Chapter Nineteen
Ena
Ena followed Ty out of the Archives back towards the Great Antre.
“Where are we going?” she asked, when instead of veering towards his room, they headed towards a different section of the upper levels.
“You’ll see,” he said, winking at her mischievously.
Ena rolled her eyes at that but played along as they moved down an unknown passageway and stopped at a door. Ty knocked, and a few seconds later, Turner opened it.
“Hey,” he greeted, looking slightly concerned at their appearance. “What’s up?”
“You up for a trip to the undercaves?” Ty asked him, a roguish look in his eye.
Turner’s smile widened. “Always,” he replied. “Why? Are you thinking about…?” His eyes darted towards Ena. “Corrupting Ena with our daemonic ways?”
Ty laughed. “Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed,” he said, looking at Ena with pride.
“What?” Ena asked, barely suppressing her own smile at their obvious giddiness. “What in Gaia’s name are you two talking about?”
“Oh, it has nothing to do with Gaia,” Turner said, his smile somehow getting wider.
“Come on,” Ty said. “Get your shoes on and let’s get Steig. Maybe Lara will want to come too.”
Turner disappeared into his room for a minute, before returning with his shoes on, and the three of them headed down the passageways once more towards Steig and Lara’s.
Ena decided not to ask questions, and for once in her life, just be along for the ride. She trusted Ty. She trusted Turner. Whatever they had planned was clearly something fun, since they were practically skipping down the passageway like little boys getting sweets on Yule.
Once they got to Steig and Lara’s door, Ty knocked, and Lara came to the door a few seconds later.
“Hey Lara, is Steig here?” Ty asked, looking behind her.
“Yeah, he’s here. Steig!” She turned around and called to her husband, who came to the door, looking just as confused as Turner had.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asked, eyes darting suspiciously between each of them.
“We’re going to the undercaves. Come on.”
Steig laughed, dark and amused. “Are you serious? How fucking old are we? I have four kids in here,” he said, gesturing behind him. “I can’t be running off with you idiots doing allucinae in the middle of the day.”
Allucinae? Now Ena was thoroughly intrigued. What in the Underworld was allucinae?
“Alright, suit yourself. Lara?” Ty called over his shoulder to where Ena could see Lara hovering just behind the door. “What about you? You in?”
“Fuck it, yes,” she said, pushing the door open wider and popping back into view. “Just let me see if Trysh can watch the kids.”
Steig turned to his wife, lifting a dark brow at her. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, why not? It’s been gloomy as fuck around here. I think we could all use something fun. Don’t you?” The look she gave Steig was one of pure seduction.
He grumbled something about her using that look on him before acquiescing to the peer pressure and dipping back inside to get ready.
Meanwhile, Lara took off down the passageway to get Trysh, the older daemon who’d made her dress for the onata celebration, and, apparently, frequently watched the kids for them.
By the time she returned, Ty and Turner had gotten Steig to fetch them several darkrock lanterns to carry with them, and the five of them took off to the Great Antre.
Ena had, so far, been to the forge on the lower levels, but not any deeper into the Underworld.
She knew, theoretically, that under the forge was the hot springs that powered the aqueducts throughout the Underworld, and somewhere under that were the unexplored undercaves, but she didn’t know much about them.
Once they were past the busier areas closest to the Great Antre and they began the descent down the endless winding staircase that led to the lower levels and below, Ena finally had to ask.
“Okay, so are any of you going to tell me why in the Underworld we are going to the undercaves and what this allucinae has to do with it?” she asked the group.
Lara laughed in that intoxicating way of hers as she walked behind her on the steps.
Only now did Ena realize why the joy of her laughter felt so special—it must be her gaudium.
Even though her Power didn’t work on Ena, she could still sense an abundance of joy in her, just like she could sense Ty’s rage.
“The undercaves are essentially the uncharted parts of the Underworld,” Lara replied. “The caves we haven’t expanded into yet, and some of them are kept that way on purpose, because of the allucinae.”
“It’s those areas where the Trials are held—the rite of passage for those who turn twenty-seven to receive their Powers from Iblis.
And the allucinae is part of what makes the Trial so…
harrowing,” Ty explained, picking up where Lara had left off.
“It’s a hallucinogenic moss that grows on the cave walls, and even though we’re not purposefully given it, over time, the hallucinogens can seep into your exposed skin, and so, combined with the lack of food and water for days on end, the hallucinations usually occur during the Trials regardless. ”
“But, under ordinary circumstances, when you’re not starved and dehydrated, it’s quite an enjoyable experience,” Turner chimed in from his spot at the back of the procession.
“Wait a second,” Ena said, speaking to Ty ahead of her on the stairs. “Aren’t the undercaves where you and Steig got lost as children?”
“Yes, we, uh…went a little too far and got lost, and, yes, the allucinae may have played a role in that, even though we didn’t do it on purpose.”
Ena laughed. “So now we’re…what? Going down there to do it on purpose? Why?”
“Because it’s fun,” Lara called. “You remember fun, don’t you, Ena? It’s not all research and fucking my cousin.”
“Fucking your cousin is fun for me,” Ena retorted.
Lara’s laugh boomed behind her. “Okay, well, this is just a different kind of fun. And it’s supposed to bring you closer to Iblis.”
“Really?” Ena asked, hesitation creeping in. Her knee-jerk reaction was that that wasn’t a good thing. What if she got out of control? Or accidentally caused too much chaos or discord?
“What do you think, viper? You up for it?” Ty asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
Was she? She’d been raised to serve Gaia and the balance, so intentionally getting closer to Iblis felt sacrilegious.
But, when in the company of daemons, who’d been embracing Iblis their whole lives and were still good people, she knew she needed to let that ingrained fear go.
Besides, wasn’t that why she was so drawn to Ty?
The chaotic freedom he made her feel? And her Gift too…
she couldn’t deny she loved the feeling of letting go and giving in to it now that she wasn’t so afraid of it.
So maybe she should keep embracing that feeling—it hadn’t steered her wrong yet.
“Yes,” she said. “Why not?”
Turner made a whooping noise in celebration behind her, and she shook her head, but smiled despite herself.
After another ten minutes of descent, long after they’d passed the exit into the lower levels that Lara had taken her through before, the carved staircase they’d been winding down simply ended.
It was nearly pitch black ahead of them, but with the darkrock lanterns they held, Ena could already tell that these caves were significantly more untamed than the ones above. The walls were rough, and stalactites hung low from the ceiling, so she had to duck in some places.
It was colder, too, likely because they were underneath where the hot springs bubbled. But most notably, it was dark—the dense blackness ahead of them seemed endless, and Ena could barely make out anything beyond the small rings of blue light their darkrock lanterns created.
They moved forward as a group into the darkness, and Ena found herself reaching for Ty’s hand for reassurance.
He chuckled, low and deep. “Scared, viper?” he asked, turning his lantern towards her.
“No,” Ena said stubbornly. “It’s just…so dark. How do you even know where we’re going?”
“Venator, remember? We’re almost there,” he said, squeezing her hand in reassurance.
They moved across the jagged cave floor, down several twisting passages, until they entered into a large chamber.
It was nothing compared to the size of the chambers on the upper levels, which had clearly been excavated more, but it felt significantly less closed-in than the passages they’d been moving through to get here.
“Here we are,” said Ty as the five of them spread out through the space.
Ena squinted, trying to make out anything about the space around her, but it looked the same as everything else. Dark, blackish-gray walls of stone. Where was the allucinae?
“Come look,” Turner said, gesturing her over to where he stood.
He held up his lantern, illuminating the wall, and Ena watched as he ran his hand gently along it.
Trailing after his fingertips, Ena saw a glowing green substance appear.
It wasn’t very bright, but in the glow of the lantern, she could see its color—stark against the drab walls of the cave.
It was furry, like some of the mosses that grew in the forests back home, but once Turner stopped running his fingers along it, it turned back to the same blackish-gray color as the walls.
Ena’s Knowing perked up in the presence of the cave-dwelling plant.
There wasn’t much that was alive down here in the Underworld.
Yes, Ena could feel the stone, but that was different—it was a much more muted feeling than she was used to.
And, since she couldn’t sense daemons with her Knowing, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed using it.
Because now, she Knew this moss, and it was…
so interesting. She could tell it thrived here in the dark, and it wanted to be left undisturbed.
Like a silent passenger, it grew and multiplied away from predators and pests, it’s eerie glow a foreboding warning of its toxicity and hallucinogenic properties.