by Alicia Fabel
“It’s a whirlpool that’ll suck us down into the land of the dead.”
Vera’s breaths came faster. “That’s worse than anything I would’ve imagined.”
“Breathe,” he said.
Vera looked at him through terrified eyes and began to hyperventilate. He pulled her down beside him. She didn’t resist. He lifted an arm and traced the deception marks with a thumb. “Tell me about these?”
Vera’s breath cut short.
Blast, now she’s not breathing at all. He needed a different line of distraction. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that you’re not my charge anymore.”
Vera sucked in a deep breath, the pink of her skin from the acid bath turned red. “Excuse me?”
She seemed more shocked than he’d expected. If he had to guess, she didn’t know that fun fact after all. He had no idea what to say.
“Since when?” she asked, scary-calm.
“Since the battle in Summartir?” Kale frowned. “I thought you knew. Isn’t that why you ran tonight?”
“No,” she drawled. “I expected to end up right back in the meadow.”
“Then why run?”
“I thought if I annoyed you enough, you’d take me home.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?” Vera said, voice rising. “Oh? You just forgot to tell me that I’m free?”
“You were always free,” he said.
“You’ve been a pain in the neck, making me train for months.”
“Because there’s a Siphon Master running around. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“And you thought if I found out I was under no obligation to listen to a word you said, I’d ignore you.”
“Yes, I did think that.”
Vera decked him in the arm. When he didn’t react, she landed two more in the same spot until he flinched. The girl had a good punch.
He held up his hands in surrender.
“Keeping stuff from me doesn’t keep me safe. Look around us. If I’d known I could fall into a world of sea monsters that could swallow me whole, you think I would’ve run?”
She was right. He’d screwed up. Again. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t get us out of this mess.”
“I’ll get you home.”
“Without needing therapy?”
“I can’t promise that.” He forced himself not to smile, knowing she wouldn’t find the humor.
“How bad is it going to get?”
“We’ll have to go through one of my old boss’s lairs, but we will get out.”
“And once we do, you either start telling me everything, or I’m gone. Siphon Master or not. Got it?”
“I do get it, but be patient with me? I know too many things to tell them all to you. But I promise to tell you the things that affect you.”
“I guess that’ll have to work.”
Kale considered her for a minute. “If we’re going for open and honest, that’s a two-way street, you know.”
Vera screwed up her face then covered them with her two marked hands. She mumbled something.
“I didn’t understand a word of that.”
Vera pulled her hands down and glared at him. “I was going to seduce you.”
Kale choked as the deception marks retreated. He stared at her incredulously.
She shrugged a shoulder like her revelation wasn’t a big deal. “Since I couldn’t knock you off your feet in a sparring match, I was going a different route.”
Blast me. That probably would’ve worked.
“What?” Vera asked shifting uncomfortably. “Stop looking at me like I have two heads.”
“You never cease to surprise me.”
“Does that mean you’ll summon the gate to Nibiru for me?”
“No.”
“I could just keep running into the borderlands until I happen to find the right gate.”
“You could. But you should know there’s a gate that opens over a volcano in the middle of a kingdom of trolls. And they eat people after they char them. I mean, there’s always the chance you’d get lucky for once in your life and find Nibiru first.”
“You’re not my protector anymore. Why do you even care?”
“I’m your friend.”
Vera chewed her bottom lip.
“I’d like to be your friend anyway.” He bent to look into her face and gave a hopeful smile.
Vera’s lips twitched. “As my friend, you have to understand that I am losing my mind. When I was taken to Summartir last year, the High Mother made me siphon Margory’s magic.”
“You never told me that.”
“I never told anyone,” Vera said. “Margory didn’t have much magic, and I took it all to save her life. Mother was going to kill her if I didn’t. Afterward, it was like she was just a shadow of herself. She was alive, but not. I’d destroyed her, and I’d barely felt a thing. I can’t do that to someone else.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” Vera argued. “I might not mean to, but I could. What if my cloak stops working? What if I drain someone next to me without ever knowing I’ve done it?” Tears welled in Vera’s eyes and her hair flared.
Kale had been so focused on keeping her safe that he hadn’t realized how scared she was. “Six weeks,” he said. “Extra training for six more weeks. Addamas can tutor you on Nibiru culture. Then I’ll summon the gate. You’ll only have three days before I send Addamas to pick you up, though.”
Vera seemed to be debating. “Okay.”
“Fortunately, the women there wear headscarves, so you won’t give yourself away if you light up like a match. He hooked a finger around a lock of hair, plucked out a fish bone, and threw it into the bile.
“Why does it seem like the smell is getting worse in here?” asked Vera.
“The Marakihau processes the seawater fast, and the stomach bile gets more potent. That’s the stuff that stung your skin earlier.”
“Nice—bile bath.”
“It’ll be worse when it spits us out, but the water of the gate will wash it away. It will feel like a bad sunburn for a while.”
“By spit us out, you mean…” Vera cocked her head curiously.
“Vomit.”
“Please tell me that’s the worst that’s going to happen.”
“I’m afraid not.” The Marakihau’s tongue and sides began to glow. “We’re getting close,” Kale warned.
Vera frowned, then one side of her mouth tipped up. “This fish looks like a giant taxicab.” Along the Marakihau’s ribs was a black-checkered pattern, which stood out against the yellow glow.
“Where do you think they came up with that pattern? The Marakihau is the world’s oldest taxi.”
“A taxi for the dead.” Vera laughed.
Kale was relieved to see her regaining her balance. She was going to need it for what came next. “Vera?” He had to give her an idea of what to expect. “My old boss has eight legs, and he’s a jackass. To get us out of there without more trouble than we need, I’m going to have to be the person he expects me to be.”
“The ruthless Guardian.”
“Yes.”
Vera patted his hand. “It’s okay. I won’t give away that you’re not so bad.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Kale said.
Vera considered him. “You’re worried what I’m going to think about you.”
Kale nodded once.
“You have nothing to worry about. I already know you’re a jerk, and I’m still here.”
He hoped she felt the same way by morning. The massive fleshy tongue began to move.
“All right spider monkey, time to hold on to me again,” Kale said moments before they were flung from the belly of the sea monster.
6
Vera threw a hand over her nose and mouth. She swallowed hard against the knot in her throat. The whirlpool had sucked them down until they’d fallen through the ceiling of a cavern at the bottom of the ocean. A partially digest
ed corpse had padded Vera’s landing. Bits of it still clung to her wet clothes. Vera’s stomach heaved. Kale, on the other hand, was perfectly collected. He ignored her retching and stared impassively at the bare-chested soldiers surrounding them. Each one held a trident pointed at her and Kale. From the shoulders down, they looked like men. Including what was beneath their scraps of loincloth. An unfortunate discovery Vera made before snapping her attention back up to their disturbing lizard heads.
“We’re here to see Kanaloa,” Kale announced.
The lizards didn’t flinch, except to occasionally flick out a long tongue and snatch a fly out of the air. As disgusting as that was, it probably kept the fly population in check. What with all the rotting corpses and all. A short creature with a bulbous forehead, knobby limbs, and pointed ears shoved between two lizard-men. Its milky eyes paused on Vera for a heartbeat, long enough she knew it saw her. With black claws, Knobby hooked one of the bodies from the Marakihau’s vomit delivery service. Two lizard-men parted so it could drag the body away.
“Kalesius?” said a woman. “Is that you?”
“Aiaru,” Kale greeted.
The lizards let a tall, willowy woman pass. The woman’s arms and legs were unnaturally long. Her dress seemed to be covered in tiny bioluminescent turtle shells. But it was her eyes that held Vera’s attention. They were black orbs with balls of lightning at the center. Like someone had replaced her irises with sparklers. Aiaru studied Vera a few moments before turning to Kale.
“It’s been a few centuries,” she said.
“Eight,” Kale clarified. “I did not expect to see you beneath the island.”
“I’ve been coming for the last couple hundred years to Kanaloa’s Day of Creation,” Aiaru said. Vera would swear Kale’s back tensed, although his face remained blank. “I see you’ve brought him a gift?”
Uh, beg pardon? Vera swung her startled gaze to Kale. Did that woman look at me when she asked that?
“If I could give her to Kanaloa, I would. Unfortunately, she’s my latest charge.”
“Oh, pity. Kanaloa will be disappointed.” Aiaru cocked her head. “Her magic is interesting.”
Vera’s magic should be undetectable. She felt for her charms, heart floundering. They were gone. She scanned the stone floor for any sign of the missing necklace. The bodies were all gone, dragged away like the first. Other than a few shallow, unidentifiable puddles, the floor was empty.
“Is she okay?” Aiaru asked Kale.
Kale turned to give Vera a dismissive look. “I wouldn’t know. She’s prone to strange whims and gets worked up easily.”
“You aren’t permitted to train her?” asked Aiaru.
Vera had a mental image of someone training a dog. Only she was certain Aiaru’s idea of training wouldn’t be so humane.
“No, I must deal with her as she is until she is no longer my problem.”
“For your sake, I hope that is soon.”
“I’m sure it won’t be much longer,” Kale assured Aiaru.
Yeah. Not long at all, Mr. Not-My-Boss-Anymore. Vera threw Kale a pointed look. He didn’t see it, but she had no doubt he felt it by the way he carefully avoided looking at her just then.
“Well, come. The others will be excited to see you.” Aiaru turned to lead them across the cobbled cavern to a pair of doors large enough for giraffes to walk through comfortably.
Movement above caught Vera’s attention. At the center of the cavern’s ceiling was a swirling vortex of water—the bottom of the whirlpool they’d descended through. Vera squinted at the bumpy formations surrounding the gate to Lemuria’s underworld. While she stared, one moved. Then another. They weren’t rocks. They were spiders with long spindly legs, crawling all over each other. Vera squeaked in horror.
Aiaru followed Vera’s gaze and offered a patronizing smile. “No worry pet, the areop won’t harm you. Unless you attempted to escape by scaling the walls.” She turned to Kale. “Such a pitiful charge to give you for your efforts.”
Vera was quickly losing patience for the woman. Kale must have felt her tense. He threw her a placating look. Vera gritted her teeth and pressed her lips closed. A ripping sound caught her attention. And she was dumb enough to look behind her to see what it was. Two knobbys held a corpse steady while a third grappled with what looked like a transparent piece of charcoal fabric attached to the body. They were trying to rip it from the owner. The knobby struggling with the cloth slipped on a patch of gore and dropped the fabric. As it settled into—yes, into—the cobbled floor, Vera realized it was not cloth at all. It was the corpse’s shadow. With a growl, the knobby pounced on the shadow and tore it away. Unceremoniously, the creature dumped the shadow into a jar while its helpers began hacking the flesh of the corpse with machete-like knives. Vera closed her eyes and turned away from the butchering. The sounds of blades hacking through flesh and bone were not so easy to block out, though.
“Come, pet,” Aiaru called to Vera. She patted her leg. “Come.”
Vera moved toward her, only too happy to escape the cavern.
“Good girl.” Aiaru looked genuinely pleased.
Aiaru swung the doors open to reveal a walkway flanked by underground streams. One glowed an ethereal blue, the other burned orange and red—a river of lava. Bubbles rose to the surface of the magma and burst, releasing sulfur gas and steam. A few drops splattered the edge of the path with a hiss. Vera edged as close to the blue stream as she could. She’d rather get wet than fry. Kale caught her when stone crumbled beneath her feet. As she leaned precariously over the stream, Kale holding the back of her shirt, she noticed that the stream was filled with figures. Kale pulled her back just as one reached out to grab her.
Aiaru laughed. “The aku-aku want to play with her.”
Vera shivered as Kale released her and moved away.
“Aku-aku are the spirits of good people, but they would drown you trying to get a closer look at you,” Kale spoke calmly, but the lines of his shoulders let her know that he was far from calm. “The evil gora-aku spirits in the other stream would drown you for fun.”
Vera got the hint and moved to the center of the path. Kale and Aiaru continued forward. Vera followed carefully, not wanting to trip over any of the uneven cobbles. On closer inspection, she realized it was not stones, but rather blackened bones. They were walking on a pile of charred bones. What kind of place is this? As they neared the end of the tunnel, laughter floated toward them.
“Lono is here?” asked Kale.
“He wouldn’t miss his brother’s creation day. I talked Alalana into coming with me too—she can’t wait to get back to the surface. Kukulau is here with Ulupoka as well.”
“Kae is cooking?”
“He’s been cooking for the past three days. I hope you’re hungry.”
“As tempting as that sounds, we cannot stay,” Kale said. “We only have time to give our best to Kanaloa, and then we must return to the meadow.”
“It sounds like a wretched place.”
“You’ve never been there?” Vera asked without thinking.
Aiaru swung around with surprise. “You taught it to speak?”
Vera was stunned. Kale had said it would be best not to talk, but he’d said that in Summartir too. He hadn’t said these people would assume she was mute, nor that it was best to let them think that. She just thought he was worried she’d offend someone.
“She spoke before she came to me,” Kale said with clear displeasure.
“Well, that is a boon. Kanaloa will love that trick.”
Kale cast Vera a look with a slight shake of his head. Vera understood that whatever she did, she did not want to catch this Kanaloa guy’s interest. Alrighty then, church mouse it is. They exited the tunnel walkway into a huge cavern that looked to be a dining hall and throne room mashup. A woman, who was the complete opposite of Aiaru, rushed over to intercept them. She was diminutive and curvy, with dark ringlet curls. Her eyes were the same, though—freaky plasma balls.
> “Do not leave me alone with them again,” said the woman to Aiaru.
“I promise.” Aiaru kissed the woman’s forehead. “Look who I found.”
“Alalana,” Kale greeted with the same deference as he’d greeted Aiaru.
“And his pet.” Aiaru ran her fingers through Vera’s hair, like she was a house cat. Vera winced as Aiaru’s fingers caught on all the tangles. Aiaru didn’t seem to notice.
“I hope she is better behaved than Ulupoka,” said Alalana. “Vile thing.”
“What has he done?” asked Aiaru.
“Chewed off his own lips and spat them at me.”
Vera’s mouth fell open. Please let her be joking.
“Sand and sea, it takes hours for him to grow those back,” Aiaru complained. “He’ll spit all over the food when he speaks until then.”
Lady have mercy, she’s not joking.
Aiaru took Alalana’s hand in her own. “Kalesius’s pet is adorable. You will love her.”
“Kalesius?” bellowed a large man behind a long banquet table made of thick rough-hewn wood. Every inch of his skin, except his face, was covered in black tattoos. Not the swirls like Addamas wore on his arms. These were scenes of people and ships and monsters. Instead of moving around the table, the giant man shoved the table out of his way and held out an arm toward Kale. “Welcome home, boy! Finally missed the sea?”
Vera frowned. Welcome home?
Kale approached the man and rather than clasping hands, they grasped each other by the bicep. “Good to see you, Lono,” Kale said with the first sign of ease since they’d arrived in Lemuria’s underworld.
“Guardian,” came a voice from the shadows. A man slunk forward on eight tentacles. Scars marred his face and arms, which were otherwise unmarked.
That must be Kanaloa—Kale’s old boss. Lono and the others moved back silently.
“Why have you trespassed in my domain?” asked Kanaloa.
“My charge had an accident. I am only here to bring her back to the meadow.”
“Your charge?” Kanaloa studied Vera as he neared. His tentacles shifted beneath him. Without warning, one shot out, wrapped around Vera’s waist, and yanked her forward. Kale stood by without flinching.
