33

The boat man had a hat pulled low over his face. He pulled in to stop expertly in front of Kai and Bree and tilted his chin. “You two need a lift?”

“Tau? Is that you?”

The man in the boat threw back his hat with a laugh, “Not quite. The name is Shrimp. You two need help?”

“I don’t actually know what we need.” There was something about this guy that made it easy to be honest. Maybe it was how much he reminded Kai of Tau.

“This is not a good place to talk.” Shrimp checked the bushes behind them. “Hop in. Let’s go where it’s safe.”

Bree hung back, but Kai gently eased her into the boat and climbed in behind her.

Shrimp saw the chunk of web coiled around her ankles. “Let’s deal with that right here, shall we? Don’t move.” He dug around in the bottom of the boat for a knife, checked the sharpness of the blade against the wood of his craft, and stabbed the gooey blackness until it sprang loose. Careful not to touch it, he hooked it up using the knife and tossed it overboard. “That’s better.” He grinned at them both and turned his attention back to rowing.

Bree curled herself into the smallest ball, hugging her legs to her chest. Kai could only hope they were doing the right thing.

Shrimp called back over his shoulder, “Brace yourselves. We’re coming up to the barrier.”

The air in front of them lit up and the lights spun and grew, painting a picture so full of light that Kai blinked back tears. Only it wasn’t a painting—it was real. A dome of blue sky melted through the darkness, and Bree gasped. The trees along the banks of the river were tall and slender, all reaching loftily toward the sky as if they had nothing better to do than play with sunrays. The river itself sparkled in glittering shades of blue.

They paddled out to the middle of the river. Its water flowed deep and peaceful, though Kai knew it was not the Healing Stream. Those waters were alive. This seemed wholesome, but ordinary.

Shrimp waved a hand, and Kai nearly fell out of the boat as out of nowhere, an enormous, glass, domed structure appeared in front of them, floating on the water, glistening in the light. Bree gasped.

“Welcome to our home.” Shrimp aimed the boat sideways toward a landing gap in the base of the structure. Once the boat was secure, he climbed out and helped the others onto the stairs. They followed him inside.

“Beaver! Come on up. We have company.”

They stood in what Kai assumed was the lounge, though the only pieces of furniture there were giant beanbags and a strange greeny-blue mat on the floor. Bree bent down and ran the tassels of the mat through her fingers.

The one called Beaver came up a winding staircase through a hole in the floor. He wiped his hands on his shirt and mumbled to himself. He looked up and blinked at them all, and then his face buckled into a friendly grin. Walking straight over to Kai, he prodded him in the chest. “You can’t stay here. You don’t have much time.”

The words were at odds with his smile, and Kai wasn’t sure how to respond.

He turned to Bree, and his voice softened. “But for you, young lady, I have something special. Have you ever wanted to see an underwater garden?” He waited for her nod before motioning them to follow him back down the stairs.

The deeper they went, the more Bree’s eyes sparkled. The light that filtered through the water played through the glass walls of the room. Bree held out her good hand to catch the light. Small schools of fish swam past the walls. She ran to the side and pressed her face against the glass. She looked this way and that, trying to take it all in at once. Kai glanced around, but couldn’t keep his eyes off his friend, who seemed to be coming back to life before his eyes.

Shrimp called her over to the underwater garden area, and Bree went easily. It might have been imagination, but Kai almost thought he saw a curl or two reappearing in her hair.

Beaver drew him aside. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Kai stared past him. “Is that Healing Stream water? In those glass things?” He walked over and placed his hand on the glass. The water bubbled in response.

“It is. But I think you know that.”

“I need to find the Healing Stream. Can you tell me where it is?”

“I don’t actually know. I’m sorry.”

“I have some friends who’re in trouble.” He gestured to Bree with his eyebrows, dropping his voice. “We found her dad’s grave in the graveyard. The death date was in three months’ time. My other friend—his death date was carved right before our eyes. And Bree herself...we watched her grave being filled up, though there was no date on the stone.

“You’ve been in the graveyard?”

“Yes.”

“And you lived to tell me about it.”

“Yes. Is that so weird?”

“Nobody has ever come out alive.”

“Nobody told us that.”

Beaver’s gaze slid over him as if mentally recalibrating his first impression. “Well, maybe that’s a good thing. I hate to be rude, but you have to leave. You can leave this one here. She’ll be safe. I can see she needs some repair.” He scratched his arm unconsciously. “But you must go. Now.”

~*~

Shasta’s fingers slid up Evazee’s neck, and he leaned close to whisper, “There are some converts who are waiting to meet you. You are quite the hot topic right now.”

Evazee melted under his fingertips. All the stress dissolved and left her feeling weak and weepy. “I don’t believe you. Why?” She wanted to giggle at the way her tongue slurred her words the tiniest bit.

She stared at his mouth as he answered. It remained closed, but his voice echoed in her head. It’s not every girl who can claim to have won the heart of such a powerful man.

There was a hitch in his voice that caught her off-guard. He looked away quickly and walked faster. He said nothing more until they reached a wooden double door that she’d never seen before. Her vision from the testing arch seemed to repeat as the doors opened to a crowd that filled the vast chamber. They stepped inside. Evazee’s hands were slick with perspiration. There were too many to count.

Shasta moved closer to her, slipping one hand under her arm, the other caressed her neck. Reality and memory collided, and Evazee couldn’t breathe. Words flew at her, sharp and piercing. They flooded through her. Just like before. She couldn’t hear her own words, but they came out of her mouth like a hammer and slammed into the people in front of her. The effect was even more dramatic than it had been in her vision.

They streamed forward, pressing toward Evazee and Shasta. A shaft of cold slid down her spine. There were too many, too close. Evazee fought the urge to run. They held out their hands to her as if they’d found their savior. She felt the warmth of Shasta behind her and drew courage from his closeness. So this is how it felt to be wanted.

“Speak to them.”

He slipped a hand to the base of her neck, positioning fingers over her vocal chords and sending his thoughts into her head. They flew at her like crows, black and fast. Blinding pain shot through her brain.

This was not what she wanted. She opened her mouth to tell him, but his words came tumbling out of her mouth and echoed through the chamber, amplified by the vaulted, rocky ceiling.

The more she surrendered to the flow of words, the less pain sliced through her skull. Words danced across the crowd in front of her and understanding dawned in their eyes and faces. Some embraced what they heard and threw their arms around each other, while others stood with expressions of rapture.

Surely this was good? It looked good from the outside. But why was her stomach in a knot?

~*~

Kai paddled himself away from the dome house back toward the doorway to the spirit cuttings. Beaver had decanted Healing Stream water for him, which he carried in a bag on his back. It should be enough to get him safely through the cuttings. As for navigating, he was going to trust Tau to show him the way as before.

Something splashed behind him and he spun around to see what it was. “Bree! What are you doing?”

The girl was swimming after him, even though she only had one good arm. He rotated the boat around and hauled her onboard. She was soaked through and shivering.

“You left me.”

“It’s safer for you here. If you thought the desert was bad, you have no idea what we’ll be up against.” He frowned. “I don’t even know. I just can’t worry about you.”

Bree wiped the water from her eyes, and her hands balled into fists at her hips. “I will not be left behind again.” Even as the water dripped off the tips of her hair, the waves were coming back. By the time it was dry, he’d be willing to bet his left arm that her curly mop would be back in full force.

“Your hair.” He couldn’t help grinning. “It’s going curly again.”

She rolled her eyes at him, looking so much like the old Bree that he struggled to breathe.

“What happened back there? You haven’t been yourself since the desert and now...” He waved a hand over her, at a loss for words.

“I don’t know. I feel like I’ve been asleep, trapped in an endless bad dream, but being here, woke me up.” Her eyes lost focus as she tried to puzzle it out. “Anyway. It’s beside the point. Apparently, you need to get a move on. So let’s go.”

~*~

Shasta led Evazee from the room, keeping her tucked close to his side.

“Sir, can we bring them in now?” The man who called for Shasta’s attention had solid black eyes and writhing snakes on his forehead.

“Has the web filled the cuttings? You know we cannot move until it has.” Shasta released his hold on Evazee and drew the man away.

Evazee stared at the man’s black eyes and writhing snakes and struggled to make sense of the images. Shasta drew the man further down the passage, where they spoke in voices too quiet for Evazee to hear.

Low growls and snarls echoed from the passage beyond them, followed by the tapping of clawed feet on stone. Evazee’s blood ran cold. DarKounds. She backed away instinctively and with each step away from Shasta, her mind cleared. This was all wrong.