by Laken Cane
“I know the feeling,” Z said.
Yeah. He would.
“What’s this one called?”
“Wormwood,” Blue said. “It’s called Wormwood.”
“I imagine they’re all called Wormwood,” Z said.
“There’s only one Wormwood,” Rune said, knowing somehow that she spoke the truth. “And it’s in every world.”
Roma walked with them but seemed somehow distant. Apart from them. She was silent, working on her slingshot.
“Can you fix it?” Z asked.
She shrugged and continued manipulating her weapon, but every few seconds she looked up and darted a quick look around.
On guard.
“Give it to me,” Nadaline said, stepping out from a copse of trees. “I’ll fix it.” She held her hand out for the slingshot, but Roma narrowed her eyes and clutched the weapon to her chest.
“Naddy,” Z said, relief in his voice.
“Did you see any sign of the hand?” Rune asked. Then she looked at Roma. “Give her the slingshot, for God’s sake. She’s not going to eat it.”
Roma immediately tossed Nadaline the weapon. No argument, no hesitation.
She smiled at Rune’s surprise. “You saved my life, Princess. It now belongs to you.”
“No, kid. That’s not how—”
“I saw the hand,” Mad Naddy said, interrupting them. She ran her glowing fingers over the slingshot, then tossed it back to Roma. “Now it’s better than ever.”
While Roma admired the unbroken slingshot, the others gathered around Nadaline.
“You saw him?” Rune asked. “Where is he?”
“Is he calling the dead?” Blue asked, her hand on the hilt of her holstered blade. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“Take us to him,” Z said.
“Wait.” Nadaline held up her hand. “The hand has no idea what she is. She ran from me.”
“She? It wasn’t the hand then,” Z said.
“There’s never been a female hand,” Blue explained to Rune. “Hands are male.”
“Not this time,” Nadaline told them. “She is the hand, and she’s terrified. We’ll have to surround her. I know where she’s hiding.”
But she didn’t look hopeful.
Rune tilted her head at the sound of approaching soldiers. “The legislators are near. We don’t have time to coddle a scared hand. Take me to her.”
Nadaline didn’t move.
“Nadaline.” Z’s voice was sharp. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“She’s a little girl,” Nadaline said. “A child with the face of death.”
“Fuck me.” Rune threw her head back and took a deep breath. “I know her. I brought her here with me.”
“Rune,” Z said. “What?”
“It’s Fie.” Rune closed her eyes for a long second as relief flooded through her. “Of course it’s Fie. And it makes perfect sense.”
There was no recognition in Z’s eyes.
Rune didn’t have time to jog his memory. “Take me to her, Nadaline,” she demanded. “Now.”
Roma lowered her slingshot and stepped toward Nadaline. “Do it,” she said, her voice low, “or die.”
“Whoa,” Blue said, moving to stand beside Nadaline. “The legislators messed you up, so I’m going to let that pass.” She lifted her blades, slowly. “Threaten her again and you’ll be the one to die.”
Roma stared at Blue, her eyes narrowed, caressing her slingshot.
“We cool?” Blue asked.
Rune ignored the two women and jogged away with Z at her side. “Nadaline. Show me.”
They ran for ten minutes before Nadaline stopped them.
“There.” She pointed at a stone building a few feet in front of them. “She went in there.”
Rune nodded. “I hear her.”
Fie was sobbing quietly.
Rune thought the child had been spirited off by supporters, but she’d been wrong. Fie was alone, and she was terrified.
She loped toward the building, her stomach tight. “Fie. I’m here, honey.”
The crying stopped immediately.
“Fie?” Rune ran through the doorway, hesitating as her eyes became adjusted to the gloominess of the room.
And the coldness.
In her Wormwood there was an identical building to that one, but it felt different. The one in which she stood had dark shadows that moved. The air was thick and sluggish and lay over Rune’s nose and mouth like a heavy hand.
And it was cold. Freezing cold.
“Shit,” Rune muttered. Then, “Fie?”
And finally, a tiny, sweet voice answered. “Rune…”
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m sorry I lost you. Come to me and I’ll get you out of here.”
Rune squinted and stared, but not even her sharp vision could penetrate the darkness.
“I’m scared of the bad lady.”
Rune shuddered. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, baby.”
She didn’t want to ask who the bad lady was.
A darker shadow disentangled itself from the others and the little girl walked toward Rune.
The bones of her face shone like pearls in the blackness, and the shadows danced and swayed around her, parting for her like black water.
Rune’s dizziness intensified, but the shadows held her up, black fog in a cold, cold room. “Fie,” she said, or thought she did.
She thought she heard Z yelling her name, but his voice was dim and unreal. As though he were in a different room.
No.
A different world.
“Fie?” she whispered.
But that time she got no answer, and she didn’t expect one.
Fie wasn’t in the room.
Damascus was.
Chapter Nine
“Rune,” the witch said.
“Get away from me.” Rune meant to scream the words, but they came out in a hoarse whispered.
“This is my world, darling. You can’t defeat me, but you can join me. I’ll be waiting. Call for me when you’re ready. I’m here.”
She was wispy as smoke and her features were unclear, masked by the shadows and fog from which she’d formed.
“I’m here.” She lifted milky fingers and touched Rune’s face, and Rune was too frozen to move. Too frozen to try to cut the witch.
But she knew if she tried, she’d cut only air.
“Fie,” she wheezed. “What have you done with her?”
“Remember,” Damascus said. “Call for me. I will come.”
And the witch was gone. Just that quickly, the room was once more only a room, dark, granted, but just a room.
“Fie,” Rune screamed.
Z and the others barreled through the doorway, weapons drawn. “What the fuck happened?” he demanded. “We couldn’t get in.”
Rune cleared her throat and rubbed her arms. “The witch was waiting.”
He grabbed her to him. “Are you okay?”
Roma turned to Nadaline, her voice a growl. “You led her into a trap?”
“Of course I didn’t,” Nadaline said. “The child was here.”
“She still is,” Blue said, holstering her swords. “Look.”
Shivering, Rune turned to look.
The little girl crouched unmoving in a corner, her arms over her head.
Rune pulled away from Z and strode to the child, all the while wondering how she was going to defeat the witch when she could barely speak in her fucking presence.
She was no redeemer.
“I’m here.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Rune muttered.
“What?” Blue asked.
Rune dropped to her knees in front of Fie and pulled the girl to her. “You’re safe now, baby.”
Slowly, Fie dropped her hands from her face, and didn’t appear to notice when the others gasped.
“The bad lady,” was all she said.
“She’s gone,” Rune told her. She stood, still holding the tiny child, and walked fr
om the room, pretty sure she was even more eager than Fie was to leave the room.
Because Damascus could come back.
“I’m here.”
Gooseflesh erupted on her skin as she hurried through the doorway back into the sunshine.
“She’s the hand,” Blue said. “There’s no doubt. She has the face.”
“She has no face,” Roma disagreed.
“Exactly,” Nadaline replied. “Nikolai told us the hand would have death’s face.” She gestured at Fie. “But a child?”
“She’s powerful,” Rune told them. “But how are we supposed to explain this shit to a kid?” Then, she remembered where she’d heard the name Nikolai before.
When she’d been inside the net, Fie had visited Skyll. She’d visited Nikolai.
“Just tell her.” Z held out his arms, and without any hesitation, Fie went from Rune’s arms to Z’s. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi.”
“Are you hungry?”
Fie nodded. “And thirsty.”
Nadaline shrugged a small bag off her back and uncapped a flask. “Water,” she said, when Rune looked at her.
Z took the water and put it to Fie’s lips, and no one spoke as she drank. Finally, she pulled back. “I want mama.”
Rune closed her eyes in a long blink. Poor kid.
“Do you remember what happened to her before we came here, Fie?” she asked.
Fie nodded.
Elizabeth was gone.
“Fie,” Z said. “Can you do something for us?”
“It’ll make the bad lady go away forever,” Blue encouraged.
“I’m scared.”
“We all are,” Roma said. “But we fight anyway. If the bad lady wins, we’re all dead.”
“Dude,” Rune said.
Roma shrugged. “She can’t be a child here.”
“There are no children here,” Nadaline said. “At least, not many. There’s the Flesh hand—he’s a kid. Sort of.”
Z kissed Fie’s forehead. “We need you to call your army, honey. The dead. Can you feel them?”
Fie nodded. “Lots of them.”
“Do you remember her now, Z?” Rune asked.
He shook his head. “Not really.”
Rune nodded, then turned her attention to Fie. “Remember how you called the zombies, baby? Do that. And when the dead rise, you’ll lead them to…” She paused, unsure of what to say. Despite Fie’s power, she was a baby. A fucking baby.
“You’ll lead them to battle,” Blue said. “You’ll command them to kill all the bad people in this world. Do you understand?”
Again, Fie nodded. And finally, her eyes sparkled, and her barely there lips turned up in a smile. “They’re my friends.”
“Sure, kid,” Rune said. “Friends. Call your friends.”
Roma tossed a look over her shoulder. “Crawlers.”
Rune shot out her claws.
Something long buried inside her responded to the crawlers. At some point in her life, she’d been exposed to them. It was the only way to explain her terror.
“Call them, Fie,” she said, and that time, her voice was hard and cold. “Call the dead.”
“Not even the dead can rid Skyll of crawlers,” Blue said. “We need to get our army and run. They’re after something and if we’re in their way they’ll…” She glanced at Fie and shut her mouth.
Z put Fie down. “Now,” he told her.
“Shhhh…”
“What the fuck is that?” Rune asked, but she knew.
“The crawlers,” Roma answered. “Come with me.” She grabbed Rune’s arm and began to drag her away.
Rune jerked free and glared at the slingshot girl. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“When I can save you,” Roma answered, calm, “I will do what needs to be done. Whether or not you agree.”
“You might want to give that plan a little more thought.”
But then Fie called the dead.
All Rune could do was stare in wonder as the Army of Death and Darkness heeded the child’s call.
“Shhhh...”
The crawlers’ voices slid into Rune’s ears and brain and gut.
She wanted to run.
But she didn’t.
The ground boiled and churned, expelling people who looked like death but smelled of warm flesh and had facial expressions and hair and life in their eyes. Cold eyes, but life was there.
Dozens and dozens of them, uniformed, armed, dangerous.
Ready.
They’d been waiting.
All of them with faces of death, exactly like Fie’s.
They knew she was their mistress, and they gathered around her, silent.
Fie took Z’s hand and looked at Rune.
“Tell them to follow us,” Rune said. “Tell them—”
“She needs to tell us nothing,” one of them said. He was a slender man with tattoos covering every inch of visible skin. No hair clung to his smooth skull. “She is the hand. We know what is needed.”
The Army of Death and Darkness swept Rune and the others along like a giant wave, carrying them away from the graveyard.
Away, thankfully, from the crawlers.
“Shhhh…”
Chapter Ten
The Army dropped Rune and the others like crumbs of bread as they rushed across the country to fight the legislators and other allies of the witch.
They were heading toward Magic Shimmer to free their lord. Along the way, they would kill anyone who got in their way.
They took Fie along with them.
Rune didn’t try to stop them. Once, as they sped away, the child looked back at Rune and waved.
She might have smiled.
Perched on the shoulders of one of the captains, the girl looked like a tiny, hideous doll.
She’d grow into her power. Someday.
“Why are they leaving us behind?” Blue muttered, angry.
“We don’t belong with the Death Army,” Roma answered. “We’ll find our own way.”
Z nodded. “We have our own paths to follow. For now.” He met Rune’s gaze. “We’ll all end up at the same spot. Just not at the same time.”
“It’ll take all of us,” Nadaline said. “We’ll each play a part in the death of Damascus the Witch.”
“I don’t want to be on a fucking journey,” Rune said. “I want to get to the castle and cut the witch’s heart out.”
“Then let’s get going.” Blue vibrated with eagerness.
“Rune.” Z took her hand. “You’re sick.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re compromised?” Roma asked, surprised.
“Before you can fight Damascus, you will have to find the cure,” Z said, ignoring Roma.
“I know,” Rune admitted. “But I don’t know where the cure is.” She slammed her fist into her palm. “I feel like an infant here. I have no idea what to do.”
“We need our own army,” Roma said. “Along the way, we’ll recruit. I can gather my people.”
“You don’t understand,” Nadaline said. “Without Rune, this is not possible. No matter how many armies we collect. Rune is the one. She must fight.”
“I plan on fighting,” Rune said, grimly.
“But not well,” Blue replied.
“Fuck you.”
Blue shrugged. “Just the truth. If you don’t get the cure, you’re useless. No offense.”
Rune lifted an eyebrow. “Again. Fuck you.”
Roma dropped a stone into her slingshot and aimed it at Blue’s head. “She’s the princess. No matter what, she’s the one who’ll save us. We have to help her find the cure. Don’t say another destructive thing to her.”
Blue narrowed her eyes. “Listen, Roma Narez. You—”
“Both of you shut the hell up.” Rune looked at Roma. “Enough with the overprotective shit, Roma.”
Roma hesitated, then nodded.
“First thing we have to do,” Z said, “is find the cure.” His voice was quiet
but commanding. Not one of them interrupted him. “Rune must live.”
“Tell us about the sickness,” Roma asked. “What do you know?”
“I thought Damascus created it to kill the Others of my world,” Rune said. “Now I don’t.”
Roma frowned. “Who do you believe created it?”
“I don’t know.” Rune shrugged, helpless, angry. “I just don’t know.”
Z’s stare was distant. “Gunnar…come on. What did you say?”
Rune grabbed his shoulders. “The ghoul told you who created it?”
He patted her hands. “Every time the rotting disease is mentioned, I have a memory of his voice in the back of mind. I think he told me secrets that for some reason, I can’t recall.” He turned away and rammed his fist into the hard bark of a tree. “What the fuck did he say?”
“Z. Z…” Rune grabbed his hand, holding his bloody knuckles to her mouth.
“The hand of the Flesh Shimmer lord,” Blue exclaimed, her eyes bright. “He reads people. He will pluck the information out of your head. We have to go to Flesh anyway.”
Nadaline slapped her forehead. “Of course!”
Rune glared. “That’s your excuse to get me to Flesh.”
But Z was smiling. “No, Rune. She’s right. The boy will tell us where to find the cure.”
Rune blew out a hard breath, then nodded. “Okay. What other choice do I have?”
“It’ll be full dark in an hour,” Blue said. “Do we walk in the dark or wait until dawn?”
“We walk,” Rune said. “We don’t stop until we’re there. We don’t have time to sleep.”
“It’s not sleeping I’m worried about,” Blue said. “The night is dangerous.”
Rune snorted. “The days are dangerous.”
“But not like the dark,” Nadaline said.
“We’ll chance it.” Rune looked at Z. “When Jeremy shot me full of silver…I feel like that. Not as bad, but it’s coming. We have to hurry.”
Because she’d be no help to him if she got much worse.
No matter how much she fed.
Z’s stare hardened. “Jeremy. Yes. I remember.”
“We have to hurry,” she murmured.
“We’ll need supplies,” Blue said.
“I’ll slip into Carnage to bag up some things,” Nadaline offered. “It’s just a few miles from here.”
“I’ll go with you,” Blue said. “Roma, you stay here to help Z guard…” She hesitated as she glanced at Rune.