Chapter 30
YOU CAN KEEP THE PRETTY
LEELA
The sea surrounded us. Endless, gray, and choppy. The storm had ebbed after raging for days, but the winds were still high, whining and whistling across the waves, slapping my cheeks until my skin was numb. The storm would rise again soon enough, so we had to work fast.
Sea spray rocked against the sides of the boat, spilling onto the deck, leaving it awash with foam that swished about our boots before draining back into the ocean.
The ebb and flow reminded me of my dreams. Dreams filled with Araz. He’d visited me every night, and gods, I’d devoured those moments with him, clinging to slumber as long as possible simply to stay in his arms.
Sleep had never been so glorious.
But he hadn’t come to me last night, and the knots in my belly told me that something was wrong.
I needed to get to him fast.
Today.
If the structure hidden beneath the waves was indeed a portway, then I was going through it.
Rajnanga, our Shattiraksha ride, slowed and came to a stop, raising his humongous head from beneath the waves to release a loud baying sound. Foam dripped off his leathery hide in a waterfall meeting the sea.
Behind us, his bale came to a stop, their leathery heads breaking the surface of the ocean to bay in response. Their massive frames formed an arrowhead formation with us at the tip.
“This is as far as the Shattiraksha will go,” Jasha said from his place at the ship’s wheel.
There was no need for him to steer while Rajnanga was awake, but he’d kept the post regardless.
“What lies beneath the waves beyond could prove lethal to the bale, and being a warrior does not exempt them from self-preservation. They fight to protect the Isle, and the creature beneath the waves lives only to guard the artifact buried here. It has never been a threat to us.”
That made sense. “We’re grateful for you bringing us this far,” I called out, hoping that Rajnanga heard me and understood.
The Shattiraksha turned his head slightly, one huge eye rolling to fix on me.
Yeah, he heard me. He understood me. We were old friends, he and I. The battle turtle had survived a sea serpent attack alongside us during the sea trial and had been gravely injured. He was healed now. As strong as ever and still leader of the bale.
“We should go over the plan once more,” C’ael said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
The water djinn who’d volunteered to come with us gathered close. There were eight in total on this ship and several more on one of the others, all under Ramashi’s command.
The plan was simple. Cause a distraction to draw the creature away from the artifact so that C’ael and I could get to it and escape to the sky world.
The only issue was activation of the portway—if indeed it was a portway.
We didn’t know if it was operational or not.
What we did know, courtesy of Bhartina, was that the rumored sea portway could only be activated by the Deva and Asura gods.
The fact that the devouring force had been targeting the land portways told me this must be true.
They must have known that only the land portals could be activated by them.
The Authority had placed restrictions for the sea one. But I had Deva blood, and C’ael was connected to me. We hoped that was enough for us to pass through. As for activation, we’d have to see what happened once we got there. Heck, for all we knew, the artifact might not even be a portway.
But my gut told me that it had to be. Why else would a massive eel make this their territory?
Why would they guard it with such ferocity?
The settlements around the land portways were indication enough that the Authority would do anything to protect the entrances to their sky world.
Somehow luring an electrical eel to this location and manipulating it to make this area its home wasn’t so much of a stretch.
I tuned in to C’ael as he went over the plan.
“I’ll go ahead,” C’ael said. “I’ll get it activated in time for Leela to get there, and we can pass through it quickly.” He said it with such confidence that I believed it would be that easy. He turned to the djinn. “That’s where the Evalia siblings come in.”
Four djinn stepped forward—two women with beautiful sea-green eyes and pale blue hair and two men with pale green eyes and emerald-colored hair. They were the fishermen of the Isle. Siblings with the strongest affinity for water. They’d been assigned to keep me safe.
“Cyleena will shield you,” Ramashi said.
“She will keep you within a bubble of air. Uliana will protect Cyleena so that she can hold the bubble.” One of the guys inclined his head.
Uliana, no doubt. “Reesha and Olin will lead the team that causes a distraction to lure Ilyapani away from the portway. They will keep the creature diverted for as long as they can but be prepared to retreat if she turns toward you.”
“There is a coral forest to the east of the structure,” Cyleena said, her voice soft and melodious. “It will shield our approach, and we can watch from there until Ilyapani leaves.”
“You’ll stay there until I’ve examined the portway and figured out how to activate it,” C’ael said to me.
“I know.” His ability to use transference made it safer for him to venture out from cover and activate the doorway.
Ramashi pulled me into a hug. “Good luck on the other side. I wish we could come with you.”
I hugged him back. “Me too.”
Gods I wished I could take them with me. To have backup as we exited the portway, because who knows where it would spit us out. Yeah, backup would have been nice, but this was our only way into the Aakash Sansaar. We’d have to hope we didn’t end up walking right into the primordial evil’s clutches.
“Let’s do this,” C’ael said.
I climbed onto the edge of the hull and dove into the water.
It was peaceful under the sea. The silvery bubble around me kept me dry, allowing me to breathe and enjoy the wonders of the ocean thanks to the soft glow emanating from the ward around.
C’ael swam abreast of me, outside the bubble because he was unaffected by the water or lack of oxygen, and Cyleena and her brother Uliana swam on the other side of me.
The other water djinn would be to the west of us, making enough noise to draw the eel and her offspring toward them. Let’s hope Ilyapani took the bait.
Small colorful fish darted by, the undersea filled with sunlight.
But the deeper we went, the darker it got, and soon only the light from my bubble cast any illumination at all.
The radius was enough to stay oriented, but after a while, the darkness began to press in.
The air getting heavier even though I was in the dome.
The silvery light pulsed, dimmed, then brightened.
I glanced over at Cyleena, and she smiled and nodded, letting me know it was okay. We stopped diving and leveled off, moving forward. The silvery light expanded to reveal a network of coral ahead of us, pink and purple bony branches rising up out of the gloom.
Water rushed past my air cocoon as Cyleena drove the pocket forward, her lithe body swimming beside me. I was a strong swimmer, and I could hold my breath for several minutes, but there was no denying that being in an air pocket like this was much more pleasant.
What if the artifact wasn’t a portway? What if it was and we couldn’t activate it? Then why hide it here? Why have it guarded? The Authority had asked the people of Shantivan to leave it alone. It must be active, and it had to be a portway.
We slipped into the network of coral, the structure large enough to shield and swallow us as we wove between the gaps in the skeletal structure. What was the coral here made from? Was it the same as in my world?
A soft glow lit up the spaces between the bony branches of coral. There was something up ahead. It had to be the portway, and if it was lit up, then it meant it was live, right?
Uliana pushed forward, his long body cutting past me like a sword to take the lead, then vanish into the gloom beyond the circle of light cast by my air pocket. We slowed in his wake, then waited, suspended in gloom, surrounded by colorful fingers of coral.
Cyleena swam forward a little, a frown marring her forehead, and my stomach dipped.
C’ael bumped my ward to get my attention, nodding to reassure me.
But I kept going back to Cyleena and her frown.
The shadows ahead moved. I tensed, then exhaled as Uliana’s face appeared in the ward light. He waved his hand to usher us forward.
Cyleena reached for me, her hand out in command, and I was pushed forward, my bubble picking up speed.
The strange glow ahead of us expanded as the coral thinned.
A massive circular stone structure came into view.
At least thirty feet in diameter, it burned with blue light spilling from large crystals embedded in its surface.
But there were several yellow crystals pressed between the blue. Unlit and dull.
There was no sign of Ilyapani the eel, which meant the distraction team had done their job.
C’ael pressed a hand to my air pocket, his gaze meeting mine in silent communication, then he vanished.
My gaze shot to the portway. He appeared there a moment later, tiny against such a monolith structure.
We drifted forward to the edge of the coral forest as C’ael swam along the circumference of the portway, his hands gliding over the surface. What was he seeing up close? What was he sensing?
Long moments passed, and a fist curled around my lungs, squeezing gently. How much time did we have before Ilyapani tired of her distraction and doubled back here? The water djinn couldn’t keep her engaged forever, not without risking their lives.
Something moved in the murky depths far to the west of us. A flash of something silver.
My breath snagged on a warning as a creature of scales and ivory teeth slid out of the darkness and into the light cast by the portway.
C’ael didn’t see it. He had his back to it. “C’ael!”
My voice hammered against the pocket of air and passed through. Nothing but a soft echo when it hit the water but enough to cause a ripple. Enough to make the huge eel turn its head my way.
Its white eyes fixed on me, pupilless so they seemed sightless, but there was no doubt in my mind that she was looking right at me. She didn’t move. Didn’t come any closer, remaining between me and escape. Between me and C’ael.
He would have seen her now. The fact that he hadn’t fallen back to me meant he was still working on activating the ring.
I needed to buy him time.
Could I make it chase me?
Slits opened on the eel’s face, and the water vibrated, a soft sonic wave rippling toward us and hitting my air pocket.
The vibration translated to sound. Into a voice speaking alien, incomprehensive, words. They came again, this time burrowing into my mind, and something clicked.
Come to take my pretty thing. My shiny thing.
Fuck, it was speaking to me. Okay, this was good. I could reason with it. Hopefully.
I focused on the words. On the signature that had bloomed in my mind and spoke back. I’m not a thief. That shiny thing is a doorway. I need to use it to go…to go home.
Home… A film snapped over its white eyes. I had a home…This is my home. I must stay. I must guard the pretty.
Must? Fuck. She’d definitely been stationed here by the Asura.
The air felt thinner all of a sudden. I glanced at Cyleena. She looked paler, her face drawn. It was obvious there was a limit to her ability, and we were skating close to it. I had to work fast.
Time to beg with everything I had.
Please, Ilyapani, I don’t want to take anything from you. I just want to pass. Will you please let me pass so I can go home?
Something sparked in her dead eyes. Like recognition. Like memory. This takes you home…You are one of them. The ones who made this my home. Blue energy crackled over her body, sparking in the water to light it up in fingers of lightning.
Electricity…she was an electric eel. Shit.
You are one of them. Her voice shook with anger. My jailors. My captors. You will pay for what you have done to me.
Her body lit up as more lightning covered it in a pretty net of blue, and a golden band appeared around her neck. My heart sank. I’d seen such bands before. Invisible to most, they lived on a drohi’s wrist. Shackles placed there by the Authority.
By Asura.
Ilyapani was a prisoner.
A servant against her will.
I’m not one of them. I want to stop them, I—
I do not get to go home, and neither will you. Her body glowed brighter, the blue fingers of electricity moving faster around her. You will all die here. Now!
A blast of electricity lanced through the water. Aimed right at me.
C’ael materialized in front of me, and a sonic boom shook the waters, hitting the electric wave and dispersing it outward and around us.
Ilyapani screamed in my head, her wrath a palpable force, and a net of electricity hurtled toward us, several prongs hammering at the shield C’ael had erected. His body jerked slowly in the water.
Cyleena pulled me back, taking me away from him and up toward the surface.
“No!” I pushed downward, slamming at the air pocket that was no longer sanctuary but a prison. “Let me out! C’ael, no!”
He turned his head to look up at me, fire in his eyes, and a clear command to get the fuck out of here.
He couldn’t die.
He couldn’t be hurt.
He’d need to recharge.
He would be fine.
The thoughts scrolled through my mind as if put there by him. A reminder that all would be well. Permission to escape so that he could follow.
Logic and facts warred with the instinct to protect him. The instinct to not leave him behind.
I will have vengeance, Ilyapani screamed. I remember now. I remember it all.
The waters behind her blazed golden.
“Stop!” I hammered on the air bubble, my gaze on Cyleena.
She shook her head, continuing to pull me up and away.
“Look at the portway!”
I didn’t wait for her to look, my gaze back on the scene, heart shooting into my throat as a figure rose from the center of the doorway. He glowed with white light, his dark hair floating about his head…
Chandra was here.