House of Vultures - Maggie Claire (epub read online books .TXT) 📗

“Drop something downthere.” Panther grits his teeth as his arms begin to tremble. “Oh,yes, don’t hurry or anything. I’ve got all day,” he mouths when Isearch my pockets for something to sacrifice to thedarkness.

“You’re the one coming upwith bright ideas only after you’re already hanging in midair, sodon’t go smarting off to me! Headlong fool,” I mumble as I toss astray copper coin from my shirt pocket. It strikes the cavern floorquickly, and I watch Panther nod to himself as if deciding his nextmove.

“Don’t jump until I callyou, okay?” are his last words before he drops into the maw of thePith. A scream tears at my throat like a ravenous beast clawing itsway to a feast. The only thing that staves its hunger is when Ihear Panther’s voice bellow. “Anytime now, Mynah!”

“Were you hurt?” I inquireas I peer into the shadows below me.

“If I was, do you thinkI’d be telling you to jump?” Panther barks back at me, his voiceradiating off the walls so that the sound reaching my ears soundslike a shrieking ghost warding off intruders.

You have to do this, sopull yourself together! My breath quickensas my feet dangle over the edge. My eyes clench tight as I prepareto hurl myself into the unknown. I willnot scream, I promise myself.One short fall and it’s over. I can dothis. With a deep breath, I roll off intothe dark. The air lodges in my throat, unable to expel and at thesame time, unable to fully reach my lungs. I am in suspension. Theonly thing moving is my hair as I hurtle toward the rocks. My mouthis frozen in a tight grimace.

I am astonished even more when Panthercatches me without trouble. He snags me out of the air as easily asif he’s catching the last blooming flower cascading down from thehighest tree branches on a breeze. Panther sets me nimbly onto thestony floor of the cave, and only then does my voicereturn.

“Why didn’t you saysomething about your age sooner? We’ve spent all this time treatingyou like a child!” What other things haveyou kept from me? I wonder as my eyes adjust to the shadows.

Panther does not get the chance toanswer as a terrifying rumble echoes through the cave,reverberating so strongly against the walls that sand drifts downfrom the top side of the Pith with the vibration.

“What do we do? How do weget out of this hole?” I search the ground fruitlessly for aweapon. Nothing seems sturdy enough to attack whatever beast canmake that noise.

“Hide!” Panther rasps ashe drags me into the wall. A huge shape lumbers toward us, pausingat the edge of a tunnel across the expanse of the cavern. I can seeits giant head swivel as it surveys the room before it disappearsback down the way that it had come.

“What is that?” I eke outthrough chattering teeth after the creature has longdisappeared.

“A sign that my people areright,” Panther mutters grimly, turning on me with a kick to myribs. The sudden attack startles me, the force of the blow knockingme flat against the ground floor. Panther lands with a knee to mychest, a hand tightly grasping my throat. “What do you know aboutthis place really, Mynah? Tell me everything!”

I choke as I fail tospeak, my cheeks growing hot as I sputter. Get off me, I scream through mymind, but his hand clings to my neck. The bond I had believed couldnot be broken between our thoughts disappears as easily as thebreaking of a tiny tree branch.

Panther chuckles, twisting his headfrom side to side as if he is finally free of a noose around hisneck. “Your little mind connection is amateur. My people have longmastered mind control and learned to overcome it.”

“Why?” Spots leave theirdark prints on my line of sight. I cannot finish my thought outloud as my lack of air steals my voice.

“Why make you think thatyou had control?” Panther whispers with a gleam in his eye. “To getyou to lower your guard. I didn’t tell you my age because I wantedyou to think I was a child. I wanted you to treat me as if I washelpless, all to get you to feel comfortable around me. I wanted tolearn about your people and find your weaknesses. To gain yourtrust until I could get what I truly want.”

In his rant, Panther rolls slightlyonto his heels, freeing my chest long enough for a full breath ofair to alleviate my choking. “I saved you,” I manage to grunt as Igargle on the spit that I cannot swallow.

“Hardly! I purposefullystepped into that trap, hoping that whoever found me would spare mylife. You took one look at me, assumed I was a child, and playedexactly into my hand. So, do not try to guilt me.” He slams my headonce into the stone floor, and I feel my neck creak at the awkwardangle.

“Priest,” I attempt onemore argument, feeling my stomach plummet to my toes when he scoffsat me.

“Priests in my land arethe most cutthroat of them all. We’re not afraid of pain, even ourown. What’s a little suffering if it brings you closer to what youtruly desire? Everything you assumed about me is wrong, and foryour blindness, you will die. Who’s naïve now, littlefool?”

A roar radiates right above our heads,and it’s the only thing that gets Panther to loosen his grip on me.He scrambles to the wall while I gasp and choke for air, writhingon the floor as I recover.

“I thought I smelled yourkind. What are you doing here?” The voice is deep and distinctlyfemale. Tilting my head skyward, I gaze into a silver, shimmeringeye about the size of a dinner plate. The creature’s nostrils flarein anger at my silence, smoke wisping around its head as it snortsloudly.

Panther steps out of the shadows, handraised in surrender. “We’re here to—”

“I do not speak to you!”The creature screeches as its face whips toward Panther. “I carenothing for those who would hurt another to gain what theywant.”

I almost laugh as Panther struggleswith the beast’s answer, but I notice those silver eyes glowing atme, and I find