Toxic (Denazen #2)(70)

I sank into the chair across from her.

“And I figure if you forgive me, maybe you can fix it for me?”

“I wish I could, but how would we explain it? No one knows about the change in my ability yet…”

She frowned but nodded. “True. I see your hair is blonde again—though I thought the streaks were red at the dance? Now they’re blue.”

I reached up and fingered a strand of hair. Blonde mixed with deep blue highlights. In the chaos I’d totally forgotten about it. I never consciously changed it back. Then again, I’d never consciously turned it green, either. I was going to have to get a handle on that ASAP. “Huh. It’s better than the green.”

Kiernan tugged at the edge of her blouse. “So about last night… I wasn’t trying to make it seem like I thought Jade was squeaky clean, I just thought—”

“Over it. Redemption is yours if you want it.”

She eyed me, a smile spreading across her lips. “Oh?”

“I need you.”

“No offense, but I’m not into blondes. Plus,” she said waving her cup at me, “you’re a little lacking in the muscle department for my tastes.”

“Your gift. I need to do some digging.”

“You wanna spy on Jade and Kale?”

“Not Kale. Just Jade. I know she’s working for Dad, Kiernan. I know it. I just need to find proof so Kale and the others will listen to me.”

“She never leaves Kale’s side. Do you really believe she’s going to drag him with her when she goes to chat up your dad?”

“She can’t be with him every minute of every day. She has to leave him alone at some point. And I’m betting when she does, even if it’s to make a phone call, I’ll get the proof I need.”

After finishing my coffee, I went to see what clothes Meela had scrounged up for me. Kiernan had been right. The second outfit wasn’t nearly as bad as the first. Simple black sweatpants and a Marist College hoodie. I’d just finished changing when there was a knock on the door. I emerged from the bathroom and found Kale and Jade in the kitchen with Kiernan and Paul, and Alex and Dax were talking quietly to Mom in the hall.

“Wow,” Jade giggled. “You guys look…great.”

And that’s the universe for you. Always there with a crappy sense of humor. Jade was still wearing her shimmery gown from the dance. You’d expect that after escaping a building fire—and assumedly sleeping in the damn thing—she would have shown up looking like a disaster. You know, like a normal person? Nope. She’d pulled her hair into a ponytail, and the dress, though slightly wrinkled with spots of ash, still made her look beautiful. Like a supermodel at a disaster photo shoot.

Kale was staring. He hadn’t uttered a word since I’d entered the kitchen, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off me. A few days ago, that would have made all things right with my world. This morning? It hurt more than my shoulder—which was getting close to insane.

I was a mess. My life was crumbling around me, and the only thing I wanted was to confess everything to him. But I couldn’t. There was no way to tell him Dad had paid me a visit without sending him off the deep end. And there was no way to come clean about the new Supremacy information I had without ’fessing up about Dad’s visit. And the whole thing with Able? Yeah. If I told him about that, he’d try to trade himself to Dad for the cure. Normally I was proud of the fact that I could stand alone, but for the first time in my life, being on my own was really starting to bother me.

“We have a lot to get done today,” Ginger said, cane clinking against the kitchen tile. “There will be a meeting at tonight’s party. Because of last night’s events, the location will not go up on Craigslist.”

My mouth fell open. “Seriously? We’re having a party? The damn hotel just burned down. People are dead. Rosie is dead. And you wanna party?”

“There is a Six party every night, Deznee. To suddenly deter from the normal routine would only put people on edge. The last thing we need is a wave of panic. Things will continue as usual, and we will use the opportunity to regroup and plan.”

She reached into the pocket of her blue housecoat. Out came a handful of small, colored slips of paper. “You will be notifying people in person. No one goes alone. I’ve split you in to teams. You are to stay with your partner at all times. Do not share your list or the instructions on it with anyone but your partner—including those in this room.”

She turned to Mom. “Sue, you will go with Dax.”

Mom nodded and took the folded piece of blue paper. Was it my imagination, or was she smiling?

Next, Ginger turned to Paul, who was standing in the doorway. Handing him a small orange sheet, she said, “You and Barge take this one.”

She continued handing out slips until all that was left was me, Kale, Kiernan, Jade, and Alex. Uneven numbers.

“Jade,” Ginger said, handing her a pink slip. “You are with Kiernan.” Turning to me, she said, “You and Kale.”

Jade looked from the slip to Kale, frowning. “Is that a good idea? Kale could accidentally hurt someone if I’m not with him. He could hurt Dez.”

Ginger grabbed the redhead by the shoulders and spun her toward the door. “He got along for years without you hanging all over him. I think he can manage.”