Chosen (Slayer 2)

“You have to tell me what kind.”

“I’m nonlethal. And I barely have any power at all since magic died. I promise you won’t even notice I’m around.”

I’m suspicious that he won’t tell me what kind he is. Leo shifts to the side, and I sit on the edge of his cot, painfully aware of how close he is. “How did you get this number?”

“A friend of a friend. Tsip.”

“I’m sorry, it’s absolutely against the rules to even meet with you until you tell me what type of demon you are. I’m really not trying to be speciesist or judge you, but we have an entire group to think of. Like, I’m not going to bring a lilliad demon here. We for sure do not offer broth made from the bones of children on our weekly menu.”

“Right. Right. I get it. I’m …” He sighs heavily, then mumbles, “I’m a chaos demon.”

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nbsp; “Oh.” I let the word out in a long exhalation. “Right. Chaos demon. That’s—that’s nonlethal. Right.”

“You don’t have to pretend. I know.”

Chaos demons are … slimy. They have giant antlers that drip a steady stream of slime. The slime can be used in various magical spells—or could be, at least—and the demons themselves are drawn to chaos and help foment more of it. They’re most typically found in countries with civil war, or riots, or very full and understaffed daycare facilities.

“Totally fine with the slime! It’s not—we’re not—how is the chaos end of things, though?” I’m not totally fine with the slime. I can imagine the protests about the chore rotation if we had to clean up his trail. And the laundry from his bedding. Oh gods, the laundry. But we already have more chaos here than we can manage.

“The chaos was a magic-based connection to my hell dimension. I’m all dry.” He lets out an awkward laugh. “Only figuratively. Literally, I’m still. Well. You know.”

“Yeah. Okay.” I rub my forehead. “We need to meet in person so I can check everything out.” And get a sense for whether he’s still all chaosy. I’ll have to send Rhys and his grandma Ruth. They’re the least prone to chaos in the whole castle. I once saw Rhys’s sock drawer, which was organized by color, type, and level of wear.

“Great! Thank you! I can only meet at night. It’s hard for me to be out during the day.”

Giant antlers would definitely make staying incognito a problem. Poor guy. “When can you get to the Dublin area?”

“Dublin? Hmm. Next week sometime.”

“Okay. Call when you’re there and we’ll arrange a meetup.” I hang up. I’m not sure where I’ll meet him, but we decided after the warehouse attack we needed to range even farther away from Shancoom.

“Your mother told me what you’re doing here,” Leo says. “It’s good. It’s what Watchers should be. What we should always have been.”

“Thanks.” I stand, needing to move for this next part of the conversation. I wish we could go for a walk. My phone rings again, and I sigh, answering it. “What?”

“Nina.”

My heart stops. It’s Artemis. “Hey.”

“I got your text. You want the book in exchange for not telling everyone what I’ve been doing? You’re blackmailing me?”

“No!” I pause. “Yes. But I’m also protecting you. I should have told them.”

“You should have.” She pauses for so long I want to reach across the static distance between us and strangle her. “Fine. I don’t need it anymore, and you should know what’s going on. Meet me tonight. Outside Dublin. Bring Rhys.” She pauses again. “And Mom.”

“Won’t that defeat the purpose of them not knowing?”

“I don’t care if they know, Nina!”

“I do!” I cringe at how I shouted it. “I do. You need to be able to come back, and you can’t if everyone votes against you because you’ve joined some demonic zealot group. You picked the one thing we can’t overlook. Why would you do that?”

Her voice is neither soft nor vicious. It’s just far away. “I’m never coming back. I’ll text you the address.” The line goes dead. I leave the phone pressed against my ear for way too long, hoping she’ll say something, anything else. It dings, startling me. The address stares at me. I’ll see Artemis. I’ll get the book. But it feels so … final.

I look down at Leo. I need more time with him, but if I’m going to get to Artemis when I’m supposed to, I have to leave now. Artemis told me to bring Rhys and our mom, but I hold my hand out to Leo. “They said you can’t have free range of movement in the castle.” He isn’t handcuffed to the bed. I’m assuming they’ll save that for nighttime.

“I understand.”