Page 42

Chapter 41

INTO THE THICK OF IT

M eena’s scream rent the air behind me as I sprinted across the lawn and into the brush after the huge beige monster that had Viki in its grip. Its insectile body ran spiderlike on four tapered legs. Viki was pinned to its back by crablike fingers, one of which was over the terrified boy’s mouth, cutting off his screams.

“Fall back!” Pooja cried from behind me. “Dammit, potential, fall back!”

But the petrified boy’s face filled my vision, and my legs refused to obey. I continued to chase the beast as it leapt over a fallen log, wove between tree trunks, and smashed through brush.

There was no way I was letting it have Viki.

We hurtled into a clearing surrounded by tall trees that leaned inward so that their branches created a single canopy almost blocking out the moon.

The creature leapt onto a trunk and began climbing.

Something whizzed past my ear.

Thunk.

An arrow buried itself in the creature’s body, mere inches above Viki’s head. The fingers holding him sprang back, and the boy fell.

I rushed forward and caught him before he hit the ground.

“Back up. Now!” Pooja ordered, bow drawn, arrow pointing upward.

The rustle of leaves registered. The canopy was moving. There were more of the creatures up there.

I backed slowly toward the edge of the clearing, a trembling Viki held to my chest.

He was in shock.

Pooja held her ground, arrow up, eyes on the leaves above. “Keep moving.”

More elite appeared at the edge of the clearing, weapons at the ready. I was almost out of the danger zone, almost level with Pooja as she took a step back, when there was a godawful screech followed by a rush of air.

“Run!” Pooja let arrows fly.

I bolted out of the clearing, and elite shot past me into the danger zone, maces swinging, swords slicing.

I looked back to see them in a lethal dance across moon-dappled ground, cutting down monsters twice as large as the one that Pooja had killed, and Pooja was on the edge of it all, shooting arrow after arrow, summoning them from thin air because where the fuck was her quiver?

Fuck. She was an ascended.

She was a god.

“Leela!” Araz burst through the foliage and ground to a halt at the sight of me.

Viki let out a strangled whimper.

Shit. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.”

Araz scooped us both up and ran.

We entered the temple to pained screams.

“Mama!” Viki bolted as soon as Araz set us down. A circle of people had formed around the altar, but they parted to let Viki through.

“Viki!” Meena sobbed. “Thank the gods. Argh!”

Dharma hurried over to us. “She went into labor. The shock must have kickstarted it.”

Dammit. “We need towels and hot water.”

“Have you done this before?” Dharma asked.

“No, but that’s what they do on TV.”

“Let her people deal with this,” Araz said. “We must not intercede.” He led me away, his stride stiff.

Dharma made an uh-oh face.

Araz took me behind a pillar out of view of everyone then turned his fiery gaze on me. “What were you thinking?” His tone vibrated with anger, and rocks formed in my belly. “Answer me!”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, you weren’t. You ran into danger without your weapon.”

“I know, I should have grabbed it off you earlier and?—”

He gripped my shoulders and squeezed. “Not your mace, you fool. Me. I am your weapon, and you left me behind.”

“There was no time.”

“No time? Dammit, Leela, what would you have possibly done when you caught up with the creature? Talk it to death? If Pooja hadn’t been there, you would be dead along with the boy.”

He was right. He was totally right. Pooja had ordered me to stand down, and I hadn’t listened.

“I…I’m sorry. I fucked up.”

He exhaled, dropping his grip on my shoulders as the rage drained out of him. “Your heart will be your undoing.” He lightly cupped my cheek, his fiery gaze intense. “Steel it before it kills you.”

“Where is she?” Pooja called out from behind us. “Leela, present yourself now!”

Araz steeped back. “We must take the admonishment.”

“We?”

“Your transgression is also mine.”

“And your transgressions? ”

He lifted his chin. “Are solely on me.”

“That’s hardly fair.”

“Leela!” Pooja called.

“Oh fuck…“ I stepped out from behind the pillar to find Pooja standing hands on hips, chest heaving with each breath. Her armor was speckled with green goop, and so was her hair. The woman was clearly seething, and the focus of her anger was me.

“I’m sorry. I should have listened to you and backed off. There is no excuse.”

Her mouth worked, her gaze flicking over my shoulder. “I would have thought you’d have trained your demigod better, Araz.”

Not guru, but just Araz now. He’d gone down in her estimation because of me.

“I apologize, Asura Pooja,” he said. “It will not happen again.”

Meena let out a drawn-out strangled scream, and a moment later, the wail of a baby filled the air.

Pooja’s expression softened, and her shoulders dropped. “It is difficult to hold on to anger in the face of new life.” She fixed me with a severe look. “I will not tolerate another incidence of insubordination.”

I nodded. “Understood.”

Guru Mihir entered the temple flanked by Jasha and Pashim. One of the creatures that had taken Viki was slung over his shoulder. He threw it on the ground. “Wrap it up. The sage at Aakaash will want to see this. ”

“This is a new minion of the devouring force,” Jasha said. “A new threat.”

“Araz,” Guru Mihir said. “There may be more nests close by. Your fire would be helpful.”

“Of course,” Araz said, then to me, “Stay here.”

I nodded quickly, shame and guilt swirling in my belly because I hated disappointing anyone.

Guru Mihir took Araz, a couple of elite, and left.

The room breathed a sigh of relief, and so did I, now no longer the center of attention.

Pashim joined me by the pillar. “What did I miss?” I filled him in on my insubordination, and he grew pale. “I know, I know. I was stupid.”

“You were brave,” he corrected. “ Stupidly so.”

He was trying to make me feel better, but only some kind of redemption would do that. “I have to be better. Do better.”

“You will.” He cupped my shoulder. “I know you will. You have so much potential, Leela, and more heart than I have seen in any mortal in a very long time, and I have lived a very long time.”

The snakes in my belly ceased their writhing. “Yeah? Araz says I need to steel my heart. That it’ll get me into trouble.”

“That is something Araz and I must disagree on. I believe your heart to be your strength.” He dropped his gaze for a moment, as if considering something. “If you had not gone after the boy, then he may not have been saved at all. ”

“No, Pooja went after him too.”

He lifted his gaze to mine. “Because you already had. You are a valuable asset to our cause and under elite protection.”

Wait, was he saying… “She would have left him? Just let that thing take him?”

“Yes. Most probably. It’s one human boy. But because of you, he was saved, and we discovered nests and a new devouring force minion.” He tucked a tendril of my hair behind my ear. “Maybe it was a rash move, but you followed your heart, and it worked out.” His fingers grazed my cheek, sending a shiver of awareness through me.

“Don’t let Araz hear you say that.”

The baby let out another wail. A new addition to our party.

“We have to get them to their new home safely.”

“I know,” Pashim said. “And we will. Finding these nests means we won’t be taken unaware now.” He steered me over to a stone bench. “Sit, you’re bleeding.”

My hand was bloody from a wound I didn’t recall getting, but the skin beneath was smooth and unmarred. “I’m fine. It’s healed.”

“Let’s clean up the blood anyway. Wait here.” He left me and returned a few moments later with a canteen of water and a handkerchief. I let him tend to me, too tired to protest.

“How are things with you and Araz?” Pashim said. “In general. ”

“Good, then not so good, then… I don’t know.”

“He seems to be coming around to the bond.”

“I don’t think he’s coming around. I think he’s being worn down, and I hate it. I hate that this isn’t a choice for him.”

“It’s not a choice for you either.” Pashim finished cleaning my hand and tucked the handkerchief into his pocket. “What would you do if you did have a choice?” His sapphire eyes glittered in the gloom, drawing me in, begging me to say the words that would confirm that he and I were still waiting on time.

But if I said them, then they’d be a lie. At least right now. “I don’t know.” It was the best I could do.

His lips tightened. “When we get back, there is something I need to show you. Something I must tell you.”

“What?”

“Not here. Not now. But it’s important.”

My stomach trembled. “Is it something bad?”

“It would depend on your point of view, but…” He sighed. “You should know.”

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

He leaned in so his cheek brushed mine and his lips kissed the delicate shell of my ear. “There are eyes everywhere,” he whispered.

Eyes, as in the ankh? “I understand.” Of course, the ankh were here. They were grading us, after all.

Pashim sat back on his heels. “All clean. Get some rest. I’ll watch over you. ”

“I’m supposed to be on protection duty, remember?”

“You still need to sleep. We’ll do it in shifts. Come on.”

I allowed him to lead me over to where the potentials had rearranged their camp. Aradha caught my eye as I walked past, smiled knowingly, and shook her head.

Fuck her. What did she know?

I settled next to Dharma, and she put her arm around me. “This time tomorrow we’ll be back home in barracks,” she said.

Home…Yes, Aakaash Sansaar had become home.