Chapter 13
“Are you trying to get us killed?” Gage snaps, throwing his swords to the ground as he stalks toward me.
I’m already dropping to the couch of our house, wearing nothing but some more sexy lingerie. I’m calling it their hit-list. All the things they requested girls wear is all I’m wearing from now on.
“Even when I’m saving your lives you apparently think I’m trying to get you killed, so I had an epiphany,” I state, shrugging.
“Your epiphany involved stupid outfits and distracting tactics when we’re chasing souls that could have escaped us tonight because of you?” Jude snaps, getting right in my face.
“No,” I say as I stand and pass through him, ignoring the tingles as I strut through the room with the lacy ensemble showing off all the goods.
As I pass through Gage, I notice Kai’s eyes hungrily raking over me, his breathing coming a little quicker. This was one of his favorite outfits on a girl, because when it was his turn, he bought this one several times for several different women.
“Over the years, I told you I perfected my fantasy,” I remind them.
“We’ve decided we’re never going to—”
I interrupt Kai, since it’s my turn to talk. “There are two types of people,” I say to him, and he narrows his eyes on me. “Those who listen, and those who merely wait for their turn to talk.”
My eyes move around the room.
“None of you are listeners. None of you care that I can’t change the channels on the TV, nor do you ever ask me if you can do something for me.”
“You never ask for anything,” Kai points out with a roll of his eyes.
“Exactly! I ask for nothing! And you inconsiderate assholes never bother to take that into consideration. I don’t even have a light on in my bedroom. I’ve been dying to watch that movie, and you ruined it,” I rant on, darting an annoyed gaze at Jude.
His lips merely twitch because he’s an unapologetic dick.
“And therefore, my epiphany has been that none of you deserve me. You can look. You can fantasize. Like I’ve had to. Try to bring home a woman, and I’ll make farting noises while wearing a dolphin costume and acting like I’m humping each of you. See how long you can hold an erection then,” I carry on, feeling a little proud of that threat as they all eye me like the psychotic girl in the room. “But even if I get whole and you beg, I’d never give in. In fact, I’m going to see if I can’t figure out how to attach myself to one of the other quads the next time we’re around some.”
Ezekiel turns and stalks out, not saying anything.
As I take a seat, Jude leans over me, caging me in as I stare up at him, unafraid.
“You’re trying to fuck with us again right now, aren’t you? See if you can make us jealous?”
I snort derisively, then outright laugh. “Make you jealous?” I ask around my laughter.
He backs up, a confused expression on his face.
“Why in the hell would I attempt to make you jealous? You don’t even like me! You play head games. Three of you finally tell me good night, only to act like I’m the devil’s advocate the next day just because I had a fluke where I finally got to feel someone, and surprise surprise, there was almost sex involved. That was apparently me trying to break you up, even though I’ve been quite shameless in voicing what I want the second I get whole, and I’ve been voicing it from the very beginning.”
They all look a little confused for a second.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are a few books open in the library where you guys were trying to research me. I’m going to go see if any of those books hold the secrets to getting myself hitched to four guys who appreciate how awesome I really am. Ghost girl out.”
I should have left off the ghost girl out part. My speech was epic until then.
Hands shaking and heart thumping in my chest, I stalk up the stairs, ready to commit to this new plan of action. I’ve been toying with the idea since the gauntlet, but until now, I didn’t have the lady ghost balls to go through with it.
As soon as I pass through the door in the library, I see a book shutting. Jude is smirking, his fingers closing another book.
Kai closes a few as well, since they apparently siphoned in here.
Gage props his feet up on a few open books, before shutting a few more beside him, challenging eyes on me the entire time.
“Real mature,” I grumble. “If you want me gone so bad, then why would you shut all the books?”
Gage toys with an ink pen, smirking and not looking at me.
“All the better to annoy you with, my dear,” Jude drawls.
“We’re not letting you go until we understand what it is you really are,” Kai goes on with a shrug.
“Fine,” I bite out with a fake smile on my face as I cross my arms over my chest.
My outfit changes to the sexiest one yet. It’s a little Egyptian Princess in style, gold and alluring. Ornate gold sleeves wrap up my arms, and the laces of the sexy shoes go all the way up to my thighs.
The bodysuit-ish outfit has a neckline that dips all the way to my stomach. The bottom has a touch of long, light, gold chains that hang to the knees, but is spaced apart so you can still see all the way up.
I’m not sure why it’s the one that I choose, but it pops into my mind, so I go with it.
Gage falls out of the chair.
Guess I have a winning outfit for him.
Kai sucks in a sharp breath, and Jude is suddenly in front of me, trying to snatch me. All of their eyes light up gold, and I take a wary step back as they start coming toward me like mindless drones.
“Okay. Not funny anymore. What’s wrong with—”
I squeal when Kai lunges, but when he passes through me, I roll my eyes at myself for being an idiot. I whirl around just as Gage tries to tackle me.
Shit.
For whatever reason, they really like this outfit, or they seriously hate it.
Because they look feral. Ruthless. Savage even.
I’m suddenly in that dolphin costume I threatened them with for a whole new reason, my head poking out the dolphin’s belly, and they all blink like they’re waking from a trance.
“What the hell is wrong with you idiots? It was just an outfit. And so help me, if you blame me for that, I will—”
They all disappear from the room at once, and I curse, losing the dolphin costume and donning some normal, very respectable clothing.
I almost don’t go look for them, because I know they’re going to be doubly suspicious of me. But unfortunately, I’m worried about them, because that clearly wasn’t natural.
I really need to detach myself before my attachment gets me killed.
My hurried steps slow when I hear them talking in the kitchen.
“You saw that,” Jude is saying.
“I saw that she freaked out and turned into a dolphin to snap us out of that shit. She definitely didn’t want us in that trance. Whatever in the hell it was,” Kai grumbles.
“She’s all I could see for a minute. It was…not the outfit. It was something else. Something in the air,” Jude goes on.
“Why a dolphin?” Gage asks.
“Really not the important part,” Ezekiel says. “What happened?”
Before the guys can explain to him that once again I did something suspicious, the door swings open.
Five men come walking in, and my heart stutters. Why isn’t the spell keeping them out of they mean them harm?
Leaping off the rest of the steps, I race to follow them.
“Hands on your heads,” one of the men shouts.
Running up behind them, my hand comes up reflexively, but Jude’s eyes meet mine, and he gives me a subtle, but still distinguishable, shake of his head.
His hands go to the top of his head, jaw tensing as he holds my eyes for a minute longer. I barely manage to stop the power on the tip of my fingers, because it knows something is wrong. And it only works when they’re in trouble.
Life threatening trouble.
And I really want to use the power. It almost hurts not to when it’s so close to the surface and begging to be set free.
Kai gives me the same barely-there headshake, also telling me to stand down.
My hand falls to my side, and I ignore the annoying prickles that spread over me, punishment for denying whatever this power inside me is.
Ezekiel’s gaze meets and holds mine as the men start walking behind all of them. They pull out cuffs, and Gage glances my way before speaking.
“What are we being taken in for?” Gage asks.
I wish they weren’t all staring at me like they’re worried I’m about to save them—as though it would be the worst thing ever. Don’t they want to be saved?
When no one answers him, Kai speaks, even as they continue to pull their hands into some weird black cuffs one at a time.
“Under the guardian’s privilege rules, you’re required to tell four guardians who’ve entered the trials the reason they’re being taken in,” Kai tells them dryly.
“It’s protective custody,” one of the guards tells him flippantly. “There’s still a hit out on your names, and as contenders in the second round of the trials, we’re required to offer you protection under the crown.”
The guys all stare at me, until Ezekiel finally makes a subtle gesture with his head for me to join them. Right. They’re about to be zapped out of here, no doubt.
I barely make it to him in time to stick my hand out, and then we’re suddenly inside a cell. The men who cuffed them are nowhere to be seen, and I whirl around, taking in the blackened stones surrounding us.
The iron door will be twice as hard to pass through, so I opt to go through the creepy stone, poking my head through to see what’s around us.
Bad idea.
My breath runs out in a rush when a flame shoots straight up into the air like it’s trying to take my face off. I reel back, but carefully peer back out to take in the cylinder prison we’re in.
All the many pointless cell doors are visible in this large circle tower. Right in the middle of us is an endless pit of fire that shoots straight up whenever it has to hiccup or fart or something.
I’m assuming we’re in hell right now.
Just a guess.
Why even have the doors when you clearly can’t walk out of them?
“Not even the soul stones stop her from passing through,” Gage muses, not sounding even the least bit distressed by the fact we’re literally in a hell cell.
“I thought nothing could breach them,” Ezekiel immediately adds.
Pulling my head back in, I look at the four of them in all their relaxed glory like they’re idiots.
Kai pulls his cuffed hands under his legs and works them down until they’re in front of him. The other three do the same—like they’ve done this a hundred times.
“Just curious if the four of you have figured out Manella has put you in here to kill you finally, since you’ve managed to thwart his attempts in the other world,” I decide to point out.
“Of course we’ve figured it out. It’s also why they’ve cuffed us, so we can’t use our abilities,” Jude states with a shrug.
“I’m not even sure what your abilities are,” I tell him honestly as I turn around and poke my head through another wall, hoping to find a hallway or something.
No such luck. It’s another big pit of fire in the center, cells lining up as high as I can see to a fiery ceiling as well.
So I stick my head beside us, finding another cell and a very gnarly looking occupant.
Both of his eyes are dangling, and he’s hunched over like he’s looking for his precious, while chewing on a mangled piece of meat that smells rancid even from here.
Pulling my head back in, I shudder.
“Doesn’t matter what our abilities are,” Gage says.
“The cuffs keep them contained. It’s sealed with the devil’s crest.”
“How do you get the cuffs off?” I ask them when they withhold any answers about their abilities.
I turn around as Kai shrugs. “They’ll wait a few days before attempting to kill us. It’d be too obvious to kill us too soon, so we have time to figure it out. It’s easiest to trick a guard into taking them off, since they know the words to speak.”
“There are words to speak?” I ask, perking up. I can go find these.
“Not just anyone can say them. They have to be spoken by the chosen guards who’ve been blessed,” Ezekiel calls to my back, but I’m already passing through to Smeagol’s cage.
“We could use a protective spirit right now,” Jude calls out, acting amused.
I step back in immediately, then see their mocking grins.
“Real funny. Why does this guy next to us look like a Gollum? Are those real?”
“No,” Ezekiel says, his eyes dancing with humor. “It’s hell, Keyla. If you’re cast here after death, your soul starts transforming, morphing into the monster you really are, depending on your transgressions. Once the metamorphosis is complete and a physical form has manifested, they decide what to do with you, based on what you are.”
“What’s Smeagol’s role gonna be?” I ask, curious.
“Likely, he’ll be a food distributor to the prison cells. We’re in hell’s throat right now. It waits until you’re finished devolving or evolving before it spits you out or swallows you. The worst of the monsters get sent below or to Purgatory to guard it.”
Good to know. I’ll be a damn good girl when I get whole. Neither of these places seem like a life choice I want to make.
“She’s thinking about being a good girl right now, even though she’s admitted she wants a four-way tag from a quad hell squad,” Jude says, grinning like the asshole he is.
Rolling my eyes, I leave them to mock me, and scamper past Smeagol to see where this circle leads. Eventually, I have to find a hall. Surely it can’t all be pits of flames in the middle of a cylinder prison tower.
I pass through another cell, and stifle a scream. There’s a hairy beastly thing that looks like he used to be human. He snarls and tears at the sides of the stone walls. His sharp claws don’t even leave a scratch behind.
Hell is so not cool. Which I guess is obvious.
A few cells have these dark shadows bouncing around like pin balls. Apparently they can’t pass through the stones as easily as I can.
Don’t even get me started on the guy who looks like he has a sledgehammer sticking through his face.
I keep poking my head through the walls on either side, and only keep finding fire.
Several have actual people in it. I suppose they’re going to be used like my guys who never died but still turned into whatever these people are once their soul finds a new, mostly immortal body to attach to.
One cell has a fairly attractive man in it, and I linger, trying to see if he can see me like my guys can. But he can’t. I’m not sure who he is, but he looks a little broken. For whatever reason, I sort of feel sad for him, and I hang out beside him like I’m commiserating with him.
He curses before running a hand through his hair. He looks exhausted, almost as though he’s lost all hope. Not like the other men in here I’ve seen. His hands are cuffed, just like the guys. I’m assuming he’s not a soul in transition.
“I didn’t do it!” he shouts suddenly, as though he expects someone to hear him. “I’m being framed!”
Frowning, I study him. For no reason I can think of, I find myself believing him. I don’t even know what he’s referring to, yet I’m convinced he’s innocent just by the compelling look in his tortured blue eyes.
“We have nothing to gain from this! I have nothing to gain from this! Why would I risk such a thing?” he goes on.
When I figure out how to free the guys, I’ll return to free him as well.
Getting up, I start going from cell to cell again, collecting nightmares for the day I can finally sleep. Again. I only got to experience it that once, and apparently I’m a damn sound sleeper. I didn’t even dream.
And I would love to know what the actual hell happened.
Anyway, a few more monsters make me swallow a scream, and idly wonder just how wretched and foul they must have been.
Next thing I know, I’m suddenly bursting back into the cell with all the guys, who are staring at me like they’re not surprised.
“How can there be no hallway? Why have doors if there’s nowhere to escape to?” I groan.
“The door is to give you false hope,” Kai says with a shrug. “You manage to somehow turn into something strong enough to break down that door, iron forged in hellfire, then you find there’s nowhere for you to go. It’s the moment you’re defeated, and they can sink their claws in and own you.”
“And you want to work for such a lovely establishment,” I state dryly.
Ezekiel shrugs. “We had no say in the matter. Regardless, our special skills require such a thing. They’d be useless elsewhere.”
“But I’m not allowed to know what these skills are?”
“Besides being awesome at killing things?” Jude asks, getting comfortable on the ground and putting his hands behind his head as his eyes shut.
I glare at him for a second, though he’s oblivious since he’s already trying to fall asleep. Instead, I look over at Ezekiel as he rips his shirt off—since he can’t just take it off with the cuffs in the way—and rolls it up like it’s a pillow as he lies down as well.
With his cuffs still binding his wrists, Kai starts doing awkward pushups in the corner, as though he’s trying to tire himself out. No one is going to answer me.
“Don’t feel bad, spirit girl,” Ezekiel says as his eyes close as well, our special connection severed since that one moment. “They don’t know either.”
“We don’t fully know ourselves,” Kai adds, grunting as he starts adding a hop in on every other push up. “Hence the reason we want the power boost. We figure it’ll open us up more.”
“How do the monsters get out if there’s no way to them?” I ask.
“The same way we got in, Einstein,” Jude retorts. “Escorts. They have the ability to send you anywhere once you’re restrained.”
He lazily lifts his cuffed hands as though I need a reminder, then drops them back down, never opening his eyes. “And they can send you anywhere if you were originally a soul here.”
Gage is studying me, his hand rubbing his jaw as though he’s thinking of something. “You aren’t even reacting to being in hell,” he finally says.
“Five years of talking to yourself when you don’t even know yourself, what you are, or even how you came to be will make you quite impervious to essentially everything. Even the four-dick monster twenty-two cells over if you start that way,” I tell him, gesturing the way I started.
His lips curve into a slow grin.
“Four dicks and only one monster to deal with. Sounds like you’ve found your perfect beast,” Kai says through short breaths.
“Keep being an ass to me. I’m this close to saying fuck you all and hanging out with another fellow I found interesting.” I pinch my fingers really close together for demonstration. “Maybe I’ll help him instead, and leave the four of you in here to turn into something hideous.”
Jude just grins, eyes still closed.
Ezekiel snorts while smirking.
“What?” I prompt.
“We’re not souls in need of a form. We’re not going to turn into anything,” he answers flippantly.
“And we don’t need your help,” Gage adds. “Because you won’t be able to get us out of this one.”
“So why are you so calm?” I ask as I take a seat in the open corner where none of them are.
“Because we’ve gotten ourselves out of some really shitty predicaments in the past,” Ezekiel tells me with a shrug. “It’s amazing what you can do when your survival instincts kick in.”
The way he says it makes it sound like it’s pointed at me. His eyes hold mine for a moment, and it feels like he’s trying to tell me something he’s not supposed to tell me.
When Gage darts a look his way, Ezekiel breaks eye contact with me and closes his eyes. I’m now tempted to go lie down beside him, but the other three would flip out.
Just as Kai starts speaking, I shush him, straining to hear something.
“What?” one of them asks me, but I’m too distracted to know which.
Without thinking too much about it, I take off sprinting through the cells all the way back down to the mystery man that I feel an odd sort of sympathy for.
“I told you it wasn’t me!” he shouts.
“You’re getting a moment with your prince. Be thankful for that,” a guard with a solid black leather mask over his face says. How can he even see?
Whatever is about to happen, I hurry myself over to Mr. Mysterious, hoping it works the same way, and really hoping I don’t get too far out of range from the boys.
A feeling of something powerful flashes through my core the second I touch him, and in less than a blink, we’re standing in what looks like a marble hall.
Glass chandeliers hang above me, and I spin in a circle, taking in all the gold and lavish surroundings.
Mr. Mystery drops to his knees, bowing his head as soon as a familiar face comes around the corner. My breath catches in my throat when I see who is stalking toward us.
Manella.