Candidate (Selected Book 4) (77 page)

"All right."

"Jasmine told me to be clear. Play for gifts. She said you have an agreement, and if you want it, you'll do your damned best."

"I will."

"Jaguar and Harp will receive hints as to your location."

"What form?"

"They receive constant updates as to your distance from them, and it is accurate to a meter."

"Oh hell. They can triangulate."

"This will be the same event for all your challenges with them," Peony said. "But next time, it is accurate to ten meters. Then a hundred, then a thousand."

"I'm athletic, and I've been getting better at running, but I'm not remotely in their league. I won't win anything today, but I will by the time we get to a thousand."

"Probably," she replied. "Andromeda, are you still angry about all this? I know you were very angry when you arrived."

"I stopped being angry some time ago, I think. Except at that little shit Loris. Jasmine asked me to forgive him, but he's a shit."

"Yeah, I think so, too, but Cedar loves him, and he's very good at the same time. For a little shit Loris."

I laughed.

"Andromeda, I'm sorry, but I have to leave tomorrow morning."

"I'm glad you had this time with Clover," I said. "And I'm glad we finally met."

"We'll meet again," she said. "Thank you for what you're doing for us."

"I don't know if I'll be around long enough to do much more," I said.

"We appreciate the time you've given us to be together. Have a good event."

"I will. You know, if they have distance to me, I should have distance to them."

She laughed. "It won't do you any good. But I think I agree."

And a moment later, on my visor, it said 28.174 kilometers to each of them, with the numbers steady.

"Were you supposed to tell me how far we are from the facility?" I asked.

She caressed my cheek. "Like that information would do you any good at all. Besides, you don't want to get away."

"I might," I said, "If that damned Loris is involved in any more of my challenges."

She laughed as she turned and walked back to the jumper.

She was barely in the air before the stone released me. I grabbed the backpack, checked the map on the visor, and began jogging.

I had an hour. I knew hiding wasn't a good strategy. It would take them minutes to find me. Later, hiding could be a very good strategy, but with one-meter accuracy, if I tried to hide, they could walk straight to me.

So I jogged, a ground-eating jog designed to put as much distance between me and the start as I could.

I'd been in this arena before. It was the first I'd overseen, the one where I'd told Emma to jump, the one where I had jumped. I wasn't going to jump today. I didn't know what the punishment would be for relying on them to catch me, but that was just tempting them to call Bay in.

So I cut to the right, following a path, then when I could, turned west.

In my visor, the numbers began to diminish, finally settling down on just over three kilometers. Then they grew for a while as I continued to move further away.

The one-hour timer reached zero, and in seconds, the numbers began to decrease.

I put on a burst of speed, running instead of jogging. I hit the low point, stepping through the stream, and then had to slow down as the ground turned uphill.

When I could, I turned south.

The numbers began to increase again, and I thought they increased more than I expected them to. I reached relatively flat ground, and I began running faster.

* * * *

I led them in circles around the gorge three times. It was during the third trip around that Peony said, "Congratulations, Andromeda. You won your first gift. No one expected it."

I bent over to catch my breath, panting heavily. "I can't keep this up much longer," I panted out. "What are they saying to each other?"

"They don't talk much," she said. "And if they did, I don't speak Whiteblack, so I wouldn't understand."

"Oh. So, what's the penalty if I jump?"

"I promise you won't want to do it twice."

"How bad is it?"

"The net is a spider web."

"Someone told Bay I was going to be in this arena?"

"No. I put it there. Don't make me do it, Andromeda. I'm serious."

"Fine, fine," I said. I grabbed water, drank, put it back, and began running.

They had to be figuring out what I was doing, so when I reached the bottom again, instead of continuing up the other side, I turned north. Ten seconds later, Peony was laughing.

"What?"

"They had turned around and were going to catch you on the other side. It's going to take them several minutes to realize what you did."

"I won't make a second hour," I said, panting. "But I damned well intend to try."

I ran until the first new path west. The numbers had been going down for a while, so I cut west and when I could, south again. The numbers continued to decrease, then went up for a little bit, and then they held steady.

"I wouldn't suppose you would tell me what they're doing."

"Running back south to cut you off."

"That's what I thought." I stopped, turned around, and began running north again. The numbers began increasing, but that didn't last. Then I cut south again and went into a full out run.

"Give me a hint, Peony," I said as I came to the path we'd been running on all afternoon.

"Turn."

I cut east. The numbers held steady for a minute, then began dwindling rapidly.

"Shit." I cut into the woods and turned southwest, moving as quickly as I could. A hundred yards off the trail, I turned back west, then northwest. They ran past me but then I heard them dive into the jungle. I made the trail seconds later, turned west, and ran as hard as I could.

But when I looked behind me, they were right there, forty yards back, running side by side, and they were fast! Fast.

I squeaked, but I didn't have anything else left. So I ran, and I didn't bother looking back. I watched my step, and I ran.

They split as they got to me, Harp on the left, Jaguar on the right. They grabbed my arms and lifted me.

I squealed and struggled, but they brought me to a stop, then, gently, set me face down on the ground.

I struggled with them, but there was no way I was getting away. They moved my hands behind my back and crossed my wrists. Then they grabbed my flailing feet, crossed them at the ankles, and pressed them together towards my butt.

I struggled a moment longer, but then I went limp, breathing heavily. I could hear them panting as well.

"Andromeda," said Peony into my ear. "They haven't won yet. They have to get you back to the start. If you get an opportunity to gain your freedom, you must take it. They're going to do something that might piss you off, but don't worry about the cameras. Trust me."

They held me while we all caught our breaths. Finally I said, "You caught me."

"You were clever," Jaguar said. "You evaded us a long time."

"Did you have fun chasing me?"

"Yes, but it is not over."

"I know."

"Do not grow angry. We must claim you, Andromeda."

And then, while holding me pinned, they began to caress me. I didn't mind that at all. They held me pinned on my stomach, but they each only needed one hand each and a little of their weight. So they each had a hand free, and they made use. They ran fingers through my hair, caressed my cheek. My hands were touched, and then they began stroking me through the jumpsuit.

But then Jaguar shifted her grip, holding me tightly. Harp moved to my feet and began removing my boots.

"What are you doing?"

"Claiming you," Harp explained, for whatever that explanation was worth.

I squirmed and struggled at that, but of course, it barely slowed her down. She stripped the boots and socks from me, and then they shifted, and my feet were added to the touching attention I was receiving. I grew still after a moment.

But then they rolled me over into Jaguar's arms. She held my arms pinned behind me but sat me up. Harp moved to sit on my legs, and they stroked my face and my neck. They touched my body, again through the jumpsuit, and again I grew still, closing my eyes.

But then her hands moved to the jumper, and she began opening it. My eyes snapped open. "What are you doing?"

"Claiming you, Andromeda," she said.

"Not out here!"

"Yes, out here," she said.

I put up a fight, but I didn't tell them, "No, and I'm serious." It took her a few minutes, but she pulled the jumper from me.

And they went back to touching me. I spent the entire time struggling to be free, but they were strong, and I was not.

My struggles grew increasingly weak, but they continued to touch.

Then they began talking to me. "We want you," Jaguar said.

"We will claim you," Harp continued. "You will become our triangle."

And they touched, and they teased, and a few times they licked and nipped, and I arched and squirmed under them.

And then they picked me up, and my things besides, and they began to carry me.

They didn't stop touching me.

They held me tightly all the way back to the jumper, waiting for us. And they touched me the entire time, too, driving me insane.

It was in the jumper that I got my next break. Harp released my legs to stow my clothes. Jaguar tried to put me into a chair by herself, but I broke free. I'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but I ducked under her lunge to grab me and ran out, right past Harp, and was twenty yards from the jumper, running in my birthday suit, before they caught me.

They lowered me to the grass, pinned me.

And started over with their touches.

"Seriously?" I asked, laughing. "Did you let me do that, Jaguar?"

"No, but we won't let it happen again."

Together they touched, and I squirmed, because it felt good, and I decided in that moment one simple fact.

Charoite had some serious competition.

* * * *

They took me to their apartment, not letting me go. I insisted they cover me during the walk through the facility, so they used my jumper like a blanket, wrapping it around me to preserve some of my modesty.

But once we arrived, they held me carefully as they unwrapped me. Then they carried me to their bed, and they touched, and they touched.

I grew still, my eyes closed, and let them do whatever they wanted.

"You're supposed to struggle."

"I'm struggled out," I said.

"The claim will be weak if we do not have to work for it," Harp said. "You must make us work."

I didn't understand, but I did what I could to give them what they wanted. I
tried
to struggle. I
tried
to break free. Really, I did.

Eventually, like we had last night, we lay together. I was cradled between them, an arm from each as my pillow, my own arms pinned underneath them, but they kept their weight off me. And they each held a leg over mine, fully pinning me to the bed. But I didn't mind. I'd gotten so much touch I felt like I was high.

"I need food," I told them. "I bet you do as well."

"Yes," they agreed. "We have a present for you."

"Two presents," Harp clarified. "First we have a robe for you to wear while you are here." She climbed from the bed, visited the closet, and then returned, holding a robe open. It was not, shall we say, big and fluffy, but I thanked them and let them slip me into it. It kept me far more exposed than I preferred, but it was better than wandering around naked. "This is not your gift. Well, it is yours, but it is just a robe. Come."

They led me into the living room and set me down in the center of the sofa, Harp beside me. "This first gift I made," Jaguar said. "I obtained the raw materials, processed them, and produced this. I will say more when you see it." She stepped away and returned with a flat box, black, about ten inches square and an inch and a half thick. Jaguar sat down beside me and set the box in my lap.

"Is there a custom in your culture for how to open this?"

"No."

I couldn't tell what the box was made from. It had a latch, which took me a moment to work out, and was hinged with invisible hinges. When I opened it, the inside was black, and there was cloth obscuring the contents. I folded back the cloth and stared.

Nestled inside was a necklace. I found myself staring at it.

It was a choker with a band that would go all the way around my neck, growing more ornate at the front. It appeared to be made of white gold and was festooned with red gemstones I thought were rubies alternating with diamonds.

"This is beautiful," I managed to say. And priceless. They barely knew me, and they were giving this to me?