by Jaymin Eve
I knew that even on a female assailant, kicking them straight between the legs would hurt them enough for me to possibly get away. During training, Jessa had phrased it as a “straight shot to the lady balls.”
The scraping was getting closer … and slightly louder … and Jessa and I shifted so we were both crouching. I took extra care not to make a single noise as I hauled my extra-padded butt up. Of course we had to get kidnapped when I was the equivalent of eight or nine months pregnant.
Shit!
My mental shout must have been loud enough to shock Jessa. She jumped next to me, and then wrapped her arm tightly around me.
What? she said with urgency. Did something happen? Is it the baby?
What if they want our kids? I almost couldn’t say those heinous words, even in mental speak, but it would be stupid not to consider it. We were pregnant to the Compasses. They were powerful and feared. Especially yours, Jess. You could be carrying the dragon babies to rule all supes or whatever.
My twin felt frozen at my side, but I could tell from her jumble of thoughts that this worry had already crossed her mind. She’d kept it from me so I wouldn’t freak out.
All we can do now, Misch, is fight for our lives. We don’t let them take us easily. We protect our babies and we hold out long enough for the boys to find us. Her voice got all fierce then. Whatever they do to you, hold on for the boys. They will come for us and every single asshole in this place will suffer.
I never got to answer her. The scraping distracted us again. It sounded so close now, and I was mentally preparing myself to fight, when lights blazed all around us. Unnatural illumination filled every crevice of the building, as bright as the middle of Times Square in New York City. My mom and I had ended up there one night, near Christmas actually, and I remembered the pure energy and excitement that had thrummed through the city. The way the night was almost as bright as day with the advertisements.
This was what the lighting here reminded me of. Fluorescent. Fake. Designed to showcase us in these cages using bright, unforgiving light.
For the first time we could see the enormous room we were in, long and narrow. From what I could see, there were similar cages to ours running up and down on either side of a walkway.
Jess and I both moved closer to the bars of our prison, straining to see what was right at the end of this path. It was really far away … but it sort of looked like there was a raised podium with a bunch of chairs scattered around it.
“Mischa…” Jess said, her voice low as she trailed off.
I jerked my head around to meet her gaze and saw she was looking at the cage across from us. Following her line of sight, I was shocked to see a large pair of red eyes staring back at me.
“What is that?” I blurted, louder than I intended. The creature didn’t react to my rudeness, which was when I understood that these cages were soundproofed in some way, even with the open-bar designs – magically blocked so we couldn’t hear the other prisoners. But we could still hear movement outside of the cages. Or whatever was making that whirring noise.
Jess tilted her head to the side, such a curious animal sort of gesture that it made her seem so foreign for that brief moment. “I’ve never seen anything like that in real life, but my guess is that’s a hellhound.”
I swallowed hard and tried to calm my heart rate as I examined the beast. It was relatively canine in shape, not to mention huge, sleek, and leathery in appearance, like a dog whose skin had been dehydrated. Its body and head were oddly shaped but definitely still recognizable, with an elongated face and a jaw filled with razor sharp teeth, more than one row packing its muzzle. Red eyes were locked in on Jessa and me, and its stare was unnerving. Pure focus. No humanity at all. It was like staring into the eyes of death and knowing there was no way to stop it coming for you.
“Okay, so I think we can speak normally,” Jessa said. “The cages appear to have a sound deadening spell on them. It allows some noise in but nothing out.”
I nodded. “Yep, that’s what I think too.”
“You have any ideas what we’re stuck in the middle of here?”
I didn’t answer immediately, choosing instead to give her my best “what the hell?” face. Why was she so calm? My sister, who couldn’t even color in a picture without cursing and throwing it across the room, was suddenly yoga shifter on Zen juice. My crazy sister appeared to find violent-kidnapping-hellhound situations calming. Should have expected that.
Jessa was still waiting for my answer. “Well, by the looks of it, there are a lot of us being held in these cages. Presumably all of us walked through some sort of fairytale story and ended up here. Could it be a fight club situation? They put us in the ring and we have to fight to the death, and fey or other supes bet on it?”
I’d heard about this sort of thing in the human world, illegal betting rings, fight clubs. They’d done it with animals – dogs mostly – and also humans. If that was the case, and I had to fight the hellhound, I was dead. I had very minimal training, and that thing looked deadly. It still hadn’t taken its freaky red eyes off us.
“You could be right,” Jessa said, unfortunately agreeing with me. “I can see two ogres, a black-coat centaur – nasty bastards those ones. Not to mention harpies and what looks a lot like a cell filled with pixies. And that’s just in the cages surrounding us.”
I managed to draw my eyes from the hellhound – he’d totally had all my focus – and paid closer attention to the few other cages visible around us. Each held one or more inhabitant. Some were close to the bars like us, others didn’t appear to have moved at all, remaining prone in their prisons. They looked like they’d been there for a long time, and hadn’t reacted as we had to the artificial lighting.
Jessa drew my attention again. “A few years ago we had some issues with supes disappearing. I mean, it’s not that unusual for different members of the races to take off, do their own thing, even assimilate into the human world for some time, but these cases were different. These were supes that people would miss. I don’t think the councils ever got to the bottom of that one, and for a time we had no more trouble, but there are plenty of families out there missing loved ones who want them back.” Troubled blue eyes locked on mine. “What do you think the odds are that this had something to do with that?”
“Just like the missing humans,” I said, my voice hoarse. “It could all be connected. How long ago was the missing supe thing happening?”
“About five years.”
Well, great. So we could be stuck here for years. No freaking way was I having a baby on this dirty concrete-looking floor. No way.
Jessa must have seen my expression, because she gave a dry laugh. “I wouldn’t worry about being stuck here for that long, Misch. Something tells me the spaces here are very valuable, and the occupants are only around long enough until the next one arrives to take their place.”
Uh, none of that sounded good. My mini panic attack was interrupted by the sounds of chattering, and then that same scraping noise we had heard earlier. Both of our heads swung in the direction of the podium, and as I focused there I let out a low curse.
Holy crazy cat lady.
The podium was filled with figures. We were too far away to tell if they were supe or human, but still … how in the space of only a few minutes had hundreds of people settled in around the raised platform? Upon the stage was a single male. He looked human from this distance, but something about him seemed a bit off.
“What’s in his hand?” Jessa side-whispered to me. “Is that some sort of stick … a staff?”
I leaned forward, squinting best I could. The artificial lighting was playing havoc with my wolf vision, so I had to rely on the advanced non-supe side of me instead. The man stood right in the center, feet spread, gripping a long, white, almost glowing piece of wood. He shifted it across to his left side and the scraping sounded again.
“Whatever the stick is, it’s what is making the scraping sound,” I murmured.
> Jessa groaned. “That’s what I was worrying about.”
Okay, she had two seconds to share or I was going to pretend I was the evil twin and start beating her to death.
Picking up on those emotions through our bond, she gave a chuckle. “There are a few mystical objects in the supernatural world, things which have power beyond our understanding, and most of which have been lost over time. We study them in our history classes, but I’ve never seen one of the ten power pieces before.” She paused to clear her throat or something.
Hurry up!
“One was the staff of Gradiella. One of the fey gods created it. This staff was said to be able to call to a supe’s soul, to control, to merge powers. No one really knows. These objects have not been seen for tens of thousands of years, but from all the pictures I’ve seen it looks a lot like what he’s holding. The most telling description was this weird sound it made, like it was alive, a whirring as it wove magic.”
Okay, we were screwed.
Jessa didn’t look as worried as me, but she was uneasy. “I can’t feel the power from here. These cages don’t just block sound, but also magical resonance.”
She slammed both of her hands against the bars. We’d both tried this a few times since ending up in here, even calling on our wolves, but so far there wasn’t even the tiniest shift in the metal. It was reinforced to withstand trolls and ogres, no way could we break through. And yet we still had to try. The Compasses might be rubbing off on us.
“Times like these I really miss Josephina,” she growled. “I took her strength for granted. No way would these cages hold a dragon. Nothing can hold a dragon.”
The whirring and scraping started up again, and this time we were watching closely enough to see the male on stage waving the staff around. He lifted it above his head and the sound amplified tenfold.
It started to echo through our cell, and I was about ten seconds from slapping my hands over my ears when something far worse distracted me. Cells started flying down the center row – like literally the entire six feet by six feet box, bars and occupants included – two at a time, starting from the end farthest from the podium. Jessa and I stared bug-eyed as a set of unicorns and another water-filled cage of mermaids dashed past.
My heart clenched as I caught sight of the supes’ faces. Even with their foreign features I could tell they were afraid.
“Holy shit,” Jessa was murmuring under her breath. “Come on, Compasses.”
If this was a fight club, or something far worse, it was clear that these horrible beings had been doing this for a long time. The boys were not going to have an easy time finding this place. We just had to hope they got here before it was too late.
The two boxes which had zoomed past us were deposited on the podium, one on either side of the man with the staff. Jessa and I weren’t the only ones glued to the front of our prisons trying to see what was going on. Most of the other cages occupants were too. I was pressed so tightly against the bars my belly was getting a little squished, but luckily baby Compass wasn’t giving me hell for it.
My attention flicked back to the cage in front of us. Okay, everyone was staring at the platform except the hellhound. It was still eyeing me like I was dinner for tonight. Get in line, buddy. I returned my gaze to the staff guy. The cages on the stage were now open and the inhabitants were standing before the crowd. Let me just say, the mermaids did not look impressed to be on dry land. It seemed only a force of magic was keeping them upright.
Staff guy started to talk. We could hear every word loud and clear.
“Welcome, and thank you all for coming to our sale. We have some truly spectacular offerings tonight. None of you will leave here disappointed. Warning: do not bid beyond your means, we offer no second chances. You will make payment or you will forfeit your life.”
He slammed his staff down and the floor shook. Even all the way under our cage.
It looked as if the inhabitants of the seats around the stage were shifting slightly, but I still couldn’t get a clear view of whether they were human or supe or … other.
Staff guy continued: “First on the sale block we have two unicorns from the Land of Illusion and Bespelling in Faerie. Prized for many magical properties, the dust and residue of their horns are key components in many dark magics. Their hides will keep you hidden and protected, and their blood will rejuvenate and heal. We’re going to sell them separately. Let the bidding begin.”
“It’s a supe smuggling ring,” I whispered to Jessa, tendrils of freak-the-hell-out clear in my voice. “They’re going to purchase us like slaves and then do whatever the hell they want with us all.”
She didn’t answer but I could feel her agony and fury. There was nothing we could do but stand and watch, waiting for our turn to end up on stage.
One by one, cages flew past us and the inhabitants were sold to the absolutely despicable excuses for human or supe in the audience. The price of purchase ranged from dragon toenails to a spell for eternal youth. Apparently that spell was worth a fortune in the human world, which made it very valuable to the staff-wielding asshole selling off supes.
I had no idea what the little cloaked being sitting very close to the platform was, but he now owned a unicorn, two ogres, three pixies, a witch from the original bloodline of Norta, half a mermaid – apparently they could just slice her right down the middle and go halfsies on her heart – and a bunch of other supernatural creatures.
From what we’d seen the majority of the cages held demi-fey, but there was certainly a mix of the other races also. Including a rare white tiger shifter, who had a thatch of white-blond hair and eyes which were such a piercing shade of light blue that I could see them all the way from my cage. He went to a female standing in the shadows. Two guesses what she wanted the stunning male for. There had also been two human lots. They were sold just the same as the supes, and went for one of the highest prices so far.
“How is this happening?” I murmured. “How are they getting away with this?”
Jess had been very silent, but I could feel the vibrations shaking her entire figure. Her fury was barely contained.
“I’m going to kill every single asshole in here,” she said slowly through clenched teeth. “One way or another, this will be stopped. We just have to figure out a way around that staff’s control.”
That was easier said than done. It didn’t matter which creature, race member, or other, stepped out of those cages, they seemed to be completely under the mercy of the staff’s control. Then, once they were sold, magical bands were strapped onto their wrists, or legs, or whatever appendage they had handy, and they were immediately immobilized, ready to be transported by their new owner.
Owner. Okay, I was totally with Jessa. We were killing them all.
Who knew I had such a bloodthirsty side? Probably my wolf’s influence. She was practically howling inside of me; my stomach churned as dread filled my gut. Luckily I was past the worst of the morning sickness and could control my gag reflex, or Jessa and I would find this prison even less comfortable.
Two more cages flew past us and I missed the inhabitants this time because I was too busy noticing that there were only two more cages on the right side of us. Pretty soon we were going to be up there on the stage. Shit … us and the hellhound.
“Lot two hundred and sixty-six: a pair of love birds from the Alaskan region. These mythical and rarely seen pairs mate for life. Their wings contain essence which will brew a true-love potion. These will sell together, as to separate them means instant death. Bidding will start at … thirty pints of sorcerer blood, from the mage at the front…”
While the furious bidding ensued for the love birds, which were seriously two of the cutest fairytale-looking creatures I’d ever seen, Jessa and I started to whisper out a plan.
“I think if we stay connected to each other, it’s going to be harder for him to control us,” she said. “There’s strength in a twin bond, not to mention we both carry Compass babies. If anyt
hing is going to give us the ability to withstand the control, it’s the power of the quads. They’re like born of the freakin’ gods or something.”
I nodded a few times, a slice of me hoping for the best, but more of me expecting that things were going to go to hell really fast.
Truth was, we could not let ourselves fall into the grasp of any of that crowd out there. They were here for terrible reasons, and the creatures that they purchased were all going to suffer horribly at their hands. It would be better to die than to let that happen.
But we also had our babies to think of. So there was no choice but to fight until our very last breath.
The bidding finished up on the love birds. Next was an arctic yeti. Standing well over ten feet tall, pure white with fur that looked as soft as a lamb, the poor thing just stood there blinking large, obsidian eyes. I couldn’t see the details clearly, but I was sensing panic and confusion and fear.
I found myself growling then, and it was so wolf-like that I had to be impressed. I’d never managed the very deep rumbling growl like that before. Jessa did it almost daily. Especially if her breakfast wasn’t ready when she sat down.
“If we get out of here, Jess,” I said through clenched teeth as my anger took control, “we do not stop until we figure out who is behind this and we kill them. Then we track down every single one of these assholes here who thinks it’s okay to buy living creatures like they’re nothing more than objects, and we make them all pay.”
Jessa blinked exaggeratingly slow for a few moments, before the hugest grin I’d ever seen crossed her face. “Firstly, great job with the cursing. Secondly, you and I are on the exact same page about how this is all going to go down.”
We were cut off by the rattling of the cages next to us, before they flew past. The poor supes inside were next on the chopping block, which meant we were only minutes from our turn on the stage.
Jessa and I waited in silence, our hands linked. The seconds seemed to pass by so fast. Then, as our cage started to shake and detach itself from the row, I reached out and grabbed onto the bars with my free hand. Crap! It was time. Despite the fact I was prepared to do everything in my power to free us from this mess, I still couldn’t halt my final thought.
