I looked up at the ceiling. A fist-sized hole. Could we dig it wider? It was ringed in carefully dressed stone. That would be a no. Without tools, we couldn’t possibly move it. I swallowed.
A vision filled my eyes – sent from one of my bees.
Ixtap – dressed in finery – at a feast on the shore of the ocean. He raised his goblet in a toast to cheers all around him. They were celebrating something. Behind him, in the ocean, the silhouette of many ships bobbed on the waves. I fought against the vision, my body instinctually bucking against the invasion into my mind. More than ever, I hated that the snake people had implanted a part of themselves in me. I hated that they could give me memories and thoughts. We were stuck here and that was all my fault, but it didn’t keep me from feeling resentful of them. I pushed the vision aside.
Drawing in a long breath, I focused. We needed a plan.
Okay, so maybe there were different symbols for different doors. I tried a few at random. Nothing.
“We really are stuck.” Zayana said hopelessly. She walked to the side of the room, put her back to the circular wall of the round room, placed her head in her hands, and began to silently sob.
I couldn’t blame her. I felt like crying, too. After all that, to think we might have to do it over again having accomplished nothing ... I couldn’t bear the thought.
Chapter Six
THE ENERGY I’D FELT before seemed to be draining away as the minutes ticked by. I tried more door combinations. I tried feeling the sides of the room looking for a way out. Above us, the light in the fist-sized hole faded until it was gone.
“This is what we get for defying the Empire,” Zayana said hopelessly. Her face was smeared with tears and dust.
I spun to face her. “What is what we get? What?”
“Punishment. Disaster. What did you expect by defying them?”
I crossed my arms and leaned down so she could see me in the last shreds of fading light. Without meaning to, I manifested bees. Two of them. They spun glowing spirals around us as I spoke.
“I’ve been trying and trying to tell you, Zayana. When are you going to listen? Your loyalty to the Empire is misplaced. They’ve taken everything from you.”
“Not my sister.” Her face was tear streaked in the light of my bees. “She’s alive, living with patrons.”
“So that they can hold her over your head and use you? Or, so they can use her later?”
“She’s already going to pay a price because of what you and Wing Ivo did!”
“Because we saved a city from enemies? Think about that. Your sister is going to pay a price because you helped two people save an Imperial city from invasion. Because we saved little children from being murdered in their homes? Does that sound right to you?”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s right. It matters that it is. I can’t change it, so I have to live under it.”
I huffed and stood up again. If I couldn’t get this idea through her head, I couldn’t work with her. She’d seemed so close to understanding when we left the snake temple but she kept getting tangled up again in her loyalty to the Empire.
“I’m afraid, too, okay?” I said, trying to put my whole heart into this explanation. “Juste Montpetit wants my family dead – specifically. He wants to torture me – specifically. It’s not a vague, general, maybe threat. It’s a specific one. But why should I be afraid of him? Why should I let him have that kind of power over me? You know what? I’m angry. I’m angry all the time because I feel so powerless and even that isn’t enough. So, instead of being just angry and just scared, I’m doing something about it. I’m joining this revolution of Wing Ivo’s and I’m going to act because one way or another none of us gets out of this life alive. We all die eventually. Why spend all my time afraid of it and trying to cling to the scraps they’ll give me? I won’t do that. I’d rather fight for freedom – even if I lose – than die with their boot on my neck.”
“You’re a fool.” Her words were faint.
“Then come be a fool with me.” I pled. “You need to finally make a decision. I’m not bringing you with me if you aren’t on our side. You can go back to pretending that everything is fine with the Empire and that you can have a life under their rule. Or you can come with me and if you come with me, then I don’t want to see any more waffling. I want to see some courage.”
She frowned and I turned my back on her, striding to stand in front of the three yawning mouths as she made up her mind.
It seemed to take forever. I had to bite my lip to keep from tapping a foot or turning around to see if she’d gone to sleep. Above me, in the tiny window to the sky, the stars shone bright and the coolness of night descended into the little underground room. It felt like hours that I’d stood there waiting. But better this than a knife in my back the first time we saw a Claw patrol. Better to wait than to have her signaling Osprey the next time he flew over us.
I reached into the leather cuff and touched Os’s feather. It was stone cold. I stroked it gently. What did cold mean? It was always warm. Should I be worried about Osprey?
Calm down, Aella. The waiting is getting to you.
I almost sighed with relief when scarlet light flared behind me, and Zayana’s whisper-soft footsteps brought her to join me. She stood a full head shorter than me. Delicate and beautiful, just like her bird, but her eyes had a bold look in them when she turned to face me.
“This isn’t for you, you know.”
I smirked. “Of course not.”
“Which of these horrible snakes swallows us this time?” She held her chin high like she was trying to keep from shuddering.
“None of them.”
I turned to the plaque and followed a hunch that had been growing as I waited. I touched the symbol on the map that marked the spot where our room was and heard the grinding of stone on stone as the door swung open on its own.
“Did you know it would do that all along?” Zayana asked.
I shook my head. “Sometimes you have to follow a hunch and take a risk.”
She took a big breath and sighed.
“Let’s go out and conquer,” I said.
She snorted a disbelieving laugh, but she followed me out of the door and into the crisp night. The door swung shut behind us with a faint click. In the darkness, it was hard to see much of our surroundings. There were tall rocks arranged around us in a semi-circle and out past them were trees.
Something moved in the trees and I felt a stab of fear in my gut. Was it a tentacle of Forbidding? I swallowed down fear. After all, I couldn’t demand that Zayana be brave if I wasn’t brave myself.
“Let’s spend the night in this stone circle,” I suggested. “We can build a fire here.”
Zayana nodded, her eyes fearful as she peered into the darkness. We built our fire in silence and huddled up against the nearest stone before dropping into a fitful, uncomfortable sleep.
I woke to a sense that something was wrong.
I remained motionless, letting my eyes flick open and trying to study our surroundings without twitching. Was that a ghost of a movement?
I held my breath, listening. There were no more sounds to give me a clue of what I’d heard, but there was still the sense that something was following us. I woke Zayana hurriedly and we kicked out the fire and began to move through the darkness, using our manifestations to light the way.