Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The Reckoning
When I woke, my head rested on my Monster’s broad chest, my body spread out on top of him. He snored softly but woke when I rolled off him. The space was completely dark and deathly quiet.
“Corvus?”
“It’s so dark,” I whispered, stating the obvious.
“They left in the middle of the night. I heard the splashes. Are you hungry?”
“They left? But the original cavern caved in. I was going to lead them out safely.”
“I’m pretty sure swimming in a cave with a six-foot crocodile was just as much an option for them as it is for me.”
I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, holding my hands in front of my face, desperate to see anything, even the faintest sliver of light, but failing. “Well, I hope they find their way out.”
“Unlikely.”
“You’re in a good mood this morning.” Probably happy the men who brought him here would run out of oxygen before they found their way out of the underwater labyrinth. Because they deserved to die for trapping him here, never mind they probably had no choice in the matter.
“Not really.” He scooted next to me, his warmth soothing in the darkness.
“Is there food?” I asked, just in case I had heard him right.
“They left some cans of beans, so depends on what you think about cold canned beans.”
“Okay, let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t care how dark it is in the water. I hate not being able to see anything.”
He remained quiet beside me.
“So, you can’t swim at all?” I asked, testing the breadth of what I was dealing with.
“No. I sink.”
“But you can’t die unless somebody takes your head off. Or did your wife lie to me?”
“She told you that? Willingly?”
“Yeah, then again, she thought she was about to kill me. But don’t try to change the topic. This seems like something important for me to know.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. I focused on my breathing, waiting him out, until he said, “Basically, I get to relive the whole drowning experience over and over again until someone either rescues me or takes my head off.”
Oh wow. That sounded worse than awful. But unless he insisted on keeping the horns, it also didn’t make any sense. Because of physics.
“Do you think you could turn into a crocodile like I did? Wait, did you even see me as a crocodile?”
“I caught a glimpse, but then you changed.”
“That was actually a really fun shape. Excellent swimmer, powerful, definitely didn’t sink. Quite the opposite, actually, a strong, buoyant body. What do you think? Did you get a good enough look at me? Could you change into one?”
“It is unlikely. Besides, remember when I told you it’s impossible to do something you don’t believe you can do?”
“Yes?” I vaguely remembered him saying that to me a long time ago. Back then, I had so much more to ponder, but this seemed to be one of his core truths and probably something I’d need to think about some more.
“Kind of how you were able to best Ixtab by thinking outside of the box. She didn’t know you could transform her into a statue, and you didn’t know that was something you shouldn’t be able to do.
This is the opposite of that.” He paused.
“Since I’m certain I will drown in the water, I will not be able to swim out of there no matter what I change into. ”
A hint of desperation had crept into his voice, so instead of answering him, I tried to put myself in his place. The complete darkness helped take me out of my head, although I would’ve preferred it if I could see. Then I had a thought.
“Can you see in here at all?”
“There isn’t even a speck of light.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I can’t see anything.”
Still, knowing him I said, “What aren’t you saying?”
He chuckled. “I can use the echolocation from my bat form, but all it’s telling me is that there is nothing alive in this cave except you and me.”
It helped knowing he could sense if anything changed or if there was any imminent danger. I could give my full attention to getting us out of here.
“Let’s back up for a minute. Have you ever changed into something other than a bird, bat, or your bat god form?”
“I was a cat once.”
“That I would love to see.”
“A big cat, Corvus, a jaguar.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” It was probably huge and black. Magnificent but not remotely helpful.
“What if I asked you to turn into a cockroach?” he asked after a few moments.
“Why would I need to do that?” My skin started to itch. I would’ve given a good chunk of the rest of my savings to be able to see around me, imagining creepy crawlies of all varieties just out of reach.
“I’m trying to get you to understand.”
So, I thought about it. Could I turn into an animal that repulsed me in order to save my life?
Since my life wasn’t in danger at the moment, my crocodile form at the ready to whisk me to freedom, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would be like.
Although… “If I did it, would you then change into a crocodile?”
“Sure. Let’s see it.”
I thought about it some more. “What about if I turned into a really big crocodile, and you rode on top of me?”
He just laughed at me. “Let’s see the cockroach, Corvus. Or how about a millipede?”
I couldn’t help my shudder. I wanted to jump up off the ground in case either of those were anywhere around me but just managed to stay put.
“It’s not fair how well you know me after only a few months.
Okay, I have an idea. Why don’t you turn into a bat and ride in my mouth?
Mother crocodiles carry their babies in their mouths.
I was able to carry the pebble all the way here.
I could carry you safely to the next pool.
It’s only an easy swim away. I’d open my mouth and set us both free. ”
“As good as the last part sounds, imagine me running out of air in your mouth… you have a panicking bat flying around while you’re trying to navigate the pitch-black channel, and then I change back, and we both sink…”
I was about to throw up my hands and ask him to suggest an alternative solution when something changed in the room.
A bluish glow shone from across the large space, so faint I thought I imagined it at first. Then, as the light grew brighter, a strange sound came from the water.
A gurgling noise, just loud enough that we froze, neither of us saying a word.
“They got here faster than I hoped. Chaac can’t see you here, Corvus. Turn into a sparrow. Now.”
“What? No way.”
“Do you want to leave this cavern alive? Or would you rather your bones rotted away until some future explorer discovered them and wondered about your cute little horns?”
“Fuck that. They already know about me. I told you all this last night.”
“Yes, and if they think you’re here to rescue me, then we will both die. If they just find me here, miserable and alone in the darkness, then they’ll leave. They will go and look for you elsewhere.”
He had a point, so at the last moment, before any of the divers’ heads cleared the water, I turned into a sparrow, flew up near the top of the cave, and tucked my small body into a ledge, my feathers brushing the hard stone around me.
I was no longer clumsy as a bird, but balanced and sure-footed.
From my perch, my eyes tracked the two divers emerging from the water to my Monster, who lounged by the side of the cave.
He looked so casual, one leg bent, arms long and draped over his knees, hands dangling at the end.
The bold outlines of his face, accentuated in the low light, kept his expression hidden except for the relaxed line of his jaw.
This man had seen something in me the first time we met, in a split second had recognized something even in my moment of extreme fear, that kept him from letting me leave.
It was that knowing, the acceptance, that had brought me to him, to this point in this cave.
The first diver stepped out of the water and pulled off her mask. Ixtab, here to unleash her vengeance. Or at least that’s what I assumed, based on the tense line of her shoulders. She was magnificent in her fury, dwarfing the man rising from the water behind her. She held my undivided attention.
“Where is she?” she yelled, her anger bouncing around the cavern. She held a bright flashlight, shining it around the cave, looking for me.
“Who?” he asked quietly. There was anger in that voice, too, the quiet kind.
“You know who. That woman.” She spit out the words, practically vibrating with violence.
Camazotz jumped up, adding bulk to his already formidable height. “Stop right there.”
The difference in his posture and size had her slowing to a place about twenty feet from him, but she didn’t stand still, couldn’t from the looks of it, so she paced like a tigress showing her teeth. “You changed someone. You made another like us.”
A man came to stand behind her, Chaac in his human form, although a leaner and stronger version.
“It is against our laws,” said Chaac. “You knew the penalty, and you did it anyway.”
“I came into your home, ready to be reasonable, and you drugged me, dragged me to this forsaken place, and left me to die. I don’t see how you are in any position to accuse me of anything.”
“She changed me into stone,” said Ixtab, fury mounting higher.
“You look fine to me.” His voice grew louder.
“Don’t go there, Camazotz. You have committed one of our cardinal sins.
One of the few things we all agreed never to do.
If we had caught her, contained the problem, and exterminated her, then you could perhaps serve out the next fifty years here and be set free, but if she is out there, running wild, unchecked… ”
Do not move, Corvus, he said in my head. Let me handle this.
“I’m bored with this conversation. You have already bestowed the worst punishment you could think of. What do you want?”
“Your head,” snapped Ixtab.
“I’d like to see you try.”