by Alicia Fabel
Where have you been?
Took a trip home. Kale helped Vera to her feet.
Goddess. You’re going to need more than one bath to get rid of the smell of dead fish. Ferrox chuffed, trying to clear the scent from his nose. Want to go with me to Diyu tonight and forget about it?
As great as that sounds, Vera’s coming back this afternoon to stay for spring break.
That’s a good idea with her cloak gone? asked Ferrox. She reeks of siphon…underneath the smell of rot.
Hopefully, no one else will notice until I can get her another one from somewhere. Marianna only had one, and it’s in the stomach of the Marakihau now.
Well, I’m going to go bury my nose in some sweet hay until your stink is back to normal. And figure out how I want to spend my last days before the world implodes.
Nothing’s going to implode. I’m going to train Vera and then send her to Kuwari.
Let’s hope your girl can keep it together that long.
She can, Kale said confidently.
Ferrox didn’t reply, but his doubt bled through their link.
Vera set the cloche filled with messengers on her desk.
“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?” Mimi asked. She wasn’t aware of all that had happened to Vera the night before, but she knew the gist of it. “We can tell Noah we need a rain check, and you can get some sleep.”
“No, I want to go.” In truth, Vera knew her dreams would be messed up for so long that the last thing she wanted was to fall asleep. “Are you up for it, though?”
“Absolutely. Let’s do this.”
Addamas peeked through the blinds at the parking lot below. “We better go if you two have decided to do this. Lover boy’s already waiting.”
“It’s still ten minutes before we’re supposed to meet.” Mimi elbowed Addamas out of the way so she could take a look. “Aww. He’s so excited that he got here early.”
“Or he’s one of those people who’s early for everything.” Addamas stretched.
“Either way, he’s perfect for Vera.” Mimi clapped happily and hurried everyone out the door. “She’s always early for stuff too. It’s like they’re meant to be.”
Vera smiled, but her loveless heart wrenched, making her legs feel heavier as they descended the stairs. She touched her shirt where her charms should be. Their absence made her anxious. Maybe I should pretend to sleep all day. As the trio made it to the bottom of the steps, Vera was seriously considering telling Noah that she didn’t feel well. It wouldn’t be a lie. Then he was standing there in front of her, with a sweet smile. I can do this.
The drive to the Black Hills was easy-going. There was no forced conversation or awkward silence. Just comfortable companionship while light music played in the background. Mimi dozed off in the back seat, so she and Addamas hadn’t had a chance to blow their cover yet. Vera watched as the stark hills and bare trees going by and relaxed. Every once in a while, Noah pointed something out, antelope or pheasants or something. Otherwise, the drive turned out to be exactly what Vera needed.
Once they parked, everyone crawled out and pulled on water packs over their coats. Noah turned in a slow circle, breathing in the chilly air with a smile. Vera shoved her sunglasses onto the top of her head and took in the landscape of her home. The hills went on forever below a vast sky. She’d spent so much time planning to get out of South Dakota, that she’d not spent much time appreciating it. Mimi rubbed her eyes and yawned. Even in girl-form, her yawns were suspiciously feline.
“Everybody ready?” Noah asked and received a mumble of yeses before they traipsed into the woods. The trail they followed was narrow. Sometimes they could walk in twos and sometimes only single-file.
“What’s that smell?” Mimi made a face.
Noah stopped and took a deep breath. “I think you’re smelling the ponderosa pines. Here.” Noah beckoned them over to a pine tree with orangish bark. He stuck his nose close to the tree and took a big whiff.
Addamas shot Vera a look. Vera gave him a just-go-with-it look and stepped forward to be the first to smell the tree as directed. She took a tentative sniff. And then a deeper one. “Oh wow. It smells like pudding.”
“For real?” Addamas edged up to the tree and smelled. “Very cool.”
Mimi, however, took a sniff and then backed away scrunching her nose. “Ugh. Yep, that’s the smell.”
“You don’t like it?” Vera was surprised.
“Huh-uh.” Mimi covered her nose with a cupped hand.
“Maybe I should get some tree cologne so you’ll keep your hands to yourself.” Addamas winked at Mimi then said to Noah, “She’s handsy as an octopus.”
Vera rubbed her arms, remembering Kanaloa’s tentacles on her. Addamas was familiar with Lemuria’s death court, and his unfortunate turn of phrase seemed to sink in as soon as it left his mouth. He gave an apologetic wince. As soon as Noah turned his back, Mimi punched the thoughtless satyr in the ribs.
An hour later, Noah stopped them in a spot overlooking a twisting valley. Everyone grabbed a drink. The chill was no match for hiking uphill. Noah passed out apples and granola bars.
“You’re so sweet,” Mimi crooned. “Isn’t he sweet, Vera?”
Vera blushed and offered a bashful, “Thanks. None of us were awake enough to think about breakfast this morning.”
“When you’re not used to hiking, you don’t realize how hungry it can make you. There’s a diner on the way back to campus with the best bison burgers, if you guys are interested in lunch.”
“They have fried chicken?” Addamas asked.
“They do.” Noah drank deeply from his water bottle
“We’re in,” Addamas said.
“Good.” Noah capped his bottle. “About two or three miles up, there’s a waterfall. Where we’re going is not much farther beyond that.”
Vera stood and busied herself brushing the dirt off her pants. Waterfalls weren’t on the top of her list after nearly going over one a few hours before. The reminder that she would never know what it felt like to fall in love didn’t make it better. Mimi seemed to notice the wobbly smile she was trying hide.
“How can I make it better?” Mimi asked.
“I’m fine.” But dang it, the corners of her mouth trembled.
Addamas walked over to ask Noah about something along the path. He didn’t fool Vera. She knew he was trying to give them a little privacy. And holy buckets of tears, that made her eyes sting worse.
“I’m sorry,” Mimi said sincerely.
While it meant the world to Vera, she was not ready to talk about it yet. “I’ll get over it. It may just take a little extra ice cream.”
“However much you want. You make Kale’s cupboard bring you every ice cream flavor you’ve ever heard of and some new ones too.” Mimi grimaced. “When I get back from a week with my advisors, I’m going to need some good suggestions.”
“I can do that.” Vera held out her hands to Mimi and hauled her to her feet.
Mimi shook her head as if to clear it. Then her eyes rolled toward the back of her head as she dropped.
“Addamas!” Vera screamed, but the satyr was already there.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Vera clasped Mimi’s limp hand. “She just passed out.”
Addamas’s face tightened with fury. Fury aimed at her. “Your eyes.”
My eyes? Vera’s mouth fell open, remembering Ferrox’s warning that the strand of demon-magic could shake free if she wasn’t careful. And her eyes would glow.
“Pull your sunglasses down,” Addamas hissed as Noah peeked over her shoulder.
Vera pulled them over her eyes, and caught her reflection in the lenses. They were not smoldering like embers. They were gold and slitted like a cat’s. She had Mimi’s eyes. Noah put a steadying hand on Vera’s shoulder, and she flinched away. I siphoned Mimi. No, no, no. That’s not possible, I didn’t feel anything. But my siphon is stronger now. I made it stronger. It’s out of control
. I’m out of control. I siphoned Mimi.
“Is she going to be all right?” Vera asked desperately.
“She will be.” Addamas scooped the girl up. “But we have to get her home.”
Vera knew home didn’t mean campus. “Why don’t you go ahead of us and we’ll catch up?” If Addamas could get far enough ahead, he could path to Heliopolis.
“We’ll move faster if we help carry her weight,” Noah said.
“I’ve got her,” said Addamas. “I’ll let you know if I need help.”
Vera knew full well that he wouldn’t. “Don’t wait for us,” she repeated. She started thinking up an explanation to give Noah for when Addamas and Mimi were not waiting in the jeep later. Some friend, who lived nearby, picked them up?
“I won’t leave you,” Addamas said tightly. “Just hurry.” He turned and headed down the path, much quicker than they’d been moving before.
“He’s going to wear himself out going that fast,” warned Noah.
“I think he’ll be okay,” Vera said, but Noah didn’t look convinced so she added, “He works out a lot.”
“Don’t take this wrong, but I didn’t expect that. His stride is...different. I guess I’m surprised he’s so strong.”
Noah was talking about Addamas’s distinct satyr gate. It might look a little wonky to humans, but they’d be hard-pressed to keep up with him. When they got to the car, Mimi was awake and demanding to walk. Addamas refused. He whispered something in her ear, and she stopped struggling to get free. Tilting her head, she met Vera’s gaze around Addamas’s shoulder. Vera looked down, shame consuming her.
“I am fine.” Mimi enunciated each word.
Addamas didn’t slow, though, and he didn’t look at Vera once for the excruciatingly long drive back to campus. Mimi stared at the back of Vera’s head for the whole miserable drive, trying to silently communicate that everything was okay. She did not, however, attempt to touch Vera. Back at campus, they said quick goodbyes to Noah and told him not to worry. Mimi said something about catching the flu and not eating enough. She even managed to walk to their second-floor room on her own two feet. As soon as their door was closed and locked, Addamas opened a path, telling Vera not to leave until he got back. The wards on her door would keep her safe. Then he disappeared with Mimi.
Vera sat, numb, staring at the butterflies crawling over the orange slices Kale had given them that morning. One messenger crawled up the glass near her. When Vera moved to sit on a chair in the corner, it followed her. Not able to avoid it any longer, Vera closed her eyes and felt her way into the center of her void. She poked at the growing pile of magic until she found the bit of demon magic. There was a scrap of shadow leftover from Lono’s manna there too. And a patch of gold that could have only come from Mimi. She’d really stolen Mimi’s magic. All around her were rows and rows of doors. Vera tugged at a couple. One of them had to lead to her unicorn magic, the only thing that could control her siphon urges. As always, she couldn’t open any of them, and no matter how hard she listened, she couldn’t hear anything behind the doors. She wondered if she even had unicorn magic. Maybe she was just a defective siphon.
Footsteps broke Vera’s concentration. Addamas was back. Alone. Vera kept her distance, for his safety.“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“You have to do better,” Addamas said shortly.
Vera had never heard the harshness in his tone. Then again, she’d never sucked up one of his friend’s magic, either. Stole. I stole from Mimi.
“Kale sent a message to Marianna as soon as you guys got back, asking for help locating a new cloak. You have to hold on until then.”
“I don’t think it matters.” Vera swallowed hard. “The cloak won’t help.”
“It has before.”
“Not really.” Vera latched onto the strand of demon magic and pulled it to the surface. When Addamas’s eyes widened, she knew it had done the job. Her eyes were red. “I siphoned Ferrox yesterday right after you left. I was wearing the cloak when I did it.” Vera reburied the magic. “I didn’t even know I was doing it. Just like today. And Mimi’s not been feeling well for days. I think I’ve been taking from her for a while now.”
“Kale is expecting you soon. We’ll tell him and figure this out.”
“We can’t. He thinks I’m strong enough to control this thing, and by the time he decides I’m ready to go to Kuwari, it’ll be too late.”
“What else can we do?”
“Take me to Nibiru now. Let me learn to access my other power.” If it’s even there.
“Kale said no.”
“Well, Kale’s not my protector anymore,” Vera said impatiently. “So he doesn’t get a say.”
“Since he would kill me for taking you to Nibiru, I think he does get a say.”
Vera narrowed her eyes. “You knew he wasn’t my protector anymore, didn’t you? That’s why you told me to run. You knew he’d chase after me. Everything that happened last night is because you thought it would be a funny joke.”
Addamas rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean for you to fall through a gate. That shouldn’t even be possible. The odds are insane.”
“Well, thanks to those odds, I lost my cloak and my charm from Gage.” Vera clenched her jaw. “But that wasn’t even the worst part. You want to know what the price was for me to leave that underwater hell?”
Addamas wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“I had to give up my ability to love.”
Addamas whipped his head up to stare at her, aghast.
“Some goddess of love was there, and the only thing I had to pay with was my love. So she took it in exchange for my life. Which is funny since, even after that, they made it impossible to leave alive. It’s only because Lono snuck me some mana that I survived the trip out. And oh buddy, my siphon liked that stuff. It sat up and took it all in. Then I came home, and it took Mimi’s magic next.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Like you said, you’ll have to do better than that. Help me fix it. Take me to Nibiru. Take me to Kuwari.”
“The herd may say no.” Addamas sank onto the edge of Mimi’s bed.
“If they do, then fine. But you can at least ask.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. If the kargadan agree to host you, you might not survive the stay.”
“If I hurt someone else I care about, I won’t survive that either. This is the only way I have a shot.”
“Kale’s going to lose it.”
“I vote for not telling him,” Vera said.
“How are you going to get away without telling him?”
Vera pointed at Addamas’s tattooed arms. “You lie for me, and I won’t tell him that running away from the meadow was your idea.”
“You’re going to blackmail me?”
“If I must.” Vera’s half-smile softened her words.
“Mimi’s going to kill me. Kale will figure out a way to bring me back and do it all over again.”
“Not if we don’t tell them.” Vera ran a finger along the glass dome. The butterfly followed it. “Strange little thing.”
“It has a message for you. Didn’t Kale tell you how they work?”
“We didn’t have time after our swim with the monsters.”
“I’ll show you.” Addamas cracked the lid. “Put your hand inside.”
“They’re not going to bite, are they?”
“They’re butterflies.”
“I just saw a pig fly today, so forgive me if I’m a bit wary of off-realm creatures.”
“They don’t bite.”
Vera stuck her hand tentatively into the terrarium. The messenger crawled onto her hand.
“Pull it out.” Addamas closed the basket after she did. The magic-toned wings fluttered before spreading wide and flat. “Gently blow across its wings.”
It sounded stupid, but Vera sucked in a shallow breath and blew across the wings. Purple script, like the remn
ants of purple flares, flashed across the wings. The message read, Happy Birthday. Love a visit. Come anytime. M. Marianna had been angling for a visit for a while.
“I think I know how we can lie to Kale,” Vera said. “It’s a classic con. You tell your parents you’re going to a friend’s house, except you go somewhere else. It works as long as the parent doesn’t call to check in.”
“Good thing Kale doesn’t have a phone then, huh?” Addamas rubbed his arms as if he were cold. “I feel like this could go bad in so many ways.”
“You have a better idea?”
“Unfortunately, no.” He sighed. “I’m off to arrange a visit for you to Nibiru. If that works, I’m going to lie to the world’s most prolific killer. If I don’t die first, I’ll be back to pick you up, so I can deliver you to a realm that will likely chew you up.”
“And spit me out?” finished Vera.
“No, they won’t want to spit you out. That’s what I’m worried about.”
“What do I need to pack?”
“Nothing. Kuwari will have everything you need,” Addamas said. “He still has all my sister’s things. You don’t have anything suitable, anyway.”
“Sounds good. Get to it.” Vera felt the first glimmer of hope.
Addamas opened a path to the meadow. “Don’t leave this room. Or open the door for anyone. And don’t do anything reckless for the next couple hours.”
Hey, you still going to Diyu later? Kale asked Ferrox.
After I finish sleeping. Ferrox tried to nudge Kale out so he could get back to sleep.
I’m coming too.
What about your houseguest?
She’s visiting Marianna for a few days.
8
Vera considered the path to Nibiru in front of her. She double and triple-checked her growing menagerie of magical scraps to make sure everything was secure. The last thing she needed was for the bit of demon to slip out.