I stuck to the wall, not moving, trying not to breathe too much. As I stared at it, the glow started moving. Toward me. Well, more accurately, it was following the opposite wall of the cave, and there was enough open space between us to ensure we wouldn't come anywhere near. Just in case, I slowed my breathing as much as possible. What if the glowing creature could feel the air coming in and out of my lungs? You might think that sounds silly, but unless you could've proven it wasn't true, I wouldn't have listened.

  The glowing creature had a weird sort of gait, as if swaying on many legs. I thought of the ant-like sniffers in my dream and shuddered. This was the world of the living, though, and I couldn't smell the distinctive foulness of miasma, so I really doubted this was a creature of the Underworld.

  It felt almost quaint, to be scared of a regur animal after all. It didn't matter how strange it looked, that's what it was. Even if it could be dangerous, it wouldn't be as bad as sniffers or needleteeth or—greensuits.

  I cracked open a light spell, but sent it across the cave before I told it to get to work. A warm yellow light illuminated most of the cave; I shaded my eyes with a hand, truly missing my lost hat for the first time.

  The glowing creature scrunched itself up like a sheet of paper being compacted into a ball. Soon it noticed the light wasn't attacking it, and stretched out one long thin tentacle-like appendage to poke at it. Naturally, it didn't manage to touch anything, and soon it unfolded itself, seemingly convinced that the light was harmless. It looked like a handful of moldy spaghetti that had come alive, clinging upside-down from the roof. I was too far away to see how it stuck to the rock; maybe it had suckers like an octopus, or maybe it secreted sticky goo like a snail. At any rate, it could move its tentacles pretty fast, and it didn't take too long for it to disappear down a different cave.

  I only hesitated a moment before following it. Living creatures need water, after all. My light spell would st maybe a half hour if I was lucky, so I left it behind to wait for Vanth.

  Surely Vanth was fine. Running away felt like such a coward thing to do, though. I'd helped Valentino a little bit, so maybe I could've stayed. But I'd had only a few seconds to make my decision and now I couldn't take it back.

  With my eyes on the creature and my mind back in the room with the tubes, I almost didn’t notice the ground sloped down very suddenly, and I almost tripped. This time I couldn’t even bme it on the needleteeth! Luckily, I managed to regain my bance just in time. It figures I’d stop paying attention to the ground when I really needed to. I used another light spell and hurried after the creature.

  Was it possible I could end up going too deep into the mountain without finding anything useful? Of course. Better than going the other way, anyway. How was I supposed to reach my pne in time? Oh, well. One thing at a time.

  In the end, the creature didn’t lead me to the water, but I glimpsed it into the distance after catching up. The tunnel opened into a cave here, still fairly cramped, still with a low roof and an uneven ground. The river was hard to miss, though. Its banks were covered in moss and fungal growths. Even if I hadn’t been searching for it specifically, it would’ve piqued my curiosity. So I went there.

  Even a simple gnce revealed all sorts of life: algal clumps, pale blind fish darting busily, glistening frogs shorter than one of my fingers. There must be worms, and probably some sort of bug, for the frogs to eat. I had more urgent things to worry about, though. This river wasn’t much more narrow than the one above, and for all I knew was longer. If my hypothesis was true, I could follow it and find the strikers—which direction would lead me to them, though? I had no sense of direction; without a compass or the stars to guide me, one direction looked as likely as the other.

  This was as far as I’d go for now, then. Time to wait for Vanth to catch up with me. The ground was all harsh rock and slippery moss, so I found a crevice that could be vaguely mistaken for welcoming and folded up my jacket as an improvised cushion. I was so tired that even this arrangement felt vaguely cozy. Better than walking on, at least. I sent my light spell to float where the tunnel opened into the cave. That way, Vanth wouldn’t miss it, but if a guard happened to come this way I would be able to see them before they saw me.

  That was the idea, at least. In the practice, I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

  I dreamed of a house I hadn’t seen in ages. A garden that, to a small child, felt almost as vast as the jungles surrounding the Twin Tepuy. A tree waving its branches at the sky. I ran barefoot on the dewy grass. I was too young to have many concerns. If I could have my Dad and my grandmas and the rest of my family in one pce, I wouldn’t have anything to compin about. Vanth could come, too.

  What I wanted right then was to see my Dad, so that’s what I did. He picked me up, like he always did, even when he compined about how fast I was growing, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

  “You’re not a small child anymore,” Dad said.

  “I don’t care.”

  “Well, you should.” Dad set me down. He wasn’t mad at me or anything, but he looked serious, so I thought I’d better be serious too. “I know things are real tough right now, but you’re going to die if you don’t pay attention. This isn’t the time to pretend you’re a child.”

  “Fine.” I let myself grow older and taller. “What is going on, Dad?”

  “I’m not your Dad, I’m yourself. And I’m not going to pretend just to make you listen.” Myself didn’t stop looking like Dad, though. He was shorter than my adult self, though that was only a guess on my side—I hadn’t seen Dad in years. “Now pay attention. What are the hinges of the day?”

  That was his Professor voice. Dad didn’t use it to talk to me often, only when he got so wrapped up in expining interesting facts he forgot about everything else. I remembered that much.

  “Dawn, noon, twilight, and midnight,” I replied instantly.

  Dad nodded. Of course, even children know that. “It’s noon right now in High Tomenedra.”

  “The doors can open so much easier,” I said.

  “You have to wake up.”

  I scrambled to my feet in the dark, trying not to stumble. I was all alone.

  Cold sweat slid down my neck. I reached behind me and felt the back of my shirt. I couldn’t feel anything. This was still a dream and dreams weren’t safe.

  Calm down, calm down. Vanth had shown me how to get out of a dream. I needed a door. If necessary, I should dream myself one.

  I took a step back. The ground yielded under my foot, like uncooked dough. Never mind the darkness, I wanted to see what I’d stepped on! When I focused my will on that thought, the darkness started dispelling. Unfortunately, that meant I could see the ground dissolving. The mountain, too, was busy melting all around me—no, not really. It was vanishing without a trace.

  Vanth had been able to affect my dreams—our dreams, I guessed. But, if he could do that, and I could do that, so could the necromancer. Or whoever had sent the sniffers and summoned me to the Underworld. I suspected they were trying to get rid of any obstacles, so that they—or something else—could easily reach me.

  Quick! I pretended to close my eyes, so that it was easier to focus. The door from that one dream showed up in my mind. I pictured it in as much detail as possible, even the veins in the wood and the tarnished brass doorknob. It was easy to reach out and open it. I didn’t stop to see what was in the other side, just plunged into it.

  I was still in the dark, but now I could feel my body. My eyelids were too heavy, though. I’d come far enough already. I should be allowed to sleep.

  Grudgingly, I forced my eyes open. Something felt wrong—I didn’t seem to be sitting down anymore. My light spell was too far away to let me see my surroundings with any crity, but I could feel something tangled around my arms and legs. When I attempted to move, I found out that wasn’t possible.

  The ensuing jolt of panic woke me up for good. My eyes had gotten more used to the darkness now, and I could just about make out some kind of stringy fiments wrapping my limbs up. When I tried to pull myself free, the fiments only tightened their grip on me. What the hells! I really wasn’t sitting anymore, I was being held aloft by that stringy shit, like an insect caught up in a spider’s web.

  That’s what I got for assuming the cave’s animal life was harmless!

  No, no, this wasn’t the time to freak out. Though the strings had started tangling up my neck, I could still move it around a bit. I couldn’t see a spider anywhere, or any other animal capable of weaving that web. I wouldn’t be eaten just yet. Not if I recovered my wits and acted fast, at least.

  My legs were tangled together, but my arms had been lifted in different directions. I tried to pull my legs free as hard as I could; the ck of leverage definitely acted against me, but that wasn’t my real problem. The fiments continued wrapping themselves around my arms and legs, coiled tighter and more thickly, and this time it didn’t stop.

  Something pricked my neck and my left wrist. It had to be the fiments—they weren’t the byproduct of some animal. Now I could feel a faint thrumming of magic coming from them. They were a spell, one of the strongest and most complex ones I’d ever seen. No point in bming myself for falling asleep; I couldn’t fight something like that on my own. Very likely, none of my spells could cause them much damage.

  “Vanth?” I asked. “If you can, please come help me. I’m gonna try to free myself, but the situation’s pretty fucked up right now.”

  Of course I didn’t get an answer.

  I forced myself to breathe slowly. Losing my nerve wouldn’t do me any good. I focused on how afraid I was, but didn’t let it take over me. Just allowed myself to feel.

  Vanth. Help.

  Only a couple of seconds. More wouldn’t make a difference. Let’s assume I was on my own, though. Did I have anything I could use?

  A drop of blood slid down my left wrist, slow and warm. I swear I could feel a fiment moving down my arm. Headed for my heart, no doubt. I tugged my left arm hard; a sharp sting of pain hit my wrist. I couldn’t tell if that had made any difference, but in any case, another fiment had entered my neck and I couldn’t do anything against that one. I didn’t feel it moving through my veins, but the pain there was more intense—I think it was damaging my jugur.

  Maybe a fire spell would help me. If I burned myself, I could heal it ter. My hands were too high up to let me reach the spell beads, though. Better to fall back on peeling spells again.

  I hit the fiments with all I had, telling them to unwrap themselves and leave me alone. Maybe because they weren’t expecting it, my spell worked pretty well! I could see many of the fiments falling back, very long and nearly invisible strands. Was I being too optimistic, or did I really feel the strands inside me being pulled out? I didn’t wait to find out; I tried to pull myself free from the fiments again, and this time I nearly did it!

  But, before I managed to kick the remaining few strands away and leap out of their way, they fought back even harder, wrapping themselves tighter. Magic was so thick in the air I almost choked on it. I was outnumbered by a very long shot.

  “Azul!” For an instant, I thought I was hearing things—but of course, I wasn’t.

  When I tried to answer, my voice came out thin and choked. I couldn’t help panicking at that. What if he didn’t hear me? I put all my strength behind the next shout, not caring if I hurt my throat.

  “I’m here!”

  Vanth had to have heard that. Next, I threw another spell at the fiments. They were ready for me this time, but I’m pretty sure I managed to stop their advance. They felt impatient now, ready to overcome my puny resistance with their superior brute force.

  A warm light banished the shadows around me. That was my light spell! I could still feel an echo of my own magic and Auntie Estrel’s coming from it.

  “I knew you’d find the spell!” My voice sounded harsh, but I didn’t care. Vanth came running from the tunnel, half of his face stained with blood. Hopefully not his own! Valentino limped after him, looking exhausted but whole.

  Vanth stopped a couple of steps away from me and took a good assessing look at the situation.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “I get into all sorts of shit.”

  “Shut up and I won’t held it against you.”

  Ah, that was the Vanth I was getting to know.

  Valentino came to a stop, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. His face shone with sweat. I didn’t think I looked much better though.

  “Hair?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Now I could see, I had no doubts left of what the fiments were. Just as you can direct a spell at someone by focusing it on their essence, you can also use your own essence as a vector for your own power, which can then be used against others. The more people add their essence, the more powerful the spell, and the more difficult to fight against.

  It sounds great, but there’s a catch.

  “A dozen,” Vanth said.

  Sweat fell in fat warm drops down my face. My damp shirt had stuck to my back. “Really, a dozen against one?”

  He gred at me under the bloodstain. “I will handle them.”

  “I meant it was unfair they ganged up against me. I know you can handle them.” Tired and hurt as I was, I still tried to be softer on Vanth’s feelings. After all, he was my only chance for survival.

  “Your Illustrious Highness?” Valentino asked.

  “Just stand back and keep an eye on His Excellency.”

  Vanth removed his jacket and dropped it aside. As I blinked in confusion, he did the same with his shirt. Then, he crossed the two steps separating us and swept me into his arms, careful not to touch the strands of hair. And he kissed me. I tasted lipstick and blood.

  But he wasn’t doing it for fun. As his saliva blended with mine, his essence reached out to me.

  If he dared taking that risk, the least I could do was help. So I poured my own essence into his own, willing it to disappear.

  Vanth’s locket was warm against my chest. My own locket warmed up too.

  broccolifloret