Gods of Blood and Bone (Seeds of Chaos Book 1) (52 page)

I was exhausted by the intense mental effort, and fell asleep again, with a muttered, “Thank you,” to Adam.
 

The next day, I told Behelaino of my conquest, and she began to instruct me in the use of my newly contained power. She was a hard taskmaster, constantly impatient and fickle, and my body was still weak from its extended battle. Learning even a modicum of control was grueling. According to Behelaino, I was also singularly untalented.
 

“You must leave soon,” she said to me a few days later.
 

“Yes. The Trials will be starting soon, and then I will go back to my world. There’s not much time left,” I said, sparring lightly with a man-sized tornado of jagged pebbles and steam she’d made.
 

“I have not much control left. My strength replenishes by the day, and I struggle to hold it in check so that you and your subjects do not die. I cannot continue to do so for much longer,” she rumbled.

I frowned, and released a short burst of my new power, scattering and disintegrating the twister with a poof of fleeting dark tendrils. I quickly clamped back down on the Chaos, locking it up again before it could attack me in a frenzy of sudden release. The effort exhausted me. It would be a while before I could use the Skill again, though I was getting better compared to fainting the first time. “You’re regaining the strength lost from when you…erupted?” She’d hinted as much a few times before.
 

“Yes. If you do not take some distance from this place, your lives in mortal form will be gone, your energy mixed with my own. Prepare your subjects to travel. If this Trial does not take you when you have said it will, you will need to run. I have grown…
fond
of you, and would like you to live on.”
 

But it did take us, shortly afterward. When the Boneshaker started to play, a cube formed in front of us, and we were given the option to go to the Trial or not. Behelaino could somehow tell. “You do not bear my power in vain, Eve-Redding. May you go free.”
 

My eyes met the gaze of her face’s swirling orbs of water and held, and then my team and I were snapped away to a Trial. For the first time since my first Trial, I felt no overwhelming fear.

Chapter 36

A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort.

— Gillian Flynn

As I’d guessed and hoped, Zed was there, so we could protect him. When he saw me, his face lit up, as happy as I’d ever seen him. But instead of rushing forward to hug me and make sure I was alright, he hesitated, and his eyes searched mine.
 

I was puzzled for a moment, and then realized what was going on in his mind. I remembered the last time I’d seen him, and the things I’d said. So instead of waiting for him, I stepped forward and wrapped him in a crushing hug. He wheezed from the force my strength could now create, but when I pulled back, he was beaming. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I said. “And…you know, those things I said—”

“You wanted to keep me safe,” he interrupted. “I know. Sometimes we do things we shouldn’t, trying to keep each other safe. Must run in the family,” he said pointedly.
 

My eyes widened in surprise, and I finally let go of the last bit of anger I’d been holding against him for taking my Seed. “Yeah. I guess we do.”
 

He nodded, but I knew that even if all was forgiven between us, it would be a while till the wounds healed and things were back to normal. Maybe they would never be back to normal. And that was okay, too.
 

After the Trial, which seemed designed to test our speed, dexterity, and endurance, the team returned with Zed to the normal world, wrapping our arms around him in a kind of bulky group hug in the hopes that he’d take us with him to the point where Blaine was waiting with an escape route.
 

It worked, and we all piled into Blaine’s dark-tinted pod, ignoring the queasiness that came with teleportation. He peeled away. We were in some network of mostly empty underground tunnels, which he navigated with ease.
 

My eyes had adjusted to the dark, so when the pod burst out into the brightness of day and merged with flowing traffic, I flinched and lifted an arm to block my face.
 

Zed, who was sitting beside me, did the same. When we’d had time to adjust to the brightness, he turned to me. “You seem different.”
 

Jacky grinned and poked her head forward from the backseat. “Yah. That’s because we’re bad-ass strong now.”

Sam, on my other side, sighed and leaned his head back against the seat. “Training in Hell will do that to you. But I never realized before how bad Earth stinks. I’d gotten used to the freshness.”
 

“No,” Zed shook his head, “that’s part of it. But there’s something else, too.”
 

Adam flicked me a look from the front passenger seat, which I pointedly ignored.
 

Zed looked from Adam to me. “What is it?”

I shook my head. “We just have a lot more experience with danger than we did before. We’ve become veteran Gamers, kind of in the space of nine days. It’s been a lot longer than that for us. That disconnect is probably what you’re sensing.”
 

“How long were you over there for?”

“About six weeks.”
 

He nodded and let the questioning go, but the frown on his face said he wasn’t quite satisfied. He was more sensitive to lies and evasion, after everything that had happened. “Well, you’re crazy, crazy powerful now.”

I couldn’t blame him for being suspicious, but I didn’t know what to say about the Seed I’d taken, or how to explain it, and I didn’t want him to worry. But I felt a small twinge of guilt, and decided to elaborate anyway. “I also have a new…Skill-type-thingy.” I made vague hand motions meant to play down its importance rather than explain.
 

He perked up with interest again, but I gave vague answers, and kept the true danger and side effects to myself.
 

The others knew the truth, more or less, but they wouldn’t go against my word.
 

Blaine took us to a hotel suite, which he’d paid for using a fake ID link. He had some lab equipment set up, though not even close to the realm of the laboratory in his basement.
 

When I let Birch out of my backpack, where I’d firmly ordered him to stay hidden, still and quiet before the Trial, Blaine went into a state of frenzied, ecstatic curiosity, and lamented that he didn’t have better equipment to examine the animal. Birch even bit him when Blaine tried to touch his wings, but the scientist seemed even more excited by that, asking a series of questions about him and the Trial world that I was too tired to answer properly.
 

Luckily, Adam was more than happy to rave about my new monster companion. He adored the little tailos, even though Birch seemed to know it, and bullied him mercilessly. Every time Adam got close, Birch swatted or made coughing sounds at him. And when Adam tried to feed him scraps of meat, Birch always deliberately nipped his fingers, too. It was obvious the tailos found it all great fun, and for some reason Adam only liked him even more.

After a few hours to rest and recuperate, I woke up while the others still slept and sat down with Blaine and Birch to satisfy his curiosity and my own. While I kept up a constant stream of petting, praise, and reassurance toward the sleepy cub, Blaine took samples of his various bodily fluids, fur, and feathers.
 

“Give me an update on the real world,” I said. “What’s been happening while we’ve been gone? Have you been able to safely avoid NIX?”

Blaine spoke without looking at me, intent on his samples of an alien life form. “Yes. We have been a step ahead of them the whole time. However, if not for my…especially wide skill set, that would not be the case. Everything we buy is on untraceable credit, and I’ve put some additional measures in place to avoid recognition by the satellites or cameras. It is not perfect, though. I may be a genius, but I am only one person, and they have resources most people can barely imagine.”

“That can work against them, too. They may be big and powerful, but they’re also secretive. They haven’t let the world find out about them. It’ll end up being just one more incentive for them to decide we’re more trouble than we’re worth, no matter how much power they have. Have you made any progress on verifying their method of teleportation?”

“From the feedback on the monitoring system, it seems your hunch was right. The sphere device in the courtyard of NIX’s compound is in control of the Boneshaker. I still do not understand how it works, unfortunately. I cannot block it.”

“That’s okay. I know another way.”
 

He was silent for long enough that I thought maybe he wasn’t going to continue the conversation, but then he said, “What do you think the chances are? That you will be able to pull this off, I mean? This commitment you have made to all of us, it is quite…large. Save my sister’s kids, free the rest of the team from the Game, strike a blow to NIX and force them to leave us alone afterward… Can you do it?”

“Blaine, there’s only one answer I can give you. I won’t allow a future in which I fail. I’m going to keep everyone safe.”
 

He pulled out a syringe and pierced my arm, drawing blood. “What if you cannot? What if NIX is too strong for us, even now?”
 

I suppressed a small surge of anger at his doubt, recognizing it for the emotional volatility born of my new power. I hadn’t been to my mental room of peace for a while, and needed to visit it and tend the box within. “I won’t fail. You may see something new in that blood when you examine it, Blaine. I asked about what’s happened here, but I haven’t told you about our little trip yet.”
 

We talked for a couple hours after that, exchanging information and more plans. Though I wasn’t willing to accept aloud the possibility of a second defeat at NIX’s hands, I still made plans to keep Zed far away and safe in the event that I was wrong. I was cocky, yes, but never let it be said that I didn’t learn from my mistakes.

Log of Captivity 5

Mental Log of Captivity-Estimated Day: Two thousand, six hundred forty-two.

She is back again, though she was gone long enough I worried myself to distraction. I have tried to reach her, and though I can feel our
blood-covenant-bond
, I cannot touch her. She has adapted some sort of
warrior’s-technique
to protect her mind. I am grateful that she grows strong, but I feel her coming close to this place of
two-leg-maggots
, and I worry that she will attempt to find me again. It is shameful that my child-master must save her
blood-covenant-champion
. But my
mother-lord
would approve of her.

Chapter 37

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.
 

― Dylan Thomas

I sat on the mountainside behind the bowl of NIX, which I’d just realized was similar to Behelaino’s tip, only less defensible and harsh. A map of NIX floated in front of my face, and I’d shared it with Jacky and Adam, who sat on either side of me. We were going over the plan for our attack, and reviewing the myriad variations we’d come up with, in case of surprises.
 

The sun had just risen, and its cleansing light was almost harsh despite the early hour. We would come at dawn instead of in darkness this time. I let the wind whipping along the mountainside rush over me as I contemplated what was to come, willing my victory into existence.
 

--WE’RE READY.--

-Sam-

I’d sent Sam around to the other side of NIX with Blaine. Sam would be able to heal the hostages if needed, so that everyone would be in condition to escape without being a burden. When they were finished, Blaine would take off with the kids and Chanelle, and Sam would come back around as backup for my group.
 

Bunny, now officially our man on the inside, had unlocked a door for them. Blaine would be going for the prototype of the electronically powered armor suit he’d given to NIX first, which would augment his fighting ability and hopefully allow him to hold his own while they broke Chanelle and the kids out.
 

Zed and Birch were on their way out of the country, to a place that would be safe if the unthinkable happened. Not that any place would be truly safe, if Zed had to keep going to the Trials, especially without our protection. I’d wanted Blaine to go with him, to keep him safe and out of the way, but he’d refused to leave Kris and Zeke to anyone’s protection but his own, and insisted he could be useful. Zed would have to do his traveling alone, because as much as I hated it, in truth I couldn’t spare the manpower to go with him. I’d left Birch with him, since the cub needed protection as much as he did.
 

I had a quick image of China dying, but this time it was Zed's eyes staring back at me. I clenched my fist. That wouldn't happen. It wasn't an option.
 

The ground of the huge courtyard rumbled below, and a hole in the ground dilated open. Three heli-pods rose from it, their blades making a deep
thwump
-ing sound. I watched them rise slowly, then head away at top speed. Whatever NIX was doing, it would just be a distraction from us, something to slow down their reaction speed a little more.
 

I rose and took another deep breath, feeling a ball of something cold and hard in the center of my chest. All or nothing, now. "It's time," I said to the two next to me, as well as sending the words in a Window to Sam.
 

I adjusted the armored vest straps over my chest, pricked the back of my wrist, and fed it a few drops of blood. "Armor in place?" I asked the others, and received positive responses.