“She’s got a bad case of it.”
I looked up, and now that I could see, the room was bathed in a golden light. I’d never been so excited to see fleshy skin in my life. Even if the human it coated was Nasty Nieve.
Filthy and disheveled, she still lookedbrillante. Her cool skin shimmered in the golden light. Floating curls touched her shoulder blades. She was glorious, only the glittering white tattoos covering her hands and forearms hinted at her pain. There were rumors of an accident that had caused her terrible scarring. And even though you could no longer see the damage, it publicly marked her as less than perfect. It made her as expendable as the rest of us.
In New Angeles, perfection was currency. Her injury had robbed her of a promised life of riches awarded to the truly beautiful by the wealthy. Today, in comparison to The Trials, Nieve wore a scratchy sack with a hole cut in the middle for her head. Somehow, she pulled it off. It draped perfectly over her willowy body.
Some people have all the luck.
I looked down, expecting a much worse result. I didn’t have Nieve’s natural grace, which I liked to think I made up for with my wit and charm. I peeked under my potato sack, and to my surprise… my body lookedah-mazing. I was filthy, sticky, and covered in black dust from the sooty floor, but I lookedtight. Nothing but long, lean muscles coated me. Except for my large breasts, that still jiggled when I gave a little shimmy.Yes.My lucky charms. I sat up and looked behind me.
My ass looked delicious, too!
Damn!Who knew all it took for a perfect bod was alien abduction? Those last ten pounds I fought with, on the daily, had disappeared.Nice!The only other change I noted was my scars. They glowed a soft gold, a muted version of the Oro.
Which reminded me of sunset eyes, so pretty…
My stomach rumbled, and a sharp ache built, like old, remembered pain. Sweat dotted my brow, and my hands began to shake. High-pitched shrieks echoed in my mind. I doubled over; my insides burned. I heaved. A golden glob of mucous flew out of my mouth onto the floor.
“Bien, eso es simplemente genial.Just great! Now she’s throwing up. I amnotcleaning that up. Nuh uh, not doing—” Nieve gasped. “What the hell is that?”
Tiny, multi-legged crab spiders crawled out of cracks in the mountain walls. They swarmed the vomit, and in seconds, the mess was gone. Just as quickly, they skittered back away to the bowels of hell.
I blinked up at Nieve like,Can you believe that shit?
Neither of us spoke. We just sat, stunned, for long minutes.
“You okay?” Nieve finally asked.
“Guuuhhh.”Never better.Old habits died hard. Even if I couldn’t speak, I’d never let my guard down in front of my arch-enemy. So, I made sure to annoy her by smiling aggressively ather. Not my finest moment, but it was too easy to set off the princess’ temper.
“Oh, mygaaaaawd. You’re the worst. I try to be nice, but I can tell by that shit-eater’s grin you said something sarcastic. I hate to break it to you. Your brain is fried. And you look likemierda, too.”
I look like shit?That sounded about right. I nodded and winked to throw her off.
Off to my left, I spotted a tangled mop of hair. Querida’s lifeless eyes came into focus. She clanked two sticks together, sharpening them against each other as if they were her prized throwing knives.
“You’re here, too?” Once again, nothing close to those words whispered past my lips, but Querida nodded as if she understood. For the most part, she appeared the same—coal-black eyes topped by untamed, thick red hair. Maybe wilder than usual and a lot dirtier. Only scattered patches of her peaches-and-cream skin was visible under the dirt.
I wonder who else—“Valentina?Is my sister here?” Terror, as brutal as a knee to the face, shook me. Scrambling to my feet before I remembered my equilibrium was shot, I face-planted into gritty sand. Tears pricked my eyes. “Valentina!”
“Shh! The guards will hear you.” Nieve ran over and sat on my back. When I wouldn’t shut up, she grabbed the back of my head and shoved my face in the dirt. “You’ll get us punished.”
“Hermana,” I screamed.
“Why is she screaming?” Nieve tried to cover my mouth, dodging my sharp teeth.
“She wants her sister,” Querida said, her voice as calm and soothing as dark rum.
I stilled, stunned into silence by the softly spoken sentence. I’d nevereverheard Querida speak four whole words in a row.Ever.The psychopath usually sat in a corner, silently watching.
I tried to buck Nieve off my back when I caught a glimpse of a lump behind me, a body crumpled and discarded in the corner of the room. I froze, every part of me dead, even my heart, as I looked at the frail form. Valentina? I dug my nails into Nieve’s leg until she yelped and jumped up. I crawled toward the lump, my uncoordinated limbs making the few feet feel like miles.
“Hera, wait. Don’t!”
A flimsy piece of material covered the lifeless figure. I pulled it off and saw blonde hair. Fair skin. Not Valentina, not her,not her… I collapsed into the dirt.
“That’s the newbie. She didn’t make it.” Nieve hung her head and whispered, “We didn’t think you would, either.”
