Page 10 of Shattered & Returned

Not human.The realization slithered down my spine. Mom’s lessons whispered back:Gods and demons walk among us. So do worse things.

Or maybe I’d finally cracked. After the day I’d had—kidnapped, half-strangled, and still throbbing from that gods-damned dream.

Practicality kicked in.Memorize them. In case I have to file the police report if I ever manage to escape.

Dante cracked his neck.“Done staring, Carrot?”

Morrigan twisted in her seat, fixing me with a nonchalant look.“Ignore these two idiots, Bloom.”Both Dante and Orren bristled.“I told them the masks were overkill, but they’re about as culturally aware as cavemen.”

I blinked. My only exposure tocurrent culturewas decade-old reruns in that dingy sports bar. For all I knew, kidnappers these days wore augmented-reality visors.

“Here’s the deal,”Morrigan continued as the van automatically veered toward a private airstrip.“We’re not here to hurt you. Just a six-hour flight to America.”

“Why?”My voice cracked.“The newspapers call it a paradise?—”

“Exactly.”Her smile didn’t reach her crimson-ringed eyes.“You’ll love it.”

“—for criminals,”I finished, eyeing Dante’s flame tattoo and Orren’s battle-scarred knuckles.“I’ve had enough of felons for one day.”

Morrigan pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling through her teeth. Anotherlookat the boys—this one translating toYou’ve single-handedly ruined the American Dream.

“You won’t be living in some gangland,”she said.“We’re taking you to an academy on Long Island. Safe. Elite. No criminals. Well, not exactly.”

Dante coughed into his fist.“Mostly. The academy has flexible rules about criminal behavior.”

“You kidnapped me just to enroll me in school?”I stared at him, incredulous.“A fucking brochure would’ve worked.”

My ribs still ached from the hood, my lungs raw from near-suffocation. All because these morons thoughtambushwas a valid admissions strategy.

“What’s done is done,”Dante said, shrugging.“You’re here. Now, here’s the deal: you flying civilized, or do we break out the sedatives?”

“Try it,”I snapped, brandishing my inhaler.“I’ll stab you in the carotid with this.”

Morrigan barked a laugh. Orren’s chuckle was warmer, almost approving. Dante just dragged a palm over his tattooed scalp, sighing likeIwas the deranged one.

“Let’s go,” Morrigan said. “Move.”

“Wait!”I clutched my threadbare robe.“I’m not boarding a plane like this. Can we go back so I can pack a suitcase?”

“Don’t worry, Carrot,” Orren said. “You’ll be provided for in the school.”

I sighed, giving up on arguing.

The thrill of my first flight curdled the moment we landed. No brochure could’ve prepared me for this.

Chapter

Four

Bloom

The Damned

Amilitary-grade jeep idled on the tarmac, its matte-green paint swallowing the sunlight. I barely had time to gulp the humid American air before they shoved me inside. The jeep roared to life, tires spitting gravel as we careened down backroads so rough, my teeth rattled like dice in a cup.

Ten years of quiet, of tending to Mom and whispering to snapdragons, shattered in a single day.

I clutched the jeep’s roll bar, knuckles bleaching white.Maybe the school won’t be so bad.I clung to the fantasy like a prayer: kind classmates, gentle professors, a library where I could vanish for hours.

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