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by Jaymin Eve
Time to remind them all I was an emotional dweller.
“Which one of you sols is going to tell me what the freaking hell just happened right then?” Going on the attack felt natural. “How in the hell did a god just walk out of Topia and talk to us? What the hell is this weather—storm—thingy? What the hell are you five hiding that means you can walk into Topia … and you know about the god’s colours … and what the HELL?”
I might have been yelling toward the end there, which might have caused lots of huffing and puffing when I finished. Damn, I needed to get into shape. Clearly making beds was not enough to build stamina.
As I heaved, five sets of eyes observed me, each sparkling unnaturally in the darkness around us. Was it possible that these sols were extra-special? Sure, they had told me that they were, but I figured that it was just their arrogance speaking. I hadn’t really taken them that seriously.
Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention.
And why wasn’t anyone answering me?
I was about to go crazy-dweller on them again when the sky opened above us and Rau followed through on his storm promise. I was scooped up by someone, and then we were running. It was only the hint of gold and the summery scent of burning sugar wrapping around me that told me it was Aros. He tucked me close to his body so that no trees smashed into my limbs, and then they were full-on sprinting.
“We need to get to higher ground!” Siret shouted. He looked to be out the front, leading the way. “I know a spot!”
Higher ground? It never rained enough in Minatsol to worry about water rising above the ground. I was starting to think that I knew nothing about this world, or the gods. I probably should have paid better attention in class; Emmy surely knew all of this.
It was almost pitch black around us now, and since we were running at a full sprint, through a tightly knit forest, it was pretty scary. I could barely even focus on the trees flashing past us, and the knowledge that I was probably going to be smashed against one soon was enough to have my face pressing into Aros’s chest. A girl could get used to being pressed against an Abcurse chest whenever the world decided to go insane. One benefit to all the shitty drama they brought into my life. I sensed they were talking above my head, but by this stage, I was too tired and cold to even listen. I had been walking for almost a full sun-cycle, which was something I was sure I had never done before, and now my body was punishing me for it. My ears refused to work, so I let my mind drift off.
I must have dozed off fully, because obviously a crazy storm and being lost in Minatsol was the perfect situation to get comfortable enough in to have a little nap. I was going to blame the exaggerated forty million miles we’d walked that sun-cycle. It had nothing to do with Aros and the comfort of his strong arms.
As I opened my eyes, I realised that it was still dark and cold outside, but the cave we were in was awash with warmth from a huge fire right in the centre of the round area. A rock wall was on my right side, warmth pressing along my left. Shifting my head, I saw the silky strands of golden-black hair: Siret. From what I could see over his huge body, next to him were his brothers—well the other two parts to the trio anyway. It didn’t look as if Coen and Rome were in the cave with us. Hopefully they hadn’t been abducted by angry gods, or smashed against a tree.
As I shifted slightly, I realised that I needed a bathroom break. Immediately. My bladder was at the bursting point. I wiggled around to get my hands on the rough ground—my head was pillowed on a shirt, which thankfully was not mine. I still wore Aros’ shirt, and it was now dry and toasty warm. Realising there was not enough space on either side of me to get up without using Siret for leverage, I attempted to use my stomach muscles to pull myself up. Of course, I didn’t really have any stomach muscles, so all I managed to do was flap around like an idiot.
A heavy arm draped across me and I almost peed myself. Come on, gods. This is so not funny. A flash of light from outside drew my attention and before I could say anything, the three sols around me were up on their feet and standing in front of me. I understood why the moment the red robes came into view.
Rau stood there, no expression on his face, just the tiniest of fires burning in his eyes. “I will have my Beta,” was all he said, and as Aros, Yael, and Siret started for him, he shot out a blast of energy that materialised in front of him as a sphere of loosely-held smoke. It rose above us all, circling around the top of the cave, lit from within the sphere by some kind of milky, glowing light. My eyes took a while to adjust to the glare, and even though I was terrified, I stumbled forward in the hope that I could help the Abcurses if they were in trouble. This glow couldn’t kill them, right? What was it even doing? Their huge shadows were all I had to aim for, so I headed toward the one shaped like Siret, since he was the closest.
The intensity of the glow shot up again, and I was worried that my current blindness was moments from becoming permanent. I continued pushing my way forward, hoping that I wasn’t about to stumble into the fire.
There was a roar in the direction of the doorway, and this one I recognised as Rome. The giant sol was not happy, and I would not like to be in his way when he lost it. I kind of hoped that Rau got crushed. Deciding I needed to get to Siret sooner, I started to sprint, which of course had my feet tripping up against some of the spare firewood, propelling my body forward and sending me flying into the darkness. Because of the momentum I had built up sprinting to get to Siret, I managed to launch impressively high into the air, my body sailing across the cave, the glare of light becoming so intense that even with my eyes squeezed tightly closed, I was still blinded. My mind reacted by trying to repel the force, shutting down all of my senses. I had only half a click to see Siret’s horrified face. He was reaching for me, but it was too late.
A surge of something hot pierced my heart, branding me painfully as my breath was cut off. I tried to choke back some air as I began losing height, plummeting toward the ground, but there was no air to be had. I prepared myself for impact; I should have hit the ground long ago, but for some reason my fall continued on.
Why couldn’t I breathe? And why did my chest feel like something had sliced it in two, and now a hot branding iron was slowly burning a path through my heart? Had I been hit with a god-bolt or something? Was there such a thing as a god-bolt?
“Willa!”
Someone was shouting my name, but it scarcely registered as I continued to slowly die, or whatever was happening to me. When my body finally hit the ground, I was barely conscious enough to even feel the impact. It didn’t even feel that rocky, and it smelled good. Like summer sun-cycles.
Aros …
Well, at least if I was going to die, I was going to do it in the arms of a golden sol. With that thought, my heart stuttered one last time and then everything went dark.
Shouting was the first thing my subconscious registered. “How did Rau even make it past you two?” Yael was angrier than I had ever heard before, his voice thundering around the room.
I was afraid to open my eyes and bring attention to myself. What happened? Had I fallen asleep again? Why did my chest ache and crap … Rau had been there! And a weird, glowing smoke-ball. The Abcurses had been about to fight him, and I had … tripped? Fallen? Did I fly?
My eyes snapped open and I was up on my feet in an instant. Everything spun around me but that didn’t stop me from scanning my surroundings, my heart rate only settling when I realised there were five sols standing in a wall of muscle across the front of the cave. Rau had not hurt any of them. Safe. My Abcurses were safe. I mean—someone else’s Abcurses. Their mother’s Abcurses.
They all had their backs to me, forming a line of defence between me and the outside world. Aros, Yael, and Coen were shirtless now, and I realised I had been laid across the soft surface of their clothing. Looking down at myself, I blinked a few times as I tried to remember what had happened after I had tripped over the firewood.
My hand dropped to rest against my chest, right above my heart
. The pain had been excruciating, I wasn’t surprised that my mind had blocked it out. Right then, as the memories crashed back into me, my stomach heaved and I leaned over to dispel whatever small amounts of food had been left in my body. Thankfully it had been awhile between meals, so there wasn’t much for me to lose.
I felt the five Abcurses as they moved toward me … what the crap? I literally could feel them. In my chest, their energy moved closer and I had no idea how that was possible. As soon as they were around me, the pain stopped. One moment I was suffering, and the next, I was standing confusedly, feeling completely normal.
“Rocks?” Siret’s hand was on the back of my neck, turning me around to face him. “You okay?”
He was holding out one of the shirts from the ground and a hollowed-out rock filled with water. I didn’t ask about the rock. It held the perfect imprint of a pair of knuckles. So I wasn’t getting into a fight with Rome anytime soon.
“Thanks,” I muttered, taking the rock and the shirt.
I wasn’t sure what the shirt was for, but I made good use of the water to wash out my mouth, before walking past them to the entrance of the cave. I needed fresh air. I needed to see that the world was still whole and beautiful, and not burning to the ground in a fit of godly rage. I took a few steps and then stopped as a small thrum of pain fissured through my chest. I frowned, dropping the shirt and curling all of my fingers around the rock, as though I needed something to brace myself with. I took another step, and it happened again. I sucked in a deep breath and shook my head, hurrying to the mouth of the cave. The pain grew worse, and then it suddenly disappeared. Aros was at my side.
“Do you feel any different?” he asked me, his stunning features dark with emotion.
Maybe he was concerned, or suspicious. Maybe he was trying to determine whether Rau’s ball of smoke and light had altered me in a dangerous way. The question was … if it had, what were they going to do about it? Would they put me down, like a rogue bullsen?
“I’m sore,” I admitted, shaking my head and turning away from him.
I should have known that blocking him out wasn’t a thing that would happen. He simply plucked me from my feet, pulling me against his body, and turned his face back to the inside of the cave.
“Let’s go,” he announced. “We should get her back to Blesswood and have someone look at her.”
“We can’t involve anyone else in this,” Coen returned, appearing in my line of sight and taking the lead. “No one can know about Rau and … and what happened.”
Aros fell into step behind him. “I wasn’t talking about that. She might have bruised ribs or something. She might get sick. We have no idea what he hit her with.”
Coen didn’t reply, but I wasn’t even listening anymore. I was facing Aros, my chin tucked against his shoulder, my hands looped behind his neck. The knuckle-imprinted rock was banging lightly between his shoulder blades with every step. I didn’t want to let it go for some reason. He was holding me with one arm, his hand settling into my waist as he stuck me against his front, a little off to the side so that he could walk easily. My legs were just kind of dangling. I considered wrapping them around his waist, just to be a little more comfortable, but decided against it. I was too numb to do anything. Too numb to ask questions. Not that it stopped them from springing up inside my head.
What the hell was that ball of light and smoke?
I ran into it, didn’t I?
It hit me in the chest, didn’t it?
Am I going to die now?
“No, you’re not going to die,” Yael growled.
My eyes flew open, connecting with his. He was walking behind Aros, his expression as dark as everyone else’s seemed to be.
Shit, was I asking those questions out loud?
“Yeah,” Siret answered.
I frowned, moving to clap a hand over my mouth. Only problem was, the knuckle-imprinted stone was still in my hand. Yael jumped forward, plucking the stone out of my hand when it was less than an inch away from smashing into my nose.
“Try not to make it worse,” he begged.
“That’s mine.” I pointed to the stone.
He looked down at the stone, his eyebrows arching. “Sure, Rocks. I won’t steal your rock. I’ll just keep it safe until it no longer presents a danger to your face.”
I nodded, once, satisfied. Aros’s chest rumbled a little, a laugh barely audible as we walked. I rested my chin against his shoulder again, snuggling closer. Blame the exhaustion. His free hand landed on the back of my thigh, holding me a little more securely. I fought the urge to wrap my legs around him yet again, but then decided that there wasn’t much point in fighting it. I was already growing attached to these sols. Maybe it was because I secretly wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be badass and superior too. I wanted to take on the gods and have a super-power. I wanted them to give me a nickname based on my super-power, instead of based on the fact that I was always falling over.
Or …
Or maybe it was all the near-death experiences. I supposed that could form an attachment of sorts. Whatever it was, I was giving up fighting it. They could kick me out of the group if they wanted to. They could push me onto my ass and leave me behind. But maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they would keep me and teach me how to be badass while saving me from getting killed by all the other sols out there who definitely wouldn’t appreciate my newfound badass persona.
I locked my arms tighter around Aros’s neck, pulling my legs up around his waist. The hand on my thigh helped automatically, slipping further down, near my ass, to hold me up. He stopped walking, his chest rumbling again. This time, it wasn’t a laugh. It was a growl.
I was wrenched away from him suddenly, passed into another set of arms. I wasn’t even sure if I had been stolen, or if Aros had handed me off.
“Not a good idea, Rocks, pushing a guy with a seduction gift.” Coen’s voice shot through me, pooling heat into places that heat had no right pooling into. Okay, what the hell was going on?
“He’s a big boy,” I grumbled. “He can handle it.”
That was probably the truth, but it wasn’t really the issue in that moment. The issue was … could I handle it?
Ten
I was trying to ignore a very big problem. It took us another sun-cycle to get back to Blesswood, and in that time, there was always one of the Abcurse brothers by my side. Usually it was because they were carrying me, since it was faster to travel that way and they wouldn’t need to stop for too many breaks. I had ventured off on my own for a few clicks, though. We had stopped for a few rotations to rest, and I had been busting for the bathroom again. Since all hell had broken loose the last time I had been busting for the bathroom, I was understandably wary as I made my way through the trees, trying to find a private spot. The problem was, the further I travelled, the more my chest began to throb. Very soon, it was too painful for me to go any further. The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been the previous sun-cycle, but as soon as I finished my business and made my way back to the others, it lessened.
When I touched one of them, resting my arm against Siret’s as I curled back onto the ground, it disappeared completely. I stored the information away, turning it over and over in my mind.
I didn’t want to tell them on the off-chance that they used it against me, but the need to say something was becoming increasingly more and more urgent as we fought through the trees back into Blesswood. It went completely against my nature not to push out of Coen’s arms and stalk away from them. I wanted to find Emmy and get my lecture out of the way before delivering myself to the healer, if dwellers were even allowed to see the Blesswood healers. But I couldn’t, because I knew, on some level, that the pain of being away from them would cripple me.
Which definitely was not normal. That went beyond the bond formed between people who saved each other’s lives. That had everything to do with Rau and his creepy smoke-ball of light. Still, Coen apparently knew me well enough to know that the normal me w
ould soon demand to be set on her feet, and so he let me down. I ignored the small pinch in my chest and started to stride ahead of them. It didn’t last long, because my dweller legs were super short. They had overtaken me in about three clicks and then I was jogging to keep up with them.
We passed into the back building of Blesswood, the Abcurses barging past other sols as though they owned the whole property, and me hurrying to dodge the stunned people who turned to watch them go. I didn’t know where they were going, so it surprised me when they burst right into the dining hall. It was completely empty, but the kitchens were bustling with activity, so it must have been close to dinner time. They sat around their table and I hovered behind, absolutely despising this new dynamic where I was just forced to follow them around like a lost little cub.
Siret noticed me still standing there and moved over a seat, holding out the chair between him and Aros. I shook my head. He reached over to me, gripping my forearm and dragging me into the chair. I landed heavily, a sighing grumble sounding in the back of my throat. I needed to convince one of them to take me to a healer. Something needed to be done about this forced co-dependency.
“You going to enrol me in classes, too?” I asked Siret, my tone dry and slightly annoyed.
He smirked, turning on me. “What? You don’t want to be one of us, dirt-dweller?”
I scowled, narrowing my eyes at him. “No.” Yes.
He shook his head at me. “Make up your mind.”
“I said no.”
“You also said yes.”
“No, I didn’t!”
Aros leaned over, his breath against my cheek. “You did,” he confirmed. “But it’s okay. You’re one of us now. We said we’d protect you if you stole us the cup, and now we will. You becoming an Abcurse is the only way that’s going to happen.”