Power: Arca Book 3

by Karen Diem

  Wyn shuddered. “We are not taking a massive meat-eater home with us.”

  Zita winced and nodded. “Military equipment would take them out eventually, but they’d terrorize the area for a while first.” In the distance, she could make out four-legged dinosaurs with elongated necks, bulky bodies, and plants hanging from their mouths. They had to be between fifty and sixty feet long, but she refrained from pointing the herbivores out since they wouldn’t cross paths on their way to the temple.

  Andy watched the pterosaur. “We have to ensure none of these things leave this place.”

  “Man, why do you all have to get your reality all over my fantasy?” Jerome asked.

  Wyn withdrew a can of eucalyptus bug spray from her bag and covered herself again. “To return to our previous conversation from before the pterosaur interrupted us, I won’t need the ritual.”

  Jerome stomped forward a few feet, then stopped. “Great, so where are we going?”

  Zita pursed her lips but kept the majority of her attention picking out a route down to the ferns. Waving her hand at a small trail, she said, “This way. It’s the only safe path without climbing gear or the boys doing their crazy jumps. Then we take that big animal path at the bottom. Given that it’s wide enough to drive on, I’m not in a rush to meet the creatures that created it.”

  Andy and Jerome started down the small trail, their heads turning as they scanned the area.

  Wyn tugged at a lock of her hair as she fell in beside Zita. “Our destination, the temple, is probably somewhere among the trees since it’s not visible amongst the ferns. The spell funnel and cloud are also over the jungle area.” She pointed to the mix of conifers and cycads above the distant cliff.

  With a shrug, Zita descended from the ridge a few feet and tapped the ground. “Tiffany and company left footprints heading to the bottom, so they must’ve decided to follow the wide path too. It’s an easier walk than slashing through the ferns and goes in the right direction. Do we want to follow them or try to parallel it, maybe go more direct if it loops? We could cut off a lot of time if we go up the cliff instead of around it.”

  Biting her lip, Wyn eyed the path. “I hadn’t realized… Are you certain they came this way, and we won’t be following some animal around?”

  Before Zita could reply, Andy barked out a laugh as he unearthed a plastic water bottle from beneath a stubby cycad frond. “Not a lot of these from the Seventies, and it wouldn’t be so clean. They headed that direction down the big path. And really, do we want to be doing any of this? It’s just one more thing in the way of rescuing the kid’s grandpa and the professor… and stopping Tiffany from getting the Heart.” He pointed his chin toward the distant jungle.

  Jerome frowned at the other man and leaned his upper body away. “If you’re dead enough inside to not enjoy the fact that we’re in a land of dinosaurs, you’ve forfeited your man card. Come on, when you were a little boy, didn’t you want to see dinosaurs?”

  Andy didn’t answer.

  “Animals don’t wear shoes, so Tiffany’s group has definitely been here,” Zita said. “If the magic thing’s that huge, can you smell the gem or something?”

  Wyn shook her head. “I keep telling you, it’s more visual than scent. I can’t see it right now, and the odds are good that I won’t be able to unless Wingspan takes us up and hovers. Once we get closer, I can pinpoint it better, but the edges of the spell go funnel-shaped somewhere among the trees.”

  “I don’t really hover. We should walk and take the shortcut,” Andy said. He twitched, pushed aside a fern, and continued down the first, smaller trail Zita had indicated. “This mountain is creepy. I don’t feel the Southwest or the Pacific Northwest. Normally, anywhere I go, I can tell where I am in relation to those places. But here? No. They’re just not there.”

  Wyn tapped a finger on her chin and delicately stepped around a plant. “Interesting. And Arca mentioned the area is much larger than the map allowed as well as disobeying whatever the norms are for this valley.”

  “This type of mountain,” Zita said absently. “A tepui is a tabletop mountain or mesa, and while the ecosystems vary wildly, this one doesn’t even hit all the basics.”

  Wyn made a humming noise in the back of her throat and glanced at Jerome, who was busy scanning the horizon. Digging out her GPS, she held it up for a minute. Not that I want you to try it, but I’m going to guess you couldn’t teleport home from here if you tried, Zita.

  Zita blinked. Why not?

  “GPS doesn’t work either. I think this place is similar to my purse.” Wyn switched to speaking aloud. “My theory is that this is an instance of dimensional transcendence, possibly a pocket dimension, that contains a massive chunk of one or more prehistoric eras. If it’s all a giant spell construct, that might explain the odd magical signature surrounding the area. To keep it going, however, it has to have some renewable source of energy…” She tucked away the device.

  After a moment to wade through all that, Zita interrupted. “So, the Heart supports all this? Guess we know why Tiffany wants it, now.”

  Andy and Wyn stopped to stare at her.

  “What?” Zita said defensively. “It’s a spell that needs a lot of mojo. The bad guys were trying to collect magic last time by hurting people with the evil knife. Janus said they needed to bust past some barrier, which takes power. If they can get a nuclear-level gem pre-loaded with juice, why wouldn’t they go for it? I don’t know why they aren’t after a SNARC ball or something more modern instead—no offense, Muse, but everything breaks eventually, and this rock is super old.”

  Wyn had to watch her steps as the trail grew steeper where it met up with the bigger one. “Magic and electrical power aren’t interchangeable, but well-reasoned. We do have a larger problem, though…”

  “The fact that Tiffany’s group is ahead of us?” Zita suggested.

  “The dinosaurs?” Andy and Jerome said.

  Wyn stared at them as if she could will knowledge into their heads. “The Heart likely powers the spell sustaining this place. Tiffany taking it might break the link between this plane and our own. That could release the dinosaurs on our world or seal us in here permanently if Tiffany’s group leaves with the gem. Or this entire construct could end with us in it.”

  Zita winced. “Well, all of those options suck. How long would it take you to know?”

  Jerome exhaled. “I’m too pretty to go all caveman.”

  “If I’m really going to decipher it, I’d have to hold still and concentrate on it. Attune to it and perhaps perform some rituals. Right now, knowing the old legend gives me a way to guess what’s woven into the spell, but not enough.” Wyn fretted with the strap of her purse, currently slung across her body, and scurried to keep Andy in sight.

  Zita touched Wyn’s shoulder and slowed her own pace to fall back next to the other woman. “You’re doing fine,” she said. “If you can tell where the gem is or see anything magicky we should know about, like, oh, the spell breaking, drop a word to the rest of us?”

  Wyn gave her a small, tight smile. “Be assured of it.”

  Jerome hurried to catch up. “Magic isn’t my thing, but I understood enough to know that we don’t have time if these losers are after the Heart, so let’s take the cliff shortcut. Walking works for me for now, but I’m still disappointed there won’t be a T-Rex. Even if I can’t ever say anything once we leave here, it’d be cool to see one from a distance.”

  Zita didn’t even have to think about that. “Sorry, I told you they weren’t native. South America had similar predators, though, and if we’re lucky, we might see one of those.”

  Andy interrupted in his raspy voice. “The word you want is unlucky, emphasis on the un.”

  Waving a hand in dismissal at his back, Zita continued, “Normally I would have said the tepui was too small to support a viable population of huge predators, but clearly this place is giving the usual rules the middle finger.”

  With a shudder, Wyn asked plaint
ively, “Can we stop talking about things that might eat us? The amount of magic you’d need to do something like this… I have no idea how someone could have managed it, let alone why.”

  Zita snorted and followed others onto the wide trail. She paused for a second. The dirt had a mishmash of scuff marks, as if the other group had held a dance-off or squabbled with the local wildlife. “Why is easy. Somebody like Chevalier wanted to be the man. The others are definitely following this trail. There are more footprints here.”

  Jerome snorted from his position bringing up the rear. “Or the story on the cave walls is true.”

  They walked for a couple minutes in silence.

  Andy glanced over his shoulder, yelped, and ran back. “Dinosaurs behind you!”

  Falling into a defensive stance, Zita whipped around.

  Five dinosaurs, all the size of jaguars, burst out of hiding with an earsplitting series of screeches. They had slim, narrow bodies, shaped somewhat like plucked chickens with claws instead of wings and a sharp-toothed lizard snout replacing a beak. Their scales were green with white spots, the sleek lines softened by protofeathers at some of the joints. Rather than assaulting a single person in a coordinated attack like a pack of wolves, they separated to swarm all the humans.

  One pair, more ambitious than the others, went after Jerome, despite him being the biggest in the party. He punched the first, turning it into a gory display of broken flesh and bone. While he was distracted, however, another snuck in and bit his leg.

  Zita put herself between the closest animals and Wyn and urged her friend back as she kicked off her sneakers.

  Andy ran past her.

  Jerome ripped the dinosaur off himself, sending blood spraying out. As his leg gave way and he tumbled to the ground, he swore, his tone vicious. Almost as an afterthought, he punched the one that had bitten him, pulping its chest.

  Another dinosaur assaulted Andy, and its teeth scraped along his skin and off. He stomped on its head with a sickeningly squishy crunch.

  The fourth beast ran at Zita, probably because she was the smallest.

  She shifted to an Orinoco crocodile and let out a warning growl, showing her own sharp teeth. Her tail lashed behind her.

  When it was five feet away, the creature made an abrupt leap sideways toward Wyn instead.

  Wyn screamed and fell down when she tried to escape.

  Throwing herself forward with a burst of speed, Zita seized its tail between her teeth and jerked it away so fast that it made a sound like the crack of a whip. The dinosaur went limp in her jaws, and she spat it out after putting her bulk between it and her friend.

  The last one tried to veer around Andy and go toward the women.

  “I got it,” Andy called, grabbing it.

  Seeing no more of the creatures, Zita changed to Arca and wiped her mouth on her arm, offering Wyn her hand to help her up. The hair on the back of her neck prickled in warning, and she shoved her friend aside. A large form clubbed her, sending her to the ground with a shock of pain and a sick snap followed by absolute agony. She choked as her throat filled with liquid.

  Wyn shrieked.

  Andy turned white and ran to her side, pushing a lizard off her. “Oh, God. Z—Arca, are you okay? I am so sorry! That last one was so fast, and I just threw it, and with my strength…”

  Zita struggled to breathe and sit up. Coughing tore through her, and something inside ripped loose, sending her crashing back to the dirt. She fought the urge to shift… into what, she didn’t know.

  Wyn hurried over. After a few words, her hands lit with the soft sparkling green of her healing spell.

  Since she had to concentrate on continuing to breathe, Zita sent, What happened?

  Jerome tapped Andy’s shoulder. “The one at your feet is still twitching.”

  Andy glanced down. “Right.” He picked it up and hurled it over the ferns toward the river. I can’t apologize enough, Zita. I accidentally threw it at you.

  Something splashed, and a flurry of thrashing came from the waters before relative silence returned.

  “Right then. No swimming today,” Jerome said. Despite his joke, his face was grim.

  As magic spread through Zita, the pain receded grudgingly, and she took a deep, shuddering breath and spat out a coppery mouthful that suspiciously resembled blood. She rubbed away liquid that had gathered at the corners of her eyes. Dusty here. No hay bronca, Andy, it was an accident. She managed to choke out a few words. “I’ll survive. Thanks, Muse.”

  After a few minutes, she experimentally tried to sit up, and a warning twinge in her side reminded her that Wyn’s spell wasn’t finished yet. Zita held still. Very, very still.

  Wyn continued healing.

  “Take all the time you need to get back on your feet. I am so sorry,” Andy said, hovering over her. His arms were wrapped around himself.

  “It’s okay, mano, it was an accident. We need to get going and fast,” Zita said, squeezing his ankle, the only part she could reach. The action did not incite any discomfort, and hope grew.

  He didn’t reply, but Jerome said, “Why the rush?”

  Wyn released her. “I’m through. She’s fine now.”

  Zita took another breath and did a cautious stretch, then flipped to her feet. Since her body felt normal again, she replied, “We’re surrounded by snack-sized meat on a mesa filled with dinosaurs, some of which are known carnivores, and we just made a lot of noise.”

  Jerome stood and jogged in place for a moment, the smooth, unmarred flash of his muscled thighs visible through the shredded remains of his pants. “Shit, I’m going to have to wear the purple Spandex, aren’t I? My regular clothes won’t hold up against dinosaur teeth, and you said the special outfits heal when torn?”

  “Yes, they do,” Zita said. “You might need to press the edges together if it’s a big tear. Wingspan and I have tested that a ton, right, mano?” She flashed him a smile to show him she held no grudge, but he didn’t respond.

  “We’ve got two in navy,” Wyn offered, color seeping back as she pulled a set out of her purse. She managed to give Zita’s shoulder a squeeze in passing.

  “How about anything in stylish?” Jerome made a face but accepted a pair and waded into the brush. From his position behind the rock, he called out, “We’re not going to want to pick any flowers here.”

  “Not that I was planning to, but why? Some are quite pretty.” Wyn gestured toward a large burgundy pitcher flower whose deep throat had a delicate tracery of yellow over it.

  Jerome emerged, pulling the tight shirt over his impressive chest as he walked. The matching pants already adorned his lower half. “The one back there is eating a cat-sized lizard.”

  Wyn winced and made a moue of distaste. “Ugh, disgusting.”

  “I am so sorry,” Andy said again from beside Zita. He rubbed the sides of his thighs and shuddered.

  “No worries, mano, it was an accident.” As she walked around the rock to see, she raised her voice so the others could hear. “Carnivorous plants are normal on a tepui. At least something is right here.”

  Moving slowly, Andy stepped to her side and shuddered at the plant. “You don’t recognize it at a glance?”

  She stared at the striking maroon pitcher flower, speckled with green and white, save where the dark form of a lizard pressed against the side. It stunk like rotten meat and stale peppermints. “You can’t eat them, so, no, I don’t.”

  Wyn muttered something about priorities under her breath.

  Now dressed, Jerome waited next to Wyn. “At least it’s not talking. Or singing. You sure you’re good to go?”

  “I’m fine. Don’t fuss. Accidents happen all the time,” Zita said, returning to the trail with Andy as her shadow.

  Wyn gave the plant only the most cursory of glances. “Shall we go?”

  As she approached Wyn, Zita tried again to soothe her friend’s ruffled sensibilities. “I think it was dead soon after it fell in.”

  “Can we stop talki
ng about the plants?” Wyn asked.

  Jerome passed Zita. “Since I wasn’t the one bleeding out a minute ago, I’ll take point.”

  Irritated, Zita said, “Muse healed me. I’m fine. It’s over. Pretty certain this is a deer path… or at least an herbivorous dinosaur path. A really huge herbivore, most likely, that might not even notice us underfoot.”

  “Please stop being so helpful,” Jerome called over his shoulder as he jogged ahead. A moment later, he returned at high speed.

  “What’s wrong?” Andy said, walking forward.

  “T-Rex!” he shouted, running back toward them as fast as his powerful legs would allow.

  Ferns crashed to the ground, releasing a spicy, leafy scent as an enormous creature raced onto the trail. Built similarly to Jerome’s coveted T-Rex, it had tiny arms tipped with three nasty claws, taloned feet, and a gigantic mouth filled with unabashedly carnivorous teeth. Mottled shades of sun-faded green striped with blurred stripes of a rosy brown let it blend into the surrounding plants, save for the gaping black maw. Unlike the previous dinosaurs, this beast was easily forty feet from head to the tip of the long, narrow tail.

  Even as Zita put herself between Wyn and the dinosaur, her mind spun, eying the lean muscles visible despite the thick skin. How do I fight that? Andy, you got Wyn?

  The creature leapt forward with impressive speed toward Zita, who was already moving out of its way, but veered to the side when it was within five feet. It nearly trampled Andy but snapped at him instead. While its bite would have ripped anyone else in half, its teeth skittered along his skin, rending the fabric of his clothing.

  With a horrified squawk, Andy jumped to the side.