Sumi
It was a physical shock to hear they could lead us to Cori. “You found her?” I echoed stupidly. My magic was returning, seeping back into the hollow spaces in my middle from goddessi-knew-where, but my throat and eyes felt as if I’d been screaming and crying for days.
Jay didn’t seem any better off. He winced like he’d fought the entire guard all at once.
Even the boys were tired— and I couldn’t remember if I’d truly seen them tired before— but Wil’s red hair lay down limp and sweaty on his head and Andy’s eyes kept closing.
“Hsst!” Mouse peered down from one of the small, high windows.
“How—?” My thoughts were foggy.
“You set me to look for Enzo. Figured he would find you.” She looked away, then looked back at us. “Time to go. They’re coming. Whatever you did— everyone felt it. Hurry up, before they surround the building.”
Of course. No one could do what the boys just did and keep it quiet.
“They?” Jay side-eyed the door, staggered a little. “Let’s go.”
“They’re one street over. Out the back!”
The boys ran for the back and Jay followed, their shuffle-lagging steps the only indicator of how tired they were. How did they recover so quickly?
My feet felt like they were on fire and my back spasmed, but I had a very bad feeling about who they were, and I did not want to be interrogated by the blessed nor the damned today, so I forced myself into a hobbling run.
First, get away. Then save a little girl.
By the time I’d crossed the warehouse, I thought I would die. All the phantom exhaustion I thought had healed returned— my breath hitched, my side pinched, my back screamed. Tears leaked from my eyes and I couldn’t spare the energy to wipe them away.
But Jay waited for me at the door, and Mouse was guiding the boys away across the tiny street, through a deep alley, into a shadow.
“Hurry,” she beckoned again.
Jay delayed long enough to break the lock. “Don’t want them to think their new guard was involved,” he said with a tired grin. Then he came toward me with his hands cupped like he wanted to help me run faster. “Go,” I gasped. I’d get there. I’d fought a dark goddess to a standstill, not once but several times. By sheer will, I would get across the street and into that shadow.
“Surround the building!” a woman shouted. Thank the goddess the warehouse was between us— I recognized that voice.
Lena.
Betrayal stabbed me. But it also sped my feet. If the damned were here—
A brilliant white flying carpet zoomed overhead, then descended too fast.
“We claim them in the name of the Blessed!” A priestess or magus and blessed guards. Lena was outranked— but that wouldn’t stop her. Shouts echoed between the buildings and then I heard Lena again.
“We were here first. We claim them for the Damned!”
“The Blessed!”
Some sort of scuffle, more shouting, more carpets overhead— then I slipped into the shadow and through a door and Mouse closed it behind me. “Hurry,” she hissed. “You’re not safe yet.”
I nodded and followed after the others.
Lena had no choice. If she hadn’t come, the damned high priestess, my blood-sister Aimi, would have known something was wrong. Heavens, even my blood-mother would have known something was wrong if the damned didn’t fight the blessed for a new magus or priestess with such strength, then they’d all be combing the Rest Third for me.
But the bitterness in the back of my throat didn’t fade.
What followed was a nightmare. We kept moving farther and farther from the Stonefield warehouse and each time I thought we might be able to rest, more carpets flew into the area, more arguments erupted between the blessed and the damned, more running and ducking and hiding.
If anyone was left in the temples, it was a miracle. And all of them looking for us.
At one point, we headed toward our house, but then the boys had a whispered conversation with Mouse and we turned away.
I wanted to cry— again— but something about that demon had returned my body to nearly dead. Numbly, I followed Jay.
Until we stopped and he led me to a flattened boulder to sit on. I swear my feet wept at the relief.
We’d made it all the way into the hills, past the poorest part of the Rest Third, and from here I could see the commotion still churning down by the river. Down by the Stonefield warehouse.
Flying carpets zipped back and forth, black and white, and gray trying to keep the peace between them. Clusters of black and white and gray on the ground too, though gray was severely outnumbered. No resting priestessi or magi to field in this circumstance. A few clumps of people were watching, but most were hiding in their homes until whatever had happened blew over.
I sat on my rock under the shade of a giant pine tree and marveled we’d gotten away at all. We owed it to Mouse. Today she’d more than paid back any lodging and food we’d given her and I would forever be grateful my boys weren’t in temple captivity.
That I wasn’t now possessed by a goddess, though I would have happily accepted Her if She had come and saved us from… that.
“Thank you, Mouse,” I managed. “You saved us.”
A grin flashed across her face, then she shyly turned away.
Jay sat beside me, rested one hand on my thigh. “We can’t stay here long.”
“Why?”
His shoulders lifted. “We’re almost there.”
I blinked at him. He didn’t seem to understand I still wasn’t thinking clearly.
“We’re close, Mom.” Wil tugged on my hand. “We have to save Cori.”
Ah, bless me to heaven. Lost in my own pain, I’d forgotten all about the girl. “All right.” I stood and nearly collapsed. Everything in my body protested.
Jay steadied me. “You want to stay here?”
“No.” I couldn’t let them out of my sight right now. If I sat here and thought about what we’d just been through, I’d have to think about the demon, about Maldita’s origins, about how the demon hunters might be right— everything I didn’t want to think about. “No, I’ll come.”
Mouse led the way— of course she somehow knew this area as well as she knew the warehouse area of the Rest Third. The path became rockier, the trees closer, the smell of dirt and grass and sap and pine stronger.
After today, using my magic again tempted me more than ever. One, no more running from the damned or the blessed; two, able to protect myself and my kids; three, faster healing; four, if I wanted to I could just blessing fly over the rocks—
A maw into the heart of the mountain opened up before us, and Mouse disappeared into it, then the boys, then Jay.
Oh good. Another adventure.
I stepped into the dark, blinking furiously.
We hadn’t brought lanterns or torches or any other way to light our way, but some of the caves around here lit themselves— yes.
Once my eyes adjusted, I saw light, caught between blue and green, deeper in. This area was small and the path twisted between outcroppings of faintly glowing rock. “Don’t touch it,” I told the boys. “In the caves that have been mined, anywhere the rock was touched, the light died.”
“What is it?” Wil whispered.
“No one knows. We were too busy stripping what we wanted to stop and study anything we didn’t want.”
Jay’s hand sought mine. I couldn’t really see him— the light wasn’t bright enough for more than a hint of his face, but his touch settled me. He kept his voice low, to match mine. “Boys, is Cori still here? And is anyone else here?”
Wil and Andy looked to the left, though the path wound right and I tentatively listened with my own magic.
The cave was a maze of rock and paths and caverns— one big one ahead of us to the right— and there was something to the left…
“She’s here.” Andy took the lead.
“I ain’t going any farther.” Mouse stayed by the opening, the whites showing all around her yellow pupils, her breathing fast and shallow. “Can’t do it. The rock presses down and what if—”
“You saved us,” I told her. “You brought us all the way across the city. Call out if anyone comes, and you’ll keep us safe again.”
She nodded and turned back toward the mouth of the cave.
Jay and I followed after Andy and Wil. Sometimes our footsteps were muffled and sometimes echoey. How had this cave formed? Some rocks looked like teeth in a giant mouth, others like squares of lace along the roof.
A cavern opened up in front of us. We all hesitated. Off to the left and up overhead, the rocks fell away. The emptiness loomed larger than the sanctuary room in the Temple of the Damned. The hair rose on the back of my neck. This much dark pressed all together reminded me a little of the dark the demon had brought with it, though this dark wasn’t so cold.
We’d survived that— we could survive this.
“Go slow and mind your footing.” I touched my fingertips to Jay’s back so he would feel me there. “Careful now.”
The only things I heard over my own harsh breathing were the scuffs of our shoes on the path. The rest of the cavern felt hushed in harsh silence as we wound around the back, ignored the misleading paths, then finally found the one to take us to the small chamber off to the right of the entrance.
Between one step and the next, I could feel Cori, feel her stupor, feel the sleeping drug running in her blood.
Alive!
And still we had to walk slowly through the dark to get to her. Finally we crouched next to her. My back cramped. I waited it out, then checked the girl for broken bones. She had a bump on her head but nothing bleeding where it shouldn’t and nothing broken. Ropes around her wrists and her ankles, and we decided to leave them on until we could see the knots to untangle them.
Jay lifted her into his arms. I sent Wil on ahead to feel our way out, and told Andy to follow behind, then I took a grip on Jay’s shirt and we walked back the way we’d come.
* * *
Jay
He’d thought he couldn’t get any more tired, then he carried a girl through the dark with only Sumi’s tugs and a little rock-glow to guide his feet. Despite the extra weight in his arms, the journey back seemed shorter than the journey in.
At least until they stumbled to a halt just before the exit.
“What’s wrong?” What now? What else? Resting betweens—
“Someone’s out there.” Mouse pressed against the rock as if she could become one with it. “They showed up and they’re not going away.”
“Who—?” Sumi staggered. She needed to rest— they all did. The kids hid it better but they too had to be exhausted from all the magic they’d done, then the running and more magic and now this—
“Dee and Robin! I feel them.” Wil smiled and stepped forward.
Sumi grabbed him by the collar. “Wait.”
Jay shifted Cori. His arms ached, his back and shoulders burned. He set his lips against Sumi’s ear to ensure his voice would not carry. “We have to go out there. But we have the perfect alibi. Let me do the talking.”
She nodded. Crouched to murmur into the boys’ ears.
Cori in his arms, Jay stepped out into blue and purple skies, sinking sun, suspicious faces. An array of Rest Third guards surrounded the entrance— Dee and Robin and Maggie and Litka and the rest, and at their head—
“Thom.” The weight of his lies— heavier than the weight of the girl he was carrying— pressed on him. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
Thom’s face fell into disappointed lines. The blue of his eyes looked more gray today. “Where have you been for the last several hours?”
“Searching for Cori.” Jay hitched up the girl. “And we found her. That resting cave system is huge. We should probably ask a damned priestess to block up this entrance so we don’t lose another child—”
Thom snorted. “We won’t be asking the damned or the blessed for any help anytime soon. As I suspect you know.”
He could pretend ignorance, but Thom knew him too well. Better to ask lots of questions. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong?”
Dee took a half-step forward. “Why is she tied up?”
Thom jerked his head, signaled to the guards to stay put, and Jay followed him off to the side. And kept himself between Thom and his family— which allowed Thom to keep an eye on Sumi, so they were both happy.
Somehow Thom knew.
Jay had denied it once before and convinced the man, but that didn’t seem likely this time.
“I’ve heard rumors you were down by the river today, boy.” Thom, master inquisitor, simply looked at Jay and waited.
There was something about the human condition, Jay had learned, that made people want to tell their side of the story, to justify their actions, to share their why, but he’d been questioned by Thom before. He let the silence drag on, then said, “I don’t know what else I can tell you. We searched the caves for hours before we found Cori. Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?” Go for the throat. “Don’t you trust me?”
Thom sighed. Stepped closer. Lowered his voice. “I can’t help cover for you if you don’t tell me the whole truth.”
Jay steeled himself against flinching or puffing up or making any reaction that would give Thom a hint he was right. “I am telling you the truth. Here— can you take her? She hasn’t woken up yet. We need to get the ropes off and get her back to her mother— then get a healer.”
Thom accepted the girl reluctantly, then looked him squarely in the eyes. “Where do your loyalties lie, boy?”
With my family. Jay swung back to the rest of the group. “Anyone have a knife? We need to get these ropes off. See if we can wake her up.”
Dee came up and hugged him. “Careful,” she murmured, then released him. The other guards clustered around Thom and Cori. Jay shifted back— keep attention away from Sumi, away from what he’d done, toward getting help for Cori.
Litka had a knife and Maggie had the smallest hands, so they cut the ropes. Robin chafed the girl’s skin and still she didn’t wake.
“A healer,” Thom said, and side-eyed Mal.
The Red boy— Jay couldn’t bring himself to think of Mal as anything other than boy— swung the carpet from his back, rolled it out on the ground, sat.
Thom handed him Cori. Good thing Mal was skinny and Cori still young and small; the carpet meant for one would just carry the two of them.
Mal activated the carpet so it hovered waist high.
Mouse still hadn’t come out of the cave, sensibly staying away from the mass of guards, and not betraying that this was one of her boltholes. Best to get the guards away from her before someone decided to snoop in the cave.
“So?” Jay pitched his voice to carry. “What’s Thom not telling us?”
Dee checked over her shoulder. Thom had turned his back on them to talk to the rest of the guards, but his shoulders tightened at Jay’s words. Dee shrugged. “Someone used a bunch of magic down by the docks. Brought the damned and the blessed swarming out of their temples and fighting each other to conscript whoever it was, but they disappeared from under their noses.” She laughed.
Her eyes told him it was a forced laugh, but he played along. “Resting—! And I missed it?”
“What did the magic do?” Sumi asked, while the boys concentrated on looking supremely bored.
“They won’t tell us.” Disgust twisted Maggie’s voice. “They tried to take over the Stonefields’ entire warehouse, but Grandma Stonefield had her boys bring her letters down—”
“Her typical scathing missives no doubt.” Jay forced a smirk. Now that he knew they were blood-family, it pricked to hear them criticized. Even if that made no sense.
Robin flashed a smile. “Yes. So they opened up the warehouse for the guards and the magi and the priestessi to take a really good look, then closed it up again.”
“Can you imagine the things in there?” Dee sounded wistful.
“Grandma Stonefield was furious. Damage to the back door. No guard on duty.”
“Is there supposed to be a guard all the time?” Sumi’s voice was just a little too innocent. His wife was going to get them all into trouble.
“Not all the time,” Jay said abruptly. “They hired me for some night shifts. How about it, Thom? Anyone for daytime?”
“No.” Thom scowled. “You didn’t find anyone else in there? Whoever took Cori?”
Jay shook his head, and Thom growled, “Then let’s get Cori down. Her mother will be glad to see her.”
Thom and the other guards mounted their carpets and surrounded Mal. Jay wanted to ask his sisters to take the boys, but the way Thom was acting— no.
“We’ll get her to a healer.” Thom glared at Jay. “I’ll deal with you after.”
Jay nodded sharply.
The gray guard carpets rose into the blue sky and headed west, back toward the city, leaving Jay, Sumi, and the boys to make their own way back.
Downhill used a different set of muscles. It was a nice change until Jay’s knees creaked and popped and then settled into a serious stabbing pain. “Sumi? Boys? You all right?”
Fatigue washed out her voice. “Why the heaven didn’t they bring any spare flying carpets?”
“The Rest Third Guard doesn’t have many spares. And they’re heavy. And Fitz was probably tracking us once we left the city, so they hiked up. He tracks from the ground— no one wanted to go back for the spares.”
Andy perked up. “Which one’s Fitz?”
“The Green guard.”
“Wow. Would he teach us?”
Not after today. Jay shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll ask.”
Sumi made a noise in the back of her throat like her back hurt. But she kept going. Asked, “Who took her? Why?”
“Cori? Not slavers. She’d have been shipped out by boat or caravan if it was slavers.”
“She didn’t run away. Didn’t tie herself up in a cave.”
“No, she didn’t.”
The boys passed them both. Ah, to be young.
“We didn’t solve anything,” Sumi snarled. “We don’t know anything—”
“Sometimes cases aren’t solved. Sometimes the person who commits a crime gets away. Sometimes we just don’t know.”
Wil and Andy glanced back, their mouths hanging open.
Andy was the first to recover. He shot Jay a devastated look. Turned his back and ran. Wil opened and closed his mouth like a fish, then shrugged and followed after Andy.
They reached the dirt road at the same time. Didn’t wait for him and Sumi.
“They’ll go home, right?” He finally reached the road. Waited for her to join him.
The boys had enough reality. He could have chosen his words more carefully to cushion the awful truth.
But he hadn’t.
Rest it, he was tired.
“They’ll go home.” Sumi paused, bent at the waist, slowly straightened.
“Your back?”
“My back.”
“Solved or not, at least we found her.” Jay smiled. Small and grim but still a smile.
“True.” She nodded. “I hope whoever took her doesn’t take her again.”
“I suspect Suann will keep her close for a while.”
Sumi twisted to look back. “Mouse will be all right?”
“She was great today.”
“Saved us. Thank the goddessi we’re almost home.”
Behind them, he heard Mouse following, all but silent.