Gates of Thread and Stone

by Lori M. Lee

  The silence was almost worse. My imagination supplied me with endless horrific scenarios. I covered my face. This was my fault. They were hurting him to get to me.

  A voice said, “Did you enjoy that? I think you’re ready to see Ninu now.”

  Istar. A click, and my cell door swung open. Still pressed against it, I fell forward, sprawling across the floor in front of a pair of dainty white shoes. I wanted to spit on them.

  Large hands pulled me up. A sentinel, thankfully not Reev, hauled me along behind her. Most of the doors we passed were closed, and those that weren’t showed empty rooms. I didn’t know which room Avan had been in or where he was now, but letting me listen to his torture was supposed to rattle my nerves and crush my defiance. I wouldn’t give in. Once they had what they wanted, they’d probably kill us both.

  I tested the sentinel’s grip, but she held fast. I could use the threads, but what then? How was I supposed to help anyone else escape when I didn’t know how to help myself?

  We climbed a short set of stairs before passing through a stone arch. The next staircase spiraled up through a circular shaft, like the stairs that led to Irra’s gargoyles. A tall window allowed natural light into the narrow stairway. As we passed the window, I realized we were high enough to see beyond the walls of the White Court to the dirty roofs and blackened chimneys of the North District.

  I knew where we were. The highest point in the White Court: Death’s tower.

  The home of Ninu’s executioner was the last place anyone wanted to be.

  Wooden doors opened at the top of the stairs. Behind them was a broad space with dusky mosaic tiles and brocade furniture. Sheer curtains draped the high walls, which were a warm, ruddy color and climbed up and up to a glass ceiling that displayed a gradually darkening sky.

  Istar entered the room ahead of us, her shoes clicking against the tiles. Windows framed the room, providing a magnificent view. Just as you could see the tower from anywhere in the city, from here you could see all the way to the stacked freight containers of the Labyrinth.

  An unexpected pang of yearning hit me. I was a long way from what had once been home.

  A torch in a stone sconce cast a halo over a woman standing by the windows. She wore a slim silver gown. It shimmered when she turned to face us, every angle of the dress catching the fading daylight. Her white hair was asymmetrical—jaw-length on one side and down to her collarbone on the other. The longer side had a black streak through it.

  She looked familiar, but I would’ve known who she was no matter what. Ninu’s right hand.

  “Leave us, Sister,” she said.

  Istar pouted, but she did as she was told, taking the sentinel with her. The doors shut behind them, leaving me alone with Death.

  CHAPTER 35

  “HELLO, KAI.”

  I moved into the room. I didn’t think Istar had brought me here to die. Not yet. And I doubted Death performed her job in this room.

  “I am called Kalla,” she said. Her gaze dropped to my feet. “You were supposed to be disarmed.”

  The knife. It was still in my boot.

  Before she could order the knife removed, I said, “You were supposed to be Ninu.”

  A hiss of air indicated a door opening.

  At the far end of the room, a man entered through an alcove hidden behind the fall of curtains. He stepped into the light. He was tall enough to be imposing, although not nearly Irra’s height, and he had neatly cut graying hair. He wore a high-collared, midnight-blue tunic, trimmed in silver thread and glossy buttons. The blue matched his eyes, which took me in with only mild curiosity.

  Ninu looked exactly the way I’d imagined. I straightened my shoulders, unwilling to let him intimidate me.

  “I’m delighted to meet you, Kai.” His voice was clear and melodic, almost ingratiatingly sweet.

  On a glass table sat two crystal goblets and a decanter partially filled with a luminous purple liquid that looked like the alcoholic drinks the hollows had served. He poured himself a portion and held the goblet up to me in salute.

  I glared. I wasn’t going to engage in mock formalities.

  He sipped his drink. When he turned to face me again, there was an edge to his smile. “Wonderful,” he said.

  He studied my face. It made me want to back away. Instead, I held his gaze.

  “You’re a coward,” I said, surprised by how steady my voice was.

  “I am Kahl. What would you have me do, Kai? Barter with you?” His shoulders moved with silent laughter. “Perhaps you think your information or your abilities provide enough weight for negotiation. But you’d be wrong. I have your brother, and I have your friend. Surely you see where you stand.”

  “Stop toying with me,” I said. “What do you want to know about Irra?”

  I knew playing dumb at this point would be a bad idea. If I didn’t have the answers he wanted, he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Reev and Avan. Unfortunately, he might do the same even after I told him. I didn’t know much beyond what he already did, and I didn’t think lying would be very smart. There were no choices here.

  He swished the purple liquid in his goblet. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

  “Your friend—Avan, is it? Interesting young man. No matter how many ways we cut him open, he just doesn’t die.”

  The shaking started in my hands and spread to my arms.

  He set his goblet on the table and clasped his hands behind his back. “And no, to answer your burning question, your friend is not of the Infinite. Isn’t that right, Kalla?”

  “A most curious human,” she noted.

  If Avan wasn’t a descendant—and no one knew what he was—then that only made what had happened in the arena more baffling. He was a mystery, like me. I had to find him. I had to save him.

  The exit was behind me, but it was likely guarded by sentinels. There was the door Ninu had come through, but that was a good thirty feet across the room. I’d never make it in time.

  But I could make time. Irra had said that even the Infinite couldn’t escape the River’s flow. If I held the threads, I could probably at least get to Ninu before time caught up. And the knife in my boot would have found his heart.

  “You seem impatient,” he said. “I’m willing to indulge you. I should very much like it if you could now tell me how to find Irra’s base.”

  “I’d love to,” I said. “I hope Irra welcomes you by rotting out your eyes.”

  “I look forward to the hospitality.” He looked at me expectantly. His forehead was unlined. Still, he clearly seemed old, unlike Istar.

  I sent a silent apology to Irra, but I wasn’t too worried. I had the feeling Etu Gahl wouldn’t be found unless Irra wanted it to be.

  “It’s lost,” I said. “Beyond the Void.”

  Ninu tilted his head as he glanced at Kalla. “Irra’s errand boy said something similar. But it was difficult to make out with all the screaming.”

  Whoever had been sent to meet us behind Zora Hall at noon must’ve been met by Ninu’s sentinels instead. Did that mean DJ or another hollow was dead?

  I prayed it hadn’t been Mason. It couldn’t have been. Mason would have been rebranded, not killed. Please. Please.

  “His death was quick,” Ninu confirmed. “But Avan will not be shown the same mercy. In fact, it seems not to be an option at all. So he will continue to suffer until you agree to lead me to Irra.”

  I swallowed. “Lead you?”

  Ninu approached me. Good. The closer he was, the better my aim. I tried not to look at Kalla, afraid to give anything away. Why hadn’t she demanded I hand over the knife?

  “Of course,” he said. “I’ve sent my sentinels on enough pointless ventures into the Void. This time, you will return under the pretense of a successful extraction.”

  I didn’t cringe when he touched my face, despite the primal urge to snap at his fingers.

  His next words were spoken inches from my ear. “Irra will open his gates to you, and you will lead us
into his fortress.”

  He turned away. Only someone as confident in his power as Ninu would present his back to his enemy. Lucky me.

  I leaned over, fingers dipping into my boot. The knife handle felt warm against my palm, as if anticipating my intent.

  Before Kalla could warn him, I threw my mind against the threads. Time slowed and grew slack around me. I could move freely against its current. Ninu was half turned, his expression frozen in astonishment.

  Beneath the ribs—that was where Mason had said to strike with a weapon. The knife slid in with scarcely any resistance.

  Time snapped forward. I pulled the knife free. Blood darkened Ninu’s tunic as he crumpled. My stomach roiled, but I hardened myself with the memory of Avan’s body in the arena and his moans filling the blank space of my cell.

  I spun around and pointed the bloody knife at Kalla. “Where are my brother and Avan?”

  Kalla adjusted the strap of her silver dress and pursed glossy, red lips. She didn’t seem concerned by the fact that I’d just killed the Kahl. She wasn’t even looking at me.

  A second later, I understood why.

  A voice came from the shadowy alcove across the room, sinking into my skin.

  “I haven’t seen that specific power for a long time.”

  CHAPTER 36

  A SHADOW EMERGED from the alcove and focused into the shape of a man. He wasn’t as tall as the one I’d just stabbed, and he was slender, with thin lips, a beaky nose, and white-blond hair cut close to his scalp. He looked young, not much older than Avan. His eyes were a cool green that reflected the same emptiness I’d seen in Irra’s.

  He frowned at the body leaving a bloody puddle on the mosaic tiles.

  “I liked him,” he said. His voice crept through the room. It skittered across my skin in a way that made me want to rub my arms and shake it off. “Now what am I supposed to tell the public about their fearless leader?”

  I looked from the man on the floor to the one standing over him.

  “You’re Ninurta,” I said.

  He gave me a brittle smile.

  “And he’s what?” I asked, gesturing to the body. “A puppet?”

  Ninu touched his forehead, his lashes fluttering as he briefly shut his eyes. The door behind me opened. I shuffled back as a pair of sentinels entered. I didn’t relax my grip on the knife even when they walked past me.

  “Well,” Ninu said, “it would be a little alarming to have a leader who never died. Human minds are fragile things. Supply them just enough magic and miracles to keep their reverence, but not enough to challenge what they think they know of the world. Can’t have another self-inflicted cataclysm, can we?”

  The sentinels gathered up the body, carrying it between them like a plank of wood.

  Ninu grunted as he surveyed the mess left behind. “I do hope that won’t stain.”

  I forced my eyes away from the blood on the floor, the same blood that ran in dark-red rivulets down the blade of my knife, gathering around my clenched fingers. The knowledge of what I’d just done swarmed inside me, threatening to make me sick all over the tiles. But I held myself in check. I couldn’t think about it now. There would be time later for breaking down.

  If I survived this.

  I was a fool. I hadn’t considered a puppet leader. I assumed Ninu could change faces. He was Infinite—I couldn’t begin to fathom what he could do. But I had hoped, because the knife had scared off the gargoyles, that it might be able to hurt him. Maybe even kill him.

  Well, it had done its job, just not on the right Ninu. And now I’d lost whatever minuscule advantage I’d had. Maybe I could slow time again and— But would the same tactic work twice? I’d have to get Ninu closer. I wouldn’t be able to hold the threads long enough to cross the room.

  I shifted sideways to keep both Kalla and Ninu in my line of sight. I wanted to drop the knife and wipe my hands on my tunic, to rid myself of that awful stickiness, but I couldn’t let go of the last thing standing between us, no matter how useless it might be.

  “If you want my help, then let Reev and Avan go. Safely,” I added in case he tried to twist my words.

  “Of course,” he said. “In time.” He smiled, a gradual stretch of his lips, as if whatever thought he found so funny was slow to form. “Time.”

  “Now,” I said.

  “You’re a lot like your father. Both annoyingly stubborn.”

  Father? Was this some sort of trick?

  “Your abilities are much rougher, though,” he went on. “Lack of practice, I think. And your mortal body obviously holds you back.”

  Irra had said Ninu was the youngest of the Infinite. He couldn’t possibly know more about their ways than Irra. Ninu must be trying to mislead me. “Let my brother and Avan go now, with the promise that they won’t get hurt, and I’ll take you to Irra.”

  Ninu cut his hand through the air. “Irra is nothing but a fly that needs to be swatted.”

  The anger in his voice vibrated in my bones.

  “He can play hide-and-seek all he wants. I’ll find him soon enough,” Ninu said.

  What? I gritted my teeth and lowered the knife. Kalla had draped herself across a plush white sofa, apparently ignoring the conversation.

  “Then what the drek do you want from me?” I shouted.

  “What do I want?” His question echoed across the room. “No one but Irra could have helped you infiltrate the Tournament. So when R-22 reported your presence, I saw an opportunity finally to catch him.”

  It had been Reev. Ninu’s wall in his mind had allowed him to recognize me and still betray me.

  “But you tried to have Reev kill me,” I said.

  “We needed only one of you,” he said simply. “Your friend’s information would have sufficed. And what better way to demonstrate our power than to let him watch his friend die by her brother’s hand? But then I saw what you did in the arena.” His eyes closed again, head tilting. “Irra must have suspected who you are, and yet he sent you anyway.”

  What if Ninu really did know something about my past? “Who am I?”

  “Irra had no information to offer you?”

  “He didn’t know,” I said. The flicker of uncertainty in Ninu’s face gave me a brief moment of satisfaction. He might be just as confused by all this as I was.

  “You are an answer to a question,” he replied confidently. “A means to an end. A bridge to the other side. Take your pick.”

  I decided he had no idea what I was. “If you don’t care about finding Irra, then what was the point of sending Istar to intimidate me? And your puppet’s threats?”

  “My human counterpart was told only about your significance to Irra. And his threats still stand.”

  “But what do you want from me?”

  Someone tapped at the door behind me. “Perfect,” Ninu said.

  The door opened. Two sentinels guided Reev and Avan into the room. Reev entered by his own will, as distant and cold as his guards. Avan had to be supported. I struggled not to show the way my body went weak at the sight of them.

  Avan was still in his cadet uniform, which now hung off his shoulders in bloody shreds. Physically, he looked okay, but the state of his clothes was evidence of what they’d done to him. And when I searched his face, the damage was clear. His eyes wouldn’t meet mine, but I could see that they were weary and dark with pain. His gaze darted around the room. Alert but uncertain. Haunted.

  I rushed forward, choking on his name. The sentinels stepped in front of him.

  “Get out of my way!” I shouted, shoving the bloody blade up beneath one sentinel’s jaw. She didn’t move; she just looked to Ninu for orders.

  “Please, Kai,” Ninu said, his voice crawling beneath my skin. “You’re not helping either of them.”

  “Stop it!” I pointed the knife at him. “Quit trying to get inside me.”

  His mouth curved in a predatory expression. “Good, you have enough of your father in you to be immune.”

  “A
nd stop talking about my father! He’s dead.” What I really wanted to say was “What do you know?” But I couldn’t care about a dad I couldn’t remember. Reev was the only family I had, and he stood next to Avan, awaiting Ninu’s orders like a dog.

  “Oh, believe me, no one would prefer that truth more than I would,” Ninu said. “You have his eyes, do you know that?”

  I glared in response.

  He laughed. “On you, they’re kind of beautiful. Like the pale blue of the River.” He stepped closer to me despite the knife pointed at him. “How much do you know about your powers, Kai?”

  I didn’t touch the threads. I wanted to hear more.

  “Your father trapped you in a human body and abandoned you to a confused sentinel without even a note of explanation. He’s always been so difficult.”

  “Tell me what you want,” I said again.

  “The River, of course. Access to it, to be precise.”

  Did he mean the threads?

  “I thought the Infinite could already feel it.” Or rather, they could feel when I manipulated it.

  “That doesn’t mean we have access,” he said flatly.

  “I don’t know how to teach anyone—” I paused because Ninu was waving his hand at me.

  “No, no, I need access to the actual river.”

  “A real river?” I assumed Irra had been speaking metaphorically.

  “As I’m sure you’re aware, it exists all around us. But it also has a physical location, hidden in a place only Time can grant access to.”

  Well, then I had no idea how to get to it. But I crossed my arms and pretended otherwise. “Why do you need it?”

  “Time flows forward. Only ever forward.” His lashes lowered, and he looked almost melancholy. “But you were born of the River. You have the power to manipulate its flow. To move it backward.”

  “I can’t.” Of everything he might have asked from me, he wanted me to perform the impossible. “I’ve tried, but I’ve never been able to do anything more than slow it down.” Except that one Sunday, but Ninu didn’t need to know that.