(Skeleton Key) Into Elurien

by Kate Sparkes

  It was easily the most sensible thing I’d ever heard Prettyboy McJockface say in all the time I’d known him. I nodded and finished my lemonade.

  Jimmy motioned for the others to step closer. “Are we all ready?”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Not you, gimpy,” he said, not unkindly. We might have been friends if his teasing had been that gentle in school. “We’re going after Verelle tonight. David still has his key for the town hall’s back door.”

  I struggled to stand so I could talk sense to his face instead of his kneecaps. “Jimmy, you need a better plan than that. She’ll be expecting it if she knows you all want her gone. She’s lived through rebellions before, and she’s well guarded.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of shotguns, which if you’re right about her origins, she hasn’t dealt with before.”

  He almost sounded like he believed me.

  “And if not,” he continued. “We’re splitting up to find the actual source of her so-called magic. It’s got to be in that building. She almost never leaves.”

  I crossed my arms. “And what is it you think she’s doing? How do you explain the soldiers?”

  He frowned. “We don’t explain them. We get rid of them.”

  My stomach sank. “You can’t go in without knowing exactly what you’re going to do and what you’re facing. It’s too big a risk.”

  Jimmy gave me a cocky smile. “No worries. We’ll be back safe and sound with the island freed by morning.”

  They left, Mrs. Perry with them. I looked around the gym. Familiar faces, but no good friends of mine. I wondered whether the people I knew better were at the church, or if they’d been taken in by Verelle’s speeches. It was hard to believe anyone would be.

  She fooled Zinian, I reminded myself. And he was as smart as anyone I knew. But maybe that awareness had come later, after he saw the truth.

  No one came closer to say hello. I supposed I must have been quite a sight with my tangled hair and weird clothes. A trip to the girls’ bathroom confirmed all of that, and worse. My face was filthy and covered in scratches, as were my hands. I washed in a sink and did what I could with my hair, which I tied back with an abandoned pink elastic I found under the counter.

  “Well, I’m not just going to sit here,” I told my reflection. I would have, once. But I’d changed in the past few weeks. I’d survived a near-beheading, ventured into the desert with an ogre I called a friend, stood up to monsters, and won the heart of one of the best of them.

  I’m different. I felt bigger than I had before. More capable. Braver. I didn’t have a plan or a lucky charm, but I knew I might be able to help, and that was all I needed. I tightened the strap of my shoulder bag, asked Janet McMurtry lock up after me, and headed out into the night.

  The streets were quiet, as I’d expected. I stuck to the deepest shadows, hobbling as quickly as I could. I was rushing through an ink-black alley when I tripped over something soft and fell to my hands and knees.

  “MEEEEEERF?”

  “Tomie! Go home!”

  The fat old cat rubbed against my face, and I wiped away the hairs that stuck to my sweaty skin. He followed when I started walking again, yelling the whole way.

  “Dude, I don’t have any tuna. Get lost.”

  I stepped out onto Main Street and ducked for cover as I caught sight of a pair of winged soldiers walking around the corner of a cross-street. One squinted in our direction, attention caught by the racket, and started coming our way.

  I scooped Tomie up and carried him as quickly as I could out the far end of the alley. He purred and rubbed against my jaw until we reached the bookstore. The rear door stood open, and the store and the apartment above were empty. At least that was a relief. No bodies. But the Snows wouldn’t have left Tomie to fend for himself. I wouldn’t grieve yet, but I doubted they’d be back.

  I fed the cat and left the open bag where he could reach it. He was obviously lonely, but I had somewhere to be, and I was already late.

  I stroked a hand over the cat’s fluffy coat. He ignored me as he chowed down on his kibble.

  By the time I got to town hall, the lights were on inside. Someone was screaming.

  “No,” I whispered, and I ran in spite of the pain that shot up my ankle.

  Shut up, you’re not broken, I ordered. My ankle didn’t comply, but I felt a little better.

  I reached the sidewalk as the front doors burst open. A group of townspeople rushed out, prodded at swordpoint by a dozen soldiers. And then came Verelle, looking fresh and clean and perfect as though she hadn’t been roused from sleep.

  Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe such a massive spark required no rest to keep burning.

  I dove for the bushes.

  “Is that all of them?” Verelle asked.

  “We’re still making our sweep,” said a soldier, and I shivered at the sharp, crystalline tones of his voice. I hadn’t realized her creations could talk. Or think.

  “Finish it. I want all of them here.”

  She turned to the group. None dared to move with all of those swords pointed at them. Verelle motioned for a shotgun that one of the soldiers held, and she examined it carefully.

  “You,” she said. Jimmy looked up. “What is this? It killed one of my protectors.”

  He said nothing.

  “Come here.”

  A soldier prodded Jimmy’s back hard with his sword tip. Jimmy winced and stepped forward. Verelle handed him the gun.

  “Shoot her,” I whispered. But he was frozen, looking into her eyes.

  “Show me how it works,” she ordered. At the snap of her fingers, the soldiers brought Mrs. Perry onto the steps. “Kill her.”

  Jimmy blinked hard and shook his head. “I won’t.”

  “I’ll let you all go. If you don’t, you die here.”

  Mrs. Perry’s eyes grew wide. “Please,” she said. “I have children. I’m educated, useful. Please.”

  Verelle smirked. “Come, young man. A demonstration, and you’re free to play your little games and defy me another day. You came here to kill. Do it, and go.”

  She’s enjoying this. It shouldn’t have surprised me after what Zinian had told me, but seeing it was different. The sweat beading Jimmy’s brow pleased her. Her eyes glowed as they took in the tremble in his hands. A musical laugh spilled from her lips as he raised the gun and lowered it.

  Verelle’s head tilted to one side, and her bright hair spilled over one shoulder, reflecting the moonlight. “She’s going to die either way. I’m sure she’d like to die a hero.”

  Mrs. Perry whimpered.

  I took a mental count of the townspeople. There had been more, I was sure of it.

  Jimmy continued to hesitate. “This isn’t how it’s done,” he said.

  “No?” Verelle sounded genuinely interested, but I caught a hint of amusement. “So breaking in to assassinate good folk is fine, but making criminals pay for their crimes isn’t? I’m afraid your world befuddles me terribly. Kill her now.”

  Jimmy raised the gun and pointed it at Mrs. Perry.

  Then he turned, quick as a lightning strike, toward Verelle.

  She was ready for him. She raised a hand as he pulled the trigger. The gun went off with a deafening roar, but it was Jimmy who fell, soaking the concrete with his blood. I choked back a scream. Another flick of Verelle’s fingers, and the others all fell to the ground, writhing, bleeding from their mouths and eyes.

  Her eyes flashed as she turned to the brick building behind her. A shot rang out from a window, and she deflected another bullet.

  “Six more in the building,” she said. “Five men and another woman. Finish them quickly. These people bore me. No mind for games, any of them.”

  She swept into the town hall, skirts trailing behind her.

  My entire body trembled, and my breath came in gasps when I remembered to take them. I sat in the shelter of the bushes with my head between my knees until my heart stopped poundi
ng and the silent, panicked tears that wetted my cheeks slowed.

  Rushing over there wouldn’t help the people at the bottom of the steps. They already lay still, every one of them, and I had no desire to find out exactly what she’d done.

  I couldn’t make sense of anything, and I couldn’t go back and face the people at the school. Not yet. I needed room to think.

  Tomie greeted me with a soft mew when I dragged myself into the apartment above the bookshop.

  I dropped my bag to the floor and crawled into the double bed in the corner. But comfortable as it was, and reassuring as Tomie’s purrs were when he curled up at my feet, my racing thoughts wouldn’t let me sleep.

  What happened?

  Well, they’d gone in not knowing what they were facing.

  So what more do I know now?

  She could kill with magic. That wasn’t a surprise. And she kept people alive as long as they interested her. Something I’d known, but understood better now.

  How did she know about the other people? She hadn’t just known where they were. She’d known everything but their names—and maybe she knew those, but didn’t care.

  She must have sensed them in the building somehow… But then why didn’t she know I was there? I’d been right beside the steps, watching everything, terrified and trying not to scream.

  I rolled over, and a disgruntled cat crept up to sleep on the pillow above my head.

  Jimmy had known who was missing. She’d known to prepare for an attack from behind because he knew it was coming. She was ready when he turned the gun on her, because she knew he was going to do it. But he hadn’t known about me, so neither had she.

  She’d read his mind.

  I shuddered and curled into a ball.

  I need my friends. I need advice. I need… I sighed. I just needed them period. Especially Zinian. He’d help me think of a plan. Obviously Verelle’s powers were different here, but we’d come up with something together.

  I sat up and went to get more pills for my throbbing ankle. As I picked up my bag, Verelle’s old book slipped to the floor.

  If I couldn’t sleep, I could study the enemy. The copy of the Verhumn in the library had told stories about Verelle at the back. I’d read all night if it could give me some insight.

  I searched the kitchen cupboards by the moonlight that shone through the window and found a trio of candles and a few matches. I stayed well away from the windows to hide the light that might give me away. Curled up in a big armchair with a glass of water on the table beside me, I flipped to the back of the book.

  And found nothing about Verelle.

  I looked more closely. No pages were missing, but this version ended far earlier than the one in the library. A sense of cool calm settled over me as I realized that the book I held was older than I’d realized.

  Older than Verelle, or at least close to it.

  Old enough that she hadn’t influenced human beliefs and history yet.

  I sipped my water and flipped to the beginning again. Hadn’t I thought that what I read in the library seemed off?

  There.

  And in those days the monsters roamed the land, living as animals, without understanding. The humans came among them, living in peace, sharing the words of the Mother.

  The later version had spoken of the humans’ duty to subdue the beasts and rule over them. A small change in the words, and worlds of difference in meaning.

  I rubbed the thin, powdery paper between my fingers as I wondered how she’d done it. Verelle had gained power through her magic, no question. But the people hadn’t seen her just as a queen or a leader. She’d been the closest thing they had to an earthly god. Generations had been raised believing what she wanted them to believe, because she’d been around early enough to influence the words they believed to be divinely inspired.

  Her power had been absolute, because who would defy the will of the Mother? And Verelle had made sure she was their goddess’ beloved mouthpiece.

  I dove into the old book. It looked fairly standard, from what I knew about religious texts. Little about monsters after that first entry, other than metaphorical mentions. Perhaps the original author had considered that subject closed. I did find admonitions against killing, praise for peaceful behaviours, and warnings that deeds returned to their doers tenfold.

  I wondered how heavily Verelle had managed to edit all of those commandments.

  Sleep finally caught up with me. My mind became fuzzy, my eyelids heavy. I curled up with the old book clutched in my hands and let myself drift off.

  My last thought as sleep overcame me was that I wished I had more help, but even without it, I’d see that Verelle paid for her deceit and her crimes. If Zinian couldn’t be here to finish his work, I’d do it for him.

  Somehow.

  Chapter Sixteen

  A week passed, and our world grew smaller.

  The people who had been sheltering at the church moved down to the school when they heard about that group’s loss, and I joined them rather than keeping my cozy shelter above the bookstore. I’d spent years trying to escape these people, but we’d all be better off if we stuck together now. We spread out from the gym and set up camp in the classrooms, packed in tight, making the best of it.

  Anything we needed from outside came at a steep price. A run to the hardware store netted us sleeping bags and camp stoves, but cost us several people who were hauled away by the soldiers, screaming. We cleaned out McMurtry’s Grocery after the school cafeteria’s supplies ran out, a successful mission carried out under the cover of night. But McMurtry’s was a small store. The food we scraped together didn’t last long, and the only other grocery store was too far to risk the journey.

  Even if we got there, Verelle would starve us out eventually. She seemed content to leave us to our sad little fortress, only terrorizing those who dared leave in search of the supplies that kept us alive. But we would end up submitting to her out of need or dying in our defiance.

  I didn’t like to think of what might be happening to the people who had already been taken.

  We lost people almost every night, though not to the soldiers. They never said goodbye, but slipped out and went to join Verelle’s faithful. I wondered what it cost them to be warm and fed.

  As for me, I gave my report on the town hall incident, then rested and let my leg heal. Once I was back on my feet I helped with the children, who were having a hard time dealing with the strange situation. I told them stories about friendly monsters when the school’s shadows frightened them, and silly tales about dragons slaying arrogant magical knights who spoke a lot like Verelle.

  At least the children accepted stories about monsters. In spite of the undeniable evidence of Verelle’s unearthly powers, the adults in town clearly thought I was crazy when I tried to talk about how the monsters had overthrown her in another world. I learned to keep quiet, but their disbelief grated on me.

  It was a Tuesday evening—or I guessed it was, I’d lost track without my planner—when my turn came to help with a supply run. Gus Hodder, the owner of the larger grocery store, had made a brave journey home to get his van. Though we knew the noise would draw the soldiers’ attention, the people heading out were well armed and thought it worth the risk. Visions of non-perishable food items danced in everyone’s heads, mine included, and I felt healed enough to go.

  Six of us piled into the back of the white van—enough to load it, but not so many that we wouldn’t have room to pack the thing with food, medicine, and whatever else we found. We didn’t speak as the van bumped over freshly potholed roads. The soft purr of its engine seemed loud enough to wake those who had already died, and certainly enough to catch a sentry’s attention, but we made it to the Sav-Mor without encountering a single soldier.

  We hustled out and entered through the door beside the loading bay. Without overhead lights, the storage room was a black maze of boxes and plastic-wrapped pallets where anything might be lurking. There was a time when I might
have been afraid of hidden monsters. Now, I couldn’t think of anything that would be more welcome. Even a ghost or two wouldn’t have bothered me.

  There were worse things outside.

  We did our work quickly, following silent orders, taking what our mission leader pointed out with the beam of his flashlight. Soon enough we were back in the van. I sat in the front with Gus and a skinny kid named Stan.

  “That was too easy,” someone muttered, and my heart skipped a beat.

  I hadn’t left all of my superstitions behind.

  A block later, something slammed into us from outside. The vehicle rocked to one side. Gus hit the gas, any hope of getting to the school unnoticed forgotten, and the van roared toward safety.

  We were almost there when a second hit came, harder. The next few seconds passed in a rush that seemed to last forever as the van tipped, flipped, and slid on its side. Someone cried out in the back, barely audible over the crashing of boxes and clang of cans.

  We came to a stop. Silence followed.

  “We have to get out of here,” someone groaned.

  “No,” I said, and shifted against the tight seatbelt that kept me from breathing properly. “They’re out there, waiting for us.”

  “So we stay here forever?”

  I had no answer for that. We were screwed either way, and whoever was out there knew it.

  Those of us in the front seats released our seatbelts and arranged ourselves so we weren’t stepping on each other too much. Those in the back managed as well as they could in the mess. Tim Nippard had a broken arm, and Sadie Mercer had been knocked out. They needed to get to the school. Sadie’s kids would be waiting.

  I pressed my face to the dirty windshield. The moon wasn’t as bright as it had been weeks before, but I made out the shapes of two soldiers pacing around, waiting for us. I took a deep breath.

  “I’m going to distract them,” I said. “Someone else needs to come. We’ll split up, take them in different directions. The rest of you can carry Sadie to the school. Who’s coming?”

  “Guess that’ll be me.” Gus handed the store and van keys to Stan. “Hope to see you all at the school, but just in case.” He pushed my door open, and we climbed out.