Page 78 of Kingdom of Chaos
Eventually I snap.
“What is your problem?” I ask, planting my feet as I swing around to glare at her. I’ve had enough of her. I’m not interested in going another step with her by my side.
“My problem?” she asks, her gaze cooling to ice.
She steps closer, the heels of her boots clicking against the sidewalk, but I hold my ground. I’ve been dealing with bullies allmy life, I know it only makes you look more like prey if you back down.
“My problem,” she starts, getting in my face. “Is that you are going to get my cousin killed.”
“Talon can take care of himself,” I scoff, even as a flicker of guilt tugs at my chest.
“Oh yes, I know he can. But theproblemis that he’s so busy taking care of you he’s forgotten to watch his own back. And not only that. It’s your fault he’s losing?—”
“Imogen!” Her name cracks through the air, and when I look over, I see Talon striding toward us with Ensley and Titus close behind.
Imogen rolls her eyes. “What? Are you really just going to let her?—?”
“Enough. Now isnotthe time,” he says sharply, leaving her no room for argument. Turning to me he says, “We found the field.”
A burst of hope flares in my chest, only to be extinguished the moment I see his expression. “You didn’t find anything, did you?”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. It’s been days. Becks and Kerrim are long gone, and we couldn’t find anything that might help us figure out what happened to him or where he might be now.”
Becks is here in this city somewhere, I know it. But he might as well be on another planet, because without a clue as to where he might be, it would take a lifetime to find him. The city is too vast and unfamiliar. We’re only left with one choice now.
“We have to find the Silent Order,” I say.
“Is that really our only option?” Titus asks with a frown. “Last time didn’t exactly go well.” He reaches over to take Ensley’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She offers him a small, grateful smile in return.
“Locklyn’s right,” Talon says. “But we don’t have to go knocking on their front door. Thanks to Violet, we have the location of their headquarters. Let’s stake it out before approaching them. See what we can find out about this chapter before we make our presence known.”
“Or I could just walk in the front door and compel them all to tell me everything they know,” Imogen says as she checks out her nails, seemingly only half-paying attention to this conversation.
“No,” Talon says firmly. “Blood is much harder to come by in this world. From now on, you need to use your magic only when it’s absolutely necessary.”
Imogen scowls back at him, probably not appreciating the reminder about her weakness.
“Let’s get a homebase,” Ensley suggests. “Then we can plan our next step from there.”
We agree, and as we leave the park I tell myself this isn’t a dead end, even though it feels like one.
We getadjoining rooms in a rundown but mostly clean hotel. Rather than relying on Imogen’s compulsion, Titus pickpockets a couple of humans to get cash. Thankfully, the hotel accepts both the local currency and credit cards, a system we also have in the creature world.
It’s when we’re all sitting around the room, eating burgers while we plan out our strategy for staking out the Order, that Imogen announces she’s leaving.
“Where are you going?” Talon asks with a frown as Imogen starts for the door.
“Out,” is all she says.
“Imogen,” Talon says, getting to his feet. “We could use your help.”
She shrugs. “I’m sure you could, but this is all boring me. And I’m not about to act as the third wheel in one of your little love groupings,” she says, pointing between Titus and Ensley and then Talon and me. “I’ll be back when I’m back. Don’t wait up.”
When the door closes behind her, I glance over at Titus. “Did something happen when she fed from you last night? She can hardly look at you now.”
Titus seems taken aback by the question. “No. She was barely conscious at first. I had to cut my arm myself to get her to drink. When she was done, she barely said two words to me.”
Talon is still staring at the door. “Imogen doesn’t like to show weakness. She’s embarrassed, so she’s lashing out. She’ll be back. She just needs some time.”
