by Linsey Hall
I nodded my thanks, then turned to accompany the guards. Would we run for it now, or hope that we actually were being shown to a private place to rest? It’d be better to sneak out than break out, and Maximus clearly agreed, because he followed the guards without argument.
It was as we were going down our fourth flight of stairs that I started to get nervous. Wasn’t the bottom floor where they always kept the dungeons?
It totally was.
I hoped El Dorado would be different, but somehow, I doubted it. I glanced at Maximus, and from the tightness to his brow, he seemed to agree that something was up.
His gaze met mine and his mouth moved silently. “Run left.”
I jerked my head, then turned to the left and made to sprint. The guards were fast, though, wickedly so. They stepped right in front of me, boxing me in. Others fell in line behind. They even managed to stop Maximus.
Then they closed in, squeezing us tight, and marched on. It was almost as if they picked us up and carried us with them. My heart thundered and my skin chilled.
We’d lost all control.
We flowed on at their unnatural speed, and before I knew it, I’d been shoved into a pit.
The ground disappeared, and the wind tore at my hair as I fell, a scream trapped in my throat.
9
The scream finally broke free, echoing in the dark as I plummeted toward certain death.
Maximus fell beside me, stoically quiet. His magic flared on the air, bringing with it the welcome scent of cedar and the sound of a waterfall that managed to buffer some of my screams.
Please be saving us!
Because even if I had my magic, there was nothing I could do to save us from going splat.
Then I landed.
And bounced.
Whatever I’d fallen on had been full of air, bouncing me back up through the tunnel. I fell again, and bounced again, repeating the routine several times until I lay still, staring up at the light above, my head spinning and my breath heaving.
We’d fallen down a narrow circular shaft that was at least a hundred feet deep. It’d felt longer, actually. I wasn’t entirely sure that the individuals here didn’t screw with time, somehow. Between the swiftness of the guards and the long drop, time seemed to flow abnormally in El Dorado.
My breath heaved and my adrenaline faded, making my limbs shake. I was lying on some kind of huge air mattress that filled the whole bottom of the shaft. Maximus lay next to me.
“Well done,” I said. “A bit cartoonish, but it worked.”
“I saw it on television once.” He sounded a bit dazed.
“Watch a lot of TV, do you?”
“No. But when I first arrived from the past, it did help.”
“I can imagine.” Trembling, I sat. The walls that surrounded us were made of pure gold, so smooth that there was no way we could climb out.
Beneath me, the air mattress began to deflate. As we slowly sank down to the ground, I looked at Maximus. “Thanks for making a sacrifice so I didn’t have to.”
“Didn’t work.”
“But you tried.” I hardly knew the guy. Why had he done that? To lure me into trusting him? “Was that really the last thing you owned from your past?”
He nodded. “I had it on me when I was turned into a demigod and brought forward through time. But it was time to let go of the past, anyway.”
Let go of the past.
What a fantastic idea. I’d tried it, of course. I’d made an effort to put my captivity behind me and forget all the bad. The problem was that the mind wasn’t so easy. When I was asleep, or weak, or sick, or just feeling out of sorts, the terrible memories would rise again.
The cushion deflated entirely, and my butt hit the hard surface of the ground.
Maximus made the air mattress disappear entirely and stood. “I have a transport charm but it’d be a waste. This pit will be protected against transporting, no doubt.”
I agreed. “How about a giant ladder.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” He squinted upward. “Though there are now bars at the top of our cage.”
“I might have something that can melt through that.”
“You gave away your potions.”
I tapped my belt. “Not all of them.”
“Let’s move quickly, then. It sounds like the demons are creating some kind of super killer, and we need to figure out how to stop it from feeding.”
“I’m thinking we try to counteract whatever magic the old man gave the bird. So we need to hit up his workshop and see what we can find. If we know what he used, maybe we can make something to counter it.”
He flashed a quick smile. “I love having a plan.”
“That’s how you did so well in the gladiator ring, isn’t it?”
He nodded, his gaze shuttering, and suddenly I felt a bit shitty. He had a tough, cool past, if one looked at it from the outside. Badass gladiator, king of the ring.
But in reality, he’d been forced to fight for his life. Forced to kill others to survive. It had to have been horrible. So horrible that he’d died trying to end the institution itself. If he hadn’t been so brave and freaking strong, the god Virtus wouldn’t have blessed him with his power, and he’d just be dust.
“Sorry,” I said.
He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not. But we can pretend it is.”
Another small smile quirked the side of his mouth, then his magic flared on the air. A ridiculously long ladder leaned against the side of the pit, leading all the way to the top. Maximus climbed on, moving quickly upward. I followed, doing my best to keep up, but my legs were still shaky from the fall.
When I reached the top, it was obvious that the metal bars were too narrow to slip through. Maximus pushed at them, his biceps bulging, but they didn’t move. He pushed harder. The ladder began to creak.
“Stop!” I hissed.
He was pushing so hard that the ladder was breaking. Dude was strong.
I dug into the potion belt and pulled out a tiny vial of highly concentrated disintegration potion. It was smaller than my pinky, but full of enough liquid to make gallons if I could dilute it with water.
I had a feeling we’d need the full strength, though.
“Here, take this,” I whispered, passing up the tiny vial. “Don’t let it touch your skin.”
I held my breath as he uncorked it, then reached out and dripped a tiny bit onto the top of one of the bars. That was it. The metal should smoke and disintegrate. Right about now.
Now.
Now?
Nope.
It didn’t work.
I scowled. “Dump the rest.”
He did, but that didn’t work either.
I sagged. Shit.
“Nothing will work,” a feminine voice said, speaking in a slight accent. “It’s enchanted.”
I looked up, spying the familiar face of the woman who’d stood sentry in the Great One’s hall. Her scowl had faded slightly, the deep crease between her eyes gone.
“I don’t suppose you’re here to help us?” I asked.
She shrugged, an elegant motion. “I could be. Will you take me with you when you leave? Get me out of this damned jungle?”
“Sure.” That was an easy agreement to make. We could fit three through the transport charm’s portal if we ever made it outside the walls of El Dorado to use the thing. “But how can we trust you?”
“I don’t think you have any other option.”
Maximus looked down at me. “She has a point.”
Though I was loath to trust any stranger, they were both right. We were up shit creek, and she might have a paddle.
“I can also tell you something you desperately want to know.” She looked right at me.
“How do you know what I want to know?”
“I can see it in you.”
“You’re a seer?” I asked, hope fluttering in my chest. “Prove it.”
“I’m a good one. Lo
cked away here, though. But I know about the dark magic in your soul. It’s connected to the demons and monster that came here.”
“How?”
“I don’t know how or why, but every time they feed, the dark magic in you grows stronger. They give off a magical energy when they kill and eat. It makes them stronger, and somehow, it’s igniting the dark magic in you, too.”
“Holy fates.” That explained why it was suddenly bursting to the surface. The dark power had been with me since the Rebel Gods, and now it was coming to the surface because the demons’ monster was rising.
Was it connected to the Rebel Gods?
I shivered, clinging to the ladder. It shouldn’t be. The Rebel Gods were dead. But this was hard to ignore.
A new horrible thought rose. What if they killed every time that the magic burst out of me? What if I caused this, not the other way around? The magic helped me—though it was dark, it had saved my life. What if it led to the death of another?
Panic flared. “How do I get rid of the magic?”
“I don’t know how to get rid of it. But if you can stop them from feeding, the magic will stop growing. Before the monster came to my uncle, its beak and claws had been bound by magic. It could not pierce flesh. My uncle gave it a potion to counteract that and to make the beast stronger.”
Of course. As I’d suspected. “So if we can make another potion or find the proper spell, we could undo your uncle’s work. They could no longer feed. And maybe weaken it enough to kill it.”
“Exactly. You’d need a counterspell. My uncle’s work is so powerful that you can’t fight the beast as long as it is protected by his potion.”
Maximus looked down at me. “We need to go. Now.”
I nodded, looking at her. “Get us out of here, and we’re you’re one-way ticket out of crazy town.”
She grinned, her white teeth flashing, and held her palm over the grate. Magic popped on the air, feeling like a rubber band snapping against my skin.
“Old bugger trusts me,” she muttered. “Moron. Keeps me locked up and assumes I’m happy here. Ha.”
“Can’t see past his own ego, I bet,” I said.
Her gaze met mine. “Exactly. Everyone kowtows to him so he assumes it’s normal. It’s not.”
“Definitely not.” I’d have agreed with her on pretty much any topic to get her to open that gate, but I did actually agree with her on that. Some folks held power for so long that they forgot what it was to be a real person. Considering that this dude went by the name Great One, his perspective was totally screwed.
She removed her hand. “There. The spell is broken.”
Maximus pushed on the gate and it rose. He was agile as he slipped out while still holding it up, then he stood and lifted it farther. I scrambled out as if there were a fire behind me and stood.
Maximus lowered the grate, and I turned to the woman, holding out my hand. “I’m Rowan.”
“I’m Zoana, great niece of the Great One. Small ‘g’ for me, though.”
I grinned. “Can you show us where his workshop is? I need a sample of whatever he gave the monster.”
She blanched, hesitating. Clearly she’d rather just run for it.
“You know its value to Rowan. We have to have it,” Maximus said. “Can’t leave without it.”
She chewed her lip, fiddling with her golden robe. Then she huffed and nodded. “But we’ll need to be quick. I only have so much magic, and we’ll need a lot of it to control the guards.”
“So they are extra fast.”
“They can be.”
“Then let’s move,” Maximus said.
On swift, silent feet, Zoana led us up four flights of stairs and down several winding halls. We continued to go up, moving faster as we went. It was as if panic drove Zoana, and I couldn’t blame her. The whole time we’d been here, I’d seen nothing but plain gold walls, floor, pit, and one throne. There was nothing here but gold, and it was boring as hell. No wonder she wanted out.
“Almost there,” she whispered.
We rounded a corner and came to a door. A guard stood there, his face bored. As soon as he saw us, his brows jumped and his mouth opened as if to shout.
Zoana threw out her hand and whispered, “Sleep!”
He collapsed, keeling over like a redwood and then slamming to the ground, where he began to snore vigorously.
“Wow,” I murmured. “Mind control?”
“A little bit. I can’t do very much. You need to hurry.” She waved to the door.
I moved toward it and slipped inside. The first thing I saw was Romeo the raccoon, sitting on a table lined with jars.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed.
Poppy and Eloise sat next to him, riffling through the various jars.
I could sense you needed help. But then we got a bit…distracted. This is the only thing in this whole place that isn’t made of gold.
Poppy hissed.
I know, Poppy. Still not trash.
I could not believe these guys. They were supposed to be my helpful sidekicks, but they got distracted by the promise of trash?
“These are your friends?” Zoana asked.
I turned to look at them, catching the quizzical expression on Maximus’s face. “Yeah, you could put it that way.”
I turned back to Romeo, who was grinning broadly, his pointy white fangs gleaming. Friends.
“Yeah, get over it.”
He nodded, then pointed to a collection of jars at the side. Those smell like the feather we gave you.
I grinned at him. “Well done, you.”
He tapped his nose. Got a good sniffer.
The badger grumbled.
Not as good as you, Eloise. He looked at me. It’s true. Eloise sniffed it first.
My life was officially nuts. But if it worked, it worked. I hurried to the jars. “The Menacing Menagerie says that this smells like the feather. They’re probably the ingredients for the potion.” I picked one up and unscrewed it, taking a whiff. I couldn’t exactly place it, but it did smell familiar.
“He was just using those recently,” Zoana said.
“Good enough for me.” I tumbled them all into a bag that I found on another table, then looked at Maximus, who was sorting through a few more.
He grabbed a few, then handed them over to me. “Let’s get out of here.”
I looked at the Menagerie. “You good to get home?”
We got it, boss.
I nodded, then turned to Zoana. “Let’s go.”
She grinned, then turned and raced from the room, heading down the stairs.
I hurried to catch up. “We just need to get outside the main compound wall to use our transport charm, unless you know a space inside that doesn’t block transport magic.”
“No, we definitely need to be outside the walls for that. The whole place is blocked. No transporting in or out.”
As I’d thought.
We raced through the halls on silent feet. This was going too smoothly. The sun was fully overhead when we made it out of the main building. It shined so brightly on the gold that it was nearly blinding.
“Come on!” Zoana waved us forward. “There’s a back gate over here.”
As soon as she’d spoken, the guards appeared. Over two dozen of them, so fast that I hadn’t even heard them coming. They closed in, surrounding us.
Maximus conjured a sword and lunged, moving so quickly I almost couldn’t see him. He’d beheaded four guards within seconds.
Holy fates.
I’d never seen anyone fight like him.
Zoana threw out her hands, hissing, “Sleep!”
Two of the guards keeled right over.
I ignored the dagger at my thigh—too small—and dragged a sword from the ether, wishing that I had my potion bombs.
I swung for the nearest guard and sliced him across the chest. He bellowed and stumbled back. Another darted toward me, sweeping out with his blade. I ducked, jabbing upward with mine
and sinking it into his gut.
To my left, Maximus was a whirlwind. Blood sprayed, but he was so quick that a drop never landed on him. I could see how he’d survived so long in the fighting pits.
When a guard’s blade sliced toward his arm, Maximus didn’t even flinch. No wound, either, just like before.
But there were so many guards. They seemed to be appearing out of nowhere.
Panic flashed on Zoana’s face. “They won’t stop coming!”
“Eventually, they have to.” I panted as I swung my sword, trying to ignore the pain of a recent slice to my thigh.
“No, they don’t.” Her gaze met mine. “My great uncle’s magic is powerful.”
The fear in her eyes made my heart thunder. Crap, she was really afraid. And it made me believe her. The guards might never stop coming.
I kept fighting, but she was right. More and more came. Even Maximus couldn’t take them all on—not if they were endless in number.
Panic rose in my chest.
Trapped. I was trapped here, fighting endless guards with golden swords.
It was the same feeling I’d had with the Rebel Gods, and the same feeling with the demon in The Vaults. The same feeling with the Caipora.
Trapped. Doomed.
When the dark magic started to rise in my belly, I expected it. The darkness came whenever I felt like I was going to die. Whenever I felt as trapped as I had been with my captors for five years.
I fought it, desperately not wanting to give in to the evil. It tainted my soul, made sickness sweep through my limbs.
But I couldn’t fight it. It was too strong.
My eyes began to glow. I could only tell because the faces of the men in front of me gleamed even brighter than they had before.
Oh, crap.
We really needed any help we could get right now—and my dark magic sure packed a hell of a punch—but I didn’t want it to escape. Not again.
I had no choice, though. It was like a steam train barreling down.
“Zoana, Maximus. Get down!”
Their gazes flashed to me, shock evident. The fear in my voice was so strong that they reacted immediately. They dived low, scrambling away through the legs of the guards. The movement shocked the hell out of the guards, who couldn’t figure it out for a few seconds.