Page 4 of Choosing Jenny
“Get out of there,” Tiger said urgently. “You can’t help him now.”
But I shook my head. “We should tell the caretakers what we saw.”
“Like hells we should!” Longshot snapped.
I left the ghost on the floor and headed for the door, but everyone shouted at me to stop. I couldn’t help myself. I was too distraught and I needed some kind of justice for Credo. More than that, I needed to make sure no one would think it was Mal who did it. Despite what we’d witnessed of him coming out of the house, I couldn’t, wouldn’t, believe he was capable of such a thing.
I flung Credo’s bedroom door open, and the world spun onto its side. More blood. In every direction. Shock rippled through me, and the next thing I knew, footsteps came to a stop behind me as I braced myself on the doorjamb.
“Move,” Discord demanded.
Tiger pulled me to him, and she ran past us. Longshot followed right behind, but Surge stayed with us. A moment later, she called out, “Clear.”
Tiger tightened his grip on my hand, his concerned gaze on my face. “Are you okay? You look kind of green.”
I pushed aside my nausea. “I’m fine…let’s go.”
I led the way out of the door, but he grabbed my shoulder to stop me. “Just tell yourself it’s paint. That’s how I deal with it.”
“And the smell?”
“Yeah, just try not to breathe too deeply.”
I nodded, swallowed hard, and stepped into the hallway. Red paint everywhere, and then…something squishy. A trail of viscera led to a body on the floor. Bile rose up into my throat.
“Everyone is dead,” Discord announced, as she came back up the stairs. “All of them.”
My stomach churned. “Why?”
Longshot’s expression was grim. “At the moment, it doesn’t matter. Mal is on his way back to Orhon with a man he’s strangely familiar with. We cannot save the caretakers or Credo, which means Surge cannot practice on him and we cannot use him to supplant his son, which means—”
“We are fucked,” Discord said.
CHAPTER 2
Mal
“If you’re not comfortable, then you can always have a seat on my lap,” Rex said, patting his thigh invitingly.
I laughed because that was something I would have done back when we were together. Now, I remained right where I was and did my best to keep my distance.
I tried not to think of what Rex had done in Credo’s house. Killing a catatonic old man and slaughtering those caretakers like they were nothing. I was too surprised by his presence to react or to try to stop him…as if there was any stopping this man without me becoming a casualty, as well.
I pushed away the guilt tightening in my gut and anchored myself in the moment, focusing on the present and my surroundings the way I had been taught by my mentors.
The imperial cruiser was just like all the others. Black and gray, with purple panels, and hard black floors. There was asmall crew of four, with Rex and me in the guest seats, but none of that was enough to keep my mind from spiraling.
What would the old me say to a resurrected Rex? I needed to steer the conversation away from his flirtations and onto something useful. What would old Malice ask a resurrected Rex? My mind raced, trying to change the topic to something substantive.
I can’t believe it worked. Justice had told me about his special project, but I had never thought it would work. But seeing Rex with my own eyes was proof and I needed answers.
“How are you back, Rex?” I asked him.
His violet eyes flickered toward the crew, before he got up and motioned for me to follow him into the hall away from the other men. We walked to the cargo hold in the rear where no one else could hear us.
Rex looked me over, his trademark smirk growing. “That’s what you want to know?How?”
I braced my hands on my hips, not letting him change the subject. “It seems pertinent, no?” I said in a dry tone.
