by Rena Barron
I had second thoughts about listening to a darkbringer who had no reason to help me. But there was something here. I had to believe that the map was real, and it could lead me to Papa’s soul. Otherwise, we would have no clue how to get there with the wards keeping our magic in check. I had to rely on my instincts now.
I swallowed my fear as we reached the largest tent in the camp. Still under Eli’s magic, I glanced over my shoulder at the darkbringer boy again. He had buried his face against his knees. His bony elbows jutted out at his sides, and his shoulders slumped. I felt a little bad for not freeing him yet, but I couldn’t risk him double-crossing us.
There was a light on inside the tent, but I couldn’t see more than that. I pressed my ear against the flap and listened for sounds. I counted to ten in my head to be sure. Nothing. Not even soft snores. I reached for the flap, and Frankie whispered, “Careful.”
I was careful or as careful as I could be, given that we were in the middle of a camp of darkbringers. I pulled back the flap only a little, and the cloth ruffled against my fingers. The gap was only a slit but enough to see inside.
There was a high table covered in papers with no chairs. A small wooden trunk with a pair of boots next to it. Oh, and the glowing orb floating in the center of the tent. It hummed like the white noise machine that Mama used to help her fall asleep. Apparently, the constant humming was supposed to drown out other sounds, but I found it distracting. Maybe in this case, though, it could come in handy to mask our footsteps.
It made me wonder if technology in the Dark evolved around magic. Did they need fossil fuel to create oil or gas, or nuclear power to produce electricity? It didn’t seem fair that the darkbringers had so much magic while humans had none. How were we supposed to protect our world if the Dark attacked with only the orishas and godlings able to fight?
I spotted a darkbringer on a cot in a corner with his eyes closed and his mouth open. He snored, his chest rising and falling steadily. We couldn’t hear him until we opened the flap, so I wondered if the tent was soundproof.
I crossed the point of no return with Eli and Frankie on my heels. We had a lot of ground to cover. I spotted another table with papers stacked as high as Ms. Vanderbilt’s math quizzes. Ugh, this place was a mess. It would take forever to search.
Now it was time to get to work. Eli kept one hand on each of our shoulders as we shuffled through the papers on the table. To my surprise, we could read the notes—thanks again to the last time we were in the Dark. Most of it amounted to receipts, ledgers, lists of soldiers and recruits. My heart leaped in my chest when I found a map. I unfolded it, and the crinkled paper gave off a low groan in protest. There was a pulsing black ink blob on it.
When I lifted it to see better, the black spot on the map inched over too. It was like a GPS ping. The map itself wasn’t very detailed, but it showed roads, towns and cities, landmarks, and rivers. Nothing pointed to a palace, but I stuffed it in my backpack just in case.
Eli released his magic, and we shimmered back into sight. He was sweating buckets, and he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. His face was pale and tired. “Sorry,” he whispered. “I was starting to feel dizzy.”
I hadn’t considered that constantly using our magic could drain our energy, but it made sense. I’d felt a little of that before when I was first learning how to open and close gateways.
“It’s okay,” I mouthed, hoping he would get my meaning. Invisible or not, we had to keep looking.
Frankie bent over a second map spread out on another table. She ran her finger across it, her eyes following along. She shook her head when she didn’t see a palace, but I tapped my backpack to tell her to take it anyway. She nodded and added it to our growing collection.
If the Crystal Palace was such a secret, the darkbringer wouldn’t leave a map of it out in the open. I bit my lip as I looked around and noticed the wooden chest again in a corner near the bunk. I was halfway across the tent when the darkbringer shifted on the cot and cracked open his eyes.
He frowned and bolted up, but I was quicker. Before he could call for help, I pointed the staff at him, sending out two blue shots of magic back to back. Bloop. The first one hit him across his eyes and spread out like sticky slime. Bloop. The second one wrapped around his mouth. I got the idea from Ogun when he’d done the same thing to shut up the darkbringer with the power to create illusions. The impact of my magic knocked him back to the cot.
Frankie raced over to the darkbringer. Her magic stretched into long electric strings as she wove a force field around him. “That should keep him for a little while.”
All three of us were breathing hard, waiting for soldiers to burst into the tent, but no one came. My theory about the tent being soundproof must’ve been right. Sweet.
“I’ll check the chest,” I said, still keeping my voice quiet.
Eli wiped a string of sweat from his forehead. “I’m not feeling so hot,” he moaned before he took one shaky step and collapsed to the floor.
“Eli!” Frankie exclaimed as she ran to his side. “You’re burning up.”
“I’m fine . . .” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I just need five minutes to rest.”
I glanced at the chest again. As much as I needed the map, I couldn’t risk my friend’s life. We would find another way to the palace. First, we had to get Eli out of here. “We need to leave.”
“Maya, watch out!” Frankie yelled as an electric shock hit me in the back. My whole body seized up, and the staff slipped from my hand. I hit the ground hard. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and my teeth tore into my cheek. I couldn’t move as the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
The darkbringer towered over me. He scratched at the blob of magic still covering his eyes, but there was a crack in the one across his mouth.
Frankie hit him with a ball of raging energy, but instead of falling back, the darkbringer seemed to absorb her magic. He grew taller, and his head almost touched the top of the tent. His nails, which had been normal only moments ago, curved into sharp claws.
The darkbringer advanced on Frankie, and she stumbled back. I screamed inside my head and fought against the electricity winding through my body. My insides were on fire, and sweat stung my eyes. I had to do something—had to stop him—but I couldn’t.
The darkbringer flicked his fingers in Frankie’s direction, and his magic hit her hard. She crashed into the table, which broke on impact. I blinked back tears as my friend slumped to the ground, unconscious. The darkbringer ripped the blob from his lips and turned to face me. “I don’t need to see you,” he said, his voice a low growl. “I can feel your energy.”
Think, Maya. How could I stop him when my muscles still felt like jelly? I could wiggle my fingers and toes now, but that wasn’t enough. At least that meant his magic was fading. I regained control over myself little by little. I couldn’t let my friends end up like the boy in the cage, or worse.
“The Resistance made a big mistake attacking my camp.” The darkbringer laughed as he began to claw at the blob of magic across his eyes again. “I suppose you’re here to rescue the deserter Zeran, but you’ll be punished along with him.”
Wait. Hold on. The darkbringer hadn’t gotten a good look at us before I sent the blob for his face. He thought we were from the Resistance? I guessed Zeran was the kid locked up outside. “Where’s the map to the Crystal Palace?” I demanded, letting him think we were with the Resistance.
“Ah, you people are so predictable,” the darkbringer spat. “You cannot stop what is to come—it is inevitable.”
Okay, so not everyone in the Dark was happy with the Lord of Shadows, which figured. He was willing to start a war. A lot of people had to be against that.
“Was that your best shot?” Frankie grumbled. The darkbringer spun around as she struggled to her feet, almost falling a couple of times.
“Oh, this is precious,” the darkbringer said, his attention back in Frankie’s direction. “I do admire your br
avery . . . The three of you coming in here thinking you could steal the map to the Crystal Palace and save your friend. You’ll suffer a horrible fate for your treachery.”
Eli stirred beside me—cracked his eyes open and winked. A second later, he went ghost mode and I could hear him moving in the tent. I gritted my teeth and rolled on my side, my hand finally closing around the staff. I hit the darkbringer in the back of his knee. He yelped as his legs buckled and he dropped to the ground. Eli turned visible again. This time he was holding the chest. He swung it wide and knocked the darkbringer out cold. Everything in the chest spilled to the floor.
“Now, that’s a good shot,” Frankie said, still wobbly.
I crawled over to search through the papers, looking for any maps we could find. We would sort them all out later, once we were away from the camp. We’d been here too long already, and the longer we stayed, the greater the risk of getting caught again. My eyes locked on a black tube, the sort of place you’d keep a rare map. I grabbed it, my fingers slicked with sweat, and pulled out the paper.
The map was tan with black edges, but my attention went straight to the palace at the center. It glowed on the page, while everything else looked dull. From what I could tell, it sat at the bottom of where Florida would be in our world. I wasn’t sure that this was the right palace since the darkbringer boy said that the Lord of Shadows had many. But it was the best lead we had so far.
“This might be it.” I put the map back into the tube.
“Finally,” Eli said, still looking pale and sweaty.
I eyed the darkbringer unconscious on the floor as I stuffed the map in my backpack. “I’ll catch up with you on the edge of camp.”
“Where are you going?” Frankie asked as she leaned against Eli.
“To free that boy who told us about the map,” I explained my plan. “I promised if he helped us that I would, and I always keep my promises.”
“Forget about him, Maya,” Eli said. “Do you think he’d keep his promise if the situation were reversed?”
“Well, the situation isn’t reversed,” I argued.
I pulled back the tent flap and looked around. It was still quiet outside, with no other darkbringers in sight. Thank the celestials that no one had heard the commotion in the tent. Before losing my nerve, I jetted across the grass to the darkbringer in the cage.
“You came back,” he said, stumbling over his words like it was such a big shock. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“I told you I would,” I said, pointing the staff at the cage. My magic shot down my arm, and the electricity crackling in the metal bars fizzed out. The staff had absorbed it, and I could feel the electricity buzzing against my hand before it faded too.
The darkbringer reached forward, his eyes narrowed. When his fingers touched the bars, the whole cage turned into silvery dust. Some of it fell into his black hair and shimmered on his face.
“Did you kill Commander Rovey?” he asked as he climbed to his feet.
I shook my head, surprised by his question.
“That was a mistake,” the boy said.
I backed away from him, and when he said nothing else, I turned and ran from camp to find my friends. He didn’t have to tell me that I’d messed up. I already knew that.
EIGHTEEN
We get a makeover
I was ducking in and out of shadows when a blast knocked me off my feet. I hit the ground and rolled, my body slamming into rocks and grass that poked like needles. I held on to the staff and whirled around to fight off my attacker. But there was no one. The blast had come from the darkbringer camp, where half the tents were on fire. I stared at the rising flames in shock. Darkbringers were shouting commands to each other and running across the field. None of them saw me lying there in the shadows, too shaken to move.
“Maya,” Eli called. “We’re over here.”
I climbed to my feet and ran. My friends had crouched behind a tree that was as black as the night itself. White particles floated in the air around its branches like glow-in-the-dark gnats.
I leaned on the staff to catch my breath. “Are you both okay?”
“I could do without the lump on my head, but otherwise, yes,” Frankie answered, standing up to her full height.
“What happened back there?” Eli asked, his eyes wide. “Did you set the camp on fire?”
“Of course not!” I said, offended. “I freed the darkbringer, then I left.” I wondered if the boy had set the fire.
We couldn’t stay here with the camp burning and darkbringers everywhere. I gathered the three maps that we’d taken from the commander’s tent. I was going to call up some light so I could see better, but the map with the palace started to glow.
“That isn’t weird at all,” Eli said, looking over my shoulder. “A secret castle with a neon sign that basically says, Come die here.”
It was too convenient, especially since the darkbringer boy had said that the palace was hard to find. I pointed to the cluster of buildings sitting smack in the middle of our path. “It’s our only good lead, but first, we have to get through this city.”
Frankie came over to look at the map, her flashlight bouncing through the tall grass around the swamp. “Is there a way to go around it?”
I traced the edge of the city, which took up most of the page. According to the label on the map, Zdorra was the name of the city. “Not without losing a lot of time,” I said. “The city is massive.”
Frankie pointed at a string of islands that curved below the Crystal Palace. “That’s the Florida Keys in our world. That patch of dark spots to the west of us must be the Everglades.”
“So, you’re telling me that the Crystal Palace is a retirement home?” Eli laughed.
I frowned, looking up from the map. “What makes you think that?”
“It’s in Florida!” Eli said, like he was stating the obvious. “People go to Florida to retire.”
“People go to Florida on vacation, too,” Frankie countered.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We need to head south.”
We trekked around patches of mud, alert to every growl and rustle in the shadows. Pesky weeds kept crawling up our pant legs until Frankie and Eli found sticks to beat them back. The weeds hissed and jerked out of reach, eventually giving up. Soon we reached solid, dry ground.
Flames still glowed in the distance, lighting up the whole area. Had the darkbringer I freed set the fire out of revenge? I couldn’t forget how he said that I should’ve killed Commander Rovey. I had a real knack for making enemies. Winston and his cronies. Commander Nulan. Now a new darkbringer who had the power to electrocute by touch. I guessed he’d have to get in line—right behind the Lord of Shadows.
I stared at the map again, noting the lines along the top edge that looked like markers to show distance. As we walked, the inkblot on the map moved forward so that it was under another marker. We’d taken about thirty minutes to get from one marker to the next. With four and a half markers left, that was another 135 minutes to get to the city. I ran the calculations in my head. “We should be there in about two hours and fifteen minutes.”
“That’s reassuring, but my legs are about to snap from exhaustion,” Eli groaned.
“Stop being so melodramatic,” Frankie said, but she wasn’t looking much better.
I felt guilty about their conditions. “We should take a break.”
Frankie cast Eli a sideways glance. “I don’t need to rest unless he does.”
“Nope, I’m good,” he shot back, voice defiant. “I could walk for days.”
Frankie narrowed her eyes and smirked. “We’ll see who cracks first.”
He gave her a smug smile in return. “I guess we will.”
Eli and Frankie have always had the rivalry thing, but sometimes they were outright silly. Like now. Who made a competition about being tired? Sometimes it seemed like they had a secret code between them that even they didn’t know existed. I felt a little weird about it, but I
tried not to let it bother me too much.
We took turns navigating with the map. While Frankie led the way for a while, I brought up the rear with the staff in compass form, softly glowing around us. We were far enough from the camp that the smoke was in the distance. A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I spun around.
“What is it?” Eli asked, rushing to my side.
“Whoa, where did those trees come from?” I said, scanning the edge of the forest behind us that hadn’t been there only a moment ago. The moon was almost black, and the glow from it was a shade lighter than the night. Leaves stirred in the breeze and cast shadows that flickered in and out of my line of sight. “They weren’t there before.”
The compass transformed back into a staff in my hand. My feet were already wide in a defensive posture. I was ready for anything and everything. Giant birds with razor-sharp spines, flying serpents, vampire bats. Anything else the Dark wanted to throw our way. I might’ve been scared, but I wasn’t backing down.
Frankie squinted at the woods. “I’m pretty sure we walked by several trees.”
“Several trees, yes, but not a forest,” I said as another twig cracked.
Eli turned on his best TV announcer impersonation. “Our young ghost hunters discover a malicious spirit stalking them in the Dark. Will they survive the phantom and his insatiable craving for human hearts? Find out next week on ‘Adventures in the Dark: A Story of Mayhem.’”
“Not a good time for jokes,” Frankie groaned. “You’re the worst.”
Every muscle in my body ached from the electric shock the darkbringer had sent through me. I stared at the trees until my eyes burned, imagining hundreds of eyes peering back at me. We waited for a few minutes, but we didn’t hear any other noises. Commander Rovey wouldn’t lurk in the woods, not when we had the top-secret map to the Crystal Palace. He’d do everything to recover it before we got anywhere near my father’s soul. Reluctantly, I turned away, and we continued walking.
“Some things aren’t adding up.” I paused, running it all through my mind again. I thought about the darkbringer who attacked us over the ocean. How arrogant of you to think that everything was fine, he’d said. “If the Lord of Shadows is causing the tears in the veil, why hasn’t he mounted a full attack? Why are the tears so random?”