Something loud thumped to the ground and purple ichor spread across the floor and toward my feet.
Then an explosion rocked the house. Gray Eyes jumped on top of me, knocking me to the ground and protecting me from the debris with his body. Pieces of walls and dust rained down on us.
“You’re so stupid,” he spat. “I told you to run.”
“You’re squishing me,” I wheezed.
He jumped up and pulled me up with him. He looked over his shoulder. Apparently, he saw nothing because he turned back to me.
“We need to go.”
“Ya think?” I pointed to the … I didn’t know what it was, on the floor, but I knew it had clearly meant to kill us. It was something I’d never seen before. It didn’t exist in my world—in the human world.
But I guess, maybe—obviously—this guy was telling the truth and I wasn’t human. I wasn’t a part of the world I’d been raised in.
He rolled his eyes. “I tried to get you to leave. Come on,” he growled in a warning tone that told me if I argued he’d most likely swing me over his shoulder. He began to tip-toe around the mess on the floor. “Don’t touch their blood. It’s acidic.”
“What is it?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at the rotten egg smell.
“It’s a Grindor. They can only be summoned by The Iniquitous.”
“The what?” I asked.
Gray eyes sighed. “I’ll explain later. We need to get out of here before more show up. There was an Iniquitous at the party you were at,” he added as an afterthought.
“What?” I asked shocked, stopping in my tracks as my thoughts trickled back to Ian and Dani covered in blood.
“Car. Now.”
He climbed in on the driver’s side. I huffed in response.
“I’ll drive,” I seethed, disgusted by the sight of him behind the wheel of my father’s beloved truck.
And he still hasn’t told me where my dad is.
Gray eyes smirked. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“No, but you can give me directions.”
“I don’t think so. Give me the keys and get in the car.” He held out his hands smiling like the cat that ate the canary because he knew I’d give in.
I slammed the keys into his outstretched hand none too happily and climbed in. I knew there was no point in arguing with him and I really wanted to leave before any more of those things showed up. Or maybe something worse. I shuddered at the thought.
He stuck the key in the truck’s ignition and for the first time in all its existence, it didn’t start. Gray eyes cursed. He put his hand against the dashboard. A light spewed from his hands in a rainbow of colors and the truck started.
Stunned, I looked at him.
He shrugged. “Enchanter, remember?”
He backed out of the driveway and drove out of the neighborhood.
“Will this thing not go any faster?” he asked, incredulous.
“It’s an old truck. What do you expect?”
“We’ll have to get rid of it. We need something fast. Preferably something that goes over forty miles an hour.”
“Don’t diss the truck,” I snapped.
Gray Eyes shook his head.
“What’s your name?” I asked. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
“Theodore,” he said.
Theodore. The name suited him.
“What did you mean when you said there was an Iniq—whatever at the party?” I asked. “What are they? You said you were my protector, what does that mean?”
Theodore sighed. “Let’s try this one question at a time. I’m your protector. My job is to protect you—like the word protector implies,” he explained like I was dense, which I guess I was, but this was all so overwhelming. “From birth, the protector is taught how to fight, how to kill, and how to do the most powerful magic, magic other enchanters never even know about.” He glanced at me to see if I was following. “We—you and I and all the other ‘good’ witches and sorcerers—are called The Enchanted or just enchanters overall. The bad ones are The Iniquitous. The Iniquitous spend their entire lives trying to get to The Chosen Ones, like you.”
“And what do they do to The Chosen Ones?” I gulped.
“They kill them. They killed your mother,” he whispered.
“My mother?” I asked.
Theodore looked at me with the closest thing to pity. “I’m afraid so. She died to make sure they never learned about you.”
“So, you’re saying she was an enchanter? A chosen one? What about my dad? He’s as normal as they come.”
“He’s not your dad,” he stated matter of fact.
“What?” I sputtered. “Of course he is.”
“No, he’s not,” said Theodore with a shake of his head. “Steven is only a human. Your real dad is—” he stopped himself.
“My real dad is what?” I prompted, my voice tight.
His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “He’s part of the Iniquitous.”
I eyed him, and he squirmed.
“The leader, actually.”
I laughed. “I didn’t know my mom but I’m sure there’s no way she’d be with some evil dude.”
“Sometimes people do the things you least expect them to,” Theodore said as if speaking from experience. “Most people that are evil don’t start out that way.”
“But what about my dad? Or um …”
“Steven?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I whispered, my tone worried.
He sighed heavily, shoving one hand roughly through his hair. “Steven Pryce was a human charged with protecting you to the death if that’s what it would take.”
My whole world crumbled around me more and more the longer he spoke. I swallowed thickly but I refused to cry in front of this arrogant jerk.
“What about … You said there was an Iniquitous at the party?” I asked to change the subject.
He rubbed his face. I noticed he had dark scruff covering his cheeks. “Yeah, I was trailing you. I need to get you to a safe house now that you’re eighteen and coming into your powers. I never expected there to be so many complications. I thought you were well guarded between Steven and the wards,” he muttered almost to himself. “But it appears that is not so. Which is very, very, odd,” he mused. “Anyway, at the party, there was an Iniquitous. It followed your friend, I guess hoping to get information, and killed the boy.”
“Ian?”
He shrugged. “I guess that’s his name.”
“What happened to the Iniquitous?”
“I killed him,” Theodore stated simply like it was the most normal thing in the world to say.
“You killed him?”
“Do you like to repeat everything I say? Yes, I killed him. I had to. He could’ve hurt you.”
“This is crazy. Insane.” I shook my head. “I must be dreaming.” I smacked my cheek.
“Don’t do that.” Gray eyes grabbed my hand before I could hit myself again. He placed my hand in my lap and let go. “You’re not dreaming. This is real. You’re an enchanter and the Iniquitous want you dead. My job is to make sure they don’t succeed.”