The Lie Spinners (The Deception Dance) (16 page)

I
turn to him and try to shake my arm from his grip. “Ow! Jesus!
Let go.”

His
grip loosens a bit but doesn’t let go. He shakes his head in a
furious dissent, but whether by magic or choice, he says nothing.

I
turn back to Räum. “What are the terms of the deal?”

“
They
are simple, my dear, if you and Richard Jones will let me give you a
gift
,
of sorts, I will choose new fighters to replace your friends in the
fight against the Kra-Sue.” I’m not sure if by magic, or
if my brain overloaded and partially shut down but all that exists is
Räum and me, that the words that stream between us, like cords,
weaving around me.

“
If
we allow you to give us these
gifts…
”
I air quote the word gifts, “…you will release all of
us: Nicholas Tapper, Cassidy Dixon, Richard Jones, and myself,
unharmed, without having to do anything else, so we can go unimpeded
or pursued by you or anyone associated with you, on our way to find
Stephen.”

Räum
smiles. “And you say you are not like us,” he says. “The
terms are acceptable.”

Nicholas
rasps out, “refuse…” right as Cassidy yells
something like, “don’t even…”

“
I agree,”
I say.

“
Hell no!”
Richard Jones says.

“
Dissention
in the ranks, I see,” Räum says, and from his expression I
can see that this is not a surprise, at all. “Well, my dear, as
only one of you two agrees to my deal only one of your friends will
be released from the fight; however, Raven Smith, I will let you
choose which of your friends is free and which one faces the
Kra-Sue.”

Räum
speaks into the microphone, presumably translating what’s going
on into Thai, it doesn’t really matter because my mind is a
malfunctioning machine and all I can hear is the cogs grinding, all I
can smell is the metallic-burn scent of defeat and I have to choose
which of my friends dies…

The
room spins, a colorful blur, like we’re in a snow-globe filled
with confetti and someone shook it just for the small pleasure of
watching us mortals stumble.

The
bodies keep piling up around me, the whispers of their flesh smacking
together hisses:
your
fault, your fault, your fault
.

Nicholas
says, “Raven,” and from the tone of his voice I think
he’s been saying my name for some time.

I
look into his blue eyes, and know, that he is my pick to live. I like
Cassidy, and truly though I’ve only spent a day with her, I bet
she deserves to live as much as Nicholas. But the reality of the
reason behind my choice is: I care about Nicholas more.

Nicholas
rasps, “This is a new deal; you have not agreed to this one
yet. Turn it down. We can take care of ourselves.”

I
shake my head.

“
You
heard him!” Jones barks out, beside me. “Refuse, now,
that is an order.”

As
inappropriate as the reaction is, I have to resist rolling my eyes at
Jones.

Cassidy
meets my gaze, and whether it’s womanly intuition or just from
studying me for the whole year, I think she knows exactly what’s
rattling through my mind.

“
She
doesn’t look like much of a kick-boxer,” Cassidy says
with a smile. “I’ll kick her around like a football.”

Räum,
obviously feeling that we had built up the tension enough for the
crowd says, “Who do you chose, my dear?”

I
look back to Cassidy, and when she winks at me, I say, “I agree
to the new deal. Cassidy Dixon fights.”

Obviously
knowing what I was going to say, without missing a second, Nicholas
rasps, “I offer myself in Cassidy’s place.”

Cassidy
grabs the front of Nicholas’ torn shirt and pulls him to her,
kissing him hard on the lips. Their kiss a quick and almost
violently-furious smashing together, before they break apart. Both of
them look shocked, as if Cassidy is as surprised that she did it as
Nicholas was to receive it. Then, Cassidy kisses him again, tenderly.
“I’ve loved you since we were kids,” she says,
“Just thought you might like to know.” She pats him on
the shoulder as an Oni (that I didn’t even notice coming up
behind them) lifts Nicholas out of the enclosure. Though Nicholas
looks like he might be trying to fight the Oni, the Oni doesn’t
seem to notice.

Räum
screams something in Thai, and a bright green goblin-looking-thing
flips into the enclosure next to Cassidy to stand in a fighter’s
stance where Nicholas just vacated.

At
least Cassidy won’t fight alone.

“
Let
the fight begin,” Räum screams, and in an explosion of
feathers he almost instantaneously transforms into a crow and
launches himself into the air.

A
sudden searing pain slices into my inner arm. I just stop myself from
screaming as I turn to my arm just below the inside of my elbow; a
word in black is tattooed there in some foreign script.

A
high pitched screeching from the stage distracts me from my newest
demon mark and I turn to see the Kra-Sue sink her teeth into the
green goblin creature’s throat and with one wrench the goblin
flinches, then hangs limp from her jaws.

Cassidy,
taking advantage of the Kra-Sue’s distraction roundhouse kicks
the Kra-Sue in the back of the head.

The
head buries in the goblin for a second, and then a coil of her
organic ropes whips around Cassidy’s leg.

“
Disgusting,”
Cassidy says, as she pries the intestine off her leg with her
unbroken arm. The Kra-Sue’s head, dripping blood emerges from
the goblin and turns, snake quick, to look at Cassidy.

Cassidy
lets go of the coil of intestine and punches for the head, but the
head dodges the blow. The head strikes out like a cobra, tearing into
Cassidy’s injured arm just below her shoulder. Cassidy screams.

I
realize I’m moving toward the fight when the asura’s hand
pulls me back. And I know that I’ve killed another person when
I see Cassidy, hopelessly wrapped up in the web of innards, and the
head, rearing back for another strike, this time at Cassidy’s
neck.

Jones’
hand squeezes my am again, but this time gently.

But,
inexplicably, the head doesn’t go for the kill. The head flies
back, no longer trailing anything but a short stem of viscera.

Stunned,
I look back to Cassidy and stare. Cassidy no longer has hands;
instead she has two great mitt-sized-paws with giant claws
unsheathed. Her face too has transformed, instead of her perfect
features, her cheek bones jut out into what I’d have to call a
feline shape.

Cassidy
falls forward, still tangled in the detached viscera. As her length
smacks the floor, right on her broken and bleeding arm, she raises
her head and roars, in the way only one animal can.

Then
she… morphs, bones moving, shifting in a rapid deformation,
like giant bugs under her skin skittering down the length of her
body. She makes a screeching sound that can only mean that whatever
she is going through hurts, bad. It only takes moments, seconds, and
then a female lion lies where Cassidy had just been.

“
Demon
infected,” Jones says, like a curse.

With
her unbroken arm the lion tears at pinkish cords, which are much
tighter on her body than they were on Cassidy.

The
Kra-Sue dive bombs Cassidy, biting into her left flank and tearing
two long gashes down to her butt.

Cassidy
goes nuts. She swats wildly in (what I can only call) a complete and
utter frenzy, tearing at herself until she’s a bloody mess.
When she’s finally mostly untangled and able to stand, she
swipes at where the Kra-Sue hovers.

The
Kra-Sue flies back out of reach of the claws of the bloody raging
lion.

The
crowd around us equally goes nuts. I see money passing in all
directions, creatures screaming, laughing, and pointing.

The
lioness stops abruptly and roars. The sound goes on forever. She
bellows an ear piercing- yet low rumble, like the sound the Earth
makes in an intense earthquake. When she ceases the room stays
absolutely silent for one, two, three full seconds. Then Cassidy rips
through the ropes and into the audience.

The
lioness literally tears through the colorful audience of freaks. As
if Cassidy declared open season, the Kra-Sue’s floating head
also starts flying at audience members.

Jones’
fingers tighten from around where he has been gripping me and he
pulls me toward the back of the room, away from Cassidy and the
stage. To my surprise, no one stops us; no one even pays any
attention to us as Jones drags me through the crowd. Every creature
stands mesmerized by the violence.

“
Wait!”
I yell, but Jones either doesn’t hear me over the cacophony of
the crowd or doesn’t care. I yell louder “Wait! We need
to get Nicholas! And Cassidy! Stop!”

No
response, nothing. Stupid-jerk face just keeps pulling me until we
reach the edge of the crowd.

Instead
of fleeing from the violence, the creatures are crowding closer to
where I can no longer see Cassidy tearing the additional limbs off
creatures. The effect is that there is a cleared space along the edge
of the gymnasium and Jones easily drags me to the open, unguarded
staircase we were prodded down. After ascending the staircase, we
find that no one guards the door that leads to the alley.

We
emerge into the evening, or at least the narrow alley is seriously
dark. As the giant door slams behind me I yank back at where Jones
still grabs me.

“
Hey,
Jerk-Face, I’m not going anywhere until we get Nicholas and
Cassidy out of there.”

Unsurprisingly,
he doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m talking. The stupid
jerk just keeps dragging me down the alley.

I
pull back as hard as I can and kick him right below the side of his
knee, it lands, perfect dead leg. As I hoped, he stumbles, but his
grip doesn’t even loosen, instead he pulls me into him and with
a ‘thwack’ our bodies collide. He pulls me tight against
him, almost as if we’re hugging, and looks down at me. Our
faces are entirely too close to each other.

“
Never
kick my knee again,” he says so close and so fiercely that I
can almost feel his words on my face. “You could do real
damage.”

“
I’m
sorry,” I say, automatically feeling a) humiliated, b) more
humiliated, and c) I seriously need to back away from Richard Jones.
But instead of letting me get the much needed distance, Jones scoops
me into his arms and proceeds to carry me down the alley.

Oh,
no, no, no
,
I don’t think so. I start flailing, kicking, elbowing any
possible body part of his I can reach.

Jones
looks down at me, and almost calmly states, “If you don’t
stop your struggle before we turn on the more populated streets, I am
going to have to knock you unconscious.”

I
land a particularly well placed elbow in his side and bite him in the
shoulder (because I’m mature like that).

Jones’
arm loosens around my torso. I’m steeling myself to make a
break for it, when I feel a, just this side of painful, pinch in my
neck.

And…
I pass out.

Day
Three and Four

The
smell of oil, meat, and spices, the sound of hundreds of voices
chattering, the feel of a gentle rocking, the taste of my own sour
breath, all these sensations surround me pressing closer and closer
until my eyelids snap open. I half shudder, suddenly getting shivers
all over my body. It takes a second for the blurry disorganized
images around me to make any sense.

I’m
surrounded in, bombarded by, drowning in a sea of people. And above
the night sky is completely obscured by hundreds of neon signs
jutting out competing for visibility in the clutter. I am obviously
on a road but it’s completely filled with foot traffic. In
every direction colorful booths, mostly selling T-shirts, but also
knick-knacks, and back-packs and other nicer items halt just at the
curb. Dispersed among the booth’s canopies is every color of
umbrella, sporting every major brand name known to human-kind. It
feels like a giant neon tilt-a-whirl is spinning around me.