Page 86 of Provocation
She turns and I see the unmistakable glint of excitement in her eyes. She looksimpish.
‘I said, I saw Bennet today.’
I wince. ‘Uh, yeah. I?—’
‘You went last night.’
I nod.
‘I never promised,’ I say defensively, but she just turns to a small bowl of green powder on the workbench.
‘I know you didn’t,’ she replies with a shrug, ‘but I keep thinking that it’s time I came to my own rescue.’
She glances back at me. ‘You’ve all saved me, protected me, fought for me. But I think it’s time I started doing that for myself.’
Sitting on the stool by the workbench, she puts her elbow on the table and props her head up, watching me.
‘People are scared of you.’
‘I suppose,’ I mutter, wondering where she’s going with this.
‘Is it because of the things you do for your father’s debt or some other reason?’ she asks.
I pretend to consider but I know the truth. ‘It was before,’ I say finally. ‘I’ve had a reputation since junior year of high school.’
She nods. ‘People are afraid of all three of you, for different reasons.’
‘Okay,’ I murmur, still confused.
‘No one’s ever been afraid of me, Blake,’ she says, looking down at the table. ‘Never.’
‘That’s a good thing, Daisy,’ I say quietly.
When she looks up, her eyes are blazing.
‘I disagree,’ she whispers. ‘There is a list of people who have treated me badly since I came here as long as my arm. Some of them have been taken care of by you and the others, yes, but,’ she shivers a little, ‘I want to take care of some of them myself. I need to. It feels...wrong if I don’t.’
She shakes her head and sighs impatiently at herself. ‘I’m not explaining it right, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get revenge and they’re going to know it was me.’
‘What are you planning to do, kill them?’
Her grin is sly. ‘Nothing so dramatic, but they’ll think twice before crossing me again.’
I sit across from her and tilt my head. ‘And who are these unfortunate people you have in your sights?’
‘Bennet. Laurie. Jolie. And the two other clones.’
‘Tabatha and Michelle?’ I ask in amusement.
She shrugs again. ‘Their names don’t matter to me.’
She looks down at the small bowl of green powder on the table in front of her.
‘Giving them Envy isn’t much of a punishment,’ I say.
She looks up in surprise. ‘Oh, this isn’t Envy.’ She surveys the bowl again and nods. ‘But I’m glad it looks enough like it that you don’t realize.’
She picks it up carefully and dumps it in the pill press, using the hand-crank to turn the machine until there’s no more of the powder and a few little green pills are in the tray.
