Jus Accardo - Darker Days

“When Wrath feeds, I feel the anger. It’s brief—a few moments at the most—but it’s powerful.”

“So…you broke the glass because you were angry?”

He ripped the gauze and tucked the lose end in tight. “I broke the glass because Klaire was angry.”

“If anger is always leaking out, how come I’m not mad? Or at least annoyed?”

He shrugged. “Some people are more susceptible. For Klaire, the anger was already there. My presence just brought it to the surface. You are surprisingly even.”

“Even?” I tried not to laugh. Even was the last thing anyone would ever call me. Snarky. Impulsive. Destructive. Never even .

“Most people have at least a small amount of anger festering. In some cases, it’s deeply hidden but always there. You just seem…happy. Content.”

“What can I say, I’m livin’ the good life. Nothing to complain about.”

He smiled. “Your grandfather was like that. He was so different from everyone else. Quiet.”

“Quiet?”

“Peaceful to be around. Not a spark waiting to be ignited. I didn’t have to try as hard to keep Wrath at bay when I was around him.”

Peaceful. Another word never used to describe me. Poor guy. He was clueless. Totally cute—but clueless. “So you can pull anger from people who are already pissed. Can you make happy people angry?”

“Of course. But why would I?”

“Um, because you’re Wrath?”

His lip twitched. For a long minute we just stared at each other.

With a deep breath, he said, “I’m not Wrath. It may inhabit my body and cause certain…side effects, but I am still me. I still retain free will.”

Setting down the roll of gauze, he examined his hand, wiggling each finger in turn. Content with his work, he repeated his earlier question. “Who is Damien?”

“Tell me more about being human,” I countered. I was genuinely curious, but I also got the impression he didn’t want to talk about it. He’d pointedly avoided giving specifics earlier. Clearly, the subject was touchy.

He responded with a brisk nod. Feet kicked up, he stretched across the couch and rolled over.

Message received.

4 days left…

I woke up the next morning with a humongous knot in the back of my neck, and some serious cottonmouth. When I got downstairs, Mom was already dressed and on the phone, but the shower was running. The couch was empty, so it had to be Lukas. Couldn’t blame the guy. It’d probably been a long time since he’d seen a shower—if he’d ever seen one. He hadn’t told us exactly how long he’d been in the box, so for all I knew, he could be hailing from the times of community baths in the local watering hole.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sniffed, choking back a gag. Ick. Hazelnut. Couldn’t Mom drink normal stuff? “So what’s the plan?” I asked once she’d hung up.

She stood and took the cup from my hands.

“Hey!”

“I made the Hazelnut on purpose. You’re too young to be a serial coffee drinker.”

That was Mom. Always trying to enforce some kind of normal in my life. It was sweet. Silly, but sweet. Normal was overrated. One of these days, I’d make her understand that.

“I have a few leads to follow up on the Wells family, and some strange calls have come across the police scanner this morning. I’m betting the Sins are out and about. The quicker I find them, the better I’ll feel. With only a few days to hunt them all down, we don’t really have time to spare.”

“Four days isn’t a lot of time, Ma…”

“I know…” She pinched the bridge of her nose and glanced at the door to the apartment. “As much as I don’t like the idea, you’ll have to keep an eye on Lukas. Keeping him with me will only slow things down, and I refuse to set him loose on the town.”

Score! There was a history test fourth period that I’d been planning to skip. Now I didn’t have to worry. “Give me some of the leads. We can start digging around. Might as well do something constructive while I’m babysitting.”

“Oh, you will be doing something constructive. I’ve already called Principal Dubois. He’s aware you’re bringing Lukas with you.”

I froze. “Are you serious ? You want me to bring him to school?” She’d gone batshit. “Do you have any clue how much angst and attitude we teenagers spew? It’ll be a nightmare! His head will explode. Plus—time limit, remember? I can do more good by helping you track the Sins. Or the Wells family!”

“You’re taking the bench on this one, Jessie. I don’t want you involved. This isn’t a standard case we’re dealing with here.”

“Bench?” I squeaked. She was only trying to protect me, but I didn’t need it. She’d trained me well and should know better. I wasn’t going to step back and watch her scramble to fix this thing in time—and possibly end up dead in the process. We always had each other’s backs. That shouldn’t change now. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“I’m not kidding you.” Her brow wrinkled and she frowned. She leaned forward and grabbed both my hands, giving a good squeeze. “Please, Jessie. Don’t make more work for me. I won’t be able to tackle this if I have to worry about my teenage daughter going head to head with one of the oldest evils known to man. Got it?”

Great. Guilt trip. Something all moms apparently took classes on. “Well, what about Lukas? Bringing him to school is still a mistake.”

“I’ve spoken to him at length this morning. It’s fascinating—how it all works. I don’t believe it’ll be an issue.” She shook her head, a faraway, fascinated gleam in her eye. “He has amazing control… If it looks like there’s going to be a problem, then come back home.”

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to stay home in the first place? Avoid trouble?”

She backed away a step and folded her arms. “Wouldn’t it have just been easier to study for the history exam?”

Busted.

…

Mom left before we did. I went through her papers, hoping to find something about the leads she mentioned, but all I’d found was a small pink Post It note that said, Stop stalling and go to school !

The first part of the day was basically uneventful. No teacher-student death matches or science room frog corpse fights. There were whispers in the hall about a small scuffle between the mascot of the football team and a linebacker, but they were both tools on their best days. I was betting their inner ass was more to blame for that one than rampaging Sin.

“Okay, let’s go over it again,” I said as we entered the cafeteria for lunch. “Who are you supposed to be?”

This was the fourth time since we’d gotten to school that I’d made him repeat it. I’d managed to avoid most of my friends, but lunch period would be a free-for-all. When we’d stopped at my locker to dump my books, I found three notes asking who the hotness was I was toting around. They’d be all over him like vultures on a corpse the second we sat down.

Lukas sighed. “I’m your cousin and I’m visiting from out of town. We’re moving here, and I was sent ahead to check out the school.”

“Good. And you’re sure people aren’t going to freak out? Start slapping each other silly with plastic trays?” By the time we made it to the cafeteria, lunch was almost over. Suited me just fine. The last thing I needed to deal with was a massive food fight—or worse—a multi-person spork duel.

“It’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

He kept saying he was fine, but he didn’t look fine. Shoulders rigid and jaw tense, he looked like a guitar string ready to snap. His head tilted now and then as people passed like he was listening to something, and every once in awhile his fingers would curl into a fist until his knuckles turned white. If that was fine, then I was the Easter Bunny in drag.