The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

sisters,” Jace replied. “The cult I was forced into when I was a child made me learn. As the wife of the Great Prophet it was considered one of my duties. As was smiling . . . and talking . . . and being loyal.”
    Holding the top of the seeded wheat bun over the sandwich, Ski looked up in shock, his gaze meeting Gundo’s. They stared at each other until Bear asked, “You were in a cult?”
    â€œSince I was ten.”
    â€œWhat cult?” Gundo asked.
    â€œThe Patient Dove Congregation out of the Valley.”
    Ski dropped the bun top onto the sandwich before leaning in and asking, “The group the Feds referred to as ‘Another Waco about to happen’? That cult?”
    She nodded, the second water bottle still gripped in her hand.
    Borgsten pointed a finger at Jace and said, “You’re the wife that leader guy tried to kill. He buried you in the backyard.”
    â€œHe buried my corpse in the backyard. The ATF caught him while he was tossing dirt on me. Skuld brought me back . . . and I woke up cranky.”
    Ski’s brothers stared at her for a long time until Bear asked, “Do you know Aramaic?”
    â€œYes. Plus, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, several of the romance languages. Ancient Egyptian. Some African languages like Setswana and Hausa, but I read those better than I speak them. Most of the Slavic languages, reading and speaking. And since I’ve been with the Crows, the fundamentals of the Scandinavian languages, which wasn’t too hard because I already knew German; and I’ve been taught to curse in Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and since Kera arrived, Tagalog. At some point I hope to get to Cantonese and Mandarin. I asked Chloe about it, but she’s, like, third-generation Chinese American and she just stared blankly at me. And that’s when I realized I’d be better off taking a class at UCLA . . . preferably without her.”
    â€œThose people you attacked the other day . . .” Gundo said, staring at her. “The ones everyone are talking about, they were from that cult, weren’t they?”
    â€œYes. They were.”
    â€œBecause why else would you beat them up?”
    â€œEveryone else thinks I killed them.”
    Gundo snorted. “No. You suddenly snap and start killing random people, the Crows will put you down themselves.” When Jace stared at him, a little confused, he added, “The Crows don’t talk about it, but they don’t tolerate that level of crazy. So when the rumor spread through the Clans that you wiped out an entire old folks’ home—”
    â€œOh, come on!”
    â€œâ€”we all took it with a grain of salt.”
    Bear suddenly pointed what seemed to be a damning finger at Jace and said with grave concern, “We might have some extra work for you translating things when you’re done with the Russian books.”
    Jace jerked slightly, as if she’d been expecting him to say something else. Then she nodded and replied, “Okay.”
    Bear nodded. “You’re not as worthless as I thought you’d be, Crow.”
    Ski placed the food in front of Jace. “Bear meant that as a compliment.”
    Appearing mildly confused, she replied, “Yes. I know.” She paused, then added, “What else would it be?”
    Â 
    â€œJacinda?”
    â€œI’m not hungry,” she told the persistent Protector. Earlier the man had actually come to her and asked if she’d “used the bathroom in the last three hours.”
    What kind of question was that? And why was he so concerned?
    Of course, with him staring down at her with those big green eyes, she’d finally gotten up to use the toilet, only to discover she really did have to urinate. Then she’d heard not-as-funny-as-he-thinks-he-is Gundo remark, “We may have to get that one a diaper to prevent accidents.”
    Har-har-har.
    But, Jace was forced to admit, she did like