Chaos

by Taylor Longford

  "She might be gone for a while," he murmured, his mouth right next to my ear. "Why don't we try the door?"

  I was surprised he was already proposing escape, especially after he'd seemed so confident his family would find us not too much earlier. But I was down for an escape attempt; I just thought it should involve more planning. "What if she's waiting on the other side of the door?" I asked.

  "I don't think she is," he answered. "I think she's really gone hunting. Look at the size of her. She must have a huge appetite."

  "Okay, but the last time I tried the door, it was pretty heavy," I told him.

  "I might have more luck. Let's see if this chain will stretch that far," he suggested. His fingers tightened on my elbow in an encouraging squeeze.

  "And if we get the door open?" I asked.

  "You wouldn't need a very big gap to squeeze through," he suggested, steering me slowly toward the front of the mine. "You might be able to get away."

  "What about you?" I asked, hating to leave him. Even though we hadn't been together long, I felt safer with him. And braver.

  "You might be able to bring back help," he pointed out.

  "But she'll be able to follow my tracks in the snow," I pointed out, tripping over the uneven ground and sloshing through puddles while he seemed amazingly sure-footed in the darkness, gliding toward his target like a missile.

  "Not if the snow's old. You're so small you can probably walk on top of it without breaking through the crust."

  "Are you serious?" I exclaimed. "I might be small but I'm not that light."

  "You're not that heavy, either. You've lost a lot of weight since you got here."

  He was right. I could barely keep my jeans from sliding off my once-round hips. But I wondered how he knew that. I'd never seen him in the mine before he was chained beside me, so how had he kept track of me?

  "We could snag your coat. Last time I saw it, it was lying just inside the door. Once you get out there, move quickly to get away. Find a place to hide and stay there until morning."

  "What if I do get away?" I questioned. "She'll be furious. She might try to beat the crap outta you. And if she catches me, she might beat the crap outta both of us."

  "I won't let her hurt you," he said firmly.

  "How are you going to stop her?" I argued.

  "I can stop her," he answered with a quiet confidence that made it hard not to believe him.

  "Okay," I grumbled as he slowed down and came to a halt. "I just wished we'd talked about this before we actually started doing it."

  "I've reached the end of my chain," he whispered, ignoring my complaints. "Let's see if I'm close enough." I heard him grunt and guessed he was straining to reach the door in the darkness. "How much farther is it?" he asked.

  Now that we'd reached the door, I was feeling kind of excited. Nervous but excited. Running my fingers down his arm, I stumbled the last few steps to the door and felt around. "Inches," I murmured.

  I can probably reach a little farther if I stretch out on the ground," he said. "But I won't have much leverage. You might have to help."

  "I'll do what I can," I promised, hoping I could make a difference.

  "Okay," he whispered a few seconds later. "I have my fingers on the door, down at the bottom. Give it a try."

  I found a flat spot near the side of the door that opened. Then put my shoulder against the cold metal, braced my feet and pushed. Amazingly, the door creaked open about an inch. I set my feet again and grunted as I threw everything I had into the next shove. The door opened a few more inches. "We're getting there," I panted and set my feet for the next shove.

  "Wait," he rasped, and he must have quit trying because the door closed suddenly, hitting my elbow and shoving me backward. I almost lost my balance in the darkness but he was suddenly on his feet again, standing beside me and grabbing my arm.

  "What's wrong?" I demanded, rubbing my elbow and looking up at where I figured his face should be.

  "Quickly," he murmured, scooping me into the curve of his arm and guiding me back down the tunnel. "She's coming."

  "What!" I squeaked. My heart was pounding as I picked up the pace, trying to hurry over the uneven ground. But my toe caught on the edge of an iron rail and I tripped as I was looking back over my shoulder. As I started to fall backwards, Chaos's arms shot around me, his hand cradling my head before it could hit the rocky ground. We grunted as we crashed together, his hard chest flattening mine.

  I felt his warm breath against my cheek just before the door cracked opened and the light spilled over us. Peeking over his shoulder, I saw the harpy's outline frozen at the portal, her evil glare sliding in our direction.

  And for a second, I thought we were busted.

  Then Chaos plastered his mouth over mine, which was a bit of a shock. But not as shocking as where his hands ended up. Without even thinking about what was going on, I slapped them away while he scrambled to his feet and the harpy narrowed her suspicious gaze on us.

  Sprawled on the ground in the revealing beam of light, I frowned up at him.

  "I'm sorry," he snarled down at me. "But if you weren't interested you should have said so."

  Chapter Five

  "S-said so?" I stuttered, going into my normal shocked-speechless routine when I should have been thinking up snarky comebacks. But I couldn't figure out why Chaos was being so mean all of a sudden.

  "I said I was sorry," he growled, and stretched out his hand to help me up but I smacked it away and got up under my own power.

  "What the hell was that all about?" I hissed when we reached our normal resting place.

  "What do you mean?" he muttered.

  "You just…groped me!"

  "Groped you!" he exclaimed in a whisper, looking offended. "I wasn't groping you. I was trying to create a…what's the word?"

  "I don't know," I exploded. "You tell me!"

  His fierce gaze burned down at me. "I just was trying to create a…diversion."

  "A…diversion?" I echoed, starting to feel a little uncertain.

  "Aye," he insisted, pointing back at the portal. "So Vilschka wouldn't be suspicious when she saw that we weren't where we usually sit. I was trying to make it look like we were…what's the word?"

  "Making out?" I exclaimed quietly.

  "Aye! To fool the harpy." Finally, a faint smile touched his lips. "But I didn't think I'd fool you too."

  Talk about embarrassing. I felt like an idiot for thinking he was really trying to kiss me when he was just pretending. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me but it was too late for that because it already kinda had.

  "Sorry," he said, smirking as he watched me.

  "I'm the one who should be apologizing," I mumbled and covered my face with my hands.

  "Why's that?" he asked in a gentle growl.

  "Because I thought you were…enjoying yourself."

  There was a long silence as I stood there with my hands covering my eyes. Then I felt his fist lift my chin and I peeked out at him from between my fingers.

  He held my gaze, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Even if I was pretending, it would have been hard not to enjoy myself."

  Exasperated, I shoved away from him. First he pretended he was mean. Then he acted like he was offended. Now he was confusing me by being all sweet. And I didn't know if any of it was real so I and gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs just to make sure I didn't look too gullible.

  "What's that for?" he laughed, doubling over and pretending it hurt.

  "For embarrassing me," I grumbled.

  "Sorry," he snickered but not too convincingly.

  "Whatever," I growled, watching the portal as the harpy propped the door open and gave us a last long look. "That was close."

  "She must have gotten lucky and snagged something right away," he whispered, pulling me down beside him in our usual place and trying to look apologetic. "I really am sorry that I put you in danger."

  "It's all good," I muttered, relieved that we we
re safe for the time being. And even though we hadn't managed an escape, I was glad we'd tried without raising too much suspicion. But I was beginning to think Chaos was a little impulsive. "Next time, let's talk it over first."

  "Alright," he murmured like he didn't necessarily agree with me. "But sometimes you just have to make things up as you go along."

  "I can understand how that would appeal to you," I answered, thinking about the groping incident, but I think my sarcasm was lost on him.

  We propped our feet on the ore car rails to dry them out and watched the harpy build a fire at the portal. When she had a good blaze built up, she speared her pieces of meat on sharpened sticks and angled them over the flames. My stomach growled as I watched her every move like a dog hoping for a handout but even though my brain was focused on food, I noticed that the statue had been moved. It wasn't sitting just inside the mine anymore and I figured Vilschka moved it outside for some reason unknown to sane people like me. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard her raving at it recently, either. Her last rant had ended with her threat to get rid of me. Which hadn't happened, fortunately.

  "Why do you think she's stopped talking to the statue?" I asked Chaos. When he didn't answer, I checked his face, wondering if he'd fallen asleep.

  He was awake but he ignored my question. "I'm going to see if I can talk her out of some food," he said as he got to his feet.

  Yeah, he was definitely impulsive. "Try not to get killed," I muttered, my mouth watering at the mere idea of something to eat. I swallowed hard and the sound echoed in the dark tunnel.

  Chaos's chains rattled as he headed toward the portal. I watched him, holding my breath and hoping he was successful. He exchanged a few words with the harpy followed by several growled curses and a lot of shouting. It sounded like he was getting angry and I assumed he hadn't had any more luck than I'd had. My gaze locked on his dark figure as he shuffled back in my direction.

  "It's not much," he apologized, and held out a bone that was a little bigger than a chicken leg.

  I didn't even wonder what it was. It looked like some kind of meat and that was good enough for me. I grabbed it from his hands and tore at the burning flesh with my teeth, swallowing it in great ragged chunks that barely fit down my throat.

  "Slowly," he warned. "Take smaller bites. Chew first, then swallow."

  I forced myself to do as he said, knowing that he was probably right. The food would do me more good if I chewed it first. And I'd probably stand a better chance of keeping it down. But it wasn't easy when I was so hungry. "What kind of meat do you think that was?" I asked as I sucked the bone clean and licked the last of the fatty juice from my fingers.

  "Rabbit," he answered quite certainly.

  "Tasted good," I murmured. Sadly, I was still starving and immediately wished there was more. I looked up at Chaos, who was watching me with a half-smile, and a sudden pang of guilt swept over me. "You didn't get any!" I wailed, hating myself for gobbling down everything and leaving nothing for him.

  His smile kicked up a little on one side. "There wasn't much and I'm not hungry. Not yet."

  "How could you not be hungry?" I choked. "You've been here longer than me!"

  "Don't worry about it. Before you got here, Vilschka fed me…off and on. I was able to put some of it aside and it hasn't been that long since I last ate."

  "But I—"

  He dropped down beside me and placed a finger against my lips. "Torrie, don't. Just don't. I'm okay. Okay?"

  I nodded. "'Kay," I whispered. "But next time, we'll share."

  "Next time we'll share," he promised quietly. He put his arm around me and looked back toward the mouth of the mine. The fire's distant glow glanced over his high cheekbones and accented the hard lines of his perfect profile.

  "You know what?" I blurted. "You were wrong."

  "What do you mean?" he countered while the harpy's blaze reflected in his irises and set his eyes on fire.

  "You were wrong when you said you weren't good, like your brothers."

  He shook his head and snorted dismissively. "It's not that I'm a bad person. I'm just more like some of my cousins."

  "Your cousins? What are they like?"

  He checked my face like he wanted to watch my reaction when he gave his answer. "Defiance killed three men, once. And one of his brothers helped dig the graves. Force was singing when he came back from the burying."

  "What was he singing?" I asked, hiding my shock while privately shivering at the idea.

  "One man standing on a dead man's grave. It's an old sea shanty," he explained. "The men had killed their mother."

  "Oh," I murmured, and decided maybe the murder was justified. But it still seemed sad…and macabre.

  "Courage didn't help them, though. He wasn't brave enough for that."

  "Courage?" I questioned.

  "Their younger brother."

  "What about you?" I asked, even though I didn't think he was the kind of guy who would be down for murder or graveside singing. "Did you help?"

  "Nay," he sighed. "I didn't know about it until afterward."

  "Do you think you would have helped…if you'd known?"

  "Maybe not," he answered slowly and his eyes narrowed on the monster at the mouth of the mine. "But I'd kill if I had to."

  And that was okay with me because a little murderous streak might come in handy if we were ever going get out of there. I leaned my head against his shoulder, watching the fire's orange glow and feeling a bit better with some food in my stomach. As the fire burned down, I started singing quietly.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Chaos warned. "The harpy doesn't like music."

  "No kidding," I snorted. "But I figure if she doesn't like it she can come tell me about it."

  "That's not a good idea," he said bluntly.

  But it was too late. I heard a rustle of movement and the monster started to stalk down the tunnel in my direction. I thought she'd just yell at me but she started kicking as soon as she reached us. Chaos jumped up and got between me and the nasty pile of rocks, shouting at her to stop before her foot could connect with anything vital. But then she lashed out at him, one of her fists connecting just above his ear.

  He reeled backwards, crashing into me as I was getting to my feet, and knocking me into the wall. "Are you alright?" he asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me close.

  "Fine," I mumbled, feeling really bad about the trouble I'd caused and the blood running down the side of his face.

  He rubbed a hand into his hair and his palm came away red.

  "I'm sorry," I whispered then cringed as the harpy balled up her fist again.

  Chaos spun to face her and threw out his arms to shield me. "Leave her," he snarled, with an almost feral sound rumbling in his chest, his slim frame coiled for battle.

  "You'll keep her hush?" the harpy screeched.

  "I'll keep her hush," he shouted. "Just leave her."

  "I'm sorry," I whispered again as the harpy headed back to the entrance. Without thinking, I lifted a hand to his head. "I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"

  But he knocked my hand away, obviously annoyed with me. "Next time, maybe you'll listen to me," he growled.

  "I'm sorry," I whispered one more time, shrinking away from him and feeling all awkward. I took a few steps down the tunnel to put a little distance between us.

  "Where are you going?" he demanded, the hard line of his shoulders softening a little.

  "Nowhere," I answered, taking a few more steps away from him. "I just want to be alone for a while."

  Feeling my way down the tunnel, I traveled about twenty feet before choosing a place to stop. And for the next hour or so I crouched against the wall, missing the relative comfort of the flat ledge where we usually sat while the tense silence grew between us like a concrete wall.

  "Hey, I'm sorry," Chaos finally muttered.

  "What do you have to be sorry for?" I questioned him with an uneasy laugh. "I'm the one who screwed everything up."
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br />   "You didn't screw anything up," he argued quietly, making his way back to me. As I stood to face him, his hand locked around my wrist. "Come here," he murmured and reeled me toward him.

  I tried to pull away, which didn't work. The guy had a grip like steel. "I just hate to give in," I shouted because shouting was better than crying and less embarrassing. "I hate to be a victim. As long as I'm singing, I feel like I'm not giving in. I feel like I'm fighting back."

  "I understand," he growled and tugged me against his chest.

  "I'm okay," I insisted and tried to push away from him. "I'm not cold or anything."

  "That's not why I'm holding you," he rumbled softly and tightened his arms around me.

  I tilted my chin so I could look up at him. "Why are you holding me?"

  "Because we have to stick together," he murmured. "We're trapped here alone. All we have is each other."

  I figured he was right but I kinda wished it was more than that. I kinda wished he sorta liked me—just a little bit—which was stupid ridiculous. The guy was way out of my league. He was way out of everyone's league. Even if he scoured the entire planet, I doubted he'd ever find a girl who was good enough for him.

  "What was that you were singing?" he asked, and his lips accidentally brushed against my forehead. At least I assumed it was an accident.

  I felt a faint surge of heat creep into my cheeks. Because I was embarrassed to tell him what I was singing. I like rock and have several favorite new bands like Imagine Dragons and Bastille, but that's not what I was singing. I like a lot of different music and some stuff is just classic. "It's…country," I muttered.

  "Ah. That explains why I haven't heard it before. They don't play much country music in England. You have a nice voice."

  "Thanks," I said. "And…thanks for sticking up for me."

  "You're welcome," he grunted. "But next time…"

  "Next time I'll do what you say," I offered, then quickly changed the subject as we headed back to our usual place. "So you like Garth Brooks?"

  "I like it when you sing it," he answered softly.