Two long tables lined opposite sides of the huge dining room. The guides and Kyrion sat at one table. The contestants sat at the other with their groups of four servants, all in black, standing behind their chairs. Molly had explained that these were volunteers who had won their assignment through some rite of passage. They were the personal servants for their Potentials during the Games. With their consent, they could also be one of the prizes that a contestant could choose after winning a training session. I’d avoided the four men standing behind me like the plague since learning that.
Nikki didn’t seem to have the same problem. She giggled from her spot a couple of seats down from me as one of her servants pressed an apricot to her mouth. One fanned her with a large palm frond. The other two massaged her hands. Our seats were spaced widely apart, but I still heard the snort from beside me. Kade seemed to be one of the few men immune to her.
A gray-haired man in all black stepped through the middle archway with an honest-to-goodness set of wooden panpipes pressed to his lips. A high note trilled through the room quieting the conversations.
Bennett stood from his seat. His black suit did nothing to hide the hard muscles underneath, and I hid my smile as Lia surreptitiously eyed his butt. “We have known tragedy and our hearts still ache with the loss of one of our own. But the Games must go on. The Gods have blessed us with Potentials to fulfill our sworn duty. Erebus will lead us in this next competition. I ask you all to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behavior to your Kyrion immediately. May the Gods guide and protect us all.”
Glasses were raised in toast, but I was distracted. What had he meant by all of that? Who had died?
The panpipes sounded again, interrupting my thoughts, and a procession of people filed through the archways loaded down with food. My mouth watered as a plate filled with a five-star-looking meal was set in front of me. I cut into the steak and groaned at the taste that burst across my tongue. A familiar warm breeze caressed my bare shoulders, and I knew he was watching me. I sipped my water trying to quench my suddenly parched throat. Over the rim of my glass, my eyes locked with a pair of midnight-blue ones.
Jaxon sprawled in his chair looking every bit the sex symbol he was. A wicked smile spread across those sinful lips that could tempt a saint. The flickering light from the candelabras on the table played along the planes of his high cheekbones and stubbled jaw. Several buttons were open on his red shirt showing off smooth muscles that rippled as his eyes dipped to where I was tugging again at the neckline of my borrowed dress.
I shifted in the plush black chair as lust bloomed in my core. My bag had been found and returned to me earlier. But my bra had been missing. That might not have been such a problem if I’d been able to wear my own clothes, but Molly had declared my wardrobe unfit for anything except a hippie convention. Then called in her cousin who loaned me this dress. The square neckline of the red slip dress kept sliding down threatening to flash what little goods I had at everyone. That wasn’t the kind of dinner show anyone wanted to see.
Well, not most people anyway. For a moment, the wind played tug-of-war with my dress, and I could almost hear Jaxon encouraging me to let it slip.
Dinner went by slowly, feeling like torture as I felt Jaxon’s gaze on me several times. Then the dishes were cleared away and there was dancing. Somehow Bennett got Lia to dance and didn’t lose a limb in the process. I watched them twirl around the room, lost in each other. They were beautiful together and so much in love. My heart ached with longing to find the love and family I’d always wanted.
My mother was all the family I’d ever known until Lia. I’d spent many hours of my childhood on the rooftop of our apartment building dreaming out loud to the flowers. Sometimes I dreamed that mom and I were reunited with her tribe who had been searching for us since she left. Other times I dreamed that Prince Charming came to take me away on his white horse, and we lived happily ever after surrounded by a dozen kids. But those were just fantasies. Real life was like the tide: slowly pulling the sand from beneath your feet.
I exhaled shakily when I realized what I’d been thinking. My mother had struggled to find her feet after my father left us, and I’d watched as she sank deeper into a dark place I couldn’t understand. I was stronger than that.
You can get other jobs. You can fall in love again. Nothing is impossible when you have hope.
“Ma’am, are you ok?” Kade asked.
“Oh, yeah, fine.” I relaxed my fisted hands and forced a yawn. “Long day.”
Kade searched my face, his baby blue eyes filled with a kindness that said he saw through my lie. “I’m an ok listener. At least, that’s what my sister says.”
Maya, on my other side, huffed. “As I expected. You are weak.” I turned to her, my mouth hanging open in shock as she continued on matter-of-factly. “I calculated your chances of winning the Games at 3.4627%.”
“Uh ...” Was she a robot disguised as an Asian accountant? That boring pantsuit looked creased sharp enough to cut someone. “That’s not too bad, right? I have better odds than whoever’s at zero.”
“You were at zero.” Her black eyes raked over me clinically. “I gave you back points for being best friends with Chaos’s girlfriend. That gives you a slight advantage.”
“Don’t listen to her, ma’am,” Kade cut in. “Her heart’s a calculator. People can’t be figured out with an equation. You’ll do just fine.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a quick smile. Right now, I would love to be curled up on my couch with Mr. Skittles, watching a favorite movie.
I started to excuse myself when a flash of red caught my eye. Jaxon walked toward me, determination in every stride. His eyes locked on me like a target and, for the first time, I didn’t see a shred of the playboy in his expression. I gulped, curious and scared at the same time about what would happen when he reached me. Suddenly, Nikki sprang up out of nowhere and gripped his arm before he could get too far. Her painted-on floral sundress hugged every curve as she leaned into him. Her fingers trailed down his chest as she stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. Jaxon’s eyes never left mine as he responded to her. When she traced a finger along his jaw, his eyes narrowed, and he leaned down to whisper to her.
An icy cold tingle started at the base of my spine and spread across my back. Goose bumps pebbled my skin, and my breath steamed the air. Several people around me rubbed their arms and moved away uneasily. I gripped the table edge as something seemed to grow deep inside me. I trembled in horror as my fingers started to sink down into the wood. The table groaned and began to shake.
I quickly pushed out of my chair and ran to the elevator. I made it to my floor and ran to the wall of windows. A full moon hung in the sky, its light barely penetrating the dense valley below. What was happening to me? Ever since I had come to this island, I had felt uncomfortable in my own skin. Not that I had ever truly felt comfortable. There was something broken in me. I’d learned long ago to be ok with my flaws. Some days were harder than others. But I didn’t want to become like my mother.
I shivered again. These cold spells were getting worse. Not only that, but there was an incessant tugging sensation urging me beyond these walls. My eyes landed on a ridge in the distance. I needed to be there. Now.
Everything went sort of hazy and, the next thing I knew, I was standing barefoot in the middle of the Emerald Rain Forest. I gasped, shivering as the cold slowly seeped away.
“Go now.”
“Who’s there?” I twisted around looking for the owner of that whispered demand.
“Save them.”
“Save who? Who are you?”
Mist swirled up from the forest floor at the base of a tree with massive roots that weaved across the ground like ribbons in all directions. The mist grew more substantial and took on the shape of a young girl. Pigtail braids hung down her chest from under a scarf. Her dress looked like a patchwork quilt that hung on her thin frame revealing knobby knees. She held out her hand, her large dark eyes be
gging me to take it. Just as my fingertips brushed the cold of hers, lightning struck her. An eerie howl of pain and frustration filled the air.
I stumbled backward shielding my eyes at the intense light before it faded away. The smell of ozone and burning leaves assaulted my nose. Tentatively, I approached the tree, stepping over the lines of bare dirt that snaked across the ground where the lightning had burned away the grass. A metal symbol of a lotus flower was embedded in the tree about waist-high at the juncture of the roots. It gave off a faint glow that seemed to get brighter as I brought my hand up next to it. In the dim light of the moon, projected on the ceiling above, I could see the matching symbol on my palm. My fingers traced the warm metal of the symbol on the tree, and a breeze blew back my hair. I shielded my eyes as the symbol grew brighter and brighter.
The crack of thunder sounded overhead. I looked up as lightning arced across the sky before shooting straight toward me. A scream ripped from my throat and my heart beat erratically as the electric current reached for me. Suddenly, I was pushed from behind.
I screamed again as my head made contact with the tree. But, instead of hitting rough bark, I hit air and went falling into darkness.
13
I fell for what seemed like hours before crashing into something hard. I bounced off, stumbling before my shaky legs gave out and collapsed to the ground. This was definitely not Sotirìa. Somehow, I’d fallen down the rabbit hole and into the middle of a war.
A few dozen ramshackle huts sat in a clearing surrounded by thick woods. The humid air made each panted breath a struggle. The gray-blue of the evening sky was marred by plumes of smoke. Screams and shouts echoed through the clearing. Fires engulfed several of the huts. The earth trembled. Tree limbs danced a choreographed ballet above a tangle of people locked in battle, swooping in to land a blow here and there. Balls of fire sailed through the air igniting tree limbs and people alike. Water rushed across the ground from out of nowhere, drenching me.
Six and a half feet of solid muscle loomed over me. I’d run headlong into trouble, and he looked really angry. His olive T-shirt strained over bulging muscles. His black fatigue pants sported an array of weapons. Fire raged in his eyes. No, seriously—his irises danced with flames.
He took a step toward me, a ball of fire flared in his beefy palm. He drew back his hand, and I scrambled backward. A wagon wheel flew through the air like a frisbee and plowed into his gut. He grunted but kept stalking toward me. The wheel looped back around like a boomerang to hit him in the back. This time he stumbled, but it only made him angrier. The fire in his eyes leaped up to lick at his close-cropped hair. The wheel came back around, but he dropped to the ground, and it flew over his head to smash into a group of similarly dressed men.
The GI Joe-wannabe flipped back onto his feet and came at me again. A burst of wind swept past me and sent him smashing through the wall of a hut.
A hand wrapped around my mouth, muffling my scream. “It’s me,” Jaxon said. “We have to move.”
We ducked and weaved through the battle zone as the bronze-skinned villagers in their raggedy clothes faced off against the military-like forces. I tripped over the scorched body of a woman, and strong hands roughly pulled me upright before I fell on top of her. Those sightless wide eyes and the smell of her charred flesh hit me like a punch. I turned away and doubled over gagging.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. What in the name of the Great Mother is going on? Who are these people?
Strong arms wrapped around me and Jaxon lifted me off my feet. The wind whistled by as we moved so fast my head spun. We entered one of the thatched huts. Moonlight seeped through a hole in the roof revealing a single room with a pallet bed and a few scattered pots. I was glad for the reprieve from the bloodbath outside. My heart was pounding madly, and I was ready to pee my pants in terror.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m—” I swallowed thickly. My head was shaking and then nodding. Ok wasn’t even registering at the moment. “How did we get here? What’s happening? Jaxon people are dying! The rain forest ... there was a g-ghost ... the tree ... fire eyes ...”
“Shhh. Shhh. I’ve got you. Deep breaths. In and out.” Jaxon’s arms tightened around me and, for a moment, we focused on breathing. I shivered in my wet dress, and he pulled me even closer. “That’s it. Good girl. You’re safe, Dia. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He set me on my feet, still keeping me in the circle of his arms. His hands cupped my cheeks, his eyes peering into mine like he could see inside me. There was a strange blue outline to his eyes that seemed to be glowing and growing bigger. His throat worked for a moment as his thumbs smoothed over my cheeks. There was something like awe, tinged with nervousness, in his expression. “I need you to stay calm for me. Can you do that?”
I nodded.
“Good. That’s good, sweetheart,” he said almost absently.
I trembled against him as multiple explosions rocked the hut.
“I lost sight of you for a moment. I thought you were dead.” His voice rasped with emotion as his hands tightened on my cheeks. Fierce determination hardened his features. “We will definitely be talking later. But I’ve got to get you out of here now. You should never have had to see this.”
He bit out words in a lilting language, then said more to himself, “How the hell did you find a portal? I thought they were all destroyed. Well, except for the one in— Never-mind.”
“Those people”—my voice shook, and I swallowed down the panic—“we’ve got to help them.”
Jaxon tilted his head like he was listening to something. “The cavalry has arrived. They’ll help the villagers. Right now, we’re sitting in the middle of the war zone. We could be taken out by either side by accident if we don’t get out of here.”
“Why are those people attacking the village?”
Bitterness seeped from Jaxon’s voice. “For power. Because they want to rule. Because they’re bigots who hate my people for being who we are. Take your pick.”
“Your people?”
“Paldimori isn’t a corporation. It’s the name of my people—our people. I can’t—” Jaxon pulled me against him and crashed his mouth down on mine.
The GI Joe man from earlier kicked in the door to the hut. I cried out against Jaxon’s lips and tried to pull away. We had to run! Instead of letting me go, Jaxon wrapped me tighter and kissed me deeper. His lips bruised mine as the man entered the hut. Blood dripped from his machete as his cold gaze swept the room. He swung the blade violently, cutting deep into the wood of the wall as he let out a growl of frustration. The he was gone.
Jaxon’s lips gentled, and he slowly pulled away. The blue ring around his eyes pulsed in time with his heart thudding against my hand. “I can’t mask us for much longer,” he said gruffly. “I need to be fully charged in case we have to fight our way out. Do you remember the tree we came out of?”
“Huh?” I was still dazed from that kiss and having GI Joe walk right past us. “What just happened?”
“I don’t have to time explain. Add it to the list of things we need to talk about.”
“I can tell that list is going to get really long.” I hadn’t been keeping tally, but I was now. “You wanted to know about the tree, right? I was a bit busy trying not to break my head on GI Joe’s keg to remember one tree when we’re surrounded by a forest.”
He was silent for a moment. “Keg?”
“You know, way more than a six-pack. His muscles had muscles.”
“Right.” I could hear the grin in his voice. He released me and walked over to peek out the door. “Looks like GI Joe isn’t the type to give up easily. I’ll distract him while you try to find the tree. Can you do that?”
“Sure, find a special tree in the woods in the dark. No biggie.” Sarcasm dripped from me. “Any suggestions?”
“Do what you did before.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me to him again, and kissed me so deep my toes curled. “For luck.”
�
�How’m I supposed to think straight when you do that?”
He laughed, then threw the door open and raced outside. Crazy. He was crazy.
I lowered my voice in a poor mockery of his, “‘Just do what you did before.’ Like I even know!”
Ok, I can do this. It shouldn’t be too hard to fall into some trees.
I huffed out a breath, then peeked out the door. Most of the fighting seemed to have moved to the other end of the village. Now or never. I eased out of the door and along the outer wall of the hut. A gust of wind nearly knocked me off my feet. The hut at my back shook as something heavy smashed into it. The wind howled again making the house groan and pop.
I raced across the open ground and into the trees. Here the sound of battle was dampened, the sudden change making the dark forest even more creepy. I rested for a moment against a tall tree, trying to get my bearings.
Which way do I go?
The tree had to have been near the edge of the forest given the way we were spat out into the clearing. At least, I hoped so. Staying several feet inside the tree line, I worked my way along.
A twig snapped. Shadows shifted.
I crouched down to hide, but it was too late. A knife pressed against my throat. Rapid fire words were hissed at me in a language I didn’t recognize. Rustling announced the arrival of more people. A rough hand grabbed my bicep, pulling me to my feet. I could barely make out the dark-skinned face of a man with a beard. He gestured at me, getting irritated when I didn’t answer.
I tried to act friendly. “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I hope it’s ‘I come in peace.’”
He frowned, then switched to an accented English. “You American?”
“That obvious, huh? Who are you?”
He ignored my question to speak to someone off to the side. Then turned back to me. “What you do here?”
Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set Page 37