Pinehurst: A Magical Olympian Adventure-Young Adult Romantic Adventure/Fantasy Novel (23 page)

“Well, I want it. Besides, it would look much better on me then it does you.”

She really was an impossible little monster at times. “It won’t even fit you.” I had my hands on my hips now, giving her a haughty look.

“I’ll wear it around my other wrist.” She smiled like it was a done deal.

“Forget it Havoc, it ain’t happening.”

“Do you want your boyfriend or not?” She’d folded her arms, mimicking me.

Antonio motioned for me to give her the ring.

“Oh, that’s easy for you. She’s not stripping you of every valuable
you’ve
got.”

“Oh lighten up, Child of Light. You should thank me. It’s not like I’m asking for your pink underwear. If we were the same size—”

“Alright!” Antonio jumped up, his cheeks flushed with rose. “Could we please focus on the problem at hand?” He sounded flustered–at the mention of pink underwear?

“Evie!”

“Fine! But you better have a good plan. And you don’t get it until we have Roland.
And
we’re safely away from your little . . .
friends
.” I motioned towards the direction of the Pixie’s cave.

“Then it’s a trade?” Her beady little eyes fixed on my sapphire and diamond ring. I could feel her mentally ripping it off my finger. The little beast would probably nibble it off if she could.

“It’s a trade,” I growled through gritted teeth.

Havoc smiled satisfactorily. “It’s easy. Simply offer them something to trade.”

Antonio and I looked at one another, and then to Havoc, and then at one another again.

“That’s your plan?” There was no way she was getting my ring. “And just what are we supposed to trade with hundreds of pixies? I’m not the Queen of Sheba you know!” Visions of countless pixies raiding my jewelry box played disturbingly in my head.

“Stupid, Child of Light. Do I have to spell out everything for you?” She tsked. “Trade them for the one thing that is most valuable to them.” She waited for my golden moment of realization. Unfortunately, she’d be waiting awhile. “Their life!” she blurted out.

If I weren’t so confused, I’d yell at her for the “stupid” remark. As it was . . .

“Interesting?” Antonio cupped his chin, deliberating.

Interesting my ass, Havoc couldn’t come up with a good idea if it whacked her in the face. Now
that
was an interesting idea! Maybe I should—

“Evie.” Antonio cut my musings short. “Can you not think of one way you might threaten the pixies . . . have them begging for their lives as a trade?”

“Exactly,” Havoc exclaimed, her eyes still admiring my ring.

I thought about that. “I suppose I could threaten to turn them to stone like I did the Ragno’s?”

“No! You’re not turning my friends to stone. You said you wouldn’t kill them.” She had me on a technicality.

“How about the Imobla charm?” Antonio suggested.

“No. There are too many of them to hold. Besides, as soon as it wears off, they’ll be after us. She’s right. We need to make a trade that is binding; something that will last.” But what could we do to threaten their lives without actually hurting them, or killing them?

Roland screamed out again.

“How do I look?” I turned to Antonio.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re worried about your appearance?”

Honestly, did he really think I was that shallow? “My eyes,” I clarified. “Are my eyes still red? I don’t want to scare Roland. He might think I’m a demon or something and freak out.”

“They’re fine. They’re blue again.” Antonio's anger seemed to melt away the longer he looked at me; I felt myself blushing under the intensity of his stare.

“Ahem! The task,” Havoc prompted.

Roland had begun a fresh new chorus of screams. I peeked around the rock to see what had provoked him. “Ahahh! Get off me!” A little pixie had me by the nose and was attempting to rip it off my face.

Antonio rushed to my aid. He had just yanked the little varmint from me when a horde of pixies began climbing our legs and covering us in a matter of seconds.

Hundreds? No, there were thousands of them! A little bit of need-to-know information Havoc withheld. They were yanking at our hair and clothing, laughing and jeering wildly at their assumed victory.

For every one I plucked off of me and threw, it was replaced by two more. They came at us from the ground and air, like little insects.

Havoc stayed true to her promise. With all the pulls and little fists of fury beating down on us, I was still able to feel the occasional kick at the ankle. I stomped my feet, secretly hoping I’d step on her little black stilettos.

“Roast them!” A voice shouted over the crowd.

“Yes! Roast them! Roast them!” They began to chant loudly. I could feel my body being pulled and shoved.

Hell no! I was not about to be pixie dinner.

Small rocks began exploding around us. I ducked. Tiny pebbles blasted through the air, pelting
the pixies—and
me. Antonio! He was slowly blowing up one bolder at a time, creating a diversion for us—a painful diversion. How was he doing that?

“You got a better idea?” He yelled over the explosions.

I wish. If I could just blow these little pests off us, we could get to Roland . . .

“That’s it!” I held my hands up toward the ceiling. “
Anemos
!” And just like that, a strong wind ripped around us. I’d created a mini tornado, moving it through the cavern, across Roland’s fire, distinguishing it. It whipped around and around, knocking the little beasts through the air like dust particles; forcing them to take shelter in small holes and cracks in the walls.

Antonio grabbed my waist and pulled me through the windstorm. We made our way slowly over to Roland, and untied him. He fell to the ground with a thud.

“Roland!
Are . . . you . . . okay
?” I shouted over the wind. I couldn’t release the charm. I didn’t want to take a chance of being overrun by pixie’s again.

Roland stood on shaky legs. His arms wound around me, seeking support.

“Evie? How did you find me?” His baby blues sparkled like wet diamonds. I’d guessed he’d been crying not long ago.

Antonio rolled his eyes at him.

I was about to answer Roland when his lips took mine. He’d found his strength somehow, holding me to him, and passionately thanking me for saving his life.

Somewhere between shock and passing out, I managed to pull back, gasping for air. “You're welcome,” I breathed. Then blushed.

“We’d better go,” Antonio pointed out harshly.

Antonio! I’d forgotten about Antonio. Oh God. He’d witnessed that assault on my lips. His eyes were not that pool of chocolate I’d dreamt of drinking. They were darker, blacker. His fury was unmistakable.

But, he couldn’t be mad at me? I didn’t kiss Roland he’d kissed me! True, I didn’t jerk away from him, or slap his face for being so bold. He’d surprised me. And I was still trying to control a mini tornado for crap sake! And there was that little bit of confusion as to whether or not Roland thought he was still my sort-of-boyfriend. Technically that had never been agreed upon. But by the kiss Roland just planted on me . . . I'd say he thought so.

Without a backward glance, Antonio stormed off toward an opening, away from the pixie’s den. I watched him go for a moment before I pulled Roland along. He’d laced his fingers with mine ages ago, a sight Antonio had not failed to notice. Damn if this didn't complicate things. At least he wasn’t a gargoyle anymore!

Antonio cut me a sharp look.

I looked away, pretending not to see.

Havoc was waiting for us around the bend, motioning us to hurry. I owed her a few kicks in the leg from her show of loyalty to her friends. Honestly, like they would have noticed she wasn’t in on the brawl. I swore I could feel a bruise on my ankle already.

“We're almost to your dad,” she said over her shoulder. That would be her saving grace. Only the knowledge that my dad was close by could have distracted me from planning her demise.

I came to a skidding halt, courtesy of Roland who’d stopped in his tracks, grabbed my arm and yanked me back into him.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

Antonio had spun around. His eyes, vigilantly searching our close quarters, settled on Roland.

“We can’t go that way. The Daimonas are down there.” Roland looked scared. I couldn’t help but feel for the guy. I couldn’t imagine what he must have endured.

“Here. I’m not that good with it anyway.” I handed him my staff, hoping the weapon would give him a sense of security.

He took it from me, staring at it for a moment before his eyes looked into mine. I could see in the limited light a glassy look about them. “Evie, how did you find me?”

Now, really was not the time for questions but I knew by the look on Roland’s face, he couldn’t move on unless he had a few answers. Where to begin . . .

“Okay, listen, I heard from Havoc here that my dad had been captured and taken to Hell. Then, you turned into a gargoyle during third period biology, and tried to kill me. Only it wasn’t you, but we didn’t know that at the time. So Antonio had to stab you in the head with his staff. Sorry.” I winced at the horrified expression on Roland’s face. His eyes flickered to Antonio who still looked as if he could stab Roland all over again.

“Only Antonio didn’t really kill
you
, it was
gargoyle
you!” I interjected quickly—like this would somehow soften the blow. “But we didn’t know that either. By the way, when you kissed me at school in The Kitchen that was you, right? I mean, you weren’t a gargoyle then, were you? Anyway, Ms. Leech is a Daimonas, and Gunny is totally going to kick your ass for getting captured.”

“What in the hell?” Roland looked at me like my head was whipping around my neck.

I knew exactly how he felt. I unfortunately continued. “Havoc opened a porthole into the Underworld. We fought snakes, a swamp troll, and had to sleep all night in a tree so we wouldn’t get eaten by Borgons—who by the way are flesh eating rats! Ms. Powell should have totally covered that in class.” I rolled my eyes at the lack of information in that school.

“Anyway, we entered Hell, turned Ragnos to stone, and froze the River of Souls to get across so that we could rescue you from the pixies. I didn’t even know you were here until a few hours ago.” I panted now, having updated him on the whole adventure thus far. “Now we’re going to fight the Daimonas and rescue my dad. I was hoping to be home for dinner.” I looked toward the others. Antonio and Havoc shared the same vacant expression. Geez! You’d think they’d just heard this story for the first time instead of having lived it.

“Roland?” I waved my hand in front of his face a few times. He looked petrified. I glanced at Antonio. His expression was completely unreadable.

“Ow!” Roland grabbed his ankle and began hopping up and down on one foot. “What did you do that for?” He snapped angrily at Havoc. “She bit me!”

“Just making sure you’re still with us.” Havoc smiled meekly.

“Are you up to this, Vandenberg?” Antonio addressed Roland with what sounded like a challenging tone.

“Sure. Fight Daimonas, rescue Evie’s dad.” He said this like he was reading a grocery list. “No problem.”

“Okay then. Let’s do this.” I moved past the boys and fell into step with Havoc. Who, by the way had a cat-licking-cream expression upon her face. She looked way too pleased . . . why?

“What’s the plan, Child of Light? You intend to date the one that lives?”

“No!” How rude! I didn’t know
what
I was going to do actually. I didn’t want to hurt Roland. It wasn’t his fault he’d turned into a gargoyle. But dang! I’d only agreed to go to a dance with the guy. We kissed like once. We even held hands on occasion. But we’d never said we were going steady . . . and that was before he’d turned into a gargoyle! I think? God. When had my life turned into such a flaming nightmare? I still had to find a way to free Antonio. He was not spending the rest of eternity here. No way.

Do not even think it.

Damn. Was anything private anymore?

“Evie.” Roland reached forward, taking my arm once again. “Maybe you should stand behind me. I don’t want you up front if a Daimonas attacks.”

Aw!

“She can handle herself,” Antonio spoke up, quickening his stride to match mine.

“I don’t care if she can handle herself,” Roland’s voice raised an octave. “She’s
my
girlfriend and I don’t want her up front. It’s too dangerous.”

“Isn’t that
sweet
,” Havoc squealed. “I could just eat him up.”

Roland flinched, the statement apparently hitting a little too close to home.

“I’ll be fine. I’d rather something happened to me than to any of you.” Well, except for maybe Havoc. She was sticking her tongue out at me. “After all, it’s my fault you’re all here.”

Roland moved up anyway, flanking my other side. The testosterone levels around me were raging. The two guys eyed each other, like roosters, sizing the other up—
unbelievable!

“So Vasques, what are
you
doing here?” Roland tried to make the question sound casual—but the husky tone he sported countered that.

“Evie needed me.” His answer: short and sweet. No elaboration what so ever. Roland was going to have to work for information.

“Well, she’s got me now.” Roland wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side. “Stay close, I’ll look after you.” He winked, then leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

I could feel the heat radiating off Antonio. I brushed my arm against his . . . oh so gently . . .

The pompous ass! If he doesn’t remove his arm from her right now, I’m going to rip it off. I should have let the pixies roast him! I think I’ll rip his lips off too! Do the female population a favor—

I moved my arm away, my whole body instantly flushing. So that’s how Antonio felt about Roland cozying up to me. Interesting…

* * *

We made our way if you can believe it, further into the depths of Hell. The path twisting and winding as we descended. The air: getting hotter and hotter as we neared its center. I could feel my skin drying out with each step. Not to mention my mouth. I felt like I’d just been sucking on a cotton ball for the past hour.

“Hey, you think you could kick up that wind storm again,” Havoc panted as she fanned herself with . . . a
fifty
-dollar bill?

“Hey! Did you take that from my bag?”

“Like you need it here,” she called over her shoulder.

I frowned. “You couldn’t have used a one or a five?”

She snorted: “As if that would have worked as good. It isn’t worth as much.”

I rolled my eyes. Conversations with Havoc could be extremely painful at times. Pixie logic made me want to scream!

Distant shrieks of pain echoed through the darkness. I found myself gripping onto Antonio’s forearm. He pulled me from Roland and wound his arm around me protectively. Even in this extreme heat, Antonio managed to smell amazing.

“Damned souls,” Havoc breathed. “You’d think I’d be used to their screaming by now.” She held her chest for a moment then walked on.

Roland was close behind her. Despite my protests, he’d insisted that he walk ahead of me. It was kind of . . . sweet.

“Ow!” I narrowed my eyes at Antonio. He’d purposely elbowed me.

“What is it?” Roland turned to shine a flashlight I’d given him at me, nailing me right in the eye.

“Hey!” I shielded my face with my hands.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” He stepped closer for a better look

“Nothing,” I squinted. “Get that light away. And keep moving!” I pushed past him, avoiding his stare. I didn’t need the flashlight to see anyway. Why didn’t I need a flashlight to see? What was
happening
to me? And why were my eyes red again?

“Were getting closer,” Havoc warned. “I wish Chaos was here.”

“Call me cautious, but do we really want someone named Chaos helping us?” I cringed at the thought. Havoc was bad enough.

From my lips to Satan’s ears, our worst nightmare—well maybe not the worst, but definitely a contender—Chaos appeared.

“You wished my lady?” A little man with a trimmed red beard stood before us. He looked every bit as filthy as Havoc did the first time I’d seen her. He wore little pants, and a tailored coat, both black with ash and dirt. He smiled at Havoc. “Nice outfit!”

She beamed while twirling around for him.

“Your boyfriend’s a Leprechaun?” I whispered as close to her as I could.

“I’m not a bloody Leprechaun, Mageian!” He barked “
Mageian
” like he’d just said something foul.

Antonio stepped beside me, ready to swat the little beast if need be.

“Sorry. It must be the knickers,” I snorted, trying to suppress a laugh. “And the beard. If you only had a hat—”

“Alright! I get the point.” He cut me a look that screamed shut-up or else.

“Everyone . . .
this
is Chaos.” Havoc stood beside her kind-of-man with pride. “Isn’t he scrumptious?”

“Yeah, ‘scrumptious.’” Roland eyed Chaos carefully.

“What are you all doing down here?” Chaos grimaced. “It’s dreadfully hot.”

“We’re going to try to rescue the Child of Light’s father,” Havoc admitted casually.

“We’re?” Chaos questioned. “As in, you’re helping them?”

“Well, I . . .” Havoc paused, her eyes dropping a little.

“We’ve traded for her help,” Antonio piped in quickly. “It wasn’t a cheap trade either!” He added, studying the disapproving look on Chaos’ face.

“That’s an understatement,” I added dryly, eyeballing the small fortune Havoc had conned off me. The little brat had so much bling she gave off her own light!

“Well that’s different!” Chaos exclaimed obviously approving of our “arrangement” now.

Havoc gave Antonio a thankful nod.

“So this is the Child of Light, huh?” Chaos spoke to Havoc while eyeing me up and down.
Sizing
me
up and down was more like it. As if he could take me.

Careful Evie,
Antonio warned, taking a step closer to me.
He is a demon above all else.

I knew that. But I didn’t like the way he was talking about me: Like I wasn’t even here. “Uh, the Child of Light has a name,” I interrupted. “I’m Evie.”

Chaos leaned in close to Havoc. “She’s a loud one, isn’t she?”

“How rude!” I glared at the little beast. He was just as annoying as Havoc, maybe more! How could she look at him like that? Like he was her next drink of water!

“Oh, Chaos isn’t rude. He speaks only the truth,” Havoc assured. How dare she? I was
not
loud!