Page 35 of Truth Revealed

“So, what? You were just going to hide it from me? You were attacked!” Daria all but shouted at them, hands on her hips.

“And we’re fine,” Betrayal argued. “No reason to get your panties in a wad.”

Daria resisted the urge to finish the job the attackers had started. Instead, she sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and turned her head toward the ceiling as if to beg for patience.

“What happened? Start from the beginning.”

And they did. Eventually, they moved from the entryway to make themselves comfortable in the living room. Truth bustled around the kitchen, listening intently, and Daria sat sandwiched on the couch between Hope and Death. Seated in the chair across from her, Betrayal explained how the three other demons had gotten the drop on him while Misery sent her puppy dog eyes from the floor.

He told her how Deceit had argued with one of the demons, telling him to wait in the car.

How the plan had seemed to change at the last minute to include a true death—decapitation.

And how the blade had only just barely sliced his neck before Misery and Death distracted the nameless demon while Hope fought Deceit.

A bang sounded from the kitchen and, as one, they all glanced over at Truth. His fingers were white where they gripped the edge of the counter as Betrayal’s words trailed off. Her surfer demon wasn’t taking news of the attack any better than she was.

Betrayal broke the spell by finally admitting they’d gone to get pizza instead of coming straight home, and Truth returned to fiddling with the pots and pans.

Daria couldn’t even look at them as she dropped her head down and braced her face in her palms, elbows digging into the tops of her thighs as she focused on her deep breaths.

“Oh my God, you were almost killed. For good,” she hissed, shaking her head.

“But I wasn’t, and that’s what matters,” Betrayal argued, voice quiet.

“You went and got pizza!” Daria practically growled. “What if they had followed you and attacked you outside the restaurant?” She stood, her anxiety thrumming too high for her to remain seated. Stalking to the window, she peeked through the blinds. “What if they followed you here? Did you even check?”

Deep breaths, deep breaths, she chanted to herself, Chaos’ training in the forefront of her mind.

Just stay calm.

“We didn’t need to check,” Misery said, stepping forward to put both of his hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” she whispered. “Pandora has clearly had enough of this back and forth we’ve been playing. Does this mean she no longer cares about locking you away? Now she just wants to kill you?”

The back door in the kitchen flew open, and Daria jumped with a high-pitched scream, slapping Misery’s hands away from her. At the same moment the sound left her lips, the lights above them burst, casting them into darkness.

Everyone froze, and Daria was thankful it was dark to hide her flaming cheeks.

“Uh… everything okay?” Persy’s hesitant voice came from the direction of the kitchen and Daria sighed.

“No, no it’s not…” Daria trailed off with a deep sigh weighed down with her emotions. Misery’s heat vanished, his steps echoing across the floor before the sound of rummaging filtered into the room.

“What’s up?” Persy asked, carefully entering the living room… with Pain’s hand clenched tightly in hers. “It’s a little dark in here,” she teased. But Daria didn’t even let the cute picture they made distract her. Starting from the beginning, she recounted everything the guys told her. The longer she talked, the lower Pain’s brows dipped and the deeper Persy’s frown curled. By the time she was finished, Misery had already replaced a few light bulbs, though the room was still dim.

“Alright, so we need to change our strategy. She’s clearly watching us, or else she wouldn’t have known where you guys were going, right?” Releasing Pain’s hand, Persy began to pace, bringing one hand up to her face as she worried her thumbnail.

“And while the cameras I watch are decent, they don’t have the best view,” she continued.

“Bottom line, we need to find out where she is. Her home base, or whatever you want to call it,” Daria interjected.

“Yeah, but so far, our stalking tendencies haven’t gotten us anywhere,” Betrayal complained.

“Well, up until this point, Pandora hasn’t needed them to do anything, not until she wanted to attack you,” Persy pointed out.

“Maybe we need to give them a reason to get off their asses,” Daria mused with a shrug. “Give them a reason to meet up, or whatever and—”

“And maybe it’ll lead us to Pandora,” Misery finished for her.