Chaos

by Taylor Longford

It was exciting but terrifying too. And after Chaos put me on my feet, I found my shoulders creeping slowly toward my ears. I was half afraid that I'd see Vilschka shooting toward us like the world's ugliest guided missile.

  Chaos pushed my coat at me. "Put this on," he muttered in a low voice.

  "How's it look?" I asked.

  "No talking," he reminded me as I reached for the coat and checked it out. One of the sleeves was wet, the suede ruined, but the rest of it was dry and would probably help keep me warm. "Remember your promise," he whispered.

  Pressing my lips together, I nodded as I shrugged into the coat and searched the night sky for any sight of the harpy. But the heavens looked clear, sparkling with about a billion stars and making me feel hopeful about our chances. Beside me, I heard a rustling sound and turned to face Chaos just in time to see something black rise behind him, blocking out my view of the big dipper. For a minute, I thought Vilschka was behind him and almost screamed. But remembering my promise, I clamped my hand over my mouth and smothered my shriek of terror. Then before I could finish reacting, Chaos picked me up and we started gliding away, hovering a few inches above the snow.

  Yeah, you heard me right. We were gliding. And hovering. And flying!

  My first impulse was to shout out in total shock but Chaos had told me to keep my mouth shut and by now I'd been conditioned—like brainwashed—to follow his commands. So I swallowed my rebellious squawk. But the guy had wings! I'm not kidding. He had huge, black freaking wings. Just like the harpy. The vest that he always wore opened up into wings. And when they were closed, they wrapped around his body just like Vilschka's, only shorter. I couldn't believe it. He was a freaking harpy. Just like that monster.

  Chapter Seven

  My imagination rammed into overdrive and got the best of me. But—seriously—can you blame me for wondering if Vilschka and Chaos were working together for who-knows-what-evil-purpose? Because that's what I started thinking. Looking back, all of the signs were staring me in the face, right down to the whole good-cop bad-cop act and even the Stockholm maneuver.

  I'd read enough about kidnappings to know that it's not the torment that breaks you in a captive situation. It's the occasional act of kindness. Those kindnesses make you feel so thankful. Grateful. That's how I felt toward Chaos. He'd been so kind, keeping me warm when I would have frozen to death, getting food for me when I'd have starved. But now that I started thinking about it, it seemed weird how quickly Vilschka had given in to him when he'd asked for food. And it was pretty damn suspicious that he never seemed to be as hungry as I was.

  I could have kicked myself. I mean, c'mon. It was so typical of me to always think the best of people, even when a lifetime of experience had proved it was not a particularly good idea. Once again, I'd made the mistake of assuming Chaos was a nice person—right from the start, when I'd fallen asleep in his arms—when a smarter person would have been more cautious.

  All of my previously warm feelings for him evaporated like a spitwad in an Arizona skate park, and were replaced by a deepening sense of betrayal as I decided they had to be working together. It was a totally out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire situation. But I didn't shout. And I didn't struggle. And I didn't try to scratch his eyes out or anything crazy like that. I just made plans to run like hell the minute I got away from him.

  Chaos stuck close to the trees, weaving between them when they were widely spaced and clipping their tops where they were dense. And after about five minutes, I began to breathe a little easier, thinking that I had at least escaped the frying pan, if not the fire. But right about then, Chaos said, "She's onto us."

  Okay, I probably should have seen that coming since I'd decided they were a team, but part of me was still rejecting reality and hoping against hope that Chaos was on my side.

  "I'm going to drop you and fly on," he murmured. "Find a place nearby to hide so you don't leave many footprints in the snow. She won't be able to track you by scent. And if she can't see you, she won't find you. She'll avoid flying in the daytime so you might be able to make it back to the city after the sun comes up."

  I didn't say anything but jerked my chin upward so that he'd know I understood.

  He swooped low to the ground and dropped me in a forgiving layer of snow, his lips touching my cheek just before he let me go. I assumed the lip-touching thing was just an accident but rubbed my fingers against the place where his mouth had touched my skin as I watched him disappear behind a thick stand of evergreens.

  Enough for sentimentality. As soon as he was out of sight, I ran, ignoring his orders to hide since that's what they wanted me to do. Behind me, I heard Vilschka's distant scream of triumph echo through the forest, then heavy thrashing followed by the sound of Chaos's chain churning the night. It sounded like the harpy had caught up to him and he was fighting back but I figured they were just putting on an act for my benefit. Either way, I kept going.

  I'd gotten turned around during the flight and at first I didn't know which direction was up. But I needed to travel southeast to get to Boulder and when I stopped to catch my breath I remembered that spruce trees only grow on north-facing slopes. So those science classes back in elementary school hadn't been a complete waste of time. And south-facing slopes have less snow in the northern hemisphere, making it easier to travel without leaving a bunch of tracks for the harpy to follow. So navigating by moonlight, I climbed a hill then hurried down the other side, heading east.

  I'd just topped a steep ridge and was looking down at the lights of Boulder when Vilschka caught up to me. I didn't get any more warning than the last time she captured me. She just plucked me off that ridge-top like I was a dandelion. And ten minutes later I was back where I started.

  The harpy threw me into the mine and I landed on my hands and knees, scrambling away from her just in time to avoid a kick that would have crushed my ribs. Ignoring the stinging pain in my palms, I crouched and faced her. Someone was shouting at her and my head whipped around to find Chaos chained a few feet away. My gaze locked on him as he strained toward me.

  I was surprised to see that his chain had been shortened. It was looped around his neck in a sort of a slipknot. And his hands were secured behind his back with a leather collar. His lip was split and one of his eyes was beginning to swell. He was trying to reach me but the chain around his neck tightened when he moved in my direction. The heavy links sank into his throat and cut off his windpipe.

  The expression on his face was desperate with regret and apology, like he was sorry he'd failed me. And the choke-chain around his neck made me want to cry. But I ignored my instinct to throw my arms around him as I got up and took a step away from him. I wasn't ready to start trusting him, not since I'd seen him fly. I stared at the black vest that covered his upper body, amazed the large wings could fold down into such a neat package.

  "How did she find you?" he asked like he couldn't understand what had gone wrong.

  "She ran," Vilschka sneered, and backhanded him across the mouth. His head snapped sideways before jerking back to glare at the harpy.

  Blood started from his mouth and dripped down his chin while Vilschka chained me beside him, wrapping the heavy chrome links around my ankle. I avoided his gaze and kept my mouth shut. I was so confused. If they were working together, it was a damn good act.

  "You ran?" he asked incredulously. "What happened to hide-until-morning?"

  "What happened to you-being-human?" I countered in a tight mutter.

  "I never said I was human," he gritted.

  "You never said you weren't," I sliced back at him.

  But by then, Vilschka had started building a fire. A big fire. She propped the door open while she went off and searched for wood, bringing it back in large armloads—big clumps of bushes she'd uprooted for starters, then thick dry branches she'd broken from dead trees.

  "This doesn't look good," I muttered uneasily. I slanted a glance at Chaos and wondered what was going to happen next, figuring he might know, fi
guring he might know a whole lot more than I'd ever previously realized.

  "It isn't," he answered flatly.

  "So what happens now?" I asked.

  "Now we negotiate," he answered.

  And as the fire's flames climbed to the roof of the tunnel, Chaos started negotiating, his words tumbling over one another. He seemed really worried—even scared. But I wasn't falling for his act. Not yet, anyhow.

  "You trick Vilschka," the harpy screamed, kicking at the plastic bag she'd brought back full of clothing. It looked like she'd raided the dumpster at the Goodwill store. She must have known exactly where she was going to have gotten back so quickly. A jumble of clothing slid from the bag onto the damp ground, some of which wouldn't be very useful to anybody trapped in a mine. That strapless black mini dress wasn't designed for warmth. But there was other stuff in there too, like a vintage tweed jacket, some jeans, and a couple of dark hoodies.

  "I didn't trick you," he muttered. "I needed the clothing."

  The harpy grabbed a worn pair of jeans from the floor and shoved them at his face. "And you'll wear it," she seethed with so much fury that I couldn't help but question my theory that they were working together.

  And if Chaos's response was an act, he deserved an academy award. Because he shoved his face right up against hers while a deep snarl rumbled at the back of his throat. "I'll wear it," he hissed. "Now back off and let's talk about the lass."

  Yeah, the way I saw it, Chaos could negotiate—or pretend to negotiate—all he liked but I figured I had exactly two options. I could beg for mercy or I could fight. And I was pretty sure begging wasn't gonna work on that monster. So I decided to go down fighting. I pulled in a ragged breath and started using some of my very best school bus language on her, telling her exactly what I thought of her, most of it focusing on the fact that she looked like an ugly epidemic outbreak.

  Chaos turned a wild look on me. "You're not helping!" he shouted while the harpy ignored me and stepped outside for some more wood. He looked so genuinely terrified, that it rattled my convictions about him even more.

  "Why are you acting so scared?" I cut back at him. "She's not going to hurt you."

  "Of course she won't harm me," he shouted. "It's you she wants to hurt."

  So he was acting like he was afraid for me. But I yelled right back at him. "Well, if she's going to roast me over that fire, I'll be too busy screaming to tell her what I think about her. So I want to make sure I say it now."

  "I won't let her hurt you!"

  I snorted. His eye was swollen almost shut and his hands were tied behind his back. "Have you seen your hands lately? No, I didn't think so. Why don't you just cut the crap and tell me what the hell she wants from me?"

  "She doesn't want anything from you! She just wants to hurt you."

  "Why?" I demanded. "Why would she want to hurt me?"

  "To get to me!" he roared. "She wants me to agree to stay with her."

  I gave him a blank look. "Well, tell her you don't care about me."

  "It's too late. She knows. She knows that I do."

  Forgetting for the moment that they were probably partners in crime, I stared up at him. "You do?"

  He shook his head like he was frustrated, and his dark hair whipped around his face. "She knew it the moment I left my stone form to help you. But even if I didn't care about you, I couldn't let her hurt an innocent young lass."

  "Well, lie!" I told him, refusing to take any of his arguments seriously. "Tell her you'll do whatever she wants. Then get away from her later on."

  For several seconds he searched my face. "It doesn't work that way," he eventually muttered as the harpy stepped through the portal with more wood.

  "You like girl?" the harpy interrupted us with a cackle of pure evil that made my skin crawl.

  "Not that much," he answered in a low voice and shuffled away from me while I gave him a dark look. "Let her go. I'm sure we can work something out."

  The harpy's mouth stretched into an ugly grin while she broke a thick branch over her knee and tossed it into the flames. "You don't care if I play with her a little bit, first? In the fire?"

  He seemed to turn pale in the orange glow cast by the flames. "I can't stand the smell of burning flesh," he finally said, all offhand-like. "It won't make our negotiations any easier."

  "We'll see," she cawed, and threw another gnarled branch onto the blaze while he slid a careful look in my direction and I glared back at him.

  "Not that much?" I questioned him pointedly.

  He set his mouth in a flat line while his eyes flashed with anger and sorrow and apology. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "This is all my fault."

  "No kidding," I answered snidely, crossing my arms over my chest and moving as far from him as possible. "It's nice to hear you being honest for a change."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, uncertainly. A look of hurt briefly shadowed his eyes as the flickering light from the fire highlighted the ends of his hair, making them look like they'd suddenly turned white. But I figured it was just some kind of illusion.

  "You figure it out," I muttered and leaned back against the wall to wait things out and see what happened next.

  Finally the harpy was finished with her hugely scary blaze. Then she did exactly what Chaos had suggested she'd do. She grabbed me and wrestled me closer to the fire while Chaos shouted for her to stop. Then she yanked my arm over the flames. The searing heat licked my skin and there was a sharp instant of scorching pain but I didn't even have time to scream. Because Chaos's wings unfurled like a black storm moving at lightning speed. With one wing, he yanked me back against his side. With the other, he knocked the harpy to kingdom come. Her wide back smashed against the other side of the tunnel as he flicked his wingtip through the fire and covered her with a rain of red-hot coals.

  It was pretty epic, even if I did think it was all just a part of their act.

  Vilschka shrieked like she was being barbequed alive though it couldn't have hurt too badly. Not with the rocky armor she wore, covering her frame. Still, she moved quickly enough, jumping to her feet and swiping the glowing embers from her hide. And when the last one fizzled out on the damp ground, she narrowed her furious gaze on us while I cringed beneath Chaos's wing.

  His other wingtip was smoking and a slight grimace touched his face so I think it probably stung a little. But probably not too much. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done it, right? Because they were working together, right? But I could help wonder when all of this was going to start making sense. And when I was going to find out what they wanted from me.

  "We talk!" he roared, the muscles on his shoulders and arms bunching into long knots. "I won't let you harm her. Do you understand? I'll die if I have to. You have to come through me to hurt her."

  My gaze snapped to his determined face. So hard. So tough. I straightened up beneath his wing and decided to play along if it meant I could shout at the harpy. "Yeah," I yelled at her in a "take that" sort of way that I wasn't exactly feeling. "We'll die if we have to."

  The harpy watched us a long moment, a nasty smile crossing her mouth as she settled down beside what was left of the fire. "That's more like it," she finally said.

  "The lass goes free," was Chaos's first demand. "You never hurt her again. You never hurt another human again as long as you live."

  "And just why would you think she'd keep her word?" I challenged him skeptically.

  "Vilschka keeps her word," the harpy snapped, her black gaze narrowing on me. "Otherwise boy would never give in."

  Chaos took a deep breath. "In return, you get my venom."

  "Venom?" I echoed, a little surprised. I hadn't been expecting the word to pop up in casual conversation.

  Ignoring me, the harpy kept her gaze on Chaos. "Want more," she said bluntly. "Want more for girl's freedom."

  Chaos swallowed hard. His voice was low and graveled when he said, "I'll stay with you. You know what that means."

  He sounded so defeated, I w
anted to ask, "What? What does that mean?" But I kept my mouth shut and let them get on with their negotiating.

  A hard look of victory glinted in the harpy's beady black eyes. "You'll give Vilschka your rune?"

  "Aye," he answered, his voice a bare whisper of sound.

  I knew runes were letters or words from an ancient alphabet and figured he was promising Vilschka his stamp or his mark, which I assumed was equivalent to giving his word.

  A shrewd look slid across the monster's hideous features. "More," she insisted. "Vilschka wants more."

  All of the blood drained from Chaos's face, making him look like a living corpse. "I can't do that," he whispered.

  "You will," she laughed, reaching out for my wrist as if she was going to try roasting me again.

  "Nay!" he shouted. "Nay. What are your terms?"

  "Vilschka wants children," she croaked.

  Children? What the hell? I didn't know about Chaos, but I was in shock. "Children," I choked, my stomach turning at what that meant. I fought my way out from beneath his wing and stared at him. "What does she mean? What's she talking about?"

  "What do you think she's talking about?" Chaos grated, his eyes burning with an angry fire as he locked his gaze on me.

  "She wants you to mate with her?" I asked incredulously.

  Okay. This couldn't be happening. This SO couldn't be real. It had to be a nightmare. I'd just been trapped in an incredibly long nightmare that had lasted a week or two. Maybe a car had hit me on my way to the library and I was lying in a coma somewhere in a Boulder hospital. I stared up at him. "But that means you're one of them. You're a harpy. A male harpy!"

  Chapter Eight

  Chaos's jaw tightened and a vein pulsed in his temple. "There are no male harpies," he shouted like I just didn't get it. "I'm a gargoyle. I'm not one of them! But gargoyles are closely related to harpies. Close enough to mate."

  Overwhelmed, I turned away from him then wheeled back and shouted. "It doesn't matter what you call yourself. I'm not an idiot. If you can mate with her, you're the same species! That makes you one of them!"