“We missed you too, Rocks.” Siret ruffled my hair, which no doubt would be so tangled that the only way to save it would be to shave it off by this point. Glancing down, I confirmed my thoughts: I was a mess. The green dress was torn and covered in so much blood and dirt it was barely recognisable. I’d be lucky to be able to salvage a small section to treasure. To place next to the purple scrap of Siret’s original piece.
“You gods are hell on a girl’s wardrobe,” I mused, trying to rub a huge streak of mud off my right sleeve.
Siret, who was still the closest, laughed out loud. “Well, considering I gave you most of that wardrobe out of the goodness of my own heart—”
“Is that why you’ve been making her clothes so tight?” Yael interrupted. “Just out of the goodness of your own heart?”
I intervened before Siret could reply. “More importantly: don’t we have a server to find? And is there any way we can retrieve Steve without encountering Rau?”
The twins stepped to the forefront then, shoulder to shoulder, acting like a wall to block the rest of the world out. Coen was the first to speak. “We definitely do not have a server to find. You are going to stay right here, far from Rau, under the protection of Seduction, Trickery, and Persuasion. We,” he gestured to himself and Rome, “will be finding Steve and bringing her back.”
I held his stare. Just like with Cyrus, these five did not scare me. Most of the time.
“We’re sticking together. Something bad always happens when we get separated.” I had my hands on my hips, which couldn’t be helped. The Abcurses were even more stubborn than me, so I had to visibly stand my ground.
Both of the twins opened their mouths to argue with me, but before they could, Yael stepped into my back, distracting us all. In my usual style of neediness, I found myself leaning back into him. His arm swept around my front, which was not his usual style, and he held me close. “We just went too many rotations not knowing if Willa was hurt or dead, I would also prefer it if none of our family split up. Not while we still have no idea what the hell Rau is up to, where the hell Staviti is, or whether D.O.D. is meddling behind the scenes here.”
“We can trust no one else right now,” Aros added.
The twins were silent for a click, and I fully expected them to be firm on their previous plan, so when Rome let out a deep breath and nodded his head, I almost fell over. I actually would have fallen over if Yael hadn’t had me anchored to his front, his strong arm still banding across me.
He released me, and the five gods moved into a line formation. I ended up in the centre between Yael and Aros. “This is the new plan, and I will not shift on it.” Coen was all business now. “We’ll take a stealth route to Rau’s main platform, Strength and Seduction will stay with Willa on the edge, the three of you keeping watch. The rest of us will retrieve Steve. Persuasion and Trickery could come in handy if we need a clean escape.”
I snorted, and he flashed those gorgeous eyes at me.
I shrugged. “That’s pretty much the same plan from before, you’ve just got me waiting on the sidelines a little closer.”
He winked at me then as a grin rippled across his face, and it was such an unexpected and cheeky gesture that I almost fell over my own feet. Before I could recover my equilibrium, I was being half carried by the two gods next to me, and we were running. Fast. Or they were running, and I was just kind of brushing the ground every few steps to make sure that it was still there. I had to close my eyes multiple times as the five jumped, ducked, and dived across the landscape of Topia. It was very natural: lots of trees, rock formations, curling vines, and blooming flowers. We dodged waterfalls, trickling brooks and raging torrents. I didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but I sensed that it was out there. Hiding. No doubt that Bestiary god had created all sorts of things.
Just as I had that thought, Siret let out a piercing whistle. With a jerk, I swung my head in his direction, wondering what he was whistling at.
He caught my eye. “Normally we’d just use our energy to form a doorway to Rau’s place, but he would know we were there if we did that, so this is the next quickest way to get there.”
Before I could ask him what the hell he was talking about, a flapping of wings could be heard beyond a pocket of dense rainforest to our right. I actually gasped out loud in a few choked breaths as five animals appeared on the horizon, their large, powerful wings flapping above their sleek bodies.
“What … where ...” I was a stuttering mess while my brain tried to figure out what I was seeing.
“These are the panteras; ancient beasts of flight.” Aros was practically glowing as he watched them.
I focussed closer on them, finding myself taking a few steps forward. They were definitely huge beasts, shaped almost like a sleek version of the bullsen. They were massive, with short, shimmering black fur—longer along their spine and at the base of their four legs. A flat, broad nose rested beneath large and intelligently gleaming eyes. Their wings carried them across Topia, before they silently dropped to land a few yards from us.
I felt the joy radiating from the Abcurses. They knew these animals. They liked them. I fell back a little as they crossed toward them, the guys moving slowly. Respectfully. When we were a few feet away, all of them inclined their heads slightly. With a start, I realised I was the only one not bowing, so I quickly lowered my head.
The five black beasts shuffled and snorted, before they took the final steps to bridge the gap between us. Coen and Rome reached for the two largest, their hands resting against the flat planes above each of the panteras’ eyes. “I’ve missed you, old friend,” I heard Rome murmur, his head pressed close to the beast’s furred face.
All of the Abcurses seemed to have a particular favourite, and as I watched, my cheek muscles ached a little. I realised I was grinning broadly—far too broadly for someone who had just been kidnapped, beat up, internally ripped to pieces a few times, and was probably going to die because Rau would find us when we tried to return Steve to that silver haired Neutral. But seeing the Abcurses as they celebrated being with those amazing animals. Seeing the bond between them all … it was pretty special.
Before I could embarrass us all by jumping up and down or sobbing my eyes out, Aros was turning and holding out a hand to me. I wasted no time in hurrying to his side, the throbbing ache of the soul-link lessening as I got closer.
“You can ride with me, if that’s okay with you.” His glow was almost blinding; being in Topia or with the panteras was strengthening his energy. “You’ll need to meet Jara first though. She needs to be acquainted with you before you can ride her.”