Page 56 of Shadows of Nightshade
“The four of us are members of a group with different, complementary supernatural abilities, called a quintet. Usually, there are five members in a quintet, but we’re working with what we have. Our particular group is known as the Xing,” Damen explained, carefully gauging my reaction.
Okay, that sounded cool.
“You—” He rubbed his shoulder. Obviously, this conversation was stressful for him, so I was trying my best to take everything in stride. “You’ve never heard of us?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Okay.” Damen sucked in a deep breath. “Well…” He looked at the others, allowing his nervousness to show through for the first time, and I felt sorry for him. All of them—because every man in this room wore equally uncertain expressions of apprehension.
It was my turn to put him at ease. Although I wasn’t generally comfortable with touch, his distress made my skin hum with an urgency to reassure him.
Even though there were five of us in this room, he suddenly seemed so alone.
“It’s okay.” I petted his right hand. He jumped and stared at me. “You don’t need to be nervous or scared. I’m not going to run away.”
Although, quite honestly, I wanted to—only to get my bearings. But he was depending on me, and even though I didn’t understand the significance, this was clearly hard for him to talk about.
“But,” I added, “if you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine too.”
Damen broke away from his stunned state and placed his left hand on the top of my head. A soft warmness sunk into the place he touched. His voice was gruff, thick with emotion when he spoke. “I’m starting to understand why others have felt the need to go to extreme methods to protect you. Even if their actions were unquestionably wrong.”
What? “Why?”
I’d been deeply hurt by my betrayal. In fact, I’d already planned to set aside some time between breakfast and my firstclass tomorrow morning to begin formulating my plans to murder Finn. I had some credits to use in the bookstore. I’d probably buy a notebook to organize my thoughts, and then…
Revenge.
“But I’m also sure that you’re stronger than they think too,” Damen added. He sat back and dropped his hand back to his lap. My head felt cold at the retreat of his touch. “We’re reincarnations.” He gestured around the room to include the other men. “We are the archetypes of our various disciplines based on the Chinese Five Element theory. Other people with our abilities look to us for guidance and answers, and it is our job to guide them.”
I frowned.
It wasn’t the silliest thing I’d heard so far—and Damen had been the only one to give me any sort of truth. Yet, despite my logic, I believed him.
For example, that was why they’d been strutting about like they owned the place. And why they assumed I knew who they were.
Not that this news of their newfound fame changed anything; I’d already ugly-cried all over Damen’s shirt. I would, under no circumstances, grovel at his feet now.
“Finn knows,” I pointed out. Yet another betrayal.
“Yes,” Damen answered, even though I wasn’t asking a question. “In fact, he’s one of my highest-ranking advisors.”
“Is that so?” That made his lies even worse. So untrustworthy. “What about everyone else? What are your abilities?” I glanced around the room. This was curious. I would have to learn how this entire system worked.
Eventually.
But just knowing who they were was more important for now.
“I’m a witch,” Miles chimed in. He’d settled on the floor, sitting cross-legged with his hands over his knees. “Witchcraft canvary in practice, ranging from herbology and kitchen witchery to include other earth-based magics.”
“Oh…” The chocolate chip cookies weren’t so innocent after all. “The cookies—”
Miles cleared his throat. “I might be the Xing, but I’m still learning too. Living abroad, away from everyone, threw off my education a bit. But I’ll be graduating soon.” His face turned red. “I haven’t been able to master curses and the fun stuff yet”—the fun stuff?Which, somehow, included curses. I was intrigued—“but yeah, I did use magic while making the cookies.”
I stared at them, a stirring of unease settling in my stomach.
“It was nothing bad!” Miles sounded panicked. “You were sad, and stressed, and…” He looked down, unable to meet my eyes, as he began to draw circles on the floor with his pointer finger. “Food is powerful and nurturing. Certain ingredients, like salt, vanilla, and cinnamon, are intended to bring happiness and chase away negative feelings. That’s what I focused on.”
“You…” My tense muscles relaxed. I could understand—I was very interested in the study of plants and their medicinal properties, like Damen’s lavender bath. But even more importantly, Miles had made them with the sole purpose of helpingme.
