Heart of Tartarus

by Lucy Smoke

  "We don't want anything to do with you," the tattooed giant is the one that answers me, his voice a magnetic, smoky tone.

  "Then why are you after me?" I demand.

  "We're contracted to pick you up and drop you off," Haze says from behind me. I turn again, until I have all four of them in my sights, my back against the alley wall. "In this instance, we're not so different from you. We're just delivery boys."

  "Yeah, well, you're shit at your job." Obviously not if they've caught up to me so quickly, but it feels good to say. Not even a single part of me is surprised that Morgan sold me out—and it's pretty clear this is what all his vague mumbo jumbo was about. That's the risk I took, and this is the price I'll pay.

  "No, we're not." Levi smirks. "But don't worry; we'll treat you like the precious cargo you are."

  Before I can even manage to get out a shout—not that anyone would come to help—Thayer strides forward and manages to pin my arms to my sides while, once again, Haze shoves a needle in my neck and the world disappears around me, falling behind a curtain of black.

  "Do you think you gave her too much?" someone asks.

  "I had to make sure she'd stay passed out long enough for us to move her," comes the reply.

  My head is filled with cobwebs, nasty little spiders that followed people here from Earth's surface crawling over my thoughts, spinning their webs thicker and thicker. My ears begin to clog up again.

  "He's not going to be happy if this affects her badly," the first voice says.

  "Neither of them will be," the second agrees.

  I don't have time to wonder who they're talking about as I slide back into oblivion, disappearing into those webs.

  The next time I wake, I'm sitting up, slumped over in a chair with my hands cuffed behind my back.

  Ugh, I think. More handcuffs. Not really seeing a point in pretending to be asleep, I shake my head and peek my eyes open, slowly leaning back. Sharp aches in my neck scream at me, telling me that I've been in this position for a while. When I finally force myself to sit all the way up, I see that the room I'm in is empty.

  It's another pod room, a bedroom perhaps, but there's no indication that anyone lives here, or even sleeps here. The only thing in the room is a stand by the door with a big metal bowl filled with water and the chair I'm sitting in. The window is behind me; otherwise I'd be able to tell if it's night or day. As it is, I'm facing the door when it slowly opens and Levi backs into the room, humming a tune under this breath with a tray in his hands. He turns, eyes widening with something I can't quite understand when he sees that I'm awake.

  “Good morning, little Troublemaker.” He grins as he sets the tray on the stand by the door next to the metal bowl.

  “Why do you keep calling me that? I’m not the one chasing innocent people through the streets of Tartarus,” I reply.

  He raises one copper eyebrow, the grin never leaving his lips. “There are innocent people still living in Tartarus?”

  I close my mouth. He's right. Most people on Tartarus are violence loving cons. I may not love violence, but I'm used to it. I've grown up around it all my life. Unlike Levi, the Basranian.

  The door opens again and this time someone new steps in. He's tall, though not quite as tall as the tattooed giant from before. His skin is a darker bronze, suggesting that his ancestry favors sun-kissed complexions, and his dark, soil-brown eyes watch me with calculating intelligence. I fight the urge to squirm in my chair.

  When he speaks, his voice is sharp and to the point. "Kida Washington," he addresses me, and my eyes widen when I hear her last name. I glance back at Levi who has taken a step back, leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed. He's no longer smiling but he doesn't look quite as serious as the newcomer.

  "That is your name, is it not?" the man asks, drawing my attention once more.

  I keep my mouth shut. He's not deterred, instead choosing to nod to Levi who opens the door and leaves, coming back with another chair. The man takes it and thanks him quietly before adjusting it and lowering to sit across from me so that we're face to face in a way that doesn't make me look up at him.

  "Why did you run?" he asks. "According to my information, you should know who sent us. It makes no sense for you to run."

  "Your information?" I ask. Perhaps if I really were Kida rather than just plain ol' Cassandra Walker, I wouldn't have run. But I'm not really Kida, and now I'm wondering just what my stupid charade has gotten me into.

  "Yes, my information and my information is never wrong. So, tell me who you are, because you most certainly are not Kida Washington, are you?"

  Behind him, Levi's eyes widen, and he straightens away from the wall. "What the fuck, Noaz?" He directs his focus to the man sitting in front of me. "She isn't the girl?"

  "I don't believe so," the man—Noaz—replies without taking his eyes away from me.

  "Shit." Levi runs a flat hand through his hair, pausing to yank at a chunk of it in frustration. "What does that mean then? Do we start over? What about her?" he gestures to me.

  "First, we're going to find out why she's been masquerading as Kida Washington, then we'll figure out the rest in due time. Don't worry."

  Noaz's tone remains aloof and though his emotions are muted, I can tell there is a comfort between the two of them, a comradeship. When Levi takes a rough breath, glancing once at me before nodding and moving back to his position against the wall with a frown on his face, I know it's more than that. It's not just a comradeship, these guys are a team and Noaz seems to be the leader—at least, over Levi. I don't know yet about the others.

  "Now, back to that question." Noaz taps his fingers on his legs, drawing my eyes to the rough and well-worn cargo pants he's wearing.

  Who are these guys? I think. And what do they want with Kida?

  I pinch my lips closed for a moment before relaxing and shrugging nonchalantly. "I don't know what you want me to say? That I'm not Kida?"

  "It's who you claimed to be," he replies. "We both know that's not true."

  "No, you don't know," I correct. "I know exactly who I am and whether or not I'm Kida."

  "You're not," he states, dark eyes watching me. I can't tell if he's angry or merely curious.

  "You don't know that," I say. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

  "And where exactly would you be?"

  I smirk. "If I answer that, then you'll know either way."

  He nods his head before sliding away, leaning into the chair's back, his feet braced apart on the floor in front of me. "You're smart. I'm surprised. It makes me think you truly are Kida, even if the information I have doesn't quite agree with that."

  I frown, insulted. "Why are you surprised?"

  "If you're not Kida, then it's obvious you've grown up here on Tartarus. This place isn't known for breeding geniuses."

  "So, I'm a genius, am I?"

  When he chuckles, it's a low reverberating sound that slithers along my skin, waking nerves I haven't felt in months, not since the real Kida was around. "Maybe not a genius, but you're certainly not stupid. Not with how you slipped through Thayer’s, Haze’s, and Levi's fingers that first time."

  I shrug, but a grin plays at my lips. It was pretty genius to think of using a zipcar to get away. Who else would've had the balls to jump off a roof and risk falling to their death? Actually, on second thought, maybe we're both wrong and I'm just a very lucky girl with a death wish.

  My grin drops away as I debate on just telling them the truth. Levi doesn't look like a cold-blooded killer; he doesn't look like he would just stand by and watch, then off me in a back alley somewhere or throw me over the side of the city’s edges like certain gangs have been known to do to their victims. Then again, I wouldn't have known about his deadly speed if I hadn't seen him in the fighting ring.

  "You know there's a very easy way we can settle this," Noaz says.

  My gaze jerks to his as I'm yanked out of my thoughts. "Oh?" I shift a bit in my chair, my bound hands ru
bbing together behind my back. "And what's that?"

  "I can just take you to Vincent Diamond and he can clear all this up and tell us whether or not you truly are Kida Washington." He stands as my mouth drops open. "Yes, I think that's what we'll do.”

  "Vincent Diamond?!" I half gasp, half yell.

  The edge of his lips move up a centimeter as he stares down at me. "That's what I said," he replies. My mouth remains hanging open as he turns and opens the door, Levi following after him. They leave the chair across from me and my mind dives into the shit storm I've just dropped myself into.

  Four

  Vincent Diamond

  The guys don’t take the chance of me escaping again. Haze comes in, not too long after Noaz and Levi leave. I struggle and glare at him as he approaches me with the needle, but he simply tilts my chin to the side and I freeze instinctively when the cold metal presses against my skin. I curse myself when he slides it in and presses down on the plunger.

  "If you keep dosing me," I say when he pulls away, "you'll end up killing me."

  "You're not gonna die," he assures me quietly, capping the needle quickly and placing it on the stand next to the door. He picks up a thin towel and wets it before bringing it to my face and wiping away the grime and dust on my skin. Even here, this far from the Earth's surface, dust particles still collect.

  "How would you know, are you some sort of doctor or something?" I ask. I try to enunciate as best I can, but I can already feel the drug working through my system, slurring my vowels.

  "Or something," he replies, wiping across my brow gently.

  "I bet I irritate you." My head bobs, only stilling when he holds the back of it in one of his hands, his fingers clasped around my skull. When he pulls away I stare at them. They are an artist's hands, the fingers long as if ready to play across piano keys. But I can also picture a paintbrush clasped in his palm as he focuses all of his concentration on a blank canvas.

  "You're something," he says. His face blurs in front of me and I feel my arms drop forward as he circles the chair. Air runs over my wrists as he presses something to my handcuffs and they fall free. "Don't worry; this should all be worked out soon."

  "Are you going to kill me?" I wish the question hadn't escaped, but with the inhibiting drugs running rampant through my mind, it's not a surprise.

  "No, we're not going to kill you." One of his large hands lands on top of my head, sliding to my neck as he bends forward and lifts me up.

  "Liar," I whisper as oblivion takes me.

  That's exactly what someone would say right before they slit your neck, and I hope I don't wake up in the afterlife because I have a feeling that I haven't exactly lived the kind of life God, or whoever, expected of me.

  I watch the passing scenery out of the hovercar’s windows with little enthusiasm. I haven’t been awake or ignored long enough to even contemplate a reasonable escape plan. Short of doing anything that will get me knocked out again, and perhaps not in the nice drugged up way, I’ve got no choice but to play nice with the guys. Thayer sits to my left, squished between the window of the hovercar and me. Levi is to my right. Noaz sits in the front passenger seat scrolling through what looks like a holo-screen, a flat square of metal and plastic wiring with an empty center that projects holograms and images at his command, while Haze quietly navigates the vehicle’s self-piloting system.

  The tattooed giant—or Aaron, as I’ve come to hear the others call him—is directly in front of us on a sky rover. That’s what he is, I’ve decided, a Sky Rover with an actual sky rover hover vehicle. Sky Rovers ride the latest version of sleek, one-person-powered hovercrafts; like a motorized bike; the kind that gangs of deadly men drove on Earth before surface life ended and humans moved to the skies.

  Aaron steers the sky rover with precision. Unlike hovercars, it doesn’t have an automatic piloting system. There’s really no chance for me to escape while I’m firmly ensconced between Levi and Thayer, who still haven’t said one word to me, and so I watch Aaron with envious eyes. The way the sleek, black and chrome sky rover moves draws my attention like nothing else. It glides soundlessly through the air just several yards in front of our hovercar. None of the guys pay it any mind, but it’s not as ordinary as it might have been on the surface hundreds of years ago. Even people on the walkways stop and stare. It’s even more unusual to see a Sky Rover by themselves as Aaron appears to be. I wonder just what makes him trust these guys when Sky Rovers aren’t known for trusting anyone but their own kind.

  Haze presses a button and shifts to manual drive as he and Aaron slow to pull up in front of the governor’s building. It’s the absolute tallest building on Tartarus. He stops just outside the front doors and when Levi chuckles, I glance at him.

  “Can’t have our precious cargo escaping again, now can we?” he explains.

  I grunt in response and look away as Thayer grasps my arm and we exit the vehicle. I look up at him as my feet touch the ground, wondering at the change in him. Before I unwittingly introduced myself as Kida, he had been all smiles and sexual innuendos. Now, he’s quiet and though he’s not completely cold, he’s distant. It’s not like I like him or anything, I think to myself. He did help in kidnapping me. Both times. But I can say for sure I don’t like this version of him when the other seemed more genuine. Perhaps this is his professional persona.

  The metal and glass double doors that lead into the main building don’t automatically slide open as per usual for shopping districts or pod complexes. Noaz places his palm flat on the glass and little electrical lights surround his hand and pulse until a red flashing notice illuminates at the top of the frame allowing us access to the building. The doors slide open and Thayer herds me inside behind everyone except Aaron who follows closely at my back.

  “I don’t think this is necessary,” I finally say.

  Haze and Noaz don’t even glance behind them as Levi casts me a sympathetic smile. “It won’t take too long,” he promises. “We’re already pretty sure that you’re not Kida.”

  “I’m not,” I reply. “This was all a really big misunderstanding and you should just let me go and I’ll be on my way right now.”

  “Now you decide to give us an answer?” Noaz asks over his shoulder. “No, we’re seeing Diamond and for the love of God, someone make her be quiet. She’s drawing unwanted attention.”

  I didn’t notice it before, but he’s right. There are professional looking individuals staring from long counter desks against one side of the lobby and several politically dressed workers milling about. Almost all of them glance at us in confusion, interest, or curiosity at some point. With their well-kept clothing and neat hair, none of them look like they belong on a place like Tartarus. In fact, they look like they were plucked from any of the other sky cities. Perhaps, even the capital city.

  “You’d do well to remain silent,” Aaron says.

  I nearly jump out of my skin as his breath trickles over my shoulder. He leans back and Noaz and Haze steer the group towards a row of elevators. The doors open, and a tall, elderly man dressed in a primly buttoned suit passes us as he exits.

  “Get in.” Noaz steps to the side and waves his hand for Thayer, Aaron, Levi, and me to enter first.

  I don’t move until Thayer’s grip on my arm tightens and he pulls me forward. I stiffen when I’m pushed to the back to make room for Noaz and Haze to join us and the doors slide closed.

  “You can let go now,” I snap, shaking off Thayer’s hand. He looks at me, dark brows raised in surprise. “It’s not like I can go anywhere.”

  My skin prickles with unease as Noaz presses the penthouse button on the level pad to the side of the closed doors. I suck in a breath when the elevator starts to move and shuffle my feet.

  I don’t usually have a problem with enclosed spaces. I live in a pod, it’d be difficult to do so if I did. I don’t even have a problem with heights. Would someone with a fear of heights jump on the bottom of a passing zipcar with only a ripped shirt between them
and falling to their deaths? No. Something about the combination though, of being in an enclosed space, and rocketing towards an unknown destination somewhere as high as the penthouse of the tallest building on Tartarus, has my breath coming faster.

  “Are you okay?” Thayer moves closer, his deep voice concerned.

  I shake my head to ward him off. “I’m fine.”

  He ignores me, moving closer. “What’s wrong?”

  I put my hands on his shoulder and push. “Nothing.” I can’t stand him being so close; it makes the elevator feel even smaller. In fact, why am I standing at the back with the two tallest guys in the group? I lean forward pressing my palm against Levi’s side and he glances at me in surprise.

  “What’re you–”

  “Move!” I demand.

  He snaps his mouth closed as I step past him, just behind Noaz and Haze, who’ve turned towards me as well.

  “You’re not going to–” Noaz starts.

  “Stop this fucking deathtrap, now!” I interrupt. I’m panting, my hands sweating and shaking.

  “We’re almost–”

  “I don’t care, stop this thing or I swear to God I’m going to–” The elevator dings and I shove my way forward immediately, stopping mid-sentence and tripping over Haze’s boots. Falling to my knees, I suck in air as quickly as possible, sharp pangs ricocheting through my chest. Someone bends over and pulls my hair away from my cheeks so that it’s no longer a curtain around my face. A large palm rubs up and down my spine.

  “It’s okay, you’re okay.” Thayer’s fresh breath brushes against my shoulder as I breathe.

  “You’re not scared of leaping off rooves or running through traffic, but you’re scared of elevators?” Levi asks incredulously.

  “She’s not afraid of angry bar owners with guns either,” Haze says helpfully.

  “Who knew you had a sense of humor,” I scoff as Thayer’s hand falls away and I crawl to my feet.

  “I was merely stating a fact,” he replies.

  I don’t offer another response because as I finally manage to stand up, the surroundings catch my attention. “Where the hell are we?”