A Name Like Karma, page 7
part #1 of The Secret Gods Series Series
Chapter Twelve
The magic the twins use to pull us to wherever we currently just dropped into is strong and powerful enough to make me nearly pass out as we arrive. I have to rest on Killian's arm for a second, waiting for my legs to finally get the strength I need to stand and actually be aware of where we are. All the air in my lungs seems to leave me as I look up at the black stone building with no windows and only one massive door that looks like a dragon mouth with glowing gold eyes. The building towers over everything around it, the forest it is in the middle of and even the mountains in the distance, because it is so tall and wide. It's imposing, and it makes you want to run away from it somehow. There are no guards because they are that certain that no one could ever escape. No one ever has, at least as far as the magical community knows.
"Let me go, just for a little bit, and then I promise I will let you lock me up," I try to plead with them, panic and desperation filling me. I’m scared, really, really frightened of whatever is in there. I’m not a bad person, I don’t deserve this. I made one mistake and my life is over the moment those doors open. No matter what I say, I know they won’t let me go. This is their job, and they don’t believe me anyway. My family isn’t going to be able to help me now.
"Do we look stupid?" Seth asks, and I can only smirk at him. He doesn't want me to answer that one, and his frown tells me he knows my answer. "Come on, brother, we are wasting time that could be used on our other work."
"So do a lot of people break the laws then?" I ask them, anxiously wanting to distract myself as Seth holds my one arm and Killian holds my other, pulling me towards the prison. The place makes me more scared and nervous the closer I get to it, and my smart mouth isn’t going to save me now. I might as well just talk to them.
"Yes. We come here every other day, at the moment," Killian tells me, though Seth looks like he wants to do nothing more than get rid of me. "Though usually we don't have as much trouble catching them as we did you. That tornado was impressive. I am looking forward to examining these charms of yours later."
"Impressive enough to let me go?” I question, hating how he isn’t going to give me my necklace back. Dickhead.
"No, so stop asking," Seth growls out before Killian can answer.
"I wasn't asking you, goldipops," I tell him, and he glares at me, having a familiar look in his eyes that my brothers have when they want to murder me but aren't allowed to. My smile soon drifts off as we get outside the doors of the prison, which is basically a black stone wall with a small circular symbol right in the middle of it. Killian lets go of my hand as a tear falls down my cheek, and he looks back, seeing me in this brief moment of pure fear. Our eyes just seem to lock with each other, and his lips part to say something, but then he changes his mind and turns back to the door. I try to remember what Peyton said about being strong, what he would be like in this situation. He wouldn’t be crying, that's for sure. Neither would my mum or any of my family. We are the Kismets, and it takes damn more than locking us up to break us down. I need to remember that. Killian pulls out a yellow stone from his jacket, pushing it into the gap, and it glows, spreading a yellow light like water through all the gaps on the door as Killian steps back to my side.
“What does your shirt say?” Killian asks as we wait outside the prison doors, watching the light spread across the whole door, and it surprisingly takes a little time. I roll my eyes at him, knowing he is just trying to distract me from my doomed fate, though I'm not surprised he is looking at my boobs already. We only met like today, or it might be yesterday now by the look of the bright skies. This is so typical of the asshole gods that fuck anything, or that's what I've heard in the magical community. Luckily, I might be able to play this one into my favour. Though my top does say “My name is Karma, and it is pronounced fuck you.” I’m pretty sure the stuck up twin god here might not laugh at that.
“Why don’t you step closer and have a look?” I try to seductively suggest, and to my annoyance, Seth grabs his brother’s arm as he tries to step in front of me to look. I’ve never been good at the whole seductive thing. My go to way to tell a guy I’m interested is to get drunk and literally throw myself at him. Most of the time, it’s worked. Maybe that’s why I’ve always ended up with asshole boyfriends.
“Nope, don’t do it. Whatever it says won’t be funny, and she uses her boobs to get whatever she wants,” he warns.
“I don’t do that,” I protest, totally lying my ass off. I’ve used my boobs on more than one occasion to get out of shit. I knew I shouldn’t have gone on a date with this asshole god of justice who really can’t take a joke. I learnt that fact roughly two minutes into our date. That’s what you get for letting your crazy ass best friend set you up on a blind date. I would have much preferred a hottie with sexy hair or a sex god (not the literal kind), but oh no, she got me the friggin’ god of justice as a joke. Though she didn’t have a clue he was a god and that we aren’t allowed to date each other, so it wasn't her fault. She thought he was just a stuck up human she met at college in her business study class, and Mads said he was a nice guy. She also said she thought we would get along...which is the polar opposite to the truth. I really do not like him.
“Karma, yeah you do,” he sourly replies. Seems he is still pissed about that whole date fiasco. It’s not my fault he is stupid and doesn’t understand what “run” means. If someone shouts run, you run, right? Not just stand there. So yep, that date was not my fault, and somehow I was the one that got shot. He walked away scot-free, so I don't get why he is mad.
“Well…if I let you see my boobs, will you let me go?” I ask, lowering my joined hands to the bottom of my top.
“No chance,” they both say at the same time. Damn. We all seem to freeze as there is a loud bang, followed by the sound of the stone door rising up in the air. Dread feels like it slams into my body, taking control until I can barely see straight from it. Screw being brave, I want to scream.
"Good luck in there, Karma. I wish things had been different," Seth quietly says, pulling me towards the door as I look up at him. For a second, I see something other than annoyance and hate in his eyes. He looks sad. I push him away and pull Killian's hand off me.
"I can walk into my own fate, you assholes. Don't think I will forget you doing this to me," I warn them, because I really won't. “Bad karma comes to those who do wrong. This is wrong because I am innocent. Karma is one thing that never forgets.” I see the looks of confusion and worry in their eyes before I turn away. I raise my head high as I walk through the door into the stone corridor, where the walls are covered in scratches, burn marks and dried blood. Seems like it's usually a fight to get anyone in here, or they tried to get out. Either way, it doesn’t make me feel any better.
I stop, turning around to watch the stone door close when I frown at the sight of the twins fighting two hooded figures. Gold light blasts into me, throwing me further down the corridor, and I roll across the stone before stopping. One of the hooded men starts shooting long spears of ice in all directions, and I crawl to the wall, covering my face as a couple fly past me. I look up to see the twins are struggling to fight the hooded figures off, even with the impressive amount of power they are throwing around. The door starts to make a sound, getting ready to close, when the twins are thrown into the corridor by a blast of ice. Killian scrambles to his feet just as the door slams shut, locking us all in here, and my handcuffs disappear. Well, well, well...seems I'm not the only one stuck in here now.
Chapter Thirteen
"What the fuck was that?" Seth shouts abruptly, pulling himself off the stone ground and running to the door, banging on it as I get myself up. I watch as Seth pushes gold energy into the wall, but nothing happens, and it just disappears into dust. Eventually he growls to himself, stopping as gold dust litters the floor, and he looks worn out.
“Brother, this place dims our power. We are weak here and don’t have a chance,” Killian reminds him, but his eyes are fixed on me like I’m the problem. I’m pretty sure his brother losing it is the problem here. I want to take credit for their bad luck, but this wasn’t my doing.
"Let us out!" Seth shouts, banging his fists against the stone door, even though it does nothing.
"Brother, stop. No one can hear us, you know that as well as I do," Killian says, sounding exhausted and stressed. It makes me smile.
"This is your fault!" Seth suddenly says, stomping over to me and putting a finger in my face that soon makes me lose my smile. "The hooded ice fuckers said we couldn't stay out here because we knew too much about you!"
"Well then, it isn't my fault, is it? You could have let me go, and then you wouldn’t be trapped down here with me," I retort, smirking as I cross my arms, loving how angry he gets. I’m pretty feckin’ mad at him as well. His skin starts to turn red almost until Killian pushes him back to the other side of the corridor and starts speaking quietly to him.
"Look, something big is going on, and at the end of the day, we need to focus on surviving in here and worry about getting out some other time. Those doors have to open eventually for someone else to be brought in, and then we can make our play," Killian reasonably tells Seth, and I can't help but overhear their conversation. I’m sticking to their asses like glue if they are trying to get out.
"We have put hundreds of people in here. The moment they recognise us, we are dead," Seth points out. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t stay that close to them.
"Well, I'm definitely not sticking around with you guys then," I say, standing up straight, shifting my backpack, and making my way down the corridor, leaving them behind. They may be attractive, but I'd have to be crazy to stick by my kidnappers’ side at this point. Regrettably, they both run and catch up to me, walking at my sides. I look up at Killian first, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you not hear me tell you to get lost?" I ask.
"I heard you, and even though we were tricked out there, we are good fighters to have at your side. We are sticking with you, maybe you could give us a bit of good karma," he suggests, and I roll my eyes.
"I don't do that," I reply, and he laughs, the deep, sexy sound vibrating off the walls. Even if I did give out good karma like lollypops, they wouldn’t be getting one.
"No, you don't seem the type. I was honestly surprised you are a karma goddess at all. You are too mean," Killian replies.
"Way to compliment a girl, Killian," I say, not realising how flirty that sounded until it escaped my lips. Flirting with your kidnappers is crazy, and I’m not that crazy yet.
"Would you like me to compliment you, Karma? I'm sure I could think of something," he teases, making my cheeks burn a little red which I'm sure doesn't look sexy with my freckled cheeks and pale complexion.
"Enough with the flirting. We need to stay focused. Who knows what we are walking into," Seth interrupts. I look up at the fire lit lanterns that light all the corridors and the dome room I can now see. There are dozens of them.
"Unfortunately, my brother has a point. I will save my compliments for another time," Killian says and changes his whole demeanour in a second. He straightens up, letting his powers light his hands up gold much like how Seth has, though Seth looks angry enough to murder the entire world right now. I really don't want to get in his way. Shame, as angry looks mighty fine on Seth.
We silently walk down the rest of the corridor, coming to a metal bar gate, and the door has been left open. We walk through it one by one, entering a dome shaped room with several doors, each one of them closed tight with no handles. The room is covered in rust, and it smells pretty damp as well. We all stop in the middle of the room, looking around and seeing nothing to suggest which door to try. I go to suggest we try a door each when the door right in front of me opens, and people flood into the room. They all look different, in old ripped clothes and various coloured hair.
I try to look for a leader, but they all quickly move around the room until we are surrounded by a big crowd, and each one of them is staring at us like the enemy. I'm smart enough to know I can't trust a single one of them in here. Some of the people in here are mass murderers or worse. Every single god, creature or monster in here is a threat to me now, though all these people look normal, not one creature or monster in sight. Maybe they don't do welcome parties. Suddenly, they all fall to their knees, bowing their heads and leaving a gap in front of one of the closed doors. It reminds me of that horror movie my brothers tricked me into watching once. It did not end well for the people in the middle of the circle, that’s for sure.
The door slowly opens, and a tall man walks out with his hands behind his back. The man is well over six foot, looking like a damn giant. He has long black hair that is plaited at the back of his head and lightly swings as he walks. I have to admit, even though this guy is hella scary, he is damn hot in his tight black top and black jeans with a leather belt. His heavy boots slam on the stone as he walks around us, circling us as he seems to be thinking. I hope he is thinking about letting us go and not murdering us. He rubs his smooth chin with one of his large hands as he chooses to stop right in front of Killian, and I see the axe strapped to his back from this angle. The axe has double blades that catch the fire light in the room, and they look deadly.
"The gods of justice, I presume. You both look just like your father," the man says, though he doesn’t seem to want a real answer as he smirks.
"You've been in here that long? Our father died over fifty years ago," Killian replies. "Then again, we never locked you in here, so that would make sense."
"Your father didn’t lock me in here, boy. You did lock many, many of us in here though," the man says, still keeping that grin on his face. "Many of my friends want to chop you up and eat you. Why should I stop them?"
"Because that's gross," I mutter, catching the big guy’s attention. Dammit. I don’t want him to think I’m with these idiots. He slowly walks over to me, stopping extremely close as I arch my head to look up at him. All I can smell is rosewood drifting off him, and his purple eyes are something else entirely. They look like stars in a purple night sky.
"Gross you say?" he asks. "Now, now. Who are you?"
"Karma Kismet. You are?" I ask. Know your enemy and all that.
"Storm Cyncus. Welcome to our own personal hell, and if you survive the test, maybe we can get a drink together," he states, not waiting for my response before walking away. What an asshole. His name sounds familiar, but I’m so pissed off and scared I can’t think why right now.
"Take them to the cells. The test begins tomorrow!" Storm yells, and the people cheer like he is amazing or some shit before rushing to us. I scream as two men grab me, lifting me up in the air, and more hands start to carry me out of the room. I struggle to escape their grip, but it does nothing to stop them as they carry me. They continue to cheer and shout about this test, like it is the bee's knees, as I look over to see they have Killian and Seth in the same way. The people lower me down a little to slide through the door and into the bright light of the other side.
My mouth drops open at the inside of the place as they carry us across a bridge. It's levels and layers of homes, streets and bridges built into the mountain around it. Big bright lights hang at the very top of the prison, looking like a sun, but we are too far away for me to see what it is. Flowers, scrubs, trees are everywhere between the metal homes; with their wooden doors and wooden bridges, it looks magical in here. Did we come to the wrong prison? Because honestly everything is not what I expected. The place is full of people who walk across the bridges, and I pick up the sound of children’s laughter through the cheers. They have children in here? What the hell is this place? The people carry us off the bridge and turn right, into a cave where they carefully drop me on the rough stone floor. The twins are dropped next, but not as gently which makes me smile. I hurry to get up, trying to chase them, but they shut the door and lock us in the cage before I can get there. I wrap my hands around the bars as I shout at them.
"Let me the hell out of here," I scream, trying to shake the bars, but not one of the people looks back as they begin to disappear over the bridge. "Assholes! Get that leader asshole here so I can talk to him! I’m not meant to be in here!" When all the people do is laugh, I rest my head against the cold bars, knowing there is no way I'm going to escape this now. What the hell is the test?
Chapter Fourteen
"You might as well give up now. They won't let you out," a woman says, her voice is sweet and kind as I turn to look over in the shadows of the cage after my little melt down where I called everyone in here all names under the sun that my mum would kill me for saying. Three people are sitting together, wearing modern clothes, but I can’t see much of them in the dark. Though when I move closer, it’s clear they are glaring at the twins who stand at the other side of the cage. Oh, they know who the justice twins are then. "As for you two justice bastards, the moment they give us weapons, I'm going to murder you both for locking us in here."
"You killed a child, Jade," Killian coldly states, shocking me silent. "You deserve to be in here." Which I totally agree with if she did that, but it’s not like the justice twins have never got it wrong before. They did with me, so I don’t trust them one little bit.
"I never killed anyone! I was trying to save the child from what that higher god did to her! The higher god killed her because he wanted to hide his dirty secret, and you wouldn't listen! I tried to save her, she didn't deserve to die!" Jade shouts back, getting up and running to Killian. I don't know what gets into me when I jump in the middle, grabbing Jade's shoulders and pushing her back. She hisses at me, actually hisses as she flashes sharp teeth in my direction. I tilt my head, trying to think about what kind of goddess she is and coming up blank for a second before I see her little black ears sticking out of her long black hair.
"You're a cat goddess!" I shout, clapping my hands together even though she looks like she wants to kill me. "I've always wanted to meet one of you guys, but the laws and all."
