by SGD Singh
Nidhan seemed to realize that royalty was gawking at him, and straightened. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. It’s the skirt. I blame the skirt.”
“Also the…” Lexi wiggled a hand around her head and crossed her eyes.
Zaiden bowed low, mumbling something about it having been nice to have met them all, and turned to his two companions, who waited still as statues in the shadows.
Nidhan put an arm around Lexi’s shoulders and took a breath.
“You can’t let him leave.”
“Why not?” Lexi crossed her arms and studied the waterfall’s lightening mist.
“What do you mean, why not?” Nidhan moved to stand in front of her. His chest was all kinds of wonderful distraction, but he took her chin in his hand and lifted her face to his. “You can’t let him leave, Lexi. You know you can’t.”
Lexi felt tears fill her eyes, and an instant later Nidhan’s arms wrapped around her, warm and comforting. He pulled her against him and she trembled, feeling as if she were falling into a thousand pieces. The temptation to just leave and pretend the last day never happened filled her with equal parts sorrow and yearning.
Could things ever be the way they were before Asha left? Can anyone ever get the past back, once the present has pulverized everything? Once what you believed to be your freedom to love is proven to be nothing but an illusion, gone like so much ash in a storm?
“Tell him. Ask him to stay.” She watched Nidhan’s own eyes well with tears, and shook her head. “Ask him. If you don’t, you might not regret it today, but you’ll regret it soon. And for the rest of your life.”
Lexi finally glanced back at the Upperworlders, suddenly too exhausted to sustain the effort not to.
Zaiden looked at the ground, Satish and Dinesh spoke to him with obvious urgency, while their eyes stayed on Lexi with open disgust. With one impatient motion of the prince’s hand, they fell silent, and Zaiden turned away from them, crouching under spreading wings, preparing to fly.
Nidhan squeezed her hand, nearly crushing her fingers.
Zaiden.
He froze, and she felt a stab of pain that caused her to gasp as his eyes turned to her.
Don’t go.
What… He shook his head once, confused. What are you saying?
I don’t know what I’m saying, okay? I just know… I know I don’t want you to leave.
I won’t stay if it causes you pain to be near me, Lexi.
Lexi ran both hands through her hair, tugging until she felt pain, but she refused to break his gaze.
God damn it to hell. It causes me pain to be away from you!
Zaiden’s legs buckled and he fell to his knees, bowing his head, and Lexi could barely breathe for the relief that flooded through him.
She turned away, every cell in her body yearning to tear something, anything apart, as she gritted her teeth against the scream that choked her.
“You didn’t hurt the poor guy, did you?” Nidhan caught Lexi as she spun away from him, dragging her back against his chest.
The future was a laughing Underworlder to her, a demon smiling as it tortured the weak.
“You know what? I like him,” Nidhan declared cheerfully.
Lexi punched his chest and felt him laugh, felt his arms tighten around her. “I’m serious! Okay, I admit it would be nice, it would be fantastic if this whole situation never happened, I’m not saying it wouldn’t. But c’mon. He’s Upperworlder royalty, all golden and shiny and stuff, with super cool eyes and awesome wings… you have to at least admit the wings are awesome. Plus, he’s got a penchant for heroic acts.” She felt Nidhan nod against the top of her head. “Yep. I like him. He has a nice vibe about him.”
Lexi looked up at him through her tears. “Heroic acts?”
“Yeah. Heroic acts.”
“I swear to God, when that creepy-eyed sister of yours shows up—”
“It’s not her fault,” Nidhan said. Lexi glared at him and he added, “Okay, it’s a little bit her fault.”
“I’m gonna make her wish she’d stayed in the Underworld feeding orphan zombies or whatever the fuck she’s doing right now.”
Nidhan laughed softly, and his arms spread wide, leaving Lexi suddenly cold as ice.
“Oy!” his voice boomed, filling the jungle. “Can one of you fine winged-gentlemen take me back up there? There’s no way I’m hiking that on an empty stomach.”
His voice reached the top of the fall, and Lexi smiled at the cheers of Jodha that drowned out Satish’s reply.
“Let’s go home,” Lexi said.
Chapter 28
Jax turned to Kelakha, jerking her chin at the Vampire. “What did he mean, he thrives on souls?”
Kelakha lowered himself onto the ground next to her. “Well, you’ve heard of parasites, right?” She noticed he watched the Vampire with a predatory calm.
“Yeah,” Jax said, trying not to feel offended. “An organism that lives in or on another organism, deriving nutrients for itself at the host’s expense.”
Kelakha frowned at her. “Uh, yeah.”
“So the Vazin live inside creatures and eat their souls?”
“They’re a whole new level of parasite,” Kelakha said. “Able to survive independently of their host, while still extracting sustenance from them.”
Jax took a drink of water. “One might say the same of the human race.”
Kelakha didn’t seem to have heard her as he began sharpening one of his knives. “The Vazin rule here. Like the Bhaksaka we saw back at that… restaurant, the Vazin are humanoid creatures, except their minds are more powerful than even Goblins’, and they’ve got these… tongues that can suck the nutrients right out of you. Plus the whole soul-eating thing. That’s the slower death, reserved for those they allow to serve them. And with that, it’s not so much souls as chi, their victim’s life-force.” Kelakha’s hair fell around his neck, his high ponytail moving in time with the knife, and Jax tried not to stare. “There’s a lot we don’t know about them. They have no interest in leaving this realm, other than one banished royal thousands of years ago. Legend claims they can live forever as long as they feed on other creatures’ will to live.”
“Oh. Like Dementors,” Jax said.
“Huh?” Kelakha met her eyes with an adorably innocent expression.
“From Harry Potter? Forget it, never mind.”
Jax’s eyes went to his mouth and she almost asked if the Vazin kissed creatures to take their chi, but she controlled her impulse with an effort and studied her shoes instead, feeling like an idiot. Her boots were covered in fine, black sand.
Sid finished his conversation with Asha and Aquila, and turned to the group.
“Catch you righteous dudes on the flip side,” he called, raising two fingers. Jax felt the peace sign was extremely out of place given the circumstances, and struggled not to giggle hysterically.
“Jax?” Asha was beside her, and her eerie eyes looked concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” Jax stood, shrugging her pack onto her shoulders and fidgeting with the buckle. “Walk in the park, right?”
Asha placed a hand on her shoulder, and Jax waited for the wonderful sense of healing she’d come to expect from the Seer’s touch, but nothing happened.
Asha must’ve sensed Jax’s disappointment, because she pulled her into a tight embrace, whispering, “There’s nothing for me to kill out here. Only rock and sand.”
“No, that’s fine… I’m fine. Really.”
“Okay.” Nodding once, Asha signaled to the group. “East. Let’s move out.”
Avinash and Kairav were already ahead of them, moving across the wet sand into the crimson light of the Atala sun. Ursala followed, grumbling about his wet clothes, and Jax watched Aquila jog to his side, saying something in Punjabi that made Kelakha laugh and Ursala shout something that merited a rude gesture in return.
Asha moved with quick, determined steps, passing Aquila and Ursala without a glance, quickly gaining on
Avinash and his wife.
“You coming Jax?” Kelakha said, tilting his head toward the poisonous wasteland cheerfully, as if it were an island paradise.
“Yep.” She started forward, half expecting another blast of water to explode out of the ground, but nothing happened.
They walked in silence for ten minutes while Kelakha stubbornly kept pace with her. The sun rose higher above the black horizon, an ember in the bruised sky, a struggling cinder that offered only the tiniest hint of heat, and the silence was only broken by the sound of feet on pulverized and powdered stone.
Jax tried to stay silent, but the question that had been bothering her since the moment Asha chose her over Lexi just seemed to come out of her mouth on its own.
“Why do you think she brought me here, ’Lakha? I mean, I haven’t done anything.”
“Sure you have,” he said. “You helped get us through the city.”
“Oh, please. You could’ve done what I did with your eyes closed,” Jax felt herself blush, and was grateful for the bad light. “And your hands tied behind your back.”
Kelakha grinned down at her, kicking the sand. “Well, okay. Maybe.”
Jax was so surprised by his rare admission of superior skill, that she laughed out loud.
“I’m sure there’s a reason you’re here,” Kelakha added softly, his eyes on the others ahead of them. “Asha wouldn’t have brought you to such a dangerous place for no reason.”
Jax watched Asha as she turned to Avinash, slapping the huge Tvastar on the back. Her movements held a fluid grace that Jax could only dream of, and her perfect curves and long hair would’ve been something Jax envied if she ever bothered to care about that kind of thing. Since meeting Kelakha, she found herself thinking about her appearance for the first time in her life. She could almost hear Lucas laughing at her.
It’s about goddamned time, he would’ve said, smiling in his devastating way. I thought you would never meet a man worthy of your charms.
Jax shook her head. Ridiculous to waste thought on this shallow shit. We could all die any minute, and I’m worried about being a skinny shrimp? Pathetic is the word that comes to mind.
“She seems nice,” Jax said to fill the silence.
“Asha?” Kelakha snorted. “Seems is the word. Asha is kind and generous. And I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with more compassion.”
Jax glanced at him. Kelakha squinted into the scarlet sun and his dark eyes flashed with reflected red. “But?”
“But you do not want to find yourself on the wrong side of her temper.” Kelakha grinned. “In one blink of those glowing eyes, all that kindness and generosity turn into the most dangerous Jodha I have ever seen. If there’s anyone who can break into a demon’s lair, save captured nuns, rescue the savior of the world, and get us all back home alive, it’s Asha.”
Watching Asha, Jax wondered aloud, “Huh. I’ve never even seen her angry.”
“If you’re lucky, maybe you never will.”
Jax was disgusted by the twinge of jealousy she felt at the admiration in Kelakha’s voice, and she quickened her pace.
This realm is affecting my brain. Drooling over a guy who thinks of me as no more than a helpless weakling he’s obligated to protect. Pathetic is not a strong enough word for it.
Jax felt Kelakha’s hand on her shoulder and stopped walking to look up at him.
“Jax?”
His clothes had turned a purplish-red in the struggling light. The color suited him.
“What?”
“Promise me you’ll stay close to her when we get to the palace, okay?”
The idea of being separated from Kelakha sent a jolt of irrational panic through her, and before Jax could stop herself, she said, “Where will you be?”
“Just promise me, okay?”
Jax looked into his onyx eyes and shook her head, but she said, “Okay, I promise.”
† † †
By the time they reached the river, all seven of them were out of breath, the four Jodha still struggling most of all. Jax looked down at the water rushing along the bottom of a gently sloping ravine, steam drifting off of it in inviting clouds. Boulders of black rock lay scattered along its shores as if a giant had run its claws into the earth, gouging out a path for the holy water.
Asha leaned on her knees and squinted up at the red sun, now high in the sky.
“All right,” she panted. “Let’s take the rest of the day to refuel. Sid says there’s more than ten hours until the banquet and we won’t be much good to our Seer if we can’t even breathe.”
“Good call, Commander,” said Ursala cheerfully, wading into the water and floating on his back with a content sigh. “Man, this water feels good.”
“We’ll set up camp here. Stay on this side of the river. Eat, drink as much as you can, and get some rest.” Asha turned to Kelakha, taking off her pack, and made a mysterious hand gesture at him.
Jax crossed her arms and wished Asha would stop ordering Kelakha to help her, wasting his time, even if he did endure it like an overqualified martyr.
Before she could express her displeasure though, Asha had climbed down the ravine to join Avinash and Kairav, who crouched at the river’s edge, tearing open a pouch of food.
Jax looked down at herself and realized she was covered in a fine layer of black dust and needed to use the bathroom.
Kelakha moved along the edge of the sloping rock. “C’mon. Let’s find a place with some privacy—for your tent.” He jumped lightly into the ravine. “That group of boulders over there looks good.”
Within minutes, Kelakha had her tent inflated, using the extremely complicated ‘push a button’ method that proved to Jax that Asha had ordered him to keep an eye on “the civilian” again.
Jax rolled her eyes.
Kelakha. Highest qualified Jodha warrior in written history, and civilian babysitter.
The tent was little more than an inflated pod around a sleeping bag, with barely enough space to stand hunched over in, but the manual Jax had read back at headquarters assured her that it would keep her warm and was equipped with security features to allow its occupant to sleep in peace.
Kelakha surveyed his work and turned to go. “I’ll set up my tent on the other side of those boulders, in case you need anything.”
“Sure.” Jax tried not to show how relieved she felt to know he’d be nearby. “Thanks.”
Kelakha nodded. “The food is like mushy chalk, but you need to eat at least two packets.”
“Yes, sir.” Jax gave Kelakha a mock salute, and he returned it before disappearing behind a jagged rock the size of a truck.
Jax undressed to a tank top and rolled-up pants, and then waded into the river to clean off the filth that clung to her skin. The water felt wonderful, and she resisted the urge to swim, not comfortable with either sleeping in wet clothes or being naked in the Underworld. She contented herself with drinking as much as she could, then settled onto a rock to eat.
Detaching the spoon, Jax scooped water into the powder until it became a thick paste.
It was truly awful, like sweet, herby, sand that had been mixed with ground nuts and soil. Adding more water for the next packet didn’t help even a little. Jax gagged it down, reminding herself of the countless hungry nights she’d spent on the streets of Los Angeles before she had met Lucas, or later, when the two of them had had a particularly bad day.
Things can always be worse.
Although one can hope that surviving on sludgy sand in a freezing hell is as bad as it gets.
“Would you look at that.” Ursala’s voice startled Jax, and she almost dropped her food. “If I didn’t know it was humanly impossible, I would say you actually enjoy eating that shit.”
He lowered himself onto the rock in front of her, wearing only tiny shorts, and opened his own food-packet, smelling it with a dramatic shudder.
Ursala looked surprisingly toned compared to how round he looked in his clothes. She remembered hi
s effortless fighting speed during the graduation exercises and realized Ursala’s rounded, smooth planes of muscle reminded her of a bear more than any kind of human fat.
He noticed her looking and grinned, winking. “Real men have curves, am I right?”
Kelakha melted out of the shadows to slap him in the back of head, then sat on Jax’s other side and opened his own food. “Real men don’t go around ambushing girls in their underwear just to flaunt their abs.”
“They don’t? Are you sure?” Ursala flexed his pecks at Kelakha, then peered into his food-packet as if he expected it to attack. “Holy hell. This Seer better be thankful when we save his ass, that’s all I’m saying.”
Kelakha wore a black T-shirt and rolled-up pants, looking uncharacteristically relaxed. Where Ursala was all rounded edges, Kelakha was all lean, defined muscle under his thin shirt. His wet hair hung into his face in dripping black strands, and Jax quickly averted her eyes before he caught her staring.
Finishing his food in four giant gulps, Kelakha gathered Jax’s empty bags. “Better get some sleep, Jax. Asha is taking first watch, and we move out in five hours.”
Ursala straightened. “Sir, yes sir!” Turning to Jax he flipped his blonde-streaked hair and spoke in what he apparently thought was a feminine voice. “He’s so romantic. Don’t you think he’s romantic? Oh my God! I mean, the way he barks out orders about time, and hours? It’s just so sexy.”
Kelakha said something in Punjabi as he walked away and Ursala choked on his food, coughing, then called, “And so feisty, too! I really like that in a man.”
Jax tried not to smile as she leaned toward the edge of the river to refill her water pouches. When she was finished, Ursala was still trying to gag down his food, looking glum, so she sat with him, dangling her feet over the boulder into the water.
“Why do you think Asha brought me here?”
“Who the hell knows?” He shrugged his round shoulders. “She’s nuts? Ever since she let a recently-possessed Collector loose with a grenade launcher, I’ve questioned her sanity, to be honest.”
“Kelakha says if anyone can rescue this Seer and get us all back safely, it’s her.”