THEO
MONTHS LATER
~
WOMAN IN NEW YORK FOUND DEAD; NO SUSPECTS.
Pushing away the newspaper, Theodosia looked up at the NYPD officer with a frown. "What's this got to do with me?"
"Your mother was just murdered," The man frowned down at her, leaning forward in his chair. "Strange gang symbols were found outside the home."
"She wasn't even my mother," The teenager proclaimed with a scoff. "And I'm not in a gang."
"You've been gone a long time, Miss Marx-Black." The officer responded, glancing around the empty room.
"I was at school."
"Yet, you were spotted in Queens less than a day after her demise."
"I want a lawyer." She decided, clanging the cuffs on her wrists together. "Until that, you can eat shit."
The man sat back, rubbing the spot between his eyebrows. Daniel Pondack was a year away from retirement and a hamburger away from a heart attack. He never had any kids, divorced his wife half a lifetime ago, and his older brother had died in some war years and years ago. Pondack had nobody and nobody to miss him. It made him a good cop— clear headed and reliable.
But, something about this kid sitting across from him made him falter in his usual interrogation methods. Her light brown hair fell around her face in a mess, what might've been black peeking through her roots. Her skin was scarred and pale— too damaged for a kid, Pondack thought. Even her clothes— dark jeans stained with mud and a tee-shirt that looked a size and a half too big —it all looked . . . off. Something about her was off. He saw it in her eyes most of all. Something was wrong with this girl.
He looked at the tattoo covering most of her forearm, a black snake wrapped around a skull. The same type of thing stained into the house where Elizabeth Marx's body was found. Theodosia shifted her arm, partly hiding the mark from view. Something was most definitely wrong with this girl; he just didn't know what.
Pondack pushed away the paper, folding his hands on the table. "Listen, kid—"
The door burst open suddenly, a boy clad in black appearing with a grin. Brown hair fell in his eyes, but he made no effort to push it away, gaze drawn to the girl he came to save. His work was quick and efficient, but anything but tidy. A lazy curse threw Officer Pondack backward into the wall, knocking him out instantly.
The next one freed his partner from her shackles, his free hand holding her confiscated belongings.
The amber-haired girl looked up at the taller boy with a fierce look, ripping her duster and wand from his grasp. "Took you long enough."
Sliding into the long black duster, she grasped the boy's forearm, eyes squeezing shut. With a loud crack, they were gone.
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A/N: This is the end, my friends. For now, at least. The next book is called champion, and I'll start updating that whenever I can get around to it. I'm starting to publish COVEN and HEARTBREAK, so we'll see how much time I have to work on champion. Thank you so freakin much for reading, commenting, and voting. I really appreciate all of it and hope you'll come back for champion in a couple of months.<3