Chapter 26
Aradella heard a noise but she didn’t want to respond to it. After the energetic acrobatics of last night, she just wanted
to sleep. She vaguely remembered that at daylight, Mekos had left. He’d kissed her lingeringly and said that Davro was offering
to give him a tour of the island.
“He says I won’t need the mask. Do you mind?”
Aradella was so sleepy all she could do was give a single shake to her head.
Chuckling, he kissed her again, then did his silent-fox act and left the room.
She went back to sleep but now something was trying to wake her up. “No,” she mumbled. “Let me sleep.”
She heard a crash of something hitting the floor but she buried her face under the covers.
“I will stamp on your eyeballs if you don’t wake up.”
It was Ian’s voice. For someone so little, he could certainly be loud. “Go away.” To her great annoyance, the little man slid
under the covers and set his body to vibrating. It was like being in the midst of a beehive. “Stop it!” She made a grab at
him but didn’t come close to catching him.
“Olina and Urah are here.”
He was so loud, Aradella winced. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. Ian was almost standing on her nose. She drew back and flung the cover off her head. “What?!” she demanded.
He flew back but not too far away. “Olina and Urah are here on this island.”
Aradella blinked a few times. “Tell Mekos and his uncle that they have to—”
“You think I didn’t go to them first?” he shot back. “They’re somewhere secret, spying no doubt, and they’ve disabled their
chips.”
Aradella was fully awake. “Where are they?”
“In a beauty salon.”
“A what?” She sat up.
“Like the Beauty Girls on Pithan have, only a bigger shop. Urah looked twenty years younger.”
Aradella’s head whirled. “Those farken sound waves! If they can revive dead earthlings, I’m sure they can de-age some old
witch.” She grit her teeth. “And for what purpose? So these fark-wads can send the witch back to Pithan to cause more havoc
to give these lazy creeps more feelies?”
Ian blinked at her. “You do not show this side of yourself to Mekos.”
“I didn’t survive Olina and her mother by being a wimp. Turn around. I’m going to get out of bed and I have no clothes on.”
“I’ve seen—”
“Don’t say it!” she ordered.
Ian turned away.
As Aradella rapidly pulled on clothes she asked, “Do you know how to get there?”
“You can’t take on those women by yourself.”
His words made Aradella think of the reality of facing two extremely powerful witches.
She checked that Ian was looking out the window, then she pulled the wooden box out of the bag.
She took a heavy cloth off the little table by the chair, then opened the box to look at the knife.
She could barely see the poisonous leaves but they were there.
Carefully, she placed the knife onto the cloth, rolled it up, and put it deep into the pocket of her loose trousers.
A tunic covered the bulge. “No, but I can watch them and follow them, while you go find Mekos. You can turn around now.”
When Ian looked back, he saw one of the sexless Empyreans. Aradella had put on the mask and she was camouflaged into being
one of “them.”
She lifted her hair. “Hide in here and lead me to where they are. Is it far?”
“Not at all. But there are more playboards. There’s also a shop selling little gingerbread houses.”
She was about to leave, but then she pulled the medallion out of the bag and put it around her neck. Urah wanted this, did she? she thought. Maybe she could bargain with it. Or maybe just having it would protect her—or maybe it would turn her into a
half goat. She had no idea which.
Minutes later, they were outside Davro’s box house, and Ian knew where there was an elevator—something that was new to Aradella.
Once they were on the street, she kept her head down. For all she knew, the people could tell each other apart even with her
mask on and she didn’t want to risk being exposed. But then, the people around them all seemed very busy—and excited. That
was understandable since they were on constant holiday and rushing from one ghastly entertainment to another.
Ian, hidden in her hair, buzzed loudly to be sure she saw the gingerbread store. There was a window display. Some of the little
houses had candied flames shooting out of them. There were tiny figures of Tanek, Kaley, and Sojee.
“I wish I could get an image of Arit made out of cake,” Ian said into her ear, sounding wistful.
Aradella tried not to look at the brightly lit boards above them. She didn’t mind the ones that were about Earth that made no sense to her, but she hated the others—and feared what she hadn’t seen. Were there pictures of her and Mekos at the waterfall?
“Here!” Ian said.
The building was glass across the front and there were mannequins of the bland Empyreans—or should she now call them Yuzans?—with
promises of soft skin, fragrant perfumes, and rejuvenation.
“No makeup but slash and dice your face is all right?” Aradella mumbled. “Gotta stay young or you’ll be sent to Abicis.” She
started for the door then halted. “How do I find them?”
“Room 6B. I’ll distract the others while you slip in there.”
She opened the door and went in. It was bustling inside with people in identical tunics of off-white. More of them sat in
chairs. For all that their faces were being coated with various colors of creams, the people still looked alike.
“They’re too afraid to stand out,” Aradella whispered to Ian.
“Could I help you?” a person asked.
Before Aradella could reply, Ian flew to a shelf and began pushing glass containers to the floor. In the resulting chaos,
Aradella hurried down the hall, slipped into room 6B, and closed the door behind her.
It was an austere room with cabinets and a sink on one side. In the middle was a tall table. Lying on it was a woman-shaped
form covered fully with a white cloth. Aradella knew that it was Olina. The height of her was unmistakable.
Aradella put her hand on the hilt of the knife in her pocket. She hoped the poison of the leaves would not come through the
cloth.
“Have you come for me?” Olina asked from under the cloth. She sounded amused.
Aradella said nothing, but she moved a bit closer. Outside, she heard more crashes. Ian was still keeping people busy.
Olina sat up, the cloth falling away. She had on one of the Empyrean tunics, and she looked years younger.
Aradella stared at her. Her newly smoothed face reminded her of someone she’d seen before but she couldn’t remember who or where.
“You think I don’t know who you are? Take off that useless mask and show your ugly face.” Olina was laughing at her—as she’d
done since Aradella was a child.
The crashing outside stopped and Aradella hoped Ian had left to find Mekos and his uncle.
Olina turned to sit on the side of the table. “At least have the courage to face me. Or are you as cowardly as your father
was?”
That taunt made Aradella peel the mask from her face, put it in her second pocket, then defiantly look at the woman.
For a second, Olina showed her surprise as she looked her up and down. “You are different. Did you sell your soul for beauty?”
She was smirking. “It failed. You’ll never be a beauty no matter how hard you try.” She got down from the table, obviously
unafraid of anything Aradella did.
Olina’s hateful words made it difficult for Aradella not to revert to the beaten-down girl she used to be, but she put her
shoulders back. “I no longer have to wear big clothes, or hide from your treachery and your evil. Is that what you mean?”
From Olina’s expression, she was about to attack. Aradella knew she wouldn’t be able to withstand a witch of her power, so
she needed to keep her talking—so she could get closer to her. “You took away people I loved. You—”
Olina turned a face of fury to her. “You think I was ever loved? My mother despised me. She—”
“Spare me!” Aradella said as she inched closer. “Your mother doesn’t love anyone.”
“What you don’t know could fill one of those books you tried to hide. You think I didn’t know about them?” She smiled in a
hateful way. “Were they love stories about the life you’d never have? Oh so clever Aradella. You were never half as smart
as you thought you were.”
Aradella moved a half step. She didn’t want to talk about her books. “You tried to marry me off to that whiny little Nessa.”
“You think I wanted to marry your uncle?” she half shouted. “With a prince you would have had a glorious future. Better than I’ve had!”
Aradella wasn’t going to allow this evil woman to turn herself into a victim. All she wanted was to distract her and get close
enough to use the knife she had her hand on. “You are twisting everything to try to make the horror you did to me seem for
the good. I woke up every morning wondering if it would be my last day alive.”
“So did I.” Olina gave a shrug then raised her hand. “Now you’re boring me.”
Aradella knew that what was coming was some witchery directed at her. Olina could kill with the stroke of her hand. By reflex,
Aradella twisted to the side, her head down, ready to receive the final blow. But nothing happened.
Olina had frozen in place, her hand raised. “Where did you get that?” Her voice was a whisper and she was looking at the medallion
around Aradella’s neck. Her face might be new but it took on the look of rage and hatred Aradella knew so well. “You’re after
Haver’s soul, aren’t you? How did you find that necklace?”
Aradella had no idea what Haver had to do with the medallion, but she wanted as much time as possible. “I got it from the
person who stole it.”
“That slimy goat?”
“You mean the Monster of Sheean?”
“Whatever he calls himself. Give it to me! It’s mine!”
Olina leaned forward, meaning to snatch the necklace—and Aradella saw her opportunity. In one quick motion, she took the knife
out of her pocket and slammed it into Olina’s stomach.