Forbidden Darkness (The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, #1)

Fourteen

By the time I got home, I knew it wouldn't be too long before Kristen and Philip showed up so we could discuss what was going on. Mom wasn't home, which wasn't a shock to me since she had work, so for about ten minutes I was alone.

Upstairs in my room, I pulled out my laptop that my mom—no, my kidnapper—had gotten me for my birthday last year. I pulled up Google so I could do a bit of research. Of course, like Lena said, a majority of it was all fake, people claiming they were immortal and such, and I wanted to laugh at the thought. If only people knew what was really out there in the world.

I really could have used that Monsters of the World book right then.

The weird thing was, just a little while ago I wanted nothing to do with them, but now I realized how much I really needed Kristen, Philip, and Lena. Lena was Kristen's mom, and that didn't mean that Kristen knew everything Lena did. Kristen actually seemed very surprised that I was kidnapped as a child and not adopted. Looked like I wasn't the only one whose mom kept secrets from me. While that didn't make up for the fact that she lied about everything else, I had to trust that there was a reason. She was my best friend and Lena was like my second mom for a reason—I trusted them. That meant that even as hard as all of this was to hear, I needed to trust that all of this had been done for the right reasons.

When I heard the knock on my front door, I immediately went downstairs to go answer it. Sure enough, there was Philip, still looking entirely too attractive, and Kristen, who smiled at me sadly.

"Hey," she said softly.

I nodded at her in acknowledgment. "Hi."

Next thing I knew, Kristen wrapped her arms around me and began to cry. Tears formed behind my eyes as well, mostly because I felt bad for treating them the way I did. Also, now that I knew Kadin had been there for all the times she had hurt herself and the time she tried to kill herself...that made things different. I hadn't quite decided whether I was going to tell her or not yet.

"I'm so sorry," she cried. She pulled away and met my eyes, saying, "I really didn't know about the kidnapping thing, and believe me, I'm hoping for a good reason, too. And for lying about everything else, I am so, so, so, so sorry. You really have no idea."

I smiled at her just a little for reassurance. "It's okay. But yes, I do believe we deserve some explanations."

"You'll get it when Lena comes," Philip said. "Right now we need to come in and start coming up with a plan. This Kadin guy definitely doesn't sound good and could be a major threat to the Monster Hunters."

I led them both inside and over to the living room, where Kristen and I took a seat on the couch and Philip sat in the recliner to the side of us. He faced both of us and said, "So is there anything we really need to know about this guy that you haven't told us?"

I tried to think and shook my head. "Not really. I've told you guys the basics. He can shoot lightning out of his hands, or electricity, but that's kind of the same thing. And the Darkness he controls is apparently illegal based on some paranormal law code. I don't really know why he would have told me that, but that's about it..." Well, not all of it. The thing with Kristen could be kept to myself for a little while. I think.

"That's weird because I didn't know anything about this law code," Philip said. "With my dad on the Council I usually know everything and this is news to me."

Wait, what? "Hold on! Did you just say your dad was on the Council?"

Philip smiled and nodded. "Guess I forgot to mention it. It has its benefits."