"No, you don't seem the type. I was honestly surprised you are a karma goddess at all. You are too mean," Killian replies.
"Way to compliment a girl, Killian," I say, not realising how flirty that sounded until it escaped my lips. Flirting with your kidnappers is crazy, and I’m not that crazy yet.
"Would you like me to compliment you, Karma? I'm sure I could think of something," he teases, making my cheeks burn a little red which I'm sure doesn't look sexy with my freckled cheeks and pale complexion.
"Enough with the flirting. We need to stay focused. Who knows what we are walking into," Seth interrupts. I look up at the fire lit lanterns that light all the corridors and the dome room I can now see. There are dozens of them.
"Unfortunately, my brother has a point. I will save my compliments for another time," Killian says and changes his whole demeanour in a second. He straightens up, letting his powers light his hands up gold much like how Seth has, though Seth looks angry enough to murder the entire world right now. I really don't want to get in his way. Shame, as angry looks mighty fine on Seth.
We silently walk down the rest of the corridor, coming to a metal bar gate, and the door has been left open. We walk through it one by one, entering a dome shaped room with several doors, each one of them closed tight with no handles. The room is covered in rust, and it smells pretty damp as well. We all stop in the middle of the room, looking around and seeing nothing to suggest which door to try. I go to suggest we try a door each when the door right in front of me opens, and people flood into the room. They all look different, in old ripped clothes and various coloured hair.
I try to look for a leader, but they all quickly move around the room until we are surrounded by a big crowd, and each one of them is staring at us like the enemy. I'm smart enough to know I can't trust a single one of them in here. Some of the people in here are mass murderers or worse. Every single god, creature or monster in here is a threat to me now, though all these people look normal, not one creature or monster in sight. Maybe they don't do welcome parties. Suddenly, they all fall to their knees, bowing their heads and leaving a gap in front of one of the closed doors. It reminds me of that horror movie my brothers tricked me into watching once. It did not end well for the people in the middle of the circle, that’s for sure.
The door slowly opens, and a tall man walks out with his hands behind his back. The man is well over six foot, looking like a damn giant. He has long black hair that is plaited at the back of his head and lightly swings as he walks. I have to admit, even though this guy is hella scary, he is damn hot in his tight black top and black jeans with a leather belt. His heavy boots slam on the stone as he walks around us, circling us as he seems to be thinking. I hope he is thinking about letting us go and not murdering us. He rubs his smooth chin with one of his large hands as he chooses to stop right in front of Killian, and I see the axe strapped to his back from this angle. The axe has double blades that catch the fire light in the room, and they look deadly.
"The gods of justice, I presume. You both look just like your father," the man says, though he doesn’t seem to want a real answer as he smirks.
"You've been in here that long? Our father died over fifty years ago," Killian replies. "Then again, we never locked you in here, so that would make sense."
"Your father didn’t lock me in here, boy. You did lock many, many of us in here though," the man says, still keeping that grin on his face. "Many of my friends want to chop you up and eat you. Why should I stop them?"
"Because that's gross," I mutter, catching the big guy’s attention. Dammit. I don’t want him to think I’m with these idiots. He slowly walks over to me, stopping extremely close as I arch my head to look up at him. All I can smell is rosewood drifting off him, and his purple eyes are something else entirely. They look like stars in a purple night sky.
"Gross you say?" he asks. "Now, now. Who are you?"
"Karma Kismet. You are?" I ask. Know your enemy and all that.
"Storm Cyncus. Welcome to our own personal hell, and if you survive the test, maybe we can get a drink together," he states, not waiting for my response before walking away. What an asshole. His name sounds familiar, but I’m so pissed off and scared I can’t think why right now.
"Take them to the cells. The test begins tomorrow!" Storm yells, and the people cheer like he is amazing or some shit before rushing to us. I scream as two men grab me, lifting me up in the air, and more hands start to carry me out of the room. I struggle to escape their grip, but it does nothing to stop them as they carry me. They continue to cheer and shout about this test, like it is the bee's knees, as I look over to see they have Killian and Seth in the same way. The people lower me down a little to slide through the door and into the bright light of the other side.
My mouth drops open at the inside of the place as they carry us across a bridge. It's levels and layers of homes, streets and bridges built into the mountain around it. Big bright lights hang at the very top of the prison, looking like a sun, but we are too far away for me to see what it is. Flowers, scrubs, trees are everywhere between the metal homes; with their wooden doors and wooden bridges, it looks magical in here. Did we come to the wrong prison? Because honestly everything is not what I expected. The place is full of people who walk across the bridges, and I pick up the sound of children’s laughter through the cheers. They have children in here? What the hell is this place? The people carry us off the bridge and turn right, into a cave where they carefully drop me on the rough stone floor. The twins are dropped next, but not as gently which makes me smile. I hurry to get up, trying to chase them, but they shut the door and lock us in the cage before I can get there. I wrap my hands around the bars as I shout at them.
"Let me the hell out of here," I scream, trying to shake the bars, but not one of the people looks back as they begin to disappear over the bridge. "Assholes! Get that leader asshole here so I can talk to him! I’m not meant to be in here!" When all the people do is laugh, I rest my head against the cold bars, knowing there is no way I'm going to escape this now. What the hell is the test?
Chapter Fourteen
"You might as well give up now. They won't let you out," a woman says, her voice is sweet and kind as I turn to look over in the shadows of the cage after my little melt down where I called everyone in here all names under the sun that my mum would kill me for saying. Three people are sitting together, wearing modern clothes, but I can’t see much of them in the dark. Though when I move closer, it’s clear they are glaring at the twins who stand at the other side of the cage. Oh, they know who the justice twins are then. "As for you two justice bastards, the moment they give us weapons, I'm going to murder you both for locking us in here."
"You killed a child, Jade," Killian coldly states, shocking me silent. "You deserve to be in here." Which I totally agree with if she did that, but it’s not like the justice twins have never got it wrong before. They did with me, so I don’t trust them one little bit.
"I never killed anyone! I was trying to save the child from what that higher god did to her! The higher god killed her because he wanted to hide his dirty secret, and you wouldn't listen! I tried to save her, she didn't deserve to die!" Jade shouts back, getting up and running to Killian. I don't know what gets into me when I jump in the middle, grabbing Jade's shoulders and pushing her back. She hisses at me, actually hisses as she flashes sharp teeth in my direction. I tilt my head, trying to think about what kind of goddess she is and coming up blank for a second before I see her little black ears sticking out of her long black hair.
"You're a cat goddess!" I shout, clapping my hands together even though she looks like she wants to kill me. "I've always wanted to meet one of you guys, but the laws and all."
"Who the hell are you?" she asks, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at me like I'm the new enemy now. Damn, I thought I was good at making friends. Mads always said I was good at making friends…though she said that when I was drunk, and she is my only friend that stuck around. Maybe I am bad at making friends instead. Huh, I’ve never really thought about it. The cat lady claps her hands in my face, snapping me out of it. Shit, what did she want again? Oh right, I’m stopping her killing the justice twins. Even though they aren’t my friends.
"Karma, and you can guess my job. Is it true you talk to cats?" I ask her, wanting to know more about her job. Cat goddesses are meant to keep the cat population under control, because if cats were left to their own devices, I’m pretty sure we would be ruled by them like that one time in Egypt.
"You could say I have a thing for pussycats," she replies, and I smirk. Oh, I like her. It’s decided, I’m going to make her my friend. I believe her about the higher god, considering my own story, and she doesn’t feel like a child killer to me. No, the twins screwed up with this one. I am starting to think the twins just do their job and never bother to ask important questions later.
"So these gobshites threw you in here without listening to the truth as well then, huh?" I ask her, pointing a thumb behind me at the twins.
"You too?" she asks, looking around me at the twins. "You really are shit at your job, aren't you?"
"You are both guilty," Seth bites out before choosing to ignore us and go to sit in the corner of the cage like a stroppy child. Killian has more balls though and comes to my side, his arms tightly crossed.
"I have to admit, I did wonder why I sensed a higher god’s magic at your apartment. You were unconscious, which made no sense when we were told you killed the girl," Killian tells us, and just for that, he earns some brownie points in my books. It takes a lot to admit you are wrong about something. Only the best people do it.
"How old was she? Who killed her?" I ask, wanting to understand why a higher god would go after a child.
"Nelly was eight, and a higher god killed her. I was babysitting her for my best friend, who is also a cat goddess, as she had to work. An uprising of tabby cats in New York, but that’s a longer story. Anyway, the higher god turned up, threw me across the room, and held me down with magic as he stabbed a sword through Nelly’s chest like she was nothing. I tried to fight him, to save her, but he wanted to watch her die, and then he knocked me out. I woke up with chains around my wrists, and I was blamed for her death. I didn't even get to tell my friend what happened to her child. I didn’t get to say goodbye to a child I really loved like my own," she says and harshly wipes her tears away as I reach forward and place my hand on her arm. She sniffles before straightening up, nodding once at me. I feel sick at the idea a higher god would do that to an innocent child. I’m now hoping the higher god I accidently killed was the one that did that. He would have certainly deserved bad karma. Maybe it was why he was my job…because he killed Nelly.
"Not that I believe you, but why would a higher god kill a child? A lesser goddess who could never be a threat to him?" Killian asks, and I want to smack the silly out of him. I take back the brownie points; he doesn’t deserve them. All these thoughts of brownies makes my stomach grumble, which is pretty loud and awkward in here.
"I don't need you to believe me, but I want my friend to know the truth. I suspect it was because Nelly was his child. My friend confided in me that she slept with a higher god, but there was also a chance Nelly was someone else’s child. She never saw him again, and Nelly was a normal child for all accounts, but I think he came back to kill any proof of when he broke the law," she explains. Still such a horrible thing to do. Poor Nelly did nothing but be born.
"Shit," I mutter wide-eyed because I believe her. I don't care what Killian thinks, I really do think Jade is telling the truth. Especially considering it seems higher gods are around more than they are meant to be. I mean, I accidentally killed one. I look over at the other two guys in the room, who are cuddled up, shaking as they watch outside the bars. "What did they do?"
"Oh, they are assholes who deserve to be in here. I just had to kick their asses for trying to hurt me," Jade shrugs. “I was keeping them alive just in case I need to throw them at our captors before escaping.” I chuckle and wink at her. She thinks just like me. Kind of. I mean Jade is clearly more badass than I am, because I’d hide behind the guys instead. Still, we could be friends.
"Well, you got two out of four right. I mean that would be good if your job isn't handing out life sentences," I say, raising an eyebrow at Killian who mutters something under his breath and goes to sit by his brother. I choose a spot in the middle of the cage with my back against the wall as I sit down, pulling off my bag. Jade comes and sits next to me, and I eye her for a moment, deciding that teaming up with her in this test might be a good idea.
"Any food in that bag of yours? They haven't given us anything but slush in a bowl since we got here," she asks. “I mean, you don’t have to share, but I’d really appreciate it.”
"I have a jar of peanut butter I could share," I say reluctantly, because I really don't want to share it. She screws up her face in disgust and shakes her head.
