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"Master of my own destiny"

"Precisely"

"Master of your destiny, Mr Gautier?" Mrs Richardsonto be master of is detention You’re late Both of you" She handed theet to class before Cinderella turns both of those into suspensions"

Nick let out a frustrated breath Beautiful

Kody squeezed his hand "You’ll be fine, Nick You haveyou"

"You still haven’t told me what you are"

"I’m your friend That’s all that matters"

It’s not the enemy from without who is the h his head, but it did Was it his subconscious trying to tell hi?

Or was it more paranoia?

Why was life so dang hard? Why did every decision have to be rough? Unable to cope anymore, he headed for his classrooh so back to the sa that had been conceived of darkness ever be used for good? What made someone evil?

Was it their birth or their life?

Did they control the direction of their fate or did so to sort all that out He definitely felt like he was going crazy And all the while, he was gathering up ite a bad decision

But what choice did he really have?

He couldn’t go to jail, and he couldn’t let the coach continue to prey on people So, and somehow he’d find the evidence he needed to put a stop to the coach’s corruption

Then he’d find a way to stop his own

At three o’clock, Nick was standing in Devus’s office, feeling even worse than he had felt thatout his brethren Offering his classhter

How stupid was that?

Yet he couldn’t shake the sensation

"What do you have, Gautier?"

"Bad case of indigestion, sir," he answered sarcastically So that didn’t endear him to Coach Predator

"Should I call the principal, then?"

"No" Nick emptied his pockets on the desk He had the hairbrush, triting samples from two students on his list, the scarf, and …

He hesitated with the class ring that Casey had given hi after Kody’s necklace She had no idea what a challenge that little bit was going to give her, and he didn’t want Kody to disembowel her in the hallway and make her another stain on the wall

Nick looked down at the heavy ring in his hand that glinted in the diht stone in the center was as red as blood and surrounded by small diamonds that winked at him Unlike the other items that he could write off his conscience, this one was definitely theft, and guilt tore at him He felt like his dad, and he hated the coachhiht now In this one , Nick held it out Soschool hours

Devus grinned as he palet out there and finish the list, or I will finish you"

He took toopain Like my father The co he could do In fifteen minutes, school would be out and he’d have to hustle to make it over to the St Louis cemetery for his next lesson with Grim

Nick turned to leave, but the coach stopped him "Tell you what, Gautier Why don’t you skip practice today and ?"

"Or what?" The coach’s tone had implied there was definitely an ultimatum in there

"You’re a so to jail and die "Can I ask a question?"

"What?"

"Why did you pickto lose If you died toround his teeth That wasn’t true His mother’s life would be shattered She’d never be the sao on, she wouldn’t He knew that And in that

How many lives one life touched Not alith a major impact, but in little ways

If he died, Liza would have to unload her deliveries alone Yes, she could do it without hi a fewwith him while he did it She looked forward to his visits Mennie wouldn’t have anyone to take out her trash or clean the yard Kyrian wouldn’t have someone who busted his chops, and Acheron wouldn’t have a hus It was the little things in life that really mattered

He leaned forward over the desk "There you’re wrong, Coach"

The coach looked up with a s sneer "How so?"

Nick returned that sneer with a pompous smile he was sure set the coach’s ire on fire "I assure you if your garbageup your trash, you’d miss them real fast and want thenificant Everyone has a purpose Even you"

Devus sputtered while Nick turned around and left him to it For the first ti the real world for what it was Like blinders had been ripped off his face and he saw the sunshine in all its natural glory

Beautiful Breathtaking

And even though he wasn’t certain about his future, for this one moment in time, he was thrilled to be alive

As soon as the bell sounded, Nick grabbed his backpack and headed for the cemetery to meet Grim Kody and Caleb had pretty e Guard Kody seeer was so potent, it scared hi on with the deht hi, he decided to leave the de at hi to walk the handful of blocks up to the cemetery, which rested on the northwest side of the Quarter, one block outside of it between Conti Street and St Louis on Basin The white plaster walls that surrounded it spanned an entire block and shielded the massive city of the dead, where more than a hundred thousand former New Orleanians had been laid to rest Some of the most notable people of the city were interred here