by Marx, J. A.
She’s hearing voices. His body shuddered at the ice storm he couldn’t see.
Hope sprang off the bench and tripped into him. Her eyes flickered with fear as she pushed away and leaped off the deck. She staggered down the boathouse path as if drunk.
Jase bounded after her, his mind playing a medley of worry and freak out. He caught up and hooked the crook of her arm. “Where’re you goin’?”
She pried him off and kept running. At the strangler fig, she stumbled. Pulled herself up by the aerial branches.
Breathless from the pelting, sci-fi hailstones, he parked sharp in front of her. “It’s safe in the bungalow. Come on.”
She cowered like a battered child, tugging at her hair and scraping imaginary things off her arms and chest. “They won’t leave me alone!”
Mosquitoes? He hoped.
The sensation of a T-rex panting on his head and shoulders started his heart pounding like kettledrums. It’s not really there. It’s not real—
A monstrous weight slammed Jase’s chest. Flipped him backward, through the air. He dropped onto his side. Windless. Disoriented.
“Jase! Look out!” Hope’s cut-short scream broke him out of a dizzy numbness. Her body jerked backward and smashed into the aerial roots.
He blinked. Stared. I’m going crazy.
A row of bizarre depressions amassing the length of her frame bound Hope in place. Her arms flew up, ensnared by invisible cords. Blood trickled from the grooves forming around her wrists. She gaped at the grove of trees behind him, her expression petrifying.
Peeking over his shoulder, he saw nothing. Heard nothing. But he felt it. Bones quivering, he snapped his gaze back to Hope.
The invisible cord was cutting into her neck, turning her face purple.
Don’t die! Anger drove Jase up to his knees and into a blizzard of evil.
Inside the six-by-six metal shack attached to the bungalow, Akiko rubbed the stinging sweat from his eyes. He hoped Sabio didn’t feel the same intensifying eeriness. If Akiko could rewind time, he’d seriously skip this vacation.
The scholar, with binoculars hanging from his neck, tinkered with the ham radio’s circuitry. Not that the binoculars helped, but Sabio had mentioned taking a hike after they fixed the radio. He always prepared in advance.
Maybe exercise would get rid of this eeriness. Walking in little circles, Akiko peeled the shirtfront off his chest. “Why’s it so dang hot in here?”
“It’s comfortably warm. Are you menopausal?”
Akiko stripped off his shirt. He mopped up the perspiration from his neck and face then snapped the garment at his friend. “You’re hilarious.”
Sabio pointed at his bare chest. “I don’t believe what I’m seeing.”
Promptly covering the golden scarab beetle, Akiko’s palm tingled to the point of pain. He let it go then covered it again. Terror surfaced with his tears. “We need to talk.”
Hope escaped the bungalow, but her legs couldn’t outrun the raspy voices. Beneath her rushing feet, the earth wobbled. The rooty path rocked like a rope bridge until she stumbled into the strangler fig.
“It’s safe in the bungalow …” Jase had stubbornly followed.
The rasping ghosts swarmed like beetles. Molesting. Disorienting. She swiped at them. “They won’t leave me alone!”
A thrust of energy singed her front and shot the musician into the air like a ball.
He landed meters away on the hard-packed trail. Behind him, malevolence manifested in the trees. An apparition, beautiful and hideous. Its charcoal corona, a luminous envelope, stretched wider than Hope could see.
She had to warn him. “Jase! Look out!”
Another gust of energy choked off her breath. Bristly twine snared her limbs and wrenched her backward. Plastered to the aerial roots, she strained for a view of her assailants.
Nobody there.
The manifestation drifted closer. There is no turning back. You are mine. Utterly alien, yet appallingly familiar.
I am not yours. She struggled against the invisible twine. It tightened around her neck.
Jase tried to stand, and a lash of smoke beat him down.
The apparition had come to kill.
Shielding his chest, he rose again, looking skyward. “Lord Jesus! Help me!”
Hope’s solar plexus burned at the name, but the binds kept her from doubling over. She writhed inside her trussed frame. Consciousness fading. Through graying vision, she saw Jase crawling toward her.
He punched the air. “Leave us alone!”
Abruptly released, she collapsed to her knees. Lungs on overdrive. Muscles twitching. The barriers in her mind imploded, and the past sucked her in like a black hole. The ship. Max. Lord Vétis. Her mother. The explosion. Ghastly details torched her soul, slaughtering all hope. She wasn’t worth dirt.
Solid flesh touched her shoulder. “We’ve gotta get out of here. Please, Hope.”
“My name is Ri—” Never forget your birth name. Suppressing the tears but not the trembling, she clenched her teeth. “My name is Chiara.”
“Your memory!” Jase cried.
The apparition hissed through the trees. You are Riki Hammad.
“No!” She clung to her stage identity, the name her mother gave her. “My. Name. Is. Chiara!”
“I heard you.” Jase tugged her arm. “Let’s go.”
She pounded both fists on the earth. Her connection with the Foursome—terminated for their protection. “Get away from me.”
Visible in her peripheral vision, Jase’s feet shambled toward the main trail. “Isaac!”
Not the safetyman. Dragging her abused body off the ground, she hobbled up the path toward the center of the island. She could at least save the Ohioans.
“Hope. I mean, Chiara. Where are you going? Isaac! Help!”
Trusting the bungalow was too far away for anyone to hear Jase, she forced her jelly-limp legs to quicken the pace.
Slay him, Riki. He is our sacrifice.
She knew its power. She would not be its instrument. Devastated by the truth, Chiara stumbled up Mt. Merhamet.
Chapter 39
“We need to talk.” Akiko juggled the beetle pendant like a hot potato.
Sabio’s gaze burned with fury as he rose off the metal stool and away from the radio. “Playing footsies with destruction is bad enough. Wearing the toxic accessories is stupid.”
Akiko winced. “Hope’s lying. You have to trust me on this.”
“If Hope is lying, she’s a better actor than you are.”
You are so deceived. He did an alarmed double take at the miniature drama masks hanging from the other chain. They had tarnished to an ugly copper.
“Yo!” Isaac’s shouted. “Throw me the bigger wrench.”
Sabio snatched the adjustable wrench off the bench. He ducked out of the metal shack and tossed it up to the roof then returned. “Where’d you get the beetle?”
Akiko blew on his seared fingers. “It’s not the one from the falls.”
“There’s two?”
If his friend hadn’t found the pendant near the plunge pool, they wouldn’t be having this worthless argument. “Dr. Caedis let me wear it.”
“Doctor of what?”
“Yo!” Isaac again. “Am I hearing things, or was that Jase yelling for help?”
The anxious tone propelled Akiko and Sabio out of the shack.
Isaac waved them up. “I think we’ve got trouble. Bring the binoculars.”
Hoisting himself onto the metal shack, Akiko followed his friend onto the bungalow’s roof. Sabio honed in with the binoculars in the direction Isaac indicated.
Akiko avoided the safetyman, thankful that Isaac had the antennae to manage.
“Jase and Hope are near the strangler fig,” Sabio said. “Beyond the dip in the terrain.”
“Isaac! Help!” Distance weakened Jase’s volume, but his urgency deafened Akiko.
Sabio whispered something to Isaac then secured the antennae wher
e it wouldn’t slide off.
Isaac scowled at Akiko before swinging himself onto the deck. He tossed him one of the two-way units sitting on the cast iron table. “Guide me.” He vaulted over the railing.
The lemon tie-dyed shirt ducked in and out of Akiko’s view, but the scholar should have no problem following them with the binoculars.
“Tell Isaac they’re ascending Mt. Merhamet.”
“You tell him.” Akiko had to get help before the liar hurt Jase. He handed Sabio the two-way then hopped onto the deck. “I’ve gotta find him.”
“Who?”
“Hope’s psychiatrist.” He retrieved the shirt he’d left in the metal shack.
Sabio’s incredulous glare bore into him the second he returned to the deck. “Are you telling me there’s someone else on the Cay?”
The truth was out, and Akiko wished he had time to explain in detail. “Dr. Caedis is afraid for our safety because of Hope’s criminal history. I was supposed to babysit her until Mr. Fletcher got here.”
“Do you realize how many times we’ve all hassled Hope for her paranoia?” Sabio’s saddened expression accused him of betrayal. “A psychiatrist gave you the scarab beetle?”
Akiko put his T-shirt on and crossed the deck. “Hope’s crazy. Schizoid. She’s gonna hurt someone. I’m getting help.” He sprang off the steps and jogged toward the boathouse.
His frequent disappearances and weird behavior. His antagonistic attitude toward Hope. Those would finally make sense once his friends understood the potential danger. He’ll make sure Dr. Caedis defends him, and Akiko will be forgiven for the previous forty-eight hours of lying.
He circled the boathouse to the designated meeting place. Not finding Caedis there, he backtracked to the strangler fig and angled off the main trail to follow a path of freshly trampled plants. When that trail faded, Akiko chose the next logical route inland.
Hemmed in by smothering vegetation, he paused to listen for the ocean. Regain his sense of direction. “Dr. Caedis? We need you!”
The doctor wouldn’t appreciate him seeking out his campsite. He’d said his home base location was confidential. In case Hope should accidentally realize my presence, he had explained.
He’ll forgive me under the circumstances. Forging ahead, Akiko came to a scene that shrank his courage. The beetle heated up his chest.
“Kiko.”
Shuddering, he spun toward the voice. “It’s Hope. She’s freaking out.”
Dr. Caedis glowed with authority. “Yes. I know.”
“How could you?”
“I know everything about my client.” He elbowed Akiko out of the way and hurried toward a dead fire pit. Taking a dishtowel from his rear pocket, the man draped it over his hand and picked a tin can off the grill. He spilled its contents, a rust-colored paste, into the towel.
I interrupted dinner. Akiko lifted the prickling beetle away from his skin. “Aren’t you going to help us?”
“Of course.” Dr. Caedis rubbed the towel against itself, smearing the paste.
A more thorough examination of the doctor’s camp revealed objects Akiko failed to notice only seconds ago. How could he have missed what stood out so blatantly?
The nations you’re about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers … But not you …
“Ohhhh, God.” Lightheaded, Akiko took a step back. He turned to run but crashed into a thatch palm.
A brawny arm roped his chest. A cloth-covered hand reached around and cupped his face. Akiko pursed his lips against the paste and yanked at the man’s hand. Trapped against Caedis’s torso, he jabbed an elbow at his ribs.
The tower of force didn’t budge.
Desperate for air, Akiko inhaled. His nostrils flooded with a sweet, sharp aroma. A deeper breath … an instant high. A craving for more. The trees blurred into a green mush.
The cloth stayed snug. “No use struggling. You belong to us now.”
Floating.
Falling.
Eyelids heavy, Akiko felt himself drag along the ground. He couldn’t reach the venomous cloth. Didn’t really want to.
Foggy-minded. Pleasantly sluggish.
Paralyzed.
Chapter 40
Chiara’s skin crawled over her twitching muscles. Her limbs quivered. Destiny vandalized her heart, and she sped up Mt. Merhamet’s steep trail, straining to regain control. It had found her, just as Lord Vétis swore it would. It would show the Lux where she was and somehow force her back under their oppression.
Death alone could spare her from this fate.
“Chiara!” The way Jase clutched his chest told her It had wounded him. He’s lucky.
Not knowing how long they had before It caught up with them, she couldn’t take the time to stop and disable him. “Go back!”
A vine snared her foot, and she fell.
Tackling her, Jase rolled them both into a mud puddle. “A small voice told me to follow you.”
He mocks me! She kicked, splattering them both with mud until she pulled free. She flicked a leech off her leg and scrambled onto the trail.
“Running away won’t fix anything.”
“You don’t know squat!”
The ambush back at the banyan had sapped her horsepower. Halfway across Mt. Merhamet, she heard Jase’s heavy breathing.
He seized her arm, yanking her to a stop.
She spun toward him. “Go back to your perfect life.” Whipping her arm free, she thrust a palm at his face and knocked him into the trees.
“You don’t fight like a girl!”
Rub it in. Nor did she feel worthy of being human.
The charcoal corona with its raspy purr snaked through the branches.
Chiara tore ahead to get It away from the Ohioan.
“She’s heading toward Turtle’s Head.” Sabio’s voice buzzed through the two-way.
The cliff?
She wouldn’t. Isaac doubled backed, searing a trail through the vegetation. “How far is she? Over.” He slapped the radio to loosen the jammed transmission button. How had he ended up with the defective unit?
“She’s fighting him.”
Fighting Jase? Isaac doubted his ears. “Send Kiko to help me. Over.”
Branches slapped his face. Exposed roots slowed his pace. He needed guidance, but Sabio wasn’t answering. Before Isaac had lowered himself from the roof, Sabio had whispered, Hurry back. We’ve got Kiko trouble.
Hoping nothing bad happened back at the bungalow, Isaac clipped the radio onto his shorts and bulldozed a new route up Turtle’s Head. It was steeper, but he had to make better time. He approached the ridge on all fours.
“Go back!” Hope screamed.
“I won’t let you!” Jase grunted as though he’d been slugged.
Hope crossed Isaac’s path just as he summited. He sprang after her. Thirty feet to the cliff … twenty feet …
She’s too far ahead.
Ten feet …
“Lord, make me faster.” Sprinting forth, he lunged and lassoed her knees.
They slammed into the grassy earth and skidded to a stop.
Hope’s head shot out over the cliff. She clawed the ground, dragging herself over the edge. “Let me go!”
“What’s wrong with you?” Clasping her ankles, Isaac stood and hauled her back a yard. Two yards. He tripped over the kapok root.
She jerked one leg loose.
Jase dove onto her, grunting like a sacked quarterback. He yanked her arms out from under her, locked his hands together at her ribs, and rolled onto his side. “Give it up, Chiara.”
The name pricked Isaac’s ears. She remembers.
GI Jane heaved Jase forward, then up. She planted her feet and propelled him backward into the kapok’s buttress. She landed between his bent knees, still trapped in his arms.
Shocked at her strength, Isaac scraped at, grabbed at, and finally conquered her kickboxing legs. He shifted around so he was sitting on them, facing her. Then he shackled her wild arms in his fists.
>
The bloody grooves around her wrists speared his heart. What have you done?
“Get off me!” She thrashed about, convulsing with sobs.
Isaac never anticipated self-destruction. “You’re delirious, Chiara. Get control.”
“It’s your fault I’m here. I hate you!” She tried to buck him off with her knees. “You should’ve let me die on the beach.”
“Why?”
“You’d never understand.” She bit at his hand. “I don’t want to be here!”
Isaac wanted her here. He geared up to win this war.
Lord Vétis laid the last stick on the ground, completing the triangle around Kiko’s body. The door to the underworld was ready for tonight’s initiation ceremony. The sacrifice was in place.
A leafy hedge behind him rustled from intrusion.
“Dr. Caedis.” The greeting accused him.
The mole betrayed me. Vétis sneered at Kiko’s veiled face then turned and smiled. Fluent in many languages, he chose Spanish to welcome the mix-breed. “Bienvenido.”
Earthly forces had clearly led this mongrel to his temple. Squeezing the golden scarab beetle at his chest, Vétis narrowed his energy on the next sacrifice.
“What have you done to Kiko?”
He scoffed at the little pocketknife in Goatee’s hand. “Kiko came to me feeling ill. I offered therapy. You appreciate the power of the herb, yes?”
“Who are you?” He wasn’t responding to psychic manipulation.
“Mind your temper, Sabio.” Vétis detested the Spanish translation of his name. Wisdom, sensible. “Did Kiko tell you where to find me?”
Goatee’s gaze pointed at his unbandaged foot. “I followed the deformed footprints into the vegetation. You left a bloody cloth drying on a branch. Who are you?” An oily smear on the mongrel’s forehead glowed, as if he’d been anointed. By whom?
The distinct scent of lavender struck Vétis’s nostrils, reminding him of Sabio’s herbal collection. By whose authority did the kid assume he could anoint himself?
Vétis chuckled to mask his outrage. “I’m Hope’s psychiatrist. Kiko tells me you let your school chum die. Allow me to ease your humiliation and shame.”
