Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online

Brynna would react once she found out about it. And he was sure some snotwit would beeline right to her with the news. There was nothing the goobs in his school loved more than to be the bearer of really bad news, especially to the person it related to. It was like they enjoyed seeing the misery it caused, firsthand.
    He turned to Caleb. “That wasn’t Brynna, was it?”
    Caleb shook his head. “That was someone’s idea of a sick joke.”
    Speaking of sick, Nick felt ill over it. His stomach heaved in sympathetic agony for her. “Can you tell who?”
    He did that weird head cock move as if he were listening to a song only he could hear. “No idea. But it was done for sheer malice.”
    “Brynna will die when she finds out.”
    “I know.” A tic started in Caleb’s jaw. “Can you feel the hatred behind it?”
    “Now that you mention it … is that what the icky tickling is down my spine?”
    Caleb nodded.
    Nick sighed heavily. Well at least he knew what was causing that symptom. “Is it demonic?”
    “No. This is human evil. Demon hatred comes with a distinctive odor to it.”
    “Yeah, well, this stinks, too.” Nick was repulsed by whoever had done something so vicious to someone so kind. Why would anyone hurt Brynna so? In all the years he’d known her, he’d never heard Brynna say a mean thing about anyone.
    Not even him.
    “All of you!” Tendyk snapped. “Line up in the hallway and be silent. Stone, I want you to go to the office and tell Mr. Head that I need him down here, pronto.”
    Laughing, Stone went to obey.
    Nick reached for his backpack.
    “Leave it, Gautier,” Tendyk snapped. “No one is to take anything out of here.”
    Nick hesitated. His grimoire and pendulum were in his backpack, along with his Malachai dagger. If his bag was searched and they happened upon those …
    It would get ugly, especially since his grimoire was written in blood. Granted, it was his blood. But adults didn’t seem discriminating when it came to kids bleeding on things during school hours.
    I’ve got it covered, Caleb said in his mind.
    Releasing a relieved breath, Nick headed outside with everyone else.
    Caleb crossed his arms over his chest as they lined up against the wall of bright red steel lockers. “You know what the only thing worse than an evil demon is?”
    “My mother when she’s really ticked off at me, especially when it’s justified.”
    Caleb snorted. “No, Nick. Human cruelty. All the centuries I’ve lived, I’ve never understood it. Instead of banding together, your kind seems ever determined to tear each other down. And for what? Jealousy? I just don’t get it.”
    And coming from a demon, that pretty much said it all. “You’re not seriously telling me that demons are never cruel?”
    “Some are. But you know who they are, and you see them coming. You can smell them from days away. Humans, on the other hand, are insidious. You don’t see it coming until they’ve stabbed you in the back and through the heart.”
    Nick scowled at his implication. “What are you saying, Cay?”
    “I can’t tell who did this, but I can tell why they did it. This was meant to shame Brynna and hurt her to the deepest level.”
    And as those words left Caleb’s lips, Nick became aware of the conversations around him.
    “I told you Brynna was a slut. My mother said her mama was one, too.”
    “I always knew her goody-two-shoes persona was an act.”
    “Man, I wish I’d known she’d do that. You think she’s busy Saturday night?”
    Nick cringed at their ugliness. “It wasn’t Brynna,” he said defensively.
    Mason scoffed at him. “You’re an idiot, Gautier.”
    “Yeah,” another student concurred, “didn’t you see that in there?”
    “With farm animals, too! Oh my God, I’m so disturbed.”
    “You are? Imagine how that horse felt.”
    They all burst out laughing.
    Nick started to respond, but Caleb stopped him.
    “Let it go.”
    That was easier said than done. “Brynna’s my