Chapter 24
twenty-four
EVEREST
Isee visions of Cielo standing over me, his ears bent low, his rainbow eyes almost dark. He pries my lips open, and something bitter is placed on my gums. It’s then that I remember how that herb healed Zane when he was injured, and when he healed my piercings.
Zitha.
This is definitely something worth having on hand at all times.
As soon as I ingest it, I start to feel it work its magic—a tingling up the spine, a slow crawl across my skin, stitching everything together.
By the time I’m blinking my eyes in the bright lights, I feel almost brand new. My hand moves up to my eye, and I feel the tender skin there, but even that starts to dissipate the longer I’m conscious.
“Wow, that stuff is awesome,” I say, my gaze meeting Cielo’s. He’s still looming over me, his tail wrapped around his waist. I lean up slightly and pat his chest. “I’m fine. I promise.”
“Prummmmmissss,” he hums, and I nod again.
“I mean it. I’m fine. Just embarrassed that I let them punch me and shit. Gah,” I say as I roll up into a seated position. “Hey, did you kill one of them?”
“Keeeel?” he says, and I sigh.
“Maybe I don’t want to know. Actually, don’t tell me.”
He says nothing, and I grunt as I push myself to my feet. The herb worked, almost too well. I know before I run my fingers along it that the bite Rathyn left on my neck is gone. But even though my body is healed, the room is slightly tilted, and I feel Cielo’s hand move around me as he steadies me.
I realize in that moment I have no idea where I am.
My eyes take in the crumbling concrete walls and the rust stains from water runoff.
They dart over to the makeshift living spaces carved out with hanging blankets and metal poles.
Mattresses are strewn about on the floor, some suspended by chains from the ceiling like makeshift hammocks.
Extension cords run from one outlet to the various corners of the large area.
This is a fire hazard and most certainly uninhabitable.
“Where the fuck am I?” I ask when I meet Cielo’s gaze.
“Hommmm,” he hums softly, and my lips part as I take it all in once more. The second sweep is worse than the first. Now I hear the creaking pipes and the sound of water dripping in the distance.
“You live here?” He nods, and my eyes widen. “Why? I thought you all lived in The Foundry apartments.”
“Nooo,” he says as his tail wraps around me, and he brings me over to a small, unlevel chair. It wobbles as I sit, and he hands me a bottle of water.
I sip at it, my gaze taking in the Vyastil moving to and from the worn spaces. Do they live here, too? Why does Rathyn live in that luxurious loft while Cielo lives here? I want to ask, but I don’t think he can tell me. I don’t think he knows the words.
I let it be for now, sipping on the water as I watch everything unfold around me. Some Vyastil are making food around an open flame, others are sewing together clothing with rusted needles. A few are cradled in sleep, a worn quilt around their shoulders, their clawed feet poking out.
I shiver as the cold sneaks in from the cracked windows.
“Do you like it here?” I ask, and Cielo’s eyes meet mine.
He says nothing, and I swallow back the dread.
“Does Rathyn know you live like this?”
His chin dips, and my nostrils flare in disappointment. Oh my fucking god. He can’t be serious. I mean, to knowingly let your people live like this?
I glance at Cielo and then back at his living space, and I’m filled with a rage at Rathyn I wasn’t expecting to feel. How dare he. How dare he let something like this happen!
Cielo is my friend, and I can’t let him live like this. It’s…I don’t even have the words.
A Vyastil moves past us, and I watch as he peers over his shoulder at me. He has dark green hair and a tail that’s been cut off near the base.
My eyes flick to Cielo, and he shakes his head. I don’t ask about it.
“Huhmmmm,” Cielo says softly, and I know he’s asking if I feel well enough to make it back to the apartment.
I do. I can walk, and my head no longer feels like it’s going to roll off my shoulders. “Yeah, but you’re coming with me, okay?” I don’t want him here. I don’t want any of the Vyastil here.
I’m not sure what I can do about it, but I’m going to speak to Rath the moment he sets foot in the apartment.
My heart is heavy as we make our way out, then slowly up the small hill to where The Foundry sits. Cielo helps me walk up the incline, his tail moving around my back and gently pushing when I stop to catch my breath.
When I finally make it to the lobby entrance, I peer down from where we came, and I realize why I’ve never seen the warehouse before.
It’s hidden behind thick trees, the view obstructed by their massive trunks and overhanging branches.
Vines creep up the walls, hiding that there is anything there at all.
I think the building used to be some kind of manufacturing plant that was put out of commission years ago.
But it’s now where certain Vyastil live.
Cielo. My friend. He lives there.
I pull him in for a long hug before we step inside the elevator, and his ears flutter slightly at the contact. When we finally make it into the loft, and we’re alone, I turn on my feet and stare at how grand all of this is. Especially when compared to that shitty, crumbling warehouse.
“You shouldn’t be living like that, Cielo. It’s not fair.”
He shrugs and moves toward the espresso machine. I get there faster, though, turning it on and shoving him out of the way.
“I’ve got this. I owe you.”
“Noooo,” he says, but I turn toward him and grab on to his wrists with both hands. “I mean it. I owe you for saving my life, and for healing me.”
“Frennnn,” he says, then signs it, and I nod.
“Yes, you’re my friend. Which is why I’m going to talk to Rath about that shithole.” When Cielo shakes his head quickly, looking almost terrified, I poke his chest. “I mean it. I will. You can’t convince me otherwise. It’s…disgraceful. I’m embarrassed we’ve treated you so poorly.”
He glances away, and I resist the urge to pull him in for another hug. Instead, I make him the biggest latte I can and hope it’s enough.
He shouldn’t be so fucking happy about something as simple and easy to make as a damn latte, though, but he treats it like I’ve given him a pile of gold. God, the deprivation they’re facing.
The Vyastil have so much. How are they okay letting their people live this way? I know I shouldn’t bother Rathyn while he’s…doing whatever the fuck he’s doing, but I’ve never been great at keeping shit to myself.
I close my eyes and search.
“Rath?”
Nothing. Just empty space.
“Rathyn!”
I don’t feel him at all. It’s like there’s a giant void between me and my monster, which is terrifying because even when he didn’t answer me, he was always there.
I look over at Cielo, who’s sipping on his latte, and I catch his attention. I need to tell him, but I don’t know if I should. I trust him, though. With my life. And he’s been loyal all this time.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Mm.”
“But I need you to keep it a secret. You know what a secret is, don’t you?”
He makes a loose fist and taps the back of his thumb against his lips twice. I don’t know that sign, but I can infer the meaning.
“No one can know. I…I don’t know what will happen to me if any of the other Vyastil find out.” I pause and look around. “No one can hear us here, right? No one’s listening.”
He must sense the urgency in my voice because he puts his latte down and walks over, laying his hands on my shoulder. His gaze meets mine and holds it, and he sings a long string of words that make no sense, and yet I can tell they’re meant to reassure me.
I let out a breath. “Okay. So…for a while now, I’ve been able to hear Rathyn. Like…his thoughts. They’re in my head.” I tap my temple, and Cielo’s eyes widen. “I can always hear him when I look for him, but right now it’s silent. I can’t find him.”
He drops his hands and stiffens.
“I think something’s wrong. I’m…I’m scared. I know this is a huge ask, but do you think you can cross over through the portal and see if you can find him? I know he’s busy. I just need to know that he’s okay.”
Cielo tugs me into a hug. It’s the first one he’s ever initiated, but the comfort of it is overwhelming. I hold him back until I can breathe again, and he pulls back and meets my eyes once more.
“Prmmmmsss,” he says, then points to his lips and then drops his palm flat on his other fist.
Promise, he’s signing.
“Thank you.”
He nods, then eyes the latte mournfully, so I lean over and grab it.
“Finish your coffee. Then you can go.”
He slurps it up with long flicks of his tongue, then sheds his newly cleaned jacket and carefully lays it on the counter, and taps it while looking at me.
“I won’t let anything happen to it. Promise,” I say, then use the sign.
He smiles, showing fang, and his ears flick with happiness before he strides away and heads for the door. I hear it open and shut, and then I’m alone.
I have no idea how long this will take or what Cielo will find. Or if he’ll even be back. All I have left is hope. Walking through the apartment, I collapse on Rathyn’s bed and take a big whiff of his pillow.
It smells like him—like Erethar air and the mossy stuff he eats every morning. And us. It also smells a bit like us.
I miss him with a powerful ache, and the fear that threatens to overwhelm me.
I reach out into the darkness again, and for a moment, there’s a flicker.
And then there’s nothing.
I’m dreaming of a cave. And fire. Of pain and chill seeping into my bones. I’m dreaming of a face that I can’t quite make out in the shadows, and a sense of fear and maybe the inevitability of death.
I wake with a gasp, disoriented, with no clue where I am except the feeling of home. It takes me a moment to remember I’m in Rathyn’s bed—though it’s been our bed for a while now. The space beside me is still empty, and there’s a pit in my stomach.
And then I realize the reason I woke wasn’t the dream. There’s someone in the room with me. I fumble for the bedside table light and squint against the figure looming near the bed. It takes a moment for me to recognize Cielo and the look of distress on his face.
That’s not good.
“What happened?” I ask, cursing myself for not knowing his language. God, how is he going to tell me?
But before I can panic, he holds something out to me. It’s a crumpled note, and when I take it, the paper isn’t like anything I’ve ever touched before. It’s oddly soft under my hands.
I unfold it and see swirling script I can barely read, but it is in English.
R needs help. I cannot assist. His communications have gone dark and we cannot locate. Can you find him?
Dread rushes through me as I look at Cielo. “Who gave you this?”
The name is hard to understand, but he repeats himself twice, and I finally catch it. “Eissa.”
Shit. That is not good. “Okay. Okay.” I’m mostly talking to myself now. I drag my fingers through my hair and look up at my friend. “This is bad, isn’t it?”
He makes a distressed noise in the back of his throat—low and sort of mournful.
“Well, he’s not dead,” I tell him. “I can still feel him.”
“Feelll?” Cielo says, the word almost stuck on his long tongue.
I press two fingers to my temple. “I would know if he was dead. Just…trust me, okay?”
Cielo nods once, then gestures at the note again. My gaze fixes on the last line.
Can you find him?
I’ve been given nothing but silence when I reach for him, but maybe if I push harder, scream louder, he can tell me where he is. I look up at Cielo.
“If I do this, if I find him in my mind, you have to take me to where he is, okay?”
Cielo looks frightened for a moment, but it dissipates quickly. He squares his shoulders and gives me a firm nod.
Relief rushes through me. This might be the worst decision I’ve ever made, but I don’t care. Rathyn is missing, and he’s probably hurt, so I’m not going to just sit here waiting for his people to pull their bullshit rescue maneuver. If there even is one.
I can’t bear the thought of being without him. I don’t care about the consequences anymore.
I drop the note and swing my legs to the edge of the bed, planting my feet on the cool floor. Closing my eyes, I sink into the darkness, and then I picture Rathyn. My monster. My heart.
There’s a thread there—not visible, but a feeling, and I follow it into the dark.
“Rath,” I call out. It’s almost impossible to yell in my head, but I try. I push a burst of energy out through my call. “Rath! Please, I need to find you. I’m with Cielo, and I’m coming for you. Just tell me where you are!”
There’s nothing for a moment. Silence and emptiness. And then, just before I open my eyes, there’s a pulse. Inside is a rush of pain, and then affection. There’s worry, and fear, and doubt.
And then there’s an image. It takes me a moment to get a grasp on it.
It looks a lot like the cave Rathyn took me to, only this one has no water.
And it’s almost like the stone walls are singing.
He’s on a mossy bed like the one that had cradled me, and the bright, flickering Eretharian insects are a rainbow of colors.
The ceiling is higher than the cave was.
And he’s not alone.
For a brief flash of a second, I get a glimpse of a fire, and something with horns.
My stomach twists, but before I can panic, there’s another image. A carved out path through tall grass, and a line of trees with bright pink trunks the same color as Cielo’s coat.
And then it’s gone. There’s not a glimpse of him, not a whisper of his voice, but I know he’s alive.
I open my eyes on a gasp, and I turn to Cielo. “I saw him. He’s in a cave near trees with pink trunks.” I gesture to his coat, which he has slung over his shoulder. “And the cave is…is singing. Does that…”
Cielo says something in his tongue, his tone excited. He motions for me to stand up, so I do.
“You know it?”
“Yessss,” he says, firm and clear. “Yes. Yesssss!”
I want to cry. Instead, I pull on the robe I wore when visiting with Rath, pulling it over my head. Then I take his offered hand and let him pull me through the apartment and out the front door.