“Your point?”
“You now pose a threat, especially since you haven’t kissed the hand that feeds you in some time.” Kaleal spun to face him, his hand white-knuckled around the coin. No, he definitely wasn’t as smooth as he thought was. “They will want to know what you’ve been up to, and I bet they will probably not like what they find. Not to mention they’ll disturb all you have amassed.” She motioned at the riches, arms stretched wide. “Least of all what’s in this room.”
“The Order promised to leave me alone after I last helped them out.” His eyes were plates of bronze. “We agreed that I would keep to my part of the world and they would keep to theirs.”
“The Order promised,” she emphasized the noun with sultry sophistication. “But what about Geoffrey? What did he promise? Did he swear to honor that vow?”
“He promised autonomy to anyone who took you out.”
“We are talking about the man who first claimed he wiped out the Gods, then tried to take them in peacefully when he realized they were, in fact, still alive, and is now, suddenly, demanding their blood again, right?” Kaleal mused, tapping her jaw.
The first crack in Phenex’s carefully guarded exterior appeared. “He has his reasons.”
“You’re smarter than this.” She tsked. “Geoffrey is as unstable as any overly powerful world leader you’ve ever encountered.”
“And you can do better?” The coin was back on his knuckles, but he had yet to continue the fish-like motion.
“If you help us find the Temple, we’ll leave you alone.” She glanced at the emerald, and I realized we probably wouldn’t be figuring out what it meant or what powers it possessed. Not yet anyway. “And we’ll remove Geoffrey from his position of influence.”
Phenex strode three steps forward, his chest brushing hers as he peered down at her. “And what assurances do I have that you’ll follow through,” he snarled, his careful veneer thoroughly shattered. “As you’ve pointed out the failures of others to do so.”
“Because you know me, too, Xenith.”
The color drained from his face when her tongue twisted around the name, her tone sticky-sweet. His eyes darted back and forth between hers, his magic threatening mine with barbed hostility. But finally, finally, he pulled back.
“We leave in the morning,” he said.
Chapter 16
One huge, brown eye framed by long, sandy-colored lashes blinked as I leaned in close. The camel regarded me warily before drawing back its black lips to expose thick, yellowed teeth. A low groan rumbled from its barrel of a chest and I danced back.
“Yeah…I don’t think so,” I murmured, slashing an x across my chest to ward off evil. Or whatever weird vibes I was picking up here.
Joseph, possessing a far braver soul than my own, actually stroked the beast’s wiry hair as its belly lunched in something I could only call a belch. My friend threw his head back, sending the hood he’d carefully affixed over his hair flying, baying from the bottom of his lungs. The camel and I exchanged a look.
“Something funny?” I asked.
“I’m imagining you being stuck with this lovely creature for the next two weeks.”
“Did I miss a text message?” I shoved my hands in my pockets before remembering I hadn’t so much as held a phone since Kansas City. “Are you not coming with us? Because I definitely don’t remember agreeing to that.”
“Oh, I’m coming.” He tossed his bag on the back of the camel Finn had claimed. Now that I thought about it, the two of them seemed to be spending a lot of time together. My eyes narrowed as I glanced from the bags to Joseph to the doors where the kelpie had vanished through. “But I’m not going in this form.”
“Can red-tailed hawks survive in the desert?” I asked, tugging at the brown scarf looped around my neck. It itched fiercely and I’d already scratched my skin raw. The rest of my beige clothing was fine, minus the constant sensation of boiling in my skin, but Bast assured me I would be thankful for the layers of shirts and pants and wraps when we got caught in our first sandstorm.
I hadn’t bothered to remind her that the person who could stifle such a phenomenon would be riding next to me. Or flying rather.
“I can take more than one form,” Joseph said dryly. Across the courtyard, the pixies squabbled over a half dozen other camels. The animal’s hair was scratchy, they smelled like dung left in the sun, and they looked awkward. What could there possibly be to argue over? “One of the nero worked with me yesterday until I figured out the roadrunner. It only took about an hour.”
Yesterday. When I’d been skulking around Phenex’s castle like a rodent—which I still had yet to tell anyone aside from Ryder about. My shoulders hunched and I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Listen, about yesterday—”
“It was fun, getting to know them,” he continued, either ignoring or not hearing me. “They’re fascinating: insanely intelligent, quick on their feet, willing to both educate and be educated.” He pushed some of his long hair back behind his ear. “I wish you’d come down. While they didn’t ask about you per se, they definitely wanted to. I could tell.”
“About that—”
“Nope, none of that.” He shoulder-bumped me and the hole in my chest filled. “Your guilt is scribbled all across your face. I don’t need it nor want it. You have nothing to feel bad about. Because of you, whatever it is you did, we’re leaving this morning. The whole point of this deal is to find the God of Earth, after all, even if it means dealing with the djinn himself.”
The hair on my neck prickled as hooves clattered on the cobblestones. I turned as Phenex tugged the reigns of his white horse.
“Are you prepared? We won’t wait once dusk falls, even for the Gods,” he said, peering down at us. The djinn wore similar attire to the rest of us, only unlike our strict browns and reds, his cloak was a rich shade of lapis lazuli. Behind him, a dozen nero carefully formed two lines on camel-back.
“Did I say ‘djinn?’” Joseph mused, rubbing his scruffy chin. “I definitely meant devil.”
A chuckle rose in my chest, but I tamped it down and cast a wan smile up at our host. “Do you know the way to the Lost City?”
“Obviously.” His tone dripped with derision.
“If you don’t like answering stupid questions, you shouldn’t ask them.” I removed the canteen at my hip and unscrewed the top, taking a sip I didn’t need. I was careful to keep my face blank as we scrutinized one another. The djinn’s nostrils flared when Kaleal slipped in, momentarily flashing her amethyst glare. Apparently, she also couldn’t resist poking the bear.
It was the nero at the front of the line who broke our stand-off. “Sir, Akil needs you to sign off on the supplies. I believe you wanted to check the list personally?”
Phenex’s lips curled, though there was no warmth in his smile.
“No offense meant,” he said stiffly, his horse shifting restlessly. “I was only under the impression that you and your fellow God considered speed of utmost importance.”
He wasn’t referring to Joseph.
I inclined my head, wondering if he knew that the others still didn’t know about my secret.
The head of another camel rose on my left and perched behind its hump was Ryder, lean and lethal as always in his black attire. He’d also escaped the drab browns, it seemed. The whisper of darkness in my chest that was Kaleal clutched tight, warning me to take care with my answer here. She couldn’t risk rising to the top.
“I appreciate your attentiveness,” I replied as Joseph frowned, his arms coming up around his chest. “Please consider us always prepared moving forward.”
“Anything for the Gods,” Phenex growled, and the surge of power building between us settled. Kaleal relaxed her grip. With another hard look of warning, he kicked the sides of his horse and galloped to the entrance of his palace. The nero hesitated a moment too long, the one at the head of the line with the face wrapped completely in fabric stared straight at me, before they, too, followed.
“Oh, nothing,” I said. Joseph still had yet to turn away, something about his stare seemed familiar—like how he got pouring over his new copy of The Word, or when we stuck our heads together back at the cabin, discussing ways that the Gods could help solve the nuclear crisis.
“What?” I asked, my shoulders hunching. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
The breeze tousled his hair and his eyes tightened. “No reason.”
“It’s like I’ve walked into the middle of three different conversations happening at once,” Ryder grumbled, finishing the complicated knot he’d formed, effectively tying my camel to the caravan. Joseph whistled tunelessly as he snatched his hood off the ground and walked away. “But since apparently none of you want to talk about the nothingness that is definitely not nothing… how about you tell me what you got up to yesterday? I have a funny feeling you ignored my dire warnings.”
His arms looped my shoulders in a brief hug, then he helped me find the long loop of leather that was supposed to be a stirrup.
“What makes you feel that?” I huffed, pulling myself on top of the creature. I sensed its too-large eyes rolling back at me as it chewed slowly on something. What could it be eating? Rocks? Sand? There wasn’t anything out here. I narrowed my eyes, my legs feeling too tight around its massive middle. Ryder’s rumbling laugh made me jump.
“You should make nice with your transportation, glowstick,” he said, squeezing my calf. “You can trust it, unlike a certain djinn we both know.”
“Are you comparing Phenex to a camel?” I pondered that mental image, then shook the thought away. “I don’t trust him either. But we don’t have a choice in the matter, do we?”
I was getting good at spitting.
No matter how much I kept my mouth sealed and my scarves pulled high, sand somehow found its way into my mouth. Then again, fine grains of the stuff had worked into every wrinkle and enlarged pore of my body.
Surprise, surprise, the desert was filled with the stuff, and it was about as irritating as the scenery was boring. My body clock was also completely messed up from the reversed sleeping schedule. At Phenex’s demand, we rode at night and slept during the day. Both were uncomfortable, but at least the heat of the sun while traveling wasn’t compounded on top of all my other complaints.
I squeezed the reins, wishing I had something to do besides think about how much my muscles ached. I’d never ridden so much as a horse before, and I never would have guessed how stiff I’d get in the saddle. I swore the tension knotting the backs of my thighs drove right to the bone, jarring me with each step the stupid camel took.
And no, we still hadn’t made nice.
“You know, when I imagined leaving home for some grand adventure, I never thought I’d end up somewhere so… lackluster,” Joseph said beside me. He’d gotten tired of running after the first day and snatched up one of the spare camels the nero had brought along as if anticipating his change of mind.
“Can we not talk about the landscape?” I asked, scratching behind my ear. Sand gritted under my nail. “I’ll go crazy if I think about it anymore.”
“What do you suggest, then? The weather?” He motioned at the sea of shimmering lights spilling across the black lagoon that was the evening sky. The desert did have one thing going for it, I supposed. His glib question got me thinking, though.
“I wouldn’t mind talking about magic,” I said, twisting in my saddle.
His eyebrows winged up over his yellow bandanna. “What about magic?”
“Your magic. I understand fire and water and the restrictions associated with both.” I could only work with what was within the reach of my powers. The exact distance wasn’t entirely clear to me, but it seemed that the stronger I got, the wider that boundary got. “But what about air?”
“What exactly about air?”
“How do you do that—” I slapped my palms together and twisted them “—you know, make those pane things? The flat panels that you stand on? I don’t understand it.”
His eyes danced as he nudged his camel closer. “Good question. It took a bit to figure out. The Thunderbird gave me the idea and made it sound easy, but it’s not.” He dropped his reins, motioning with his hands. “See, I had to figure out how to draw the molecules of the air together. Oxygen works best for whatever reason, I’m still figuring that one out.” He twisted what I assumed was air in his grip in an excited demonstration. “Anyway, by condensing the oxygen into a super-tight layer, I was able to make a surface strong enough to bear my weight. See?”
I nodded, tapping the pane he held up with my nail. It was fascinating, seeing how his mind interpreted the world, figuring out how his magic fit within it. Using science to determine how things worked seemed incredible, especially to someone like me who simply fumbled around with my abilities until I got it to do what I needed it to do.
“What’s interesting, though, is if you think about the availability of oxygen,” Joseph continued, his tempo increasing. “Because we could get into a sticky spot if I tried to make a panel like that in a small room. Obviously, I’m not creating oxygen so much as I am stealing it from around me…”
As he chattered, reaching for more magic to show me more technical aspects of his abilities, I realized the cobwebs littering my mind had cleared and the ache in my legs didn’t feel so bad.
Chapter 17
It took three days for dehydration to set in.
I tried to summon moisture to my mouth but couldn’t. Thirst was too tame a word for the driving desire to drink, the feeling that coated my mouth and esophagus, making it difficult to swallow and sometimes breathe. It was a sensation that spread like dandelion roots until it was all I thought about.
At least I’d positioned my camel in front of the pack animals hefting our supplies of food and water today. After spending most of the day yesterday positioned right behind the bloated sacks of water, I’d about died from want. Our group was comprised of several dozen individuals, and rationing was essential.
I’d never realized until now how much water I consumed in a given day, how much water I took in through sheer osmosis. Turns out, there was a reason I wanted to swim for a living, a reason my temple was beneath the waves of the North Sea.
I tugged my bandanna higher on my nose so only my eyes peered out over the sweat-stained material. It wasn’t so much to keep the sand out. No, I’d given up that fight the second night. But the scarves and bandannas did allow me to hide.
At dusk, I’d woken with the rest of the camp and discovered my inner wells of water magic dry. I’d panicked, casting my senses far and wide, searching for any sign of life, but aside from a few cacti and some scattered desert animals, there was nothing. I’d never considered what it would be like, not being around water, and the lack of connection left me thoroughly shaken.
Fire magic had filled the void, but without the water to counter the searing heat, I was burning up from the inside out. I’d made the mistake of removing my leather gloves a few hours ago, and found the skin on the backs of my hands cracked, my fingers thinner than usual. It didn’t hurt exactly, and I was beginning to find a balance within myself. But between tasting ash whenever I inhaled and the constant tug of thirst, it took all I had to not turn back.
Don’t let him find out, Kaleal warned. Even her presence was softer, lighter, as if she were struggling to hold her form. He can’t find out you’re weakened.
How stupid do you think I am? I whined tiredly. Besides, in all your eons of lurking, waiting for your next prey, surely you know how to fix this problem.
The Water God has never come first, she reminded me drolly. I didn’t like how quiet she was, her voice textured with static. And none of them were foolish enough to head into a desert.
I am here because you pushed me. I stalked into the recesses of my mind, into the shadows where she lurked, my s
tomach swooping when I found only wisps of her fiery power. I crouched down, pleading. Tell me what to do. Please.
Survive, she whispered. And keep pushing your boundaries. You’ll find water sometime. Until then, I’m going to hunker down for a bit. The lack of magic is… taxing.
And she vanished, flicking me outside my mind once again—where Joseph’s keen gaze was fixed upon me, his brows drawn tight with questions. Unnerved, and wondering if he was somehow starting to figure out my unwanted secrets, I looked toward the front of the line where Phenex rode. My jaw tightened.
Out here, in the heart of the desert and heat of the sand, the djinn was more at ease than he’d ever seemed back at his palace. How I’d ever thought him bland and boring was beyond me, because now he practically glowed with energy and enthusiasm. His braided, black hair was sleeker, his skin dark and lush, his seat on his horse prouder.
He fit in this territory.
And I did not.
My head was spinning when he spun his horse around, knowing he was searching for me. He’d stopped his annoying banter and had taken to staring like the rest of them. As a group we were quieter and calmer, having little to discuss in general, but I’d carefully extricated myself from any and all conversation, not wanting anyone to guess what was wrong with me.
He held up his gloved hand. In one practiced motion, the nero halted the camels.
“We’ll set up camp here.” The djinn pointed at an outcropping of rocks that looked like a hand reaching high into the sky. Beyond it, a thin ribbon of red cut the horizon.
Finn swung down beside me when we finally reached the rocks. Like the days prior, the nero immediately went to work setting up tents and laying out cooking supplies. Not wanting to be a burden on anyone, I’d learned how to prepare my own tent on the first night, and accepted the equipment with a murmur of thanks.
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