The Devil's Smile

Chapter 28

I can't believe I hugged those assholes. Half-muttered curses spilled from me. I hugged them. Stupid cursors. They should have known that they were just bad luck with the surname like that cursed. Just like my life.

Strong arms wrapped around me behind and I found my body lifted up from the ground and spun around until I was staring at Yeti. His hugeness engulfed me the strength in his grip almost too much for my poor little heart.

“No one ever hugged us for no reason.” His voice was like a whispered carress across my body. Like the sweetest most seductive breeze ever no one ever gives themselves without expecting something in return. “You honoured us little dirt dweller.”

Wow! Back handed compliment much? He had been waiting for me to hug him and I hadn't. That kind of hurt my heart and I had to lift my arms and looked them around his neck even though he had half insulted me. I had to squeeze him towards me to try and eat some of his hardness in his cold case. My body softened against him and I felt some of his anger eaves.

This was all insanity. All of it. That I could be so forward with any boy let alone a God blessed Demi God was crazy. But here we were.

Hugging.

in elysium.

Shit may be I was already dead and this was helpful stop note that I said hell there. Definitely not heaven. Even if it felt a little bit like heaven.

Yeti’s huge body rumbled beneath me and then energy drifted from him towards me. it was warm. Then in a flash I was back on my feet. I found myself feeling a little bit bereft. He strode away. I stared after him not sure what had just happened.

“We won't let you die, Charmaine,” Cronas distracted me, and I flinched back at the look on his face. He wore his hard, carved from granite face which was ten types of scary. I associated it with the trying to shoot me with a crossbow incident. “We need you to help us and then we will make sure that no one at Godville will mess with you again.”

Sucking in deeply I tried together up every iota bravery inside me. I had like a teaspoon so far. The cursors were not giving me much of a choice but they were at least making it worth my while. If I managed to do this for them I wouldn't be getting sentenced to death by sacrifice anytime soon by the Godville teachers. And I appreciate it Cronas’s promise that they wouldn't let me die here in Elysium. It showed that they didn't think of me as completely expendable only like a little bit expendable may be like 50%.

I know it had a few times the lightest of breezes ruffling my curls. “OK I will try my best. Just remember that even though they might not be able to sense my energy I am still clumsy. I mean things sometimes happen around me. Things that aren't very inconspicuous. Like bleeding injuries and shattered valuables. So I can't promise anything.” My bravery was almost a tablespoon now so I asked. “What do the gods have of yours? What am I getting back?”

The others glanced at Yeti as though he had magically persuaded me to cooperate. He met their stares with a smirk twisting his lips but silence was the one who spoke.

“It is just a little cup nothing serious. Well nothing serious to DoD but it is very serious to us. DoD took it the last time he was in Vandelay for the monthly tournament. He won't even realise it's gone if we take it now.”

“And who the hell is DoD?” I asked.

“He is a God,” Silas replied as though I should have already known and well as seen that we were in elysium.

“I gathered that much.” I deadpanned. “But which god?”

“You wouldn't even know if I told you.” Silas suddenly in front of me tapping against the side of my head. “You were getting stitches the day they taught the dwellers about DoD.”

I frowned, and not because he was insulting me again, but because he may have been right. There was every chance that I had no idea who the hell DoD was because of one of my many medical emergencies.

“So where is luseeu then?” I turned, looking up at one of the marble platforms. “And will we be done before dinner? I am starving.”

“She is starving,” Silas repeated, shaking his head.

“You will have to go through another pocket to get there.” Cronas stepped up behind me, his hand shaping to the curve of my spine, his softly spoken words sounding just a little bit frightening. “I am going to push you through and then you will on Luseeu’s main platform. One of the gods hosts a feast there every day without fail…”

“Yay! Feast..”

“And,” Cronas cut across me his hand always pressing harder,” the cup is always at his side. You won’t be able to miss him; he will be wearing purple. It is his colour..”

“His God colour?”

“One more thing.” Cronas completely ignored my question, stepping up so that the heat of the body hovered right behind me. He ducked his head, his words whispering over the sweep of my neck,” this is going to hurt.’

And then he pushed.

The world around me shifted once again closing in around me and then opening up revealing open blue sky above me and smooth rose tinted marble beneath me. I was on my knees having landed hard against the marble. Ouch. Not kidding at all about the hurting part full I glanced at my shoulder and saw that I was on the very age of one of the floating platforms. Below was miles and miles of sky and below that was a snow capped mountain with a pine covered base. The mountain itself was some kind of Onyx stone. Nothing that I recognised. I got to crawling away from the age and then pulling up to my feet. Those bastard Demi gods.

“We won't let you die, Charmaine.” I rose up brushing off my boy clothes and shoving my hair out of my face. “We will just teleport you on to a platform in the sky where you are definitely going to die while we wait in our little safety cave.”

“Excuse me?” Voice piped up to my left.

I turned my head and promptly shrieked. The thing wasn't entirely human but it certainly wasn't a God. It was almost naked except of some kind of weird skin suit that covered as much as ordinary underwear root cover before stretching up over the stomach an over chest and then separating into straps to go over the shoulders. I could see the general shape of everything. I wanted to cover my eyes just to be polite but the thing had a face that didn't really allow you to look away. There was a nose but he didn't seem to be breathing. There was a mouth but I couldn't see any teeth. It had eyes but there was a strange waxy texture to them.

“What the hell are you?” I hissed, before I could even think of a more sensitive way to ask the question.

“I am a server,” the thing replied. “My name is Jeff.”

I blinked my eyes moving to Jeffs strange covering. “No offence Jeff but I'm pretty sure you are a chick.”

“A chick?” Jeff c****d her head to the side blinking that waxy gaze. “I am sorry sacred one. I do not understand.”

I fluttered out a laugh, “sacred one?”

“Yes sacred one. I'm a server and you are a sacred one. I was made to serve the sacred ones of Elysium by the sacred creator.”

“Way too many proper titles in there,” I muttered. “So you are like a servant? And you are not real? You can't push me off this platform if I do something stupid?”

Jeff made a mechanical gasping sound. I took that as I no.

“So why did he name you Jeff?” I asked to trying to wipe the look of shock of her waxy face.

“The names are distributed at random,” Jeff answered. “It doesn't matter as long they have a name to call when they require something.”

“I require something.”

“How may I assist you sacred one?”

I looked up to her head noting that the creator hadn't bothered to give her any hair at all. She was all smooth and bald and freaky.

“I need a cap. Something to cover my hair. And whatever the hell it is your wearing. I need that.”

Jeff let out another mechanical gasp. I set rocking back on my heels to wait it out. Eventually she jerked herself onto a short bow and then turned and walked away presumably looking for a cab. I doubted that any other Jeffs were wearing caps but they could just assume that someone had put it on me as a joke because they definitely made jokes out of those things right? Maybe that's what really happened to dwellers when they died. Maybe they turned into semi naked Elysium serving robots. That was worse than the hell we were all supposed to be going to.

I will still pondering the living hell in front of me and the promised help for the dead that I had always grown up believing in win Jeff returned a cap in her hand. By talked my hair away while she pulled off her covering handing it over to me. I pulled my boy clothes off and changed into the skin thing casting down a very quick glance down.

“Motherfreaking Gods,” I grumbled. “why am I doing always embarrassing things with my n*****s showing?”

Cue mechanical gasp.

“Don't worry,” I told Jeff handling my clothes over to her. She stared at them and then dropped them evidently preferring to be naked. “I say stuff like that sometimes. I am the God of embarrassment.”

she frowned. “Sacred Lume is the God of shame, sacred one.”

“Did I say shame?” I shook my head at her. “Honestly Jeff it's like your head is full of empty air and proper titles.” Raised hand cutting off the mechanical gasps. “I need to find a cup now. can you help me?”

“I will fetch a cup sacred one.”

I caught her before she could disappear again. “Hold up. It's a specific cup. Is there someone here called DoD who has a cup?”

Jeff shook her head. her waxy face was twisting in a particular way. I thought it was concerned.

“Well are there any special damn cups here?”

“Sacred Moras has a cup. The trophy of Sepul.”

That name. Moras. It was familiar to me but I had no idea why. I also particularly did not care.

“okay great. where's that?”

“Sacred moras always has it with him always by his side.”

“And sacred Moras is where?”

“Eating.” Jeff pointed to the site of marble columns leading further into the centre of the platform.

I took off weaving through the sky high columns towards the sound of tinkling music and conversation full there were many columns set beneath the taller ones acting as plant stands to cradle fine like things that were sneaking out to try and smaller everything in their path. They had even spilled from the columns to spread over the marble beneath my feet stop eventually I began to see other people bootstrap robot servers in similar bear coverings and then.

Gods.