"Your reckoning. If you pass it, you may live and have a gemstone as a gift," the voice responds to me; the pain in my head is just as strong as before. I try to ignore that, every time I move, I’m cracking bones under my feet, and the fact that something killed this many people.
"And if I fail?" I ask, spinning around when I swear I feel something touch my back.
"Then you are my meal," the voice simply tells me, this time out loud and sounding so very close to my ear. My breaths come out in smoky puffs as I turn around very slowly, holding in the whimper that threatens to leave my lips when I see the creature in front of me. It’s a dog with three very human looking heads on long necks, and each one of the faces has very sharp teeth. The entire body is covered in white hair, and it has red stains around its mouths.
"What the hell are you?" I manage to ask through my fear, not knowing which of the heads to look at first as the creature bounces over. It knocks me to the ground, and I freeze in fear as one of the heads leans down and presses its cold lips to my forehead in the blink of an eye. Darkness instantly takes over, making the world disappear into nothing more than a haze. Images flash across my mind like a play, only I have to watch, and I can’t look away. It starts off with me as a toddler, walking to my mum and falling face flat on the floor, crying my eyes out. I don't get a second to really admire my curly hair and cute chubby face before the image changes to me as a seven-year-old. I'm standing in the playground, crying my eyes out because Jimmy Franklin just pulled my favourite hair bobble out and wouldn't give me it back. The image changes again, this time the images pass faster. Everything from my high school prom night to finding out my first boyfriend cheated on me flashes by until we get to the moment where I pressed that lightning charm into my hand, setting off the lightning.
"You have a good soul. You pass my test...take a gemstone and never return," the voice whispers in my mind as the images fade into darkness. I gasp as I open my eyes, seeing that I am alone on the shore. The pain, happiness, fear and love from the memories feel burnt into my memory so much that it freezes me in place as it overwhelms me. It's too much to feel, to have forced into your mind in such a short amount of time. This test is cruel.
I eventually sit up, pushing myself to my feet and walking to the tree. I only have to reach a hand out and the vines grow, spreading until a gemstone is hovering above my hand. I wrap my hand around it, and the vine snaps, letting the stone go. The gem glows brightly, the light spreading up my arm, all over my body until it reaches my feet, and then I start to float up in the air. I laugh, feeling nothing but wonder as I float all the way up until I'm in front of a stone ledge, where Storm is stood waiting, holding a hand out. I reach for his hand as I let the stone fall into the water below and Storm pulls me further onto the ledge, smiling down at me.
"Everyone, welcome Karma Kismet to her new home!" Storm shouts, still holding my hand as the crowd behind him cheers. Maybe he isn't such an asshole after all.
Chapter Seventeen
"You can let go of my hand now, or do you need me to hold it, little one?" Storm asks, smirking at me. Nope, I was wrong. He is a total asshole. I pull my hand from his, crossing my arms and glaring up at him as I try to push all the strong emotions from the test out of my mind. His eyes seem to very slowly drift over my body, and I have no doubt my wet clothes are see-through in places. I feel like a drowned rat, but he isn't looking at me like one. God, he is distracting.
"You're a complete and utter asshole," I point out, moving my hands to my hips to emphasise my point and try to get his attention off my body. He meets my eyes, and there is nothing but amusement in them.
“Did you just call me an asshole?” he asks in that posh, old-fashioned accent of his, cocking his head to the side. “No one has had the guts to insult me in hundreds of years.”
“Trust me, they are all thinking it, and it’s just the fact no one has said it to your face,” I reply, which only makes him smile more. This god is distractingly handsome, just when the last thing I need is a distraction. I need to figure out everything about this place and how to keep myself safe. Oh, and wait for the twins and Jade to pass the test so I can keep them close. I have no doubt they will pass because the twins believe they have done nothing wrong. They may be locking people up that are innocent, but they don’t know that.
“I think I’m going to keep you around, Karma,” the silly god decides. Clearly, all his muscle and pretty looks have zeroed out his brain cells.
“You can try, but I tend to kill assholes like you. Just a warning,” I reply, totally lying my ass off. I mean, I did kill a god, but it was an accident. I don’t think I could pull it off twice, and the smirk on his lips suggests he already knows this.
“Good thing I can’t be killed then, isn’t it?” he replies, leaning his face close to mine. “Now, why are you here, little Karma? What did you do?”
“Did you just call me little again? I’m short, not little, and that is super offensive,” I say, wishing I had heels on so I could at least reach this god’s chin. Or throw my heels at him and hope for the best.
“Says the girl that just called me an asshole,” he smoothly replies.
“Touché,” I mutter. He has me there.
"Storm, we should get on with the test. Everyone is waiting," a young guy with dark skin, black eyes, short grey hair and a cheeky grin says as he comes to our side. "You must be Karma, I'm Coxen." I go to shake his hand when Storm smoothly moves between us, blocking my view of Coxen so I can only see Storm’s back.
"Hey, that's rude," I protest, having the urge to smack his back but deciding that stepping to his side is more appropriate. I don't think touching him would be good for me. Nope, it's bad enough he looks good enough to lick. I don't catch everything Storm whispers, but damn does Coxen look nervous when I look at him.
"Coxen is going to show you to your new home. I will come and find you later," Storm states before he starts to walk off.
"Wait!" I shout at his back, totally pissed off how he continues to walk to the bridge and ignore me. "You didn't give me my bag back!"
"I sent it to your room, you can thank me later!" he shouts back before the crowd of people follows him, and I can't see him anymore.
"He really thinks he is all that, doesn't he?" I ask Coxen, who sheepishly shrugs.
"Come on, it's one hell of a walk to your home," he tells me, nodding his head towards the back of the ledge where there are stone stairs that go up and down. Coxen walks up the steps, and I shiver from the cold and the fact I'm soaking wet as I climb up the steps after him. We must climb hundreds of steps, passing dozens of ledges with bridges as we go and a few people who don’t make eye contact before Coxen finally stops. I'm out of breath, leaning against the cold stone wall as Coxen waits for me.
"So," I breathlessly start, "what did you do to get locked up in here?"
"My mum was locked up, and I was born here eighteen years ago. I didn't do anything, but I pay the price anyway," he explains to me, waiting for me to straighten up as I get my breath back. "And before you ask, I don't know what my mum did. The people brought me up as she died in childbirth like a lot of people here do. We don't have doctors or skilled healers, so we have to manage."
"That's a shitty deal for you. How many people are born here? I saw children on my way in," I say, starting to realise how much of a bad deal some of these people have gotten. If all the gods knew children were being born in here, kept in here for their entire lives, I would like to think they would protest to get them out. That is a terrible fate for anyone.
"Most the people alive in here now were born here. The monster below kills anyone who truly deserves to be in here, and Storm makes sure everyone takes the test," he explains to me before walking to the archway. He steps out, and I follow him, pausing for a second as I take in the sight in front of me. The ledge is covered in moss that spreads onto the three bridges connected to it. The bridges lead off to rows of caves, but the one in the middle leads to a big house that is made from carved stone and wood at the front, and it seems to extend into a cave behind it. Out in the front are dozens of pots and planting bays, filled with everything from herbs to strawberry plants, healthily growing. Sunlight beams in from tiny glass holes at the top of the building, almost teasing of the outside. You can't get to the glass holes because of the big metal bars that stretch across the ceiling. The bars look burnt, scratched and damaged no doubt from people trying to escape. This high up, I can see the swirling ball of light above us, floating in the air. What is that? Another question for later.
"This way," Coxen says, walking to the middle bridge, and I quickly walk after him. I see that the other bridges lead to more caves and a ledge with more plants on it.
"No way am I staying in this big house. Who lives here?" I ask Coxen, who doesn't answer me as we walk across the bridge, and I try not to look down as the bridge lightly sways.
"Storm lives here, but he has spare rooms. He wants to keep you close," Coxen tells me, glancing back for a moment with a look that I can’t read.
"I'm not living with him," I firmly state, stopping on the stone step just off the bridge.
"It isn't because he likes you, it's just a thing he does with everyone new. They live with him for a week, settle in, and choose where they would like to live in the prison. If the others in that cage survive, he will move them in as well," Coxen gently explains to me, though for some reason I'm a little disappointed that I'm the same as everyone else. "Honestly, Storm may be all talk, but he is a good guy. I've never seen him do anything but help those who need it. He even opens his home to strangers because they need it. That's who he is."
"He is still an asshole," I point out.
"You'll learn," he says, shaking his head at me with a smile. I roll my eyes and walk after him through the plants, gently running my fingers across the leaves. Coxen pushes open the wooden door, which apparently doesn't need to be locked, although anyone that tried to steal from Storm would have to be pretty brave.
"Welcome to your temporary home," Coxen says as I walk into the entrance hall, shutting the door behind me. It's a small corridor with big stone archways on either side, and a staircase at the end which is made of wood, taking up all the space. Everything looks hand carved from scratch, and I have to admit it's done extremely well. "To the right is the kitchen and dining room combined, and Storm's private study is right behind there. That's the only room you aren't allowed in." He pauses to make sure I nod in understanding before looking to the left. "The living room is this way, and it opens up into the steam room at the back."
"Steam room?"
"Yes, there is even a natural rock pool in there. The caves were naturally here before the prison was built around them. Lucky really, as they are our water supply and help us grow food enough to feed everyone. Though we are all vegetarians," he explains to me, and I cringe. I love my burgers, bacon and everything meat related. I guess I will learn to cope...possibly. Coxen walks to the staircase, and I follow him, walking up them and into the stone-walled corridor. This is inside the cave now, I'm sure. There are at least seven doors down the corridor on the left side, and the right is a dead end. Coxen walks with me all the way to the end of the corridor before opening the last door and waving a hand for me to go inside.
