Twisted Souls: Twisted Magic Book Three

by Rainy Kaye

  Even as I spoke, the reality of the situation rolled over me with renewed dread. We were up against a mage who was probably going to kill us and then resurrect us and use our corpses to do his bidding.

  I stepped through the tunnel exit. The top of the portrait frame rammed into my foot and knee before Randall halted. Wincing, I turned, keeping one hand on the portrait to steady it.

  The tunnel had opened into a narrow chamber with a thirty-foot ceiling. Sasmita’s light danced blue and black over the walls, illuminating the stone face.

  I reached out to the wall next to me and ran my fingers down it, as if expecting it to crumble like the tunnel walls did at the slightest provocation, but the stone was solid and sure.

  “Now watch this,” Sasmita said. Without warning, she snuffed the blue magic on her hand, engulfing us in darkness.

  Protests ping-ponged around the room, but stifled as everyone’s gazes were drawn upward. I traced up a beam of filtered light streaming through the ceiling. Several more poked through the corners. It looked distinctly like sunlight.

  “I think it’s a vertical mine shaft, but it’s mostly covered from above,” Sasmita said. “See, look.”

  She lit her magic again and lowered her hands, directing attention to a few broken beams of wood lying across the ground.

  “This was probably the ladder they used to climb down with, but the mine has been abandoned so long, the ladder rotted away,” she said.

  I bit one side of my bottom lip. “Great, but how do we get up there?”

  Adjusting her backpack, Ever took a few steps toward the far wall and stared straight up, until her neck must have ached.

  She turned to us.

  “I can do it. Well, I can get us to the top, but I don’t think I can break the surface.” She pointed between me and Sasmita. “Can one of you…?”

  “I’ll do it,” I said, and then noticed just how far up the climb would be.

  No matter. We were going to have to go up, one by one.

  Ever swung her bag off her back as she dropped to the ground, the backpack thudding down in front of her. April joined her, and together they removed a handful of metal pieces and a messy coil of rope twisted around itself.

  “Didn’t realize you had Mary Poppins’ bag over there,” I said.

  Ever flashed me a small smile. “I told you, as soon as all hell broke loose, we treated this like a camping excursion. We couldn’t take everything, but we took the essentials, and when you live in a tiny mining town tucked on the edge of a mountain, rope is an essential.”

  “Besides,” Paisley said from a few feet away, “Ever is a reincarnated bird. Rope is her new wings.”

  “That it is,” Ever said, pushing to her feet. Without so much as a groan, she hefted the bag onto her back. “I’ll go up first and set the line.”

  Paisley rolled her eyes. “She never lets us lead climb.”

  Ever snapped around, holding up one finger to shush her, and then turned back to the wall.

  “I’ll belay for you,” April said and shot Paisley a grin.

  “My favorite sister,” Ever said as she began unwinding the rope. “You should try being more like her, Paisley.”

  “Yeah, you better butter her up, so she doesn’t release your rope.” Paisley mimed with two fingers someone falling and then spread her hand to indicate a splatter.

  “Hey, I’ve solo climbed,” Ever said as she collected the metal pieces from April. “In the snow, even.”

  Paisley rolled her eyes, but the mood in the room had lifted with the prospect of escaping the mine more than a vague hope. The only thing standing between us and freedom was a bit of rope and Ever’s climbing ability.

  Ever and April set to work strapping on harnesses and attaching carabiners and anchors. I didn’t have any experience rock climbing, but I suspected they didn’t have all the proper equipment and were winging it. They seemed confident enough about it, though.

  Once they had strung the rope between them, Ever surveyed the wall before inching to the side and hoisting herself up. She poked the toes of her boots into barely existent footholds and reached for the next rock above her. After pulling herself up, she yanked an anchor free from her waist harness and crammed it between two rocks. On that, she attached a carabiner, threaded the rope in some pattern I didn’t quite follow, and then continued up before planting another anchor.

  April remained on the ground, and she fed the rope, somehow keeping it taut but relaxed just enough at the same time. They had clearly done this more than once.

  As Ever crossed twelve feet up the wall, lightheadedness swam in my brain. Ever didn’t seem to be worried about how high up she had gone, but I had to look down at the dimly lit ground to clear my vision. When I looked back up, she was securing another anchor and carabiner.

  She hesitated. “Watch me.”

  “I got you,” April replied.

  Ever started upwards again to continue planting her breadcrumb trail of anchors and carabiners securing her rope. Finally, she reached the top, her head brushing the ceiling. With one hand, she pushed at the dirt, and it trickled down in streams around her. She turned to us.

  “It’s loose, but I don’t think I can shove through it,” she called down. “I’m going to change places with you, Safiya.”

  I swallowed hard, but worry lodged in my throat.

  We weren’t exactly scaling cliffs in Acapulco, but apparently I had a fear of heights I hadn’t been fully aware of, or a fear of falling, as it were. Ever’s single-thread spiderweb would prevent any major injuries, and after coming up against a necromancer and his undead army, a cockatrice, and an avalanche, this should be delicious cake.

  That was the crux of the problem. We had run into so many unexpected issues in the last week, it seemed this climb would be anything but simple. Perhaps the necromancer would rattle the earth, causing the chamber to collapse, and I would be stuck swinging helplessly from the wall while pelted with stones. Or perhaps the rock wall itself was a living entity and would wake up to devour us whole.

  “You ready, Saf?” Ever asked. She stood with her feet on the ground again, the harness in her hands. Worry crossed her face. “Are you going to be okay up there?”

  I nodded once and eased my end of the portrait against the wall. Stiff-legged, I stalked over to her and stood, nearly a mannequin, while she helped me into the harness that looped around the back of my thighs.

  When she finished, she rested her hand on my arm to guide me toward the wall.

  “Start here,” she said, pointing a trail up the rocks. “Go slowly. There’s no rush. If you fall, it won’t be much worse than slipping off a rock wall gym.”

  “Except for the padded mats,” I muttered, which was beside the point because I didn’t climb walls in the gym either.

  Then again, I had once crawled over Arlo’s house in the middle of the night, so this was misplaced fear. I didn’t have Ever’s strategic ropes or April as a counterweight back then.

  Shaking away the thoughts, I grabbed the first groove where I could tuck my fingers and started up. My soles slid against the wall until they found purchase. I kept going, using the anchors as guides where to look for handholds. After a few moments, I fell into a steady pace and soon, I had reached the top.

  Careful not to look down, I peeled one hand from a rock, leaning my weight toward the wall, and convinced myself that Ever was a rock-climbing genius and if I fell, I would barely feel a thing. I forced my arm up to touch the ceiling. Dirt came down in clumps, and when I scraped my fingers over the ceiling, it embedded under my nails like soil.

  Closing my eyes, I called up my magic. It rolled up my legs from where my feet perched on the rocks and shot up my arm and into the dirt.

  Soil and rocks burst outward, and light pressed against my eyelids. Wads of dirt and rock rained down, slamming into my head and shoulders, and I tried to duck. My footing slipped and I free fell down the wall. Dust choked my scream.

  I came to a halt, s
winging ever so slightly in the air. After a long moment, when the rocks and dirt had ceased fire, I peered out with one eye. A brown cloud hung around me, and I tipped my head back, eyes itching, to peer through the dirty light shining from the hole in the ceiling.

  “We made it,” I said, throat scratchy. These poor masks could only take so much, it seemed. “Do I…”

  My question trailed off. I had no idea what I was supposed to do from here.

  “Grab the wall and climb back up,” April said, voice strained.

  Oh. Right.

  I swung forward, reaching for the rocks again, and then scurried the way to the top. On hands and knees, I climbed onto the surface and then sucked in a few heavy breaths. My chest squeezed and ached as my heart threw itself against my breastbone.

  Finally, I sat back on my heels and peered down at the others who huddled together, looking up through the opening.

  “Unfasten the harness and drop it back down,” Ever called to me.

  I nodded, reaching for the strap at my hip.

  We were inside a shallow cave, sunlight pouring through the wide opening and glinting across the surface of a stream that flowed out into the field beyond. Somehow, it hadn’t been frozen over yet despite the necromancer’s pull on the weather.

  My fingers ached and the tips were chaffed by the time I got out of the contraption. I leaned forward and dropped it down to them. Paisley hopped up to catch it and set to fastening it to herself.

  Below me, Randall waved at the dust in front of him. “How are we going to get the portrait up?”

  Ever glanced in the direction of the tunnel, where the portrait rested, and then back at the wall. “April, did you bring your rope?”

  “Right here,” April said, patting her backpack.

  Ever beamed. “Good girl.”

  She stepped behind her sister and rummaged in her pack.

  “Can you bring the portrait over here?” she asked. “I’ll get it strapped in.”

  He gestured for Sasmita to follow him to the tunnel. Together, they scooted the portrait along until they reached Ever, and stood it upright against the wall next to her.

  She set to work, winding the length of rope around the portrait, Randall and Sasmita lifting the painting as needed. When she stepped back, she had fastened a crisscrossed harness over the portrait, ending with a long coil of rope. She handed the end to Paisley.

  Paisley tied the end to her and began her to ascent, taking the rock wall with practiced ease. As she reached me, she hauled herself up and over the edge, then flung her backpack to the ground and shuffled around inside.

  Below, everyone waited, staring up at us, as Paisley unfastened the end of the rope and set to work tapping an anchor at the opening. She proceeded attaching a small, looped rope and a carabiner, then threaded the line attached to the portrait in a manner that jumbled my brain.

  With a triumph grin, she stood, clutching the end of the rope, and began to tug on it. The portrait on the ground hoisted into the air, a little at first, then farther, as her pulley system dragged it upwards.

  “Do you need help?” I asked, standing awkwardly to the side, impressed with the resourcefulness of these siblings.

  Too bad I couldn’t whip up another magic tentacle.

  I shuddered and pushed away the thought. No tentacles. Of all the magic I wished I could replicate, that was the last one I cared to ever manifest again.

  She shook her head. “Just be ready to grab the painting when it reaches the edge.”

  I waited until the frame reached the top of the opening, then leaned forward on my knees and tucked my fingers around the ropes. Paisley held the line, taking the brunt of the weight of the portrait, as I eased it up over the edge, scooting backwards on my ass, pulling the painting with me. The painting jerked back a little, and I yelped, tugging harder. The rope burned my fingers, but I refused to let go until the portrait was safely on land.

  Paisley released the pulley and grabbed the side of the painting, helping me shuffle it clear from the ledge. We collapsed together in a heap, panting.

  I started forward when Sasmita popped up over the edge. She undid a harness and dropped it below before falling into a heap near us.

  “This might be the most ridiculous thing we’ve done yet,” she said, sucking in breaths. “I can’t even feel my arms anymore.”

  Randall was up next, followed by April, and right behind her, Ever. They flopped down around us, until we all laid in our personal wads of misery, trying to catch our breaths.

  Already, my body lit up with scrapes, cuts, and bruises. I may have even partially torn a muscle in the back of my thigh.

  My stomach heaved, and I closed my eyes, but all I could envision was another earthquake crumbling the mine below and our portrait disappearing into the abyss.

  “We should get going,” I said, forcing myself upright, despite how badly I wanted to sleep, or just not move.

  Without a word, everyone around me pushed themselves to a sit and slowly, we got to our feet. Ever used her kukri to cut the rope from the painting and coiled it up before shoving it into her bag. Randall and I pulled the portrait back on its side and set forward, dragging the painting out of the cave, surrounded by our comrades.

  Except Fiona.

  My heart dropped. What if something bad had happened to her while we were away? We had spent so much time and energy chasing after her. We couldn’t spare the resources to start all over, but if she wasn’t there, what choices would we have?

  Is she really still Fiona?

  I pushed away the thought. I had seen her in there.

  We stepped out of the cave. I blinked, taking in our surroundings.

  The cave opened into a field with patches of snow. The stream flowed out and widened into a river that made wet plopping sounds against the rocks.

  “We’re about two miles from Haven Rock, as the crow flies,” April said, and then pointed toward distance trees. “Camp is probably that way.”

  “It is, but we’re not heading that direction. First, we need to get back to the main road so we can retrieve their vehicle.” Ever gestured toward me and Randall, and then Sasmita. “Once we get the portrait into the van, we’ll return to camp and set out with Skyla.”

  April began to protest, but Ever shot her a stern look.

  She turned to me. “You’ll drop us off at camp, I assume?”

  If I wasn’t so tired, I would have laughed.

  “Yes,” I said with a lazy grin, “I think we can manage that.”

  “There’s no need for all of us to walk back to the van,” April said.

  Ever turned to the group, and exhaustion rolled across her face like clouds. “There’s a dirt road nearby. We can camp next to it while a few of us retrieve the vehicle.”

  “I can go,” April said. “I’ll cut straight across the tributary ahead, and it’ll save us an hour.”

  Randall patted his pocket and then pulled out the van keys.

  “I’ll go with.” He nodded towards me. “Get some rest and guard the portrait?”

  “I can only do one of those,” I said, as Ever exchanged places with him holding up the painting.

  “So much for the portrait then, right?” he said with a tired chuckle. “We’ll hurry.”

  For a moment, I thought he would step forward to peck a kiss on my lips, or the top of my head, but then I shook of the thought as he turned and, with April, headed across the field.

  “The road is this way,” Ever said to the rest of us, gesturing to the left.

  As a group, we dragged the portrait through the snow and dying calf-high weeds until the road, barely more than a dirt path, came into view. A few trees stood nearby, their branches overhanging the road, and I doubted it had been used anytime this decade.

  Ever and I propped the portrait against a tree. I crumpled to the ground a few feet away, head hanging, eyes closed, and released the dam on the exhaustion and pain. The last week flooded through me. I twisted a little toward a we
ak beam of sunlight through the gray sky and basked in the small warmth as I drifted to sleep.

  I woke, jerking upright, patting the ground for the portrait as if it would be lying next to me. It still rested against the tree, and I shifted over to it so I could touch it with one hand while I willed myself back to my uncomfortable doze.

  Randall and April would be back soon, but as I clung between sleep and consciousness, I knew without even discussing it with the others that our plans had changed. Ever and her sisters still needed to leave to get help for Skyla, but Randall, Sasmita, Fiona, and I wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not now that we had the portrait. It had been easier to justify giving up when we had no place to start, but the key component had all but fallen into our hands.

  It only made sense to continue with our original plan. As soon as the others returned, we would be going back to Haven Rock and taking down the necromancer.

  Somehow.

  17

  While I dozed, Ever and her sisters rummaged through their bags. They produced a few protein bars between them, and Paisley offered me one. I took it, but after a few bites, I didn’t have the energy to bother chewing.

  Rattling noises grew in the distance. I lifted my head as our van jostled down the road toward us. I waited until it was practically right next to us before I struggled to my feet. I waivered a little in my spot as Randall pulled the van to a halt and stepped out from behind the steering wheel. April hopped from the passenger side. Fiona sat in the backseat, hands on her lap, head forward, gaze searching the landscape.

  My concern, my warm feelings, for her disintegrated.

  “Glad to see she’s okay,” I said, nodding toward her, but the whole reaction felt forced. Only with sheer effort could I remind myself she had to be somewhere in that shell and drum up any kind of positive emotions.

  Swallowing hard, I turned my focus to Randall as he threw open the back van doors.

  “Let’s get that puppy loaded up,” he said, but his steps had slowed until his soles barely left the ground. His shoulders slumped as we worked together to drag the portrait to the van and heave it into the back, working it at an angle so it wedged on top of the picture of Nikandros Remis.