Page 58 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

Who Needs A Name Anyway?

LEELA

T he fire crackled as Number Three added more wood. He had a nice face, kind eyes, and a smile that put me at ease. Number One stood a little apart, hands on hips, her eyes on the river. She had leader qualities.

Number Two looked sullen, barely speaking, her attention on the flames, and Number Four sat silent, red-rimmed eyes on a spot somewhere above the flames.

How long had we sat around this fire, waiting for something to happen? For our memories to return and our names to surface? To recall why the heck we were here in the first place, and where here was?

Number Three joined us. “I don’t think anyone else is coming. It’s been a while, and you all arrived within…” She frowned. “Well, there wasn’t this much time between each arrival.”

“What if we take the boat back?” Number Four said. “Maybe…maybe if we go back, we’ll remember?”

Her suggestion sparked something in me. “I think we remembered. Before we took the boat.”

Number One nodded. “Yeah, I think so too. But I don’t think going back will help.”

“We have to go forward,” Number Two said, her jaw clenched in determination. “Sitting around this flame will do nothing to help us.”

“How long have you been here? I mean…Why did you build a fire and wait?”

Silence fell, and everyone exchanged glances, but it was Number One who spoke. “I…I had a feeling more would come, so I…I made the fire, and I waited.”

“Then we know each other,” Number Three said. “We must. You knew we would come, deep down. You waited for us because you knew, and we know each other.” He stood up and began to pace. “So maybe we can jog each other’s memories.”

Number Two let out a frustrated growl. “That river took our memories. They’re gone. There is no jogging anything. We need to get out of…into…deeper…” She clutched her head and let out a soft cry.

Number Four instantly reached for her. “Are you all right?”

I expected Number Two to brush her off, but instead she leaned into the touch. “I’m fine.”

“Did you see that?” Number Three said, pointing at Two and Four. “That’s body language saying those two are comfortable with each other.”

He was right. Our minds may have forgotten, but our bodies hadn’t.

“We should hug,” he said. “Just all take turns hugging and see if anything sparks. “I might be dating one of you.”

“You wish,” Number One says.

“Ouch, that was rude.”

Number One shook her head. “No…I mean…I like women, not men.” She grinned. “Maybe I’m dating one of you?”

“How is this helping?” Number Two demanded. “Look, I say we move. Go deeper and…see what happens.”

“What if we’re meant to be here?” Number Four said. “What if we’re meant to stay until we remember? What if it’s too dangerous to continue if we don’t know who we are?”

Our memories were what shaped us, but…there was more to us than just memories.

We could still function without them. Still work together.

I stood slowly. “I agree with Four and Two. I say we go.” I looked over my shoulder at the dark path that cut between the trees into the unknown.

“We’ll watch each other’s backs and find our way…

home?” I frowned as gentle heat flared at my solar plexus.

Around me, the others stilled. Number One reached up to touch her chest.

“I think I came here looking for…someone…” she said.

The heat in my chest bloomed brighter. “Yes…I feel it too.”

“But not here…” Number Two said. “My person isn’t here.” She stood, and Number Four stood with her. “We go.”

I nodded. “Yes.” We gathered at the base of the path that led into the forest. “We stick together.”

“Yeah,” Number One said.

I took a steadying breath and walked away from firelight and into the gloom.

Bracken crunched beneath my feet, and silence pressed in on me.

The trees gathered closer, branches weaving together overhead to form a canopy to block out the starless sky, but there was still somehow enough light to see by.

This place wasn’t natural. It wasn’t an outside place. It wasn’t reality.

The path widened, and One and Three flanked me, while Two and Four walked close behind.

The crunch of bracken faded. The silence thickened and echoed even though we didn’t say a word.

The path wound on—widening and opening out.

The trees moved away from us, and yet their branches stretched to hide the sky, like a cage of wooden limbs.

Impossible.

“This is weird,” Number Three said.

Weird.

Weird.

The forest echoed back.

“Fuck this.”

This…this.

A soft rustling broke the silence, and the terrain shifted. I grabbed hold of Number One to steady myself, and she reached for me at the same time. Number Three wrapped his arms around us.

The world trembled and blurred, and when it settled, we were left in a clearing, the trees standing around us like sentries, their branches forming a lattice above us, entwined and impenetrable.

“No!” Number Four ran toward the treeline, only to rebound off an invisible wall and fall back on her ass.

Number Two hurried to help her up.

I walked toward the treeline, cautiously scanning the air, eyes slightly out of focus, looking for a barrier but seeing nothing. I put my hand out, palm up, and stepped forward until a sharp tingling bit at my skin.

I pulled back. “We’re trapped.”

A male voice answered. Not Number Three.

Someone new. “Well, if that isn’t a defeatist attitude.

” A man strolled out of the treeline. Tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a cream shirt, sleeves rolled up, front partially unbuttoned to showcase a smooth brown chest. His dark hair was tousled, his jade eyes sharp and bright in a face that was all angles and sharp features.

“Hello, all.” He raised a hand in a wave that was meant to encompass the group. “Need a little help?”

“Who are you?” Number One demanded.

“A friend,” he said, his gaze locking on to me as if he was speaking just to me. “I thought I might be able to give you a little nudge.”

He walked toward the invisible barrier, and I took several steps back to keep a distance between us.

“He passed through it!” Number Two pointed out, a little redundantly, but still.

“Oh, that old thing?” He jerked a thumb toward the barrier. “That only keeps you trapped if you don’t remember who you are…or if you think you don’t.” He winked at me, and warmth bloomed across my collarbones.

“Do I…do I know you?”

He smiled, slow and sexy. “I mean, that is one of the oldest chat-up lines, isn’t it?”

I blinked sharply. “I’m not…I wasn’t.”

“Shame.” He shrugged. “But to answer your question, yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“Do you want to waste time on that question, or do you want me to help you remember who you are?”

“Help her remember?” Number Two said. “What about us?”

He moved a step closer, his eyes glinting strangely in the gloom.

“Frankly, the rest of you aren’t my problem, but if you must know, all it takes is one of you to remember.

Memory is like an infection. It will spread.

And lucky for you, I’m not bound to the system.

” He lowered his tone to a whisper. “It doesn’t see me.

” He brought his finger to his lips in the universal hush sign and stepped even closer.

This time, I held my ground. “Will you allow me to help you remember?” His tone softened, his gaze raking over me.

“How?”

“You anchored one memory. I can help you bring it to the surface. But I will have to touch you.”

“Whoa!” Number Three rushed forward to stand beside me. “What kind of touching are we talking about?”

The man didn’t take his gaze off me. “A kiss. One kiss.”

Something stirred in the back of my mind—a nudge, a flicker.

“You don’t have to do this,” Number One said. “We have no idea who this guy is. He could be a creep.”

The jade-eyed man merely smiled, his gaze soft as he waited for my answer.

If this could help me remember, and my gut told me it would, then I had to try. “It’s fine. I’ve kissed plenty of creeps in my time. One more won’t make a difference.”

Number Two snort-laughed.

“Try anything funny and I’ll kick your ass,” Number Three said to the man.

The man nodded. “But fair warning, there will be tongue.”

“Ew,” Number One said.

I lifted my chin, chest tight. “Just do it.”

He reached up and gripped my jaw, and as he leaned in, his face blurred and changed to something regal and commanding—high cheekbones, full lips—and his eyes bled from jade to a glowing topaz.

A wave of longing rushed through me, swelling like a balloon in my chest and bursting to form a sob that rushed to climb up my throat.

His mouth claimed mine with devastating urgency, as if this was the first and last kiss we’d ever have, as if it was the beginning and the culmination.

This kiss was a dam breaking that would lead to?—

Memory crashed through me, of skin that burned and callused hands that claimed. Of a hum in my solar plexus and a clenching low in my belly.

A name cracked through the veil in my mind and sprang to my lips.

I pulled away, gasping. “Araz!”

My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees as more memories rushed through me, bright and beautiful, dark and devasting. Tears burned my eyes. Laughter shook my chest. Until I was whole once more.

Me once more.

A shadow fell over me, and a moment later a finger hooked beneath my chin, nudging me to look up into jade eyes. “Ah, there you are.”

“Who are you? Where’s Araz?”

He smiled, but this time it was sad. “It doesn’t matter who I am, but Araz’s time is running out. I’m sorry.”

He turned into mist.

Around me, the others cried out and fell to their knees. I stood on shaky limbs and hurried over to Number Three, to Joe. “Hey, I got you. You’re okay.”

He looked up. “Leela…what the fuck?”

“I know.”

“Chaya!” Dharma said. “I have to get to Chaya.”

I took a step, intending to get to Bina, who was on all fours, but the world stuttered, and I was yanked away from my friends and into darkness.