"No, it's the portal," Valeska replied.
It was so loud now, I could almost feel it rumbling through me. Wind rustled through the trees.
An overgrown thicket of brambles blocked our path, and Lyra crouched down, carefully lifting up the branches to make a narrow opening for us to squeeze under. Pools of water sat underneath, rippling from a gust of wind that blew in through the gap.
I crawled on my hands and knees, with fresh mud soaking through my pants, but I barely even noticed.
And then there it was, right in front of me--a cyclone of water that stretched all the way up toward the ceiling, as far as I could see. Closer to the top, it looked like it stretched a mile across, but it slowly narrowed until it came to a point where it hovered a mere six feet above the ground.
We had found it. We were going home.
Or at least some of us were.
THIRTY-SIX
"The cloak isn't big enough for four," Valeska said in a hushed voice, barely audible over the sounds of the rushing wind and water.
My gear bag was open, sitting by my feet, with the cloak still tucked inside. It was all ready to go. I just couldn't bring myself to pull it out yet.
I'd been standing and watching the cyclone while Oona got ready. Asher stood directly under the cyclone, with his eyes closed and his head back, letting the mist and wind blow over him.
Oona was a few feet away from us, mixing up a fresh batch of her protection armarria potion before we went through. Lyra crouched beside her, helping some, but mostly watching her and talking.
"I know," I told Valeska finally, as I watched the sublime relief on Asher's face as he breathed in deeply. He'd been here for so much longer than me--especially in Kurnugia time--and I imagined he had to be relishing the feel of the clean air and water.
I swallowed hard then turned to look at Valeska. "But you made it through without one. Your biggest injuries were from the geyser, going into Kurnugia. This shouldn't burn me." I paused, pushing back my fear. "Right?"
"No, this one won't burn you. If anything, it's cold." As she spoke, she tilted her head back, letting her eyes follow the full length of the water cyclone up to the ceiling. "But it takes a long-ass time."
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad. I can handle being cold for a while."
"Yeah, but how long can you hold your breath?" Valeska asked.
"A couple minutes?" I chewed the side of my cheek. "How long does it take?"
She shrugged. "Ten minutes? Maybe twenty? I just know that my protection spell ran out halfway through, taking all my oxygen with it. I almost blacked out by the time I surfaced, and I was coughing up water."
I glanced over to where Oona was hard at work. "Her potion is more powerful."
"Is it?" Valeska asked. "Or was it the cloak that protected us earlier?"
"Are you trying to freak me out?" I asked her directly.
"No." She scoffed. "I just don't want you to kill yourself. If you die on the way up, I'm the one stuck getting that spear to Odin."
"What else would you have me do?" I asked, lowering my voice in case Asher or Oona might be able to hear. "I'm not leaving any of you behind, and I won't stay here by myself. So what else can I do but hope that everything is enough?"
Valeska didn't say anything for a moment, and then she looked at me. Her wide eyes were solemn under her heavy lashes, and her small mouth was pressed into a thin line.
Oona had finally finished her potion, so we all gathered together to get ready. We said our goodbyes to Lyra before Oona got started with her incantations, but she lingered at the edge of the forest to watch.
"Leaving requires a few more steps than it did to get in," Oona explained. "But I'm going to start with the protection spell first, and then move on to the next part."
Like she had before we entered Kurnugia, Oona began the protection process. First, she handed us each a mirror-black hematite crystal and warned us to hang on to it. Then she opened the vial of her armarria potion and marked each of us with it in an X over our hearts as she recited an incantation.
Asher was wounded above his heart, but Oona insisted the placement was necessary. He pulled down the collar of his shirt, giving her easier access, and he winced as she gently slid her finger across his lacerations.
"Oh, damn, that burns." He grimaced, looking down at his chest. Steam actually came out of the cuts, but only for a second.
"Sorry about that," Oona said. "But I don't want you getting hurt any worse, so I had to do that."
"No, it's okay." He let go of his shirt so that his marks were covered up, and he rubbed his hand over the spot.
"The next part is weird, but at least the Kurtari incantation is quick." She pulled out a vial of thick purple liquid. "So, first I'm going to pour a bit of Eralim blood on your head"--she shook the vial--"then I need you to spin counterclockwise while reciting the incantation."
Valeska wrinkled her nose and said, "I used only the Eralim blood when I did it before."
"Yeah, well, you were alone," Oona countered. "There's four of us going back, so the portal needs to be bigger and open for longer."
Oona ushered us under the cyclone, the wind whipping through our hair and clothes. She smeared purple blood across each of our foreheads, including her own, then shouted to be heard over the noise. "Repeat after me: At-eh-bah-map ah-dilz ah oh-doh!"
We all turned counterclockwise, going the opposite of the direction the cyclone was churning in.
"Okay!" Oona yelled when we'd finished. "All we need is the cloak and the key, then we should be home free!"
"But how do we know if it's worked?" Asher asked. "Nothing's changed!"
"If it sucks us up, it works!" Valeska shouted over the roar.
I had the cloak out, but I'd been holding it balled up in my hands. Now I let it unfurl, hanging on to it tightly to keep it from blowing away. Asher was in the center, because he was the tallest, so I put the hood over his head. Oona and Valeska took the spots on either side of him, with me standing in front, so my back was to the open gap in the cloak.
Valeska took the Sibudu Key off from around her neck and raised her hand up high until the key touched the bottom of the waterspout.
"Are you--" I started to ask, but then it sucked us up.
One second I was standing on the ground, and the next I was submerged in icy cold water. I buried my face in Asher's chest, breathing for as long as I could, and I felt Valeska's hand over mine--small but strong as she gripped tightly.
My back felt frozen, and there was an intense pressure, like I was being slowly squished. It was getting harder to breathe--my lungs didn't have enough space. I tried to push back from Asher to get more room, but there wasn't any to be had.
My throat burned and my entire chest ached, and pain and panic set in as I realized I was suffocating. I gasped for air, and the muscles in my abdomen began to spasm painfully. My eyes were closed, but I could see spots dancing across my vision as my mind felt black and foggy. I squeezed Valeska's hand as tightly as I could, but within seconds I was gone.
THIRTY-SEVEN
It was like falling asleep in reverse.
Before I even opened my eyes, I could feel the sun warming my skin and the sandy beach under my back. I looked up through a blur of water and tears, and I could see the blue of the sky.
"She's alive!" Oona shouted excitedly, and she leaned forward, blocking out the sun. "Oh, gosh, I'm so glad you're alive. You are alive, right?"
"I think so," I replied thickly.
"Oona, give her some space, will you?" Valeska said. "I told you she would be fine."
Oona groaned but moved away from me. "Just because you say things doesn't make them true."
I sat up, looking around at the pond in the center of the cave. Above it was the wide opening, letting in the daylight and a beautiful view of the sky. Across the pond was a mossy staircase carved into the wall, which would be our emergency exit out of here. We were back on earth, in the cave beyond the tunnels th
at stretched below the ossuary in the Gates of Kurnugia.
This was where I'd lost Asher, and now it was where I found him again. Lying beside me, with the sun bathing his face. But his eyes were on me.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said, taking my hand in his. "I don't know what I'd have done if I lost you."
"Well, you'd have to go back to the underworld and get me," I teased.
"I suppose it is only fair that we take turns rescuing each other. So next time, I got you."
"It's a deal."
"You know, we still have the journey back to Caana City," Valeska reminded us. "And I wanna get out of this stinking, festering cesspool and get a shower and eat real food. Not to mention, you've got a meeting with Odin that you can't be late for."
The last time I'd spoken with Odin, he'd left me the same instructions as before: meet him at the top of the Caana Temple on the night of my return, when the moon is highest in the sky. How exactly he knew when I'd return was beyond me, but he'd met me last time on that same directive.
And he was a Vanir god. I was sure he had his ways of finding things out.
I stood up. "Let's go, then."
Last time I'd left here, it had killed me to leave without Asher. But now he was here, by my side, and I couldn't wait to get away from all this.
We swam across the pond and slowly climbed up the slippery steps. Well, Asher, Oona, and I did. Valeska flew up to the top and waited for us to join her. When we finally reached her, we were treated to a stunning view of the Gates of Kurnugia--the winding maze and the tall pyramids--with the sun setting on the horizon.
We slid down the sheer side of the cavern to the ground. Combining Valeska's ability to fly with our own memory of the path we'd taken before, we made quick work of getting out of the Gates of Kurnugia. In fact, we made such good time that we made it to the middle of El Noveno Anillo in time to catch the 5:45 hyperbus back to Caana City.
I sat next to Asher on the bus, giving him the window seat. He looked out the window the entire time at the world racing by. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder, loving the feel of him next to me.
"It's all so strange," Asher said softly. "Escaping was such a victory, and I want to relish it. But I know there's still so much left to do. The war hasn't even started yet."
"Maybe there won't be one," I suggested. "Maybe when I meet Odin later he'll tell me that's it, and this will all be over."
"No." He said it with such certainty that I looked up at him. "Gugalanna won't stop without a fight. They took down Zianna, and it's only a matter of time before they break through up here. They want a war, and they're going to have one."
I reached up to him, touching his face gently to get him to look at me. "We only have ten minutes left on this bus, then we'll go back to the motel where the real work will start.
"But for now, there's nothing else that we can do, nowhere else we need to be," I went on. "Let's pretend that we're two normal people, just happy to be together."
He smiled then, faintly, so the corners of his mouth barely moved, but there was light playing in his eyes. The weary creases on his forehead smoothed as he relaxed, letting his happiness soften the harder edges of his face.
"Okay." Asher leaned back in his worn bus seat. "I'll play. What would two ordinary people without a care in the world be doing on a hyperbus in Belize?"
"We're on vacation," I replied amiably.
He arched an eyebrow, and his smile deepened. "Our honeymoon?"
"Now you're getting ahead of yourself," I said, causing him to laugh warmly.
It was such a wonderful sound, and I wondered dimly when the last time I'd heard him laugh had been. When was the last time even I had laughed?
"Okay, so just a vacation," Asher agreed. "I assume we've been seeing the sites?"
"Of course! We took a tour of the rain forest and saw the temples."
He managed to look suitably impressed as he said, "Ooh, those were really fantastic, weren't they?"
"They were, but what we really enjoyed was getting some sun."
"Oh, yeah, we don't have sun like this back in the city." Then he looked out the window, at the setting sun splashing on the jungle around us, and there was a wistfulness in his eyes that wasn't just pretend.
For him, it had been weeks that he'd been in Kurnugia, without sun, without fresh air, without anything.
"What do you think we'll do tonight?" I asked, making my words sound extra cheery. I wanted to bring him back here, with me in the moment, and not thinking about whatever he'd endured in Kurnugia.
He waited a beat before turning to look back at me, an easy smile returning. "We could check out that cute little restaurant the concierge recommended."
"What kind of food do they serve?"
"It's a taco/sushi fusion, but what they're really known for is their ice cream," Asher said, totally deadpan, and it was enough to make me burst out laughing.
"That is a very unusual menu," I said as I stifled more laughter.
"We wouldn't want this vacation to be ordinary, would we?"
"No, of course not," I agreed. "I can't wait to try the black bean California roll. And maybe tomorrow we'll do some shopping."
"We should really have a relaxing day," he suggested. "Sleep in late, have breakfast in bed, and hit the souvenir shops in the afternoon."
"Oh, yeah, that would be nice! I could get a shirt for Oona, and maybe a shot glass for Mar--" I'd started to say Marlow. I'd gotten so caught up in the fantasy of being carefree, on vacation with my boyfriend, that I allowed myself to forget--just for a second--that my mother was dead.
But now the illusion had been shattered, and real life crashed down on me. The sun didn't seem as bright anymore, and the scenery flying by was nothing but a dark blur.
Asher sensed the shift in my mood, so he put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. "Right now, with you and me on this old bus, it's honestly the best vacation I've had in a long time."
THIRTY-EIGHT
Quinn hugged me first. I don't know exactly how I had expected her to react, but it definitely caught me off guard when she grabbed me and pulled me into her arms.
There was an intensity that reminded me of when we had still been together. It was a little too tight, almost bone-crushingly tight, but it only hurt because of how fiercely she cared. Sometimes she couldn't help herself.
We were inside of the doorway to the motel suite at the Caana Extended Stay Inn & Suites--I'd barely had a chance to get inside before she pounced on me. Atlas stood behind her in the main room, where the bland motel living room and tiny kitchenette looked immaculate. Quinn must've been stress-cleaning while we were gone.
"I'm so glad you're safe," she said, her breathy voice in my ear.
Then she let me go, just as abruptly and intensely as when she'd first embraced me, so I almost stumbled backward into Asher.
"We weren't even gone that long," I argued lamely, which was true from her perspective. For me, it felt like I'd been gone for almost a full day, but in earth time it had only been four hours we were in the underworld.
Quinn's attention had already moved on to everyone else anyway.
"Asher!" Quinn gasped. She raised her arms like she meant to hug him, but then changed her mind at the last second and let them fall back to her sides. "You're alive!"
"Yeah, it would seem that way." He rubbed an eye with the palm of this hand. "It's been a long ... week, I guess. And I'd really like to shower and change back into my own clothes and get something to eat."
I showed him where the bathroom was, then got his bag of clothes that we'd carried with us since Gugalanna had taken him. Meanwhile, Quinn made a big show of greeting Oona and Valeska. She hugged Oona, too, and she was about to go in for one with Valeska, but Valeska told her firmly, "I don't hug."
Quinn and Atlas had a thousand questions for us, and fortunately Oona was more than happy to answer them. She sat on the couch, filling in every detail with lots of excited ha
nd movements, while Valeska sat on the stainless steel kitchenette counter eating a day-old plantain sandwich and chasing it with an energy drink called Adityas Elixir.
Asher came out of the bathroom wearing a threadbare motel robe when Oona had just gotten to the middle of her story. He went into the bedroom to change, so I followed him and quietly closed the door behind me.
"Are you feeling any better?" I asked and sat down on one of the beds.
"Some." He slipped off his robe, leaving him wearing only a pair of boxer briefs.
While most of his wounds seemed to be healing nicely, the marks on his chest continued to look angry and inflamed. The edges were puckered and bright red, and the wound itself was a dark brown gap that only seemed to be widening.
I grimaced and motioned to his chest. "It looks worse."
"What?" He looked down at it. "Yeah, I was scrubbing at in the shower. I was hoping that would help somehow, but I think I only made things worse."
"You should have Oona take a look at it. She has all kinds of potions and salves that would help."
"Maybe." He shrugged noncommittally and pulled a black T-shirt on over his head, hiding the marks. "I don't want to bother her."
"It's not a bother. She likes to help people."
"Maybe," he repeated as he put on a pair of jeans, then changed the subject with, "What's the plan? Now that I'm back and you have the spear. Are you supposed to be meeting Odin?"
"Yeah, but not until late. Like a quarter to midnight," I said, and Asher raised an eyebrow, presumably at the oddly specific time. "He asks to meet when the moon is the highest in the sky. Vanir gods run on different time."
Asher glanced over at an alarm clock with its bright green numbers. "That gives me a few hours to eat and rest up."
"Well, I was thinking that you should stay back," I told him gently. He looked at me sharply, but before he could protest, I went on. "You've already been through so much. You don't need to go out tonight."
"They know you have the spear," he insisted. "And we don't know who Gugalanna and Ereshkigal are communicating with up here or how they're doing it, but they obviously are, since they were working with Tamerlane Fayette and somehow got him to trick your mom into sparing him."
I looked past Asher, out the window behind him, so I wouldn't have to see the conviction in his eyes. Night had fallen, and thick clouds were rolling in, blocking out the moonlight and the stars. In the distance, the clouds lit up with a burst of lightning.