Chapter 17 Riven
Riven
“Riven!”
My name rings out from a handful of different voices, and I clear my mind enough to boop two of the little mess makers on the nose as I walk through the fence to the Akovas’.
“Excuse me, little cuties, I need to see your momma and her company.”
“Momma doesn’t have company. She’s inside feeding baby Ezra.”
Oh, if there isn’t a little burden in there with her, along with her sidekick, I’m going to fly off the fucking rails.
I march through the door, attempting to choke down my humming, only to hear Annalise singing a sweet melody.
“Who is a good baby? You are, yes, you are—Oh, Riven, what are you doing here?”
“Has my ang—Thayla been by here today? She and Yemi actually?”
Her head tilts in confusion. “Well, no, of course not. Do you think she’d really venture out of the Godsdawn without you?”
Without me. Without me. Without me.
She did go somewhere without me, though, didn’t she?
“Very well. I’m off then. I have a goddess to hunt down.” I spin on my heel, walking right back out of the kitchen.
I’m already halfway down the walkway when her voice calls back out to me. “Hold on, Riven, wait a minute. Has something happened?”
I wave over my shoulder without turning around. “Godsden better fuc—freaking hope not.”
This better be a fucking epic game of hide and seek.
My power wraps around me as I starshoot back to the Athenaeum, where I’m supposed to meet my brothers. I was told to go search the meadows and come here just in case.
Creed was checking Daddy Gladdy’s new house, the Court, and the healing villas.
Kyzen, the Sanctum, although he’d just left there, the dining hall, and other possible places like Hay-Hay’s house and Lam-man’s.
Amick was going to the temples, which made no sense, but what the fuck do I know? Then he was going back to the Athenaeum and that’s where we were to meet him with our Binder if we found her.
One of them had better have her by now.
Creed and Kyzen spin around as soon as I starshoot behind them. Their disappointment is obvious, as is their growing worry.
My eyes swirl at the empty space around them.
“She never visited Annalise, did she?” Kyzen asks.
“Nope.”
“She’s in for the realm’s most brutal training when I get my hands on her stubborn ass.” Creed growls as he snatches the door to the Athenaeum open.
We make our way to Amick’s office and find him pacing in front of his desk. His head snaps to us, and he scans our bodies as if we’re hiding Thayla somewhere between us.
A noise I’ve never heard from him rumbles through his lips as he shoves past us and stomps through his precious rows of text.
I’m still pretty pissed about the way he acted toward me in the meadow, but I’ll admit, I’m enjoying seeing him all riled up.
“She’s going to show up sooner or later. She and Yemi have to be hiding somewhere around here, avoiding you,” Kyzen says hopefully.
The thought of the two of them hiding behind books, giggling, has my own chaotic sound slipping through my lips.
Amick twirls around and I seal my mouth shut with the glare on his face.
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the three of you but snap out of it.
The longer it takes you to accept the truth, the longer it’s going to take to find her.
Her going off on her own is normal, yes, but nothing about this is sitting right.
She. Is. Not. Hiding. She is gone. Someone took her. Acknowledge it.”
Kyzen’s and Creed’s powers swell.
My head twitches and my fingers shake.
It’s the truth we’ve all been avoiding.
Unwilling to accept.
I can’t accept that.
Not in here anyway. I’ll destroy all this shit.
According to him, it’s been a couple hours now that he sent her on some scavenger hunt for six books. She only made it to book four before he went looking and found the mess he blamed on me.
A few hours in Thayla time are nothing.
She goes on strolls and takes naps as long as that sometimes.
“Where are you going?” Creed asks as Amick walks away from us.
“To look at the spot she was taken.”
The three of us follow along behind him and I force myself to hold in my laugh at the mess laid out across the floor on the row he stops at.
If my angel did this, I’m very proud. This is top-notch work.
“What do you expect to find, Amick?” Kyzen asks.
“I don’t know. Something. They retrieved the first three books on my list. Those are right there.” He points to a pile to his left. “This is the fourth. All these others, I don’t know how they ended up on the floor.”
“If we’re moving forward under the assumption she’s been taken—”
“It’s not an assumption, Creed,” Amick fires off, glaring daggers at him.
“Fine, say she’s been taken. These books could’ve been knocked over during the fight. You know she’d have fought. Did anyone in the Athenaeum, the Attendants, or Guiders on rotation hear anything?”
“No. None claimed to be in this area around that time frame.”
“Obviously. Whoever is assigned to this area does a shit job cleaning. I can’t believe you sign off on this. Look at all this.” My not-so-soft puff sends dust flying all over the spines of pristine books.
“Move,” Amick demands, shoving me out of the way.
One more time and I’m going to punch his handsome face in.
He examines the shelves with keen fascination, then bends back down to the books on the ground.
I gasp, laying my hand to my heart as he drops two of them unceremoniously back on the floor.
“There’s no dust on those and these shelves were in perfect order yesterday when I was walking around, making my list for her.”
Creed swipes his finger across a shelf and when he pulls it away, it’s white. My eyes widen when he brings it closer to his face.
I snatch his wrist back and stick his finger in my mouth.
That’s not dust.
“Riven, that’s fucking—”
“That’s not dust. Motherfucker. Meet me at the old chime tower in Godsden.”
My power wraps around me and in a blink, I appear in front of the nearly decimated structure.
The being who lives here in secret is stupid as fuck for living this close to the Abandon’s line. He’s also a genius because no one comes here and his…questionable activities go unnoticed.
I hum and pace as I wait for my brothers to join me. I don’t know what the hell is taking them so long, but the longer I sit here and pace alone, the louder my songs get.
“The itsy bitsy Plentiful,
Hides in the chime tower.
Down the secret stairs,
You’ll find his special power.
If he drugged my angel,
I’ll kill him in his den.
And the itsy bitsy Plentiful,
Will never climb the stairs again.”
Over and over, I plan his death.
I think it’ll be poetic if I kill him with one of his own concoctions rather than my bare hands.
“Riven, what the fuck?”
“Me what the fuck? What took you all so long?”
Kyzen looks like he’s about to flip his shit. “You said the old chime tower in Godsden. That’s where we went. You didn’t say the destroyed one.”
“Well, this should be obvious. It’s older than that one.”
He goes to say something else, but I spin on my toes and jump in the air, clapping my heels together.
No time for our cute banter.
I’ve got a god to kill.
Probably.
Maybe. If he hurt my angel.
If not, he’s still very useful to me.
The rickety old door nearly comes off the hinges as I plow through it. “Watch your step—”
My shrieking laugh echoes down the stairwell as Creed snatches me up before I can completely fall through the floor.
I forgot about that broken step.
“You saved my life. Thank you so much. As I was saying, watch where you step.”
“What the hell are we doing here?” my mean, deadly savior asks.
“Visiting a colleague of mine to see if he drugged our Binder. That white powder I sucked off your finger was definitely his.”
“A colleague?”
“Oh, I forgot a Ruler was with us. Maybe you should wait outside. He breaks about a thousand rules, and I need him if I don’t decide to kill him.”
“Killing is also against the rules, Riven.”
“Not where Thayla is concerned.”
His beautiful, handsome face softens on me, then he looks at Amick and back at me. I don’t like that.
“Eww, I don’t know what that face was, but don’t do it again. As long as you’re not going to snitch him out, you can come.”
“For fuck’s sake, do I ever say anything to you about the rules you break?”
“All the time.”
“Do I actually ever report it?”
“No, of course not.”
“Okay then, there’s your answer. Now go.”
I giggle and clap as I tiptoe my way down the stairs.
This is so exciting.
Granted, I am a little upset about giving up my supplier’s location, but sacrifices have to be made sometimes.
We come to the end of the stairs and Kyzen, with all his politeness, steps beside me, then bangs on the door twice.
“Coming.”
I throw my head back, cackling, then kick the door in. It comes off the hinges and crashes into the floor with a satisfying thump.
My arms splay out wide beside me as I jump on the crumbling wood, and Vulius squeals as he hides behind his little concoction station.
“Oh, Vullie, come out, come out, wherever you are. Just kidding. I see you. Don’t make me crawl under there to get you.”
I bend over, cocking my head to the side as he shrieks and trembles. “R-Riven, what is the meaning of this?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m here to find out. Come on now. Out.”
I don’t give him time to do as I say.
My chaos shoves forward in the form of one of those beautiful undead beasts in the forest and snatches him out by his ankle. He’s still screaming his head off even after the fake creature vanishes.
“Shushes now, everything will be okay,” I coo as I squat and pet his hair out of his face. “Let’s make this quick. Did you drug my angel?”
“W-what?”
“Answer me,” I shout and Creed snatches me up by my shirt.
“Let Kyzen handle the questioning.”
I flick his hand off me and cross my arms. “Fine. Take all my fun away.”