In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

We are silent for a few tired moments when the sun comes up. Brilliant, orange rays peek though, illuminating the dark room. It finally washes out the annoying yellow blinker on my anklet. I wonder how long I can go without it being discovered. It's going to take some explaining as to why I didn't feel the shock.

Even I don't know why I didn't feel the shock.

But I have a feeling there's someone I could ask.

Stretching out my bruised muscles, I inspect the scattered boxes. If we can find an anklet in the mess, I wonder what else is hiding there. Maybe they are better left undiscovered, or maybe it's necessary we figure out what we're dealing with.

I lean back against the wall, my legs barely keeping themselves up. Left with nothing else to do, I watch Jesse admiring the sun. He tucks the anklet into his pocket with a sigh. His eyes are nicer in this light, I realize. The neon green becomes dimmer, and the dark blue overtakes the color and stands out. He looks like a wistful kid.

"Why are you staring at me?" Jesse asks suddenly, turning to me.

I grin, sly. "Right now, you look like an adorable three-year old."

His lip quirks up. "I am a lot of things, princess," he says. "But adorable doesn't quite fit the bucket."

I make a noise of disbelief and walk towards the trapdoor switch.

"Nah, I think you can be a little prince. Who's the guy that rescues Rapunzel from her tower in the newest movie?"

"Flynn Rider?"

I nod happily. "You're like a younger Flynn Rider."

"Please, I'm so much better looking than Flynn Rider. And he's not even a prince until he marries Rapunzel."

"Whatever," I say. "The spirit has stopped. We'd better go before people start to wake." 

I open the trapdoor. There is complete quiet below. I gesture for him to go down the ladder. I would bring it up after he had climbed down since I could simply jump down more quietly. Jesse lands like an elephant. I honestly don't know how he managed to do it for so long undetected.

He rolls his eyes and starts down.

"Not everything is a racist remark, princess." Jesse sings the pet name. I roll my eyes. It's stupid that guys can call girls princesses without sounding weird, yet if girls call guys princes it sounds instantly strange. Very strange.

"Speaking of," I say, after gathering the ladder and jumping after him, "Where are you from? Not that... you know, I'm going to use your nationality stereotype as a nickname."

"You can't tell?"

"Not really."

"Well, you shouldn't be able to."

I squint at him. "Wha-? You just asked why I couldn't tell, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, and then you say I shouldn't be able to?"

I pinch the bridge of my noise as he goes to close the trapdoor with the bookshelf switch.

"I am so confused," I tell him.

"I don't come from one particular country," he says, laughing. "I've lived in more than you can name. That's why you can't place my accent. It's a mix of everything."

"Well, you've got to come from somewhere," I say, taking caution to be quiet as we start down towards the dorms. "Where does your family originate from?"