Chosen One Gone Wrong (Villains & Monsters #1)

Chapter Sixty-One

Gore/ torture and abuse warning here. Also, this chapter does mention creepier things such as stalking and predatory thoughts. Proceed with caution. Love you guys. -Rae

Daija's wrist was healed, and she decided that it felt nice to not feel the ache. Her body was still warm, despite a cold shower and the ice in her veins. Also, she was feeling a bit more tired. Whatever her new power was, it was activated, and it was draining her. She dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie to cover up most of the marks from the night before.

She sat on the bed while she heard Simon on the phone in the living room, taking some deep breaths and reaching within herself. She had to find a way to deactivate it. After some time, the warm feeling dissipated, and she felt normal again.

In front of her was her journal. She didn't open it, she just stared at it in silence, her mind racing as she felt that urge to scream again.

Lani always said that madness was doing the same things and expecting different results. No matter what happened in her life, it ended right back here: Frustrated, full of rage, on the verge of tipping over and forced to write until her mind was quiet. It always felt like she was one wrong step from losing everything.

While she showered earlier, all she could think about was Jamie's harsh words. In the span of a few minutes, he had called her reckless for defending herself and accused her of murdering over twenty people. And when she explained, he didn't believe her. Not even for a second.

It hurt, stung, and even burned.

As she opened her journal, she flipped to the next blank page and stared at it blankly, numbly. She wanted to write pages, but couldn't find the words to explain anything. Her mind kept replaying one thing.

"There's no way you're actually not on top of this. If that's the case, what have you been doing all this time besides sleeping and having sex with your troublemaker?"

The mockery in his voice and the sharpness of it all made her both unbearably sad and livid. The shift was minor instead of major, and with so much happening yesterday, of course she missed it. She wasn't lying when she said she had no idea what her new ability was.

She blinked away the tears that arose again, and picked up the pen next to her journal to write an answer to the question. All she could muster were two small sentences.

I'm trying my fucking best. That's what I'm doing.

-----

"Just got off the phone with Sierra," Simon said from the kitchen, "She told me to ask you if you're feeling weird."

Daija rested back on the couch, slowly sipping from her water bottle. "She felt the shift too, I'm assuming?"

"Since it was smaller than others, I completely missed it," he said before winking at her, "I was a little preoccupied."

She scoffed, then told him, "To answer your question, I felt weird earlier, but I got it to stop."

"Weird how?"

"My body was just warm, and it took a while, but I could feel it draining my energy. So, when my body's warm, the power is activated."

"Hm, interesting," he said as he turned around, "My sleep touch works like that. Not hot like my flames, but warm. Maybe your new ability is of the same concept. Come here."

She stood up, walked over to him and asked, "What are we doing?"

"Turn it on."

"It could be dangerous. We don't know what I have. I don't want to risk it."