Page 46 of Truth Revealed

“You’re not made for this. It’ll kill you.”

“No it won’t,” Truth argued. “But even if it does, that’s okay because once I figure this out, we’ll be able to make a move on Pandora.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

Then I’ll be dead anyway.

But Truth elected not to answer, just meeting the cool hazel gaze with his own.

“You’ll hurt her,” Chaos growled, and Truth jerked his head to the side, unable to meet his gaze any longer.

“She’ll be okay. The others will take care of her… if worse comes to worst.”

Chaos stepped forward, his presence, his power, filling the room until Truth could hardly breathe. “Don’t think that if you die, she’ll just be able to let one of the others into that place she’s reserved for you. If you die, she won’t shrug that off and hold the others closer. You know her better than that.”

Reality stared him blindly in the face, but Truth didn’t see any other options than the one he’d made for them. The one he’d chosen to pursue.

“It’s this… or nothing.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Chaos argued, but the power had faded from his voice. He seemed… dejected.

“What are our other options, huh?” Truth debated, stepping close. “Wait around until Pandora decides to fuck with us some more, like she did Misery? Like she sent those fuckers after them at the laser tag place?”

No words left Chaos’ lips, but his eyes narrowed.

“She killed James, who was innocent in all of this. She had Sofia locked up her whole life, and clearly doesn’t care about using loved ones against those that she… employs.”

“You at least need to tell them,” Chaos stated, trying one last time.

Truth was already shaking his head before Chaos even finished his sentence. “No. I can’t. They’ll insist on helping or trying to be in on it. This is the only way it’ll work. Youth is sharing the information I give him. And if she sends someone to watch me, I need to really appear like I’m hiding this. The only way that will work is if I actually hide it.”

“But at what cost?” Chaos all but growled, showing his teeth as he spoke.

“When it comes to Daria’s safety, there is no cost too high.”

“To her there might be.”

Truth shook his head. “Just stop. Nothing you say is going to change my mind, so stop wasting your time. Just train Daria to control her powers, and don’t mention a word of this, please.”

Truth wasn’t above begging, not to the God of Chaos. He single-handedly had the power to ruin the entire thing.

Silence settled over the bathroom, until Truth leaned over to shut the water off. He opened his mouth to plead some more, to beg, to barter, whatever it took. But a knock on the door interrupted him.

“Hey, Truth? You okay, man?” Misery’s voice cut through the wood of the door.

Truth turned his head to eye the door, making sure it was locked before he turned back around.

But Chaos was gone without a word.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered. His teeth gritted against the pain that shot through his body.

Another lie.

Partnering with Youth had quickly gotten out of hand. Outside the YCM, Youth had promised to help Truth do whatever was necessary as long as Truth helped him escape Pandora. At first, it was just exchanging information, and Truth hoped something would lead him closer to Pandora. He’d truly meant to come clean to the others, but a frantic text from Youth had put an end to that.

After his first meeting with Youth, Pandora had confronted him, asking where he got his information from. In a panic, he’d ratted Truth out, making him look like a double agent—making it out to seem as if Truth were betraying his friends and Daria.

Pandora, so blind in her cause, hadn’t even considered that Youth was actually the one betraying her.