Brooks’ jaw ticked, pain shooting up his temple as he clamped his mouth shut. She knew all the right buttons to push just to piss him off. Chaos probed her mind again, breathing in her emotions and fears.
The taste of deceit is still there, but no lie. It will have to be good enough until we unravel her truth as slowly as fraying thread.
“Fine. You show us the way and help us blend in, I’ll get you into the Freakshow.”
Nyx nodded but didn’t say anything in return. She didn’t have to. The embers in her eyes sparked to raging violet flames and admiration bloomed in his chest. The girl fought like she had nothing left to lose, but Brooks knew better. The fragile world she carried on her shoulders would shatter if she faltered. She crumbled as she carried it, sacrificing pieces of herself to foster the pressure, but she did not break.
He knew how that felt now and would do anything to keep his world safe. He couldn’t begrudge Nyx for the strength she wielded. Brooks nodded in return to seal the silent agreement before moving onto what really mattered.
“How do we get there?”
Nyx’s lips thinned as she tapped her fingers on the wooden table. Begrudgingly, she answered, “There’s a portal to Dion here at your altar. The Olympians don’t know we have it, and I want it to stay that way.” She looked pointedly in his direction.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he scoffed. “Who am I going to tell, Nyx?”
“I don’t know, but you have a tendency to leave people to die because you’re bored so I’m making sure you know to shut the fuck up about it and not blab it to the first person who asks.”
“I don’t have any interest meddling in matters of your kind,” Chaos’ voice lingered with Brooks’.
“As you’ve made that brazenly clear for centuries now.” Her eyes rolled and the ever-present annoyance scrunched her nose.
I still want to hang her by her toes over an abyss.
“I kind of like her,” Brooks chuckled inwardly.
“Where is the altar, Nyx,” Chaos demanded.
This is my last attempt at civility before I tear through her mind to find what I want and remind her what we are capable of.
“Just calm down, We’re not going to get her to answer questions if you threaten her. If we are patient, she will soften.”
I don’t need her to be soft. I need her to be obedient.
“It’s hidden,” she shrugged and looked at her nails.
Chaos grasped control from Brooks and slammed his hands on the table as he stood, a resounding crack booming through the room as his chair shattered on the wall behind him. He called forth his chaos, sending his shadows flying like daggers to pierce her skin. They had Nyx out of her chair and pinned against the wall before she could scream. He sent curls of shadow through her nose and ears, each prodding her mind and bending it to his will. She screamed but was powerless to stop his assault.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he breathed in her memories and filtered through in search of thoughts around a portal. Images flicked across his vision one second after another, the scene like flipping the pages of an endless book until he found what he was looking for.
Nyx threw on a black cloak as she tucked daggers into various sheaths hidden along her lithe form. Shaky fingers tied the cloak tight and pulled the hood over midnight hair. She threw one last glance over shoulder to a messy head strung with different shades of golden curls. Both love and sadness filled her heart and the two warred inside. If Nyx couldn’t find something to steal tonight, that little girl would starve.
She was just a babe, her innocence as pure as the brightest of blooms in spring. Evangeline didn’t deserve to live in this desolate place any more than she deserved to be subjected to horrors outside of the altar’s protection.
Bitterness was a sour stone in her gut as Nyx slipped out the door and into the night. She hated living in the shadow of a fake idol. Was it any better than living under the eyes of false gods? She’d never know. She hated all of them.
Across from the rundown building she called home was a tree line of evergreens that stayed thick and lively through every season. It was perfect to hide the sacred cave entrance to the altar of Chaos. Many holy men in the village maintained the sanctuary in His honor. Some had even taken vows of silence in hopes that their dedication would bring the god back to save them.
Nyx knew better.
Religious commitment only robbed men of the one life they were granted, and for what? Daemon-kind were all dust in the end, dying in the same shitty place and forgotten. The only difference between them and the holy men was that the committed died at the feet of a malevolent god who cared naught for their sacrifice.
Nyx broke through the tree line and stepped onto the worn trail that rose steadily just as the land did. It crossed and disappeared in places to give it the guise of animal trails, but the townspeople knew which direction to take by heart. Their religion resembled a cult, a fanaticism running so deep in the blood that they didn’t know anything else. Even if it meant sacrificing children for the hope of a good harvest. She wished she could pull Evangeline from that, too.
Sticks crunched under her feet, joining the chorus of nightlife coming alive in the forest. Crickets and frogs chirped as wings rustled in the canopy. Helios, the golden god driving his steeds across the horizon to bring the sun, finished his ride across the sky and night had finally fallen in earnest.
Good. Nyx fucking hated the sunlight and could live the rest of her life hiding from it. She thrived in the dark. Where others stumbled blindly she navigated without error. It may even be possible that she saw better at night than she did during the day.
And the peace…
