Tortured: Book Three of the Jason and Azazel Trilogy by V. J. Chambers Page B

gagged
him again, even though he begged me not to. When I left him, I felt dirty
somehow, like I needed to take a shower to scrub off the inhuman part of me. I
told myself that being tied up and gagged in a basement was better than dead. Jude
should be grateful.

Palomino's mother had sent her some money for a prom dress. She wanted me to
come shopping for one with her. Our school wasn't too far from
Milan
, and I had to admit there was something
appealing about going shopping for a prom dress in the fashion capital of the
world. Palomino had a car. A good portion of the kids at school had them, but
students were forbidden to use their cars except on the weekends. So Palomino
and I took off for
Milan
.  

We did our shopping in the square near the Duomo, which was an awe-inspiring
cathedral that looked like something out of a fairy tale. Built of light gray
stone, with at least fifty intricate spires reaching for the heavens, it was
impossible to look away from. It simply didn't look real. I wanted to go
inside, since it was a major tourist attraction. However, for Palomino, the
Duomo was old hat. She'd seen it too many times to count and didn't seem the
least bit affected by it. She had to pull me away as I stood staring at it,
open mouthed.

Even though
Milan
is the fashion capital of the world, not all of the stores around the Duomo
were priced in the stratosphere. Of course, Palomino wanted to visit those, but
when I told her my budget for my prom dress, she took me to a more
reasonably-priced store instead. "Actually," she said, "I should
get one here too and save the rest of the money my mom gave me. You know, for
the baby."

The store had various levels. Formal dresses were on the top floor. After we
climbed the steps, I began sifting through the dresses on the racks.
"Mina," I said, "seriously, what are you going to do about this?
If you do manage to hide the fact you're pregnant from everyone, they're still
going to know when you, like, have a baby."

"Yeah," she said. "I know." She held up a hot pink
strapless dress with black polka dots. "What do you think of this?"

"Um . . . it's very  
Pretty in Pink
, I guess," I said.

"Yeah, it's ugly," she said, putting it back on the rack. She pulled
out a long shimmery green dress with spaghetti straps.

"Pretty," I said.

"You try it on," she said.

"You saw it first," I said.

"Azazel, try on the dress. Let's try to have some fun girl time for
once."  

Right. Fun girl time. When
Jude was sitting in a basement tied up and bloody, and my roommate was pregnant
with my little brother's bastard child. Okay. She held the dress out to me.  

"What size is it?" I said, sighing.  

"Oh, who can understand this ridiculous Italian sizing? It says it's huge,
but it's made for dwarves, so don't worry about it and try it on."

I took the dress and went into the dressing room.  

It was low cut and bunchy around my waist. I surveyed myself in the mirror.
"I don't think so," I said.

"Let me see," said Palomino.

"No, it's bad."

"Show me!"

I emerged from the dressing room. Palomino was waiting for me in a long black
dress with a halter top and an empire waist.  

"That dress is awesome on you!" I exclaimed.  

"Thanks," she said. "I wanted something that would hide my
belly."

I rolled my eyes. "Mina, prom is in a week. What kind of belly do you
think you're going to have?"

"I already have one!" she exclaimed.  

"You do not!"  

"Besides," she said. "This dress is cheap. My parents give me
money for all kinds of things, like dresses and stuff. If I don't spend it all
and save it, and maybe if I sell my car, then, when they find out about the
baby and they kick me out on the street, maybe Chance and I can . . ."

I hugged her. "You don't really think your parents are going to throw you
out, do you?"

She shrugged. "They're going to be really, really mad, Azazel."

"That sucks." My parents would never have done something like that to
me. Of course, they'd tried to