Toxic (Denazen #2)(81)

I looked away. “Yeah. Able.”

“We need to call Daun,” Dax said, arm around Mom’s shoulders. He pulled her back several steps to give me some room.

Alex shook his head. “Dez approached Daun before she left. There was nothing she could do.”

I swallowed. Might as well go full Monty. “There’s more. When I went to the post office the other day, Dad was there.”

I glared at Jade. She looked away. Why not put a neon I did it sign above your head?

“Someone told him I’d be there. He said there was a cure.” Stumbling to my feet, I said, “For the poison—and the Supremacy side effects.”

That got everyone talking at once. While I watched them argue with one other, I noticed two things. Kiernan wasn’t here yet, and Jade was off in the corner, inching toward the door.

“Stuff socks in it,” Ginger boomed after several minutes passed. “I can’t think with you all yapping at once.” She turned to me. “So Cross has the cure. I assume he offered a trade?”

Of everyone, Ginger was the only one not freaking about my revelation because she’d known about the poison all along. “If I turn myself over to him, he’ll give me the cure for the poison.”

Ginger nodded once. She’d expected as much. “And the Supremacy side effects? What of that cure?”

I kind of wanted to smack the old woman in that moment. Why ask questions when she probably already knew the answers? But instead of snapping, I turned to Jade. She was reaching for the door handle. “What do you think, Jade? Is there really a cure for the Supremacy side effects?”

She froze. “Me? Why are you asking me?”

I stalked to the door, fighting to keep the waves of nausea at bay, and shoved her back. “’Cause you’re the only survivor.” I poked her in the shoulder and said, “Jade is working for Dad. He says she’s Supremacy. Over eighteen and alive. The only one to be given the cure.”

A muffled squeal escaped Jade’s throat. “He said that? I’ve never met the guy!”

“I heard you. At the ice cream place. You were in the bathroom talking on your cell.”

Horror morphed into something else. Anger. “You. That was you and Kiernan, wasn’t it? How dare you spy on me!”

She brought her hand up, and I smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll destroy you. You ground harmful gifts—and mine isn’t harmful. I’ll mimic you into the fat, ugly midget that lives over on Fifth Street if you so much as swat air in my direction.”

“Cut the crap,” Ginger snapped. “Answer my question, Deznee. What did Cross ask for in exchange for the second cure?”

I opened my mouth but just couldn’t get the words out.

Kale didn’t seem to have the same problem. His fingers stopped moving. “Me. He told her once I was back at Denazen, he’d give her the cure.”

He turned to me for confirmation, and I looked away.

“The second cure doesn’t exist,” Alex snapped. “Cross will say anything to get what he wants. Maybe Jade is one of Cross’s people, but she’s not Supremacy. No way.”

“But the first cure, it does exist?” Kale asked.

Alex nodded.

“Then call him now. Tell him I will go back in exchange for the poison cure.”

Ginger nodded and turned to Dax. “Would you mind making the arrange—”

Everyone had gone nuts. “Are you out of your senile, bat-brained mind? He’s not going back.”

“This is my decision, Dez,” Kale said softly.

“It’s really not. This is my life. It’s my call, and I say no way in hell.”

“Approach this logically, Kale.” Jade stepped forward, pushing herself between us. “Let’s say you go back, and this Cross guy keeps his end of the deal. He gives her the cure. Then what? She croaks a few months later because the Supremacy thing doesn’t exist? Then she’s dead, and you’re back in hell for nothing.”

“The Supremacy cure does exist,” I said, grabbing her by the hair. I yanked her head around so we were eye to eye. “He gave it to you!”

She screamed, and Alex shot forward to rip us apart.

“This is my choice,” I growled at them. “And I’ve made it. I’m going to turn myself in. I’ve got nothing to lose at this point.”

Several seconds of silence—then chaos.

Mom and Dax were screaming, Jade was smiling, and Kale was in my face.

“You’re not going,” he said. Over and over.

“What the hell is going through your head?” Alex yelled, shouldering Jade aside.

He reached for me, but I knocked his hand away. “What? You just said I should call my dad!”

His eyes went wide. Like a cartoon character who’d gotten the surprise of his life. “I would never suggest—”

“You did,” I insisted. Sharp pain flared at my temples, and I knotted my fingers through my hair to ease the pressure. “Just before! When we were downstairs. You said Cross was the only one who would help me.”

His expression was stricken. “Dez, I’d never—”

A sharp whistle cut through the room. “Everyone, shut the hell up. This is my party, and I demand the floor.”