Unknotted

Lies and Madness

Georgie

I woke up, so at least I wasn’t dead. And, as far as I could tell, I wasn’t seriously injured beyond a few bumps and bruises. As my sudden bout of drowsiness dissipated, my situation became clearer.

The tide washed magic over me, heightening my senses. I was curled on my side, head resting on the ground at an angle that made my neck ache. My armor was still firmly in place over my head and face, so that was something at least.

The rumble of a semitruck vibrated in the ground beneath me, its air brakes engaging and disengaging puffed not far away. A high-pitched chirp of a truck backing up pricked at my ears, and a scent of exhaust almost cloaked the more subtle smells of trolls and unwashed hybrids.

I cracked my eyes opened. The first thing I saw was a red dart spiked into the ground an inch from my nose. Its feathery top fluttered with the waves of my breath. Blasted Whiskers, the spiteful donkey, had tranquilized me.

I peered passed the offending dart to the light of a portal glimmering half a dozen paces away. The semi full of hybrid prisoners was backing into a capsule large enough for the truck.

A pair of bare feet in need of a wash stepped in front of my face. Whiskers stared down, frowning in his typical grumpy fashion. He was dressed in worn jeans and a faded tee. Plain enough clothes but he rocked then better than should have been possible. At the way his shirt pulled tight over his shoulders and biceps as he crossed his arms, even my anger couldn’t stop the alluring warmth spreading from my core through the rest of my body.

My eyes narrowed. “You shot me.”

“You broke my nose.”

“You deserved it.” I pushed myself up. Or tried to. But my arms weren’t responding properly. Bound as they were behind my back, I couldn’t blame them really. Using my elbow, I managed to push up enough to rise to my feet.

He tapped one of the weapons on his belt. “Lucky for you I decided to pack my tranq gun today. Something told me it would come in handy.”

“Lucky me,” I grumbled, then I darted around him.

He caught my bicep and held me in place. He shook his head at my, admittedly, pathetic attempt to escape.

“It’s over.” He said it with such tired conviction I almost believed it was so. Yet, I was still breathing, and hybrids needed saving, so how could it be “over”?

I glared at him. He looked worse than ever with his face all sorts of colors, eyes squinty and swollen, and exhaustion written in the set of his broad shoulders. Snarling at him wasn’t going to persuade him to do anything. I let my anger drop below my rising desperation and softened my voice into a plea. “It’s not too late. You can save them.”

“They are going to where our ultras want them.” He didn’t sound particularly happy about that idea. Maybe he wasn’t a clueless as I originally thought.

The capsule closed. The launch button must have been inside the capsule because a moment later it blasted into the portal, taking everyone with it except me and Whiskers.

“No!” I thrashed against his hold, shoving my way toward the portal four paces away. There was no station here, no safety measures to prevent accidental jumps. If I could only drag myself close enough, I could throw myself into the portal’s flow and follow the prisoners. That jump would result in a bumpy landing, but I would survive. Probably. It wasn’t too late. I could still save them.

Except Whiskers had a grip like iron and feet as firmly planted as rooted trees. “Enough already. I’m taking you to the Den. My ultras will decide your fate.”

“You almost sound sad about that.” I pulled against him again. Another step closer.

“Maybe I am,” he mumbled.

Perhaps it was his words, or maybe his tone, whatever it was, it made me freeze and, without initiating a challenge, meet his eyes—blue as the deep ocean. The magic twisted its cords around me and stretched them toward Whiskers as it had the first time we had met. My heart began to race. My hands grew clammy until my gloves clung to my skin.

He tilted his head to the side, studying me. “You’re the most infuriating woman I have ever met. Yet the Core draws me toward you. Handing you over feels like I’m giving up on the destiny the Core has in store for us. So yeah, I am sad about what I must do.”

An opening if there ever was one. “Who says you must? You decide the path you take. Not your ultras. I have chosen mine, and it’s through that portal.”

His hand tightened around my arm. “Not if I don’t allow it.”

Ugh, those words were like squeaky sneakers. Unbelievably irritating, and dangerous in certain circumstances. I leaned toward him, my face inches from his. “Then what happens to those prisoners is on your hands.”

“You really do believe in the whole Shadow Market nonsense.” His eyes narrowed, but not with anger really. More like his curiosity was combating his suspicion of me. I could work with that.

“You’ve assisted in a few of this exchanges, haven’t you? And you’ve always stayed on this side of the portal, right?”

His mouth hung open a moment, his response stalling on his tongue.

“You don’t actually know what happens once those handpicked hybrids make the jump,” I pressed. “Don’t know who’s waiting for them on the other side.”

“I would imagine it would be their families”—for some odd reason, he gritted his teeth around that word—“and their ultras. Just as mine are waiting for the prisoners the Namenites will send back in return.”

How could he be so close to the top of the Keadanian leadership pyramid and be so clueless? I peered at the portal: three paces away. I didn’t know how long I had until the tide turned, but once it did, the portal would close. When it opened again, it wouldn’t open to the same location. I was running out of time.

“Then, where are they?” I asked.

“Who?”

“The hybrids you’re exchanging for? What’s taking so long for them to be blasted through the portal? Where are their families? Why aren’t they waiting for them? It’s just us, Whiskers.”

“They’re arriving through a different portal. There are easier explanations to your questions than the existence of some underground market for hybrids. What would be the benefit of such a thing?”

“How about your armor? You think if I had armor like yours a silly tranquilizer dart would have penetrated it? Of course not, because you have some of the best armor on the market, armor infused with parts from hybrids forms such as armadillos, rhinos, crabs, on and on. Who died so you could have that protection? Was their life worth less than yours?” My breaths were coming hard, each fueled hotter by my smoldering anger. “I think not.”

To his credit, he looked a little pale. “You’re either lying or completely mad.”

“I already told you I’m a little crazy, but I’m not a liar.”

My words had disarmed him enough that, when I pulled against him, I dragged him two steps closer to the portal. One more, and we would be tumbling through the Between. White light made his fair hair silver and reflect the fragmented rainbows.

He was studying me now with an intensity that stir my dominance, but I didn’t allow it to rise in challenge. At this moment, I needed him to not be my enemy. Not friends exactly, but more like his desire to kill me was low, and maybe he could be willing to trust me, if even a little.

An internal argument warred in his eyes. Holding his gaze, I tried to bolster the side that would allow me to jump into the portal. The tension in his brows eased, and I thought I had him.

Then, the blasted black SUV pulled up. Talk about rotten timing. Whiskers straightened up like the good little soldier he was and tightened his hold on my arm. Blast it all, I had been so close to making him see sense.

The vehicle stopped and someone jumped out. His face was so discolored I almost didn’t recognized Travers. Core between, could a girl not catch a break? Though his hands were cuffed, he leveled a gun at us. I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but I was fairly certain it wasn’t aimed at me. Whiskers must have made this calculation too because he dragged me in front of him like a shield.

“Hand her over,” Travers said, his swollen lips slurring his words. He must have stolen the vehicle about the time I had stolen the semi. Good on him for finally learning to be sneaky.

“Not going to happen,” Whiskers shouted back.

He was right. It wasn’t going to happen. I had one mission and it involved me going through the portal. If I had to choose between two poisons, going with Travers or risking Whisker’s company, I would down Whiskers in one swallow.

Or rather, one push.

I jammed my shoulder into his gut with as much force as I could muster. He stumbled backward, his grip holding fast. Together, we tumbled into the light of the portal and blasted into the Between.