by Sarah Noffke
The creature that bore down on Liv was huge…
And ready to kill.
Chapter Nine
Liv’s breath hitched in her throat. Bellator shook in her hands. She cursed herself for thinking the beetles before were large. They had nothing on the giant one towering over her, its pincers clicking loudly.
The beast hissed, one of its antennas lowering, pointing straight at her.
“Heeeey,” she said, doing her best to sound welcoming.
The beetle, which was easily the size of a truck, wasn’t receptive to Liv’s greeting. It shot forward, its pincers seeking to chop her in two.
Liv swung Bellator, jumping back several feet. She tripped on one of the vines she’d chopped, falling onto her backside. Bellator clattered to the side, out of her grasp.
Seizing its opportunity, the beetle shot forward, its pincers stabbing into the ground on either side of Liv’s face, nearly impaling her. Pinned to the ground, Liv gazed up into the beetle’s dark eyes.
“Hi,” she said meekly. “Nice to meet you.”
The beetle didn’t seem as excited about the meeting. Or maybe it had no manners, Liv thought as it hissed, sending a thick wet substance all over her face.
“Eeeww,” Liv said, grimacing from the horrid smell of the snot-like liquid.
The beetle reared back on its hind legs, its pincers clapping together. Liv took her opportunity to roll out of the way. Her hands searched for Bellator, but it had slid under some thick roots.
Wiggling her hand into the small opening between the roots, Liv tried to grab the hilt, but it was wedged at a weird angle. She glanced up just as the beetle shot down like it had before. She abandoned her mission to the get sword and rolled into the hollowed-out trunk of a tree.
A second later, and she’d have been chopped in two. The beetle’s pincers assaulted the bark, cutting into it, but the tree was thick enough to protect Liv.
She held up her hand, trying to think of a spell that would work on the beetle. After a quick deliberation, she sent a blast at it. That was when she realized that it didn’t matter what spell she used. None of them were going to work. Magic was no good in the jungle. Not for chopping down vines and branches or for defending oneself against a giant beetle.
The trunk held firm after several assaults from the beetle as it slammed its pincers into the side. However, when it clamped them on either side and squeezed, the trunk cracked.
Liv was running out of options. She was without Bellator and magic and confined to the inside of a tree trunk.
The wood around her splintered, nearly breaking.
The tree she was using as a shield wasn’t going to last for long. Liv knew she was going to have to make a run for it. However, the path through the jungle hadn’t been fully forged yet, which meant she’d be slowed down navigating around vines and branches. Or she’d have to abandon her mission and run back the other way. And there was Bellator. She couldn’t leave it behind.
Liv was busy trying to sift through her options when the beetle screamed, vibrating the ground under her feet. It reeled back, its pincers blindly chopping in the air. Liv was trying to figure out what had gotten into the mad beetle when she saw something swoop overhead. She could hardly make out anything from inside the trunk. Deciding to chance it, Liv ducked out of the trunk just as Indikos dove, attacking one of the beetle’s antennas. The beast swatted at the small dragon, but he was nimble enough to avoid the collision. He disappeared into the jungle, making the beetle turn around to find its new enemy.
Liv didn’t have a chance to dig Bellator out of where it was hidden. She pulled Inexorabilis from its sheath on the other side of her hip. A small shot of electricity pulsed through Liv’s arm.
She knew what she had to do next. It was the only way to defeat the beetle, which thankfully was momentarily distracted as Indikos dove again, attacking its other antenna and severing it.
It screamed. Hissed. Reeled back on its hind legs. If it toppled over right then, Liv would be smashed.
Thankfully, the beetle dropped back down on its front legs, making the ground shudder from its enormous weight.
Liv didn’t like what she’d have to do next, but it was the only way.
Indikos circled overhead, his eyes quickly shifting to Liv. He saw her, but did he know what she needed him to do?
She hoped that even without the herb, he shared her thoughts. Liv knew better than to take it now since Indikos was too far away for it to work.
The miniature dragon dove like a missile toward the ground, weaving between the beetle’s legs. Unnerved by the strange attack, the beast reared again, its pincers high in the air.
Liv couldn’t believe it had worked. She swung around to the front of the beetle, driving Inexorabilis into the monster’s soft underbelly.
It screamed, its front legs flailing wildly.
Liv tried to move out of the way but was too slow. The insides of the giant beetle spilled onto her, slowing her down like she was suddenly in quicksand. Her progress at scurrying to safety was significantly stalled. Looking over her shoulder, Liv lunged forward, her chest constricting with panic. She was able to move a few feet through the mucus and guts, to safety…or mostly. When the beetle fell, it crashed on top of her, pinning her bottom half. The pincers landed inches from her legs. She glanced back, her mother’s sword still in her hands.
The beetle was dead.
And its guts covered Liv.
She glanced up at Indikos, who was flying overhead. “Thanks, buddy,” she said before letting her face rest in the soft earth as she caught her breath.
Chapter Ten
It took Liv five whole minutes to peel herself out from underneath the beetle’s dead carcass. Not only did its weight make it difficult to get out from under the body, but the slime still oozing from it made every move sloppy. The dirt under Liv had quickly turned to mud, moistened by the guts. Twice, she’d gotten to her hands and knees, only to slip and fall straight back onto her face.
When she finally made it to her feet, Plato appeared, looking her over casually.
“Don’t say a word,” she said, glancing down at her body, soaked to the core in slime.
“What?” he asked innocently. “I was only going to say—”
“If you mention anything about how I’m wearing bug guts, I’m going to stop buying cat food.”
He shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll have to eat nachos. Can you put anchovies on my half?”
“No,” Liv said, kneeling to try to retrieve Bellator. She had to press her cheek into the dirt to see what was keeping the sword stuck. “We both know I don’t share my nachos.”
“Yes, it’s been noted in your file.”
Liv grunted, pushing and pulling to try to free the blade tangled in the thick roots. “What else does it say in my file?”
Plato licked his paw. “That you don’t brush your hair.”
“I do on weekends,” Liv argued.
“You say inappropriate things when you’re nervous,” he continued.
“Or really just whenever,” Liv added, feeling like she was going to have to dislocate her shoulder to free the sword.
“That you watch entirely too many Lucille Ball shows.”
“That’s inherently false. I watch the perfect number.” With a swift jerk, Liv freed the sword, raising it victoriously into the air. “Ha-ha!”
“Good job,” Plato said casually. “But just so you know—”
“Don’t you dare say it,” Liv warned, wiping her hand across her face but only making the damage worse. She was a sight to see, but unable to use magic, and with a pit of lava at her back and thick jungle before her, there was no way for her to freshen up.
“What?” Plato asked innocently.
“Whatever you do, don’t comment on my appearance.”
He blinked at her impassively. “Why would I do that?”
Liv sheathed Bellator and glanced down at her mud-caked hands. “Man, this bug slime stinks.”
“Bug?” Plato asked.
Liv gestured at the giant beetle carcass, which had started to steam, giving off an even worse smell. “Yes, I was referring to the bug I slaughtered.”
“Oh, heavens,” Plato said. “I totally didn’t even notice it.”
“Sure, you didn’t.” Liv picked up her mother’s sword, trying to wipe it off as best she could before sheathing it.
“Beetles also aren’t bugs,” Plato offered. “It’s a common misconception, but bugs have a different mouth structure than a beetle. Not only that, but—”
“This isn’t really a good time for a science lesson.”
“When would be good?” Plato asked. “I can pencil you in for later.”
Liv looked at the blue sky, searching for the small dragon. “I don’t know where Indikos went, but I’m hoping he shows back up soon.”
“He’s waiting at Hawaiki’s hut,” Plato stated.
Liv sighed with relief. “Thanks. Finally, something seems to be going right.”
She started off toward the clearing she spied through the trees. It wasn’t far.
“Oh, and Liv?” Plato said, stopping her.
She turned, thinking he might offer her more valuable information. “What?”
“You have something on your face,” he answered.
She shook her head at the lynx. “You’re dead to me, now.”
“Cool. I’ll see you at the house. But do wipe your feet before entering. Bug guts are hard to get off the floors,” he said and disappeared.
Chapter Eleven
Even sliding through tight clusters of leaves didn’t remove the bug slime. Liv sort of felt like a car in a car wash with the giant brushes sliding by her as she squeezed through the jungle. However, when she came out the other side, she was hardly any cleaner than when she started.
Liv was grateful that she didn’t have to go much farther to the clearing since she was having to walk a bit funny from the strange substances coating every crevice of her body. She studied the structure in the middle of the clearing, trying to understand exactly what it was. It wasn’t quite a house.
It was a modest dwelling for sure, with its mud walls and grass roof. However, magic had definitely been employed in its construction, and also its appearance. When she glanced to the side, she could have sworn the building grew by several stories and looked like a polished home. When she peered directly at the house, it was merely a closet-like hut that looked ready to fall over at any second.
Several times, Liv slid her eyes to the side, and on each occasion, it appeared to be something different: a modern house with large windows and a box-like shape, an old Victorian with spires and gargoyles on top, a southwestern house with cacti and stucco, or a brownstone apartment in the middle of the city.
Around the outside of the house was mostly dirt, and there were loose tools strewn about. There was a lumpy large burlap sack sitting on a flat stone. The bag appeared like it had been left out in the rain too many times and had mold stains.
In back of the hut were a small field of crops and a few fruit trees. Indikos, unlike what Plato had said, wasn’t sitting on the hut or anywhere in sight. Liv desperately hoped he showed up, or she was going to have to come up with another plan to get Hawaiki’s cooperation. She would have taken the herb Rory had given her, sturistriderfen, but the book said the dragon needed to be present for it to work. Also, Liv’s hands were completely covered in slime and guts, and she worried it would harm the herb’s potency if she touched it. She’d just have to wait.
Liv realized she was about to knock on this elf’s door looking like she’d been dipped in a vat of sludge. She pushed a bit of hair off her face and tried to brush off her shoulder like there was a tiny piece of lint on it instead of it being covered in thick slime. Her efforts were futile, making no difference to her appearance, but causing her hands to be even stickier than before.
She sighed in defeat as she approached the rickety door, which looked like it had been taken from an old ship. Liv was just about to knock when something in her peripheral vision shifted. The lumpy burlap sack moved. Suddenly she realized that the old brown sack wasn’t that at all, but rather an elderly woman.
“The owner of this place isn’t home,” the woman said, looking like a stone statue as she talked.
“Ummm…” Liv said, backing away. “I’m looking for Hawaiki Topasna. Is that you?”
The woman—Liv couldn’t tell if she was old or a strange piece of furniture or beautiful—looked her over. Just like the house, the elf took on a different form depending on if Liv was looking at her straight on or from an angle.
“Where did you hear about Hawaiki?” the woman asked.
Liv was pretty certain this was the elf she was looking for, although she’d never met anyone so strange. She felt as though she couldn’t see the woman clearly. Her figure kept morphing, and it was really messing with Liv’s mind.
Searching around, Liv tried to locate Indikos. He wasn’t in sight. She was going to have to play this just right, sensing that the woman’s uncooperative nature.
“I was sent here to find Hawaiki because I have something for her,” Liv stated.
When the woman stood, she was not any taller than when sitting. Looking at her straight on, she appeared to be a dark, round woman with loose gray curls and a sturdy expression. However, even as Liv looked at her, she got flashed of other figures in her mind: a child, a young woman, a middle-aged woman, and then there was the elderly elf before her.
“There is nothing you can give to Hawaiki,” the woman said, offense in her tone as she looked Liv over. “Why are you covered in that?”
Liv glanced down, a nervous giggle escaping her mouth. “Well, I took out that giant beetle that was terrorizing your island.”
“You mean Rongo?”
Liv shrugged. “I didn’t have a chance to catch its name since it was trying to slaughter me with its pincers.”
“It was defending the island,” the elf said, her eyes narrowing in anger.
“And I was trying to defend my life,” Liv argued.
The woman trotted passed Liv, shaking her head with disappointment. “That’s why I can’t be around you magicians. Always killing everything.”
“To be fair—”
Liv didn’t get a chance to argue her point because the old woman disappeared into the hut and slammed the door.
Letting out a long breath, Liv stomped her foot. “Are you Hawaiki?”
The door opened an inch, and the old woman’s brown eye stared at Liv. “Yes!”
She slammed the door again.
“But you said that Hawaiki wasn’t home a moment ago,” Liv stated.
Again the door peeled open. “I wasn’t home. Now I am.”
“Well, can I talk to you?” Liv asked. “I’m Liv, a Warrior for the House of Seven, and have an important request.”
“No,” Hawaiki said in a definitive tone, shutting the door again.
Liv sighed loudly. She should have expected this. “But I brought you a gift, and I’ve heard it’s something you really want.”
The elf stuck her head out of a window on the side of the hut that hadn’t been there a moment before. “Where is it? If it’s covered in Rongo’s insides, I don’t want it.”
“It’s not,” Liv stated, glancing at the treetops around the clearing. “I’ve sort of momentarily lost it, but if you come out here and talk to me, I’m sure it will return soon.”
“No deal.” Hawaiki closed the shutters.
“Indikos!” Liv called to the trees. “Would you get your butt down here? I need your help.”
Silence followed.
“Indikos!” Liv yelled even louder.
The shutters busted back open. “Would you keep it down? I’m trying to nap.”
Liv didn’t see how the woman could nap in the hut. It didn’t look big enough to have a bed, even with the addition of the window. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I came all this way to get your hel
p. It’s really important.”
“So important that you had to kill Rongo?” Hawaiki asked.
“I apologize,” Liv stated. “Was he your friend? He was trying to kill me, and I was only defending myself.”
“No,” Hawaiki said with great offense. “He was a pain in my ass, always tearing up my garden and destroying the natural vegetation on the island.”
“So you’re welcome—”
“But he kept people like you away, and therefore we had a truce of sorts,” Hawaiki interrupted.
“Shouldn’t I get bonus points for getting past your guards?” Liv asked. “I also got over the lava.”
“Although impressive, you’ve wasted your time. Go away.” The old elf closed the shutters once more.
Liv rolled her eyes dramatically. Of course, Hawaiki had to be an ornery, uncooperative old woman, and the gift she’d brought to buy her compliance had flown off.
“Why is it that the person I need help from is always against the idea?” Liv grumbled to herself, trying to think through her options.
Hawaiki’s head popped back through the open window. “Whoever told you where to find me should have also mentioned that I wouldn’t cooperate with whatever it is you want.”
“They did,” Liv stated dully. “Which is why I brought you a gift that’s flown off.”
“Too bad for you, then.” Hawaiki’s eyes sparked with curiosity. “Did you say that my gift flew off?”
Liv nodded, her eyes feeling like they were going crossed from staring at the woman, whose form constantly changed, and the house, which also kept shifting. “Yes. I brought you a miniature dragon because that was what Subner said you’ve always wanted.”
The elf burst out of the door and was standing in front of Liv faster than she thought possible. “A majunga? That’s what you brought me?”
“Yes,” Liv said, defeat in her voice. “But he flew off into the trees, and I can’t find him.”
The elf looked Liv up and down disapprovingly. “Did you try to kill him like you did Rongo?”
