“I’m in charge. I’m second only to the king.”
“Your mother would be ashamed of you, treating women like that. What if your sister was in the harem? What then?”
“I don’t have a sister.” He was quiet a few beats before his hand cupped my hip. I don’t know why he was being nice to me, or what he expected to happen by trying to soften my indignation. “I don’t have family, but I had a Mermaid I’d promised to marry.” His voice lowered so that I had to be very still if I wanted to hear him. “Dyesebel had long, red hair that went down to here,” he said, marking a line at the base of my spine. “She had a voice that could make even me turn and wait for her commands, but she rarely used her magic to compel people. Bel was too nice, too beautiful, too gentle, and that’s how she got swept up in the harem.”
“Why didn’t you just tell your BFF King Banak that she was already engaged to you? Maybe he would’ve stepped aside if he knew she was already spoken for.”
“You overestimate the generosity of the monarch. Clearly you’ve been under Ezra’s rule for too long. Banak knew my attention was divided, so he took her to teach me a lesson. To let me know that he was in charge. That was just before he cursed me.” His thumb stroked the slope of my hip absentmindedly. “I learned my lesson, alright.”
“Why the crack would I bring the stone to him, then? What’s he done for his people? What a jag. Seriously. I’m sorry, Finn. Banak shouldn’t have done that.”
Finn’s fingers coiled my hair into his fist, slowly pulling my head back to lean against his chest. He was angry, though this time it wasn’t at me. “Do it because then the women will have options. They won’t have to join his harem. They need food, and the stone can bring that to them.”
“Maybe then Bel can leave the harem and go be with you again.”
Finn quieted, his voice matter of fact. “Bel died her first week in the harem. Not everyone can take that kind of… Banak killed her a few days after he had his fill of her, just to show me he could take away anything I wanted. That my focus should be his kingdom, and nothing else. He used her to bewitch me an hour before he snapped her neck. She’s the one who was used to curse me to obey Banak.”
My sharp intake of breath and softened heart were unexpected, but I went with it. “That’s awful.”
“Banak promised her who knows what if she would make me more loyal to my job. She bewitched me to obey him, and then he killed her so the curse would stick, so she couldn’t undo it.” He cleared his throat. “That was years ago, though. I hardly ever think about it all.”
I don’t know at what point my mouth dropped open, but the horror on my face was plain. I finally reached my hand up behind me and rested it on his cheek, stroking the flesh that was starting to grow stubble. “I’ll pretend to believe that you don’t think about Bel if you need me to.”
“I think I might.”
“I’m so sorry, Finn.”
He forced a chuckle. “Now, don’t start all that. I don’t want you being nice to me all of a sudden. Half your appeal is that you mouth off without thinking of the consequences.” He turned his chin into my hand and kissed my palm.
I longed for my hand sanitizer.
“Well, anything I can do to be more appealing to you. It’s what I live for, clearly.” I tried to regain some of our back and forth. “No offense, but I can’t really picture you with someone who’s nice and gentle. Bel sounds light-years out of your league.”
He chuckled at this. “That’s my girl.” He released my hair and brushed his hand down my body to pull me closer to him, making sure not to touch the backpack that held the sagrado stone. “Who can you picture me with?”
“I dunno. Maybe a hunchbacked gremlin? A hairy troll? A woman who can light a mouthy man on fire if he presses his luck?”
“Oh, little Omen. You are entertaining. We’ll see how your mouth fares in my land.”
“Goodnight, Finn.”
“Goodnight, kendi.”
4
Dream Guy
I didn’t mean to dream about Philip, but there he was when the field of wildflowers materialized in my dream. I’d been planning some deep, contemplative thought time to process it all while I sat in the grass, but Philip was a welcome distraction, coming up from behind me. “Hello, sweetheart.”
I shook my head up at him. “Boy, do you have some explaining to do.”
Philip motioned to the patch of lush grass next to me, silently asking for permission to sit. I shrugged, moderately pissed that I was about to get in a fight with my fake boyfriend. “Are you very upset with me?” he asked as he blinked apologetically, brushing his shoulder to mine.
“Only a lot.” I thought back to the suggestion my imaginary boyfriend had made that sent me to a carnival to reap to my heart’s content just before a terrorist attack wiped out who knows how many civilians. “Why’d you tell me to go to Pemberton Elementary? How’d you know there’d be so many bodies to reap there?”
“How many were you able to reap?”
“I lost count. So many were an inch away from death. We only just made it out before a terrorist’s bomb went off. A friggin’ bomb! What gives, Philip? Seriously, how did you know? How can you give me insider information like that? And if you knew someone was going to bomb an elementary school carnival, why didn’t you stop it?” I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my arms on them, pissed that Philip was here in my happy escape place.
“How many did you reap?” he repeated.
“I dunno. More than forty, that’s for sure. I lost count and almost died. You get that, right? I almost died. If Von and Mason hadn’t gotten to me in time and gotten me out… I mean, they could barely keep up! I was in agony for the rest of the day. How could you send me straight into that? Headfirst into danger.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, but I shrugged him off. “You’re mad at me.”
“It’s a good thing you’re pretty. Of course I’m mad! I was out of my mind with pain. Do you think I enjoy being completely helpless like that? And Mason and Von had a rough time, too. How could you do that to me?”
“I honestly thought you’d tap out after a dozen or so reapings. I didn’t even know it was possible to reap forty in a single day.”
“Try less than an hour, and it was more than forty. That’s just when I started to lose count. I didn’t mean to do that many. I couldn’t get out! Every time someone would brush up against me, I’d reap them whether or not I was ready. For some of them, I didn’t even have my Pullers with me. It was terrifying!”
Philip was less concerned and more fascinated. “Incredible!”
I was so pissed, I wound up and clocked Philip across his perfect jawline. “You suck! You’re an awful imaginary boyfriend. You’re not supposed to say ‘incredible’ when I’m in pain. You’re supposed to be there for me, slay dragons and whatnot in my name. You don’t send me into the pit, and when I manage to come out alive say, ‘Oo! Incredible!’”
Philip rubbed his jaw and summoned the grace to look ashamed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just had no idea it could be done. What you did? You amaze me.”
“How’d you do it? How’d you know to send me there?”
Philip shrugged. “You must’ve had some subconscious knowledge of the bombing and acted on it. I’m only here because you imagine it so. I only know what you know.”
“But I didn’t know! And if I did, no way would I have let the guys go into a situation where a bomb was about to go off.”
Philip picked me a white daisy, handing it to me as if that would make up for all the things it would never make up for. “You’re beautiful tonight. Where are you?”
“I’m sleeping in the dirt, and I don’t care about being beautiful. I’m mad at you.”
He leaned in and nibbled on my earlobe, ramping up my anger and somehow morphing it to the brink of breathlessness. “Tell me. I want to picture you there.”
“In Silo. Sleeping in the dirt. I’m cuddling the sag
rado stone, if that gets you going at all.”
He smiled against my neck as he sewed kisses into my skin. “It does. What are you wearing?”
I didn’t answer. I knew where this was headed, and I was still angry. “You should go.” I carefully extracted myself from his advance. “I mean it. Get out.”
Philip shot me an indignant look, put off that I wasn’t in the mood to neck after talking about how he sent me to almost die. “If that’s what you wish, fine. I’ll be missing you, though.” He looked around at the lush nature that surrounded us. We were in the middle of miles and miles of fields, filled with every color of flower imaginable. “Your dreams are beautiful.” He leaned in and kissed my lips. “The time I spend with you? It’s the only time I ever stop. I’m always going, always doing, always working. Only with you do I get beautiful things.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “I didn’t know about the bombing. How could I? I’m not real. I would never send you off to get hurt like that.”
I kissed him again for the words that moved me an inch away from my resentment. Then again for the flower. Then again for the way he murmured my name under his breath like a prayer. As if I could save him. As if I was the beautiful thing he came back time and again to see.
I let go of my grudge, since Philip was imaginary, and with my grudge I cast aside a little of my inhibition as we rolled around in the field together.
5
Going for a Run on the Run
I awoke to a stiff neck, a heat that was dry and overwhelming, and Finn’s hand cupping the underside of my breast. He was still asleep, so I decided against a punch across the face to serve as his human alarm clock. I cleared my throat and shifted against him to wake Finn up.
“Is it morning already?” he murmured, not moving his hand from where it surely did not belong. My makeout with Philip was still wringing through my overstimulated body, and Finn’s unintentional fondling didn’t help matters.
“Finn?”
“Yeah, kendi?”
“You’ve got about five seconds to move your hand before my fist rearranges your face.”
“I’ve got five seconds, then?” Finn took a chance with his life and gave my breast a light squeeze. “Go ahead and count nice and slow. Let me enjoy as much as I can. So soft.”
Five seconds might’ve been misleading. I made it to one before I twisted around and socked him across the face. It hurt like punching concrete, but I wouldn’t let Finn know he’d gotten me with his thick skull. “You think that’s funny, groping me in my sleep?”
“Ow!” He released me and pressed his hand to his cheekbone. “You didn’t have to hit me. I didn’t mean to do it. It happened while I was sleeping.” He opened his mouth wide to make sure nothing cracked. “How do I know you didn’t put my hand there just to have a good excuse to pop me one? You that lonely without your Duwendes?”
I never had the patience for being groped. The second my fist launched out again, I knew it was a bad move. Finn was ready this time. He easily deflected my assault with a bat of his hand, grabbing onto my wrist and jerking me down across his torso so my butt stuck up awkwardly. Finn gave my backside a swat, and I think we both knew he was going to get it for that little treat. He thought I would eventually submit, but he didn’t know much about me. I twisted in his grip, furious. My knee flew up and out, aiming for his jaw. It was a sweet victory when I made contact with him, forcing him to bite his tongue and clanking his teeth together enough to make his head spin. “You think it’s funny to mess with me, fish boy?”
“Okay, that’s it!” I wasn’t sure how it happened, but Finn had me on the floor of the tent, pinned facedown beneath his hard body in the next breath. He was so much bigger than me, which wouldn’t have been a huge problem if I’d been granted a little space to move. The tent kept us confined to short-range assaults, leaving me to thrash around beneath him to no avail.
Finn shoved my head to the ground, trapping it there so he could be sure I was listening. He wanted to make it clear that he was the alpha dog. “Now listen up, kendi. I wasn’t trying to feel you up.”
“Ha!”
“Okay, not at first. I was sleeping. Sorry if I scared you. I know better than to mess with Ezra’s daughter. But you better believe that I won’t hesitate to tan your sweet little backside if you try to hit me again. I’ve killed soldiers for far less. Understood?”
I tried my hand at squirming free again, but couldn’t gain an inch. “Yeah, fine,” I surrendered with a huff. “But next time, we’re sleeping head to foot or something. I’m not part of your harem. Remember that little gem and tuck it in your pocket for when you get cold at night.”
A rhythmic sound in the far distance reached our ears, causing both of us to stiffen. “Do you hear that?” he asked, still atop me.
“Yeah. What is it?”
The pounding went on a few more beats before Finn answered with dread. “It’s an army. Hurry! Let’s pack this up and run.”
We went from fighting to working in perfect synchronization. I folded up the blanket and latched it to his pack while he tore down and packaged up the tent. His shirt flew over his head, boots laced, and we were on our feet with our backpacks in place in no more than three minutes. “I can’t see anyone coming. Are they invisible or something?”
Finn started off at a brisk trot. “No. It’s Sama’s army. Hear the steady drumming of the feet? Even my army’s not as together as they are. They’re coming, kid. We’ve got to get to the well before they do, or we won’t stand a chance.”
I shoved a piece of the baga root in my mouth and downed a pill from my prescription bottle in my pack. “Faster, then. I can keep up.”
Finn eyed the backpack that held the sagrado stone I had cradled in my arms. “I can carry that. It’s double bagged, right?”
“Double bagged and wrapped in plastic. I can carry it, but we’ll get farther if I can run, which I can’t do for long holding this thing.”
“I can do it.” He took the backpack from my arms as if it was a bomb. It took a few beats, but eventually his internal struggle died down. His legs picked up and ran forward, with me tagging along at his side. The steady drumming of the feet of who knows how many soldiers pounded the earth, driving us to run faster and longer than I would’ve thought possible. The woods gave way to a mountain on our right, and though we were still far from civilization, we felt exposed, so we picked up our pace.
When we finally came to a roadblock made up of a thick felled tree from our left and a small avalanche from our right, we stopped for a much needed breath. I leaned over, my hands on my knees, and panted as I fought to control my heartrate. Finn shifted the stone so he could shake out his arms, washing the sweat off his face with water from his hands.
We walked around the roadblock, still catching our breath. “How much farther?” I asked as we rounded the fallen tree.
“It’s another day’s journey, at least. But the closer we get to the city, the more we can travel at night. Sama’s army won’t stop for sleep. They don’t need it. So we can’t stop, either.”
“You know, I felt bad for voting that Mariang should stay on the surface, but now I don’t. No way would she be able to keep up. I feel better knowing that she’s safe in her home Topside.”
Finn nodded once. “Agreed. You’re not bad to travel with, I admit. I thought we’d be doomed if anything challenging came up on our trek, or if you broke a nail or something, but you haven’t let me down yet.”
“Oh, you and your precious compliments. You sure know how to make a girl blush. Water?” I requested, wishing it didn’t come from his hands. We were both filthy from the dust of the road, and from wearing the same clothes two days in a row. How I longed for a shower, and then a really hot scented bath without Von. Though as I thought of this, I realized how much I was actually starting to miss him. Mason, not so much. We’d been through too much crap for me to really lean on him as I would’ve liked to. But Von had been there before he’d shown his true colors and bee
n a complete jackhole. I remembered how it felt to be cradled in his arms, completely helpless due to my reaping exhaustion, but somehow I still felt safe. Von had been sweet to me, and despite everyone touting what a screw-up he was, he’d taken care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself.
Finn let me drink from his hands just enough to wet my mouth. Then he washed my face off, cooling me down. “You ready to pick up the pace again? They’re marching and we’re running, so we’re staying ahead of the army, but I don’t want to lose our advantage.”
“Fair enough. Give me one more minute of walking, then I’m ready for another run.”
“You’re keeping up pretty well.”
“Thanks. Your legs are super long, so it’s a stretch for me to keep your pace. But don’t slow down. I’d rather be tired and sore than dead.” I wiped some of the water from my chin. “Finn? What’s the deal with Sama’s army? Why don’t they sleep? Is it that Sama drives them so hard they’re not allowed to sleep until they reach their destination?”
“No. The soldiers don’t require sleep at all. They’re undead. Amalanhigs. They follow Sama’s orders blindly. Understand, they’re not people anymore. They have no souls and no wills left from when they were alive. All they want is blood, organs and to fulfill Sama’s orders.”
“But I thought Mason took care of the zombies who migrated to Sombi. How come so many are with Sama? How does he control them?”
Finn chuckled at my simplistic phrasing. “Zombies? You mean the undead? Amalanhigs?”
“Whatever. I don’t know all the magical words. We call them zombies.”
“Okay, well first off, Mason’s been with you for the past few months, so it’s anyone’s guess how many bodies Sama’s bewitched. If Sama’s got rations for us, you can believe he’s got blood and organ rations for the zombies, keeping them active and loyal. Second, not everyone makes it to Sombi. Some bodies come from farther away, so Sama bewitches them en route and takes them into his army.”
Tempt (Terraway Book 4) Page 3