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“How about levitate?”
I manage a chuckle. “I’m not Beranabus. I can’t fly.”
“Then I’m going to pick you up,” he says. “We need to get away from here. I’ll be as gentle as possible. Ready?”
I nod, gritting my teeth so I don’t cry out too loudly when he touches me. As carefully as he can, Dervish sneaks one arm under my neck, the other beneath my knees, and lifts. It’s not as bad as I thought, but I can’t stop myself from gasping and shutting my newly grown eyelids against the pain.
“Sorry,” Dervish says, then hobbles away from the lava, carrying me like a baby.
Resting behind a hill, sheltered from the heat of the river. I’m still working on my body, using magic to undo the damage and smooth over the cracks. Make sure all my bones are solid. Grow fingernails and fingerprints. Separate my toes. Try to get my ears the right shape. Let warm energy circulate through my legs, strengthening them, knowing I’ll have to get up soon and walk.
No more faces in the sky. Just a ceiling of yellow light. I asked Dervish about them, but he didn’t see Lord Loss or Beranabus. He’d been wandering like me, but in this zone of light, not darkness. Then he spotted a white, winged demon. Since it seemed to be the only living creature, he followed it until it vanished. Having no better plan, he kept going in the same direction — and found me.
“Where do you think Shark is?” I ask.
Dervish shrugs. “He could be anywhere. I’ve no idea how large this place is.” I tell him my idea, that it’s laid out like a chess board, thirty-two dark areas, thirty-two light zones. Dervish hadn’t thought of that. “I think you’re right,” he says. “But we’ve no way of working out the size of each square.”
“Did you find any water?” I ask. “I’m thirsty.”
“Don’t think about it,” he advises. “You can keep thirst and hunger at bay, like sleep. Your body will do almost anything you tell it here.”
He strokes his spikes of hair, stiff and upright again, a few inches longer than before. He’s putting on a brave front, but I can see he’s terrified. He’s not much older or more experienced than
me. He’s never been in a situation like this. He’s acting grown-up, but I bet — like me — he’d give anything to have somebody to turn to for help.
“We need a plan,” I say, wanting to make things a bit easier for Dervish. “We can’t just stagger around, waiting to be attacked. We should have a purpose.”
“Getting the hell out of here would be a good start,” Dervish mutters.
“Yes, but Lord Loss said we could only get out if I found and named the demon thief. First, I think we should find Shark. Then we can try to figure out a way to unearth Cadaver.”
Dervish nods. “That sounds good. But how will we look for Shark? Just pick a direction at random?”
“I suppose...”
“But what if we’re in a square at one end of the Board and he’s in a square at the opposite end?”
“Then it’ll be a long walk.”
Dervish laughs.
“What else can we do?” I ask.
Dervish frowns. “Maybe one of the demons could lead us to him — the hell-child or the winged monster.” He walks around to the other side of the hill to look for them. Returns a minute later, shaking his head.
“There will be others,” I say. “Lord Loss won’t want to watch us walk around in circles for too long. That would be boring. I bet he’ll send lots of demons to attack us.”
“Great.” Dervish doesn’t sound too optimistic.
“I could use the patches of light to find Shark, except there aren’t any here. The Board isn’t like the outside universes. The rules are different.”
Dervish chuckles. “From one universe of insanity to another.”
“Maybe I could.. .” I stop and dig the marbles out of my pocket, remembering how I used one to create light in the maze of darkness.
“What are those?” Dervish asks.
“Marbles. My brother was playing with them before he was kidnapped.”
