Page 22 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

What’s An Anchor Without A Vessel, Anyway?

BLUE

T he glyphs on the nest walls are glowing again. I’ll never get to fecking sleep at this rate. And that blasted hum, it’s starting ta annoy the fuck outta me.

Always there, low, and steady, but when the glyphs glow, it’s like it’s burrowin’ into me head. Used to be soofin. Used to help put me ta sleep. Now it wakes me up.

The domed ceiling feels like a cage.

Can’t settle. Not tonight.

Maybe it’s not the hum.

Maybe it’s cos Leela’s gone.

She left a note. A fucking note.

Urgh, me bed’s lumpy.

I stand and stomp on the down to rearrange it.

Can’t be mad she didn’t come say bye. Wouldn’t have gotten into the nest anyways. Still…She left a note…

Blue, are you all right? Ida asks.

Her voice in me head makes the hum a little less annoying.

She’s lyin’, head on her paws, one eye open and fixed on me.

Ever alert. Ever vigilant, ’cept when we’re in the nest. But we vibe, her an’ me.

A hound and a rat, who knew, eh? Felt it in me chest first time we met.

Knew we were gonna be besties, and I weren’t wrong about it.

Glad I’m in ’ere with me friends and not in one of the other rooms with the other anchors.

Though now Leela an’ I are in Dharti Ghar, I might need to get to know the others.

The trials and tribulations of bein’ a social animal.

Blue? Are you all right?

“I’m fine.”

She lifts her head and fixes me with the look, the one that says, Cut the bullshit .

She sees me, every fuckin’ time. “You eva wonder why we gotta be locked up in ’ere every night?”

You know we need to recharge. The nest allows us to be at our best so that we can serve our person.

Easy fer ’er to say, ’er person is still in the domain. She’ll be able ta see her in a few hours. Ta smell ’er. Touch ’er.

My Leela is far away, an’ what if she don’t come back? What if them royal fuckers keep her?

Damn, me chest aches. “I recharge with Leela. I feel it ’ere.” I touch the spot above my belly. “Don’t you?”

Something flickers in ’er eyes, can’t name it. But I feel it… She feels it too.

You think too hard, Blue , Drake says. And you’re making my head hurt.

Trying to sleep here , Bunty groans from ’er spot curled up on the other side of Ida. The pug don’t speak much, not unless somethin’ is botherin’ ’er, like now. Like me. You should sleep.

Sleep. Sometimes I fink we sleep too much. At least I used ta, but now…I can’t help but wonder… “Whatdya think would happen to us if we didn’t have a person?”

Bunty groans. What part of the instruction sleep did you not get?

Lola cracks open an eye and stretches ’er feline body, claws pushing out from the soft pads of ’er paws before she fixes her emerald gaze on me. We exist because of our person. We’re a part of them. There would be no us without them. You know this, Blue.

Is that all we are? Slivers of soul. Anchors. Servers. Companions. Jesters. Nah, that ain’t right. Leela never demands anythin’ of me. Neva makes me serve, so why does it feel like there should be more?

That I should be more.

Am I broken?

Lola watches me, her eyes narrowing as if she’s tryna read me thoughts. She fuckin’ gives me the creeps sometimes. The only trait we share is that she’s blue like me.

I hop off me downy bed and scamper across the room toward the wall, toward the glyphs. “These feckers are doin’ somethin’, right? The recharge thing? Can’t they just add them to our person’s room?”

Why don’t you ask Umbra in the morning? Lola says.

Her words echo in my head, and somethin’ tugs at me thoughts. A memory or somethin’.

Blue, get some sleep, Ida says. We can talk about this in the morning.

The buzz in me head dies away, takin the strange feelin’ with it. “Damn right we will.”

I climb back into me downy bed, stomach hollowing as the hum in the walls gets louder and louder. Fuckin’ hell, how am I supposed to sleep through…