Asunder: A Gathering of Chaos by Cameron Hopkin (children's ebooks free online .txt) 📕

the floods of people streaming up its gangways and into the heart of the beast. The great sea serpent skull gazed down over the Coliseum walls like the specter of death, but the throngs were buzzing with excitement and the call of the vendors gave the day a carnival kind of air. “It’s crazy, and we’re crazy. You’re crazy. How can you be sure that… those…” She gestured in his general direction, unable to formulate the right words. “I mean, that you won’t get hurt?”

He gave her a confident smile. Light blind me, even his teeth are nice. How does a Pacari rhino boy end up with good teeth? “Getting hurt is a part of life. You shouldn’t fear it. That’s how we learn.” He seemed entirely too at peace with the madness Renna had laid out for them.

She hitched her cloak tighter, giving him a sour look. “Yeah? What are you supposed to learn from all this?”

“How to steal a chaos wielder,” he responded with winning smile. “Or, failing that, how to deal with a bad belly ache for a few hours.” He rubbed his stomach. “I’ve felt better, I have to tell you.”

She took a step back. “Are you all right? Can you hold it?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

Nira barked a laugh. “Worry? No, of course not!” She jerked her chin at the Coliseum. “And why is it that she is in there sitting with the crowd while the rest of us are in serious danger of getting spears in our guts?” The thought of the skinny Weaver relaxing in her seat watching the games with a smug little smile made Nira furious.

Nearly every day she thought about leaving – just running away and letting these other stew-brained morons sort out their own problems. Renna gave her nothing but abuse. Gamarron was all right, but she didn’t owe him anything. Nevertheless, she stayed and let herself get roped into some mad quest for the king of the savages. She told herself that it was the chance to be involved in something important or maybe to learn more about what she could do… but those sounded like lies even when she didn’t say them aloud. She didn’t like thinking about it.

“Someone has to place the bets,” Kest reasoned. “He says we need the money, and Renna seems like a good choice. She’ll demand the best odds, and with her being a Hand, the bookmakers will give them. And like I said, it’s not as if she could do your part.” He gestured to her, still huddled under her scant cloak, and she thought her ears might burn right off from the heat of her blush. “Nor mine, for that matter. And the Sky Islander… well, only he can do his part.” He shook his head. “If it’s possible.”

Nira shared his doubt, and she opened her mouth to pick that bone apart. But then a roar went up from the stadium that sounded like a thousand angry giants just over the horizon – demanding, bloodthirsty, and joyous. From this vantage one could almost imagine that it was the long-dead serpent of the Coliseum roaring its challenge. The crowds on the street were thinning, and the stragglers picked up their steps. No one wanted to miss the fun. Nira’s stomach did a flip inside her.

“There it is,” Kest said. He had the gall to look excited. “Are you ready?”

She took a deep breath. “No. But let’s go.”

He gave her an approving nod and strode down the walkway away from the stadium. Nira noted with alarm just how pleased she was to get that nod. Don’t be stupid. You’re already mixed up with murderers and idiots – the last thing you need is to be mooning after some one-eyed beast boy. Even one that looks like that. The view from behind him was not unpleasant. Stop it!

She hurried her steps and caught up with him. “You’re sure you can control it? I mean, make it, uh… happen… when you want?”

He nodded. “Renna gave me the trick of it. There’s a spot on the roof of my mouth, right back where it goes soft, you know? I press the tip of my tongue hard just in front of that, off to right, and…” he put one hand to his mouth and threw it forward, spreading the fingers and letting it fall. “It will work. Her things work.”

Nira shrugged skeptically. The Hand’s little tricks did indeed work as advertised, sometimes even better, but they were not without cost. “Are you still seeing red?” she asked. Both of them had been the beneficiaries of Renna’s miraculous boneknit seeds, and she recalled how the sun had dimmed crimson in her sight for weeks afterward.

“A little,” he admitted, unruffled. “A small price to be whole so quickly.” He’d been on his feet less than four days after losing his eye. He hadn’t spoken of the terrible injury even once. If she hadn’t noticed him worrying at the empty space under his eye patch so often, she might have thought it didn’t bother him. Kest turned his good eye on her. “And you? Can you manage your end of it? Everything else is wet dung on the fire otherwise.”

Nira wanted to say yes, but her mouth was suddenly dry. The thought of cozying up to some randy stranger was nauseating, and beyond that, she knew that the slightest wrong move could kill her. Not just me. Shadow and smoke, if I say the wrong thing or even get this kid Guyrin too excited, half the city could go up in ball of fire. She had argued again and again for a different role, but everyone else had agreed that this was the place for her. Still holding her cloak shut with one hand, she dipped a finger into her cleavage with the other hand, checking on the little packet hidden there. She wasn’t used to being able to store things there, but the tight, shiny blouse