rather not speak with your parent. Some of us aren’t so lucky.” Rhys’s jaw twitches. Both of his parents died when acolytes of the First Evil blew up Watcher headquarters.

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