by K M Martinez
After a moment, Grandma Mari sighed. “Our minds aren’t prepared for the assault that occurs when we mentally move into the other worlds. Judging by what Thrash said, Mel did it twice within a day, and now she’s spent a whole day there. That’s beyond dangerous, especially for someone who’s never been trained.”
“So… what can we do for her?”
“We can’t do anything to ease her pain. It will have to run its course.”
Victor felt as though blocks were shifting in his brain, a once-solid foundation turning slippery and sinking from under him. He remembered the gold, reptilian eye, and shivered.
“What about her bringing something back with her?” he said. “Is she… possessed?”
“No,” said Cori, who was staring intently at Mel’s face.
Grandma Mari watched Cori with a sharp eye. “She’s right. Those weren’t the eyes of someone possessed.”
“What were they the eyes of then?” Killian asked. “’Cause they weren’t fucking normal.”
Cori scowled at her brother.
“The fire serpent,” said Grandma Mari. “The Kale beast.”
“Kale beast? I didn’t know your clan had a beast.”
I didn’t know that either, thought Victor. There was so much he didn’t know. So much that was kept from him. And now Mel has a fucking beast in her? For real?
“You sure she didn’t bring that back with her?” he asked.
Grandma Mari frowned. “She didn’t ‘bring it back’ from anywhere. It’s not a puppy that followed her home. It’s a part of her that’s been there all along. But now it’s waking up. We’re all waking up! The seed inside us, it will split, and spill out, and the fruit will grow. And do you know why?”
“The Eighth Clan,” he guessed.
Grandma Mari nodded. “The Eighth Clan. Murderous, greedy thieves. Wanting power that is not theirs to have, but feeling entitled to it nonetheless. They wear the black. Kale’s black.”
Victor felt a rush of anger. They wear the black? “Do you think Anton—”
“I know Anton is one of them, but he’s just a dog following orders. I want the master. I want the one with the whip and the leash, the one who ordered a kill on Mel. On my granddaughter. I want his traitorous head. And you’re going to help me.”
Victor’s nostrils flared.
He could do that. He could definitely do that.
Chapter Eleven
Mel had no idea where she was or how long she’d been there. She was stuck in the moments between wakefulness and slumber, where the passage of time slid into both dream and reality. There was no hourglass of sand to mark time’s passing. No clock. There were only images… and darkness.
Her family looked down at her. Tío Jorge. Victor. Gabe. Thrash. All looking down at her with concern and fear. Speaking in their slow, exaggerated way, none concerned with the fact that she couldn’t hear them. Then there were Charlotte and her grandmother. They were the only two who touched her, who didn’t look at her with fear in their eyes. They nursed her with bustle and care.
And in between all these moments of family members coming and going, there were the burning eyes, gold and bright, of the woman from Inter Spatium Caelum.
“Time to wake,” the woman had said. “You sleep too much.”
Mel was so tired. She couldn’t remember ever being so tired. But finally, like an air bubble rising up through the ocean, she surfaced.
Gabe’s smiling face hovered beside her. “Finally!”
They were in a room of stone—a room Mel didn’t recognize. Gabe helped her into a sitting position—they were both on the floor—and passed her a bottled water. Mel drank long and slow, not wanting any of the water to come back up. Gabe watched her with one hand supporting her back.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked, her voice rough.
“For days,” Gabe said. “Tomorrow is Ambulant Laboriosum.”
Mel widened her eyes in surprise. Days? She’d missed most of the Agora.
“What about Decerto?” she asked.
Hand-to-hand Decerto was always held before Ambulant Laboriosum. It was by far the most popular of all the games.
“Going on as we speak,” said Gabe.
“You’re not competing?”
“Of course I am,” he said with a smile. “You can’t tell right now, ’cause we’re way underground, but it’s around midmorning.”
“Where are we anyway?” Mel asked. As she shook off her sleep, she noticed the finely drawn sun on the floor and ceiling. One black, one gold.
“It’s the Sun Room,” Gabe said. “Grandma kept it secret from us. Apparently she didn’t want to go through the effort of explaining its purpose.”
“And what’s that? Hiding sleeping women?”
Gabe laughed. “Nah,” he said, and then a bit awkwardly: “I’ll let her give you the good news. I’m sure you’re going to love it.”
At that moment, Grandma Mari came in, with Charlotte in tow. Charlotte wore a backpack and was carrying a wash bin and bedpan. Mel reddened at the mere sight of the bedpan.
Charlotte smiled winningly. “Don’t even think about it, cuz,” she said, laying her items on the floor. She gave Mel a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re awake!” She let go of Mel and started pulling things from the backpack, including clean underwear and a sports bra.
“And with that, I think I’ll make my exit,” said Gabe. He gave Mel a quick kiss on the cheek. “Glad you’re awake!” He ran out with hooded eyes.
“He’s sneaky,” said Charlotte.
“He would’ve never tried that on me if I was healthy,” Mel grumbled.
“Nope, and that’s why he did it,” said Grandma Mari. Mel felt the fullness of her grandmother’s intense gaze. “How do you feel?”
“Tired. But I’d like to get out of here,” Mel said.
Her grandmother raised an eyebrow. “Can you stand up?”
That’s a good question. Mel rolled over onto her side and attempted to push herself to her feet. But she was too weak. Too tired.
“Roll over and lie back down,” her grandmother said. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I need to pee,” Mel said miserably.
“That’s what the bedpan is for,” Charlotte said with a smile.
Mel groaned.
“This isn’t easy for us either,” said Grandma Mari.
With the care that could only come from two people who loved her, Charlotte and Grandma Mari got Mel washed, changed into clean clothes, and with clean bedding beneath her. When Mel was once more settled, Grandma Mari asked her about her experience with the stone, and Mel told her everything in as much detail as she could recall. Even so, her grandmother had questions, and focused on things that Mel didn’t think were important. There were also some pieces missing—conversations she’d had with the woman in Inter Spatium Caelum. She hoped they would come back to her eventually.
She showed her grandmother the stone, even let her hold it in her hand. Still, she was all too relieved when her grandmother gave it back to her, and she didn’t understand why that was.
“I’m sorry you went through all that,” said Charlotte.
“I just don’t understand why I can’t be in a bed upstairs? Why do I have to be here?” Mel asked.
Charlotte exchanged a look with Grandma Mari.
“This room is called the Sun Room,” Grandma Mari said.
“I know, Gabe told me,” said Mel. “But he didn’t tell me its purpose.”
“Its purpose is pretty simple. It’s designed to keep the Kale beast within.”
“The Kale beast? Do you mean the fire serpent?”
As soon as Mel said the words, she knew she was right.
Grandma Mari looked at Mel with approving eyes. “You’ve got it inside you.”
“Our change does not come easy…” Mel said.
“What was that?” Grandma Mari asked.
“It’s what the woman said.”
“The woman from Inter Spatium Caelum
,” said Charlotte.
“Yes. She told me that it’s difficult, but I must keep my anger under control. My anger will push the shift, and we are not wolves. Our change does not come easy.”
Mel remembered the conversation distinctly. And suddenly she remembered the woman’s name too. Kale. She rubbed her hands on her head. She could hardly believe it. She had spoken to Lasade Kale in Inter Spatium Caelum.
She didn’t feel ready to share that. Not at all.
“You’ve done your readings,” Grandma Mari said.
At the sight of the approving look in her grandmother’s eyes, Mel barked a laugh. She was thankful for the change of subject.
“Grandma, I may not have been a true believer, but I have always read whatever I could get my hands on, especially if it had the vaguest reference to Kale.”
“Good,” her grandmother said. “Since you’re stuck here for a little while, I brought you some books to read. Oh, and before I forget, you need to start wearing thick tops to cover your pendant.”
“Why’s that?” Mel put a hand on her chest to feel the sun pendant under her shirt. It felt cool for a change.
“It was glowing,” Grandma Mari said.
“It always glows.”
“If you wore a Kale tunic, it would solve the problem,” her grandmother said, a little too innocently.
“Okay, I’ll wear thicker tops,” Mel said with a sigh. It was an easy request to fill, and if it made her grandmother happy, then what was the harm? Other than the hundred-degree weather.
Grandma Mari fussed over Mel for a little longer before leaving to view the Decerto matches. She had to make an appearance for the Advanced and Journeymen competitions. But Charlotte stayed to keep Mel company, which Mel was grateful for, because although she was tired, she didn’t feel like sleeping.
Charlotte filled Mel in on the parts of the Agora she had missed. Clan Mayme won Aenigma for the seventh year in a row. This year’s Aenigma involved ten poles sticking out of the pit in a circle, with a single sash hanging above them all, thirty feet above the ground. Each clan had one team of five, and the team to grab the sash in the quickest time won the event. As was often the case with Aenigma, the teams could not watch one another compete—too much of an advantage—and the crowd was strictly forbidden from shouting any information that might be helpful.
The poles were designed to bend, but if bent too much, they snapped in two, leaving the clan with one less pole to use to get to the sash. All the clans struggled, and some didn’t manage to reach the sash at all. But Clan Mayme took one look at the long thin poles, substituted all the men out for women, figured out which ways the poles bent that were most beneficial to reaching the sash, and managed to grab the sash within five minutes.
“Oh, Mel! You should’ve seen them, flying on those poles, all light-footed and shit. Better yet, you should have seen Gabe and Thrash with death grips on those poles, their arms and legs wrapped around them. The poles kept whipping back and forth until they cracked right from under them. Poor guys!”
Charlotte also told Mel about Jonah. The two of them had made up—after several days. Jonah was trying to be supportive; he even made an effort to make Charlotte feel better about Mel not being her Second.
But there was a sadness in Charlotte’s eyes, and Mel knew she was holding something back. Mel didn’t want to push, however; she already felt bad enough knowing she wasn’t going to be able to support her cousin in Ambulant Laboriosum. She didn’t want to upset Charlotte any further.
“How did we do in Impedimentum?” Mel asked.
“Came in second. Would’ve come in first if Victor wasn’t hurt, but hey, what can you do?”
“Victor was hurt?”
“Yup. Hurt his hand.”
Mel was fading; she could feel the pull of sleep. “How?”
“Crushed it with a barrel during Libero.”
“Ouch. Well hell, I missed everything,” Mel mumbled, her eyes closing.
“Don’t worry, cuz—there’s always next year.”
But Mel was already asleep.
****
The heat was swarming in the arena. It was by far the hottest day the attendees had experienced all Agora. Sunblock made its rounds. If the lotion had once belonged to someone, it was now viewed as communal. Descendants spread it on their red skin liberally, and everyone smelled like sweet coconut. And sweat. Mixed with BO. The sickening sweet smell of BO.
The water coolers had been taken inside the arena and were being cycled frequently, but even so, the lines were staggering, and many who came for water turned right around and headed back to the games, because the Journeymen hand-to-hand Decerto matches were about to begin, and no one wanted to miss that.
Hand-to-hand Decerto was brutal. There was no referee, no armor, and no rules. A fighter could do anything: eye gouge, hair pull, low blow, fishhook, strike the back of the head, head-butt, knee, kick, stomp an opponent on the ground… as long as the action was done with the fighter’s body, it was allowed. The match ended when only one person was left standing.
Gabe stood barefooted in the hot sand next to Victor. On his other side was Roy Coudrou, a short, stout man with thinning brown hair and bushy eyebrows. Next to Roy was Justine Wiley, looking severe with her hair tied in a knot. All four wore skin-tight gold pants with black sashes around their waists. The men were naked from the waist up, while Justine wore a black sports bra. The other clans had similar outfits in their own colors.
Cori and Killian O’Shea stood on the Ferus side looking like twins with their red hair and fair skin. Gabe caught Cori’s eye and gave her a toothy grin, earning a scathing look in return. Victor had told Gabe everything, so he knew that Cori actually didn’t vote against Mel after all, but Gabe had yet to call a ceasefire. This angered Victor and Grandma Mari to no end, but as far as Gabe was concerned, a liar was a liar, and he would stop when he was good and ready.
He was far from ready.
He bedded his feet into the sand and waited patiently for Tío Luce to finish his speech. It was something about togetherness and the exploration of culture, family, heritage, and honor.
“Shut up already,” Gabe heard someone behind him say, and he couldn’t have agreed more.
He was ready to battle. He was ready to bleed.
Finally Tío Luce finished, and the restless crowd bounced to their feet.
“Assurgere! Assurgere!” the clans yelled, except on the Kale side, where the descendants yelled something else. “Show us the veil! Show us the veil!”
Gabe and the other four Kale competitors turned and faced the Kale section. They each grabbed a gold veil from Tío Jorge and wrapped it around their faces. It was an old tradition. Long ago, Kale descendants veiled their faces before going into battle; they were the only clan that did so. They didn’t veil themselves during the competition itself, since it wasn’t allowed, but it was always done before the first Journeymen hand-to-hand Decerto match as a tradition.
The Kale side screamed in approval, and Gabe bowed, as did the other Kale competitors.
“Assurgere! Assurgere!”
Gabe took off the cloth, took a seat, and waited his turn. It was going to be a long night.
Siva wasn’t talking to him. She disapproved of the way he had behaved the last few days. She’d talked to him about it earlier in the day, right after he’d come back to the arena from seeing Mel. He’d listened, then explained his side of it, but Siva wasn’t sympathetic. She didn’t live according to The Ways. She didn’t believe in perpetuating this cycle of violence that Gabe was happily partaking in.
You like stirring shit up, she said. And he did. He didn’t deny it. Then she said she was embarrassed to be seen with him. Those words had hurt. But Gabe was a gentleman. He told her he understood, and with a quick kiss and a quicker smile he let her be.
He’d seen her a couple more times that day. Each time he gave her a wide smile, and each time the look she gave him looked as though it were meant to flay the skin
off his bones. He was pretty sure she wasn’t done with him yet.
He was pretty sure he wasn’t done with her either.
He felt a presence behind him, looked back, and saw Charlotte sitting down with her boyfriend. He had to squash the urge to curse at Jonah.
“How is she?”
“She’s all right,” Charlotte said furtively. “Thrash is with her right now.”
“Good. We owe him,” Gabe said.
There had been some confusion earlier in the day as to who would stay with Mel during the Journeymen matches. Someone needed to, and it couldn’t be Gabe or Victor since they were competing. But Thrash had volunteered right away. He said he didn’t care much for the matches. They all knew that was bullshit.
“You sure do, cousin,” Charlotte said.
Gabe was about to turn around when he caught a curious look on Jonah’s face. Charlotte, noticing Gabe’s expression, also looked at her boyfriend.
“You all right, baby?” she asked.
“Yeah, babe,” Jonah replied. He kissed her cheek. “I’m just glad you’re not competing in this one. Too bloody.”
Charlotte just rolled her eyes.
After that, Gabe focused on the matches. He paid attention to the fighters, studied them for any weaknesses he could exploit. He was too much of a competitor to be entertained by the violence, but he couldn’t help but feel a satisfaction from watching others compete.
The clans, of course, were deeply invested in their own teams winning. They cheered, screamed, cursed, booed, and made as much noise as possible. The matches were brutal and bloody, and the blood only made the crowd more excited. It was like every person was in a heightened state, with adrenaline pumping through their veins, and Gabe felt a part of a whole.
The only time those feelings were dampened was when he spotted Anton. He hated that fucker, and wanted him to fucking die. The good Lord must’ve too, because Gabe got the pleasure of being paired with Anton in his first match.
After a quick word of strategy with Tío Jorge, Gabe walked into the center of the pit, giving his widest smile yet. The daylight was fading, and fires blazed to life around the arena.
“I’ve been waiting all Agora to kill a Mendez,” Anton said with a stony look.