Which wasn’t a good thing.
The boat lurched from side to side. The rapids were gaining speed.
“Get below, fast!” cried Jicho. “The boat’s ready to dive.” A series of slams sounded as Jicho and Mrefu crawled into their hiding spaces.
A soft knock sounded above me. “Elea?”
“Nan? What are you doing? Get below deck.”
“Not until I tell you something. I figure we might not live through this, and so I’ve got to have my say.”
I knew Nan well enough to know there was no talking her out of this. “Go on.”
“In that battle with Viktor, the one where you raised all those Necromancers? Well, you raised me too. Afterwards, I got another Necromancer to cast a spell and hide the marks. I did it so I could escape Petra. She had agents out who were rounding up anyone with the skull imprint. So, that’s why I’m staying with you through this until the end. I owe you my life. And Mrefu owes me his, so you’re stuck with both of us.”
I rested my palm against the door above my head. My eyes brimmed with tears. “Thank you, Nan.”
“Water’s coming over the deck. Must dash.” With that, I heard the fast beat of her footsteps overhead, followed by another slam as Nan slipped inside her own hiding compartment.
“Get ready!” Jicho’s muffled voice sounded from under the metal. “We’re almost there!”
Curling up my body into a ball, I wrapped my arms around my head. Hisses sounded as the vessel sealed the compartment to become water-tight around me. I curled up into a ball, my arms wrapped around my knees. Perfect darkness descended into my small space.
Please, let Jicho be right.
The MAJE tilted on its axis. My stomach seemed to hit the roof of my mouth as we plummeted downward. For a moment, I had the illusion of being weightless. After that, my compartment shook as the boat hit the water. We’d fallen.
Chapter Twenty-One
After the MAJE hit the water, the ship dove downward. A great groan of metal filled the air. My ears popped from the growing pressure. The ship jolted from side to side, throwing me against one metal wall after another.
Then, stillness.
A low hum sounded. Based on what Jicho said, that must be some kind of propulsion system that was moving us through the water. I leaned back against the metal wall and exhaled.
We’d made it this far.
After that, the vessel tilted upward. We were heading back toward the surface once more. Jicho’s automatic pilot certainly worked. Even so, other parts of the ship didn’t fare as well. Water seeped in through the seams in my small chamber. Once we reached air, the hatch above me popped open. I scrambled out and scanned the deck of the ship. Jicho, Nan, and Mrefu were all crawling out of their respective hiding places.
Safe. We’d all made it.
Rising to stand, I scanned our surroundings. The river here was faster as it cut through heavier jungle. Vines and trees arched over the water, allowing only a thin glimpse of sky through the green.
Morning again. One day left.
The MAJE was afloat and coasting along with the current. Other than that, the boat was a smashed-up mess. The top “fin” had been torn off. Its sleek cylinder engine was now a crushed up hulk. And the shark appearance of the vessel was completely gone. The thing more resembled a crumpled-up wad of metal parchment.
Still, we were all alive.
I carefully inspected the river behind us. No sign of Rowan, either. In my mind, I knew that was a good thing. My heart, however, ached to see him once more and console him. The look of despair and grief on his face as we sped away? It was something I’d carry with me forever.
Jicho’s small hand wrapped around my own. “Are you all right?”
I knelt so I could face the child directly. “I am fine. You did a great job helping us escape.”
Jicho’s big green eyes widened with sympathy. “He’ll remember you again, Elea. You’re his mate.”
I wrapped the boy in a too-tight hug before realizing that Nan and Mrefu were staring. At this point, I either needed to explain the history with Rowan or move onto other topics. Fortunately, there are other subjects that I desperately want to discuss.
I stepped back from Jicho and tried to regain my composure. “How far until we reach the place where the Sword’s blade is hidden?”
Jicho’s mouth fell open. “You have the hilt?”
I patted my pocket. “I do.”
“The blade isn’t far now,” said Nan.
“That’s right,” added Jicho. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I saw it in a vision, really.”
“That’s great, Jicho.” I tilted my head and scanned everyone carefully. There was something going on here that I was missing.
As if on cue, Nan and Mrefu exchanged a knowing look.
I leaned back to sit on the deck. “Seems like we have some time now. How about someone tell me where this Sword is and what to expect? I get the feeling like you all know.”
“I’ve been to this place before,” said Nan. “It was pretty rough.”
“She was tested,” added Mrefu.
“Tested how? Battle testing?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Nan plunked done on to the deck and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Wish I could.”
Deciding to try another tactic, I focused on Jicho. “Have you had any visions lately?”
“A few.”
“Do you know if we’ll see Rowan and the Casters again before we reach the hiding place of the blade?”
Jicho paused. “No, we won’t. He’s with the Lady now.”
“The Lady of Creation?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Is she hurting him?”
“She’s giving him a choice.”
“And what is that choice, exactly?”
Jicho looked up from his controls. “I can’t tell you that, Elea.” His normally happy face was the definition of miserable. “I’m sorry. It’s how things work when you’re a Seer. You can’t tell everything you want to.” His bottom lip wobbled. “All I can say is that we’re going to a temple, and that Rowan loves you. Let him help you.”
Guilt pressed in around me, tight as a vise. Sweet Jicho. He was being so brave in a terrible situation. I shouldn’t keep pushing. I scanned the ship, seeing how Nan and Mrefu had begun opening the remaining container spaces. Most were damaged and empty, but others still held supplies. Whenever they found some food or equipment, they set it on deck.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll just help Nan and Mrefu for a while.”
Rolling up my sleeves, I began assisting my friends in his work. If nothing else, I knew that I wouldn’t see Rowan again until we reached the temple. That had to count for something.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mrefu and I organized what remained of the MAJE’s supplies. As the hours passed, different animal noises echoed through the jungle, so I suspected that daylight had given way to nighttime.
In other words, one day remained before the Martyr’s Comet disappeared.
A thick nest of vines, ferns, and trees blotted out all but the occasional view of the sky. In fact, most of the time I couldn’t stand up without my hair catching on a branch or fern. I ended up sitting on deck, my legs pulled against my chest, feeling lonely and miserable. No one spoke, and the silence became its own kind of cacophony.
In this way, we all passed through another night. It was still dark out when Jicho broke the quiet. “We’re close.”
I shifted to peep over the edge of the vessel. Sure enough, the jungle outside the boat was changing. Along the shoreline, random clumps of vines now took on a more linear edge. All that natural greenery was covering up something made by humans. Over the past hours, I was starting to suspect that Nan and Mrefu at least knew the name of the temple, but had promised Jicho not to tell me. I decided to test out that theory now.
“That’s a wall,” I said. “We must be getting closer to the temple of—"
I waited for someone to complete
the phrase, but Jicho, Nan, and Mrefu merely exchanged sad glances.
That had been happening more and more lately.
I straightened my shoulders. So what did it matter if an awful fate awaited me? I’d faced down my share of evil, and the best approach was simply to get it over with. I turned to my shipmates.
“What’s the fastest way to the temple?” I asked.
No one answered.
I shifted my gaze between Nan and Mrefu. “Come on. I know you both are aware of this place somehow.”
“It’s a sacred spot to the Zaidi,” said Mrefu. “I brought Nan here soon after I owed her my life. It’s where she was tested.”
“Up ahead, there’s a place where we can tie up,” said Nan. “After that, the temple is a short walk away.”
Nan was talking again, so I decided to push for more information. I was nothing if not persistent. “What was your testing like?”
Nan couldn’t meet my gaze. “Not easy.” She exhaled a long breath. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”
Along the riverside, the ferns and vines receded, revealing a low wall made of brown stone. Heavy loops of bronze had been hammered into the rock, creating many places for vessels to tie up. At one point, this must have been a busy spot. However, those days were long gone. Based on all the overgrowth blocking the river, no one had been here for ages.
Jicho secured the vessel to the pier with loops of heavy rope. From the corner of my eye, I saw a face in the recesses of the jungle. My body froze with excitement.
It was Rowan.
And nothing less than a miracle was taking place, because Rowan was looking right at me while smiling his lopsided grin. My souls felt so light it was as if I could soar to the clouds.
On reflex, I leapt off the boat and onto the muddy shore. Some small part of me thought it was strange that Nan, Jicho, and Mrefu didn’t comment about my running off. In fact, they didn’t even seem surprised that Rowan was here. My three shipmates simply watched me leave, despair dimming their eyes.
I couldn’t find it in myself to care.
“Listen, Elea—” Jicho started to call to me, but Nan shushed him. Normally, I’d stop and ask Jicho what he meant. However this situation was anything but normal. At long last, my mate had recognized me again. Had the Lady returned his memory? A girl could hope.
Still smiling, Rowan waved me toward him. Then he paused, turned, and ran off into the jungle. My mate hadn’t said anything, but the message was clear all the same.
I love you, Elea.
Come follow me.
I took off into the darkened jungle at a run.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I rushed off into the jungle. Long branches tugged at my robes, pulling me backward. Wet earth sloshed around my feet, slowing my every step. From above, thin tendrils of vines snagged my hair. All around, everything seemed focused on a single purpose: keeping me from my pursuit of Rowan.
It wouldn’t work. The more I was impeded, the harder I pushed myself to run. Still, it didn’t matter how quickly I sped forward. Rowan always remained too far ahead to touch.
Even so, I didn’t mind.
This was my love.
And he was smiling.
Some small corner of my mind cried out that this was all an illusion. The sense of magick was thick in the air. Plus, the edges of Rowan’s body shimmered, like this wasn’t his true self so much as his soul. Even so, my heart was too thrilled to bother with reality. And let’s not forget the Lady! She had untold powers. Perhaps she gifted me with the sight of Rowan’s soul for her own purposes.
Whatever the reason, these few moments of magick and love might be all the happiness I had left to share with Rowan.
I was taking them.
Laughing, I kept running after my mate. Each time he glanced over his shoulder and beamed, I soaked up that crooked grin as if it were the last time I’d ever see it.
It very well might be.
The jungle receded around us. I hardly noticed the change. Soon, great walls made of brown brick rose up on either side of me. The muddy earth under my feet gave way to a checkerboard pattern of stone. None of that mattered. All I knew was that as the jungle receded, I could see more of my mate.
We reached a large chamber. Statues lined the walls, all of them life-sized and incredibly detailed, having been made of bronze, wood, and stone. Hundreds of Dolly-mechs lined the floor, all of them standing in groups of three. In each case, there was a man and a woman kneeling before a standing figure whose face was covered with a drawn hood. Behind the dolly-mechs, the chamber walls were filled with arches that were also made of stone, bronze, and wood. I thought back to the Meadow of Many Gateways. This space reminded me of that spot—from the checkerboard ground to the many gateways—but that’s where the similarities ended. There certainly hadn’t been any statues.
There was no time to wonder more about the temple interior, however. Rowan had slowed his pace as he closed in on the massive gateway set into the far wall of the long rectangular space.
Something about that arch set my teeth on edge.
Up until now, I’d been enjoying this game of pretend with an illusion of my mate. But even though I was excited, my mind wasn’t so shut off that I wonder at this mystery.
Was this all some way to capture me?
I rubbed my neck and thought through the possibilities. In the end, it didn’t matter if this was a trap. From what Kila Kitu told me, the rest of the Sword of Theodora was hidden in this temple, and my mate’s soul was leading me through it. I had to take a closer look.
After taking in a slow breath, I stepped toward the largest gateway. This massive arch was like everything else in this temple: a mixture of bronze, wood, and stone. In this larger gateway, the three materials had been fashioned into hefty gears that formed the arch’s edge.
How odd. Most gateways were lined with gemstones, not clockwork. That meant something, but at the moment, I couldn’t place what. Still, I slowed my pace. Intuition told me that Rowan was about to do something.
A memory appeared in my mind: Nan, Mrefu, and Jicho frowning at one another as we tied up the MAJE nearby. They all knew what sad fate awaited me. Perhaps this was the moment things would turn sour.
I paused a few yards away.
Rowan touched the arch’s frame. The gears spun. Metal creaked. Stone split. On the right-hand side of the gateway, a piece of metal materialized into a section of gears.
It was gleaming.
Sharp.
The blade of the Sword of Theodora.
And it was set right into the wall.
Rowan turned to me. “You have the hilt. If you promise me one thing, then the blade will magickally break free from the wall. The entire Sword will be yours.”
I stepped closer. In every way, this man looked like my mate: green eyes, strong build, and worn Caster leathers. But he was still surrounded by a sheen of white light. Magick stayed thick in the air. I’d seen soul spells before. I’d cast them, too. At closer range, I could tell this was indeed my mate’s spirit. This Rowan recognized me. His soul in its pure form would always know its mate. And if my mate knew who I truly was, he would never hurt me.
I glanced longingly at the exit archway. Or would he?
Rowan gave me his crooked smile once more. “I know what you’re thinking. My sweet Elea, still unsure whether to fully trust anyone. Even me.”
“I’m trying.”
“As am I.” Spirit-Rowan stared at his hand. “If only my mortal form would believe in our bond enough to touch you, then all of this might have ended differently. I’d do anything to spare you pain, my mate.”
It was such a Rowan thing to say, that my eyes began to sting with held-in tears. “It’s really you, isn’t it?”
“This is my soul. After you escaped from me, the Lady summoned my spirit to the Eternal Lands. In this form, I can remember everything. I know who you are and what must happen.”
“What exactly did the Lady tell
you to do?” I tried to control my tone, but I couldn’t help the note of disbelief that wove through the question.
“Does it matter? This is my true self, and I’m here to ask you a question.”
My pulse raced so quickly, my heart felt like a hummingbird was trapped inside me. “Go on.”
“Will you promise me one thing?”
“What?”
“The Sword of Theodora can slay anything.”
“Yes. That’s why we need it. It can kill Viktor without hurting anyone else.” Like me. Viktor had shown me once that when he was cut, I’d bleed as well.
“It can kill a spirit as well, you know.”
My breath caught. “You don’t mean—”
“You must promise to kill my soul right now. That would end my body, too.” Spirit-Rowan got down on his knees and bowed his head, exposing the back of his neck.
I’d seen that pose before. On the Meadow of Many Gateways. Not-Elea had crumpled onto her knees so the executioner could destroy her. Even worse, Not-Elea had been blackmailed into giving up her life in exchange for those she loved. And now this same trick was being used on me in reverse.
In my case, I wasn’t going to kneel.
“No, Rowan. Never.”
“But this is what must happen. It’s what always happens. Someone must recharge the gateways and heal our realm. I won’t let it be you. Give me this. Allow me to spare you the pain. Kill my soul and release the power.”
“No, you have it all wrong.” I pounded my chest with my fist. “I’m the Elea here. Not you. I have the hybrid power for the gateways.”
“Do you?” Rowan looked up until emerald gaze locked with mine. “And yet, I still have your power within me, remember?”
My veins chilled as I realized the truth. “That’s right. When we were back at the Skullock Passage—right before I spied on the gods—I gifted you so much power. You’re still filled with hybrid energy. Is it enough?”
“The Lady thinks so. Without the memory of you, I haven’t known what to do with it. Right now, my mortal form doesn’t even know I have hybrid magick within me, let alone how to release the power. That’s why this is the perfect solution. Now, I can protect you. I’m begging you. Let me help you.”
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