by Ivy Asher
Clearing my throat, I walk forward, putting up a confident, know-it-all front. “Don’t worry, he always does that,” I lie, motioning toward the sleeping troll. “Big guy needs a lot of naps because of his height to weight ratio and all that. It’s fine though, because she’s here.” I nod toward Zen, and the corner of her lips tilt up.
The sigbins, looking dumb with their heads cocked, begin to clap their ears together so that it sounds like some really awkward applause. “The cock alpha wants you?” the one with the shoulder-length hair asks, looking Zen up and down.
“Of course,” she says simply. “Now, are you going to get me the fuck out of this hell hole and into my alpha’s arms or what?”
The sigbins do their weird ear clapping thing again, but Greasy Hair shakes his head. “Wait. Nah. The one we was supposed to deliver was a shifter. Like the alpha.” All three pairs of eerie eyes skim over to me. “Like you,” he says, pointing.
Oh, shit.
I laugh, despite my spiking worry. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not me he wants. If you don’t deliver her, he’s going to be very angry at you for fucking this up. You definitely won’t get paid.”
The other two exchange nervous glances. “Oh, we better take her. I don’t wanna get that mean fucker mad, and we need the money,” Beard says, his eyes darting around like he’s afraid Alpha Bowen is gonna pop out of the shadows.
“Nah. I think she’s fuckin’ lyin’. Tryin’ to trick us.”
Beard and Three slowly digest this information. It takes...a while. But finally, after several seconds, they work out what that means and scowl. “You tryin’ to trick us, bitch?” Beard asks, stalking forward and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt.
Shit.
“No, fucker. Let me go!”
Sigbins might not be the smartest, but they’re strong, and those massive fangs are wicked sharp. Beard leans in, letting the end of his canine scrape threateningly against my throat. My heart pounds nervously. “We don’t like it when people try to trick us.”
“Yeah, makes us real...thirsty,” Three says as he and Greasy Hair circle around me.
Dammit, this is going downhill fast.
If I shift, this whole clandestine meeting will definitely not continue to go unnoticed. We’re lucky with the positions of the guard towers that we aren’t visible. But if I change into my fifteen-foot beast? Yeah, that’s gonna be visible. I got tased and put into solitary for shifting and smacking into some guards last time. I don’t even want to imagine what the Warden will do to me if he finds out I was part of a prison break, regardless of how involuntary that involvement is.
“We don’t fuckin’ like liars,” Greasy Hair says as he closes in on me.
“Let’s teach her a lesson,” Three adds, his ears clapping at the thought as his fangs start to drip with saliva.
Fuck that.
In a blink, I shift my fingers into my beast’s talons and swipe at Beard. He lets go of my shirt, and we both stumble back away from each other. His eyes widen as he takes in the red slash across the back of his hand. “You bitch!”
With the scent of blood in the air, the sigbins all begin to snarl, and fear dive bombs into my belly as aggression crawls up to roost in my chest. My beast starts to respond.
They snarl at me, and I flinch back, arms raised in front of me in anticipation of a full-blown attack that I’ll be forced to let my cockatrice deal with, but then Zen is suddenly between us, lotus flower glimmering bright. “Now, now, boys. Let’s stay...calm.”
Zen’s voice rings out like a ripple. It hits me at the base of the skull and reverberates up, up, up, until it feels like my soul is being cradled in a goddamn lullaby.
Everyone, me included, lets out a deep breath of relief. The sigbins stop in their tracks, the tenseness of their bodies draining out from fangs to feet. Slumping over slightly, their ears clap sluggishly, and they get a dazed look in their eyes, mouths agape.
Zen shakes her head at them. “Fucking sigbins,” she says under her breath with distaste before looking over her shoulder at me. She smirks when she sees my expression. “Sorry, Sinclair. I couldn’t hit them without hitting you too.”
I nod my head, trying to shake off the effects of her power. It packs a fucking punch. “Damn,” I say, licking my lazy lips. “You could make a fortune mellowing out college students during finals.”
She chuckles, and I walk up beside her, still feeling drunk, but not nearly as bad off as the sigbins. “Your power is fucking intense,” I tell her. “What else can you do?”
She lifts her shoulder into a shrug. “I can bring out any emotion, but I’m strongest with calming. And no one can do shit when they’re too calm to care,” she says with a smirk. “These bozos will be good for at least a few hours.”
“Impressive.”
She nods and looks over to the small opening in the dormer. “Well, I guess this is my exit,” she says. “You sure you don’t want to come?”
I shake my head. “It’s tempting, but I need to figure some stuff out before I go out there.” I’m under no illusions that I can evade Alpha Bowen on the outside.
“Okay then. I guess this is goodbye,” Zen says, holding out her hand. “Thanks for the escape, Sinclair Denali.”
I shake her hand with a pump. “You’re not, like...an ax murderess that I’m releasing out into the public, right?” I ask before dropping her hand. I’m only half-kidding.
Zen laughs. “Nope. Don’t you know? I’m innocent,” she says with a wink before turning to the sigbins. “Alright, boys. Lead the way out. But we’re going to do something fun and not meet up with the Alpha, okay?” she says, nudging Greasy Hair’s boot with her foot.
At her direction, they all turn, glassy-eyed, and start trudging toward the doorway.
Before she leaves, I quickly run up and squeeze Zen in a hug. “Thank you,” I breathe into her ear. She pats me awkwardly on the back, and I pull away. “Not a hugger?”
She snorts. “No.”
“I am,” I reply unashamedly.
She gives me a wry smile. “I know. I’ve heard your vagina has been hugging PG Rook’s cock.”
I shake my head. Of course she knows. “What can I say? When it’s good, it’s good,” I state with a shrug.
“From the sound of things, it must be very good,” she teases.
“Wait. You’re telling me you have super hearing too?” I demand.
She laughs and shakes her head. “Emotions, remember? I can get just about anyone to tell me everything. Every. Single. Detail,” she says pointedly.
I swallow down my embarrassment at the thought of her getting all the dirty specifics. “Okay. Noted for future reference. In case I ever see you again.”
“You won’t,” she says, shaking her head. “Not if everything goes right, anyway. I’m getting out of here and hiding up on my own private island for the next eighty years with some hot cabana boys.”
“Good plan, but you’re sure you can deal with the alpha?”
Another wry look comes my way. “I’m sure. Besides, it’ll be these dumbasses who have to deal with his wrath, not me. He must be getting desperate to be putting out an open bounty for idiots like this to come and collect you. And besides, if shit hits the fan somehow, I can calm anyone down enough to slip away,” she tells me, tapping on her tattoo.
“Handy power.”
“Yep,” she says, taking a step back. “Don’t worry about me. It’s you he wants to deal with.”
I wrinkle my nose. “You make it sound dirty.”
She grins. “Take care of the squad while I’m gone. And don’t take anyone’s shit.”
“I won’t,” I tell her.
“Take care of yourself, Sinclair.”
I give her a little wave before she turns and crouches through the dormer doorway, all three sigbins following after her. “Hey,” I call to Three. He stops and looks over at me. “Tell Alpha Bowen that Sinclair is really enjoying the thread count of those sheets,” I say, knowi
ng that the taunting words will fuck with him once he realizes his cronies broke out the wrong prisoner.
“Huh?” the dumb sigbin says.
I sigh. “Never mind.”
His head is so full of holes and calm power that he can’t even deliver an immature taunt for me. It’s a wonder they managed to break into the prison at all, but that has to be due solely to their excellent tracking skills and their ability to see in the dark.
Once they disappear through the entrance that leads who the fuck knows where, I shove the opening shut by bracing my feet on the roof and pushing with all my strength, heaving my shoulder and arm into it until I manage to slide it into place.
I shake my head at Joe, giving him my best I’m disappointed in your behavior look. When he wakes up, he and I are going to have a major discussion about not trying to break out your fellow squad member from prison unless they ask you to. It’s just basic manners.
I leave him to sleep on the roof as I walk back to the door. Knowing Zen’s amount of power, it’ll be hours before he wakes up, and I’m not about to stick around here and give the guards a reason to tase me.
I slip through the exit and make my way back down the steps and into the maze that awaits below. Meeting the bottom of the stairs, I look around with a sigh. I turn in a circle, dread pooling in my stomach at the snarl of dark passageways that I don’t recognize in the slightest. I have no idea which one leads me back to my cell.
Fuck.
13
Yeah, I’m lost.
I’ve been wandering for hours.
The hallways and doors just never fucking end, and I see some really fucked up things down here in this labyrinth of doom.
I know for sure I’m not in the part of Nightmare Penitentiary where I belong with the other minor criminals who are just here for a slap on a wrist and a short sentence. That fact becomes abundantly clear as I pass by some of the corridors.
I see a passageway guarded by hellhounds. I see a barred, pure silver door with someone inside banging so hard it feels like the whole place is gonna collapse around it. I back away from blades swinging from ceilings and spiked floors blocking red-glowing doorways. I spot a weird fucking ghoul-ghost thing haunting a vent, and blood pooling beneath a windowsill.
Nope. Definitely not in my nice, above-level, minor criminal part of the prison.
After wandering around, I try to backtrack and go back to the roof, deciding it’s worth the threat of being tased to just wait until Joe wakes up so he can lead me to my cell. Except...I can’t fucking find that either. I should’ve dropped proverbial breadcrumbs to lead my way home like a good little Hansel and Gretel, instead of just blindly walking and hoping for the best.
I start to get worried when my mouth grows dry and my stomach clamps down with hunger. My feet are fucking dead, and my thighs still hurt from those damn stairs. I must’ve walked for half a day now.
How fucking big is this prison?
I pass an arched entryway that leads to what looks like yet another empty corridor, but just when I walk past, a blood curdling screaming starts up. I jump and release my own scream as fear and the fight or flight instinct pumps through my whole body.
I feel like I’m stuck in the worst possible haunted maze ever. The Warden should use this place as a solid revenue stream every Halloween. People would pay good money to be this scared and traumatized.
My cockatrice unfurls inside of me in response to my panic, and I focus on scurrying away from the screaming and try to calm my beast down. I can’t afford to have her exploding out of me and getting us wedged in this hallway of horrors that’s way too small to fit her.
I take deep breaths and scurry down a dark corridor that leads the opposite way of the terrifying shrieks. I walk for about five minutes and then pause when I realize that it seems to get darker the further down I move.
Shit on my tail feathers.
At this rate, I’m going to fucking die down here. If something doesn’t reach out and eat me, dehydration and starvation will do it. There’s also a serious chance I might actually just get scared to death with the shit going on down here. My entire body is trembling, despite the fact that I’m trying to buck myself up and keep a brave face. But seriously, this place is terrifying.
I need to get out of here!
Of course, right in the middle of my panic is when I hear a faint clicking of nails on stone. Horror yanks on the reins of my body. I try to hold my breath and listen, but suddenly, all I can hear is the sound of my frightened pulse pounding in my ears with a very faint background noise of what I’m pretty sure is something moving closer to me.
Oh God. I’m too young to die!
A whimper starts in my chest, but I bite it back down.
Oh no you don’t, body! You shut that shit down. There will be no scared noises giving us away and getting us eaten like the secondary character in the opening of a horror flick. Not today.
I breathe through the dread-filled anxiety and just stand there as the noise gets closer. I don’t freeze in fear, because freezing in fear is for scaredy cats and dragon shifters. I’m just...protecting myself. Waiting it out all level-headed like, in case the monster lurking down the pitch-black hallway happens to be a T. rex and my movement allows it to pinpoint my location. Yep. That’s definitely what I’m doing. I’m saving myself from T. rex eyes, totally not scared stiff and shaking in the middle of the dark hallway of death.
The nails click even louder on the stone, and I know it’s close. Any minute now, a horror so bad my mind can’t even conjure an image will come scuffling out of the shadows and into the light and kill me right here and now.
Dammit, I should’ve fucked Rook so many more times than I did.
Why did I waste our precious time together being mad at him when I could’ve been in a myriad of positions, enjoying all of the things he likes to do to my body?
Stupid move, Sinclair.
I should’ve told him that I like him...a fucking lot. I should’ve made it clear that I’ve never been drawn to someone like I’ve been drawn to him, and then I should’ve twerked all over his mouth while showing him the special set of skills I have when it comes to really getting down and dirty and sucking a cock’s cock. He has no idea just what my tongue can do, I barely licked him, and it’s all my fault.
I’m on the cusp of promising every deity I’ve ever heard of that I’ll build a sweet temple of worship and make whatever sacrifices required if one of them plucks me from this hallway and relocates me directly in front of Rook so I can show him all my tongue tricks and tell him how I feel, when all of a sudden, something comes scampering out of the dark.
I jump back, my warrior cry coming out more like a terrified girl squeal as I plaster myself against the wall, my eyes blinking wide at the terror that rose from the shadows. This is it! This is how it ends.
Except...
That’s...that’s a mouse.
Breathing hard, I stare at the tiny rodent whose nails are clicking over the stone, confirming that the sound I heard was this little creature and not Bloody Mary coming to drag me to hell.
I snort and sigh in relief.
“Oh fuck,” I pant. “You sounded a lot scarier coming from the black abyss,” I say, looking down at it while I try to calm my racing heart.
I shake my head at myself and watch as the ginger rust-colored fur ball with its white face skitters past me. It heads in the direction I just came from, and I scoop it up in a flash. “Whoop, I don’t think you want to go that way, Rusty. I’ve seen some shit that way,” I say as I hold it up to my face.
There’s a distinct look of intelligence in its black eyes, and I take a deep sniff, just to make sure I’m not manhandling a shifter. Smells like a mouse to me. It sits up on its hind legs in the middle of my palm and starts cleaning its front paws. One of them is white, and I watch as it carefully washes itself to keep it as snowy as ever.
“I bet that’s a bitch to keep clean in this place,” I observe as the little
mouse just goes about its bath, while I watch like some creeper.
I give it a little pet in between its ears and then set it down on the ground. Rusty looks at me for a beat and then starts moving in the direction that I just came from again.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I call after it.
I swear on my tail feathers that the mouse stops, looks back at me, and then motions with its head and tail, like, are you coming or what, bitch?
Uhh...
I give the little guy the side-eye, because there is no way that just happened. It’s official. I’ve lost my fucking mind. The mouse sighs at me. It fucking sighs! Like it’s over people always having this kind of reaction to it.
Then, once again, it motions with its head for me to follow it. I debate for exactly three milliseconds and then do exactly that. Fuck Lassie. Rusty’s going to lead the way home.
I hope.
Either that, or my delusional ass is walking right into the mouth of a fucking carnivorous swamp monster or something. It’ll be asleep, and I’ll just walk right into its mouth and be like, breakfast is served! All because I followed a mouse with an imaginary head nod to my death.
“No swamp monsters, okay, Rusty?” I tell him, cringing at how my quiet voice seems to echo for ages down the hallways and make it even creepier down here.
The little nugget of orange fur just trots along, taking every corridor like a pro as it veers left, right, and straight down the maze of hallways. I follow behind, taking so many turns that I can’t even keep track. Every time it squeaks, I’m convinced it’s trying to talk to me. I’ve never wanted to know what a mouse is saying so badly in my whole life. Occasionally, Rusty’s little pink nose scrunches up, and it stands up on its haunches, like it’s counting or something before it deems the coast is clear and starts walking again.
Please, don’t let this end with me in Swamp Thing’s mouth!
I try to keep my breathing even and ignore all the sore muscles in my body that are screaming at me. This wandering life is not for me. I’m more of a five-minute trot around the backyard and then veg out on the couch for the rest of the day kinda girl.