Free The Madness Project (The Madness Method) by J. Leigh Bralick

lowered, thumb rubbing the flesh on his jowls, until I got a mite
fidgety.  Then he turned and exchanged a glance with Rivano, and still Rivano
said nothing.
    “Sit down,” Kantian said.
    I obeyed, swallowing hard.  Kantian didn’t sit, which made
me twitchy as a canary.
    “Had a bit of an accident, did we?”
    “How’d you hear that?” I asked.  “Jig couldn’t have seen
it.”
    “No need to get tetchy, Hayli.”  Kantian pointed at his own
face.  “You look more tattered than usual, and you’ve got a cut on your head.”
    “Oh,” I said, feeling a bit daft.
    “You care to explain what happened?  Jig said you never
showed up to let him in.”
    I let my breath out through my teeth, too fast, making a
hiss.  “Told you,” I said, though I hadn’t.  “It was just an accident.  Lucky I
got hurt or maybe I’d’ve got copped.  But they just bum-rushed me out the
gate.”
    I winced.  Maybe I shouldn’t have said bum-rushed in
front of Rivano.
    “No one saw you enter?”
    I shook my head and Kantian arched a brow at me, like he
knew I hadn’t told him everything.  I bet he never imagined it was that I’d met
the Prince. 
    I shifted my weight.  I knew I stood on the edge, but I
couldn’t help saying, “But it’s not my fault Scorch div’n get the aeroplane
down how he was supposed to.  If—”
    “Enough,” Kantian said.  “Scorch will be dealt with.  But
his task was only part of the mission.  Doesn’t excuse your failure to do your
own.”
    My face went prickly with cold, thinking of what might
happen to Scorch.  I’d only ever seen him from a distance, and he’d scared the
blazes out of me, but the way Kantian said Scorch will be dealt with , I
shuddered to think what he meant.  I wondered if I should feel guilty for being
so relieved that he wasn’t talking about me. 
    Rivano sat forward, flames reflecting in his dark eyes. 
    “This is the Moth,” he said, voice warm and low as amber.
    I jumped and stared at the knot of fingers in my lap.  I
wanted to protest, to deny it, to run away, but it was too late.  Somehow,
Rivano already knew about me.  Rivano.
    “I got in and I can do it again,” I told Kantian, lifting my
chin.  “I just timed it bad this time.”
    Kantian made a short noise and I fell silent, pressing my
tongue between my teeth.
    “You’ve had your chance.”
    “My chance?” I echoed, anger prickling up my neck.  “I can
try again, right?  I know you’re like to bedpost me, and I’m fine with that,
but what about after?”
    You’ll be dealt with. 
    He would say it.  I knew he was about to say it.
    “No.”  Kantian leafed through some papers with an
ink-stained finger.  “If they’d arrested you, they would have made you talk. 
You’re a liability.”
    I gritted my teeth.  For some reason I kept hoping that
Rivano would jump in and tell Kantian off, but he just sat all silent and
thoughtful, chin resting on his steepled fingers.
    A minute and I realized that my hands were crumpled up in my
waistcoat, and I’d been holding my breath.  I let it out, slow, trying not to
let it shake.  That “no” sank in suddenly, and I kept waiting for the building
to start quaking, because it was my whole world and I could feel it collapsing
around me.
    “Are you ganna give me the boot?” I whispered.
    “No,” Kantian said, the word trailing away on a wisp of
boredom.  “You’ve got a skill, Hayli.  It will be useful in time.  But you need
to learn to control it before we can let you use it here, or for the Clan.”  He
gave me a hard look.  “Make sense?”
    “Um,” I said, because I couldn’t think of aught proper to
say.  “I think so?”
    Kantian slammed his palm on the desk so hard that I jumped. 
“You will not use your ability outside these walls until Derrin says you are
ready.  Is that perfectly clear ?”
    “You’re a Moth,” Rivano said, gently.  “That’s a rare and
valuable gift.  We’re not going to let