Fall Thru

Best case scenario: I go home and forget this ever happened.
Worst case scenario: Duke, Caster, or the pills kill me.
Climbing off my bike and absently waving bye to Caster, I made my way through the courtyard and to my rooms. I prayed that they were cleaned, because the thought of having to spend the night with Duke’s family let me nauseous. Lying never was my strong suit, but than again being trapped with no alternative wasn’t either.
Best case.
It was what kept my lips firmly sealed. Home seemed like a quick swallow away. The pills were similar to the balls on the dream catcher, the colors and shape a miniature of my home planet. And yes, I realized how desperate I sounded, but God did I miss my family. Talking on the phone had nothing on my mom’s crushing hugs or my dad’s bossy “ chicken’s not going to cook itself.” I could almost feel them through the small universes burning a hole through my back pocket.
Worst case.
Guilt and fear swirled with bile in my esophagus and I swallowed several times, trying my damndest not to focus on all the thing that could go wrong: like the pills burning an actual hole through my pants, Onyx and Sparkle calling to say that the pouch was missing from their son’s room, or the pills turning out to be poison that killed me.
But if none of that happened and the pills continued to exist in the limbo of my jeans, the fact remained that I was impairing the investigation by withholding evidence. Whether the pills did what I thought they did or not, keeping them from Caster could mean that more kids disappeared—could mean a bad guy got away.
“Argh,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose as I pushed aside the tapestry to my room.
Sleep. I needed sleep. A week with a sex demon and no mattress hadn’t exactly been pleasant. If I wasn’t running out of panties, I had a crick in my neck, and if I didn’t have a crick in my neck I was imagining Caster tightening my muscles for an entirely different activity. Twelve hours of sleep and a few episodes of Dance Moms would recombobulate me and help me figure out if I’d really gone crazy or it was just temporary insanity.
I entered my room with a grateful sigh, happy to see the clean walls and lack of water-covered floors. That was until my eyes skipped to the couch, and stayed, glued to Fever sucking horse dick.
Giant.
Horse.
Penis.
“Hey, Tills,” she said, pulling away from the monstrous appendage long enough to get the words out before diving back in. The centaur let out a sound that was part-neigh, part-moan, and all the way gross.
“I’ve been cursed,” I said to myself, moving my fingers to my temple and rubbing. “There’s a Tilly voodoo doll on someone’s shelf being forced to watch scifi porn and I’m trapped in a coma.” The centaur’s hooves stomping on the floor rattled me, and I blinked, bringing the scene back into focus. My new gray suede loveseat and geometric patterned forest green rug were covered in a fine layer of sweat and body fluids. Whoever did the decorating was about to make a buttload because I needed new furniture, a new room, and probably new friends.
“Is the human well?” the centaur asked Fever, panting with his face flushed and muscles strained.
The fire demon spat his dick out, the sound reverberating off the walls and hitting me in the face. “Tils is fine. She’s just a little strange.”
“Says the woman having sex in another person’s room.” Shaking my head, I ask, “Is this normal? I mean, is this what people here usually do here? Because so far, you’ve never had sex in my room.”
“It is not not normal,” she said as she moved to straddle him. “It’s just that your room is cleaner than mine.”
My cheeks burned as my eyes tried to pop out of my head because I was watching the biggest cock I’d ever seen slide into Fever like a hot knife into butter. Stop looking! My mind screamed at me as the fire demon let out a puff of smoke from her nostrils, threw her head back, and purred.
“Join us,” the centaur murmured, drawing my eyes.
He was starting right at me—er, my breasts and my very hard nipples. I slapped my arms across my chest even as horse-man reached out a hand and beckoned for me to come over. My haven't-had-sex-in-over-a-year vagina happily agreed with a wave of cream and a throbbing clit, but there was no way I would fuck a horse. I didn't care if half of him was human or that his voice sounded all husky and desperate, I drew a hard line with anything not human and over seven inches.
Forcing myself to look away (harder said than done with Fever moaning loudly and riding the centaur like he was a bull at a rodeo), I dragged my feet to my staircase and started up. Sleep was battling coming a dozen times in my head, though I knew the second the couple left my fingers were coming to work until I came about a dozen times. Or they cramped. Whichever one.
Halfway up the stairs, the guy came.Yelling. And I had to look. His hooves kicked at the floor and the legs of my couch until something cracked and scraped against the tiles. Fever moved faster until she was a blur of red and brown. I watched my couch and the centaur on it break apart, though the modes of breaking were very different. The body of the couch thumped to the ground, its arms and legs fracturing and moving apart, while the horse-man threw Fever across the broken piece of furniture and mounted her in a move that I’d once seen in a movie.
Looked uncomfortable than and hella uncomfortable now.
A hysterical laugh escaped me, along with my tenuous grip on reality. Fuck best and worst case scenarios, I was on another planet in another solar system watching a creature from Greek fairy tales and a demon from my worst nightmares break my couch with their sexcapades. Some little pills weren’t going to be a magical cure-all to all my issues, because—as I watched the centaur calm and pull out of Fever—there were some things I couldn’t anticipate and a lot I couldn’t control.
“Can you—” I gestured to the mess with a shaking hand. “I don’t even know. Not have sex in my room, not break my furniture, not talk to me while you suck someone off, not cheat on Cherry, not be just, like, breathing right now? If you could melt into a puddle and then vaporize and float out under the tapestry, that would be great.”
Fever frowned as she grabbed her discarded shirt off the still-intact coffee table, and wiped away the purple-tinted goop from he between her legs. It was the kind of cum guys always thought they produced: an actual bucket full. “Tils, are you okay? You’re acting crazy.”
“Oh, this isn’t an act. I’m certifiable.”
“That’s not going to work. Pull yourself together, you have a job to do.”
“What?” I screeched, hurting my own ears. “Fuck you, Fever!”
“Thunder already did that.”
“Oh, grow up!” I snapped, stomping back down the stairs. “You know I have every right to kick your ass right now? If you pulled this shit where I’m from, you’d get a fresh can of whoop-ass followed by a healthy dose of get-the-fuck-out-and-don’t-ever-talk-to-me-again.”
“Silence, human,” the centaur interrupted with an angry growl as he pushed himself off the couch. “Your voice is more shrill than a banshee in labour.”
I turned toward the centaur, trying to remember why I wasn’t kicking both of their asses to kingdom come. Thunder. The name sounded familiar, and as I stared at the long swath of dreaded dark hair, black skin, and cocky smile that seemed an inherent familial trait it came to me: he was Rain’s brother.
“Thunder,” I gritted through my teeth. “Brother to Rain.”
“Second in command to the Chief.” His teeth ground together, jaw cracking with the movement. “You will address him by his title or not speak of him at all.”
“Caster calls him Rain,” I said, deliberately using the new chief's name.
Fever interrupted, moving to stand beside Thunder and lay a hand on his flank, “Caster’s a special case.”
Of course he was. “Why are you here Thunder? It’s not like there are a shortage of rooms in this place, so why screw Fever on my couch in my room.”
“Convenience. I’m here for you.” He drew himself up to his full height, dwarfing me by a few feet. “You are formally invited to the Gathering tonight.”
Gathering? It sounded familiar, and then it hit me. The funeral-party-thing Caster said he wouldn’t go to. And if Caster wasn't going, no way I was going to volunteer myself as sacrifice. “Can’t make it.”
“It was not a request.”
“And I wasn’t giving you a refusal,” I said with a shrug and a glance at the door. “Get out. I’m busy not dancing to the tune of overbearing men.”
Thunder stomped his hooves, puffing out his chest and throwing back his hair in a challenge. “My brother was respectful of your human customs and extended an invitation, but centaurs are known for taking what we want. You will come, Tilly the human. You must decide if it be bound across my back or astride.”
“Dude,” I laughed and shook my head, so done with the conversation I couldn’t even. “Did you just threaten me?”
“I gave you a choice. It is more than you deserve.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to choose my words carefully as Sleep. Sleep now. Sleep forever! ran across my mind. Even though Thunder was a humongous tool, he was still the official envoy for a centaurian chief. And if I learned anything begging for grants and stipends to fund my masters, it was to never piss off people in power. That stuff always came back to bite you in the ass. “As a human who sticks with human culture, I respectfully decline your invitation and nominate Fever in my place. As a fellow record-keeper, Fever is more than prepared to attend the event as a representative of the Magistrate, while I am woefully unqualified.”
“Despite your roundabout way of speaking,” Thunder began, moving closer to me, “I still heard a refusal. That means you’ve chosen the ale option.”
“Thunder, stop,” Fever cut in as the centaur carefully approached me and I shifted to a defensive stance. “Tils, the Gathering is important. You can’t really say no.” She made a move for me to wait when I opened my mouth to interrupt. “Let me put it this way. Thunder will take you there by force and I won’t do a thing to stop him. If that happens, The Magistrate will be upset with you because you would be insulting centaurian customs and refusing to do your job. Are you, or are you not, a record-keeper?”
“Did you forget that I’ve been on a missing person’s case for the past ralph?” I seethed, anger gnawing at me. “Find someone else to do it.”
“He wants you.”
“And as far as I’m concerned that’s not a good thing.” But as I stared at Thunder and Fever, I knew I didn’t have a choice. He would kidnap me, she wouldn’t do a thing to stop him, and at the end I’d be the one looking like a jackass. For every other custom, no matter how weird or cumbersome, I respectfully did what I was told. I was an outsider, and I understood the precarious place I had within this society and the grand scheme of book-keepers. But at a certain point, being the stupid puppy that always came when called got old and tiresome and a little dangerous.
I still had no clue what the Gathering was, or my place within it. Blind. I was going into this event blind, but at least I wasn’t deaf and no way was I going to be defenseless. “Fine. I gladly accept the chief’s invitation. Give me a ale chrome to get ready and—”
“You have ely catch,” Thunder interrupted, walking toward the tapestry.
“Dude that’s not even enough time to get a shower.” Or do some research on the Gathering. “At least give me a chrome.”
He moved the tapestry aside, waiting a moment before turning to look at me over his shoulder. “Click chrome. Or I will throw you over my back and show you a true centaurian invitation.”
Fever followed after him and the minute they were gone I got to work.
***
Thirty minutes later, on the dot, Thunder pushed aside my tapestry door and entered my room like he owned the place.
Jackass.
I’d had barely enough time to shower and dress, let alone fit in a call with Duke. I’d told the vamp-elf that Rain was demanding I go to the Gathering. Screaming like harpies in the background were his daughters, and Duke had gone between yelling at them and threatening me, leaving no room for me to ask any questions about what the Gathering was all about. With a final threat for me not to insult anyone or create a mess he’d have to fix, Duke left to deal with his family.
“Anybody want to tell me what’s going to happen at this Gathering?” I huffed as Thunder strode down the hall toward the back gates. I tried to keep pace, but every time I got close to him, he shot me a look and sped up. Fever stayed behind, near his flank, non-plussed. I looked at her outfit than down at myself. Most funerals called for either black or white depending on the culture, but since I had never been to a funeral on a different planet (go figure), I didn’t want to assume either color and end up insulting someone. Instead of stressing, I’d decided to wear my un-official record-keeper uniform of leather. Did I look like a lazier version of catwoman? In the right light maybe. But I was going to the Gathering in an official work capacity so I figured I might as well dress like that’s what I was doing.
Entering the dark courtyard, I spied my bike in the moonlight and started to head over, but a heavily callused hand stopped me. “You will ride on my back.”
I glanced over my shoulder at thunder before yanking my arm out of his grasp and my shoulder almost out of its socket. “No thanks. I’d rather have my own ride.”
“You insult me,” Thunder growled.
Shrugging, I strode toward my bike. “Well, you’re insulting me. Let’s chalk it up to miscommunication between species and move on. You want me to go to this thing right?”
The centaur puffed his chest out and tried to look as big as possible. “This ‘thing’ is in honor of our last chief, whom mother called home. It is an honor that you were invited at all.”
“And I appreciate that offer,” I sighed, trying to stifle the irritation edging me. “Now can we go?”
He huffed, hoofs beating a statco against the lattice brickwork as I unlocked and climbed onto my bike. Fever hoisted herself onto Thunder’s back and wrapped her arms around his waist. Before my helmet could conform to my head, he was off, anger propelling him further and faster.
I followed, biting back any bitchy commentary as I blinked sleep out of my eyes and tried to remember if the tomb was in my bike or Caster’s. Not like I could check now, but if it wasn’t, it’d be a great excuse to leave early.
Moving closer to Fever and Thunder, I yelled over the wind whipping around us. “So what exactly happens at these Gatherings?”
Thunder answered, “It is a celebration of life. When Mother calls one of us home, we rejoice that she lets another into the world.”
Huh? That basically meant nothing to me. “Oh, okay.” Shooting Fever a look, I tried to convey my total ignorance and the thoughts running through my mind.
She gave me what I think was a smile and leaned as close to me as she could. “Relax Tils.”
I gave up trying to talk to either of them and concentrated on driving over the hills, hands gripped firmly on the handlebars. Even in the dark of night, the drive was beautiful, illuminated by three moons of various color that patterned the world in soft silver, red, and blue light.
We arrived to the village in no time, a bonfire coming to roaring life as we neared the center. I could see creatures of all kinds around the flames, dancing, singing, as instruments I couldn’t identify played a tune that was both lively and sensual in the background. Weird considering someone was dead.
Then the smell hit me, burning flesh mixed with body fluids. I looked deeper into the flames to the charred figure bending into the makeshift table. Holyshit. A scream caught my attention next, and I almost lost control of my bike as my eyes tried to pop out of my head.
That wasn’t dancing.
Thunder raced into the fray as Fever laughed and climbed down to embrace a naked elf who launched herself at the fire demon. A second later, Thunder wrapped a hand around the elf’s waist, spun her around, bent her over, and stuck his dick in her ass. Fever was taken by another centaur a second later, laughing as she spread her legs.
And fuck if I wasn’t freaked out. No, no, no, that’s an understatement. I was at a flat out, real life, boobs and dicks flying everywhere orgy, and that alone warranted more than a little freakout. I’d slowed my bike and was still sitting on the seat, staring at the display when I was grabbed by the hand and tugged away.
It was a young, centaurian girl. She seemed to be the only one fully dressed, wearing lung yellow and blue tunic that came down to her calves. “Welcome,” she bowed, smiling. “Please follow me.”
She led me to a small shrine in front of the pyre. It was the only thing reminding of an Earth funeral, reminding me of pictures I’d seen from Asia. It was modeled like a gate, two or three feet high, built with some kind of stone so it didn't burn in the flames. Carved into the dirt right beneath the arch was a symbol on converging circles, almost like a dozen infinity symbols of varying size filled in with red stuff. I was really hoping it wasn’t blood.
The girl knelt and bent he head to the ground. I did the same, barely feeling the dirt brush my knees and forehead. She mumbled a few words I didn’t catch but at least one was life. Than she made a cutting motion with he hand, holding it over the symbol for me to see. She picked up a knife beside the shrine that I hadn’t even noticed. It was set next to two bowls: one with what looked like fruit and the other with what looked like jello.
The knife was light and smooth in my hand, almost porous. “It is his rib,” the girl explained, looking at the flames. “One that protected his heart. I have cleaned it for you.”
Oh shit. Instinct wanted me to squeal and throw the bone away, but years of etiquette and studying other cultures and what they considered the norm stopped me. This was their practice and as much as it weirded and grossed me out I needed to respect that. Though a part of me was bitter about doing it because Fever didn’t have to do this shit. Cut herself with bone and hold her bleeding hand over some weird ass symbol.
It was over quick though, and I than I was giving the knife back and praying this ended my gathering obligations for the night. Come. Cut yourself at a shrine. Leave. Piece of cake.
The girl took the knife and set it beside the bowls before picking up one bowl and then the other. They were both intricately carved from the same stuff as the shrine. She raised them both to the fire mumbling something about change and life and the great mother. When she turned back to me she nodded to the drink first.
“What is it?” I asked as Don’t drink the kool-aid ran around my head.
“Lament.”
And that helped not at all. “I mean what’s in it? It’s not like the old chief's blood or tears or something?” I was willing to go far for Duke and the record-keepers but not that far.
She shook he head no, a smile tugging at he lips before she surprised it. “No. It’s a drink distilled from the fruit of Sorrow trees.”
Basically it was wine. Wine I was fine with. Wine I could do any day of the week. I took the bowl (way heavier than it looked). It took on the color of the bowl, so it looked dark. I expected it to be a little hearty like a red, but it was light, the flavor similar to tulips.
Before I realized what I’d done the bowl was empty. So much for the next person. Passing it back to her, I took the fruit and asked the same questions. Called Mother’s Release, the fruit was from a different tree in the same family. It was bright yellow and tasted like a mix between a cantaloupe and kiwi. Again I devoured the whole bowl before I realized what I’d done. Giving it back with a sheepish smile, I tried to blame my ravenous appetite on the long trip and no lunch, but the stuff was just really good. I was going to have to ask Tessa to grab me some when she went to the market.
I thought there might be more, but after the girl put the bowls back ache rose and pointed to white tents a few yards away. “The chief would like to speak with you before you engage in the Gathering.”
If by engage she meant fuck strange creatures there was no way that was happening. So talk to Rain then head home it was.
Nodding my thanks, I picked my way across the orgy, blushing furiously and trying to shift my eyes every few seconds. There was a lot to see, but I felt like if I stared too long I might get sucked into the horn-nado.
Three uncomfortable coughs, nine revolted shivers, and about a hundred ohmygods later I reached the tent. It was wide open with Rain laying on a spread of richly colored and embroidered pillows like the king he was. There were two women with him: one was sucking him off and the other eating her out. The centaur casually played with Ms. Cunniligus’ breasts, looking bored as shit. I had no clue how that was even possible. The woman giving him a blow job was deep throating the hell out of him and it wasn’t like the guy was small or the position wasn’t awkward. If there was a prize for that sort of thing I was pretty sure Ms. Deep Throat would get first place.
Tearing my gaze away from the women, I forced a smile at Rain as I approached and bowed, “Chief Rain.”
“Tilly the human,” he returned, gently pushing the women away from him and telling them to go “play.” They weren’t more than fifteen feet away before there was another dick in their face or other place.
Great. I turned back to Rain getting an eye full of his slimy, erect penis. “Want to put that away? You might poke somebody’s eye out with it.”
“Excuse me?”
I decided to skip the obvious your dick is out and get to the hi and bye of the evening. It’d been… Fun wasn’t the right word but interesting was close enough. “Thanks for inviting me to the Gathering. My condolences about the previous Chief. He seemed like a great leader.”
“He was.”
I nodded, shoving my hands into my back pockets and shifting my feet. “Well, I went to the shrine and had the Lament and other thing. If that’s all, I’ve been traveling for a week and I’d like to get back to the compound and rest.”
Rain looked up at me, face carefully neutral. “There is a reason you are here. Sit.”
If a creepy sentence had been uttered before, I sure hadn’t heard it. It wasn’t enough I was at an orgy or that I’d cut my hand and did everything but take off my clothes and fuck a rando, now I had to deal with a centaurian chief creeping on me. This day just kept getting better and better.
I sat stiffly, giving no indication that I wanted to be there. Diplomacy was the only thing that kept me beside a naked and erect horse-man, and I made sure my expression made that clear.
“Now tell me,” he started, picking up a cup and swirling its contents. “Why are you here?”
“Because you made me come.”
“No. Here on Yenos. Humans do not come here.”
“Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice,” I grumbled, feeling more uncomfortable with each passing second. It was hard to focus with the sex noises everywhere and my exhaustion was wearing my patience thin. “If you’re looking to interrogate me because you think I’m in on some crazy ass plot let me just stop you there. The only reason I am here is because of an asshole from your planet who sold me a dreamcatcher.”
His eyes bored into me, seeming to search. “An accident? You weren’t… brought here by someone?”
I sighed, reaching up to rub my temples. “Dude, if someone wanted to bring a human to this planet there are better options than a penniless, master’s student. Trust—”
In an instant I felt… strange, almost like a semi filled with the weirdest sensations known to man hit me at a hundred miles an hour. Looking down, I stared at my hand and tried to move it. Frame by frame shots of my fingers and palm flashed above the dark ocean that had become my pants.
Not the best sign.
My neck was too heavy and too light all at once as I took in the world around me. Expanded wide, every color brightened to the extreme, vibrating across my nerve endings like tangible entities. Dinner from last week quivered on my tongue, I could almost feel the record-keeper tomb heavy in my arms, warm and wet as it engulfed my hands to the wrist.
Turning to Rain, I tried to pull myself together as he blurred to a disjointed shadow with pinpricks of light around the edges. “What’s happening… to me?” I mouthed, tasting the words more than hearing them.
I couldn’t see his mouth move or any distinctive part of him. His voice rasped across my skin like the fur of a tiger, one with teeth. “Where we you before you were here?”
Did he mean the Gathering or the planet? It was near impossible to keep up with the conversation. Maybe there was an airborne drug burning in the fire, or maybe the fruit—