Turn around and walk.
Sweat beaded on Ren’s upper lip. Her legs became shaky as she tried to ignore the command—to ignore the power surging through her, suggesting that she turn around. Suggesting that she leave Kato, he’ll be fine on his own.
What was she thinking?! She couldn’t leave him. But as she turned, something ceaselessly whispered that if she doesn’t find the Heart, he might never wake up. Ren walked toward Maka and he sidestepped her, settling his gaze on Ekanna and Chi Chi.
“Lead us to the Heart.” He commanded.
There was no arguing, no words passed around. Going ramrod straight, Chi Chi jogged to overtake Ren and lead the group.
How fucked up is this?
The Lower City flashed by in a blur of white marble and sooty ground. Entering the pitched black tunnels, blue light pulsed to life alongside the walls as pebbles broke from the ceiling and rained down, pelting Ren on the crown of her head.
Let me take over, Nakato demanded, pure glee painting her voice, I can break the spell. He may be the Sonant, but he is a weak one. Even compared to you.
Ren chewed at her bottom lip, limbs shaking as she tried to take her own body back from whatever spell Maka had placed over her. Out of the four Vost Shapers, one had the power of Voice. So, Ren was pretty sure Maka was one of the twelve Moira needed before Ren descended into her Heart. Ren wanted to scream at him that this was useless. Moira begged for all twelve of her Scions, Shapers, and Godcallers. Not just…two? Four? Chi Chi mentioned that Ekanna was the Creation Shaper, but Ren couldn’t be too sure about these damned people. What if Ekanna’s power was just…some sort of freaky-ass magic?
More pebbles rained down. Ren felt the hold on her limbs lessening as the ground beneath her feet shivered.
“We have to go back.” Ren threw over her shoulder. “I’ve spoken to the goddess, alright? And she told me that she needed twelve people. Not four.”
Ren gritted her teeth, waiting for a response. Feeling the chill of cold air wafting up from the blue tinged tunnel whisper across her skin. There was no response. She didn’t bother to turn as the magic lifted completely from her.
Ren balled up her fists and stood her ground. Ekanna smacked into her. “This is fucking pointless.”
A sigh. “Walk.”
Digging her heels into the ground, she ignored the magical command. “I know a thing or two about not following fucking instructions—”
“Walk.” He gutted out.
Chi Chi froze, crouched. Splayed her arms out to either side of her and grasped the side of the tunnel as everything went pitched black.
Rock slammed against rock, massive tectonic plates shifted against each other in an ear-splitting groan that rocked the entire tunnel. Blue light flashed into existence, Chi Chi’s silhouette barreling toward Ren before a heavy blackness prevailed. The quake threw them off their feet, bodies hitting dirt and stone. Blankets of darkness blinding them. Ren’s palms scraped against a serrated rock face. She heaved herself to her knees and rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding a boulder that slammed into the floor beside her.
A hand gripped her forearm, nails biting. “Run straight and take the first divide. It will lead you back.”
Blue light tainted the ridges of Chi Chi’s face. Yanking Ren up, she threw her forward as the tunnel rocked and bucked. Pitched blackness came again as Ren wandered forward, arm pressed against the side of the tunnel. Light came again and she jumped backward, an explosion of air blasting up before a massive boulder took its place, blocking her path. She turned, held tight to the wall, flattening herself against it as the world seemed to come apart at the seams. When light flashed, she saw a silhouette crumpled only ten feet away. A sharp rain of pebbles scratched her skin and scalp, forcing her to narrow her eyes to avoid the blackened haze that came with it. If Ren kept going, she knew she’d hit the Lower City. The only question was, when?
She made it to the silhouette and shook its shoulder, leaning over to keep her balance as the ground rippled beneath her. The groaning of the ground had passed, but the ceiling and walls still thundered and fought, the entire world heaving as it trembled from the aftershocks.
Electric blue light lit up a face. Maka’s. Ren recoiled, snapping back. It was his fault they were in this predicament in the first place, but could she really blame him? He wouldn’t have been able to foresee an earthquake, though Ren had a feeling who could.
Overhead, a bolder three times his size shivered, readying to drop. With a hissing groan, Ren yanked him toward herself just as the bolder dipped, dropping right into his spot. More followed it, an avalanche of obsidian rock. Ren’s breath caught in her throat as the avalanche became a wall, settling in. Closing them inside.
17
You should have run when you had the chance.
She shut her eyes tight, pressing her lips together. Ren seriously wished Nakato wouldn’t.
Of all the people Moira chose to succeed me, why did it have to be you?
Sliding her fingertips along the crevices of the newly made rock wall, Ren envisioned the black energy and pulled from it. Her fingertips lit up, fire sliced through the cracks between boulders and pockets of sediment. When she breathed more into the fire, it simply smoked. White haze chugged through her nostrils, choking her. Making her cough.
Ren sagged against the wall, the flame on her fingertips dying. They were stuck between a rock and…well, another rock. The makeshift cave the earthquake had created was small. Tiny. To her left, Maka started. Coughing himself awake before sticking his gaze to the right and left. He dropped his forehead to his knees.
“Yeah,” Ren hissed, “we’re stuck and I blame you.”
The gaze he pinned on her was cutting. “I could tell you to walk,” and he pointed at the wall across from him, “right into that. Over and over.”
Ren sneered. Thought about saying, try it, but the look on his face told her that he’d definitely try it. Again and again.
Let me in, Nakato pleaded, I can save you, Renata. I can save the both of you.
Ren shook her head. “How about, no?” she crossed her arms. “Last time I let you take over, seemed like you weren’t going to give…me back.”
Maka raised an eyebrow. “Are all Outsiders…” and he tapped at his head, knocking his knuckles against the side of it.
“Stupid? Insane? Unhinged?” Ren pressed her lips together, then did a double take. “How did you know?”
“It’s obvious.” He spat. “Outsiders speak the English.”
Ren scooted away from him, depositing herself in a corner. Blue light beat along the black wall, drowning them in darkness once it dissipated. “Let me guess. You’re from the outside too?”
He rolled his eyes away from her. “Have you tried the fire?” he asked, staring at the makeshift wall to his left. “You could burn through—”
“Yup.” Ren pursed her lips. “Why don’t you fucking tell it to move, huh?”
His gaze pierced her, stabbing through her chest. A sneer twisted his face. “That’s stupid.”
“That’s the point!” her voice rose an octave and she fought to bring it down. Her heart beat a fast-paced symphony in her chest, rattling against her ribcage. Thoughts of Kato trumpeted through her mind, lost in a cavalcade of black tinged worry and regret. Moira told her to go into her Heart after she’d gotten the twelve. The four Scions from the Mesh, the four Shapers from the Vost, and the four Godcallers from Sitras. She didn’t even have a fraction of what the goddess ordered her to have. What would happen if they got to the Heart and Ren didn’t have everything situated? Would Moira…smite her? Take her power away and let the island—and the earth—fall into ruin? The goddess hadn’t talked to her for days now, perhaps it was time to commune with her again?
Last time, the goddess had given her a hard no. All she had asked for was help. Would the goddess help now?
No, stupid girl. Nakato growled. She helps when it is advantageous to her. Moira is not as all-powerful as y
ou believe, Outsider.
“But she’s a goddess.” Ren cringed as Maka’s gaze fell on her again. She really needed to stop speaking to Nakato out loud.
A goddess of what? A rock, correct? What is Earth but a dangling rock suspended in a vast ocean of black?
Well, that made no damned sense.
Just—forget what I said. Let me out, Renata. I can move the walls for you.
There was no way in hell Ren was trusting Nakato again.
Then, you will die.
“This is your fault,” Ren said, glaring at Maka. “If you had just waited—”
“The Paragon has no patience. No time to wait—”
“I never said anything about miss-pillar-of-fucking-light. I said, you! This is your fault!”
Maka turned his torso toward her, hands on one of his knees. “There are things at work that are infinitely more important than the desires of a selfish little girl.”
Little girl? Ren stood, hands balled into fists. “I am not a little girl. I am not selfish. You don’t know what I’ve given up to get here.”
“I don’t care.” He rumbled, turning away. Staring at the wall as the light fizzled out, he hissed, “We all must give up pieces of ourselves for the greater good.”
“Take it back.”
He huffed. “No.”
Fire burned behind her eyes. The blue light came again, and steam rolled from the top of her head as she watched Maka’s sharp eyes close. He has no right. No fucking right.
“I gave up a life beyond all of this mess to protect this damned place—and you have the nerve to call me selfish?”
“Your concern is driven by guilt.” He deadpanned. “It is written clearly on your face. It is obvious that you have had a hand in the destruction of this place. You are only helping because you believe it will wash away whatever evil you’ve wrought.” He set his eyes on her. “You are wrong.”
That hit her like a spear to the gut.
He knows…something about you. Or, perhaps he is very good at reading your blatant body language. Steel yourself.
She couldn’t. It took guts to show a person their fears. Guts, or a serious reason to avert attention away from themselves. Away from true motives.
Ren let her fire die. “Why are you here?”
It was Maka’s turn to feel shock. His eyes twitched, his jaw trembled as he forced it to stay closed. “The Paragon told you. There is something wrong with the Heart.”
Ren smirked. “Uh-uh. You’re not talking your way around this. Why are you really here, Maka?”
Maka opened his eyes, stood to his full height and faced her. “What makes you think that I would tell you?”
The sediment to Ren’s right exploded. Both flinched, backing away as a hole wove through the rock, a black liquid spilling through it. The entire wall shuddered as the black liquid began to flood the space, dribbling over their feet and lifting up to their ankles. The substance was slimy, licking Ren’s skin like the sucking tentacles of an octopus.
The wall groaned beneath the weight of the liquid. Crumbling beneath it, a slimy wave crashed over the crumbled wall, submerging them. Ren fought to the wavering surface of the liquid, breaching the top, she sucked in air and pressed her cheek against the ceiling of the tunnel.
Her air pocket was shrinking fast.
18
Electric blue light pierced through the inky liquid in lined bursts as Ren sank to the bottom, bubbles of air spiraling around her descent. Something yanked at her, tugged her through the hole in the rock wall, the liquid escaping with her. Scraping her cheek along the ground, the liquid slid over her head and disappeared. Coughing and sputtering, Ren tasted salt and copper as she spat the nasty black stuff from her mouth, combing it off her tongue with her blackened fingers.
Soft hands graced her shoulders. “Can you stand?”
Chi Chi stood behind her, hefting her up slowly. “I apologize. Ekanna can be a bit…dramatic.”
Ren rounded on her, snapping her eyes to the little girl. “She caused that?”
“The surge of ink?” Chi Chi nodded. “Creation Shapers can create an infinite amount of things.”
Ren pressed her lips together. “Then why not shield us from the damned rocks during that earthquake?”
With a bored expression thrown across her face, Ekanna met Ren’s eyes. “I’m not a goddess.”
“I never said—” Ren facepalmed.
“The Heart.” Maka coughed, “Lead us—” something smacked across his face. Ren turned to see black ink smothering his mouth.
“Tired of you,” Ekanna grunted. “We’re going home,” she said, eyes moving to Chi Chi’s face. With a smile, Chi Chi nodded.
They moved through the tunnel slowly, the group following Ekanna as she took the first right. Darkness pulsed through the tunnel, enshrouding them all and forcing Ekanna to slow her pace. Light raced across Ren’s vision just in time for her to see Ekanna and Chi Chi slip into a side corridor. Ren followed, gaze going over her shoulder to check on Maka. With his eyebrows furrowed, he clung close to her. Following for the sake of it. Joining Ekanna and Chi Chi in the adjacent corridor, Chi Chi hissed for silence. When the light came again, Ren saw that both women were flattened against the black walls. Ren and Maka followed suit.
Talons. They scuffed up the corridor. The skittering followed by wheezing breath and lurching steps. Ren counted three silhouettes, moving like puppets with their strings cut. Bird Skull, Cat Skull, and Bull Skull stumbled up the corridor together, disappearing with a flash of electric blue light.
“Be careful.” Chi Chi warned. “We are in their territory now.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa, “So, we’re not going back to the Lower City?”
“We’re taking the way of…least resistance.” Chi Chi said, forcing a small smile. “The way that we normally take was—”
“It’s gone.” Ekanna snapped. “So you can either trust us, or get lost and die in this maze. It’s up to you.”
“Why not just create a new way?” Ren threw back. “You destroyed that rock wall pretty easily.”
“My power is not inexhaustible.” Ekanna said. “Follow, or not. At this point—I don’t care anymore.”
The inky black around Maka’s mouth fell away. “You’re lost.” He said pointedly. “You don’t know where you’re going because the quake made a new maze.”
He had a knack for pulling away facades to reveal the truth. Ekanna bristled, her face going beet red.
“Stop.” Chi Chi said. “We are in Nephilim territory. Let’s work together to get through this, and then you two can settle your differences!”
“I’m with her,” Ren said, stepping between the two. “Those spirits are something else.”
Ekanna turned on her heel and trudged forward. Maka’s shoulders relaxed. For now, they’d work together. But once they got through the Nephilim, Ren was sure the group would fall apart.
How candid. A group of unruly misfits. This simply defines your life, doesn’t it, Ren?
It was Ren’s turn to bristle. People like Nakato didn’t call her that. They weren’t fucking allowed to.
About to turn her ire on Nakato’s disembodied voice, Ren’s voice died the moment they entered a sprawling cavern, its wide mouth yawning with a maw full of sharp, hanging, stalactites. It was like a roughly hewn chamber of obsidian with a dizzying cathedral ceiling. If it weren’t for Maka’s rough hand wrapping around her wrist and yanking her down behind a middling rock wall, she would have walked straight into a depressed pit of fire.
And a horde of Nephilim.
There were hundreds of them ambling about. But not with their typical I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-life ambling, but with purpose. A human-like purpose. Mismatched tents decorated the ground, along with two other campfires, smoke wafting up to the ceiling. Nephilim with deer’s antlers, skulls in the shapes of a plethora of marine life, and a host of other animals; milled about. Some walked through the camp, trinkets in hand, while others cajoled
around campfires. It seemed like some were…speaking to each other.
Ren tried to turn around. “I’m going to find another way back.”
“Listen!” Maka hissed into her ear. “Don’t you know what happens to people who ignore Moira’s decrees?”
Ren set her glare on him. “What—” she shook her head, “You know what? Don’t care. I’m going back.”
“Don’t move,” Ekanna said through gritted teeth. “Can you count?”
“What she means is,” Chi Chi smiled over Ekanna’s head, fingers digging into the black rock before her, “there are a lot of Nephilim around us and—”
“I’m not stupid.”
Ekanna shot her a bemused glare that said, right.
Nakato brimmed with laughter, rolling on her back in Ren’s head at this point. Ren’s jaw flexed.
“What do we do?” Ren asked.
“Through here is a three pronged passageway that might lead us back.” Chi Chi said, voice wavering, “We’ve taken the way before but…”
“These guys weren’t here before,” Ekanna grumbled.
It was just Ren’s luck. She knocked her forehead against the rock. “What now? Do we sneak past?”
Chi Chi sighed and shook her head. “Nephilim cannot see in the light, so it is our best bet.”
“And in the dark?” Ren cringed at the answer she knew she’d get.
“Their vision is better than ours.”
Awesome.
They’d have to move with the light. Cool. Ren could totally do that. She steeled herself—anything to see Kato again. Anything to make sure he was still breathing. Still alive. Could the earthquake have taken him from her?
Only time would tell.
When the light came, they sprang from their position behind the low wall and vaulted for the closest wall to their left. With darkness came the lurching steps and wheezing. Ren flattened herself against the wall, fingers splayed, as the hot stench of decay shifted along her collarbone.
Light. Move.
Darkness. Freeze. Hold your breath.
Wild Hunt (The Island Book 2) Page 7