Free When Silver Moons Rise (Lost Immortals Saga #2) by KaSonndra Leigh Page A

the adults would take care of us though.
    Now the three of us are completely on our own, fugitives.  If we’re caught, our punishment will be worse than being sent to a detention camp for troubled kids.
    “Missing Daddy yet, Spoiled Fry?” Desi squats beside me. She has made a little fire inside of the strange pot she brought along with her. A good thing since the temperature keeps dropping the further we travel away from Castle Hayne. She sits on the opposite side from me.
    “I always miss my family when I’m not around them,” I say. “That’s what normal people do.”
    Desi shrugs. “Yeah, whatever.”
    “Why do you act that way?” I ask and wait for the smart remark. Instead, I get a different kind of look from her, one of those rare, but sad Desi faces.
    “What do you mean? Why am I hard and tough? Never crying like a baby, or losing control the way you do?”
    “That’s a start, yeah.”
    “Put it this way. Life is kind of like preparing a meal. You either cook it the right way and you wind up with a perfect little meal. Or you burn the shit out of it and learn to enjoy the food anyway. I guarantee my plate has more burnt food in it than yours does. I’ve gotten used to dealing with crappy things. Understand?” she says.
    “Not really. I cried every day when I couldn’t talk to my brother. It’s okay to be concerned about someone,” I say, feeling that familiar hitch in my chest when I think of the way I sat by Micah’s bedside and waited for him to come out of his coma.
    She throws her stick on the ground and passes an icy look my way. “Look, I don’t hurt or cry or whimper, or do anything girlish. I feel nothing. Best way to be in this life. I’m a demon slayer. If I slip up, my head gets chopped off. Understand? That’s what makes me top dog in this crazy life I lead. This is war, Chela. I either keep my head straight, or what’s left of my people and even your race will die. End of story.”
    I shake my head. “No, it’s not the end. It doesn’t have to be, anyway. And if you believed all those words you just said, then you wouldn’t be sitting here with me.” I want to know what Seth did to her. It’s on the tip of my tongue and I can’t resist. I also don’t want to get my head chopped off. So, I inhale deeply, and say, “What did he do to you? Seth, I mean.”
    “Why does it always have to be about a guy?” she says in a surprisingly calm voice without looking at me.
    “Because usually with mean girls who do so for the sake of keeping face, the cause of that attitude is almost always a guy,” I answer.
    “Really? You think I act this way because of what happened between Seth and me? Is that how you feel about Faris? Look what he’s making you do. You’re right back in the hot seat again all because of a guy. And you’re not even a mean girl.” She pokes at the fire in the mini pit she stowed away. I’m thankful for something to distract her. Desi knows how to comeback and hit you where it hurts better than any girl I’ve ever met before.
    “Faris wouldn’t lead me on,” I say confidently.
    “Don’t go getting yourself killed because you got your judgment lights hooked up all wrong.”
    “You don’t know me…or Faris,” I say.
    “I’ve known him a lot longer than you have.” She narrows her eyes and shakes her head. “Believe what you want to. But I’ve been where you are. I let the wrong guy hook me into doing something that will haunt me forever. Now look at me. I’m an exile. I can’t go home. Can’t go back to Castle Hayne, all because the darkness called to me. You have no idea how tempting it all was when he came.”
    She has a faraway look on her face. Desi is caught up in something painful, a thing I need to be aware of, I’m sure. “Tall, dark, heroic, ridiculously sexy: they were all the things to keep me warm inside the grave I was digging without knowing it. He helped me build a good, strong coffin, too. He even talked me into going