Fury

by Elizabeth Cole

  I waited a few minutes and then poked him again, and this time, his lips twitched. One more poke, and I was pretty sure he might smile.

  Maybe.

  I reached over but before I could make contact, he dropped the letter and his arms came around me, sliding us from the seat to the floor and pinning my back to his front so I was sitting between his legs.

  “I didn’t take you for a cuddler, Salem.” I said through a small smile.

  “It’s defensive cuddling.” He grumbled, “I have work to do and I’m being distracted.”

  His tone sounded put out, but the smile I heard contradicted it.

  “Distracted? By me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am sorry. I’ll stop tickling you.”

  “You are not sorry and I am not ticklish.”

  I turned in his arms so I could see him and he let me. My gaze followed the small bit of skin I could see from the two undone buttons at his neck, up past a jaw that looked like it had been carved from stone, to his lips, the bottom fuller than the top, and then up to eyes the color of liquid mercury.

  I never forgot how beautiful Salem was, but this close, it was hard to ignore.

  “Liar.” I said, my eyes stuck on his.

  He ignored the statement, his eyes taking me in like I’d just done to him. “Are you happy to be back?”

  “Always.”

  “Good.”

  “Does Jane know you came to get me?”

  The corner of his mouth ticked up, “I thought I’d surprise her. The last time her screams nearly blew out an ear drum.”

  I sighed, rolling my eyes. Kings were such drama queens.

  ✽✽✽

  My two weeks there was over before I knew it, but I was happy that it wouldn’t be such a long wait between visits.

  “How long until I come home this time?” I asked Salem, as we walked hand in hand towards the doors.

  He stopped abruptly, and since he held me, I stopped too.

  “What?” I asked, because he was staring at me like I’d just slapped him.

  “Home?”

  I didn’t understand the significance of the word, and it must have showed.

  “You think of here as home? Not your world?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him it was a figure of speech, but closed it again when I realized it wasn’t. It was the way I felt.

  The Underworld felt like home.

  Here with him and Charon, Jane, Tasha and Joshua, the manor was home. I felt complete here and even Fitz seemed to do better than he did in our world.

  “Yes, I do.” I said, not knowing how he was going to react.

  He did his think while stare at the Fury thing, the one where he rolled my words around in that pretty head of his before commenting, and when he was quiet for a little too long I asked, “Is that bad?”

  “No.” The answer was immediate, and he pulled me to him, one hand coming around my neck before his lips crashed down on mine.

  It wasn’t gentle, it was filled with a fierceness that was all consuming.

  My body molded to his, my hands wrapping around his neck and his pulling me tighter into him, something I didn’t know was possible until he did it.

  My skin felt hot, my legs like they were going to give out and I couldn’t be happier about it.

  Fitz, who was being squished between my arm and Salem’s neck, was not.

  He squeezed my wrist hard, forcing me to break away from something truly promising between Salem and me.

  “Sorry, Fitz.” Salem said, as I pulled my arm back to inspect him.

  Fitz didn’t hiss at Salem, just flicked out his tongue and settled back onto my wrist.

  My breathing was ragged, but Salem looked as calm and composed as always.

  I would have thought him unaffected, but his eyes were bright and intense as he watched me.

  He managed to steal what was left of my composure when he said, “The Underworld doesn’t feel like home without you, Nyx. In answer to your question, I think three weeks.”

  Heck, I’d take that.

  ✽✽✽

  The three-week mark arrived, but Salem never showed up.

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but after freaking out for a week that something had happened, I remembered what Salem had said about the magic he’d cast. Maybe the magic had lapsed and he hadn’t realized.

  Still, in the month following I started to worry more and more and found myself walking past the place where the doors appeared frequently, hoping maybe they’d be open.

  One month turned into two, then four and six and thoughts of doubt crept into my mind.

  Maybe he was done with me.

  Maybe he’d found someone else. Someone living there who he didn’t have to keep doing special favors for. Someone Jane liked to read with, Tasha liked to talk with and Joshua could tease. Someone Charon respected and someone that Salem…loved.

  The thoughts cored through my heart, my stomach lurching each time it took root in my mind, twisting into a knot that had me feeling sick.

  The ninth month with no contact and the truer my thoughts seemed.

  I knew Jane would push Salem to come get me even if he’d decided I wasn’t right for him, unless she was happy with the new girl.

  Happy enough to forget me.

  Some days I was bold, telling myself it was their loss and telling myself to move on and by the tenth month, I was trying.

  Callie, Iris and I hung out, partied and studied. We spent half our break at Ms. Ivy’s, talking to her girls and laughing about their reactions to things Ms. Ivy still taught and did.

  I was happy, but I felt like I’d left half a life behind.

  I did my best to stuff my feelings in a box and mentally set it on fire, but the thing was dang near indestructible. Rematerializing every so often and creeping up on me when I least expected it. So, instead of trying to forget, I found a way to live with it.

  The one-year mark was the hardest hurdle to get over, but it passed, as so many others had. I did my job as a Fury, was receiving good grades in all of my classes and finally told Callie and Iris a little about Salem. Not all of it, just the basics of there being someone I’d wanted more than just a child with and it hadn’t worked out.

  Talking about it helped and that was my turning point.

  So, imagine my surprise when a month after I’d stopped dwelling on everything, my eyes caught sight of the blonde man leaning lazily against a tree across the yard. I was standing with a group from my lit class, making plans to go out that weekend and mid-sentence I froze, muttered something about needing to talk to someone and all but ran towards Joshua as if he was going to evaporate before my eyes.

  He didn’t, and a wave of happiness washed over me so strong I threw my arms around him, wrapping him into a hug.

  “Nyx, you’re strangling me.” He said, and I pulled back.

  “What brings you back to my world, Joshua?”

  “I came to get you.”

  “Get me?”

  “You need to come back.”

  I took a step away from him, my heart throwing up walls instantly. “Come back?” I questioned, and he nodded.

  “Is everyone safe?”

  “Yes, but—"

  “Then my answer is no.”

  “No?”

  “I’m not going back to the Underworld, Joshua.”

  “Nyx, we need your help. Something’s wrong.”

  Swallowing hard, I asked, “Is someone dying?”

  “No, it’s nothing like that but—”

  “Is anyone going to get hurt?” I asked, and he shook his head.

  “No.”

  “Then, I’m sorry Joshua. But my answer is still no.”

  His jaw hardened and he looked around us and said, “Nyx, please. We need your help.”

  I snorted, anger steeling the walls my heart had put up. “You need my help? Where have you all been for the last year, huh? He dropped me off and you all left me her
e. You didn’t want me back and it hurt, you have no idea how bad it hurt. I spent months worried about you all only to realize not one of you cared about me. Now you tell me you’re back because you need my help?”

  “Salem needs you. Something’s wrong. He’s not acting like himself.”

  “If he needed me, he wouldn’t have left me here. I’m sorry.”

  Turning away from Joshua was hard, but he fell in step beside me which managed to bring out frustration. I refused to be sucked back into a world that was not my own because I knew I wouldn’t be able to build myself back up a second time.

  “Look, something is up with Salem. It’s like he’s a different person or something. The change was subtle, and at first, we thought he was just missing you. Every time you left he pulled into himself and this time we didn’t think anything of it. But he never came back for you. We all asked when he was going to get you, but he dismissed us. Jane threw the biggest fit she ever has and he left her crying on the floor. He told her if she couldn’t abide by his rules then she wouldn’t live here anymore.”

  I stopped walking and Joshua took a step to block my path if I started walking again, but I was more preoccupied with what he’d told me.

  That wasn’t Salem. Even when he’d been livid with Jane for giving me the cluster, he’d still been soft with her. Grounding her had affected him and he hadn’t like it.

  Salem could be rough around the edges, but he loved his people and would never threaten to uproot them. Especially Jane.

  Even so, I couldn’t just drop everything and go back. I’d worked too hard to put it behind me to regress.

  “Joshua,” I asked, my voice quiet. “Did it ever occur to you he might just be done with me?”

  I’d never said the words out loud up until that point and they cut deeper crossing my lips then they had when I’d thought them.

  Joshua heard the pain in my words and I hated the pity I saw flash in his eyes, “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “He dropped me off and never came back. What was I supposed to think?” I snapped, the pity putting me on edge while simultaneously tipping him over it.

  “You were supposed to think something was wrong! He’d never do that to you, Nyx. Even before you two became something to each other, you meant something to him. When I brought you to the Underworld the first time, he got mad at me for letting it get physical. I was the one with the broken nose and he was worried about you!”

  We were drawing attention, so I dropped my voice. “It’s been a year. I am just getting to the point where I can fix a smile on my face every day. You guys were family. I loved him and he left me here.”

  Joshua didn’t care about the people around us, “He loves you, Nyx. How can you just give up?”

  I stayed quiet, my jaw shut tight and that seemed to piss Joshua off even more.

  “I am telling you something is wrong with the man who did everything in his power to make sure you were happy and taken care of. Salem hate’s messing with people’s minds, but he did it. For you. Your teachers, your roommates, even the Oracles! He did all of it just to spend weeks at a time with you and you won’t swallow your pride when he needs you?”

  That pissed me off.

  “It’s not my pride that I can’t swallow, Joshua,” I hissed, “He…he shattered me. If I go back and he does it again…” I trailed off and squeezed my eyes shut, pushing myself to try and explain. “I only just managed to gather the pieces together and I haven’t had the chance to even try to put them back together. I’m sorry, but you guys are on your own this time.”

  I turned and started to walk away, but when he spoke my feet nearly tripped over themselves, my spine straightening abruptly at the sorrow I heard in his words.

  “I’m sorry too.”

  ✽✽✽

  The knocking didn’t wake me up. After my run in with Joshua, sleep wouldn’t come. I had pulled out the necklace Tasha had given me for Christmas, the ring Salem had given me still next to the crystal. I was battling myself over my decision as I stared at it. Half of me was proud of myself for my show of strength, the other half not so much. When the knocking started, I slipped the chain over my head and was up and out of bed, thinking it might be Joshua again. I was second to Callie, who was peeking through the peephole when I got to the door.

  “Who is it?”

  She pulled back abruptly and started running her fingers through her hair and tying the robe tightly around her frame as she said, “It’s an Oracle.”

  “An Oracle?” Iris asked, and I turned and saw see she was the only one of us that had gotten dressed.

  Callie nodded and then opened the door and the three of us bowed our heads minutely. She was shrouded in the typical white robe they always wore, the hood pulled up to cover half her face, and not for the first time, I was reminded of a Sith Lord. The only difference between the Oracle in front of me and Darth Sidious’ appearance down to the chin, was the white robe instead of the black.

  “You’ve been summoned.” The Oracle said as she produced a letter. Callie took it as the Oracle added. “You have an hour to be at the given address.”

  “We will be there.” Callie said, and we all bowed our head again when she began to fade out of existence. It looked cool, but my dislike for her outweighed my caring.

  Callie and I hurried to get ready and the two of them chattered the entire drive to the meeting house in our area. I wasn’t as eager. I didn’t know what they wanted, but this late it couldn’t be good. It didn’t help half of me was still preoccupied with Joshua and everything he’d said and what I had said in return so I wasn’t completely focused. I was going back and forth about what to worry about and not coming up with anything that helped either cause.

  When we pulled off the main road and onto the long gravel road I put it all out of my mind, wanting to be alert for whatever was about to go on.

  “Nyx? You’ve been quiet. What’s on your mind?” Iris asked.

  “I don’t like this. Being summoned. It’s not their way.”

  “We’ll see. Maybe it’s not bad.” Callie said, but I don’t think any of us believed it.

  Every light was on in the white, two-story Colonial and as soon as we’d climbed out of the car the double doors opened up and an Oracle stood waiting for us to join her.

  “You’re meeting with the Cleric.” The Oracle said as we followed her inside. The doors were shut behind us and she headed for the staircase as she added, “Her and her guest.”

  It was a pointed remark, but we all knew better than to ask questions. The Oracles might need Furies, but it didn’t mean we weren’t disposable. Whatever this was about, silence was the best answer in this scenario. When we got to the top of the stairs another door opened and this time our guide stepped up to the door and crossed her hands before stepping to the side.

  The three of us walked into a dimly lit room. It crackled with an energy that had the hair on my neck standing up and Fitz clenching at my wrist uncontrollably. He didn’t like this any more than I did. Whatever this was about, I wanted to get in and get out.

  The room was empty except for the Cleric who was standing in her blood red robes in the center of the room. Her back was facing us, but she turned and beckoned us forward as another person I hadn’t seen before stepped to the side, stopping me in my tracks when I saw him.

  “Nyx?” Callie calmly pressed, but I didn’t answer. Instead I took him in and wondered what the hell we had walked into.

  “I take it from your reaction what this man has told me is true?” The Cleric said, motioning to Joshua.

  A lump formed in my throat as my mouth went dry and I looked to Callie and Iris, who both had confused looks on their faces.

  “I—” I started, but it came out hoarse so I cleared my throat before I continued. “I know him. As to what he’s told you, I cannot say.”

  “Allow me to enlighten you then, Fury. This man works for the King of the Underworld. He tells me you were conscripted to help t
he King and did so. Now he needs your help and told me you refused. Is it true?”

  It sounded bad when you said it like that, but it wasn’t like I could explain everything to her.

  “It’s true.”

  “He also tells us you’ve spent time in the Underworld. Enough time that the King saw fit to use his gifts to affect us and your sisters. Is it true?”

  “It’s true.” I said, my eyes going to him. I hoped they conveyed the message I wanted them to. If I made it out of here, he was a dead man. “Although to explain further, him and the King saw fit to kidnap me and threaten to kill my vessel if I didn’t help.”

  I said it for Callie and Iris. I could feel their stares, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at them and see their disappointment and their hurt.

  “Forgive me, Fury, but you’re telling me you’ve already helped him, and you have the opportunity to help again and turned him down. We would like to know why.”

  Why? They wanted to know why? Because he broke me. I let him in and he left me and it broke me. When I saw Joshua, I’d had a little bit of hope spring up and he’d demolished it again by telling me he’d only come for me because Salem needed help. Not because he missed me or loved me. I was a necessity, a means to an end, just like I was with the Oracles.

  “I turned him down because stepping into their world took me away from my own.” I said, since I couldn’t give the real reason. “I wasn’t able to fulfill my duties and it put a strain on my ability to do my job to you and my sisters.”

  Okay, so it wasn’t exactly truth, but it seemed to have the desired effect on the Oracle.

  “Will she be allowed back into our world once she is done assisting yours?” The Cleric asked, looking to Joshua.

  “Yes.” He said, speaking for the first time since I’d come into the room. “If you would excuse her from her work while she’s gone and she helps the King, he will reward you for your lenience.”

  The Cleric’s smile was horribly off-putting. She liked the thought of Salem being indebted to her.