Trickery

I’m sick of them. I never want to see them again. Except Aros; he smells nice. And Rome; because he’s so strong I’m pretty sure not even Rau can get past him. I don’t need the others. Except Siret. I’m pretty sure he hates me, but he’s really good at catching me like just before I face-plant into something. But the others, I don’t need them. Not at all.” I paused, my brow furrowing, my mouth pursing, and then I quickly blurted, “Except Coen and Yael. Coen is really good at making decisions, and if I leave out Yael he’ll probably hunt me down and haunt me-” “That's all of them,” Emmy interrupted smoothly.

It’s your own fault, Will. What did I tell you about walking?” “That I should leave it to the experts,

He dropped my hand, and I knew that he was moments away from kicking the door down like a crazy, deranged sol, so I quickly raised my fist and knocked. They all turned to stare at me, looking like I’d just stolen their favourite toy and ripped its head off. “What?” I asked defensively. “Just trying to be polite.” “We’re here to kill her,” Siret reminded me, his voice a frustrated groan. “Don’t see why we can’t kill her politely,

Sorry I hit you. I thought you were going to keep talking, and I panicked.

Go to sleep, dweller-baby. I’ll kill Elowin as soon as we find her.” He didn’t sound like he was kidding. Each word was low and laced with truth. “Next time, just say like … sleep well, or something normal,” I said. “Not go to sleep, I’ll be murdering someone in no time. It doesn’t sound as comforting as you think it does.

Where’s the creativity, gods? I didn’t see why Death couldn’t have pink. Or purple. What if he liked sparkles?

We won’t let you die, Willa.” I mimicked, brushing off my boy-clothes and shoving my hair out of my face. “We’ll just teleport you onto a platform in the sky, where you’re definitely going to die, while we wait in our little safety-cave.

A naked surprise is always a good surprise.

They moved as a single unit of zero-fucks-given through the crowd.

She was smart like that, and lucky like that, and people loved the hell out of her. They didn’t love the hell out of me; they ran the hell away from me. It wasn’t like I was a bad person or anything, I just … had a lot of accidents. I didn’t mean accidents like I ate glue and then peed myself on a regular basis. I just tripped more than usual, and accidently set things on fire more than what would be considered ‘normal’. I got kicked out of the village school only one moon-cycle before graduation for accidently making one of the teachers bald. How do you accidently make someone bald? That’s a good question. All you really need is a bucket of warm tar to accidently toss onto the back of their head. How do you get a bucket of warm tar? You don’t go looking for it or anything—or at least I didn’t. It was just sitting on the road outside the school and I thought I should carry it inside to ask what it was.

Yael, go over and get your hug so you can feel equal

Meanwhile, I was pretty sure that he had just reached into my chest and pulled out my poor little dweller heart. Now it was laying somewhere behind us. In the dirt. Beating pathetically.

What?” I asked defensively. “Just trying to be polite.” “We’re here to kill her,” Siret reminded me, his voice a frustrated groan. “Don’t see why we can’t kill her politely,” I muttered back.

I never really believed Teacher Hardy’s theory. He ate sardines for lunch. It’s never good to trust a person who eats sardines.

I’d heard, once, that all the gods were defined by certain colours, but the only part of that particular lesson that had actually stuck with me had been the fact that Death’s colour was black. It just seemed so … predictable. Where’s the creativity, gods? I didn’t see why Death couldn’t have pink. Or purple. What if he liked sparkles?

All of the above,” Yael stated. “No kissing, no sex, and no corruption. Nothing that goes past friendship. From now on, we treat her like one of us. A sixth brother. A sixth girl-brother—” “A sister?” Coen interrupted, his face creasing up in disgust. “No.” Yael shook his head. “Fuck no. A girl-brother.” “That sounds like a sister—” “A girl-brother and that’s final!” Yael snapped.

How the hell have you stayed alive this long?” he asked. I shrugged, trying to catch my breath. “No idea, it’s been a rough road.

I gave him a surprised look, but he only met my eye stubbornly. Challenging me to argue with him. Well … I wasn’t going to argue with him before, but he challenged me, dammit. I opened my mouth, ready to shoot off some retort, but the cage chose that moment to lurch, and I tumbled sideways into Rome.

I just tripped more than usual, and accidently set things on fire more than what would be considered ‘normal’. I got kicked out of the village school only one moon-cycle before graduation for accidently making one of the teachers bald. How do you accidently make someone bald? That’s a good question. All you really need is a bucket of warm tar to accidently toss onto the back of their head. How do you get a bucket of warm tar? You don’t go looking for it or anything—or at least I didn’t. It was just sitting on the road outside the school and I thought I should carry it inside to ask what it was.

Blah, blah … sounded like a whole lot of deflection, which was something that worked very well on me. Deflection and distraction.

Why do I feel like everyone knows something that I don’t?” I spun to face Siret, planting my hands on my hips. “Because that’s usually the case?

He looked down at the stone, his eyebrows arching. “Sure, Rocks. I won’t steal your rock. I’ll just keep it safe until it no longer presents a danger to your face.

I knew the boobs would be a problem.

You should stop,” Siret agreed, watching me with a smile that said you really shouldn’t stop. “Seduction,” I agreed while pointing at him, my index finger extended and my thumb sticking up: my fingers were arrows and I was shooting Seduction at him. “It needs to stop,” Aros insisted. “She might look like me, but I do not act like that.” In fairness, I’d never seen Aros make little arrows with his fingers and try to shoot people with Seduction, but he really should look into it, I decided.

Will, you have this terrible habit of thinking and expecting the worst from everyone. Like you push them away before they can do it to you. I mean … how many friends have you had over the last eighteen life-cycles? Besides me. And I think the only reason you never kicked me out of your life was that I literally had nowhere else to go and you eventually had to get used to me.

I snorted. “The dweller can speak just fine, thanks.” Okay. I lied. That was a lie.

It wasn’t like I was a bad person or anything, I just … had a lot of accidents. I didn’t mean accidents like I ate glue and then peed myself on a regular basis. I just tripped more than usual, and accidently set things on fire more than what would be considered ‘normal’.

All I needed to do was stay away from fire, tar, sharp things, pointy things, serrated things, hot things, breathing things, living things, and sacred things.

When I drew back, Coen’s stone-chip eyes locked onto mine like a predator to his prey, and I could feel the faint vibration of his growl as it passed from his chest to mine. Instinct took over and I leaned closer to snuggle my face into that spot between his shoulder and neck. His body shuddered beneath mine, the hands on my back tightening. “You have to surrender, Rocks. I can’t stop until you do.” There was pleading in his voice, and as I pulled back, I opened my mouth and closed it just as quickly, before shaking my head. I put my hand on my throat to tell him that I couldn’t surrender, even if I wanted to. Can’t speak. More than one growl sounded from around me then, and I knew that the other brothers had heard my thought. Coen swung us around so that he could glare up at the glass box, and then his voice slipped out into the air around us. “Close your eyes.” Our stare held for an eternity, and I was relieved to see that he was as unhappy about what was happening as I was. I gave him a quick head nod, and closed my eyes, mostly trusting that I would make it through this. My feet gently hit the sand as Coen took my face into both of his hands, the tingling pain started quickly, and increased to the point where I wanted to cry out, but thankfully, with a quick snap of energy, darkness took me.