We were back in the first room now; Siret grabbed something from a small shelf before leading me out into the hallway. I shivered slightly as a cool breeze caressed my mostly naked and damp skin, before jumping when the sol draped a warm towel across my shoulders. “You have got to stop walking around naked, Rocks. You’ll catch a cold and die. Dwellers are delicate like that.”
Yeah, right.I’d ended up naked and freezing more times in my life than was even possible to count. It was almost my state of natural being at this point. “So … Rau … end game? Destroy the OGs?”
Siret shook his head at me. “No, his end-game isn’t to destroy theOGs. He wants to take out the big daddy.”
Staviti!
Thank you, Emmy, for making sure that I knew things.
“You know Staviti?” Siret suddenly looked darker and a hell of a lot more menacing than he had two clicks before the conversation had started. “That’s not possible … no dweller has seen him in several hundred life-cycles.”
He was half muttering to himself, but I wasn’t paying that much attention because there was suddenly a mountain in the hallway.
Rome strode up to us and, in a move which completely stunned the crap out of me, dropped to his knees right before me.What the actual freak?
I was about to hyperventilate, or faint, or do something stupidly inappropriate when his hand gently prodded the graze on my leg. “What happened to you, Rocks?” With him on his knees, we were basically at eye-level. His eyes were so green it was hard to stare directly at them. “Did someone hurt you?”
I shook my head frantically. It seemed to be the only movement I was currently capable of. “No, nope, no … no.”
Siret laughed. “You should scribe a book. You’re so good with words.”
I recovered some of myself, enough to be able to turn and glare at him, before turning back to Rome. Only to find he was already on his feet, towering over me again.
“I’m fine,” I said, managing to get those two words out without stuttering or repeating myself. “I should get back to my room.”
I knew it was stupid. I literally couldn’t leave their sides, but the small part of me which had always been alone—independent … a misfit—needed to prove to myself that I could make it without the Abcurses. Like I needed to know when they decided to turf me out like trash, that I’d be okay. Shredded heart and all.
Turning, I stomped off down the hallway, half dreading that someone was going to stop me. I had no idea what I was going to do once I reached the end of the hall. There was no way to jump into the supply closet while they were watching me.
Were they still watching me?
I turned my head as minutely as I could to see behind me. Five figures. Everyone was there for the show this time. Damn them. Since I hadn’t been watching where I was going, and the agony in my chest was increasing, I missed seeing the small cart which was waiting in the hallway for the morning shift of room-cleaning dwellers to grab it.
I tripped. Of course I did. Right onto my face.
I heard some snorts of laughter from behind, and the distinct sound of Yael saying. “Half a click. Told you … you owe me a hundred tokens.”
It didn’t surprise me that Yael had found a way to turn that into a competition. As I lay there, breathing in the dirty floor smell—some dweller was really letting the team down in this hall. Probably that dweller was me, but whatever—I heard their steps as the five of them closed in on me.
I groaned and lifted my head just enough to thump it back against the floor.It’s going to be impossible to hide this from them any longer.Resigning myself to the fact, I rolled over onto my back. Aros wrapped his golden hands around my biceps and hauled me to my feet.
“What can’t you hide from us any longer?” he asked when I was standing again.
The quiet and semi-darkness of the hall enveloped our group, and I could have been mistaken, but it seemed like the boys were looking a little wary of me, standoffish almost. Which was good. I needed them to be cold because otherwise I got flustered and forgot that they were leagues above me, members of the blessed sol realm.
“Rocks …” Yael prompted. “Don’t make me use my persuasion on you, I’ve been going easy with you but Icanmake you tell me.”
Oh hell to the no… he did not just say that, right?
My rage must have been clearly reflected across my face because I saw a few of them exchange a nervous glance before they took a step away from me. Not even a sacred sol was immune to the effects of a pissed-off woman. Lifting my finger, I jabbed it right into Yael’s hard chest. It hurt like hell, and he even caught my wince, so I decided to use their own tactics of intimidation against them. I drew myself to my full, miserable height, and pushed myself closer to him.
“Don’t ever use your gift on me, sol,” I growled. “Dwellers arenotplay things. We might have drawn the unlucky hand on this piece-of-crap world, but we are not nothing.” I jabbed him harder, hoping like hell his rock-chest didn’t break my finger. “Not nothing.”
His face was like stone, stone which had been carved and moulded by the very gods themselves. I knew I couldn’t blink, that I had to maintain my serious stare or I would fail at this competition which had arisen.Competitive shit-sol.Yael was such a pain with this stuff, and yet I sort of thought it was awesome at the same time. My left eye started to twitch, my fingertip aching from being pressed so hard.
“You sure you don’t want to step back, Rocks?” Yael’s hypnotic voice rolled over me, and I knew he wasn’t hitting me with the full force of his power, yet he still affected my will.
Gritting my teeth hard enough to crack them, I didn’t blink, or move, or speak. I continued with the battle of wills that I was determined to win.
