“Smells like…” Kinara sniffed. “Fire.”

  She was right. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but there was a slight campfire smell to the place. The warm air had gusts of cool wind that kicked up dirt and blew it in little spirals around the base of the hill. I took a step away from the car, and paused as I felt a strange sensation that was like a pulsing bass moving through my chest. Odd that I didn’t feel it in my legs.

  “Did you feel that?” I asked.

  “Feel what?” Jalee asked, stepping up to my side. “It’s beautiful.”

  It really was. From what I could tell, this whole country was gorgeous. Someday I hoped to explore it further, but at the moment the strange vibrations were coming again.

  “That! You didn’t feel it?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I did,” Kinara said, and I turned to see that she was backing up toward the car again. “And… I don’t like it.”

  “If both of you are sensing something the rest of us aren’t,” Ahlaksiz said, “I have to assume it’s related to your powers, but not specifically to what we’re after. Only Ferris should sense that.”

  “A vibration, here.” I put my hand on my chest.

  The others joined me to look out over the desert, except for Kinara who was still at the car. When I met her gaze, it hit me that she looked terrified.

  “You’ve felt it before, haven’t you?” I asked.

  “I know it.”

  Everyone was waiting for a response, but when none came, I asked them to give us a moment. Moving back over next to her, I nodded for her to get into the car, then followed. I sat next to her and took her hand, squeezing it gently to comfort her.

  “Tell me.”

  She leaned her head into mine, then pushed in and started kissing me. “What if… what if we said fuck all this? Send them off to look, me and you stay here and I suck your cock? You’d like that, right?”

  “Of course. But… they wouldn’t be able to find it without me, and if whatever this is happens to be dangerous, wouldn’t we be leaving them to the wolves?”

  She frowned, hand moving along my thigh, back and forth, closer, then pulling away abruptly. “Anal? Do you want to stick it in my ass? How about that, and we say forget all of this. Convince them to go home and abandon it.”

  “Is that what you really want?” I took her hand from my thigh, and held it to my chest. “You think it’s for the best?”

  “No… it would hurt.”

  “I didn’t mean ana—”

  She put a finger to my mouth, cutting off the word, and chuckled in spite of the fear in her eyes. “Trying to make a joke.”

  “It wasn’t a bad one.”

  “We have to do this, you’re right.” She sighed, heavily. “Last time I felt that sensation, it was when my family was killed.”

  “And what is it?”

  She shook her head. “I… don’t know.”

  That wasn’t an answer I’d been expecting. If this thing had been there when her family died, maybe even been responsible, I had thought she’d know what it was. A chill ran up my spine, and I clicked my tongue again.

  “Won’t work,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “You won’t be able to sense it coming.”

  Well fuck, now she was really starting to terrify me. I would be brave, though, for her. “If we work as a team, and if we find this thing, we can make a difference.”

  She slowly lifted her eyes to mine. “We’re going to need a much larger team.”

  “Then we’ll make it so.” I went for the door, reaching back for her. “You’ll be there with me? Fighting at my side?”

  She hesitated, then took my hand. “I will.”

  Together we emerged to find the others crouched around Ahlaksiz, a holomap on her wrist device as she pointed out a specific point below.

  “Oh, good,” she said as we approached. “Based on checking what I’ve found against the intel from Tooth, this would be one of the entry points.”

  “And if we die before even reaching it?” Kinara asked.

  “Morbid,” Jalee said, shaking her head with a laugh. “Can we stay positive here?”

  Kinara’s nostrils flared and she looked like she was about to punch the other lady, but that vibration returned, causing the two of us to suddenly grip hands.

  “Levity aside,” Milkshake said, her skeletal wings moving as if she wanted to take flight, “I say we head on. These two are freaking me out.”

  Ahlaksiz eyed me, then led the way without another word. I walked hand-in-hand with Kinara, trying very hard not to let the fear get ahold of me. Monsters weren’t so bad, and even if there were some that could paralyze me with fear in other circumstances, now I was here with a team of my own monsters, and Ahlaksiz. She was part of the team, actually, even if we weren’t linked.

  Even with them, though, as it grew darker and we crouched next to a small cave at the side of that hill, the idea of leaving this all behind to try anal with Kinara sounded better by the second.

  “Can anyone see in the dark?” I asked.

  “Echolocation,” Kinara replied, voice shaky.

  “Right. Yes, I guess that’ll be useful.”

  “I can make light,” Jalee pointed out, and her eyes lit up momentarily.

  “Although, you might not want to in there,” Ahlaksiz countered. “Doing so might give away our location.

  “My sight in the dark isn’t bad,” Ahlaksiz said, and I couldn’t remember if she’d been in cougar form before, but she certainly was now. Strange, how it was all starting to feel the same to me. On that note, I adjusted my package, still not used to what was going on down there.

  “It’s nice to have the option for light, if needed,” I told Jalee, then turned to Milkshake. “And you? Anything?”

  “Ferris, Ferris, Ferris,” she said, looking me up and down as if about to eat me. “Don’t you know… I was born and bred in darkness?” Her eyes lit up slightly, maybe a hue of green, and she folded back her wings before leading the way in.

  Something about the way she said it and that green hue made me worried. Ahlaksiz had her eyes on me, so I wasn’t sure she had noticed. Wanting to be brave and set the standard for the group, I went next. Unfortunately, it was narrow enough that I couldn’t hold Kinara’s hand inside.

  “I’m even too freaked out to make a joke about your balls being in my face,” she whispered, following from behind.

  “And yet, you kind of just did.”

  Silence followed, then her hand caressing my package. I nearly yelped, pausing to look back at her as best I could. It was too dark to see her, but my senses showed her outline.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Helps me stay calm.”

  “I…”

  What was I going to say to that? Maybe it would keep me calm too, so I simply turned and continued on. More than once, her hand found its way between my legs. No more yelps, and soon I was enjoying it. Fantasizing about a sexy-as-fuck bat girl was a nice way to fight terror.

  “See anything?” I asked Milkshake. I clicked my tongue, as my sense had been fading, then was able to sense her, paused at an area that opened up into a wider room.

  “Quiet, there’s someone in here,” she said, then shifted, moving out of the way so that we could join her.

  Much more than before, those vibrations started rocking my entire body. Someone, or something, was definitely in there with us.

  20

  A hand went to my mouth. “Don’t…” It was Kinara’s voice. “If you sense it, I think it senses you. I’m moving blind here.”

  I took her hand, gave it a gentle squeeze, then held it so that she knew I’d be her guide. We moved in, going around the side of this larger area to stick to the wall. The darkness of this place and the fact that I was there with monsters brought me back to one night around Halloween years ago. A theme park in Virginia, where I’d gone to visit my uncle. Thick fog from the machines and undead stations all over, ladies shrieking and the scent of sugar and fried dough in the air. It had stuck with me over the years, I think because of the way my uncle had smiled at me, as if I were the kid he’d never had. All the screams and laughter, all the flashing lights and people dressed up, it all helped to cement that night and my memory of the man. It fucking sucked when, about two years later, my mom called me to let me know he’d been in an accident. Some assfuck on oxi, apparently.

  What an odd time to be missing the man, I thought as I ran my fingers along Kinara’s. Still, there was something about this, too, that I knew would make it stick with me until my death bed. Even if all of this ended and I woke up alone one day, I’d think back on this with only a mild amount of terror, a whole fucking lot of nostalgia.

  Then again, this damn vibration and the knowledge that we weren’t alone was starting to eat at me. Maybe my focus on my past was a way of distracting myself. We continued, still no sign of our company, and I was back there again, moving through one of the haunted houses from the theme park. Part of me expected to see a man dressed as a zombie or woman as a vampire come charging out at any second. And that got me wondering—were there actual zombies and vampires out there? In this monster world, or even here, could there be werewolves and mummies, or were monsters like those the exception, the few that had been born by fiction.

  Something pushed against me. I was sure of it. It had come from in front of me, like a strong wind in physical form, but I saw nothing there. All I could make out was the silhouette of Milkshake ahead. Turning back, there was Jalee with her eyes slightly glowing, and the shape of Ahlaksiz with her cougar ears at the rear.

  Another push, this time from the side, and skittering sounded.

  “What… the… fuck?” I whispered.

  “You sense something?” Jalee asked, nearly bumping into me.

  “Twice now,” Kinara answered, apparently having felt it too. “If we were to use our sensing, it would be able to attack. Whatever this is, it knows how to target me and mine.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know, but I feel it. They go hand in hand.”

  The pushes became stronger, and now I understood. It was testing us, hoping to get a reaction. To use our sensing skills and therefore let it attack us. We wouldn’t give it the satisfaction. My heart was thudding hard enough that I felt it in my neck. Or maybe it was a nervous twitch? Either way, all of this was starting to get to me. Scouring the darkness, I hoped to find any sign of what this was.

  “Shit!” Milkshake doubled back, nearly knocking us over. We caught her in time to see what she was running from. Not the terror haunting us, but a group of monsters who were clearly not a welcoming committee.

  Two men with blue skin and red hair, a third at their center with dark-red armor that glistened like blood. He was the one that worried me, walking calm and collected compared with the other two who approached like animals out for the kill. The calm one, even though he wasn’t running, somehow seemed to move faster than the others.

  We could either flee from them, or stand our ground. I decided that we’d come here for a reason, and running wasn’t it.

  “You’re searching for the sun disk?” I said, and my ladies seemed to feed off of my determination. They took up position around me, ready for trouble.

  The two crazy-looking mother fuckers crouched, coming to a stop, while the man summoned a sword. Did that make him a hunter? He stood there, long, greenish blade at his side. No more movement, simply staring at me from the dark slit behind his helmet.

  More monsters appeared with them, as if out of a dark fog. Several that reminded me of tall monkeys, one with wings. A woman moved up to red-armor’s side, eyeing us. She stepped toward me, her reptile eyes taking me in. No horns, but a thick tail and patches on her skin that were green. She reminded me of a crocodile and I had to wonder if Captain Hook and all of those fairy tales were included in this idea of Myths and Legends being based in reality.

  “You’re the one Tooth sent,” the dragon-looking woman said, eyeing me. “He thinks some human will be able to finish what we started.” Her eyes narrowed.

  “I can’t speak for him, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

  She scoffed, as she gestured past her, then shoved the guy out of our way. A glow came from the end of the hallway, and I couldn’t deny my curiosity. Still, I had to try to find out what I could.

  “You’ve found something?” I asked.

  Her glare told me she’d prefer not to tell me anything, but the guy she’d shoved out of the way spoke up.

  “A sort of wall,” he said. “Best see for yourself.”

  I arched an eyebrow at them, but nodded and started walking over to investigate. Judging by the pitter patter of footsteps, the ladies were right behind me. Honestly, I was glad to be leaving those other monsters behind, as they were creeping me out.

  We reached the corner and I slowed so that they could catch up without jogging, then we all moved as one. No need to explain. They got it. As a team, we turned the corner and came face to face with…

  A wall.

  Maybe I’d been expecting that to have been sarcasm or whatever, but actually finding this glowing, orange wall caught me more off guard than if it had been a massive, golden dragon.

  “They were serious,” I said, and turned to the ladies to see if they had any ideas. “What now?”

  “We get through it,” Ahlaksiz said. “Except, if they couldn’t, then… how?”

  I nodded, studying the wall closely and frowning. As far as I could tell, none of my powers would be useful here. Sensing, moving in water, the weird ability to see a blur that kind of predicted someone’s attack…all useless here.

  Right? I considered the wall, then looked back down the tunnel. Finally, running my hand along the stone, I had a realization. One power might actually work here. It felt right, and wasn’t that how this was supposed to work? Something special about me.

  “Kinara, on the count of three.” I took her hand. “We’re going to click our tongues on three.”

  Her eyes went wide, but she nodded. The others looked around nervously, visible now in the light of the glowing wall. It wasn’t like this was obviously the move, but I felt like it was right. And since they’d told me I would have some special way of getting to it, why not go on my instinct?

  I gave Kinara’s hand a squeeze, then another, and on the third we did it. Nothing happened at first, but then a surge of vibrations tore through us. My insides felt like they were going to tear apart, my mind like it was being stretched. Shit, that was quite possibly what was happening, I realized. And they had used this against Kinara’s family—or it had hurt them, somehow, maybe.

  We needed to conquer it, to escape. Except, I told myself, if I was really supposed to be able to find our way to the half of the sun disk and this was what I’d chosen to do, it had to be of some use. Inspiration struck, and pulling Kinara close, I took her other hand and said, “Push it out,” as I thrust both of our hands against the wall.

  The pain and pressure vanished, replaced by the thrill that comes with an orgasm. Shooting out the energy, it was suddenly a vibration going through the wall. Cracks formed, bright light shining through. Kinara and I stared at each other, hands still on the wall, and then I saw the blur of it, knew it was going to blow, and pulled Kinara to me as I jumped and shouted, “Down!”

  We all pulled away as it gave—the explosion rocking the cavern and the orange-gold wall disintegrating into fine dust. We lay on the ground, staring at the empty spot as the light of it faded. And only then realized that the walls behind us were now shaking, too.

  “It’s all going to cave in,” the crocodile woman said, appearing behind us and looking at first us on the floor, then the open passage. “Holy hell, you did it.”

  She charged past, not even waiting or turning to inform the others. They followed shortly, though, at the same time as we were pushing ourselves up. It became a mad dash through there as the ceiling behind started to fall.

  We charged in, shoving other monsters out of our way and struggling to keep together. Sure enough, several loud thuds sounded from behind, but by the time the place gave and the loud crashes brought clouds of dust, we were out of there. The tunnel led us into a cavern that was completely dark at first, but more than one monster sent out arcs of light that were like streaming flares.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Sparkling gold-lined marble, an area of underground ruins. This certainly fell under my goal of wanting to see and explore the world. Also, it seemed I wasn’t going to have to wait in line at the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland this year—not when we had this place in real life.

  “The… fuck is this?” Jalee asked.

  “What is it?” Kinara said, squinting and trying to strain her eyes. She also held onto my arm, tightly. Milkshake’s eyes darted around at the other monsters, clearly nervous. At least Ahlaksiz was moving up to a ledge to have a look down, likely scouting ways into the ruins.

  “An old city, maybe of religious significance,” I explained to Kinara. “If this isn’t where the other half is… I don’t know.” Turning to the others, I lowered my voice. “Are we not going to talk about what just happened back there?”

  “What happened is you’re discovering new powers, or ways of harnessing them,” Ahlaksiz replied. “Maybe it’s related to the hunter’s Ichor, but… I’d guess it was some ability Kinara had, but never knew.”

  I nodded at that, then froze. My eyes moved to Kinara, checking her, but she was still too busy squinting and trying to see. The implication of what Ahlaksiz said was a potential gamechanger. Maybe her family had been killed as she thought, but was it possible that she could have some power that she wasn’t quite aware of? Could it be that the same power we had just used to break through the wall… was also what had killed her family? Fuck, I felt horrible for her, if that were true.

  Maybe she would never have to know about it.

  “You…” The crocodile lady was talking to one of her monkey monsters with horns.