fake Watchers Council member and Leos mom.
Excerpt fromChosen, by Kiersten White
The world is quiet now.
It used to be so loud.
Credit: Simon + Schuster Children’s Publishing
So much chatter, beating, drumming, buzzing buzzing buzzing.
It used to keep him awake at night, inescapable, like mites crawling through his veins.
Sometimes he would scratch at his arms until they bled, but even the bleeding never dampened the buzzing.
He is still here.
And with everything quiet, he can finally focus.
Hes powerless, which is unfortunate but temporary.
Everything here is temporary.
He will not be.
He strokes his arms, smooth and unscarred, so deceptively human-looking.
But he is no human.
1
The demon appears out of nowhere.
Claws and fangs fill my sight, and every instinct screamskill.
My blood sings with it, my fists clench, my vision narrows.
The vulnerable points on the demons body practically flash like neon signs.
No teleportation, Tsip!
Even while playing, Rhys cant help but be a Watcher, shouting out both advice and corrections.
Hes not wearing his glasses, which makes his face look vague and undefined.
Cillian passes him, mussing Rhyss carefully parted hair into wild curls and laughing at Rhyss frustration.
Its just soccer, I whisper.
I dont even like soccer.
Football, bloody American, Cillian sings, neatly stealing the ball from me.
His shorts are far shorter than the January afternoon should permit, but he seems impervious to cold.
He passes to Tsip.
Tsip is a vaguely opalescent pink, shimmering in the sunlight.
She paints her claws fun colors when we do manicure nights and I try desperately not to miss Artemis.
I stay rooted to the ground where Im standing.
Tsip caught me off guard, but that shouldnt matter.
I cant get my heart under control, cant shake the adrenaline screaming through my veins.
Gotta take over for the Littles.
I wave and jog from the field.
No one pays me much attention.
Jade is lying on the ground in front of the goal, the worst goalkeeper ever.
Rhys and Cillian are body-checking each other in increasingly flirty ways.
Tsip keeps shimmering and then resolidifying as she remembers the no-teleportation rule.
Theyre all happy to keep going without me, unaware of my internal freak-out.
Ive deliberately kept them unaware.
Things here are going so well.
I cant be the problem.
They dont need to know and I dont let them.
Except for Doug, his bright yellow skin almost nineties Day-Glo levels in the thin winter sun.
He watches me from our goal, his nostrils flared.
I cant lie to him the way I can to everyone else.
I shake my head preemptively.
I dont want to talk about it.
Theres only one person I want to talk to about it, but Leo Silveras not exactly available.
I do a quick sweep of the perimeter of the castle.Leo loved me.
Check the woods.Leo betrayed me.
Check the locks on the outbuildings.Leo saved me.
Pause and just listen and look, feeling for anything pushing against my instincts.I let Leo die.
Past the meadow, the tiny purple demons are taking turns pushing each other on the tree swing.
That, or theyre trying to push each other off.
Its hard to tell with them.
With nothing else needing my attention outside, I end up at the front stairs to the castle.
I wave halfheartedly to our resident vengeance demon.
Shes leading the Littles through an elaborate game of hopscotch.
Jessi snaps at me.
I can take over for you.
I find the Littles soothing.
No, Jessi says, her voice as sweet as summer fruit.
George course corrects, wobbling on one short leg before jumping to the requiredO.
Oh, youre so clever.
Priya, how are your letters coming?
Very good, darling!
Youre really working hard.
Hold the chalk with one hand, like we talked about.
Thea, love, fingers out of noses, pleasethats a dear.
And to think, we once considered these children the entire future of the Watchers.
I watch as Thea spins until she falls flat on her bottom.
Actually, the future of the Watchers is pretty accurately captured here.
I pat Jessi on the arm.
So, you could take the afternoon off.
Everything sweet in Jessis voice turns to ice.
I dont trust you with these three precious wonders.
Are you going to do any of that with them?
You were going to turn on a cartoon and read while their fertile minds were filled with weeds.
Shes already turned away from me and back to her three charges.
Her whole face is full of gentle warmth and absolute love.
George declares, hopping emphatically down on it.
Jessi claps like hes cured the common cold.
Thoroughly dismissed, I skulk up the stairs and into the castle.
Jessi could at least pretend to be nice.
Shes got a lot of enemies out therevengeance is a nasty cycleand without her powers shes vulnerable.
We took her in despite her obvious hatred for everyone over the age of ten.
There was some debate, given her history, but my mom argued in her favor.
But Jessis dismissal leaves me with nothing to do.
I used to have my medical center and my studies, all my little Watcher duties.
Even with so few of us, the castle ran as near to Watcher traditions as we could manage.
Which in retrospect was absurd, since we didnt have a Slayer and werent actually doing anything Watchers should.
But now everything has changed.
We lost WatchersWanda Wyndam-Pryce, sulking off into the sunset, good riddance.
Bradford Smythe, murdered.
Eve Silvera, secretly a succubus demon and murderer, smushed thanks to my actions.
I spend so much of my days trying not to think, and its harder than it should be.
I used to believe that all Slayers did was act without thinking.
I was wrong, but I wish it were true.
Theres so little acting and so much thinking these days.
Its good, I remind myself, over and over like a chant.
Weve taken in demons who had nowhere else to go.
Were protecting, not attacking or destroying.
Between our new demonic additions and existing Watchers, everyone has tasks and times to do them.
But so far everyone is happy.
I sink down against the wall, feeling the cold of the stone radiating outward.
I saved Pelly from that cellar.
I didnt save everyone, though.
I wrap my arms around Pelly and close my eyes.
Everything is exactly what we dreamed it could be.
I still feel like killing something.
