“A bilingual text,” Alendra said, a flutter of excitement in her voice. “A way to decipher it.”
“What does it say?” Elei tried to see but the angle was wrong. “A colony? You mean this underground place?”
“No,” Hera said, “I mean the Seven Islands.”
Silence greeted her words. She didn’t look at any of them as she brushed her forefinger over the engraving. “Just listen.” She hunched her shoulders as if bracing for something. “You stand in Hive 31, tower 5, Ert. Date of construction 2294.”
“I don’t understand. 2294?” Elei glanced from Hera’s stony face to Sacmis’ eager one. “That was like a thousand years ago.”
“That’s not all, is it?” Sacmis breathed. “What else does it say, Hera?”
Hera swept off more dust, carefully, delicately, her fingers trembling. “Location: South Atlantic. Greco-Egyptian Underwater Colony, due to Emerge in 2912. Information at any GKL800 point.”
“That’s us?” Elei blinked. “The colony... it’s this island? These people,” he gestured at the niches, “were supposed to wake up and live here?”
Sacmis shook her head, blond ponytail whipping her neck. “Does it mean the islands used to be completely submerged and then emerged? Why would they be underwater in the first place?”
Hera reached out and caught Sacmis’ forearm, silencing her. In the ringing quiet, she said, “I promise you all, we’ll find out.”
***
“Well, here we are.” Sacmis took a sip from a bottle. They’d climbed out of the hive, and rested in the great hall. “Nobody has broken down the door, and we’re still alive.” Her gray eyes followed Hera who paced like a caged animal. The rest of them sat on the floor, looking morose.
Nobody had spoken another word about the inscription, the bodies, the implications and the questions raised. Elei was grateful. It was too much to process, and his worry about Kalaes blotted out everything else. Right now, he only cared about getting out, finding a doctor and medicine. The riddles could wait.
“They’re waiting us out,” Hera said. “And that leaves one explanation.”
Elei had feared as much. He rubbed his chest, trying to ease his breathing; it felt like a rock had lodged behind his breastbone. “There’s no way out, is there? They’re leaving us here to rot.”
Alendra flinched and he wished he hadn’t spoken, hadn’t scared her, but things being as they were, it wouldn’t change anything.
“No control panels, no buttons, no levers, no data processors.” Hera stopped at the parapet, looking down, hands tight on the rail. “Either the controls are hidden or there’s a control room elsewhere. No doors apart from the one we crossed, no trapdoors, no windows or any other indication of an exit.”
“Nobody makes rooms without an emergency exit,” Alendra said. “A pity the cats can’t tell us how they got in here.”
The cats in question lounged nearby, five of them now, including Cat, blinking sleepily in the half-darkness, not excited to be talked about. Their eyes were eerie blue.
Elei scrubbed his face, as if that could erase the headache pounding in the back of his eyes, the colors playing on every surface, coming and going, disorienting and dizzying. “Maybe if we start walking they’ll show us the way.”
“Actually, that is not a bad idea,” Sacmis said, rising gracefully to her feet and bending to lift Kalaes. “Rex is supposed to make them help us.”
“Only if he’s in danger,” Alendra pointed out as Elei got to his feet. “Right, Elei?”
Hera took a step toward Elei, dark hair spilling over her shoulders like ink. “I could make Rex believe he’s in danger.”
“Oh yeah? So why don’t you try to strangle him again,” Kalaes wheezed, pushing off Sacmis and stepping in Hera’s way, “and see if Rex gets pissed?”
Hera blinked, her whole body vibrating. “You know I would not harm him.”
“Do I?” Kalaes lifted his chin. “Your marks are spreading,” he gestured at her throat. “How much control have you got over yourself?”
“Enough,” she countered, meeting his gaze unflinching, though a tremor went through her shoulders. “I can control Regina.”
“Can you now?” Kalaes frowned, opened his mouth to say something more, and bent over. Alendra steadied him.
Elei’s heart hammered. “Dammit, Kal.” He stood between him and Hera. “Stop this, both of you.”
“I just don’t want her trying to strangle you when I’m not here to stop her,” Kalaes wheezed, sweat dripping down his face. “Promise me, Hera.”
“Promise what?” Her brows were drawn over her eyes and her shoulders were hunched, but her voice was soft and miserable. “Kal?”
“Hey.” Elei gripped Kalaes’ arm. “Let it go. Please.” Whether Hera or himself would hold onto their control until the end wasn’t something they could foresee. The whole exchange made him feel raw with fear.
“Promise me that you won’t hurt him,” Kalaes said. “Promise me, Hera. I saved your ass in Dakru City. You owe me this much.”
“You.” Hera didn’t move, and her arms trembled. “Idiot. No need to promise you anything. You’ll stop me if I lose control.”
“But if I don’t, you...” Kalaes’ voice cracked, his lips twisted. “Dammit, promise me, Hera!”
Hera grunted, bowed her head, her long hair hiding her eyes. “I promise.”
For all the good it will do, Elei thought, and yet another exchange that sounded like goodbye, dammit, and if they’d just get moving....
He swayed. A blinding pulse went through the domed hall, and nausea churned his stomach. His pulse thumped in his throat, speeding, racing, and he wasn’t sure why, why now, what had changed—
Sweet sugary scent hit his nostrils, so strong he staggered back, his hold on Kalaes the only reason he didn’t fall on his ass.
“Gultur,” he croaked. “Lots of them.”
“Damn them.” Hera kicked at the parapet. “They were not going to wait us out, were they?”
Sacmis shook her head. “They were waiting for reinforcements.”
The scent rose and fell like an ocean wave, like music, sharper and lighter notes, sweeter and fruitier, flowers and fermented honey weaving through shrill acid notes, shifting on the still air. The cats seemed to notice, too. They stirred and stretched, arching their backs and hissing, and his tainted eye took over, switching to infrared.
“Elei, snap out of it.” Alendra shook him. He knew her voice but couldn’t see her face — all was lost to pulsing heat signatures, orange and yellow and bright red.
“I’m fine.” He pulled back from her grasp and glanced around. Cat meowed, tail up like a red flag. The other cats paced around Elei, leaving honeyed streaks in his vision. He knelt down, patted Cat’s bullet head. His pulse beat in his wrists, in his fingers, and Cat growled and licked his palm. “Do you feel it too?” Elei whispered.
Cat butted his hand, then turned and trotted away, slowing when nobody moved. Elei got up and squared his shoulders. Well, it did look like an invitation, but to what, only the gods knew.
“Shall we?” he said, not looking at the others. No point, really, when all he could see was the heat centers of their bodies.
In answer, something smashed into the double metal doors through which they’d entered with a crash.
“They’re going to break down the door,” Alendra said, and suddenly everyone was moving after Elei. “Kal, come.”
“Where to?” Hera asked. “You were not serious about the cats, were you?”
Elei shrugged and kept walking. The cats led the way, small blobs of brightness, running and stopping, setting off again, heading around the parapet and toward an unremarkable stretch of gray concrete wall.
He slowed. Maybe the cats thought they were having a stroll around the room. The double doors shook with another hit, the sound deafening, the spiral stairs vibrating and buzzing. Sweat trickled down his spine, drenching his t-shirt underneath the hoodie. The cats turned t
o him, tails raised like masts. What did they expect him to do? There was nothing there, nothing he could see.
“What is here, Cat?” He swallowed his frustration and scanned the warm bodies winding between his legs, pressing against his shins. Cat rubbed himself on the wall, purring. “Is there anything at all?”
He walked to the wall and ran his hands over the rough surface. He hesitated, felt his way along a sunken, fine line. Panels, about a meter square, meshed together so perfectly he could barely feel the seams. He knocked on one and it sounded hollow, but when he pushed, it didn’t move.
“Did you find something?” Hera called.
“Not sure.” He knocked on the next panel. “Cat?”
Cat meowed, placed his front paws on a ground-level panel and pushed. The panel swung inward with a faint whine and Cat poked his head inside, then jumped through and vanished. The panel swung back and forth, screeching.
Elei blinked. Well, that was an invitation for sure. He cast a glance at the others, drew his Rasmus and followed.
***
The darkness was complete; no luminescent fungi grew in the low tunnel, but Rex had adjusted Elei’s vision quickly, letting him see thick pipes lining the walls and ceiling, symbols marking them at intervals. A utility tunnel.
He took aim as they rounded a corner. “Are we heading in the right direction?”
“If we are where I think we are,” Hera muttered, her longgun pointing up, “then this is not exactly the way we should be taking. Not that we have much choice.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at the other three following in the dark.
The cats sauntered along, pausing to rub against each other or look back at their little group, eyes alight.
“Maybe there’s a staircase around here?” Telling his pulse to slow, without much success, Elei tried to see any sign of a door or trapdoor to lead them out of the utility duct. The Gultur might’ve broken the door of the hive already and it wouldn’t take them long to realize where they’d gone. “Hera?”
“Cover us.” She holstered her gun and drew out the map, unfolding it as she half-ran beside him. “If this is the hive, and this our tunnel...”
“Wait up!” Alendra sounded out of breath. “Slow down.”
“We need to go east,” Hera muttered, slowing. “Left.” She glanced around, scowled harder. “Well, and down, of course. But the map shows no exits from this tunnel. We’ll have to follow it to its end.”
“And is it a long one?”
“Not too long,” she said, to his relief. She folded the map, jammed it back into her hip pocket. “We should hurry.”
“No shit.” His leg muscles shook, urging him to run.
“Elei!” There was a thin, sharp edge of fear to Alendra’s voice. “Stop!”
A sound reached his ears and he turned around. Retching. Kalaes was bent over, dark hair hiding his face, heaving. Alendra and Sacmis held his arms, and he hung between them.
He was vomiting blood.
This... couldn’t be good. Elei took a step toward them, the sweet-sour stench of vomit hitting him like a hammer and he was thrown back in time —Pelia’s cool hand on his forehead, Kalaes and Maera holding him up in a dank basement, Hera looking down on him with contempt.
And then the acid smell faded under the onslaught of another scent, damn sweetness, cloying and nauseating, worming into his head and body like an infection.
Gods... “Run!” he yelled. “They’re coming.”
Alendra shot him a blank look, and Hera raised her gun.
“I smell them. Gultur.” Elei shoved her out of the way, slung Kalaes’ arm over his shoulders and pulled him upright. “Kal, come on.”
Kalaes wiped his mouth, his face gray. “Just leave me here, fe.”
Elei’s jaw clenched so hard it hurt. “Don’t ever say that again.” Alendra moved to help and Elei shook his head. “Go ahead, I’ve got him.” He called out, “Hera!” She turned, her eyes narrowed. “Go!”
Hera hesitated a fraction of a second, her eyes flashing in anger — an Echo princess probably never took orders, much less from a mortal infected with Rex — but she nodded and gestured at Sacmis.
“Cover our backs,” she said and took the lead at a light jog that sent her long hair fluttering behind her like the trails of storm clouds.
They ran, Kalaes hanging off Elei, his weight dragging on Elei’s shoulder. The sound of their steps rang off the metal pipes, multiplied and wound around them like ropes. Or maybe it was just his heightened hearing, enhancing every sound.
“This way,” Hera called, running full out, her boots thumping, it seemed, between Elei’s ears. She disappeared around the bend of the tunnel, Alendra and Sacmis racing after her.
They followed at a slower pace, Elei hauling the other boy along. Kalaes’ skin burned. The marks, the fever, the retching, the blood, they nagged at Elei’s mind, like there was something he should understand. But what?
Hera was trying to push a door open, leaning on it and rattling it. Sacmis was lending her shoulder, shoving against it, but the door refused to open and the scent of Gultur from behind rose like a whirlwind to swallow them up.
“The map shows no other door in this tunnel.” Hera kicked the metal frame. “Damn this place.” She kicked it again.
Voices slithered down the tunnel, impossible to tell from which direction. “Stop it, Hera.” Elei shook Kalaes, trying to keep him conscious. “Find us a way out.”
Hera cocked her head to the side, listening. Then she nodded and spun around, taking off again.
“Sacmis, give me a hand here.” Elei pushed the words through gritted teeth. “Please.”
Without a word, Sacmis came to help lift Kalaes to his feet. His dark head rolled to the side. Shit.
They ran, carrying Kalaes between them. They reached the end of the tunnel, crossing into another hung with lights that turned into moths and flew over their heads in circles. There were steps leading down, and then up onto a platform that rang beneath their feet. Focused on Kalaes, Elei barely glanced around until Sacmis slowed.
“Now what?” she whispered.
Elei looked up. Hera was fiddling with something on the wall, muttering under her breath. Alendra threw him a worried glance, then returned to keeping watch, Kalaes’ gun clutched tightly in both hands.
“What are you doing?” Elei demanded to know. Why are you stopping instead of running? “What’s this place?”
“I’m opening a door,” Hera said, frowning, fumbling with what looked like a lever. “To something called a dock.”
“Dock?” Elei shook his head, frustrated. His back muscles screamed from lugging Kalaes around and the arm curled around Kalaes was numb. “We’re underground, if you haven’t noticed.”
Hera didn’t dignify that with an answer. Shots rang behind them. The sound exploded in his ears, painfully loud, and he tried to turn as bullets slammed into the walls, spraying them with plaster and stone. Jumbled thoughts chased around in his head. Had Hera realized they couldn’t outrun their pursuers? Did she have a plan?
“Get down!” Alendra cried and the reality of it still escaped him, his heart pounding and all the pretty colors flashing around him. He wondered why Rex wasn’t pushing him to move, what the parasite fed on when he didn’t feed himself, and why all of a sudden he felt so lightheaded.
Someone cursed, and he was yanked sideways, forced to release Kalaes, and thrown against the wall. He blinked at Alendra. He hadn’t thought she was so strong.
“Stay here,” she said, her hand fisting in his t-shirt, and Rex’s possession relaxed for a moment, letting him see her golden eyes. They were earnest, intent, a little worried. “Are you in pain?”
“No.” He tried to push off the wall. “Kalaes...”
“Sacmis will protect him. Just—”
A whirr sounded, a vibration against his back, and Elei jerked forward as the wall slowly slid aside like a screen, allowing a glimpse into another dark hall. Alendra stepped through, and he
and Sacmis dragged Kalaes into the hall, barely making it as the door slid closed, shutting out the shots and the footsteps of the approaching Gultur.
“Where’s Hera taking us?” Kalaes whispered and his voice startled Elei so much he almost fell.
I don’t know, he thought, sucking in a calming breath, I wish I did, but what he said was, “Home.”
Chapter Seventeen
The place was cavernous. Open space, faintly lit by emergency lights low on the walls. Hera was busy locking the sliding door, jamming something in a control panel set in a recess.
“We should be safe here for a while,” she said. “I blocked access from outside.”
“And where do we go from here?” Sacmis asked quietly.
Hera didn’t turn around. “I do not know. Nothing is marked on the map.”
“Nothing...” Elei thought he’d misheard. “Nothing beyond this room?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she pushed off the wall and turned to face them, just as a patter echoed through. She flinched.
A rain of bullets.
With a niggling fear that the bullets might tear through the wall, he dragged Kalaes away, stumbling even though the floor was smooth. He thought it heaved beneath his feet like the deck of a ship, but a glance at Alendra showed her steady on her feet.
“Here, let me take him.” Sacmis guided Kalaes to a concrete bench and settled him. “Elei, are you all right?”
He nodded.
“It’s Rex.” Hera strode toward him, face a thundercloud. She gripped his shoulder. “Damn parasite is using up all your energy.”
Elei shrank back. Her fingertips dug into his muscle and her scent, unbearably sweet, sent his heart booming. “Hera...” He clasped her wrist and tried to shove her away but couldn’t. She pushed him until his back hit the wall and he sank down, his knees buckling.
“It’s okay if it uses my energy,” he rasped, “as long as it controls telmion.”
Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3) Page 68