Chapter 9
A light knock alerts me that someone is on the other side of the door.
As I watch the door, I open the first drawer under the basin, grab a nail file, and slip it into my back pocket.
Feeling a sense of security from having something sharp, I crack the door open.
My shoulders relax, and I offer a smile that—to me—seems strained when I notice Xavier looking at me through tired eyes.
“Hey,” I say as I step out of the bathroom and into the main quarters. “You should rest a bit more. You look terrible.”
“No, I don’t want to rest any longer, Pandora.
We’re almost there.” As he turns away, I tilt my head and glare at him.
He didn’t need to act like a jerk about my suggestion.
I’m doing everything I can to keep him happy; otherwise, he’ll question the change in my personality.
However, since we slept together, it’s difficult to stay sweet and caring when he behaves like those obnoxious alpha males.
Xavier believes he can control me and that I’m his to have whenever he wants.
My finger hooks onto the nail file in my back pocket.
A quick jab of my hand, and the weapon would slip through the side of his neck.
He would suffocate, struggling to breathe.
But to avoid recklessness, I suppress my thirst for life, step away from him, and ignore the feeling.
Instead, I sit up straight, arch my back, and wait for him to look at me again until he notices the woman who adores him, not someone who wants to kill him.
“Flesh isn’t the best place to leave your belongings. Make sure you have a hold of everything valuable and don’t leave your bag lying around.”
“Of course.” I touch the side of his waist, but eye the exit. “I’ll be extra cautious.”
We pack our belongings. Well, I pack our belongings, considering Xavier struggles to move much because of his fever. This works well for me because it means he’s too tired and overheated to try anything with me.
As we step out of the room, the horn releases a loud blast through the thick layer of smoke filling the air, making it hard to see more than a few metres from the ship.
My ears have become sensitive to sound. Footsteps thump on the deck, and suitcase wheels roll behind them.
Excited voices murmur, hissing through the brush of decaying wind.
The sloshing of rippling waves hitting the ship grows timid, and I can strangely feel the ship stop at the dock.
Xavier strides ahead of me, leaving me to drag both suitcases as I mutter insults. He stops at the door three down from ours, and my smile widens until Kylie and Sara show up with sluggish looks.
“It smells so bad here,” Kylie complains.
Sara looks worse for wear. Her mask is already on, but her watery eyes make me feel for her. Earth elemny are weakest against fire, so any form of smoke in her lungs must make it harder for her to breathe.
I match Kylie’s energy, as I’m pretending to be a water element. It shouldn’t be too hard, given I’m already gasping from the intense hit of smoke seeping into my nostrils.
“What’s that smell?” Sara looks to Xavier.
“Burning flesh, perhaps?” He shrugs, and Sara dry-heaves at the thought.
Kylie wraps her arm around her girlfriend for comfort.
My chest tightens at the sight of them being so loving and supportive.
It reminds me of my first love…or at least the memories of him.
Memories are the only things I can cling to.
When I’m truly alone, I can taste Desmond on the tip of my tongue.
We make our way down the stairs to the main deck after more elemny leave their rooms. A line forms until a big enough group awaits new orders.
“All right!” a fire elemny barks from the front of the ship.
He stands on the railing, arms folded across his chest, muscles tensing.
His maroon eyes scan the sea of elemny as he says, “There are four exits.” He points to the banners at the entrance.
“I need fire elemny to line up behind the red banner, earth elemny behind the green banner, water behind the blue banner, and air elemny behind the white banner. From there, a guide will steer you toward the Ebon Hall entrance. Make sure your passports and identification are handy for a smoother transition.”
After glaring without blinking, I lean toward Xavier, letting the smoke settle into my eyes. With a glassy, watery look, I turn to him, prompting him to kiss my forehead and whisper sweet assurances in my ear.
Kylie comes up beside me with a warm smile and says, “Don’t worry, Panda. You’ll have me.”
I muster a brave facade while my insides burn with acid. I link arms with her, let go of Xavier and tell him I’ll catch up with him inside. The least scared of this—she’s been to the Kingdom of Cloud and Oria before—Sara moves to the line behind the green banner.
Kylie tells me she will show me how it works before stepping ahead of me in the line. My heart thumps loudly at the thought of being one step closer to entering the Kingdom of Flesh.
I’m finally here after two long years.
Other water elemny line up behind me, passports in their hands. As the line moves, I unzip my handbag and take out my passport and wallet that contains $50,000.
To my right, Xavier is chatting with two elemny also waiting in line. I watch their mouths as they talk, but after a few sentences about Xavier’s awakening, I look away and scan the crowd.
As I make my way down the ramp, my sea legs betray me for a moment, and I’m not the only one.
Kylie stumbles a bit and turns to me. We both chuckle at our blunder as we straighten up and look ahead.
Ebon Hall’s entrance dominates the main wall, and its sheer size is intimidating.
Dipped in fiery coals that burn to the touch, it makes it impossible for enemies to infiltrate the Kingdom of Flesh.
And even if they make it to the top, the guards will chop their heads clean off before they even realise what’s going on.
Kylie and I head towards the blue flag. Xavier gave me the heads up—but I already knew—about how the Kingdom of Flesh operates around here. Any elemny wanting to enter the kingdom has to come in through their weakness.
Mine isn’t earth (it’s actually a strength of mine), yet I’m pretending to be an unawakened water elemny.
Sara enters through the fire entrance on my left, and Xavier enters through the water entrance. If something happens to the guard, everyone must disclose their weaknesses.
I fix my gaze on the guard who oversees the banner that Kylie and I will walk through when anger stirs beside ours as we move alone in the line.
Three guards move in front of Sara when a male breaks out of the line and races towards the entrance to the Kingdom of Flesh.
One of the fire elemny guards tilts his head to the side, eyes the man, and, with an outstretched hand, snaps his fingers. Fire blazes up the earth elemny.
Kylie shies away, but I watch as the earth elemny’s flesh peels from his skin and his wailing cries tear through charred lungs until he’s nothing but ash. The clean-up crew has nothing to remove. They stand there, eyeing each other, but remain at their posts.
Kylie stands before the Earth Guard and hands him her passport. He then takes her finger and pricks it until blood wells up. She presses it against the print, and he smiles, telling her she’s done well. Kylie then makes her way into Ebon Hall.
I step toward Toma as a fire elemny approaches with a passive expression. I watch him closely, but his gaze is fixed on Toma. My insides churn, and my heart races as I grip my wallet and passport. Does he know? Have they compromised Toma?
“Oh, hey,” Toma says, smiling.
Toma raises a hand towards me, but the man shakes his head, folds his arms across his chest, and says, “I won’t take up too much of your time. I came here to say that you need to replace Kaneko indefinitely.”
“Oh…why? Is she leaving?”
“No,” he says, “I killed her. She’s been smuggling elemny within Flesh, so I dealt with her.”
Silence lingers between them as I wait for the fire elemny to leave so I can enter the Kingdom of Flesh.
Toma looks at him. His emerald eyes meet the bright, neon crimson-red ones. I’ve seen this look before, as Dad often directed it at underlings he found suspicious but lacked proof against. That’s the look this guy is giving Toma, and now I wish I had gone first instead of Kylie.
“Well, that’s unfortunate. She was a wonderful worker,” Toma says.
I keep my gaze down, noticing the boots he’s wearing. He doesn’t say a word and walks off, his boots disappearing from the edge of my sight.
Relaxing my pent-up breath, I straighten up, and Toma smiles at me.
I hand him the passport along with the envelope.
Without glancing at the envelope, he flips through my passport, hands it back, and takes my finger.
Unlike what Kylie might have felt, there is nothing.
He quickly guides my hand down to the print and adds the paper to the other stacks.
“Have a wonderful time in Flesh!” he says.
“Oh, I will!” I say. I step into Ebon Hall when someone bumps into my shoulder. “Fucking arsehole,” I mutter.
Sara, Kylie and Xavier are near the portrait of the former king.
A wave of relief shows, hand on my chest, as I quicken my pace towards them.
Xavier grabs my hips when a shiver of fright tingles along my right side.
Shifting slightly away from him, his hand on my hip slips away, and a sense of comfort returns to me.
“Hey, baby. What took so long? Xavier’s gaze lands on my lips, and I understand his intentions.
“Someone came to talk to the guard,” I reply, brushing it off as if it’s nothing, but inside, my heart races so much it might explode. Was that man a guard? A knight? Someone close to the king?
Well, whoever they were, I’m glad he didn’t notice me, and I made it through the entrance unscathed. This might be my only chance to get into the Kingdom of Flesh.
But the way he looked at Toma suggested he could see straight through him. I can’t afford to fail now. I doubt Toma will be around the next time I come, and I’ll miss out on my free ride inside.
Sara wants to use the bathroom in Ebon Hall.
Even with only seeing part of her face, I notice the pale look.
Kylie goes with her, which gives me a moment to wave my phone in front of Xavier’s face and tell him I need to let my mother know I’ve arrived inside the Kingdom of Flesh.
Understanding my “family situation”, he heads to the toilet, leaving me with their suitcases.
As soon as I press the phone to my ear, she answers. “If you’re calling me, it means you’ve gotten into Flesh,” Nancy says, chuckling deeply.
“As you mentioned, Toma took the money without hesitation, but they’ve compromised Kaneko.” I pause when the women’s toilet opens, but continue when it’s not Sara or Kylie. “A fire elemental killed her, and I think he suspects Toma as well.”
“Fire elemny?” Nancy sighs, and I know the old bat is digging her fingers into her temple.
“I haven’t heard a thing from Kol either.
Be careful from now on, Pandora. King Ragan must’ve caught wind of the Underground and cleaned up the streets.
He must be using one of his knights. Fire elemny. Maybe Alek. Did he have short hair?”
My thoughts wander back before I shake my head and say, “Uh, define short? Like, this guy has an undercut, is Asian, and—”
“You need to leave,” Nancy spits.
“What?” I hiss. Realising my expression has shifted too quickly, I flutter my lashes and play flustered and meek. “No, Mother, I’m fine. The air’s not too bad.”
“Listen closely, Pandora. You need to be careful from here on because I know you’ll keep going. The best hunter in Eraminia is after you, and once he sees you as suspicious, it’ll already be too late.”
Xavier opens the door to the men’s bathroom.
“Don’t stray from the path. Stick to the plan I set and keep your emotions in check. For goodness’ sake, I noticed the disgust on your face after you hugged your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I say, my frown deepening. “Just someone I need until this mission’s done.”
“I know, but to go along with it, it’s easier for me to keep saying that, so I don’t slip up myself.
So, make sure you always maintain your persona while you’re there.
If someone figures you out, you’re on your own.
I only promised to keep you safe in Oceanview Harbour. Everything else is up to you.”
“Of course. I will keep that in mind!” I say.
“I’m assuming you have no room to talk freely anymore?”
“Yeah, sure. Don’t worry about it,” I say as I snake my arm around Xavier’s waist and smile adoringly at him. “I’ll call you once I’m settled.”
“The hunter is Prince Reen,” Nancy says. “Good luck.”
“Love you too,” I say and hang up.
I’m dead.