Palace of Moonlight

by Payton Taylor

  A sand monster sprung forth and he rolled, dodging away. He let his eyes drift to Noelani, to the crew, for a split second, and another monster sprung up.

  And then, Westin was sailing through the air, the monster bursting through the sand at top speed right under his feet.

  His body flipped, arms and legs bicycling, the air coming at his face causing his lips to peel back from his teeth.

  He knew the edge of the cliff was coming. They were still traveling down the mountain. If he went over, he was dead.

  Noelani's piercing scream shattered through the jungle. "WESTIN, GRAB ON!"

  His vision was blurred, but he was trying to focus on the words when there was a big brown blob coming towards his face.

  Westin threw his arms out, bracing himself. The skin from his palms ripped off brutally, like sugar dissolving in hot water, but his hands found purchase around the branch regardless.

  He let out a groan as blood dripped down his arms and onto his face. His body dangled in the air like a party decoration.

  Noelani's feet were flat on the ground and in her arms was a tree. She had lifted a tree. Uplifted the roots from the ground and held it out for him to hold onto.

  She'd saved his life.

  "I got you," she ground out, as determination thundered through her, and Westin was suddenly brought back to another time. Another similar situation when he had said those words to her.

  Noelani started moving forward, her arms straining as she went. Westin realized she was trying to set the end of the tree on the other plateau of land. He didn't dare look down to see what would have been his fate.

  That vibrating roar sounded through The Wastes again, ringing in his ear. His head whipped over to Noelani, her face leeched of color even though it was drenched in sweat, and her movements became jerkier and hurried.

  He saw the others running toward Noelani, the tops of the trees moving, the leaves swishing as something big followed.

  Westin groaned and pain laced through his gnarled hands as he lifted a leg, pulling himself into a sitting position atop the branch.

  He heard the group screaming, their faces frantic as they yelled for Noelani to hurry.

  Westin started scooting in an awkward army crawl across the branch. There was only a short distance left for him to crawl. The branch got shorter and shorter until

  Westin braced himself for impact once again as the tree finally touched down.

  He quickly scrambled off, and when he turned to face the others, his jaw dropped.

  Noelani was still holding the tree, using it as a bridge for the others to cross. She was stretching her arms out as far as she could. It wasn't long enough for her to set it down fully. She had to hold it so the others could cross.

  But the monster behind her. . . it was huge. Black with webbed feet and orange eyes and the same colored stripes down the length of its body. But what stunned Westin the most was the giant wings sprouting from its back.

  Noelani wasn't going to make it.

  It was charging for her, but she held fast. Her hands did not falter as she watched the others crawling across the unsteady makeshift bridge.

  Jo was the last one, her head glancing back to her sister, then to the front, to Leo who was dragging her telling her they needed to hurry, so her sister could make it.

  Westin wouldn't accept it. "Hold on!" he screamed.

  And everyone's eyes widened as he spread his feet shoulder width apart and threw his arms around the tree. His bloodied hands protested, but he didn't care.

  Noelani, be ready, he sent the thought through her mind.

  Her eyes widened at his voice in her head.

  Are you sure you can hold all of us?

  He watched her as she put a tip-toed foot on the cliff's edge using it as leverage. Her head jerked around searching for the monster that was gaining on her with every second, and Westin steeled himself for the added weight.

  Yes.

  Kian, Seren, Zahra, and Marzanna had made it, but Khione, Leo, and Jo were still at a slow crawl.

  Another ear-splitting roar filled the air. Khione made it across.

  But then, the monster was too close. It was now or never.

  Westin bent at the knees. Noelani pushed at the cliff's edge and grabbed the branch, her arms, and legs wrapped around it in a vice-like grip.

  Her scream echoed as the branch dipped before Westin leveled it.

  He blocked out the pain in his hands and swung the branch. Then everyone screamed.

  The monster took flight.

  Just a little more , Westin thought.

  He twisted his body with the branch and started moving backward. His muscles bulged, and his hands protested but he kept moving.

  The monster kept flying.

  The others moved in to help. Jo and Leo made it to the ground safely.

  Noelani was almost there.

  With everyone's help and only Noelani's weight on the branch, things went a lot faster.

  The crew worked together, running backward before slowly letting the tree fall to the ground.

  Noelani stood, her chest heaving, and Westin didn't even think as they ran to each other. His bloodied hands cupping her face. Her lips on his. Him holding onto her this time like she was his lifeline. Relief flowing over them like warm water on a cool day.

  They came apart, their breaths mingling. "Come on," Westin said, grabbing her hand.

  Just as the crew took off running, the monster dropped right in front of them. Steam shot out through its nostrils as it assessed the group. Its eyes changed from orange to black, and then, as if things couldn't get any weirder, the thing nodded its head. As if it were trying to say, "Follow me."

  "It wants us to follow it," Jo said.

  "'Yeah that sounds like a great idea,' said no one ever," Leo said.

  "It's going to lead us to the darkness," Noelani said uneasily, trepidation filling their bond. Fear causing the group to shift uneasily.

  He realized they wouldn't have a choice. If this thing wanted them to follow it, they would indeed follow it.

  Westin closed his eyes, letting out a resigned sigh. When he opened them, he stared the monster in the face. "Lead the way," he said to it.

  The monster turned right as another roar rang out and the ground shook. Westin whirled around.

  And now, they were sandwiched between two winged monsters. Leading them to a savage darkness.

  Chapter 38

  Jo

  Writhia, 5220

  The Wastes

  Whatever they were, they were intelligent.

  Jo mulled over the possibilities as she and her friends followed the strange reptilian creatures through the Wastes. South. Always south, towards the darkness from Seren's vision.

  Were they demons? They looked like winged alligators with terrifying orange eyes, but their minds were sharp. Alert. Complex.

  Dark.

  The thoughts leaking from their minds were like putrid shadows, so dark that Jo could almost see them. Their brains filled with urges to bite, eat, claw, chew on Jo and her group. She sensed that the only thing keeping them docile, keeping them from attacking, was the darkness. And that was what scared Jo most of all.

  The further south they traveled, the more she could feel it. The darkness. The thoughts and fears seeped into her mind, leeching all the light from her every memory.

  She didn't know what they were going to find at the end of their journey, but the closer she got the more she wanted to run. Her legs and feet itched to run, to flee from the inky shadows that clawed their way into her thoughts trying to convince her she was worthless. That she was evil. That she was a monster.

  Just like her father.

  The only thing that kept the shadows from swallowing her whole was the pressure of Leo's hand in her left hand and Sunny's hand in her right. Sunny also held on tightly to Westin's hand on her other side, and Leo's other hand was currently clutching Khione's. Then Marzanna who held onto Seren who held onto Kian wh
o held onto Zahra. They were linked, all of them, their hands all going numb from holding on so tightly. But it was the only way they could keep each other grounded. The only way to keep each other from getting lost in the darkness.

  She felt thankful that the others couldn't feel her fear. Grateful that they couldn't tell just how terrified she actually was.

  She didn't know how Leo could stand it. She tried to keep her emotions in check, tried to keep them from overflowing through the bond and choking him the way they were choking her. But she caught herself slipping, time after time, and her heart sank with guilt at the weight her distress seemed to add to his shoulders.

  She knew how hard it must be for him because it was hard for her to bare his as well. She could feel it creeping through the bond, past his impenetrable walls, and into her mind. Whatever terrors the shadows whispered, she didn't know.

  But she knew they were unimaginable, if only by the fact that she could feel his fear at all.

  Jo and Sunny used Jo's Gift to touch lightly on each person's mind, adding some light here, some reassurance there. Even Westin and Leo were allowing the small brushes, which scared Jo almost as much as the monsters.

  They'd been walking for miles. Days. They'd passed camp after camp, all of them empty, the people having fled. Or worse, they were littered with the bodies of the dead, torn limb from limb, the earth watered in blood. Jo saw the ghosts through Sunny's mind. Hundreds of them. They reached for Gordo and Daiya with clawed fingers and weeping eyes.

  The Necromancers did what they could to ease the spirits' troubled souls, but there was only so much a ghost could do, even one with power over death.

  And then there was the land. The land was dying. Trees and leaves sagged with decay, bark oozing shiny black puddles of poison. Jo had stopped looking at the puddles after she'd glanced into one and saw her friends' dead bodies being picked apart by the very monsters who now herded them southward.

  The wind shifted, blowing northward, and she saw

  Sunny and Westin's nostrils flare.

  Salt, Sunny told her through their thoughts. We’re almost to the southern border, near the ocean.

  They reached the shore a few hours later. Jo wanted to lay down. Sleep. But she couldn't. The demons had barely let them rest over the course of the trip. The river met the ocean in a rush of water, fresh water meeting salt water in a murky, brackish cloud.

  Westin looked out over the water to the east, as if he could see all the way to Pocaea. To his family, who was hidden there. In the water, the demon's voice hissed in her mind and gestured with its large head.

  "It wants us to get in the water," Jo told the others who couldn't hear it. A vague feeling scratched at her mind. A strange sense of deja vu.

  "You're kidding, right?" Khione asked, eyeing the water warily.

  The demon behind them hissed and surged forward, causing them to take a few steps closer to the water. In the water, it hissed again, Master awaits you.

  Jo met Sunny's gaze. Master. They didn't like the sound of that.

  Jo approached the water. It was strange, the land cut off abruptly and the water that touched the edge was already deep. There was no beach.

  She looked back at her sister. Do we do this? Sunny's jaw clenched, Do we really have a choice? Jo sighed and looked back at the water. And then, she jumped in.

  Cold. It was so cold.

  It didn't make sense, they were far south.

  The water should have been warm.

  Bubbles erupted in clouds of white as her friends joined her and then the demons.

  Khione held out her arms and the water swirled around her, starting small at her chest and expanding outward, hardening into a clear shell of ice around them. There was some water in the bottom, but the rest was air that they could breathe. Jo smiled at her in gratitude. She nodded proudly, though a bead of sweat already ran down her forehead from the effort.

  The demons swam down and Khione commanded their bubble to follow.

  Deeper and deeper they went until the wall of rock that was the edge of the Wastes curved inward. There, emerging from the darkness, barely visible, was a cave cut into the rock. The demons swam inside and Khione followed as far as she could until it narrowed and became too narrow for them to fit.

  The group all took a deep breath and she let their bubble dissolve. Now they swam, the pressure of the water pressing down on them as they struggled along.

  The cave got narrower and narrower. Something nagged at the back of Jo's mind. As if the place was familiar somehow.

  Just when Jo's lungs began to seize and she was sure she'd get stuck in the tight cave, water forcing its way down her throat, the cave opened into an air pocket.

  Jo's head burst through the water and she breathed deeply, her lungs expanding to their limits. Her friends burst forward as well, each of them gulping down air into their oxygen-starved lungs.

  They were in a cavern, a huge air pocket inside of the island, deep below the Wastes. Jo pulled herself over the edge and onto the ledge of a thin stone walkway. It was dark, but torches glowed dully with soft green light, leading deeper into the cave.

  It suddenly struck Jo where she had seen this place before.

  I’ve been here before, she told her friends. In my dreams. The dream I had that almost made me stab you in my sleep, Sunny.

  Sunny's eyes widened and she looked around. Oh great, I love when Stabby Jo comes out. Fine. I’m totally fine. Everything is fine.

  You go alone from here, the demons hissed and ducked back under the water, swimming away. And then they were gone.

  That really can’t be good, Sunny thought at her, staring at the spot where they'd disappeared.

  Jo was inclined to agree. What have we gotten ourselves into?

  Jo bit her lip and Leo held out his hand for her to take. She took it, still surprised at the calluses that slid along her palm. She'd always expected his hands to be soft. Pampered. But instead, they were rough with calluses.

  From what, she wasn't sure. Handling knives, perhaps? She made a mental note to remember to ask him if they lived through this.

  The group linked hands once again and descended into the darkness.

  Chapter 39

  Leo

  Writhia, 5220

  The Wastes

  Leo's palms were slick with sweat as he held onto Jo and Khione's hands.

  Those alligators are working for someone or. . . something. Jo's soft voice spoke in their minds.

  Apparently, alligators were creatures from Earth, Jo and Sunny had told them. These creatures were a more warped version of them.

  They looked familiar, like some distant schoolboy memory from a textbook he only half paid attention to.

  Nothing he had ever seen in person before.

  As the group walked along silently, Leo couldn't help but think about what he had shared with Seph. To finally get that out, it was life-changing. He didn't realize how hollow he was. He didn't realize he'd been drowning, and it was as if he'd just come above the surface again. A new man. She had looked at him with not only understanding but something more. Something Leo wasn't ready to process yet. Baby steps, he told himself. Baby steps.

  He was relieved to have mended things with Seph before they reached the darkness. Whatever it was they were heading for. Whatever battle. He would be ready.

  They hadn't been walking long on the wet stone when sconces along the wall suddenly lit.

  The group started. Seph's eyes widened in terror. "What is it?" he asked quietly yet his voice still echoed.

  "I've been here before," She whispered.

  "Are you sure this is the exact place?" Noelani asked, her voice just as low.

  Seph studied the sconces, the markings on the walls, and then she stiffened. They heard clicking on the stone floor. It sounded like something heavy was coming.

  Something with long, sharp claws.

  Dozens of alligators, demons, whatever they were called, filled the walkway as if guardi
ng it. They growled but made no move to attack.

  Seph gulped. "Yes, this is it. This was exactly what it was like."

  "Jo," Kian murmured his eyes trained on the ceiling above, "can you control these creatures to go before us?"

  The group followed his gaze to see something sharp subtly sticking out of the ceiling.

  Seph narrowed her eyes and one of the creatures moved to the center of the walkway.

  The object dropped from the ceiling, a spiked ball, swung like a pendulum, impaling the creature below.

  "Good eye, Kian," Noelani whispered.

  The group cautiously moved forward, eyes roving around, looking for traps. Seph and Noelani controlled some of the alligators, making them walk ahead of the group in case they triggered any more hidden devices.

  As they walked, the lights flickered along the walls, casting long and misshapen shadows that seemed to belong to no one and everyone all at once. The air felt moist and strangely thick, as if the shadows were solidifying.

  "Stop," Seren's voice cut through the silence, causing them all to stop. He motioned to Seph, telling her to make the alligators keep going.

  When the creatures reached a certain point, sharp spears shot from the ceiling, impaling several of them and embedding deep into the rock. One of the alligators let out a pain-filled cry before falling silent. Dead.

  The group shared a panicked look before moving forward, gingerly navigating around the cluster of steel spears blocking their path from floor to ceiling.

  Leo and the others didn't utter a word as they made it through and kept going. Each of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, wondering what lay ahead. There was only one alligator left to lead them through and trigger any traps. Seph and Khione's hands were clammy in his and Leo wasn't sure if it was his hands shaking or theirs from the adrenaline. All of them, probably.

  There was no warning for the next obstacle. Seren didn't speak up to voice a vision and Noelani and Westin sensed nothing with their sharp Combatant's senses. There was only the soft click as the alligator ahead of them stepped down and then the walls were closing in. Quickly.