Page 101 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“I’m going to get some air.” I stood slowly.
“I’ll come with you,” Remi offered.
“No. I…I think I need some alone time.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
I left them to their memories and hobbled down to the ground floor and out into the crisp night, where several lungfuls of icy air loosened the fist that had formed in my chest.
I should be happy. I’d passed. Despite everything, I’d passed. I was one step closer to the labyrinth, to becoming a god and having the power to free Nani, so why did I feel so adrift? Why did I feel so…empty?
My emotions were like a seesaw. Up and down, up and down.
I set off around the building, a short walk to shake off the cobwebs and get the blood pumping.
Araz was the problem. Him and this fucked-up bond that made it impossible for me to?—
Crack.
I froze. “Who’s there?”
Boots crunched behind me, and before I could turn to see who it was, something was shoved over my nose and mouth.
Sweet and bitter at the same time.
Had I just been chloroformed?
I bouncedagainst someone’s back, my body limp and not in my control.
I’d been drugged.
Hell no. No, no, no.
“Hurry up. Move,” a raspy male voice said.
“Iammoving, you bastard,” the guy carrying me snarled. “Why didn’t you carry her?”
“Do you want me to carry her or slit her throat? You can’t have me do both.”
Ice coalesced in my belly.
I had to move. I had to fucking move. Heat flooded my limbs, and needles pricked my arms and legs. Yes! Come on.
“Here will do. Put her down.”
“Are you sure they’ll believe it was the demigods?”
“Why wouldn’t they? They believed it last time.”
If these guys weren’t demigods, then what…Rakshasa?
I kept my eyes closed as whoever was carrying me set me down on the cold ground. Grasspricked my cheek, and the scent of wet earth filled my nose. The pins and needles in my limbs subsided, telling me that my body was back online. Once this fucker backed up, I’d make a break for it.
His hands lingered on me.
Any minute now he’d step back.
He stroked my cheek and down my neck, and my stomach turned in horror.
