Page 63 of Taking Jenny
“Unsurprising,” he said. “Ladrian ghosts stay on Halla. Always have.”
“Still, you’d think there’d be some hanging around. This place is huge. Someone had to die here and not get sent to Halla. Is it required for your body to burn before your ghost can be released?”
His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure. That’s just how it’s always been done. But now that you say it, I’m not sure if it’s required or just tradition.”
I bit my bottom lip, hesitating before I addressed my concern. “You’re not going to tell anyone about me, right?”
“I tell Mal everything—”
“Please, Surge. Don’t. He already thinks I’m fucked up as it is. I don’t need to addconduitto the list of reasons he hates me.”
His expression softened. “He doesn’t hate you.”
I huffed. “He yelled at me. Called me a quitter—”
“Jenny.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “He doesn’t hate you. He likes you. A lot.”
That stopped me cold. Part of me wanted to believe him, but the other part didn’t know what to do with that kind of hope. “Then why would he scream at me like that and say those awful things?”
“Because he’s terrible at feelings.”
“Meaning?” I pushed.
“Mal, he likes the unusual. You and Tiger, you’re both brave, even when you shouldn’t be. It’s rare, that kind of courage, classed or not.” He gestured to himself. “If you haven’t noticed, each of us—me, Discord, and Longshot—we’re not your average Ladrians. Neither is Mal and he’s never run with the mainstream despite being raised by Justice.”
I tipped my head curiously. “Well, what’s your deal?”
He chuckled. “I’m a half-size magician. That’s basically strike one and two.”
“Is being half-size really that unusual?”
“Yes. Not long ago, half-sizes were murdered at birth.”
I recoiled. “That’s barbaric.”
He nodded grimly. “Mal jokes about me being lucky. But part of that is because he knows my family’s story. My mother had five daughters before me. They were desperate for a son. Sowhen I was born, they refused to acknowledge anything but that they’d finally gotten one.”
My chest tightened. “If you’d been their firstborn…”
“I wouldn’t be here,” he said quietly.
“And what about Discord and Longshot?” I asked him. “What makes them so special that they’re in Mal’s menagerie?”
“If you want to hear their stories, then you should ask them. I won’t break their trust, just like I won’t break yours.”
“You mean, you’re not going to tell them about me being a conduit?”
“No,” he said simply. “I’m not.”
“Why not?” I asked, genuinely curious.
He looked at me, really looked, and said, “If there’s ever going to be a way to mend the rift between magicians and conduits, I want to be part of it.”
A warmth bloomed in my chest. “Me too.” Then I exhaled slowly. “So, Mal thinks I’m just a human. That I’m useless.”
“Humans are not useless.”
I arched a brow. “Longshot seems to think so.”
