Chapter 44
“It’s the sister.”
“The sister.”
Two voices hissed beside Vega’s head—no, in—echoing inside a darkness she had never experienced before. She reached for her lightning, hoping to illuminate the blackness Vega felt she might suffocate in.
She pushed, and pushed, and pushed, pulling against the thread of power deep inside, but no matter what she did, her lightning never came.
“Use us,” the first voice begged.
“You wanted the flames,” the other cooed.
Fumbling around, Vega felt her surroundings. Inches from her fingertips was a wall that felt like it was made of stacked rocks.
“You can’t escape us,” voice one hissed again.
“We are a part of you now,” the other said slowly, hauntingly.
Vega ignored the panic rising from the pit of her stomach, swallowing as she continued to fight whatever kept her powers at bay. The air around her felt thin and stagnant, and she was unable to get the wind to stir through her fingertips like she should be.
Vega ran her hands across the rock wall, using it to guide her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The voice sounded like it’d come from behind her this time, but Vega couldn’t tell if it was the first or second voice anymore—not with the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.
She picked up her pace, going around, around, around. Vega skidded to a halt when she realized her feet stayed pointed to the right. “I’m walking in fucking circles,” she said out loud.
She was in a dark, circular… pit.
Death. She couldn’t feel it either. She couldn’t dip into her head and pull the shadow out.
There was no inside here, wherever here was.
It was just Vega.
Alone.
“Never alone. We’re with you.”
Vega panicked, overestimating how much room she had, and slammed into the other side of the wall.
The crunch of her nose made Vega yelp in pain.
She didn’t need to see to know she was bleeding.
Her hands shot up, cupping a palm to catch the pooling blood.
The taste of iron filled her mouth as it dripped down her throat and between her lips.
“Oh dear. Let us see what you’ve done to yourself.”
“Use my fire.”
The warmth of the flames she’d used on the battlefield with Marlena heated her palms. Vega’s hand shot down from her face, the blood from her nose dripping down her chin. She balled them up tightly, pushing back against the urge to feel that heat again. “Fuck off!”
Vega slid her hands down her body, searching herself for the daggers strapped to her thigh… but they weren’t there. She patted frantically, as if she could have missed them.
“That’s not very nice, Vega.” The way the voice said her name made another wave of fear slam into her stomach.
“Who are you?” she screamed, her voice echoing above her head. Vega craned her neck back, expecting to see something, anything, but there was nothing but blackness there too.
“You know who we are,” they said at the same time.
“You could know us better if you let us in.”
“Yes, let us in. We can defeat him if we join together. We can save you.”
Vega threw her arms out beside her, one hand scraping up the side of the rock as she tried to determine how large the space was. “Defeat who?” Her hands didn’t touch from side to side without leaning. “Save me from who?”
“The one who bonded you.”
Remus? What does Remus have to do with any of this?
Six feet. The round room wasn’t a foot wider than Vega’s full height. The darkness felt like it was closing in on her.
The voices snickered, and Vega knew they were laughing at the words she hadn’t said out loud. “Remus.”
“Remus never made it here.”
“How?” she screamed, turning in circles like one of them would show their face.
“We are inside you. We know all your thoughts.” They spoke at the same time in two different vocal patterns and pitches. “We know everything about you, Goddess of Death.”
Vega heard the roar of Death above her then, claws scraping across what sounded like stone. Pebbles rained down, pattering against the floor but never making contact with Vega.
Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega.
She shook her head, trying to clear the echo of her name from inside her head. “Wait…” Vega felt like she was drifting, being forced out by some unknown source. “Why would we need to save my soul from who bonded me?”
Her name came again from somewhere else, down a pathway she knew. “Bridger,” she gasped.
“Use us and we’ll tell you…”
Vega.
Vega.
Vega!
Vision flooded back at the same time Vega’s electric current snapped on. Bridger’s dark eyes and worry-stricken face came into view, but it was too late to stop what happened next.
The fear consumed her, and Vega’s lightning was always there to jump to her defense. Even Death was slower to react.
It nuzzled against her mind, helping bring her back to this new reality. One where she was fitting pieces of a puzzle together she thought had been completed years ago.
Bridger managed to break away from the hold Vega had on his left forearm, but not without a jolt of lightning zapping him like he’d stuck his finger in a light socket…
only ten times worse, probably. He whacked his head on the top bunk Arlet had been sleeping in, hissing as his hand shot to rub at the spot he’d hit.
Vega felt like she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs, and fuck, why was she so hot? Gripping the blanket around her legs, Vega slipped her legs out and froze when she saw the blood staining her sheets.
“Your nose was bleeding. You’re okay.” She felt the mattress sink beside her as Bridger lowered himself back down, reaching for her face.
His voice was muffled by the ringing in her ears.
He turned her head in his hands, inspecting every inch before he moved down to her neck and then her arms. Bridger paused at the knuckles on her right hand. “You must have scraped your hand on something when you were thrashing.”
“What… what happened?” Vega finally spoke, her voice cracking from how dry her throat was.
Khort came out of nowhere with a cup of water. Vega snatched it while mouthing, Thank you, and downed it in only a few gulps. It sated her thirst, but it did nothing to cool the heat of her body.
“You tell us.” Arlet crouched down to her knees by the edge of the bed. “We were the ones you woke up with your screaming.”
“Screaming?” Vega asked, trying to remember what had made her—Oh shit. Vega couldn’t see it, but she knew she’d gone pale by Bridger’s reaction.
The gods…
She shuddered at the memory of their eerie voices… But it was what the gods hadn’t said that sat heaviest on her.
Vega swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth from the nausea rolling her stomach like an angry sea. Everyone stared at her, waiting.
They all looked like they had no idea what to say.
Everyone was too quiet, making Vega’s nerves skyrocket.
Bridger finally let his hands drop from her body after he’d inspected every visible inch.
Lie.
Vega forced a laugh, and even to her own ears, it sounded fake. She pushed on, clearing her throat. “I had a nightmare.” Wiping the back of her hand over her nose, Vega smeared the sticky, drying blood across her cheek.
Death rose from its curled-up position, flaring its nostrils like it could smell her lie. It had been trying to get to her, clawing its way through layers and layers of a shield Vega hadn’t placed.
“A nightmare? Vega, you’ve been screaming for ten minutes. We’ve been trying to wake you for ten minutes.” The fear in Arlet’s voice made Vega’s heart ache.
She didn’t need more worries.
Fake it.
Vega kept up the obviously fake laugh. “Weird.” She scooted to the edge of the bed, swaying when a rush of adrenaline made her dizzy. She swatted Bridger’s hand away. “I’m fine.” She looked him in the eyes and realized she couldn’t feel him.
Her shields were locked.
Shit.
Vega flung them open, and Bridger flooded her senses. “Fine? You expect me to believe you’re fine?”
Khort stayed quiet and stared her down, a somber and exhausted set of eyes meeting hers when she pulled herself off the bed, stepping over Arlet’s shoulder to get to the open door.
“I’ve had nightmares since some of my very first lives. It's nothing new.” But this one was… This one wasn’t a nightmare at all. Real nightmares she woke from.
“Not like that.” Arlet pointed at the bed where Vega’s blood stained the top of the blanket.
“I…” Vega started, biting her lip and shrugging.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I had to have hit something, maybe hit myself in the face.
” She glanced down at the black clothes, thankful for the dark color hiding the bloodstains she knew she was covered in.
“Speaking of, I can see how horrible I look.”
Sliding behind Arlet’s and Khort’s open shields was too easy. Vega saw herself through her best friends’ eyes, rotating between the two. “I should clean myself up.”
Vega slipped out of their heads and back into hers, fleeing the room. She walked as quickly as she could without sprinting to the bathrooms at the end of the hall.
The door hit the wall behind it as she crashed inside, beelining for the sinks. Vega’s face was covered in blood, most of it drying and crusting around the edges of her hair.
Vega snatched her ring off and slapped it on the counter. Blood smeared her hands, and when she turned them over, it was obvious it had pooled in her palms—as if she’d really been inside her head with the gods and everything that had happened was real.
You’ve had enough time. How had Vega missed the clues?
Death bared its teeth at the pit, a tar-like black liquid dripping from its fangs. Vega slipped out when she heard an unintelligible whisper echo up.
The scrape on her knuckles stung when she turned on the faucet and ran them under the water.
Vega leaned down and splashed cold water on her face, cupping her hands until they were filled with water to repeat the motion. She groaned at the soreness of her nose when she applied too much pressure.
It wasn’t broken, but it had to have come close from the amount of pain still lingering.