by SGD Singh
Asha laughed in surprise. “No. Definitely not. Why would you say that?”
“Sorry.” Jax felt ridiculous. “It was a stupid thing to say. It’s none of my business, anyway.”
Asha was quiet for a minute. “You probably noticed the The Infernal Guard is a pretty close group,” she said finally. “We’re family. And Mia was like a sister to Kelakha… to all of us. A very fun, loud, vivacious sister, who was very comfortable with her sexuality and loved tantalizing members of the opposite sex.”
“Okay.” Jax nodded. And if he loved her, you would’ve done what, exactly? “I’m sorry she died.” God. Just shut up already, Jax.
“Me too,” Asha said with a sigh. “We don’t laugh nearly as often since she’s gone. You would’ve liked her.”
They walked for twenty more minutes in silence, Jax promising herself to keep her delusional thoughts to herself and refusing to let her eyes linger on Kelakha, who glanced back at her every few minutes.
“Asha?”
“Hmm.”
“Can I ask you, I mean, how did the Underworlders find this Seer, this savior, before The Guard did?” Jax swallowed, hoping she wasn’t being rude. “I mean, do Underworlders have Seers too?”
Asha didn’t seem offended at all. “No, they don’t have Seers,” she said. “But they do have Witches, who have spells that help them know certain things. Look at it this way; The Infernal Guard’s Seer abilities are natural, like a bird can fly, or a fish can swim. When we see something, it happens naturally, at one with the balance of the universe. Witches use energy, taking from nature to force their result. The strongest spells require the blood of innocent life, usually infants, or rare animals.” Asha looked at the sky. “The advantage Witches have over Seers is they can decide when to search for answers. We have to wait until the answers come to us naturally. And like now, having one of his possessions, I can find him easily.” Asha held the rosary up. “I can either sense which direction he’s in, or actually be in the same room with him in my… uh, consciousness, or spirit form, you could call it. Lexi named the Talent ‘ghosting’.”
Jax realized she was gawking at Asha again.
Asha didn’t seem to notice. “Does that answer your question?”
“So… wow. Okay. If the Witches can search for answers anytime, they could’ve found out where he was years ago?”
“Not necessarily. See, there were two events that would register: his birth, and his transition to The Guard, when his Talents begin to emerge. Before his seventeenth birthday, the Seer would register the same as any ordinary boy. Well, probably not ordinary if you met him, but for all search-spell purposes, he wouldn’t stand out among hundreds of thousands of humans his age. Obviously the Underworlders missed taking him at birth. They somehow lost him, even apparently knowing the day. So they were stuck waiting until his seventeenth birthday, unless they wanted to kill every person born that day.”
“I wonder what happened when they lost him,” Jax said, absently watching Kelakha, Aquila, and Ursala, marveling at the way the three boys moved as one fluid unit.
“Someone, probably many someones, lost their lives. That we can be sure… of…”
Asha tensed, eyes fluttering, obviously listening to Aquila. Without another word she hurried her pace and caught up to the others, and Aquila made a hand motion Jax didn’t know as everyone gathered around Asha. They had come to a hill that looked down on the edge of the strange, shack-like structures.
“All right,” Asha said. “This is why Avinash is here. He can enter the city and blend in to collect information, then work with Jax to take us through the places where we’ll be least noticed.”
Kelakha cocked his head to one side. “I hear water.”
“Me, too,” said Ursala.
“Okay.” Asha reached behind her and shook a packet of thin, dark bags from her pack. “First we fill our water packs. Five minutes to acclimate.”
They followed the sound, with everyone staying behind Avinash who gave the all-clear before they rounded each curve in the landscape, until they came to a small stream.
“Asha?” said Ursala, stiffening. “There’re… things wiggling in the water. Could you…?”
“What? Kill every creature in this river?”
“Asha, please!” Jax thought Ursala might actually cry. “I can’t drink this shit.”
Asha crouched down and filled one of her water pouches with water, then smiled at Ursala as she dropped a purifying tablet into it. The liquid fizzed while silvery worms squirmed and thrashed against the packet’s sides. “See? It dissolves whatever’s there. It’s totally clear now, look.” Asha drank in large gulps. “It’s perfectly fine.”
Ursala shuddered. “Yeah, but I’ll still know what was in it, won’t I?”
Aquila and Kelakha were already filling their second pouches.
“Man up, Ursala,” Asha said, slapping his back. “If I draw life from that stream, it could destroy this area’s entire ecosystem. I won’t do it.”
Jax struggled with her pack, trying to figure out the buckles in the darkness, wondering how Asha thought she could possibly be useful. She yanked at a zipper with numb fingers, feeling her frustration rise until Kelakha finally took her pack, easily retrieving the water pouches and holding them out to her.
“Here,” he said. “Don’t fill too many or your pack will get heavy. They seal like this, and like this, okay?”
Jax nodded, trying not to cry and feeling more stupid than she’d felt in a very long time.
“Hey,” Kelakha said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re doing fine. A few days ago you were vacationing in Las Vegas with no idea that any of this existed, remember? Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Jax sniffed. Vacationing? Jesus, what did Asha tell him?
Jax heard Aquila’s voice behind her. “Asha, your civilian is losing her shit.”
“Be nice, Aquila.” Her voice was soft, intimate, and Jax glanced at her in surprise. “Just because you’re sexy when you’re mean, doesn’t make it all right.”
“And you’re extremely hot when you’re bossy.” Aquila’s voice was even worse. “Actually, all the time, as a matter of fact.”
Ursala spoke up. “You guys do realize your talking out loud, right?”
Jax saw Asha freeze, her mouth forming a silent ‘oh’, and realized she wasn’t the only one whose inhibitions were affected by this realm.
Asha rushed to Jax’s side, wrapping her arms around her trembling shoulders and began apologizing for flirting while Jax was suffering. A rush of comfort filled Jax as Asha held her, and to her horror she began to cry.
Asha rubbed one hand up and down Jax’s back, as if to warm her. “This realm brings out all of our emotions more strongly. You’re just getting acclimated, that’s all. Here, drink some wiggly-worm water. You’ll feel better, I promise.”
Kelakha turned on Avinash. “I thought you said she wouldn’t be affected by this realm,” he demanded.
Jax tried not to feel anything at the concern in his voice, but it was too late.
Avinash shrugged, fastening Kairav’s water to her pack. “Civilians have a lot of bottled up feelings, apparently. What do you want me to say?”
“She’ll be fine, ’Lakha,” said Asha, guiding Jax to a large rock. “She’s strong.”
Jax drank three packets of water, almost gagging on the burnt sulfur flavor as Kelakha filled the rest of her water pouches, fastening half of them to his own backpack. Within minutes, her emotions had begun to even out, and she felt more grounded, just as Asha had promised.
Taking Asha’s outstretched hand, Jax stood.
“Let’s get this Seer and get the hell out of here,” she said, and everyone grinned at her.
Chapter 19
Avinash sniffed. “This building is deserted.”
“You can tell the whole building is empty just by smelling it?” Jax whispered. They’d crept up to the first row of buildings at the edge of town, finding the st
reets eerily empty.
“Yep. Pretty cool huh?”
Avinash motioned for everyone to enter the building. Jax jogged to the far end of the warehouse, where the black and pock-marked walls gave way to iridescent glass slabs. From a distance, the city had looked like a war-ravaged Satya-realm city, but up close Jax quickly realized that her mind had filled in familiar details on a setting that was entirely unfamiliar. The buildings were more like enormous insect hives, curving at odd angles. There was nothing human or familiar about this city that had been created and inhabited by monsters.
As Jax watched from behind the glass reflections that she knew hid her, sudden swarms of what she recognized as Vampires in their true forms disappeared down the narrow street that glistened with spots of something she didn’t want to think about, their red-veined bat wings flapping around pale bodies.
She glanced at Kelakha who stood next to her. “That is not a good sign,” she told him, pointing at the retreating cloud of Vampires.
“Avinash left to collect info,” he answered. “We have to wait here.”
Jax glanced around the cavernous room, her pounding heart betraying her panic.
Asha and Aquila sat slumped against a far wall, Asha’s head on his shoulder. Aquila held her hand, studying her multiple rings, and they both smiled at the same second, perhaps having a silent conversation.
Kairav paced nervously near what could be described as a door, and Ursala was asleep near Aquila.
Jax returned to studying the view. As she watched, something changed. The street suddenly stilled, emptied of the life Jax hadn’t seen was there before, dark forms blending with the black pocked stone of the ruined buildings as the darkness filled with thick silence.
“’Lakha. Something is definitely wrong. Everything just—hid.”
Kelakha made a gesture at Aquila and Asha were at their sides in two strides.
“Curfew?” Aquila asked.
Jax shook her head. “I don’t think so. Look there…” She pointed between hive-like buildings. “Cops. I would know cops anywhere.”
“Jesus,” Asha breathed.
Ursala joined them. “Those things are their cops?” A look of disgust mixed with awe filled his features as they all watched the four creatures the size of cars moving, spider-like, on eight striped legs, their multiple yellow eyes scanning the destroyed buildings. “Are you sure?”
Jax snorted. “Cops get that reaction anywhere. And look at them. They’re looking for something to hurt.”
“You know, we’re like cops, Jax,” said Ursala. “No offense taken or anything.”
They studied the creatures in silence as the police spiders crawled along the street, their round heads turning back and forth, searching with mechanical movements. As they passed by, Jax saw that their legs and bodies were covered in what looked like thick velvet.
The last of them was almost past their window when it stopped, turning its six perfectly round eyes of glowing yellow on them, and Jax froze, rigid with fear. Asha wrapped one arm around her shoulders. No one moved as the thing took another step toward the glass, and another, its legs like bony fingers grabbing onto the cracked stone—until its face was only inches from the glass.
An endless minute passed.
No one breathed as the creature began to open its mouth, wider and wider, revealing a toothless cave, and Jax thought her heart would explode with fear as a silver orb glistened in its throat, falling onto the stone outside their window with a heavy clunk. The creature rubbed its two front legs together, producing a clicking noise of a thousand insects, and scurried quickly out of sight.
“Get back get back!” Kelakha and Aquila screamed at the same time, and Jax felt strong arms lift her off the ground as a deafening explosion split the air. She was weightless for an instant before the air was knocked out of her lungs on impact, and her head felt like someone had hit it with a frying pan.
Jax realized she was lying on top of Kelakha and she scrambled off him, stumbling.
“That’s one way to keep curfew,” Ursala groaned, brushing debris off his clothes. “Shit.”
Avinash burst into the half-destroyed room a moment later, crazed panic in his gaze until his eyes met Kairav’s. He rushed to her side, running his hands along her face and shoulders while she insisted she wasn’t hurt. Jax watched them, trying to hear their voices to see if her ears would stop ringing.
Everyone slowly gathered around Asha.
“All right,” the Werewolf said. “From what little I understand of their language… I had to pretend I was too drunk and sick to speak… it’s not pleasant, I can tell you—”
“Get to the point, honey,” said Kairav.
“Right. So the Urnayu, that’s those creepy spider things, have been carrying out some kind of Asura genocide for the Vazin ruler. Emperor Shunyata. Sounds like a real winner. Anyway, the Werewolves are worried it’s the beginning of more to come. Like slaughtering Werewolves is next.”
Everyone glanced at each other silently.
“There’s more,” said Avinash. “It seems Emperor Asshole has found himself an empress. Some big deal celebration is set for two days from now.”
“Ranya,” Asha said.
Aquila’s eyes snapped to her.
“This Asura genocide must be a gift for her.” Asha looked at the ceiling. “God, I could almost hear her laughing at me in the convent. This is about Ranya. She wants our Seer. She’s been waiting for him… they all have.”
“So two days,” Aquila said. “That’s how long the hostages have to live.”
“Yep,” Avinash nodded. “Word is human is on the wedding banquet menu. Apparently it’s some kind of delicacy the rich and powerful crave—like that Ortolan bird thing back home. Seems you can find rich sickos anywhere.”
“Or like the canard à la rouennaise?” Ursala asked, looking interested.
“I don’t know if they’re smashing people to make a blood sauce like that,” said Avinash matter-of-factly. “It’s probably something worse.”
“San zhi er?” said Ursala.
“Three screams?” Kelakha narrowed his eyes at Ursala. “That’s the name of something to eat?”
“What’s three screams?” said Jax, and then hoped no one would answer her.
“Look, I don’t know how they eat humans,” Avinash growled. “I’m just saying they do, which we already knew anyway.” He peered out the hole in the wall to the deserted street.
“My vote goes to ikizukuri,” Ursala said. “That’s probably how they do it.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Your civilian’s gonna lose her shit again,” Aquila said.
“You’re talking out loud,” said Asha. “And no, she’s not.”
Jax started to ask what ikizukuri was, but Asha cut her off.
“Can we focus? It doesn’t matter if they eat humans alive, slowly press the blood out of them, drown them in liquor, or eat them with maggot cheese.”
Jax gasped. “Is that what…?”
Ursala made a horrified face and mouthed Yes at her while Kelakha shook his head.
Asha raised her hands at both of them. “Let’s move out. Avinash? Tell me you found a safe route.”
“There is no safe route.”
“Jax?”
Jax nodded, her reliable, problem-solving mind pushing past all her doubts. “It’s about ten miles to the palace, give or take. With Avinash’s senses, it can be done,” she said. “Our suits will help us blend with our surroundings, and as for the rest, we’ll just have to hope for the best. We kill anything that gets in our way. And I’m guessing most of these things avoid daylight, right?”
“Yep.” Ursala laughed. “All two weak-ass hours of it. Yay.”
Asha smiled. “So we double-time it.”
Chapter 20
Lexi finished cleaning the last of her knives, added it to her weapons belt, and glanced at the time. Six twenty-three. More than twenty-four hours since Nidhan was taken. She could feel her h
ands itching with the urge to squeeze the life out of Mamono.
“Hey!” she shouted across the church and five heads turned to her. Lexi focused on the Upperworlder with the rainbow hair. “How long can someone survive unconscious in this contraption of yours?”
“I have a name,” he called, his rich voice filling the room. “It’s Satish.”
Lexi crossed the room in four long strides and kicked the bench out from under him, leaning in his startled face. “Do I look like I give a flying fuck what your name is? How. Long.”
The Upperworlder’s reptilian yellow eyes flashed, his giant scarlet macaw wings momentarily visible against the church floor.
Ariella jumped up, getting between them, and shoved a sandwich at Lexi’s chest. “Eat something, Lex.”
Kai burst through the church’s back door. “The portal just closed,” he announced. “And one of those sandwiches better be mine.”
Kenda followed him. “It definitely closed. Why is Satish on the floor?”
Satish stood, shaking his colorful hair as the other two Upperworlders righted his bench. The serious-looking one with black hair handed him a sandwich.
The blond kept his face turned away from Lexi.
She snatched the food from Ariella’s hand and sat down next to Koko, staring at the floor. The urge to leave the church and do something, anything to get Nidhan back was steadily growing worse, and Lexi didn’t know how much longer she could stand the wait without murdering someone.
The Upperworlder with black hair cleared his throat and spoke with a voice deep with rich harmony. “It’s possible to survive for months within the suspended animation state without food or water,” he said. “I’ve seen it prolong the life of the dying for six months.”
Lexi nodded at the tile between her feet.
“I’m Dinesh, by the way,” he added.
Lexi met his eyes. “Lexi.” She waved a hand. “Sorry about the…”
“Whatever,” said Ariella, stepping forward and holding out her hand. “I’m Ariella. That’s Koko, Kai, and Kenda.” She pointed.
Everyone nodded, waving while they chewed.