Page 103 of Choosing Jenny
Shocked rendered both Longshot and I speechless.
I looked at Jenny, who was equally startled, staring between Surge and Grass with her mouth agape.
Discord grinned her approval. “Glad to see you haven’t lost your mind, Surge.”
“I was not about to let her have the chance to possess someone else, Discord. I just wanted a word with her. She seemed…unstable.”
Jenny finally found her voice. “That is too kind of a description for her.”
Longshot slapped Surge on the back with his good hand while his other was still healing. “That was a good kill.”
Surge raised his brows. “High praise coming fromyou.”
The sniper smirked. “I’m twice your height. All praise coming from me to you is high.”
Jenny snorted a laugh. “Did you just make a joke, Longshot?”
“I would never,” he teased.
“I think his new hand might be possessed,” Surge said jovially. “He seems to be happier. It’s weird.”
“Call it what you will,” Longshot said, flexing the hand that now had a new layer of skin. “But having lost the most important part of my body and then recovering it, I have gained the perspective that perhaps I ought not be so rigid. I might even enjoy things now and then.”
“I am not sure what to think of a world in which Longshot Griel enjoys anything,” Discord quipped.
“Anyone want to explain the murdered ghost at your feet?” Jac asked as he joined us.
I thought he might understand the situation better coming from me. “That was Grass, and she possessed Jenny, tried to sexually assault me and Mal using Jenny’s body, and slit Surge’s throat, almost killing him. So, he finished her off.”
“Good on you,” Jac told Surge, clapping the magician on the back. Then, he looked at me. “Could we go for a walk?”
“Sure,” I said, falling into step beside him as we circled around to the back of the manor. “What is it?”
“Have you told Mal and Jenny about your decision yet? What did they say?”
I shook my head. “I can’t. Not yet.” The hardest part was, I couldn’t tell Jac why. Not thewholestory because I was afraid he might tell Sarah about Elizabeth.
So, instead, I told him a partial truth. “Getting the Illiapol ghosts here took a lot out of Jenny. Rasmine Vebber hired an assassin to take out Justice—”
“What?” he barked, eyes wide.
“He failed, obviously, but now Justice is tense and paranoid and on a war path.” That was putting things mildly. “So, Malice is having to deal with that…it’s just not a good time to tell them about the clan. But I’ll tell them soon.”
He sighed and looked me in the eye. “It’s not easy being the emotional support for two people who have incredibly complicated lives.”
“Yeah, I imagine not. Sarah and Deacon—”
He lightly, affectionately, cuffed the side of my head. “I meantyou, you wingnut.”
I laughed. “Kapok used to call me that sometimes.”
“I know. I can’t help but think of him when I’m around you. He would be so proud of you, Tiger.”
The warmth that spread through me was real, but so was the ache and sadness beneath it. “Why do you think we haven’t found his ghost? We burned his body here.”
Jac gave me a wry smile. “Knowing him, the moment his ghost was freed, he did something stupid and got his ghost killed.”
The truth of that made me laugh again. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Probably eaten by a dreck he was provoking.”
