Pax raised an eyebrow. “Next time, I really hope that happens.”
* * *
Although she was uncertain of whether the situation with Suja had really occurred, Pax still felt a pressing need to step into the shower and scrub her skin until it was red and sore. She was startled when Amara pulled the curtain aside.
“We need to talk,” Amara said. “I want to apologize.”
Pax sent the blonde woman a death glare. “Can I shower in private, please?”
“You’ve been showering for two hours. I can hear your thoughts, so it’s not private anyway.”
“Oh, boy. I sure am looking forward to being roommates with you again,” Pax said sarcastically.
Amara took a deep breath. “Paxie, I need to thank you. For whatever you did to get us out of there. If it really was Suja…”
“Don’t talk to me, Amara.” Pax returned to scrubbing her skin brutally.
“Are you really still mad at me? It’s been over a year.”
“Yes. And I’m always going to be mad at you for this!” Pax shouted. “Para could have found a way to destroy that sphere, and I never would have needed Suja. I wasted a year of my life being miserable because of you.”
“I know,” Amara said softly. “I’m really sorry—I wanted to take back my words, but I was too prideful. I feel totally responsible for this whole mess.”
Pax didn’t respond. She just kept scrubbing, viciously scraping at her neck and face.
“Please forgive me, Paxie. We need to be friends again—there’s still one room remaining. Pax? I really miss my best friend.” Amara emitted a sad sigh. “I want to give you a hug or something, but I feel pretty awkward about that since you are now a confirmed raging lesbian.”
“I am not a—!” It took Pax a second to realize that Amara was joking, and once she did, she was stunned by the girl’s laughter. Wow, Pax thought to herself. I got us out of that room, and now she’s making fun of the situation.
“Naw, I would have done the same,” Amara said, between giggles. “By the way, I was totally jealous when she changed into Ash. I nearly asked you to send her over.”
Pax could not resist a small smile. “The next time we come here, we should both learn to shapeshift first.”
“The next time we come here?” Amara repeated. The girls stared at each other for a moment before they both began laughing.
Pax had not laughed in a while, and the force of the motion caused her to stumble, slip, and fall in the tub, hitting her head and cracking the ceramic basin. “Ow,” she winced, and Amara’s giggles increased tenfold. Pax could not help laughing at this as well, and she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs as her whole body shook with bubbles of hilarity.
When their laughter quieted down, Pax gasped for breath, staring at the purple walls of the perfectly square room. “That felt really good. I haven’t laughed like that in a while. Not since we stopped talking.”
“Does laughing again feel better than having sex again for the first time in a while?” Amara asked. “Because truthfully, I miss that. I really, really miss that.”
Pax made a face. “Well, let’s just say that thing with Suja actually happened—it wasn’t that great. Maybe she just doesn’t know how to properly use a male body, but it was just desperate, sloppy sex. I like to think that if I saw Thorn again, real Thorn, he would do it right.”
“Oh? What do you consider ‘doing it right?’” Amara asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Mmmm. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“I haven’t talked to another person in over a year. Please tell me unbelievable things,” Amara begged.
“Well, it was amazing before,” Pax mused dreamily, “but now I imagine it would be even better since I’m stronger. When we’re both in Ruby Form, it’s super intense—I once had an orgasm that lasted about an hour.”
“Whaaat!” Amara exclaimed, her eyes growing wide. “You’re lying! That’s not possible.”
“See? Told you that you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Explain,” Amara demanded. “Mechanics!”
Pax made a fist. “Okay, so this is your uterus. An orgasm is basically contractions of uterine muscles. Now, when you assume Ruby Form, your heart rate increases to a level that no human would be able to sustain. This pumps more blood to all parts of our bodies, making every muscle stronger and able to do far more than it previously could. For devas, we have prana in our blood stream which are special cells containing concentrated energy, which can be used as a substitute for oxygen or food or anything really. So imagine more blood, more prana, more everything—it heightens your sensitivity so much that it feels like there’s a battering ram in your vagina...”
“Whoa.”
“… and causes these amazing spasms in your uterus which feel like you’re being boned by Genghis Khan.”
“Genghis Khan? Why him?”
Pax shrugged. “He’s just the first famous conquering sex-god who came to mind. He was part deva. He boned thousands of women, and then his sons boned thousands of women. He has a huge number of descendants with mild traces of deva blood… never mind.”
“Wow. Genghis Khan. Must have been a hunk.”
“It doesn’t matter if he was attractive or not. He was powerful.” Pax smiled as she rested on the pillows. “Sex isn’t just about appearances, Mara. It’s about strength, energy, and power—and no one can do it better than a deva.”
“So this is what you use your medical degrees for?” Amara asked with a slack jaw.
“Uh huh. What did you think I was, Mother Theresa helping the sick?” Pax smirked.
“Damn, Pax!” Amara whined. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? If I had known being stronger meant awesome sex, then we wouldn’t have gotten into that huge fight last year. That’s all you needed to say to convince me: more power equals better sex. Why didn’t you explain this?”
Pax stared at her friend blankly. “Are you—” For the second time, she realized that Amara was joking, when the blonde woman started giggling. Pax was surprised by this. Had Amara been so funny before they stopped talking? Or was she just appreciating her friend more? After the situation with Suja, she felt a great contentment to be close to Amara again. Even though her old friend was not a fraction as powerful as the Asura goddess, and never intended to be, she could feel deep down that Amara was a genuinely good person. Being ambitious did not mean a person was automatically kind and good; it was not necessary to share interests (such as greed for power) in order to fortify a friendship. It was just necessary to share laughter.
Laughing with Amara made her feel completely refreshed. “Can we please never not-talk again?” Pax asked, very seriously.
“That’s cool with me,” Amara answered, just as solemnly.
Chapter 18: Steam-Blowing Guy
Asher was awoken by his phone ringing loudly. He tugged it out of his pants to answer it groggily. “Hello?”
“Hey, Ash,” said Thornton on the other end of the line. “I was wondering if you wanted to meet up. I really need to blow off some steam, buddy.”
“Well, you know that I’m usually always up for being your steam-blowing… guy. Okay, that sounded wrong. But can we do it another time?” He stared around at Amara’s bedroom. “I was hoping to just spend some time by myself tonight.”
“You don’t sound too chipper. What’s wrong?” Thornton asked.
“Nothing serious. I’m just in a bit of a rut from thinking too much.” Asher moved a hand to scratch his hair, further messing up his already wild hair. “Just tonight, I promise. Any other day, I’m all yours.”
“Well, hopefully Pax will be home tomorrow. If she puts an end to my bachelor days, I won’t need you on any other day.”
“Good point. I’ll miss you, man.” Asher grinned. “I will look forward to only seeing you when Pax is on her period.”
Thornton chuckled. “Athletic girls may skip their periods altogether.”
“T
hen I guess I’ll never see you again. Unless you have a really bad day at work or something.” Asher heard his friend clear his throat uncomfortably at the mention of work.
“Hey Ash—you’re not with Medea, or planning to meet with her today, are you? Have you been able to reach her? I called her a couple times in the past few days, but I think she might be pissed because of the media coverage of our date.”
“I think she said she was visiting her family in England.” Asher frowned. “Why do you ask? I swear, man. If you start chasing after another girl immediately after proposing to my niece—I’m going to start calling you what they called you in high school…”
“Don’t you dare—”
“Horny Thorny!” Asher joked.
“Today is really not the day for me to revisit those traumatic memories. Or do you really want to talk about our younger years… Ash-hole?”
“Ouch, I’d forgotten that nickname. Let’s call it a stalemate. So why the questions about Medea?”
“I just really need someone to talk to. Someone who’s not part of my crazy family. For some reason, I really like talking to that girl. If you must know, I was fired today."
“Come again? I could swear I just heard you say you were fired, but I must be losing it.”
“You heard right. I was fired,” Thornton repeated through gritted teeth.
“Whoa,” said Asher, sitting up in bed. “Seriously? Why didn’t you say so? We should definitely meet up.”
“No, don’t worry about it, man. You sound like you’re deep in thought, and I don’t want to interrupt such a rare phenomenon. I’ll see you another time.”
“Who the hell does Rose think she is?” Asher exploded in his friend’s defense. “Just because she gave birth to you doesn’t mean you’re some puppet on a string she can order around—run my company, don’t run my company, go fetch, run, jump, sit, stay!”
“Thank you.”
“This is the craziest thing I’ve heard in a long time,” Asher remarked. “I am actually more surprised than when Pax showed up and teleported me into the middle of a huge fight on Venus, and you guys were all like, ‘Ash, please save our sorry asses!’ That was pretty surprising, but this is worse.”
“It gets better. So, this insane woman, also known as my mother, fires me, then asks me to suck up to a bunch of major bigwigs. Among them, the Australian Ambassador, my idiot Uncle Bud at NASA who is still disowned by my family, and the fucking commander of NORAD.”
“Ew, your uncle sucks. What’s NORAD?” Asher asked.
Thornton sighed. “North American Aerospace Defense. I knew there was a reason I choose to hang out with you when I’m stressed out—you are too dumb to cause me any further stress.”
“Thanks.”
“Ash, what the hell is my mom doing? Is she starting some sort of war? I honestly have begun to question whether she has lost her mind.”
“I don’t know. What does your dad say?”
“My dad is out visiting every deva alive—he’s sending them back to the Compound. I think he’s building an army.”
“Well then, it seems like they are definitely preparing for war. I just don’t understand how Australia fits into any of this. Oh, well, I’m sure it’s important. Hey, maybe we can find some kind of new employment together!” Asher’s voice seemed excited at this prospect. “I have been looking into getting a job. Something fun and unusual—like a movie stuntman.”
“Our heads are definitely harder than the average human head—why not bash them for money? We could be crash-test dummies,” Thornton said with a laugh. “Although my mom did say that this might only be temporary.”
“Screw her, man!”
Thornton opened his mouth to protest, but then he realized that Asher’s words had made him feel the first tiny speck of happiness he’d felt in a while. Even with the world crashing down around him, Asher was still his friend. The younger man’s defensive anger reminded Thornton of when they were kids and Asher would have done anything to protect him. He smiled.
“Thanks for listening, Ash. I’ll quit bugging you now. See you tomorrow?”
“For sure, bro. Goodnight.”
Thornton felt a lot better, but he was still yearning to get a few things off his chest. He stared at his phone for a few minutes before dialing Medea's number. The phone rang a few times before a message came on:
“Hi, you've reached Medea. I'm not available now, but please leave a message and I'll return your call as soon as possible!”
“Hi, Medea. This is Thorn. I just wanted to apologize for acting a bit strange during our date the other day. You may have noticed that hanging out with me gets your face plastered all over the newspapers—I guess I should have warned you about that. I hope it wasn’t too unpleasant for you. I was kind of hoping I’d get a chance to talk to you, but you’re probably busy. Well, let me know if you have any spare time. I haven’t been killed (yet) but I’ve been... fired. Which is basically the same thing. If you don’t remember what I said my job was—well, I was the CEO of the biggest global technological conglomerate. A business that was in the family for over a hundred years—and I just got kicked out of the clubhouse. So… call me back if you get a chance.”
Chapter 19: Endless Emerald Sand
Para stooped to the ground to pick up a handful of the green sand which liberally covered the ground. As it fell through her fingers, the particles sparkled, giving her the impression that it was emerald dust. She pinched a few grains with her thumb and forefinger, bringing it close to her face to sniff it. There was the faint aroma of incense. Her tongue darted out to taste the substance, but she found it disappointingly tasteless.
After spending a sufficient amount of time relaxing and mending their burned bridges, Pax and Amara had been eager to enter the final room and finish their career in the Pseudosphere. Before opening the sixth door, they had joined their bodies together for a boost of conviction.
Para was afraid of nothing. She was deliriously happy just to exist again, and her arrogance was in full-swing. She flaunted her newfound strength to no one in particular as her two halves exulted in their rediscovered harmony. She felt that she could complete the final trial in a week. Maybe even a day. As it often did when she joined bodies, her invincibility went directly to her head. As she continued to explore the sixth room, she found a waterfall of emerald sand pouring directly down from the sky. Gallons were plummeting each second, confusing her as they accumulated in a mound at the center of the room. The little green molehill struck a chord in her memory, but she did not know why.
Levitating off the ground and flying upward, Para ascended several thousand feet before she found a glass ceiling of sorts—she noticed that the sand was trickling through a narrow neck. Peering up through the transparent ceiling, she saw the curve of a glass receptacle above, containing great masses of emerald sand. She realized what this was.
She was trapped in a giant hourglass.
* * *
Pax sat cross-legged on the ground in Silver Form, buried deep in meditation. Amara sat across from her, tossing little emerald pebbles at the dark-haired woman in order to distract her.
“As soon as we get back,” Amara said to her distant friend, “I want Para to go on a date with Ash.”
Squinting one eye open, Pax considered her friend curiously. “Sure. But we may have a problem.”
Amara nodded, reading her friend’s mind. “You’re right. Para has gotten too strong. Almost anyone with keen perception should be able to tell that she’s not human.”
“If we’re going to continue tricking the boys, we need to find a way to deepen her disguise,” Pax mused, opening both eyes. “Maybe we can upgrade the sedatives.”
“Can you get something heavy-duty from your hospital connections?” Amara asked.
Pax shook her head, chuckling lightly. “No. There’s no drug that I know of that can affect her. A normal soporific isn’t going to do the trick, not even in high doses. Unless…”
“Unless?” Amara asked. Peering into her friend’s mind, she was surprised to behold a rich, crimson sunset over a waterhole where various exotic animals were relaxing. She saw her older brother wearing khakis and a drawstring hat, holding a huge camera and gesturing excitedly at the wildlife. She saw zebras, giraffes, and even majestic lions strolling around in the evening heat. “Okay, Pax. Why the hell did your brain just go on an African safari?”
“Your telepathy can get really annoying, you know? We need to establish some sort of rule about you allowing me to finish my train of thought before commenting on the process.” Pax rolled her eyes, uncrossing her legs and stretching. “I was on my way to considering elephant tranquilizer as a possible option for us.”
“Elephant tranquilizer?” Amara squealed. She began to giggle profusely. “Are you insane, Pax? Elephant tranquilizer?”
“It’s called etorphine, or M99,” Pax explained as she explored the idea. “It’s only available for use in veterinary hospitals. One drop would be fatal to a human being, but it can bring down large mammals like elephants quite safely. It’s 3,000 times more powerful than morphine. I think it might do the trick.”
Amara’s smile disappeared. “So Para is going to walk around with industrial-strength narcotics in her body?”
“Analgesics,” Pax corrected, just to avoid the guilt of calling the substance a narcotic. There was a fine line between dangerous drug use, and careful, measured, medical use.
“Won’t it cause permanent damage to us if we use it too frequently?” Amara asked with worry.
“After what we’ve been through in this place, I’m not too worried about long-term damage or negative side effects. We’re devas. A dozen stampeding elephants couldn’t put a dent in Para.”
Amara nodded slowly. “Okay. How do we get the etorphine?”
“Illegally, of course,” Pax answered. “We’ll have to either steal it or create it ourselves. You could probably whip some up in your lab without much difficulty.”
Amara shook her head. “I need to focus on figuring out how to extend Para’s lifespan to longer than thirty minutes. I also have to create an identity for her. To save time, you should just steal the drugs.”
Thirty Minutes to Heartbreak Box Set (Books 1-3) Page 45
