Chapter 3

Barbie

Iwoke up to piercing pain that had knocked me out cold when I was sucked into an icy vacuum and found myself prone on the hard ground, with no idea of where I was, since I couldn't see with the iron helmet clamped around my head.

I lifted my good hand and realized that my wrist was chained along with my ankle. Even with an iron mask silencing me and a torque heavy around my neck to bind my power, my enemies still considered me a threat.

Rage pulsed in me. Fear fogged my mind. I grabbed the iron helmet, trying to lift it off my head, but it wouldn't budge. An animalistic wail tore out of my throat. I clawed at the iron mask, wanting it fucking gone more than anything. It only pressed tighter against my face, its foul spells and rough edges sinking into my flesh and peeling off part of my skin.

A new wave of pain bloomed in me, adding to the old one. I could feel my face getting wet, not from my tears but from blood. If I didn't stop my struggle, it might just turn my face to pulp. Icy panic sank into my chest, and my panting pounded in my ears within the confines of the iron mask.

Stop!I ordered myself. I couldn't afford to have an episode. I couldn't afford to lose my shit if I ever wanted to escape whatever hell my enemies had fashioned for me.

I forced myself to remove my hand from clutching the iron mask, only to have it fly to the bespelled metal torque around my neck. I gripped it to pry it off. Icy burning shot through my fingers. I jerked away my hand, breathing laboriously, then grasped the torque again to get a feel of it so I could find a way to neutralize it.

It was futile to try to break it with brute force.

Someone besides my father knew about my weaknesses. But how? And what else did they know?

I endured the pain, not releasing the torque until I was certain that it indeed didn't carry my father's dark signature and rotten power. It didn't bear his touch. Did my father have a new ally? But it wasn't like him. He didn't share power, only had slaves.

Yet someone had forged this foul thing specifically to bind my type of power.

A terrible thought coiled in my mind. There was another person who knew about my existence, other than Ruin and his agents.

My mother.

Sy and I had never breached the subject, but any bitch who could mate with an original god had to be able to hold her own. Sy and I had already figured out that I was a three-quarter goddess.

If it was my mother, how had she found out I was in Shades Academy in Mist of Cinder? Grabbing me in such a manner wouldn't endear her to me. But then, she wouldn't have cared about the rough treatment dealt to me.

A chilling, foreboding feeling twirled in my mind. Would she consume me like my father?

I seized the torque again, hissing and enduring the icy burn. Fuck! The torque had a mixed demonic and archangelic signature. From its vibration, I could tell that it was targeting the one-quarter of my genetic makeup that didn't add to my goddess essence.

I had one-quarter mage bloodline. I could easily pass as a human when I tried.

A kernel of hope rose in me. If the spells in this torque grabbed hold of my weaker genetic part, then in time, it'd lose its effect and my goddess genes would overrule the binding spells. But time wasn't on my side when I was being held captive. Whoever was behind this grab wouldn't give me enough time to break out of this bind.

When the burn became too much, I had to drop my hand from the torque, gasping for air from the pain. Yet there wasn't enough air within the iron mask. If it'd been anyone else, they'd have been unconscious or even dead by now from the suffocation and bleeding.

Some animals chewed their own legs off to escape. I'd sliced off my wrist to remove the spellbound bracelet, but I hadn't expected the torque. The one who wanted me had thought of everything, two steps ahead of me.

Think. Breathe.

Rage would do me no favors.

I calmed my pulse and slowed down my breathing to get more oxygen into my lungs.

My trembling fingers groped on the ground to get a sense of where I was. Moss dotted the cracks between the uneven stones. Something scurried across the other side of the room. It must be a rat.

My breathing grew heavy again. All I heard was my laborious breathing and frantic heartbeat pounding in my eardrums within the iron mask. I was heading toward hyperventilation again.

I forced myself to inhale slowly through my nose, then exhale through my mouth, then rinse and repeat, until I cooled off to gather my thoughts.

I'd been dumped in a warded dungeon.

My abductors had teleported me here after they made sure the torque had bound my power, so it couldn't interfere with their teleportation. I could still smell the dark substance they'd used to power the teleportation.

My hand kept exploring the space behind me, the chains on my wrist and ankle making harsh sounds as I moved. Two feet from where I'd been, my fingers touched a concrete wall. Even with my power caged, I could still feel dark spells warding the wall. At my touch, they crawled over my skin like spiders and made me shiver with disgust, but they couldn't harm me.

Which meant even though the torque kept the lethal part of my power at bay and cut off my siphoning, it couldn't completely nullify my magical self. Which meant I could reach Sy if I kept trying.

Sy!I called urgently while I stayed busy investigating my jail to find a way out. Sy!

How long had I been here? Had I been dumped in this shithole for a few minutes, hours, or even days? I shook my head. It couldn't be days since my wounds were still fresh. The kidnappers had somehow administered basic treatment on them, not with magical healing, as it didn't work on me, but the conventional way. A bandage had been wrapped around my stump, though the blood still seeped through. There were also makeshift stitches on my side where a blade had slid in during the fight.

If this situation lasted while I couldn't access my power, I wouldn't heal. My wounds would be left open, and then I'd be even weaker. I barely had any energy left, and hunger throbbed in me, digging a hole in the pit of my stomach.

I pushed my hunger, fear, and pain down and pricked my ears to listen, even though I didn't know where the door was. I couldn't see, but I could use my ears and senses despite the iron mask proving to be an obstacle.

As I focused my hearing to a laser point, my kidnappers' voices drifted to me.

"…dangerous bitch…when…deliver…"

"…the messengers will arrive soon…"

My kidnappers were talking outside the door. I held my breath, pricking my ears in that direction to listen, but I couldn't get most of the words, as the iron mask muffled their sounds.

Sy! Sy! I need you! Please,I called again.

I felt her trying to reach me. Severing our connection was one of the cruelest things anyone could do to us. Then, from across the abyss, Sy roared my name.

She couldn't get to me. I had to go to her.

I dove into the chasm. If I shattered at the bottom, so be it. I didn't want to stand alone one more second without her. I spotted Sy surging up to meet me. We screamed each other's names, then our hands clasped, our fingers curling and locking around each other.

I gotcha!I shouted.

Gotcha too,she answered.

I pulled her up, and we alighted on solid ground, huddling and clinging to each other.

I'm sorry, Sy.I sobbed. I wronged you. Don't leave again!

I was a bad servant, Barbie.She hugged me tightly. I won't ever try to usurp you again. I vow it on our father's black soul!

You were never a servant, Sy! It broke my heart that you put that hat on. You're my other half that I don't deserve. Let's not fight again.

No fight!she promised. But you need to regain your strength. To get out of here, you'll need to feed. You'll need to let me go. Consume me, and you'll have the strength to break that cursed torque.

No! I stared at her in horror. How can you even say things like that?

It has to be done, Barbie. If I were the primary, I wouldn't have thought twice about consuming your essence. You must do it. You must escape before Ruin comes for you!

Never will I eat you! You die, I die. End of discussion,I said, my lips thinning in disapproval. Also, your information is outdated. You need to keep up. I sank into the old habit of criticizing her. This time, it's not Ruin coming for us. It's someone else.

She frowned. Who?

I don't know yet, but I need you with me.

Always. She paused for a second and said with all her heart, I love you, Barbie, more than anyone and anything.

I know, I said, the ache in my chest only deepening. Like two peas in a pod.

It'd taken that kind of fight and scare to make us realize how much we meant to each other.

My cruel god father had failed to break me, not knowing it was all because of Sy. I wasn't damaged goods because I had Sy. So, no matter what ordeals I endured, I always got up swinging, and Sy had always been there, shielding me, taking the blunt hits and cheering me up with her endless vulgar optimism.

Tits up!That was her favorite cliché.

No one could take away our love and loyalty for each other, the one thing that made us strong and kept us going. Together, we'd always fight our way out, no matter how dire the circumstances. Like even after all those years under Ruin's thumb, enduring endless torment, he could never truly control us. He could never rob us of our love for life and each other, and our hope for a future without him. And with that, Sy and I had finally managed to escape him.

This time, it was no different. And we'd crush our new tormentors.

It won't be for long,Sy said. And then we'll eat them.

I'm not keen on the eating part. Too messy, I offered. But with your strength, we can snap their necks with one clean sweep.

Sy couldn't take over since the torque prohibited our shift, but it could no longer keep us apart. She moved as close to the surface as she could, shouldering my pain and trying to take all of it into her.

No, Sy! That's too much for you!

I can take pain better than you, she insisted. I can carry it for you. You do your thing and get us out of here!

My headspace cleared as the pain became a dull throb. Sy had absorbed the pain, taking it in her stride and taunting it. Father did much worse, and we still survived him.

I heard a faint click from the doorknob outside.

Take cover, lieutenant!Sy ordered me.

When did I become her lieutenant? But I dropped to the ground, pretending to be unconscious and staying in the same position I had been in. Sy, with her superior hearing that not even the iron mask could hinder, sent me all the intel I needed.

The heavy door swung open. Three sets of footsteps entered the cell.

I wondered how many mercenaries waited outside and how many of them guarded this facility. And in my current condition, how many I could bring down.

We can take them,Sy snarled, taking an active role advising me. We just need to be smarter and faster. Leave it to me.

"The girl is still out?" a man asked in a gruff voice.

"That torque really knocked her out cold," a woman answered, and I recognized her voice—the mage ringleader. "Our client said it'd work, and it did."

"I heard that girl was more trouble than she's worth," the gruff man said. "She looks small and harmless. Did she really kill eleven pros before you subdued her?"

The third person who entered the room hadn't uttered a word, and my senses told me that he was another magic user and the most dangerous of the trio.

"Pick her up, Brad," the mage ringleader ordered the man. "Our client's reps will be here soon. The faster we get this ticking bomb off our hands, the better off we are."

"Which style? Bride-carry, piggyback, or draping her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes?" Brad asked. He mistook himself for having a sparkling personality. "Are we going to take the chains off her?"

"The chains go with her," the mage ringleader said.

"And the helmet?" Brad asked.

"It stays with her as well," the mage ringleader said impatiently.

Once I was transported to their client, I'd have less chance to get away.

A large, uncouth hand grabbed me. I kept my heartbeat even and my breathing weak. Then I was half-lifted, a man's hot breath tickling the side of my neck.

It was now or never.

I jerked my head backward with brutal force, smashing my iron helmet into Brad's head, bashing his face in.

Sy giggled at the sickening sound of bones being crushed. Bringing out our bad side never worked well for our opponents.

The big man went down to the hard ground with a thud. I'd killed him with one strike, thanks to the combined strength of Sy and me and that iron helmet.

"Fuck!" the mage ringleader cursed.

"Put her down!" the third man barked.

A mistake on their part. Their voices betrayed where they were. They weren't rookies, but they'd forgotten how dangerous I could be since I didn't look it. I never looked it until I became it.

I leapt and spun forty-five degrees—the weight of the chains was nothing to me—and wrapped them around the mage ringleader's neck in a blurry motion.

Sy's super hearing picked up a movement coming in my direction—the sound of a blade sailing in the air and slashing toward me.

I was faster than a vampire. I was faster than a shifter. Mages stood no chance.

I wheeled the struggling mage woman in front of me as a shield. Her scream came a second later as a blade entered her flesh. Her comrade let out a grim curse.

She'd have been dead soon even without being knifed. She'd be strangled to death. Her friend had only quickened her demise.

There was no better option for her.

She made her bed when she came for us, Sy said vengefully.

One bad decision is all it takes,I told her.

Quickly, I released the chains from around the dead woman's neck, not wanting to be dragged down by her.

I gathered the chains and lifted my foot, since the long chain strung my wrist and ankle together, ready to fling the chains at the last standing man in the room. I planned to disarm him first. My iron helmet would be a secondary weapon when I struck him. It depended on how he moved, and then I'd respond accordingly and aggressively.

Suddenly a series of explosions went off somewhere. The room rocked.

Shit!This place was going to collapse. The last thing I wanted was to be buried alive in a dungeon.

Shit!Sy agreed, staying on high alert.

The sound of rushing footfalls, battle, and more explosions sounded everywhere at once.

I hurled the chains at the remaining kidnapper, only to hit an empty space.

Fuck, that coward had fled.

With no enemy to engage with, I charged toward the door blindly.