Beguiled (Book 2 Immortal Essence series) (12 page)

“We’re going to get out of here,” I cooed, desperate to believe the words, hoping they would comfort Chev.

Chev
nodded, but
she couldn’t hide the doubt in her eyes
.

10.
Creep

“Check this out,
” Palmo shouted.

We all crouched around
the door, kneeling like worshippers
praying over
our
sacrifice.

“Cover your eyes, I’m going to blow
away the dust
,” Zaren commanded.

We did and he blew. Particles
struck
my skin.

“Okay,”
Zaren said when he finished
.

“Talk about creepy,” Dervinias said
, peering closer
.

I had to agree.
An
intricate
image
o
f a
sandy
beach with a
large
tree
in the center
was etched into the door
. At the base of
the trees
thick trunk
yawned
a weathered face. The eyebrows were tilted in anger. Empty
crimson
eyes
stared at nothing. Its nose
was
a tangled branch and its mouth
was opened
.
The top
of the tree
sprouted winding branches filled with blackened leaves. Strange creatures
hid within them
. A snake
,
with flowing red hair and the tail of a
n angelfish
, curled around an upper branch. Monkeys with curved beaks and
wings hung by their tails. On a lower branch sat a le
opard-man with a forked tongue. A child kneeled in the sand
,
playing with a shovel and pail. Near the
boys’
big toe was a crab about to pinch, and behind the boy slithered a giant snake with a tiger’s man
e
. Beneath the sand were the trees
’
roots. They feathered out like veins. Sharire, octopi, and whaletins circled hungrily below.

“Seriously creepy,” Palmo added.

“Stand back,” Zaren said. “I’m going to open the door.” H
e pulled on the diamond and ruby
encrusted handle. Nothing happened. He pulled again.

“Let me try
,” Dervinias said, shouldering Zaren out of the way.

It didn’t budge.

“There’s got to be something else,” I said,
scrutinizing
every inch of the picture
. The child
smiled
. I brushed away a piece of dirt near his cheek. At my touch, the
child ran away, disappearing from the picture
, and strange writing appeared.

“Freaky,” Chev said
.

“Will you read it, Venus,” Zaren asked.

With an unsteady voice, I
began
:

My first is in hauntingly but not in laughingly

My second is in generator but not in regnant

My first is in burnout but not in brunt

My second is in temple but not in melt

My third is in rasher but not in harsh

My fourth is in pertinence but not in receipt

My first is in into but not in ion

My second is in whither but not in rewrite

My third is in scrubber but not in scrub

My first is in prude but not in upper

My second is in ornament but not in remnant

My third is in secretion but not in strictness

My fourth is in confiscator but not in ossification

My first is in prosperous but not in propose

My second is in shaver but not in heaver

My third is in patella but not in plat

My first is in constituency but not in
incestuousness

My second is in intercontinental but not in
tricentennial

My third is in enthusiastically but not in synthetically

My fourth is in transitiveness but not in inattentiveness

My first is in filing but not in lining

My second is in restoration but not in ornateness

My third is in nonferrous but not in forerunner

My fourth is in alternate but not in learner

When I finished, Palmo
let out a frustrated groan and stomped
around
like a kelni child who didn’t get his way
. “What the
helker
does it mean? I heard the words,
but it makes no sense
.”

“Zaren?
” I
questioned
, hoping he had a clue.

“I’m not sure.”

“It’s a riddle,” Dervinias chimed in
, taking Chev’s hand in his, and patting it
. “They’re popular on Earth.”

“Right,” Chev agreed, perking up at the mention of her planet.

“What’s a riddle?” Palmo
probed,
obviously
still confused
.

“It’s like a
n
amere
,” Dervinias said
, lacing his fingers together
. “
Ea
ch piece must be joined
precisely, in its proper place, or it’ll fall apart.”

As if to emphasize
the
point, the
room
started
to shake
violently
again
, careening us into each other.
Chev clung onto Dervinias, and I grabbed Zaren’s arm.

“Now what?” Palmo
yelled
.

“It looks like we’ve got company.” Dervinias
indicated the other side of the room.

Zaren and I
turned
as though we were a solid unit. Three creatures
, their faces
furry and
spotted like a
leopard
stood at attention like so
ldiers awaiting their orders.
Their eyes held no pup
il, and glowed red. They wore
silver tunics with matching pants
and
shoes that reminded me of slippers
. The
fabric
on the tunic shone
like a dying
star giving off its last light
.
Around each waist was a belt filled with varying weapons, and crisscrossed across their backs were dual swords. Worn
much the same way as the Formytians
.

Zaren
blew out a breath
.

“What?” I asked,
wondering
why he’d lost his composure. Usually he was so calm
in the face of danger
.

“Nothing,” he said too quickly.

I checked his fac
e. He’d gone pale, his eyes were wide, his lips parted
.

“Zaren
?” I followed his gaze.

He drew his sword, and I wished I had one.

One of the cre
atures took a step forward. “You always were over anxious for a fight,
Zar-Zar
,
” it said in a sultry female voice.

“Do you know . . .
it?” I whispered.

He glanced at me sideways, terror and pain screwing up his gorgeous face.
“
It-she reminds me
of someone I knew a long time ago.”

“It’s me. Palami
na. Remember?” The
soldier
’
s face softened, and momentarily looked kelarian.

Zaren let out a battle cry. “No.
Mina’s
dead. You’re nothing but evil sent to torment me.” He lunged, his Ostwallow sword coming down on her neck, but he didn’t follow through. The soldier’s words
had
affected him. 

“Do it, Zaren,” I shouted
, desperate to get these soldiers gone
—her gone. If she affected Zaren
so
deeply, we were in trouble
. The other two soldiers still hadn’t moved
,
their empty crimson eyes stared blankly ahead. Palamina made no move to block his blow. I didn’t kn
ow what they waited for.

“I-I can’t.” Zaren stepped away, turning his back on her. His opponent. She
really
must’ve
disturbed him.

This was serious! Who the
helker
was Palamina?
“
I don’t understand,” I uttered, stepping toward her.
She’d called him
Zar-Zar
, and he called her Mina. Nicknames.

“It could be Zaren still has guilt over the
choices he made years ago,” Palamina
said, keeping her eyes locked on
Zaren
. “Perhaps he regrets his decision to slay the woman he
supposedly
loved
. His wife, no less, based
on the word of one accuser.”

Zaren swung around. “The king and queen ordered your death. I had no choice.” The words ripped from his throat. His sorrow so palpable I felt it. 

I was stunned. He
and Palamina had been
husband and wife?
He’d never mentioned her, that part of his life.
And
he was
forced to kill her on orders from my parents. I wondered what
she was
like before Ramien
altered her? I wondered if
Zaren
kissed her t
he way he kissed me? I wondered . . .

“
Show no mercy
. These
things
won’t,
”
Zaren yelled, but
his face belied his anger. He pulled the
smaller sword from over his right shoulder and handed it to me.

“
What are they?” I asked
, trying to understand
. When he didn’t answer, I muttered, “
Got it.
”
One thing was certain, come
helker
or high water, Palamina was mine.
“Dervinias. Palmo. Are you p
repared to fight?”
I asked over my shoulder.

“No,” Palmo hollered.
He stood over the door, studying the words
in the riddle
.

Chev was crying
again. Dervinias held her, rocking.

No matter. It was t
wo against three.

Th
ose aren’t
bad odds, I thought standing next to Zaren.

“Come on,” I shouted. With all the power I possessed, I brought the sword down on Palamina’s body, slicing her in two with one blow.

Palamina let out an agonizing scream. S
he dropped her sword, and touched her hands to her body. Black blood gushed through her fingers. Her top half
of her body
slid from the bottom half and fell to the ground with a stomach-turning thud.

Zaren sucked in his breath. “Venus
. . .
”

He didn’t finish, and I moved on to the next soldier. Maybe I’d kill them
all before they could fight
.

This would be an easy first challenge. Ramien would
need
to do bette
r than send a few altered souls.

Before I could finish the thought though, the
something
the soldiers waited for happened.

Water. Gallons o
f it pushed its way through
cracks in the ceiling
, sending
chunks
of concrete, dirt, and debris down
on our heads
. The water
broke
through the walls,
cascading like waterfalls
. It was seawater, cold and pungent.
A thick dread settled in my stomach. Not more water.

A large piece of debris smacked Palmo on the head, sending him down hard into the foot deep water
.
He howled, sputtering. Zaren went over and lifted him to his feet.

“Watch yourself,” Zaren said.

The room was filling up
with water
quickly.

“No,” I whispered, feeling
a
n unseen hand circle my throat.