Venom and Earth

by Turnbull, Jessica

  “I want that bread cooked to perfection, Marco. If not, you’ll get punished.” Rayna swings her hand around in a quick circle, generating an electric current.

  “I get it,” Marco mumbles, flicking his wrist to increase the amount of fire shooting from his hands.

  With a satisfied smirk, Rayna exits the kitchen and slams the door behind her.

  “I hate it here,” Braith whines, shuffling another lump of ice into a plastic bag.

  With a sigh, he mumbles: “Me too.”

  The heat in the kitchen makes his skin crawl, and the amount of work that Rayna has given them is arduous. One hundred loaves of bread to be made from scratch by just the two of them, while Braith also has to make bags of ice. All in a tiny closet with an oven and fridge that are both broken. The worktops were covered in dirt, so they spent a good chunk of their morning cleaning.

  “I hope Hazy is okay. Javier gives me the creeps.”

  Marco curls his lip at the thought of the tall man. He didn’t trust his intentions one bit. He stared at Hazel as if she were a piece of meat.

  “He’s an ass,” is all he can say.

  Braith raises an eyebrow. “She wouldn’t-”

  “I know; it’s not her I’m concerned about. He doesn’t seem like the type to accept a refusal.”

  She moves on from bagging ice to knead some of the dough left over, rubbing sweat off her forehead with a floury arm. “Are you gonna submit one of the application things?”

  “Are we staying that long?” With another flick of his wrist he turns down the heat as the smell of burning bread fills his nostrils.

  “Definitely not. I spoke to Draca last night. He said he can find us somewhere better to stay. But…” She stops kneading the dough and stares at it emptily. “I don’t want to leave these people like this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I want to help them. You saw how skinny Annalise and Dejen were last night… I don’t want to leave them like that.”

  With a disbelieving snort, he replies: “How can we help them? It’s the three of us versus the entire community here.”

  She taps the table with a dirty finger impatiently. “Draca told me that although the markings are beacons, they can also heighten our elements.”

  Intrigued, he stops cooking the bread and turns to face her. “What do you mean?”

  She sighs and kicks the floor in frustration. “I mean that Hazy and I can heighten our elements into something stronger. If used, we could defeat these guys easily.”

  “Sounds convenient. How do you use it?”

  “That’s it,” she shrugs. “Draca said that we need to be emotional enough.” She narrows her eyes. “No period jokes.”

  “Come on, I know better than to joke about periods,” he protests. “Do you think you can use it?”

  “I… I don’t know,” she admits. “When I found out that Olwen died, I didn’t use it then.”

  “But you didn’t know about it.”

  “I s’pose.” Her eyes drop to the floor, and Marco is surprised to see that her usual enthusiasm has faded in her brown eyes. She looks tired.

  “Well… if you figure it out, use it. It would be helpful. If not, we’ll work something out.”

  This makes her smile slightly. “Thanks. I can see why Hazy is so into ya.”

  “I have my ways.”

  This makes her laugh, and Marco is pleased to see the sadness fade and some of the light flare back into her eyes.

  18

  Chapter Eighteen

  “So, what are you guys in here for anyway?” Dejen tosses a piece of bread to Marco as he speaks.

  “I got driven out,” I confess. “Braith and Marco followed.”

  “Because we wanted to!” Braith protests.

  “Are you all from Aria?” Annalise cuts in.

  “Yep. Where are you from?” Braith mumbles between a mouthful of bread.

  I stare down at the piece of stale, possibly mouldy, bread on my plate and roll my eyes in disgust. Unless you’re a member of the elite you get the scraps that they have wasted. It’s shit, really, but that’s all there is to eat around here. I’d prefer not to starve. We still have to get out of here.

  “We’re from Tilae. It’s quite far from here but this is the only city with anything like the Aislados.” Annalise toys with Dejen’s fingers that are entwined with hers. “It’s lucky we found them, really.”

  Marco snorts. “Doesn’t seem lucky here to me.”

  “We’re alive, aren’t we?” she snaps back.

  “But you’re half-starved and forced to work shit jobs to make your way up.”

  “That’s what employment is like.”

  “This isn’t employment, though. In the real world this doesn’t happen. They can’t starve and control their workforce.”

  Dejen sighs and pushes Annalise backwards into her seat when she leans forward to glare at my boyfriend. “Despite our relationship getting rejected, we’re still grateful,” he says with a small smile. “Plus, you three might be our chance of getting into the elite.”

  This piques my interest and my heart starts to thump as the two of them look between each other knowingly. I have a feeling this won’t be good.

  Braith stops eating and silently glances at Marco and I, her eyes going steely.

  “And how are you going to do that?” Marco places his hands on the table, looking between the two carefully.

  “We’re sorry,” Annalise sighs, locking eyes with Dejen, “but we had to do it.”

  “We’ve been here for months; we want to be a part of the elite.”

  “What have you done?” Braith asks carefully.

  Dejen sighs and taps the table impatiently. “Here you can climb the ladder of the elite in three ways: hard work, sex or waiting for someone else to come in and add time to their stay.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that we have gotten into the elite by adding our remaining work hours, two thousand, onto you three.”

  “But why?”

  “It’s a chance for us to have a better life. I’m sorry for fucking you over, but it’s done already.” Annalise grins and stares up at Dejen lovingly. “Tomorrow we’ll be in the elite.”

  “You assholes,” I spit.

  “You can’t say you wouldn’t do the same if you were in our position,” Annalise retorts.

  “Actually, I can.”

  “I don’t believe you. Do-gooding only goes so far. When it threatens your loved ones, you do anything to get out.”

  * * *

  The next day we are dragged out into the town square for the ‘elite’ ceremony. Freya is leading it.

  “We are gathered here today to welcome Annalise and Dejen into our ranks.” Freya pauses as the small crowd cheers their approval. “They will be giving their remaining hours to our newest members: Marco, Braith and Hazel. They now have five thousand and ninety-eight hours remaining before they join the elite Unless they find another way to work up to us or turn nineteen before they’ve completed all five thousand hours..”

  Javier winks at me from behind Freya, making me shiver.

  Marco squeezes my hand, noticing Javier.

  I’m so lost in my thoughts I don’t notice as the crowd starts to disperse, signalling the end of the ceremony. The three of us stand where we are, knowing that we’ll get called to work soon.

  “That seemed like a massive waste of time,” Marco sighs, glaring at the people around us.

  “They like showing off how big their dicks are, I guess,” Braith comments, kicking a pebble towards an empty stall.

  “I don’t think Freya has a dick.”

  “You never know,” Braith puts her hands up in the air. “I’m not judging people’s life choices.”

  “Are we seriously going to stand around and talk about dicks in the short amount of time we’ve got together this morning?” I snap, making Braith flinch and drop her hands.

  “Sorry, Hazy.”

 
; “Are you okay?” Marco rubs my shoulder comfortingly and brushes my hair out of my face, but it doesn’t change my attitude.

  Dropping my arms, I softly mutter: “No. I don’t want to spend another day with Javier.”

  “I know he’s creepy-”

  “I get afraid that one day he’ll go from talk to action, you know?”

  “That won’t happen, okay?” Marco’s tone goes from serious to urgent and his grip on my hand gets even tighter.

  “Just blast ’im with some water, Hazy,” Braith nudges my shoulder playfully. “Your element is pretty strong; this dude must be out of practice.”

  “I guess…”

  “Well, I know,” my friend says reassuringly. “Maybe I’ll even leave the room tonight so you and Marky can have some ‘private’ time.”

  “I think that’s the last thing that’s our minds now, Braith,” Marco argues.

  “That’s not what your-”

  “Hazel! Work, now!” Javier’s voice makes me jump. I hadn’t noticed him walking up behind me.

  Marco squeezes my hand one last time before he lets go, but his eyes betray that he doesn’t want me to go with the creepy man. I hope that Javier doesn’t try anything. Without Aqueous by my side, I feel vulnerable.

  My heart pangs at the thought of my companion. I wish I knew where he was.

  19

  Chapter Nineteen

  We’ve been staying with the Aislados for just over three weeks. With all the hard work and measly food rations, we’ve all lost weight dramatically. Even Marco is now looking as if he struggles to stand up. Javier is a gigantic pain in my ass, especially with all the new stock he’s been bringing in.

  “We don’t have all day, Hazel,” he snaps.

  “I’m going as fast as I can.”

  Snorting in reply, he returns to pacing around the stall. Since I’ve rejected him hundreds of times I can see he is now starting to tire of me. Thankfully, with the lack of energy and food he seems to be losing interest in trying to get into my pants, so that’s one good thing.

  Sorting through his products is a pain, but it keeps him quiet if I set them out in the ‘correct’ way. I lean over the table to move some of the newer products to the front, causing the red box that I’m not supposed to touch to crash to the floor. The jewellery flies all over the place, though thankfully none of it breaks.

  “Shit.”

  “Fuck me,” Javier sighs, burying his face in one of his hands. “Leave it, I’ll do it.”

  “No, I got it.” I bend down to pick up some of the bracelets, which earns me a swift kick in the back.

  “I said leave it. I’ll sort this out. You go clean the sign or something,” he snaps, scooping jewellery off the floor protectively.

  Just as I’m about to comply I spot a multi-coloured necklace by his feet that he missed. I pick it up to give it to him, but upon closer inspection, I almost vomit on the spot.

  They’re scales. Dragon scales.

  The cheap plastic shell around it smashed when I dropped it. I hadn’t noticed before because the plastic hides the shape and the distinct markings.

  I always thought that he made them out of cheap stones or whatever he could pillage from the city, but these belong to dragons.

  One of them stands out to me in particular. It makes my stomach churn. A jet-black scale with a deep blue swirl on it.

  Aqueous.

  “Hazel, I said-” He freezes as he notices the necklace I’m holding, and the way I’m staring at the black scale.

  “Where is he?” I demand, shaking the scale in his face.

  “It’s not-”

  “Where?”

  Looking at the whole table full of jewellery, it makes me sick. The ones that I’m never allowed to touch; the ones I’m never allowed to set out. All because they belong to the dragons around here.

  Aqueous is in a farm. Again. My heart cracks at the thought of my companion being scared and confused in a dark room with scales missing. Wondering where I am. Why I haven’t rescued him. Whether I’ve just left him there.

  “Look, Hazel, they’re the things that sell the best. I got the idea after Rayna came to me with a scale from her dragon.” He tries to snatch the necklace from me but I pull it back. “I need these to make money. Freya is cool with it.”

  “I’m not. I bet everyone else who has a dragon here wouldn’t be.”

  The necklaces in his hand are covered in colourful scales, and it makes my stomach churn when I see a black and white one dangle between his fingers. Damayanti.

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you.” He shoves the necklaces back into the box, his eyes burning with hatred.

  “Not to me, maybe. But what about everyone else? Do you think they’ll be happy to know that the second-in-command is taking dragon scales off trapped dragons and their leader is cool with it?”

  “They won’t believe you.” He takes a threatening step forward, shards of ice piercing through his fingertips.

  “I have this.” I hold up the necklace, making his lip curl.

  “Then I have no choice.”

  His hand rises as the icicles thin into a sharp point, but I’m not worried. Ice and water are neutral.

  As he lunges, I point my hand at the ground and propel myself away with a thick blast of water. Although the landing is clumsy, it gives me a second’s head start. I take one glance back and start to run.

  I’m not strong enough to run for long. Only seconds in, my chest begins to tighten and I slow down. But I’m determined to make it to building A. One look at the scale could lead to an uprising, and that could be our chance to escape. Building A houses all the members of the elite, and they won’t be at work for another hour. According to Annalise, they have a meeting every morning before they go. From rumours around the town I know that most of them still have companions. Companions who have unknowingly been used as fashion accessories.

  An icicle flies past my head as I run through the door. The building is clean and well looked after, unlike building C. Following a hum of voices, I burst into a small dining area. Several elite members turn to stare as I burst in, surprised to see someone of my status rush through the door.

  “Hazel. What are you-” Freya flies out of her seat, her eyes glowing.

  “You may be okay with using dragons for jewellery, but I’m not!” I shout, holding the necklace up for everyone to see. “You’re wearing dragons!”

  Gasps and murmurs fill the room as people study their necklaces. They crack open the plastic shell and tip the scales out, just now noticing what was inside. Some throw them on the table in disgust. Before I can say any more, I’m tackled from behind and pinned down by Javier, my face pushed down onto the scratchy carpet.

  “Don’t listen, she’s lying!” he screams.

  Most don’t seem to pay attention to him as they talk among themselves.

  “Everybody calm down,” Freya faces the crowd, holding her hands up. “This girl is very con-”

  “But they are scales!” A man stands up and thrusts his necklace into her face. A crimson red scale hangs off it, with the slightest hint of a yellow lightning bolt poking up from the bottom.

  “I can assure you, they are not.” Freya replies calmly, lowering the scale.

  “But I thought everyone knew?” Rayna toys with her scale. “This was all I could recover from Vee. I thought that’s why everyone bought them…”

  “I had no idea!”

  “This is disgusting!”

  “Why are we letting these people run us?”

  “Where is Isaac?”

  As everyone starts screaming at each other, I see panic on Freya’s face as she loses control. Javier pushes more of his weight onto me, breathing heavily into my ear.

  “You’re going to pay for this,” he hisses.

  “Whatever. They know the truth. You have no power anymore.”

  “Oh yeah? We’ll see who has power here.”

  He releases some of his weight to stick his han
d under my stomach and toy with my jeans buttons. Panicking at his intentions, I wriggle violently, but I’m too weak to push him off.

  “Javier! Stop!”

  The booming voice makes everyone stop. As the room goes silent, I still try to feebly wriggle away as Javier gets the buttons loose and starts to pull my jeans down. With a whimper, I point a hand at his face and release a jet of water. Although it’s not all that powerful, it makes him jump away in shock. I rush for the door, only to be stopped when a man with strawberry blond hair grabs my arm.

  “Enough! I won’t hurt you,” he says, seeing the panic on my face.

  “Isaac, did you know about this?” the man with the crimson scale asks.

  The new man, Isaac, shakes his head. “I did not. But we need some new leadership around here.” He shoots a glare at Freya. “Our oh-so-wonderful leader is letting Javier get away with whatever he wants.”

  “I do not,” Freya argues, balling her hands into fists.

  “You knew about the scales, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “And you just stood there while Javier attempted to sexually assault this girl.”

  “She deserved it.”

  Isaac narrows his eyes. “She deserved nothing. I’ve had it with the way people are treated around here. We should be sharing food equally, not creating an ‘elite’ that gets everything.”

  A few people around the room nod at Isaac’s words, making my heart beat faster. Maybe this could be done.

  “How are you going to do that? Javier and I make up two-thirds of the council.”

  “After this incident, consider yourselves overthrown.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  Isaac shrugs. “I can’t. But they can.” He nods towards the people in the room, who seem to be slowly shifting into different sides.

  “You can try,” Freya warns. “But we’ll win.”

  “I doubt it,” he answers coolly, pushing a key into my hand. “That’s for the warehouse where the dragons are. Let them out, please.”

  “No, you fucking won’t!” Javier booms, breathing a gust of icy cold wind out of his mouth.