Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)

I came back to myself at the sound of a shout; my eyes snapped open as I was awkwardly crouched behind a pantera, my legs aching only a little, which meant that I must not have been there for long. As my head cleared further, I realised that the pantera before me was the black and white one I had been placing the body on.

She adjusted her position as I moved, like she was protecting me from sight. I straightened from my crouched position, shook off the dust, and tried to get my bearings. When I felt more stable, I peered around my new friend.

Chaos had struck again.

The main building was on fire: it was clearly a specialty of mine. I was trying to figure out what else I had done when I noticed a glint on the ground. I quickly dropped back down to examine the object, and then shot back to my feet to examine the pantera’s neck, because the collar looked exactly like the collar that I had seen just before blacking out again.

The pantera’s neck was now bare—the collar having been flung carelessly into the dirt, and I could see how the two ends joined. There was a small clip that could be flicked across to release the contraption.

You saved me.

I jumped at the voice, before my head darted widely around.

My name is Lucille.

Common sense returned, and I realised that it was the pantera, finally able to speak with me. If you want me to take you to freedom, you need to get on my back. I can take you to Topia.

My heart sprang in a hopeful way. Thank you, I tried to project back. But shouldn’t we free your friends too?

Lucille just shook her head, pawing a hoof through the dirt, stirring up dust. You have done all you can, now it is time to find freedom.

I was figuring out how my Chaos worked. Sometimes it was for me, sometimes against me. But it seemed that in a roundabout way, it was almost always working in my best interests. The building being on fire was a distraction for the guardians, during which I had managed to unlock the collar. Without it killing me.

I’d been afraid to touch it earlier, but Chaos apparently didn’t have the same worry.

“I know you have no idea who I am, but I have some powerful friends. I’m not allowed to make promises on their behalf anymore, but just know … I will do everything in my power to save the rest of your kind.” My whisper was made against her side, as I got into position to pull myself up.

The body was gone from her back. The harness was still there, but no body. I didn’t even want to think about what Chaos Willa had done with her—no doubt it involved a tight space and squishy body parts. Luckily, this one had already been dead, because it didn’t seem to matter to Chaos. Dead or alive, if it could squish, it could fit.

Being as gentle as I could, I lifted my leg and hooked my foot into one of the side ropes, using it as leverage to clumsily sprawl across Lucille’s back. Thankfully, I didn’t kick her wings. They stood out in strong, wide fans on either side of her back, and were patterned in black and white to match her pinto colouring. No doubt she wouldn’t appreciate me crushing those feathers.

The fire was just starting to die down when I finally got seated on the back of my second ever pantera transport. Hold on, was my only warning before her wings beat against the ground, and her powerful legs launched us upward.

Wind gushed around us, forming giant clouds of red dirt. I heard shouts, but couldn’t see anything. I imagined that the guardians were scurrying around like shweeds, prepared to bring the panteras back into line.

“Good luck with that, assholes!” I called out, not even bothering to contain my gloating, even though it would have been the smarter move … just in case Lucille had a flight malfunction and sent me crashing back to the ground.

That would be embarrassing.

I might have even fist-pumped when the dust cleared and I noticed that we were already ten feet above them and still rising.

“Oh my gods!” I exclaimed, as the other panteras also started flapping, each of them shaking their heads and flinging the collars free. Guardians pulled little boxes from their cloaks, aiming them at the creatures. One or two, who hadn’t managed to shake their collars free, let out a high-pitched shriek before they collapsed on the ground in convulsing spasms.

Those bastards.

I must have projected my angry thoughts, because the pantera answered me. They just have to shake the binding free; you unclipped all of them already.

Panteras rose around us, the sound of flapping filling the air. Guardians were converging on the few who they’d managed to zap with their collar buttons, but before they could do anything to contain them, bodies started falling from the sky.

Literally.

The dwellers, who had been strapped across the panteras, were being dropped onto the guardians below, each one landing with a thump, and eliciting a muffled groan from beneath a cloak.

“Ten points!” I chuckled as a pure black pantera managed to knock down two in one shot. “Bonus points for you,” I added, pointing at him.

As the guardians started to run around like crazy people below, the few panteras on the ground were given time to shake their collars free and launch into the sky. Soon, the guardians were forgotten as the entire herd rose. I couldn’t do anything but hold on for the ride and hope that I wouldn’t get dumped somewhere even worse than the dead zone. The harness was still across Lucille’s back, so I quickly looped a few of the straps around my legs, just for extra protection against the possibility of falling to my death. I then slumped forward and let the soothing rhythm of her wings calm the erratic tic in my mind. The Chaos was growing stronger, I could feel it roaring inside of me … trying to get free.

I didn’t want to fall asleep, since I couldn’t be sure I was out of danger yet, but it was hard to keep my eyes open. Despite the numerous amount of times I had lost consciousness over the past few sun-cycles, it felt as if I had not had any decent rest.

I was exhausted.





Eight





“I don’t care what Cyrus says, I won’t leave her out there for one more click on her own. She needs us. I’m going to fucking kill him.” Yael’s face was a little fuzzy, which was when I realised that I had somehow slipped into one of their heads. I must have fallen asleep after all.

Wait a click … I was in one of their heads!

An overwhelming amount of emotion rocked through me as I drank in the sight of my Abcurses. Well, one of my Abcurses, and then a few Abcurse-shaped-blurs in my peripheral vision. Whoever I was currently hijacking was staring straight at Yael.

He was furious, his voice laced with more venom then I’d ever heard from him. “She has been missing for almost four sun-cycles now. Willa can get into trouble in a fraction of a click, and she’s been running around on her own now for four sun-cycles.”

The head I was in started shaking left to right, before speaking. “We need to get around Staviti’s order. We’re grounded to this platform until the next arena battle, and if Siret hadn’t stolen D.O.D’s mortal glass, we wouldn’t have even been able to see into Blesswood and we wouldn’t even know that Willa was missing.”