Chapter 25
twenty-five
EVEREST
Cielo doesn’t take me to the main portal. No, instead, he takes me out of The Foundry and toward the hovel he and the other Vyastil are living in. It’s still pitch black out, and though I didn’t look at the clock before I left, I know it has to be well after midnight.
Cielo motions for me to keep quiet as we creep around the side of the building, and then he tugs me toward a massive shed. My breath catches in my chest as he opens the door, but the only thing inside is the glow of another portal.
It’s unguarded, but then again, who would go snooping around this shithole? If a human slipped through, they’d probably be captured on sight, and god only knows what would happen to them after that.
“Is this yours?” I ask him.
He nods, then jerks his head for me to follow. Luckily, he keeps hold of my hand, so when we step through, I don’t fall on my face when we land. We’re not in the city center or in the main capital building like Rathyn’s portal, but instead on the edge of the woods.
Off in the distance, I can see a row of wooden housing. It’s dark here too—the moons are bright and shining, but I realize that there are no stars in the Eretharian night sky.
I don’t know what that means. Maybe it’s their atmosphere. Or maybe they’re alone in their universe.
I turn my attention back to Cielo as he leads me to a copse of trees that seem to be guarding the portal, and he ducks down as he slips past low branches. I follow, keeping up on my toes as he pulls me along under the dark canopy.
There are strange noises everywhere. Some buzzing, some singing. I wonder if those dragonish Seymosi are sleeping in the trees above us.
I don’t have the chance to ask him. The path opens up, and suddenly I realize we’re near a village. There are small huts all over, and what looks like a community fire burning in the center.
The little roads are mostly deserted, but I can see a few Vyastil moving around. They’re speaking in their language, the low, melodic hum almost soothing, though their tone is very different from the ones I’ve heard before.
They seem…tired. And they’re thin and not nearly as tall as the ones I’ve met in the capital.
“Where are we?” I whisper.
Cielo dips his head low toward my ear and whispers. “Hommm.”
“Home?” I repeat. He nods. “Your home? You live here?”
He nods again.
It’s so…different. Simpler than the lavish apartments Rathyn introduced me to. And then I realize exactly where I am. “The Outerlands.”
He nods again.
Is this why he lives in that hovel on Earth? Because he’s from the Outerlands?
Instead, I ask, “Is it…is it safe?”
Biting his lip, his gaze cuts over, and suddenly I’m hit almost violently with the memory of the image Rathyn showed me. The trees with the pink trunks and the path cutting through them.
This is the dangerous area. The place Rathyn never wanted me to come. This is where the others are. The ones Rathyn told me are the real monsters.
I swallow heavily. “Take me to him.”
Cielo puts a finger to his lips. Then we creep on the edge of the path, sticking to the shadows as we move through the village. Oddly, I don’t feel afraid. There’s just something in the air that tells me what Rathyn believes about this place is wrong.
I don’t know how to explain it, and I can’t allow myself to focus on it too much. Not when Rathyn’s life is at stake. I keep hold of Cielo’s arm as he leads me through the trees and eventually onto the path that Rathyn sent me.
The place smells sweet—almost sickly so—and it takes a moment for me to see that the path is lined with rotting fruit. My eyes arch up, and I see large orange orbs hanging above us. The fruit is larger than an orange, with bright cerulean blue skin.
I feel an urge to reach out and pluck one, but I don’t get the chance. Cielo picks up speed, veering right, and drags me through prickly bushes, the thorns catching my skin, until we burst through. And that’s when I see the mouth of the cave.
From here, I can make out the sound of singing.
My skin is aching from the scrapes, and I can feel bits of blood trickling down my hands, where my skin was exposed, but I ignore it in favor of following Cielo up the pathway. It’s steep, and my lungs are burning by the time we make it, but we’re here.
And we’re alone.
So far, no alarms have gone off. No one has followed us.
Before Cielo can lead me inside, I yank him back. “There’s something else,” I whisper. His eyes widen. “He’s not alone.” I do my best to try and describe the thing I saw, and Cielo’s face falls.
He doesn’t look afraid. He doesn’t look angry. He looks…resigned.
“Is that the…the…” I struggle to remember the name, but I don’t know if Rathyn has ever said it before. “The ones who hurt the Vyastil?”
Cielo lets out a very small sigh, then nods and says something in his language that kind of sounds like Tarek.
I repeat the word, remembering how Rathyn mentioned them before, and he nods.
“Am I in danger?”
He bites his lip, fangs poking in so hard I’m surprised they don’t draw blood. Then he shakes his head. It’s obvious he wants to say more, but he doesn’t have the language for it.
I don’t have time to play charades with him, though. Rathyn needs me.
“Let’s go,” I murmur.
Cielo nods, then he starts ahead of me, and I follow as quickly as I can manage. The cave entrance reminds me a lot of the one Rathyn took me to. Only the air inside is different. It’s warm—almost hot—and there’s a strange scent in the air like something cooking.
The walls are still singing, but it’s a faint sound, like a far-off lullaby, and it’s oddly soothing.
As we venture in further, there’s a curve in the path, and I press myself against the stone when I see a flickering light in the distance. I immediately recognize it as fire, and my breath catches in my chest.
It’s Rathyn. I know it. I can feel him.
I glance up at Cielo. “Let me go first,” I mouth at him.
He blinks, then nods at me, and I thank whatever gods the Vyastil worship that he understood. He hangs back a bit, and I creep forward, knees bent, ready to either run or fight.
The cave path opens up as the curve straightens, and the ceiling juts high above our heads. There’s no natural light here apart from the bioluminescent insects, but the fire casts everything in a hazy orange glow.
My breath catches in my chest as I peer around the wall, and I immediately see Rathyn. He’s lying on a bed of moss, eyes closed, and I can see several large bandages across his chest. They’re stained blue, and I have no idea if that’s Vyastil blood or something else.
There’s a new scent in the air—something almost medicinal. It reminds me of the healing herb that Cielo had given me. I feel a chill creep up my spine, and I fight the urge to rush forward, which is a good thing, because between two sharp breaths, another figure appears.
It’s moving strangely—reminding me of a snake in the way its tall torso almost…slithers. And then I see them. Four massive tentacles where legs should be. They propel it forward almost like an octopus walking on land, the tentacles rolling over the ground.
The creature itself is just like the one I saw in my visions, but this close, it seems even more monstrous.
Its skin is an indigo blue, its hair shimmering in waves of gold and silver, tied in a messy bun at the nape of its neck.
A few wisps of it fall over its naked shoulder, the torso broad, arms thick and very muscular.
On each side of its forehead, there are horns—short and pointed at the tip. It also has long fangs that protrude over its bottom lip—not quite tusks, but not as delicate as Vyastil fangs either.
The Vyastil once looked entirely inhuman to me, but now, seeing this thing—a Tarek—my opinion of them shifts.
I watch, not sure what I should do. I only know a few things about them—like how they’re the mortal enemies of the Vyastil.
But as the Tarek leans over Rathyn, there’s no malice there. It’s holding something in a very large cup that looks like a clamshell, and it pours more blue liquid all over Rathyn’s chest.
He groans, shifting, but he doesn’t open his eyes.
The Tarek says something in Eretharian, and Rathyn hums back.
I look over at Cielo, who’s watching the entire thing with a hooded expression I can’t begin to read.
And in that moment, I lose it, my willpower snapping. I can’t stay back any longer. I walk forward, my feet making loud noises even against the soft, mossy floor. The Tarek freezes, hunching over Rathyn for a brief moment, then it leans back and stares at me.
As I get closer, I can see it has the same eyes as Rathyn—black sclera and rainbow irises, though its ears aren’t as long and they don’t seem to move the way the Vyastil’s do.
There’s a tense moment, like neither of us knows what to say or do, and then the Tarek lets out a soft sigh and says in perfect, slightly accented English, “So. You are his human.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
He regards me for a long moment, then asks, “How did you find us?”
“He showed me,” I say. The Tarek blinks at me the same way Cielo did, so I fight back an irritated sigh because why are we talking about this?
“Showed you? He took you here?”
“No. I found out he was lost so I called out to him and he…I don’t know…showed me images of where the cave was.” My arms flop at my sides. I really shouldn’t say this, but I don’t know how else I can explain it. “You know, in my head.”
“That is…very interesting.”
My heart sinks. “The other Vyastil don’t talk to each other that way, do they? Like, at all?”
He hums low in his throat, then his lips stretch into something like a smile as his gaze darts to Rathyn and then back to me. “No. They don’t. They haven’t for a long, long time.”
“What does it mean that he and I can?” I demand.
He moves closer to me and looks me up and down slowly. “I will let your VySytheh explain that to you.”
“My what?” Okay, now I’m fucking annoyed. “What does that mean?”