"Oh, don't cry. I'll cry too!" Jacinda fanned her face as she stepped away from the dresser. "What's even happening? What are you? You're not dead, are you?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm not dead. I can promise you that." She wiped her hand beneath her eyes. "There's so much I want to say. So much I need to say. Are you all right? I know I just vanished."
"Yeah, we found those letters you left. You were pretty thorough. After all these years, I thought it was never going to happen."
"What about Uncle Joe? Is he okay?"
"Yeah. He's good. Worried about you. You've been gone a week. Do you want me to call him?" She already had her phone out and his icon pressed. The faint ring vibrated through the speaker, but it didn't connect. "Hmmm. He may be a bit. He was meeting with someone to talk about the evacuation."
"Evacuation? What's going on?" She ran to the window and peered outside. The walnut trees had yellow-gold leaves, the oaks' green leaves turning red, orange, and brown. The remnants of the corn harvest left pale yellow stalks like low standing spikes. As far as she could see, everything was ordinary. But how often could appearances be trusted?
"It's been freaky since you left. You wouldn't believe some of this. There are aliens here. More alien than you. They're talking about the end of Earth but they keep calling it Eiram like you used to." She raked her magenta fingernails through her auburn hair. "Total evacuation of Earth. Can you believe it? I can't. And I'm living it." She studied her nails. "It's ridiculous these days. There's an army coming. Something unlike anything we've ever seen. If it isn't stopped, then there will be floods and earthquakes and most everyone is going to die. Which, try to convince folks of that round here, let alone the world. Joseph's got his hands full."
"Do you know when this army is coming?"
"Six weeks, six months? They don't know for sure. Just soon."
"What kind of army? Who is leading it? What else do you know?"
"That you aren't the weirdest person in the world anymore. And this army, we don't know much. Not Vawtrians supposedly. From the way you talked, I figured if there were aliens, they'd be our biggest problem. Do you want me to tell Joe anything?"
"Tell him I'm—I'm a lot better than I thought I'd be." A low growl sounded in the back of her mind. It was coming again. She pressed her hand to her temple. "I don't know how long I can stay, Jacinda. But I need your help."
"Anything. What do you need?" She dropped her phone onto the bureau and placed her hands on her hips. "Go."
"There's some sort of spell on me that's keeping me from remembering certain things. This might just be a dream. If it is, I won't remember any of it. At least if things play out as they have."
"Okay." Jacinda frowned, clicking her tongue. "You're still weird, hon."
"Just listen. If this is real—"
"It is. I'm definitely awake and real."
"Yes, but you'd say that in my dreams as well."
She canted her head, pondering this. "Maybe."
"This seems to be a state where I'm half awake and half asleep or something in between. I don't get it. But what I know is that the Ki Valo Nakar is awake. It's awake inside me."
"And the Ki Valo Nakar is?"
"We don't have time for that."
"What do we have time for?"
She held her head. The pulling sensation had started again. It dragged at her body, cutting this time as if using blades. "I don't—"
"Whoa, hon, your face."
"What?"
"Are you bleeding?"
Her hand flew to her cheeks. They felt the same. "No."
Jacinda frowned, her mouth still open. "They just showed up. They're big red bands that run from under your eyes to your jaw. And your eyes…they're all white."
Amelia swallowed hard. "Oh. I'm going to have to leave I think. If I can get back to talk to you, Jacinda, I will. Stay safe, all right?"
"You get yourself back here as soon as you can!"
The pulling against her consciousness made her want to vomit. Her feet shot out from under her. This time she slammed into the dark wall far harder.
"Stop!" the Ki Valo Nakar bellowed. "Stop running. You're wasting time!"
The hallway flipped again, sending them both flying. Her head cracked against one of the door frames.
Grab hold.
Just grab hold of anything!
She flung her arm out and narrowly hooked it around a door jamb. The Ki Valo Nakar's roars echoed in her skull, shaking her to her core. The fury and frustration that poured off it threatened to drown her. Her lungs ached, and her fingers burned, her vision misted.
The ground and walls trembled beneath her.
"You wretched little creature!"
"Stay away from me!" she screamed back.
Hoisting herself up, she fought her way through the door. This time she fell a short distance, collapsing not on the floor of a room but on a grassy knoll.
She thrust her arms out and jumped to her feet. Not a room this time. A lush forest beneath two rising suns, one the color of champagne and the other a peachy-yellow. What even was this?
Pressing her hands over her eyes, she willed them to be healed. Her mind throbbed. What had AaQar put in that sedative? Was any of this real or was it only a dream? Just a dream.
Drawing in a shaky breath, she lowered her hands.
What was this place? It carried a much stronger presence, a greater clarity and intensity of color and a smoky jasmine-like scent in the air.
Columns of smoke rose from holes in the earth. This wasn't Ecekom. Nor was it Eiram. Nor Reltux.
A man walked along the path, his grey and black clothing so ragged she couldn't tell whether he had worn a coat or a cloak. Numerous holes and worn places made his sleeves almost translucent at points. He had shaggy hazel hair that brushed the tops of his shoulders, his posture slightly stooped but his pace easy. He was familiar.
A deep sense of unease spread through her. Almost as bad as the Ki Valo Nakar. She knew this man somehow, didn't she? The energy and presence that rippled off him lashed over her like razors on a cat o' nine tails.
He turned toward her, his head still down.
The growling in the back of her mind intensified. She couldn't stay here. Couldn't stay, but couldn't go back.
She had to wake up.
Wake up. Wake up!
Had he heard her? His face hadn't turned up nor had his eyes met hers. Perhaps it was just chance. She remained motionless, mostly hidden by a large fern-like plant and a pitcher plant.
"I hear you, little spider. That door was opened weeks ago. You're only now walking the thread?"
She stepped farther back, trying to disappear among the foliage.
He chuckled, the sound unnerving in its calm. For a moment or so, he examined the plant and then continued walking. "Such foolishness."
But when he resumed moving, she found herself drawn along. It was as if his sphere of awareness was the limit of her range. She could pull herself back to that hall, but the thought of escaping the Ki Valo Nakar again made her sag with exhaustion. This couldn't continue. How much longer before she woke up?
"Are you not going to speak? You wait this long, and now you have nothing to say." He stopped to examine a massive flower whose bloom was the size of a watermelon. "You are strange. Being still or quiet will not save you."
"Were you waiting for me?"
He chuckled, his head tipping unnaturally far to the left, his hazel-green eyes open a little too wide. Madness blazed in those eyes. Eyes that burned with a fire that had consumed almost everything that once lay behind them, destroying all that had once been held dear. Eldron. Naatos's father. How—how was that possible?
She swallowed, a knot of terror choking her.
"Not as such. I just knew you would come." He swatted another flower away and continued on his way, pulling her along without even touching her. He had no shoes at all, and blood stained his heels and toes. "Walk with me." He spoke as easily as if strange apparitio
ns often appeared beside him.
"Do you know who I am?" There was no way to keep from being drawn along with him as he continued his journey.
"Your name doesn't matter." He glanced at her slyly. "You don't matter either."
"That would seem to be your general belief system." She folded her arms, flattening her wrist elmis to her torso and aware of the tugging at her mind already. The Ki Valo Nakar was going to catch her; how many times could she do this? "Where are you?"
"Here." He tugged at the air as if there was some sort of cord. Nothing happened. He hissed through his teeth. "Why did you come if you did not intend to fulfill your purpose?"
"I can't restore the Tue-Rah at the moment, and I didn't intend to come here."
"The Tue-Rah doesn't matter. It never has. What lies between, that's where the threats lie. You open doors, why are you surprised that something comes through? You cannot even begin to imagine what's out there. What waits. What lurks. Nothing matters except stopping that. Don't open doors you don't plan to use."
"I'm not even sure how I'm opening doors."
"You're doing it though. You do it well too. Of course, not all doors can be closed once they are opened. Most can't be closed." He ripped out a large flowering plant and cast it aside, scattering blue and yellow petals across the cropped sweet grass. Once more he reached into the air, then shook his head, and wrinkled his brow. The frustrated hiss grew louder. "You do not even begin to comprehend the horror that is coming."
"All right. Tell me then. I'm listening."
"Of course you are. You're always listening. It's why you have no doors. You weave and punch and cut and draw. Such constant movement. Never stops." He laughed again, the sound ragged through his teeth. "But you're worthless to me for now. Look at you. Half changed, ignoring what's coming. What purpose do you serve? Nothing. You are worthless until you accept what you are." He mumbled then and shredded another plant. When it did not do what he wanted, he ripped the rest of the stalk out. "Why did you even come if you weren't ready?"
"Because—"
Eldron lunged at her, seizing her face.
Her eyes widened. The scream caught in her throat as his fingers dug into her cheeks and temples.
"You can't fight the monster forever, spider daughter. I hear it coming now. Do you? And they're coming whether you're ready or not."
"Let go!" She struck her hands against his chest, but his grip on her remained tight, his fingernails cutting into her skin.
"Alone it isn't enough and alone neither of you. Together more is born. Don't come back until you're worth my time, or I'll ensure you pay. Wake up and do as you're required." He slammed her into the ground, grabbed her arm, and twisted it behind her back. "Nothing good happens in sleep. Everything that matters lies in between. Do you understand? Now wake up."
70
Deeper Curses
The removal of Amelia's lower leg as well as the healing took less than two minutes. Then AaQar shooed Naatos away. It annoyed his brother when he stood too close or observed over his shoulder.
Probably because he rarely just stood and watched.
Naatos paced around the fire and around his sleeping brothers, avoiding AaQar and Amelia as best he could and trying not to watch. AaQar had mentioned seeing veins he wanted to analyze on her back. He'd cut into her already. The iron-tinged scent of blood usually didn't trouble him. Except now.
Of course.
Why wouldn't it bother him now? What else could arise from his usual strengths and present itself as a weakness?
Perhaps it was best not to tempt the possibility of fate with such an offer. If fate existed, it had a dire sense of humor.
He glanced back at AaQar, working over Amelia with a slender blade and metal tweezers.
Had this illness or curse been a person, he could have destroyed them a thousand different ways. Could the Salvation of the Third Nalenth have saved her from this? Did he need to find whoever had enacted the curse and destroy them?
Whatever he needed to do, he could do. As long as it involved doing something and not just waiting. That had become intolerable. Why was all she ever needed emotional support and general distance? Ridiculous.
"Brood a little quieter," AaQar said without looking up from his operation.
He growled at him. "What do you see?"
"Trouble. This is not natural."
"Then—"
AaQar waved him back with an annoyed shake of his head. "I don't need you to heal her yet. Stay there. And leave the foot alone. We can't risk you not being able to heal her when it's time."
"How do you still get nervous after all these years?"
"How do you still get impatient?"
He scoffed, then resumed pacing. "I can examine her foot and calf without too much risk."
"Stay away, or I will wake QueQoa and have him sit on you."
Tedious older brother.
He drew in another breath, his unease increasing. Something smelled off about Amelia. In her blood. A cloying undertone to the iron-tinged scent. Though he had noticed it at a few other points, it had been faint. Now it struck him more fully. Perhaps that was the real source of the nausea. "You smell that, don't you?"
"It would be hard not to." AaQar frowned. "I don't like this. It's—ever since I saw these veins in her back, I knew they were familiar. But I can't remember them. It's as if they don't want to be recognized." He leaned back and sighed. "Even if I had found a way to become a true healer, I wouldn't be able to heal her from this. This is—it's malicious. And if it's what I fear, it's cruel." He paused. "Neyeb curses that affect the body. Is it possible that knowledge of a curse in and of itself could be cursed? They have spells and incantations that remove one's ability to remember. And this—" He shook his head. "It's at the edge of my mind. Right there. I can almost see it."
"Perhaps you will allow me to see it and I may be able to assist."
"No. I don't trust you to—" AaQar's brow arched sharply as he pulled the tweezers away from her back. He cleared his throat. "When you and she were vestoving, did you notice anything unusual? Especially around her back."
"No." That felt like ages ago. And he had had his hands all over her. More or less. Definitely on her back though. Nothing except the discoloration of her heel had alarmed him that night. The effects of the euphoria remained with him, somewhat faded yet still present.
AaQar nodded, his expression still drawn. "Nothing was moving? She wasn't in pain when you touched her elmis."
"Far from it." He'd been exceptionally careful to avoid inflicting pain on her. The last thing he needed was for his veskaro to decide she hated vestoving and never wanted it. Such things could happen. "Why are you asking these questions? What do you see?" he demanded. He circled the fire and started toward his brother.
"The Neyeb didn't use long leeches or blood worms in their sorcery or magic practitioning, did they?"
"Only in the Forbidden Arts. But it's more often used with Bealorn and Tiablo than Neyeb."
"Well." AaQar pulled a long dark glistening ribbon from Amelia's back. "Tell me what this looks like to you." He dropped it into one of the stone vessels.
Picking it up, Naatos examined the thing inside. His gut clenched at once. "That's a long leech."
AaQar released a slow breath as he gripped another and pulled it free. "I thought initially that these veins were from the flogging or something. But obviously that was incorrect. They've grown significantly, but they're staying far enough beneath to be unnoticed. And of course they aren't veins at all. They are gorged long leeches and their venom trails. So something has caused them to grow these past weeks." He removed yet another, his lips pressing in a tight line. "Are there any uses for these that do not involve suffering and death?"
"No." He stared down at the writhing mass, horrified. "To my knowledge, they are only used to inflict painful deaths. Get them out of her!"
AaQar shook his head. "I can't do more than this. The Bealorn Forbidden Arts are not part
of my purview. Nor were their assassination techniques. Though, if I am correct, assassination generally does not require more than two. And… this is the sixth I've removed."
"How many more are there?"
"At least four. Assuming—" AaQar looked up at him. "I'm not familiar with this sort of thing. These are all located near the spine. But her foot was also damaged." His gaze drifted to the bavril. "They're feeding off something and when they reach sufficient strength, they will start poisoning her. They may have already started. Perhaps the curse that created them is more gradual. Maybe that is what happened with her foot."
Naatos stepped back, drawing his hand over his mouth. The anger built within him, spiraling with fear as it tightened and cut across his consciousness. How many things could be wrong with her? How many people were trying to kill her?
"Could Sinara and the elders have done this to her?"
He raised an eyebrow, startled. "That is far more likely to have been Salanca's course of action."
"I don't see why she would. And unless there are random Bealorn sorcerers marauding through Libysha or Indiana, I doubt this happened before she was taken to Eiram."
It wasn't the strangest thing imaginable, but it was unlikely. The Awdawm guardian who had watched over her had been many things, but he did not strike Naatos as the sort who would allow someone alone with his charge for the extended period needed to create long leeches and the necessary incantations. Sinara would have had time, but—he dragged his hand through his hair. No. He couldn't believe that of her or any of the elders. "Salanca had time."
"Why would Salanca have poisoned her if the point was to create a new race? Even if she was the one who scooped out all the benefits of the curses, it makes little sense to waste the opportunity Amelia presents."
"Why would Sinara have cursed Amelia with something so horrible?" he demanded.
AaQar removed another of the wriggling long leeches. This one was easily as thick as his little finger. "The Neyeb didn't want her to be bound to anyone initially. They had to offer that possibility because of their laws. And she tried to dissuade you. Your agreeing to this gave them something, but… you didn't know anything about the Ki Valo Nakar. You can't—"
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