by Alicia Fabel
“A body isn’t an issue. There’s one over there.”
A person in a maintenance uniform walked between two buildings. “That’s not a body, that’s a person.”
Braxas shrugged. “Semantics.”
“A beating heart is not semantics,” she insisted when he seemed to slow while eyeing the oblivious guy.
“If you say so.”
“I do.” Vera didn’t trust that he was listening. “If you kill a human, I’ll tell Maiden-Mother.”
Braxas scowled but stopped staring at the man. “My father said the immortals of Penglai took it upon themselves to collect mementos from every unnatural. They believed it could be used to turn the tides of the invasion.”
“That’s a lot of mementos,” Vera said.
“Supposedly the alchemists cooked it all down into a potion. He said the generals each wore a charm with a drop of potion into war. Then, the unnaturals slaughtered them. So it didn’t work, but maybe your mystery man was part of the memento soup.” He glanced at Vera meaningfully. “The generals were buried in full armor”
“Are you suggesting I go to Penglai and rob a grave?”
“They were buried in the catacombs under the city. Right on the outskirts of Diyu.”
Diyu. The name of Penglai’s underworld made her stomach sink. It was the underworld Kale cursed most often. For good reason, he’d told her. Only, despite how ludicrous it would be to go there on purpose, Vera couldn’t help the spark of hope that ignited just then. She tried to temper it with logic. Do you know how much luck it would take to summon the right man and to get out of there alive? It didn’t help.
“This is it?” Braxas surveyed the three-story building as if he’d expected something grander.
Vera pulled at the door, even though she knew it would be locked. Maybe it was habit. Or maybe she was hoping for a miracle. “Let’s walk around and see if there’s a door or window open.”
“I thought we were in a hurry.”
“We are, so let’s go.” Vera took a dozen steps, but Braxas stared at her incredulously without budging.
“This is ridiculous.” Then he said dryly, “Oh look. That window is open.” He pointed at one of the large panels of glass flanking the front doors.
“That window doesn’t even op— ”
Braxas smashed a fist through the thick glass. Vera’s mouth popped open, and she looked around for witnesses, heart galloping.
“What are you doing? There are alarms for stuff like that. And cameras.” We are going to jail.
“I suppose we should hurry before your human guards get here then,” he replied without any sign that he was in a hurry. He used his foot to knock out the rest of the glass and stepped inside. Vera couldn’t make her legs move.
“Let's go, two-legger. I want out of this realm.”
Braxas strode through the library, in the opposite direction of where the book would be. If it was even shelved—something Vera hadn’t considered until that moment.
“Do they only keep books in this place?” asked Braxas.
What do you think a library is? She slipped inside. She was already screwed, so she might as well get what she came for. Hopefully, she could explain it all to Dean Harris and not get expelled or granted a ride in the back of a police car.
“Stop throwing books on the floor,” Vera scolded. “I know where it is.” I hope.
“Oh.” Braxas tossed the book in his hand aside.
Luckily, the book they needed was right where it should be. Not that anyone else could read it, so yeah, it being there wasn’t much in the way of luck.
Braxas whistled low. “That’s old.”
She studied him for a moment. “Would you teach me how to do that?”
“Whistle?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll put in a good word with Maiden-Mother.”
“You need to stop using her to get your way with me.”
“It works, doesn’t it?”
He growled low but didn’t argue, before stalking to the broken window. Once they were headed back across campus, he said unexpectedly, “Whistling is easy. Any hatchling can whistle.”
Vera bit her lip to keep from grinning. She was going to get a lesson after all. Dragon-man had it bad.
“No,” Kale told Vera flatly. “You are not going to traipse through Diyu.”
“Just through the catacombs. Right inside the entrance,” she clarified. “And I’m not suggesting I go alone.”
“Oh, because that makes it better.”
She folded her arms. “I could go alone if you’d rather.”
“Where is that dragon?” Kale turned in a circle, scanning the meadow for Braxas. I’m going to murder him for putting this idea into your head.”
“That dragon is back in his scaly form and rather grumpy,” Mother chimed in. “Why not give Vera’s idea a chance?”
“Plus, you said you needed to hunt,” reminded Vera. “So you could do that.”
Kale narrowed his eyes. “When did I say that?”
She opened her mouth and then snapped it closed. Aww, heck.
“Did you link to me?” he demanded.
“What? No. I overheard you before I went to vandalize the library with a dragon.” She turned to Mother. “Any way to get that repaired before I end up with a criminal record?”
“This is a waste of time.” Kale threw his hands into the air. “We need to go get Mimi and Dam.”
“It’s not a waste of time if we screw up Suzie and Marianna’s plans,” Vera countered.
“How do you know she didn’t plan for you to go to Diyu?” he challenged.
“She manipulated you into facing off with Noah—she sent that message to get you there. Which means she wants you back in your unnatural form.”
Kale hadn’t thought about it like that. He hadn’t gone back and analyzed everything that had happened since they’d learned Marianna’s part in it all. As much as he’d rather charge after her, Vera might be right. Changing him back might be the only sure way to screw over their plans for world destruction. “Only if you get a few hours of sleep first.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“You need to be thinking straight, and I need to get dinner.”
“Why not get dinner while we’re in Diyu?” she asked. “Two birds. One stone.”
“I won’t argue with you on this one,” he said. “I will not leave you for two minutes while we are there, not even to hunt. That’s my deal.” He turned to Mother. “I need that gate to Shangri-la opened.”
17
“That’s it? It looks like we’re about to go get on a subway, not enter a version of Hell.” Vera looked around warily. “Aren’t there guards or something?”
“For what? No one in his right mind would walk down there willingly,” he said pointedly. I can’t believe we’re doing this.
“Hardy har.” Vera eyed the gaping hole. “What about things getting out?”
“The place is a maze. If anything does get too close, there’s a guard-monster named Rufus to stop them.”
“Is the Infernal here as bad as Kanaloa?”
“They’re Infernal hosts, not teddy bears.”
“Thanks, Scotchie,” she said. “That’s some useful information right there.”
Kale sighed. “A lot of people believe that an entire contingency of kings rules Diyu, but it’s only one Infernal. He can be in a lot of places at once, is all.”
“Do you think we’ll run into him?”
“If he’s bored and looking for some fun.” And he’s always bored and looking for fun.
“A bored Infernal sounds terrifying.”
“That depends on how killable you are.”
“Turns out, I’m very killable,” Vera pointed out. “For that matter, so are you now.”
“I’m more durable than you.” Kale cringed a little on the inside before admitting, “But not by much, so probably best to get in and out quick.”
“Agreed.” She inched toward
the steps and craned her neck to peer into the darkness. “If it’s a maze, how do we not get lost?”
“I know the way.”
“What about finding a general’s tomb?”
“I’ll look for a face I recognize.”
Vera snapped around to gape. “You knew them?”
He met her gaze steadily. Might as well see how far away he could push her. “I led the horde, so I had a clear view of them when we tore through their lines. They just stood there. Of course, now I know they thought this potion would save them somehow.”
“But it didn’t even slow you down,” Vera finished grimly.
“Don’t wander away when we get down there. If Rufus scents us when no one is supposed to be there, he’ll come for us.”
“I’ll be sprinkles.” She reached out like she meant to take his hand, but Kale didn’t acknowledge it. He stepped around her and began the descent into Diyu. She needed to focus, and he preferred that she not get her hopes up. He was also still upset at himself for how his mind and body had reacted to seeing her morphed into an unnatural. He hadn’t disliked seeing her like that at all. Oh, no. He’d let her believe that he’d been disgusted at her, but that hadn’t been the case. And he was more determined than ever to keep distance between them.
Vera followed closely, bumping into him a couple of times before the area around them suddenly lit. Kale spun around, looking for the threat and saw that Vera had turned on her kargadan headlamp.
“Turn that off,” he hissed. “Do you want to draw attention to us?”
Her eyes widened, and the light winked out. “I can’t see.”
Kale grabbed her hand. She stiffened but didn’t pull away. When they finally made it deep enough to hear the first screams, Vera jumped.
“It’s just someone getting their due punishment,” he explained. Yama was making sure the people in his care got what they deserved. It sounded wonderful.
I’m hungry again. The scream had summoned Ferrox from his hideout.
We’ll come back later, Kale promised.
Once you’re back on two legs?
Kale shrugged in his mind.
Not confident it will work? Ferrox asked.
Are you?
The demon was not. Diyu for our last meal before Braxas tears us to ribbons then?
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Another scream and Vera jerked again.
I’m going back to sleep, Ferrox informed him. I can’t stand being this close and not partaking.
I’ll wake you when it’s time to eat.
Good man.
“This way.” Kale pulled Vera toward a path that veered sharply to the right. She stumbled along beside him, and he realized he should’ve just come alone. He could’ve gone much faster, but he hadn’t thought of that. Blast, this is going to be a long night.
“I thought the catacombs were right inside the gates to Diyu,” she complained.
“They are. We’ve only been walking a couple of miles, at most.”
“We have very different opinions of ‘right inside.’”
“We’re almost there.”
Something scraped along a wall farther up, and Kale swerved to take a different path. Whatever it was, they’d want to avoid it. Fortunately, Vera hadn’t seemed to hear it.
“Almost there” was at least another twenty minutes of Kale dragging Vera along through the dark. Her arm ached from reaching up to clasp his hand, and her fingers were cold from not having enough blood flow. She’d finally stopped jumping at the screams, which were coming more frequently, but she’d swear she heard footsteps behind them. It was hard to tell with the way everything echoed. Plus, Kale had four feet, and two of them were behind her. Kale didn’t seem concerned, so Vera kept telling herself it was all in her head. The problem was, her head wasn’t listening. Her heart raced.
At the next turn, Vera could make out the curved shape of a stone arch. She blinked to make sure she could really see it and was relieved that she hadn’t made it up. Her eyes were finally adjusting. Kale acted like he was out for a stroll on a sunny day. As they moved down the tunnel, she could make out more and more texture in the stone walls.
“I can see,” she murmured happily.
“Good.” Kale dropped her hand. “The catacombs are illuminated, so it will only get lighter the closer we get.”
Crap. She couldn’t see that well, but she wasn’t going to cling to him either. She strained to hear Kale’s soft hoof falls, so she didn’t bump into him. Instead, she ran into something that stood waist high and had sharp edges. She splayed her hands out to catch herself, and they landed on something cool and smooth, like metal. Kale’s footsteps stopped.
“I thought you could see,” he said.
“I can.”
“Is that why you’re running your hands over the casting on that tomb like a blind person?”
“Shut up. I can’t see a ton, but I can see some.”
“The generals will be farther in,” he said. “These tombs are too new.”
“How do they not run out of room for all their dead?”
“Not everyone gets their own tomb. They are symbols of honor for those who have contributed meaningfully to Penglai.”
“You mean people with enough money to buy their way into the afterworld with style,” Vera concluded. “What about normal people?”
“There is a pit at the center of the catacombs where they are buried together.”
“That’s depressing.”
“What do they care? They’re dead.” A wail echoed through the tunnel.
“And being tortured,” she added under her breath.
“If they deserve it,” he replied.
“Where do they go if they don’t deserve to be tortured?”
“Once a soul has paid the price for their wrongs, they are released into the chamber for reflection. Unless the soul is an immortal, in which case, they are reborn.”
“How does someone get that privilege?”
“By having the right blood in their veins.”
“Of course.”
“Do you have a better system?” Kale asked.
“How about one where everyone has a right to be rewarded based on their own merits instead of their blood?”
“And who would judge that?” asked a voice beside Vera.
She shrieked and whirled away. The area surrounding them began to glow. Like an L.E.D. light that brightens so slowly a person doesn’t realize it’s happening until everything is bright.
“Jumpy,” observed a slight man with wildly curly hair. “You’re going to be lots of fun.”
Oh no.
“Hi,” he said happily. “I’m Yama.”
“Nice to meet you, Yama,” Vera said carefully.
Yama threw back his head and laughed. “We are going to get along famously.”
“Are you the one in charge down here?” No one had ever mentioned his name that she could remember, but it wasn’t hard to figure out.
“That’s me.” He climbed on top of a tomb and sat cross-legged.
Vera looked around the rows of tombs, each topped with a casting of the occupant inside. “Where’s Kale?”
Yama stuck out his bottom lip. “It looks like he’s snuck away.”
“He was just here.” For some reason, she’d thought the walls were closer than they were, but the room turned out to be massive once lit. The tombs were laid out in a sunburst pattern, at least a dozen rings across. Along the edge of the room, more tombs were stacked as high as Vera could see. It was like standing at the bottom of a silo built out of tombs. In the center of the innermost ring of tombs, a grate was built into the floor—the pit for normal people.
“He always was a slippery one,” Yama mused. “What shall we do until he comes back?”
Vera hesitated. “I think I should probably go find him.”
“Great idea. Let’s do that.” Yama hopped down. “Which way should we go?”
“Huh?” There was only one
way in and one way out of the burial chamber. Except when Yama pointed, there were lots of doorways spaced evenly between the stacked tombs.
“Maybe I should stay here.” Kale did know his way around, after all.
The sound of scraping came from the tunnel nearest her, followed by a menacing growl.
“That’s where Rufus got to,” observed Yama.
“Your watchdog?”
“Is that what Kale told you? That he’s my pet?” Yama laughed. “We’re more like coworkers. He has a job to do just like me.”
“He won’t bother us, though, right?”
“I belong here, so I am fine. But you are a different matter.” Yama cocked his head. “You weren’t by chance planning to steal anything were you?”
“No,” Vera lied.
“Oh good. You should be fine then.”
Vera bit her lip. “What if someone did come here planning to steal something?”
“Rufus reads intent, so it would not end well for that person.”
“Maybe we should look for Kale,” she said, moving away from the approaching sounds of Rufus.
“Wonderful idea. Which way do you think he went?”
Vera tried to remember which direction Kale had been going when he’d last spoken and picked the closest door to that spot. She hurried as the sound of the Rufus sniffing reached her. It was close. She dashed down a hall.
Darkness swallowed her again.
“Use your light.” Yama tapped her forehead.
Vera called her kargadan, wondering how Yama knew about that. “How long were you watching us?”
“Since you walked into my domain,” he said unapologetically.
Dread prickled in her chest. “You know where Kale is, don’t you?”
“Of course. But you didn’t ask that.”
“He’s back in the catacombs still, isn’t he?”
“Never left,” Yama confirmed.
“And you can affect what I see down here.”
The Infernal host actually made jazz hands as he said, “How fun is that?”
Yeah, it’s not. Vera spun around to head back to the catacombs, but there was a wall between them and the burial chamber.