Free Dark Deceit by Lauren Dawes Page A

around him. He was still in
a depression in the earth, the cloying sensation of claustrophobia digging its
fingers into the back of his neck. Above him, all he could see was a great
expanse of pale blue sky and many steps bearing down on him, blocking his path.
The air he drew into his lungs was hot and dry.
    Oh, how the world had changed.
    After testing the steps, he found them to be built strong. It took
him a long time to climb them, the process exhausting his already weakened body.
With shaking legs, he finally made it to the top and slumped down to rest for a
moment when the sound of heavy footsteps approached.
    Too tired to care, Loki stayed where he was—head bowed, breathing labored, the weight of the new world upon his shoulders.
    ‘I’m sorry, sir, but the caves are closed up for the night. I’m
going to have to ask you to leave.’
    Loki squinted at the man, but said nothing.
    The man put his hands on his hips, looking exasperated. ‘Sir, did
you hear what I said? I’m going to have to ask you to move along.’
    Loki licked his lips. ‘I don’t know where I am,’ he said, his throat
feeling as if he’d swallowed nails.
    The man’s eyes drifted down to Loki’s chest. Loki had put his dead son’s
clothes on his naked body, the cave preserving them somehow. They were torn and
stained, but at least they covered his nakedness. Loki put his arms across his
chest protectively.
    ‘Well, sir, you’re at the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.’
    ‘New...Mexi—’ he began saying slowly, trying the words out.
    ‘New Mexico. The United States,’ the human repeated. He squatted
down next to Loki, frowning under the large brim of his hat. ‘Are you alright,
sir? You don’t look so good.’
    ‘I don’t know how I got here,’ he replied softly.
    The man took off his hat, wiping the sweat that beaded there away
with the back of his hand. He glanced around as if looking for someone.
    ‘You got a car here, sir?’
    ‘Car?’ Loki asked. He frowned, searching his memories. When he’d
taken the flesh of that snake into his body, knowledge had flooded into him. He
didn’t know how, or why, but the word sounded familiar. ‘An automobile?’ he
asked.
    ‘Yeah, an automobile,’ the man repeated with a strange expression on
his face. ‘You got one of those here?’
    Loki shook his head.
    The guy blew out a frustrated breath. ‘Well, how’d you get here
then? With a group? The last group left a few hours ago.’
    ‘I didn’t come with a group.’ Loki’s stomach growled angrily and he
covered the offensive sound with his hands.
    ‘You hungry?’ the man asked. Loki nodded. The man looked around
again, searching. ‘Look, I have to shut the front gates in ten minutes. The
phones don’t work so good out here, so how about I take you back to my place,
and you can call whoever it is you need to call so they can pick you up and
take you home?’
    ‘Home,’ Loki said wistfully. He didn’t have a home anymore. The
glory days of the Aesir were over.
    ‘Yeah, home,’ the human repeated. ‘I’m going to help you stand up
now, okay?’
    ‘Okay.’
    The man hooked an arm under Loki’s armpit and lifted him up easily.
    ‘Dang it, you hardly weigh a thing. Where’d you say you were from
again?’
    ‘I didn’t.’
    The man tipped his hat back, giving Loki the once over. He must have
decided he was non-threatening enough because he began ushering him toward a
large flat space with many lines painted onto the surface. It was called a...
    ‘Parking lot,’ Loki murmured, surprised at his ability to recall the
information.
    ‘Yeah, a parking lot,’ the human muttered. ‘That’s my truck over
there, you see it? The red one? We’ll just take it nice and easy and get you in
the cab, okay?’
    Loki nodded, leaning on the man heavily. It was slow going, but
eventually they made it. Loki sat in the front of the truck while the human
walked around the hood and got into the other seat beside him.
    ‘My name’s