by Alicia Fabel
Vera searched for Mimi. She hadn’t seen her friend since she’d gotten back from Acadia. Her first stop was their shared room. She wasn’t in Addamas’s room either. Or in any of the commons areas. Or the cafeteria on the ground floor, where dozens of witches stirred cauldrons and leaned over drawings spread across the tables. None of them noticed Vera peek into the room, so she backed away.
She was walking past the computer lab when a messenger crawled out from under the door and flew off. With the lack of Internet, Vera hadn’t thought anyone would be in there. The door was locked, so she tapped a few times with the tips of her fingers. It opened soon after.
“Vera,” greeted Maiden-Mother, holding the door open for her to come in.
They’d moved the computers to the floor around the edge of the room. The long tables had been pushed together to form a makeshift conference table. Mimi, Kuwari, Nisaba’s Fetu, Professor Eldrid, and a couple of people Vera didn’t know were there too. Those she knew smiled and waved before returning to their huddled conversation. A woman with bronze skin had pointed ears sticking up through her dark hair and a long lion’s tail flicking near her ankles. In the center of the group was a middle-aged man, scribbling stuff into a spiral notebook while everyone talked. Mother leaned across the table to read what the man was adding to his notes. It seemed like Mimi hesitated before jumping up to hug her.
“I’m glad you’re home.” Mimi wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “When Addamas came back alone, I was worried, but Jemma said you were alive. I told the boys to let you know about that new development as soon as you got here.”
“Yeah, they did. That’s weird, right—having someone watch Vera-tube in their head?”
“At least we had a way to know you were alive.” Mimi glanced over at the others.
“So this is your war room or something?” Vera asked, feeling like she’d just walked in on an exclusive club where she was not wanted.
“We’re drawing up a proposal for the foreign exchange program you suggested,” answered Kuwari. “If we can start bringing the realms together, perhaps we can head off a war.”
“To be fair, I didn’t actually suggest it,” Vera said. “But you think it could work?” Her heavy heart lifted at the possibility.
“If we can recruit a few more realms, it just might,” answered the scribe, who’d stopped to chew on the end of his pen.
“Oh, Vera, this is Lachlan, the wizard ambassador from Nibiru.” Maiden-Mother introduced the man.
“Nice to meet you.” Vera held out a hand. Almost everyone frowned collectively and stared at it in confusion. Mimi hid a smile, which loosened the knot in Vera’s chest from their strained greeting. Vera let her arm fall lamely, reminded that shaking hands was a human gesture.
“The guild heard much about you from our scorpion and kargadan neighbors.” Lachlan glanced at Fetu. “And our neighbors in the sea whom we were unaware existed. My people value knowledge above all else, so learning that some of our knowledge is not as accurate as we had believed… It has been challenging.”
“I can imagine,” said Vera.
“Lachlan will be taking over my position as a professor here,” said Professor Eldrid.
“You’re not going to be teaching?”
“I’ve been offered a new position at the school, as the off-realm liaison.”
“And student recruiter,” added the woman with a tail.
“Vera, this is Nadia, the leader of the sphinx community,” Mimi introduced.
Ahh, that explains the ears and tail. “Nice to meet you.”
Nadia nodded once.
“Wow, you guys have a lot on your plates, then,” observed Vera.
“And so do you, it seems,” said Maiden-Mother. “Braxas told me that you’re headed for Zerzura next.”
“Hopefully, we’ll finally figure out what Suzie was and how to fight back.”
“Be careful,” Mimi said with intensity.
The hair on the back of Vera’s neck prickled. “Is there anything, in particular, I should be worried about?”
“Knowing you, you’ll manage to get eaten by a zombie or something,” Mimi said, running a hand absently over the small swell of her stomach.
Vera snorted. “Yeah, good thing those aren’t real, or I’d lose my brain for sure.”
The room went eerily quiet.
“They don’t exist, right?” Vera asked with growing alarm. “I thought you were joking just now.”
“You do know what a soul-eater is, right?” asked Maiden-Mother.
“Someone who gets their power from spirits and can call on a spirit to get information about the past. So, ghosts?” Actually, Vera hadn’t thought about that until now. She’d already had to face ghosts on Mount Kyopili and hadn’t ever planned to do that again.
“Only until they’re in a body,” said Kuwari.
“They put them into bodies?” Vera tried and failed to keep her voice modulated.
“That’s how they keep the spirit around long enough to talk to,” explained Mimi with the hint of a smirk. She was finding this hilarious. Vera knew it.
“Spirits that don’t belong in the living world don’t stay unless they’re anchored,” said Maiden-Mother. “Which is why you ended up hosting a few spirits last year.”
Vera cringed. “Possession—always fun.”
“You won’t have to worry about that.” Mimi’s eyes gleamed. “They won’t stick a spirit in a living body.”
“They stick them in dead ones,” Vera guessed.
“Yup. Hopefully, someone who died recently.”
Vera was almost afraid to ask. “Why is that something to hope for?”
“Because if it’s been a while, then the body they have on hand might not be so fresh.”
“I cannot believe zombies are real.” Vera shivered. “Just wonderful.”
“They don’t eat brains, though,” offered Mimi.
“Well, that’s nice.”
“They’ll just try to steal what’s in there.” Mimi tapped Vera’s forehead.
“Come again?”
“You should be prepared,” cut in Maiden-Mother seriously. “If you ask a spirit to reveal a memory, they may want to trade for one of yours.”
“They take memories? Like, it’ll be gone?”
“Yes.”
“What if they take a memory I don’t want to give?”
“You’ll get to choose,” said Kuwari. “But if you offend them with a memory they don’t want, they’ll not share any information with you.”
“So I’ll have to give up a good memory?”
“Depends on the spirit,” said Mimi. “You know how some people like cheesy romances, and others like action or horror? It’s the same with spirits.” Mimi’s lips curled up into a full smile that reminded Vera of her old friend. Then she pumped her eyebrows. “Some like the naughty stuff.”
“As long as it’s nothing about playing with friends at the playground or being tucked in at night with a lullaby. I don’t have any memories like that.” Vera patted Mimi’s belly. “You, little man, are gonna have an awesome childhood.”
“You are not allowed to sing lullabies to my son,” Mimi protested.
“But I can sing so pretty now.”
“Your demas will call up a tsunami in the nursery and drown you both.”
“Good point. No singing. I’ll just tell him all sorts of awesome stories about his auntie Vera.”
“Which means you’d better get back here in one piece,” Mimi said firmly.
“That’s the plan.” Vera clapped her hands. “Okay, I’d better get going before I chicken out.”
Something must have occurred to Mimi, and she asked, “Has anyone mentioned Zerzura’s spi—”
But she never finished the sentence because someone screamed that a gate was on fire.
11
Kale worked his way around the bodies and toward the world-gate. He and Ferrox needed to get back to the meadow.
When the wood along
the bottom of Penglai’s gate had begun to smoke, a black snout had forced its way through a growing hole. Kale had decided the best course of action was to push the hound back and go after it and its master on the other side. All he had to do was wait until they burned through the last of the bindings. Fighting in Penglai meant less chance of burning down the meadow with Vera in it.
It was a good thing they had done just that, too. An immortal had been on the other side after all. Not a kitsune.
Glad I realized what was happening before I missed all the fun, Ferrox said. It was over too quickly, though.
I want to get back before anyone misses us.
Think it’s too late for that.
Mother and Vera were rushing across the parking lot when he stepped back through the broken world-gate and into the meadow. Vera skidded to a stop and threw a hand over her mouth at the sight of him.
There’s so much blood. Is he okay? Vera’s terrified thoughts bombarded him. Kale didn’t understand at first and then realized the immortal’s blood covered him from their battle.
And the celebration snack afterward, Ferrox added.
Vera’s eyes widened. She wrapped an arm around her middle like she was trying to hold herself together.
Whoops. She heard that, Ferrox said unnecessarily.
She’d heard and saw all the thoughts rolling through their mind.
Ferrox, Kale shouted, trying to get the demon to stop replaying it all.
Yeah, yeah. I’m out. Ferrox retreated behind his barrier. The link cut off.
Braxas lumbered up behind Mother and lifted his nose into the air. “Do I smell immortal? Did you bring some back?”
The dragon eyed Kale’s hand. Kale had brought back a little extra for later since he’d been in a hurry to return. Vera’s eyes dropped to the bloody mass in his hands. Blast.
“It’s all yours.” Kale tossed the organ up to Braxas, who snapped it out of the air. He ran his cleanish hand over his face, hoping he didn’t have gore all over that too. “You’ll want to get that door patched before someone else gets here,” he told Mother, angling so he could hide the mess covering his front. “I’m going to get a clean shirt, and then we can head out if you’re ready,” he said watching Vera sidelong.
Vera nodded mechanically. She must have thought he couldn’t see her because she added, “Yeah.”
“I’ll unbind the gate for you when you get back,” Mother told Kale. “Addamas is running an errand.”
Kale strode off, the tension through his neck and shoulders making it difficult to take a deep breath.
He overheard Mother softly encourage Vera, “Hang in there.”
The breath he’d been trying to take in, punched from his chest.
“When you guys said dwarves, I didn’t picture mini Sasquatches,” Vera whispered to Kale.
He winced. She wasn’t being mean, just speaking her thoughts aloud as always. Unfortunately, dwarves had incredible hearing. And held grudges. Russet fur rose along the spine of the dwarf leading them through the jungle. He didn’t slow his oversized feet or show any other sign of hearing her, but Kale knew the damage had been done. Sasquatch was a derogatory term coined by siphons before the Unraveling—back when they were enslaving and slaughtering the dwarves. That meant the dwarves knew where Vera was from.
Since dwarves are only as tall as Vera’s waist, Kale hadn’t considered the possibility that she’d make the connection between them and Earth’s mythical forest creatures—or that she’d voice it. Even if she’d called them Bigfoot, that wouldn’t have been a big deal. It was a fairly common nickname for them. But Sasquatch? Stars help us.
Kale counted at least six dwarves keeping pace with them in the trees. There’d be twice that many he couldn’t see. Fortunately, he also spotted smoke from the soul-eaters’ village. At least she’d kept her observation to herself until they’d arrived. If they’d been farther out in the jungle, who knew what the dwarves might have tried. Kale handed a pouch off to the dwarf. The creature snatched it with a low growl and took off. Hopefully, they would accept double payment to lead them safely back to the world-gate, once they had time to calm down.
“Wow, it’s incredible.” Vera craned her neck to take in the village of tree houses. “They look like hot air balloons.”
Kale considered the bright patchwork tent structures that were constructed high off the ground, around the tree trunks. He supposed the huts did look like Earth’s flying balloons—if someone skewered a tree through the center of the balloons. Some trees held only one hut, but others held several. Platforms and rope bridges spanned the distance between them.
A curious toddler wandered to the edge of one platform outside his home, trying to spy on the visitors. Only he got too close and fell. He screamed, his arms and legs flailing. Vera’s wonder turned to horror as the diapered child plummeted toward the ground. No one was close enough to catch him. Above, a woman collapsed just as the boy’s fall slowed. The child hovered mid-air with a giggle, waving a hand like he was batting around dust particles. Then he floated upward.
Vera watched it all with huge eyes. “They can fly?”
“Only with help,” Kale told her.
The boy was deposited into his mother’s arms. She scolded him before throwing an accusing look their direction. Kale directed Vera’s attention to the collapsed woman, who began to rouse. The mother with her newly returned baby called out a thank-you and bowed to the woman.
“You see those stripes of ash on her face?” he asked Vera. “They identify her as a zombie. The ash is out of respect for the family of whoever owned that body before the soul currently possessing it. It’s a way to mask the features, so the family doesn’t have to look at the face of their lost loved one.”
“If it’s not the body’s owner in there, then who is it?”
Kale shrugged a shoulder. “No idea. But she must be strong to leave and return to her body without aid.” It was quite impressive.
“She is my father,” greeted a man bent with age. He emerged from a hidden door in the side of one of the biggest trees. Behind him, two younger men descended the spiraling stairs built inside the tree and hidden from unwanted outsiders.
“Really?” Kale looked for the woman with renewed interest, but she was already gone. “How many bodies has he possessed since his death?” Kale asked curiously.
“Twenty-eight,” answered the man, who must be the current tribe leader. Kale didn’t think they’d ever met. He didn’t make it to Zerzura often. Especially not to that part of the realm.
“I’ve never heard of a soul able to hold on for that long,” Kale mused.
“My father always was stubborn. And it’s fortunate for little Obasi that he is. That’s not
the first time he’s had to catch that little one. The child doesn’t seem to have inherited our tribe’s sense of balance or common sense,” the chief said loudly for the young boy to hear. Obasi shied back from the edge. He’d already returned to watch the strange arrivals. Only this time, his mother had tied a vine around his middle.
Vera waved, and the boy disappeared.
“I am Vadik, leader of Tiger’s Nest.” Vadik looked with pride at his home. “I assume you are here to summon someone.”
“Unless you have the answers we need already,” said Kale, knowing the soul-eaters kept close tabs on the world beyond their jungle.
“No one has known anything about the person responsible for bringing down the meadow and returning the Guardian to his former state.” Vadik bobbled his head. “Or no one has been sharing anyway.”
Vera startled at the man’s revelations and moved closer to Kale. “You know an awful lot,” she said.
“We know just about everything that has already happened,” explained Vadik.
“Recently, all the spirits want to do is gossip about the Guardian and his former charge,” grouched one of the men behind Vadik.
“Should we have come here?” Vera asked under her breath, no doubt wondering if it wa
s safe to be there with what the people knew.
“You are in no danger from us,” answered Vadik. “Our people are in the unique position of understanding all points of view in Earth’s history. While we do not want you to be here longer than necessary—for our safety—we sympathize with what led siphons to their fate. And we want answers to what is happening in the world, for our children’s sakes.”
“If you know everything, do you know about the kirin?” Vera asked.
“Only what you know. That revelation threw our clan for a loop. We thought we knew everything, but it seems the existence of an entire kingdom has eluded us.”
Kale was disturbed that the soul-eaters knew the details of their conversation with Alalana. It had taken place privately in the old meadow. Realizing that no conversation went unheard was unnerving. Vera seemed to be having a similar realization based on how fast her heart sped up.
“We would like to rectify the hole in our records,” prompted one of the young men impatiently.
“As you can see, my people struggle with not knowing every secret of our world.” Vadik tapped his cane against the ground. “You were close with her, yes?” Vadik asked Vera.
“She was like a mother to me.”
“Good, then she has left her mark on your soul, and we can use it to summon someone else with the same mark.” He struck the ground more firmly with his cane.
The darkness at his feet, which had stretched closer to Vera unnoticed, retreated toward him.
Vera jumped away. “What was that?
“He is curious about you.” Vadik cocked his head to study Vera. “Your soul fascinates
him.”
“Him?”
A crash through the undergrowth captured the soul-eaters’ attention. Vadik whistled, and the shadow puddled around him lifted and took the shape of a tiger. Vera scrambled back, but the shadow beast took no notice of her. The tiger focused on a shriveled corpse, which stumbled into the village. It looked mummified.
“That’s a zombie, isn’t it?” asked Vera.
