by J Peregrine
I looked past him out through the misty gray ahead and a chill ran down my back. There in the gloom was an archway overgrown with vines that had large thorny branches reaching off it as if to reach out and grab you, and next to it the giant piles of concrete that looked exactly like the head of a dragon its mouth open wide ready to chomp. “Are we going through that?” I asked.
Jake raised his head and saw the archway, his forehead wrinkling, “No, why?” he said, as he kept walking.
“I think one of the stories I heard as a child described this place,” I said, relieved we were at least not going through it.
He nodded. “Fairy tales. Did yours have a fire-breathing dragon?”
“Yes,” I said, a little too brusquely.
He looked back at me briefly. “I’ve never seen it breathe fire but sometimes steam still spills from the dragon’s mouth.”
“My stories had flying monkeys and zombies too,” I said, trying to catch up with him. “Are you sure we’re not going through the archway?” And then I looked over my head and saw them, a swarm of four-legged creatures flying right at us.
I threw myself on the ground to avoid being attacked but the creatures veered off in a new direction.
“They won’t hurt you. They fly in unison to hunt the flying tiger beetles. You should thank them. Tiger beetles will eat everything: your clothes, your food, your hair... nasty creatures,” he said softly, not even noticing my prostrate form still watching the sky.
“Great,” I said softly, looking over my shoulder again as we climbed through the canyon of concrete.
“Be careful,” he said, climbing up through the opening to what was left of a building.
There was only the bottom floor with pillars of broken concrete sticking up from the base. From the size of the pillars and the base it seemed like it would have been a big building with many floors like city buildings in the movies I'd seen, but the rest of the building wasn't there. We crossed to the other side of the building and down through more broken concrete. As I got to the edge and was about to follow Jake down into the rubble I looked out across the emptiness when I saw movement a little ways ahead and to the left of us. "Jake, there are runners coming towards us," I said, suddenly nervous.
He turned and looked back at me and then climbed up again, squeezing in next me to see. "Where?" he whispered, his lips brushed against my cheek as he scanned the rubble.
I pointed ahead and to the left of us, as his eyes following my hand. He watched them for a moment and then turned into me. I started to ask about them, but he put his hand to my mouth, his face tense as he pushed me down the path. He followed me quickly but silently to the ground and then moved forward and immediately to our right.
We moved at a dangerous speed for the terrain, always forward and then right or left depending on nothing I could discern. I assumed we were moving away from the travelers. Finally, we slowed, and he climbed the rubble next to us. He had tied a gray rag to his head and he carefully edged his head above the rock to see.
He froze there for a few minutes watching and then slid down again slowly and jumped to the ground. Pushing me forward, we moved quickly until we found a hole large enough for us both to squat in. I sat with my back against the concrete and he sat in front of me looking out. I listened so hard my head hurt. I didn't hear much and the things I did hear I couldn't identify. Jake however seemed to understand sounds of the scattering of rock and shift of wind. Finally, I wasn't sure whether there was actual total silence or if my ears had merely gone numb from trying so hard, but Jake seemed to relax as well. We didn't move from our hideout, but he leaned his back against my legs. We stayed there waiting and listening for silence.
When we started off again, we traveled a long while in silence through the rubble and the remnants of the old buildings. We came upon another archway, this one was broken and made me think it might have been the entrance to a grand building or train station. Jake jumped down, so I moved quickly forward to see where he had gone. He had landed at the bottom of a crack between two massive pieces of stone, and then squeezed through an opening and out of sight.
He returned momentarily and looked up at me. “My people are below ground,” he said, and tipped his head towards the crack.
“Ok,” I said, and jumped down to follow him. I wasn’t about to stay out where flying rabid monkeys hunted in packs, at least those wouldn't be below ground. As I squeezed through the opening, I saw him cross a large open space in front of us. It was dark and cool down here and my eyes needed a minute to adjust to the lack of light. I could see his silhouette as he turned to face me, then he spread his legs wide apart and raised his arms to the side.
“What are you doing?”
He looked at me perplexed. “Haven’t you been cleaned before?”
Looking around the room I couldn’t see anything, but I heard something. “What is that sound?” I said, as I backed into him looking for the source of the rustling. He pushed me away but grabbed hold of my hand as I spun to face him. “What is that sound?”
“It’s all right,” he said, smiling, holding onto my hand and pulling my arm up and out with his.
I realized he was amused at my fear, so I pierced his smile with my eyes. "What is it?"
“Stand still and don’t move, you don’t want to step on them or squash them. The smell is awful and they’re here to clean us.”
I glared at him. The sound was especially unnerving in the dark, but I was afraid if I did see what was coming, I might run and I refused to run, not after all this. I needed him. I didn’t look down, but I could hear them getting closer.
“It’ll be fine. You don’t seem like the squeamish type, but I have seen people freak out...”
“Great! What kind of cleaning are we talking about?!” I was freaking out now and starting to hyperventilate.
“Calm down, you’ll be fine. We can’t go on until they’re done.” He grabbed my other hand and kicked my feet into a wide stance then pushed both arms up so they were straight out. “Just don’t move and close your eyes...”
I yanked one of my hands away from his and grabbed his throat “What’s crawling over my shoes?!” I said, as my voice raised in pitch and my eyes bored into his for answers.
“Trust me,” he said. "It's fine. Just breathe." as he pulled my fingers from his throat. “You’ll want to close your eyes though.”
I could have killed him for the look on his face given the terror racing through me.
He took hold of both of my hands one more time and raised them parallel the ground as he leaned forward. “Close your eyes,” he whispered with a wry look on his face.
“I hate you,” I said, squinting hard at his smirking face.
Then he kissed me.
At once the things crawling across my shoes and moving along my legs and then through my hair vanished from my thoughts. I forgot about Dog and Grandfather. I even forgot about my father and the notebook. The only thing that existed was this kiss.
Chapter 23
My mind went blank and I felt unable to hold myself upright, but he kept my hands where they were, not letting me sink and letting only the ends of our fingers touch. In a distant part of my brain, I knew the bugs were moving across my skin, but I no longer cared.
My heart beat fast and my breathing accelerated as his kiss fueled the desire for more. For a moment it felt like my body left the ground and floated above me watching, and then I saw him let go of my hands and touch my face, and then pull away.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he said, as he stepped back, and looked at me.
Was the look mocking or questioning? I wasn’t sure. What was I supposed to do? My arms still hung in mid-air, so I forced them down and to my side and tried to pull my thoughts into some kind of order. What had just happened? He said nothing else. Was I supposed to say something? Was I supposed to thank him? That seemed weird so I decided to stick to something safe. “Were... those beetles?” I was too embarrassed to look at hi
m, so I surveyed my hands, and then the ground.
“They’re cleaner beetles. They’ll eat anything: fleas, lice, ticks, dead skin, dirt, anything that shouldn’t be on a body they clean off. It’s a symbiotic relationship. We need them to eat all that and they need to eat it to survive.”
I sighed, nodding my head. “Win, win.” I expected my body to feel itchy or crawly considering there had just been about a million tiny creatures snacking on my dead epidermis and whatever else I didn’t want to think about, but I didn’t feel gross at all. I even had to check to see if my pack was on my back since I couldn’t feel it.
“Yep.” he continued down the tunnel as if nothing had happened. About 50 meters down the tunnel he stopped in front of an opening about halfway up the tunnel wall and jumped up, getting a grip with his arms and then pulling himself up into the entrance.
“Do you want help?” he shouted since I hadn’t moved.
I paused. I couldn’t decide whether I should be annoyed but I was definitely confused. He was standing in the opening waiting, so I followed. When I got there, he reached his arm down to grab me.
Not to be outdone, I gave him a look of disdain, tossed up my pack and jumped. Even though it was a struggle to make it look like it was no big deal for me to pull myself up I wasn’t about to ask for help from someone who thought it was okay to just kiss someone he didn’t know without permission and then not even acknowledge that he’d done anything. But my attitude seemed to be completely lost on him since he was already heading down the tunnel without waiting to see if I made it.
After I caught up, I cleared my throat trying not to seem too interested in his answer, but I had to say something. “So question, do you kiss every girl you take through the cleaner beetles?”
“No,” he said. Turning around, walking backwards he smiled at me again. “You’re the first.” Then he gave me an odd look with raised eyebrows and turned away from me still smiling.
This tunnel was smaller than the first one we had entered and got darker the farther in we moved. A sound from up ahead made its way slowly into my consciousness. By the time I wanted to ask what it was, the wind blowing down the tunnel made my words come back on me, so I hurried to catch up to him again. I could finally see that we were coming to an open area and as I came alongside him, he quickly threw out his arm catching me right in the stomach. “Hey,” I yelled as I grabbed his arm and then saw that there was no more ground in front of us.
From where we stood, you could look out over a huge open cavern. The gray-blue rock was smooth and glistened near the waterfall to our left which fell into a pool below. There were torches lighting the huge cave and I could see people, lots of them. I think my mouth must have dropped open. They were in groups, either busy at some kind of task, or chatting with one another. I was stunned and elated, and my heart skipped in my chest. The number of people frightened me a little. What if they were...I don't know, what if they didn't want me here, and what would I do or say to so many?
As we stood there watching a shout echoed through the cavern as a child broke free from one of the groups and ran across the cavern to the area below us. Jake smiled the first genuine smile I had seen from him and then moved along the wall to our right onto steps that were barely visible.
I watched him and then not wanting to be left alone, I followed him. I realized these were not so much stairs as small pieces of pathway that were cut into the rock face, they were just wide enough to make it feel “safe” and close enough together to call them stairs and they enabled us to make our way down to the cavern floor without learning to fly. I could see the child below and in front of us as she jumped from one set of steps to another making her way up to us.
When she got to the same step as Jake, she strangled his middle as she hugged him and then jumped up and down in place in front of him pelting him with questions all in a row, “Jaykey, where have you been? V been worried, and I didn’t know where you was. I was worried an-i-buls got you and ate your brains or somethin.’ Come on, we got to hurry, V gonna be crazy,” she said, as she grabbed up one of his hands. Suddenly spying me, she paused and looked around his legs to get a better view of me standing on the step behind him. She gave me the hint of a smile and looked up at Jake. Then she turned and pulled Jake forward with her as they went in front of me down the steps to the ground.
Chapter 24
I had never seen a child in real-life before, she looked very much like a small person. First, I wondered whether she was just a fluke of nature but decided from her talk and actions that she must be a child. I was entranced, I would have paused to stare at her, but they were already well ahead of me, so I hurried to catch up. When I reached the ground, they were waiting for me and the girl reached out to touch my hand looking up at me. Her hands were so soft. She had the most gorgeous brown eyes I had ever seen. Without warning, she disappeared through the crowd.
People seemed to manifest from every corner. I watched as they came forward and greeted Jake one after the other with warmth and something that I could have sworn was sympathy. As they greeted him, they considered me and even smiled, but said, nothing. I was mesmerized by the uniqueness of the people, each one was different, their eyes and faces, their hair and body types and colors. Their clothes were a crazy mix too of colors and textures and styles. I decided they must have some talented people to have such a variety.
Then the little girl was back, and grabbing Jake's hand she said, “Come.” and motioned me to follow. She pulled Jake away from the crowd and across the cavern to a crack of an opening where the rock had split upwards revealing another smaller cave within the rock.
This cave was more dimly lit but it smelled nice, like a forest, all rosemary and pine. As we paused in the doorway, I drank in the aroma. I noticed there were large cushioned chairs in this cave along with rugs on the floor and colorful weavings on the walls. It was homey and inviting.
“Come,” said the child again. I realized then that I had stopped, but they waited for me now. The girl motioned to me and I moved forward to catch up.
We went down another dark, narrow passage and as we did, the smell of something baking made my stomach rumble.
When we got to the end of the hallway, a woman stepped out of a doorway. “Jake?” she said.
She was a slight, fit-looking woman with long, curly, black-gold hair, and as we got to her, she reached out her hands to Jake. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Even in all the movies I had ever watched I had never seen anyone like her. Of course, she was real, so perhaps that helped, and she had the most extraordinary energy about her. She fairly glowed from within. I was taken aback.
“Thank the stars,” she said, and then as her gaze shifted to my face and she paused, looking at me as if seeing me surprised her in some way. The look on her face sent chills up my back.
“It’s all right,” Jake said. “She’s an orphan.”
“Yes,” she whispered, "of course." Then she smiled sadly at him and at me and taking one of my hands she said, “My name is V.” I watched her as her sad eyes took in the whole of me in a single draught.
“My name is Elzbeth,” I croaked as I continued to watch her, but she merely nodded, and her gaze shifted as if she were looking through me.
The little girl was suddenly back, pulling on a corner of her skirt. V leaned over and listened as the child whispered something to her and V whispered back. Then, the child came to me and in a very earnest voice she said, “May I show you our ovens?”
For the briefest of moments, the story of Hansel and Gretel tickled my brain and I thought to myself that that’s what comes from being chased by cannibals. But I nodded to the child. “Please,” I said, and followed her, hoping my morose thought was unwarranted. I had never been around any other children, yet here I was, and she was the perfect replica of a miniature adult. The thing that amazed me most were her small, soft hands, followed by her small and delicate mouth. She was small and delicate but as she pulled me along
, I realized she was also very strong for such a little thing. I looked back for Jake and saw that he was standing with V, talking quietly.
The room the child led me to was indeed a kitchen. We stood in the entrance. It was long and narrow with hardly enough room to pass. There was a young woman at the other end wearing a top, sandals, and blousy pants that were slit down the sides showing tattoos down her leg. Her hair was a gold-black like V’s and was tied and knotted at the back of her head, but tendrils of hair had come loose and had fallen down her neck. Then I saw that she was holding a large wooden paddle and was wearing what looked like giant mittens, pulling the paddle in and out of a hole in the cave wall. As I watched her work, I saw that there were two other women also making food and none of them seemed to be bothered by the closeness of the quarters or the heat. They had all looked up at us as we entered and smiled but continued their work. I noticed too that the girl working the paddle had both her arms covered in tattoos, but her left arm was half the size of her right.
“It’s a stone oven,” said the child. “We bake bread and other good things” She smiled up at me and watched the women with anticipation.
“When we first moved to the caves one of the women found this place,” said Jake when he joined us. “She had read of stone ovens in the old books. Smoke exits through the crack in the cave, there,” he pointed upwards. "It makes a perfect place for an oven, don't you think?" He smiled at the women. "They carried clay up from the valley and built the oven inside the crack, that way they can make bread and all kinds of amazing things. It’s an art really.”
My mouth watered as the food was dished out and she handed us plates filled with an interesting variety of things that all looked highly edible and I would have eaten right there if Jake hadn’t nudged me as he turned and went toward the door. I followed hoping it wasn’t far or I might faint from hunger. He went out the door into the hallway and then turned into a side room.