Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

Author:Aiden Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

CHAPTER 13

XIO

Xio stalked down the stairs, his footsteps echoing off the cold stone walls. He had a woven basket full of meager food, small cups, and a jug of water. The last place he wanted to be was in the dungeon with the Golds, but it was his duty to tend to the prisoners. Or, as Venganza put it, make sure they’re still breathing.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, voices floated down the tunnel.

“Stay awake, Marino!” Atzi urged.

Marino’s weak voice trembled. “Is … is Dezi okay?”

Xio hesitated and peered around the corner into the dimly lit hall. The flickering torchlight cast eerie shadows on the Golds huddled in the dark.

Marino was on his back in the middle of his cell. His eyes were barely open, and his chest rose and fell in shallow, labored breaths. Xio wondered if Marino had moved at all since the last time he was down there.

“Of course he is,” Xochi told Marino, even though she was in the cell directly next to Dezi’s and thus unable to see him. She was pressed against their shared wall again, tapping her fingers experimentally against the cement. “You just worry about yourself for now, all right?”

Curiosity piqued, Xio slid inside the corridor, pressing against the wall to avoid being seen.

Auristela muttered something in response that Xio couldn’t make out. He watched as Xochi rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed, but replied with a surprisingly gentle “Okay, Auristela.”

“I miss the cubs,” Ocelo said miserably, kneading their balled-up cape in their lap. Their roots were growing out, leaving a shadow beneath the dyed jaguar spots of their buzzed hair. “I was teaching them how to swim before we left for the trials.”

Xio had a hard time picturing Ocelo gently guiding jaguar cubs into a pool of water. It was a stark contrast to the angry, violent Ocelo that Xio knew.

“I’m sure you’re a wonderful teacher,” Xochi reassured them.

“Maybe,” Ocelo conceded, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of their mouth. “But it doesn’t matter now, does it? They won’t remember me, and I’ll never see them again.”

“Hey,” Atzi interjected, crouched against the glass wall of her cell. “That’s not true. We’ll find a way out of here, and you’ll be reunited with the cubs. You’ll teach them how to swim again and, I don’t know, whatever else baby jaguars learn how to do—”

“Yeah, like maiming,” Auristela offered.

That seemed to cheer Ocelo up a little bit.

The sight of the once proud Golds, now reduced to pitiful, weakened versions of themselves, should’ve been invigorating. These were the people Xio had been taught to despise—the embodiment of what Xio hated about Reino del Sol—but all he saw now was suffering and vulnerability.

It was hard for Xio to even look at them in such a sorry state. This didn’t feel like getting retribution against bullies. It felt like kicking an injured dog.

“Who’s there?” Atzi’s sharp voice sliced through the heavy silence, her eyes narrowing as she caught sight of Xio’s silhouette in the darkness.

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