Dark Descent: The Arondight Codex - Book One by R Nicole (best books to read all time TXT) 📗

Before I could find my clothes, the door opened and Greer wafted into the room, smelling like a field of wildflowers. She raised an eyebrow when she saw me teetering beside the bed and laughed. Looked like adding insult to injury was one of her favourite pastimes.

“Oh dear,” she said, “you shouldn’t be out of bed, Scarlett.”

Her tone was unsettling. She was doing her sweet as pie thing again, and knowing how abrupt and cold she was towards me in the library, I was far from trusting. Remembering Wilder’s words when I’d first woken in this room weeks ago, I smirked. What mask are you wearing today, Greer? Or something like that.

“I want to see Jackson,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“All in good time,” she replied, placing her hand gently on my shoulder. Gesturing towards the bed, she waited.

It looked like I was stuck for the moment, and I grimaced as I flopped onto the mattress.

“I understand Wilder let his tongue loose again,” Greer said, sitting gracefully.

“I’m not exactly a fan of his right now.” I scowled. “Humiliated and followed, attacked…” I shook my head, wincing as my dehydrated brain rattled against the inside of my skull.

“War is all we’ve ever known,” Greer replied. “I was born into it, as was everyone else in the Sanctum. It’s not the best way to live, but someone has to fight the Darkness. We do what we must to keep Light in the world.”

“Don’t tell me,” I said, on the verge of stamping my foot. “In war there are casualties and that’s what Jackson and I are. Bait in your thousands of years battling ‘Darkness’.” I air quoted the last part. “It’s not right, Greer.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s what needed to be done.”

I snorted, my brain throbbing.

“We had to understand why you were targeted. While you were in the Sanctum, there was no way of knowing.”

“So instead, you let me wander the streets, completely exposed. Now my friend has been attacked not only once, but twice.”

“The Infernal was tracking you,” she said, ignoring me, “that much is clear. You have something it wants.” Her eyebrow rose like she expected me to know what the demon wanted with me and I shrugged.

“I have no idea,” I said.

“It stands to reason it may have something to do with your parents,” Greer stated. “Your memory suggests they were killed by a Balan, and I suspect it’s what gave you that scar. It’s not uncommon for the mind to block out traumatic events.”

I raised my fingers and traced the puckered line that ran down the side of my face. It’d always been a part of me, a mystery begging to be solved. But with no way to even find a clue to get me started, I’d come to accept it was just this thing I had—a thing children teased me about when I was at school, a thing adults stared at, a thing that marked me as defective. Sometimes, I even forgot I had it, and those were the good days.

“We believe all these things are connected,” Greer went on. “Your parents, the Balan, the Infernal, your Light, and your immunity to alteration. The Darkness is interested in you and possibly has been since you were a child.”

“That’s not creepy at all,” I muttered.

“We hoped to lure them out and catch them in the act, but we didn’t expect you to do what you did.”

I snorted and shook my head.

“I know we’ve lost your trust, Scarlett, but war is war. We do what the Codex demands of us. It’s the way of the Naturals.”

“So what do I do now?” I asked, changing the subject. I knew I’d get no sympathy from Greer, just more ideology.

I was at my wits’ end with this whole thing. Where did I go from here? Up, down, side to side? I was lost in that ocean of icebergs again, but this time it felt as if a shark was circling somewhere in the shadows, waiting to devour me.

“First, you recover,” Greer answered. “Then we’ll find out why those demons are so interested in you. We’ll begin with your lineage.”

“You’ll help me find out who my parents were?” I scarcely dared to hope. If I knew, then maybe I’d have something else to remember them by other than their deaths. Maybe I’d know who I was supposed to be.

“Yes.” She nodded, lowering her head slightly.

“What about Jackson?”

“That,” she said, looking troubled, “is a more complicated predicament. One that’s going to take more time.”

My heart twisted and I straightened up, my headache forgotten. “Greer, what’s wrong? I owe my life to him. He’s all the family I’ve got. You have to stop skipping around and just tell me. What aren’t you saying?”

Greer glanced towards the door and I wondered if she was about to give me the ‘I have to consult the Codex’ excuse she seemed so fond of. After a moment of silent deliberation, she turned back, her expression blank, and I knew her answer wasn’t going to be what I wanted to hear.

“Greer?” My voice wavered.

“Scarlett, there’s no easy way to tell you this,” she said, taking my hands in hers. “Your friend is… well, he’s mutating.”

“Mutating?” My stomach dropped. “Into what?”

“We don’t know.”

13

Romy threaded her arm through mine as we walked through the Sanctum.

After Greer left, I was left to my own devices for an hour before Romy appeared. I showered and dressed, but besides smelling like flowers, I didn’t feel any better.

Glancing at Romy’s bare arms, I squinted, focusing on the designs that were etched onto her skin.

“What are all the tattoos for?” I asked, desperate for some conversation—anything to take my mind off what I was about to see down in the vaults. Jackson mutating wasn’t the best news, and knowing it was all because of me… well, it made it even worse.

“They’re cool,” the Natural replied.

“So they don’t do anything?”

“No. They just look cool.”

“Oh.”

“Light comes from within,” she stated. “We don’t