I sat in the hammock and watched Vergis open a cooler and pull out a big old family-sized bag of salted pretzels.
He held it up but made no move to hand it over. “You’re not telling Kinnek about this.”
I nodded, my mouth watering. “I’m not telling Kinnek about this. Oh! Are we only doing this because he’s out? Is this like your version of a wild party?”
He didn’t move for a good ten seconds. “Do you want some or not?”
I bobbed my head a few times. “Yup. Not telling no one, except actually not with the double negative.”
Vergis took a deep breath. “Of all the human twinks—fine.”
He opened the bag and poured about half the pretzels into a metal bowl we’d used for snacking up here before.
I stretched out on the hammock while Vergis unrolled the camping mattress across the Astroturf, the bowl between us, and for the next couple of minutes, all we did was crunch down on pretzels and stare up at the blue summer sky. I could hear the guys sparring down in the garden, but there was also birdsong, and… Did the way a pleasant summer day sounded out in nature have a name? I wasn’t sure, but it was that.
I started to fantasize about how everything would work out perfectly with us closing the veils to the monster world. We’d help kill off the monsters, and while that wasn’t much, me helping do that would at least make up for a fraction of the part I’d played in bringing about the apocalypse in the first place.
The Raiken would take care of the cola ash people and the human mages who’d started this whole mess, then they would sign some kind of treaty with the human survivors, and everything would be better for everyone. Religious people wouldn’t be allowed to abuse children anymore, because as part of their treaty with the humans, the Raiken would insist on having a sakkir clause in there. Maybe more bagua would find their human mates and live happily ever after. The world could be good again.
The pretzel bowl was getting low, and I was about to ask Vergis to refill it so we could destroy every trace of the contraband when a bloodcurdling scream made both of us jolt upright. It came from the garden, in the general direction of the gazebo.
“Shit.” Vergis jumped up. He was down the hatch before I even managed to climb out of the hammock.
Chapter 23
Vergis rushed down the ladder and the stairs like a graceful shadow, and I made clunky noises as my feet hit the rungs and then clapped down the stairs.
I was trying to follow Vergis outside, but Luëris intercepted me. He’d been in the living room but now he jumped in front of me, arms out wide like one of those sports people who played ball games and tried to keep other players from passing them. Gosh, but I didn’t know sports.
“You cannot go out there, Rory. It might not be safe.”
Luëris wore protector black, but much like Lissir, he didn’t come across as someone who was into physical altercations. Then again, I’d seen Lissir and Inkiri spar. Lissir was all for physical altercations, if his fighting style was any indication.
“I need to go check what happened.” I tried getting past him. I might’ve even managed that if I’d been good at all the sports I couldn’t even name, but snacking in the hammock really was more my speed. I sighed. “You can come with me. Make sure nothing hits me in the face or whatever you need to do.”
Luëris tilted his head. “Has your mate taught you the basics of the knife at all?”
“What? No. Why would he hand me a knife? Knives are scary. It’s bad enough Vergis makes me touch his knife sometimes. Fudge, that wasn’t an innuendo. I meant his actual knife. Which he makes me touch. For magical purposes.” I wasn’t making it sound any better. Damn Vergis and his knife.
Luëris frowned. “I do not understand all that. We can go, but you must stay behind me and run when I tell you to. Agreed?”
“Fine, whatever.”
Luëris pulled a weapon from some fold of his clothing. It was smaller than a dagger and looked for all the world like a very, very sharp pencil. He had a good grip on the thing, and the pointy tip looked very sturdy for something so small.
We made our way toward the mudroom, but before we even got outside, the door was flung open, hard. Inkiri, Fellisse, and Nokim came in carrying Zeddira.
Vergis was running ahead. “Out of the way!”
Zeddira was bleeding, but I didn’t even really see it at first. He’d changed into clothes that were a darker gray than what he’d first worn, and the color hid the spreading stain. For a moment, I thought it was just water, thought maybe he’d been dragged into a lake by Kinnek, much like Vergis had dragged me into a lake.
But Zeddira’s face was ashen with pain, his yellow eyes wild, and he was frantically talking, looking at Inkiri.
They brushed past us. I stood there, pressed against the wall of the hallway. There were drops of blood on the hardwood floor at my feet.
Luëris ran outside, and I heard him say something, presumably giving orders to the bagua out there.
My head turned left. Zeddira was screaming again, and for once, I wasn’t frozen with fear or shock, but actually managed to follow the sound.
