Chapter Forty-Six
He fearlessly pushes at the door with strength, even after that thing tried to kill us.
He was raised as a soldier, and I am reminded every time he barks an order and people follow, every time he enters a room with poise, leaving his panic behind him, and every time his fingers grip onto a weapon like it is a part of him, like he was born with them.
The door makes an eerie screech as it drags along the flooring.
I hold my breath, my eardrums vibrating with my own heartbeat.
Ryder enters first with his knife pointed at the darkness and gestures for me to wait behind him.
Like a true soldier. The room is dark with almost no light in it.
My footsteps, not as sure as Ryder’s, follow behind.
The sound of our boots on the marble echoes, like we are in a warehouse.
This room is much bigger than the rest. We pause for a moment, surrounded by a sinister silence, the inhaling and exhaling of our breaths, the only sound.
Our breaths synchronise as we scope out the rest of the room.
It looks empty, but we thought that last time, and we were painfully wrong.
We make sure to look up to the ceiling, knowing that every wall is an advantage point for the creature.
I let out a shaky breath. There is nothing here.
“Why would they have all this armour for an empty room?” Ryder looks puzzled, and I shrug in response. “There’s nothing here, let’s go,” he says, turning back towards the door.
But just as we are about to walk away, a deep, low grumble quakes through the marble, making the hairs on my neck stand on end.
Ryder instinctively stands in front of me, protecting me from what’s lurking in the shadows.
“What was that?” I ask with a shaky breath, fear taking over my senses, that didn’t sound like the creature we just saw.
“Wait here,” he says, worry lacing his words as he gestures for me to stand by the door.
“What?! I’m not waiting around while you get devoured by whatever made that sound. You might need me again,” I whisper-shout, sticking to Ryder like glue, and even though there is an immense darkness enveloping us, I’m sure I see him smirk.
“Fine,” he says. “At least stand behind me then.”
He uses his hand to delay me slightly so that he is in front of me. I don’t fight it.
“Can you create some light?” he asks.
He speaks to me differently; he does not order me like the others. I fight the urge to smile, not forgetting what could be lurking mere metres away from us, and create an orb to bleed some light into the darkness.
The low grumble shakes the room again, but this time I don’t tremble in fear. There is something different about this growl; it fills me with sorrow rather than dread. It rumbles again. A symphony of pain and hurt that pricks at my eyelids and weakens my knees. Tears well in my eyes.
“It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you,” I say into the emptiness, placing my hand on the tip of Ryder’s knife, lowering it. Ryder looks back at me like I am batshit crazy.
“What are you doing, Asha?” he grits his teeth and works his jaw, but my hand does not waver from the stem of his knife.
“Ryder, put your knife down,” I say to him, but he still looks back at me confused at the idea, his fingers still caressing the shaft. The creature rumbles again, and Ryder stiffens.
“Seriously?” he questions, the rumble louder this time.
“Please, Ryder… You have to trust me,” I beg, the pain in its voice is unbearable.
Ryder’s eyes study me intensely as his fingers loosen from his knife, he drops it to the floor in an instant.
“I trust you.”
I know that he finds it hard to let people in, but he trusts me. Ryder Stormwood trusts me. Let’s hope I’m right about this.
“It’s okay,” I say as I approach quietly, trying not to startle the creature, whatever it may be. “It’s okay.” I walk nearer with my hands surrendered.
The rumble changes to more of a whimper, and I feel in my heart there is no threat.
“Please show yourself,” I ask, now only a metre away from the source of the pain.
I hear a shuffle in the corner of the room and see the outline of a creature morphing into itself slowly, a gradient shifting from invisible into a purple snake-like creature.
Its eyes shimmer in the light of my orb as it slithers its head from left to right, examining us, still timid of our presence.
He must be just a baby because he is half the size of Versivius.
Ryder looks at me bewildered.
“A sky serpent,” he whispers into the shadows, meeting me by my side.
“He’s in pain,” I state, noticing the green blood oozing from its sides. I shine my orb around the room and notice blood splattered on every wall. The poor thing has been thrashing about, trying to get out.
“I can help.” I smile gently in its direction and walk closer towards its huge frame; it cowers away and grumbles again, making me halt.
“Asha,” Ryder warns me with concern.
“It’s okay,” I reassure him and continue my way closer to it. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. I promise,” I say to the creature, its body slowly relaxing with every step I take.
When I am close enough, I stretch my arm out slowly and place my hand on the hard scales on its side.
They are dull and shattered in places. The pain is overwhelming.
I can feel it when I close my eyes, haunting me, like we are connected.
My fingers tingle against its skin as it ripples beneath my touch.
Its muscle does not resist me, instead, it sinks into me like I am its haven.
The painful whimpers become trills as the blood dries and the wounds close.
I watch in relief as the mosaic of scales vibrate and shake with life, like it is shedding an old skin.
“That’s better,” I say into its side, still resting my palm against its fresh layer of moist scales.
I hear Ryder’s footsteps move to join us.
“What the fuck are they doing with a sky serpent?” he asks under his breath, placing his hand against the smooth mosaic.
“I don’t know.”
I look at him with worry. I think we both know there is something bigger going on here.
“How are we going to get it out of here?” I ask, gesturing to the cuff and chains clasped tightly around its neck and legs.
Ryder edges his way around the serpent, investigating the chains.
He notices small keyholes on each of the cuffs.
“This shouldn’t take long,” Ryder remarks as he uses his shadows to fashion a key into the lock on his neck. It clicks, and the cuff clanks open effortlessly. Wow, he really is a master of shadow work.
“Do you think you can make a portal big enough to get him out of here?” Ryder looks at me and then at the sheer size of the Sky Serpent. Although he is just a baby, he is still bigger than an elion.
“I have to try,” I answer. There is no way I am leaving him here.
“Everything all right in here?” River’s voice bounces off the walls as he pokes his head around the door. “Wow! Is that?” His eyes turn from frightful to astonished.
“Yes…” I answer as I pace to his side. “We are figuring out how to get him out of here.” River nods his head and turns to Ryder, who is standing with his arms crossed.
“What’s the progress on the missing Moons?” Ryder asks, a soldier once again.
“They are all free and unchained,” River replies, and Ryder nods relieved. “And Tommy…” Ryder asks, a grain of vulnerability peeping through his stoicism.
“No sign,” River’s eyes drop to the marble in regret.
My eyes catch Ryder’s and offer them condolences, but he blinks away my invitation and squeezes his knuckles into fists.
“Asha, go with him. Portal them out of here,” he says through gritted teeth.
I nod in his direction, knowing he needs time to process this information.
I walk towards the door with River and look back at Ryder, who is working on removing the rest of the chains.
Sky serpents have six legs, so that’s six more chains to release.
I can tell he is hurt, but I know the way he thinks. Mission first, then feelings.
River stands beside me as we congregate in the hall.
The elevator is making clanking sounds, and I know it’s only a matter of time before the people up there unjam it.
We move quickly. I conjure my portal and plaster it on the side of the wall before ushering the Moons through it.
The portal opens out onto our base camp, where we started.
I know we cannot go back to the school, not until we know it is safe.
Once the Moons are all through, our group flees through one by one until it is just me and River standing shoulder to shoulder. Our heads turn in unison as the elevator starts whirring again, jolting and clicking.
“Shit,” River says. “There’s an Influencer up there…a strong one.”
The numbers on the elevator start to go down as it plummets lower and lower towards us. Miss Worthington.
“River, you have to go through.” My words are laced with panic as the elevator continues down.
“And leave you here? Fuck that,” he retorts as if he is offended by my suggestion. The elevator dings and the doors open.
“Sorry,” I reply as I push him through the portal, closing it the minute I know he is through.
Miss Worthington seethes with bitterness as she stares at me through the open elevator doors, an army behind her crammed in tightly.
“Get her. But I want her alive.” Are the only words I hear before the stomping of army boots tread through any empty space in the air.
Before I can think, my legs take me back down the hall behind the armoured door, but the lock is broken from Ryder yanking it open.
I Influence it shut behind me, but I’m afraid it won’t hold for long.
“They’re coming, we need to go. Now!” I exclaim, my heart thumping frantically in my chest.
“I’m on the last cuff,” Ryder explains, kneeling down with his shadows manoeuvring inside the keyhole. The door begins to shake and bang at its hinges.
“Come on, Ryder!” Panic chews through my words. “I can’t hold it for much longer.” I urge him to quicken his pace.
Ryder’s poise is calm, not even a tremble to his fingers as he works, like he has all the time in the world.
“…and… done.”
The lock clicks as he pries the cuff from the sky serpent’s ankle. I am relieved, but the banging on the door holds my breath hostage for a moment.
“You’re going somewhere different,” I explain to the creature whilst conjuring a large portal. “I think there’s someone who would like to see you.”
A smile forms on my face as the everlasting garden of Kamaria appears on the marble wall like a phantom picture.
‘I will be forever in your debt, Starchild,’ it hisses, and looks at me with thankful eyes. ‘I am Skypharoh.’
“Go, Skypharoh. Be free.” I smile as his body slithers through the threshold.
And with that, the portal closes swiftly behind him. The banging on the door is more violent now, more forceful, and I can feel the grip on my Influence sliding, like the rail I was holding on to is now lathered with oil, and I am slipping, close to letting go.
“Quick, Ryder. Now.”
I grab his hand and conjure the portal just as the door springs open. The force from the vortex sucks us in, but my eyes meet Miss Worthington’s as we hurry through. The portal closes swiftly behind me. She knows what I am.