Page 13 of Premonition of Peace

It appeared that whether it was inside or outside, I couldn’t find a moment of peace.

“We can’t rush into anything. Are you stupid or just insane?” The Warden insisted, her voice edged with anger. She was glaring harshly at Bad Nat.

“No, but you are if you think that we can just ignore this.” Bad Nat picked at her nail, the picture of indifference, and the nonchalance grated on The Warden’s nerves.

“We’re not equipped to handle another being with chaos magic, especially if we want even a slim chance of Sasha returning,” Ann called from across the library.

“Look,” Bad Nat snapped, her eyes flaring, “we can’t sit around waiting for Not-Sasha to do some damage. Everyone is acting like Prime doesn’t know who’s in the body. Meanwhile, she’s wasting time trying to convince herself it’s someone else.”

All eyes turned to me for a second and I gritted my teeth.

“We can’t be sure,” I said firmly, my eyes narrowed into slits. “I have no concrete evidence for anything. I’m literally just guessing, and the worst thing I can be right now is wrong.”

Bad Nat scoffed. “You know you’re right and you’re still sitting on it. Do you really want to letherget more power?”

“Yes, because I refuse to make a mistake because I rushed impulsively into something.” I stood my ground, holding my chin up firmly. “Sasha doesn’t deserve our mistakes.”

“Sasha doesn’t deserve our hesitation either.” Bad Nat rolled her eyes, but didn't argue further. “But whatever, you do that. I’ll be anywhere else but here.”

With that, she stormed off like a petulant child and dropped into to her favorite chair, slamming the heel of her boots on the table after she sat. I shook my head. “I swear. Sometimes . . .”I muttered, and Ann and The Warden knew exactly where my sentence ended.

“You’re right, Prime,” Ann said, pushing her glasses up her nose. “We need to be one hundred percent positive before we consider acting in any way.”

“Agreed.” The Warden nodded as she spoke.

“First things first, we need to shelve everything else and start sifting through our childhood memories,” I instructed. “There’s likely to be something there that would help. We’re looking for anyone we knew that had chaos magic, any conversation we overhead about chaos magic, and how they would have a connection to Lucifer,” I continued. “If we can just?—”

“What the hell is this?”

All three of us jumped at the sound of a smooth voice.No fucking way.

The three of us looked at each other in shock as the appearance rippled through the loci, drawing both Peace and Caretaker to turn away from the greenhouse. The only one that didn’t seem the least bit surprised and simply wore a sadistic little smile, was Bad Nat.

“Lucifer? What the fuck are you doing in my head?”

five

LUCIFER

I felt a sharp zinging jolt,like being yanked backward through a narrow tunnel. My eyes snapped open, and the library I had been in had vanished, replaced now by the familiar confines of her bedroom. I wasn’t sure how to make sense of what I’d seen. It was her, but multiple. Each dressed differently and they were talking to each other.

Nathalie’s light brown eyes swirled with a mix of confusion and rage. I looked at her and she stared at me like animals caught in a challenge of who would move first, neither of us wanting to be the one to do it.

“What was that?” she finally asked, her voice tight with defensiveness. I had clearly struck a chord. One I didn’t even know existed.

“I’m not even sure,” I admitted. I’d been sitting on the guest bed, mourning my intended role as her guardian-stalker when I was suddenly transported elsewhere. To a library so large it rivaled The Library of Alexandria.

Nathalie’s eyes narrowed, her arms crossing over her chest as it heaved in angry breaths. “How did you do that? How did you enter my mind?”

Her mind? It made sense. In a completely insane way. But if I wasn’t in her mind, where else would I see multiple versions of my little witch, all dressed like caricatures of her personality? I’d been there for a few moments, stunned into silence, as I listened to them debate.

“I’m telling you, little witch, I truly don’t know.” I held my hands up in surrender under the power of her angry, wild glare. “I was sitting in the guest room one minute, and in that library the next.”

She looked away and muttered, seemingly to herself. “This makes no sense. I created the loci. He shouldn’t be able to enter it. Something’s not right.”

I wanted badly to ask questions, but it didn’t take a genius to know she was deeply happy about this turn of events. I could see the vulnerability in her face, the rawness of having her most private sanctuary invaded. After we just had a conversation about privacy and space, I can only guess how thoroughly I’d crossed a boundary I hadn’t known about.

“Little witch,” I said softly, getting her to look at me. “I’m sorry for startling you. I didn’t mean to do that.”

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