Renhala (24 page)

The great room I enter threatens me with a sense of looming danger, but I walk on, stubborn with my need to find the source of a pulsating energy calling to me. I admire the beauty surrounding me; the tapestries mounted on the walls are lush and the cool, marble floor is covered with the largest, softest, most detailed rug I’ve ever seen. Vibrant, fresh flowers adorn antique vases in every nook and cranny I spot.

I walk slowly through the great room, but I am drawn to a spiral staircase that leads upstairs. Upon closer examination, it seems to be carved from one single piece of wood. That this is possible amazes me. My hand brushes the wood as I travel up, and a scene of druids and fairies dancing around a massive, ancient tree plays like a movie in my head.

Soon I stand before a wooden door adorned with carved creatures of magic. Unicorns and dragons battle amongst troves of deathmen. It’s eerie and beautiful at the same time. I know what I seek is behind the door. It slowly opens before me.

He turns to me, his face full of surprise, but also despair. “Kailey, how did you—why are you—” His face is quizzical as I stand before him naked. I hold my arms out to him, but before he reaches me, I’m back in Lupa’s front room with Conner balled up in the corner in his boxers, holding his knees to his chest, Gunthreon, Bu, and Lupa beside him.

As I appear before them, Gunthreon runs to me and covers me with a blanket.

For a moment, they all simply stare at me, waiting for me to speak. Finally, Bu breaks the silence, “What did you do? Bu was sleeping, the world exploded and then you were at a castle.”

I’m as confused as they are. “You saw me at a castle?”

“You walked in the front door of the castle, and then I was back in bed.”

Gunthreon holds my hand. “Where did you go, Kailey?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what did you see?” He seems eager for something worthwhile.

“I saw Ladimer.”

Gunthreon smiles the biggest smile I’ve ever seen him wear.

Lupa also smiles. Bu sees them smiling, so he smiles, not knowing why. Conner is
not
smiling.

“You soulsearched!” Gunthreon is practically drooling, and his eyes are wide, like a hopped-up druggie.

“And travelled within,” whispers Lupa to herself.

“Okay
... ”

“Let me explain,” says Gunthreon.
“We travelers can usually only travel to areas where we have been before, unless brought by someone else—this I’ve told you. But you—you can do something different. You can feel for someone’s energy and then travel to that energy—anywhere in Renhala! This gift has very rarely been seen, at least in my lifetime. You had to have been thinking of Ladimer, right?” As he says this, he realizes he put his foot in his mouth. “Oh.”

“Well, Bu was evidently there, too,” I say, trying to save the situation.

“You felt you needed Bu’s protection,” Gunthreon adds, surely adding more fuel to Conner’s fire.

Conner stands up and walks toward the bedroo
ms. “You must excuse me,” he comments. “I’m exhausted, and this conversation is going in a direction that might prove detrimental to any good thoughts I have left of this night. Goodnight, good lady.” His accent no longer sounds sexy, but dangerous. He bows toward Lupa and disappears into his room, totally ignoring me.

I am so embarrassed, and I turn to Lupa for help. “You know,
I really do care for him,” I confide. “He makes me feel strong and alive, but... ” I cannot make eye contact with her.

“But Ladimer haunts your thoughts.” I feel Lupa’s stare as she talks to me. She leads me into the kitchen and shoos Gunthreon away. A beautiful teapot is set on the stove, and she begins to prepare some tea for the two of us. “Honey, believe it or not, I know where you’re coming from.” She looks into some distant past that seems to be playing o
n the rough surface of her kitchen wall, and her face softens, revealing the young Lupa she once was. “Many women have suffered this same fate. Decisions, decisions. Like my mom before me, I will give you this advice: Follow your heart. It will not lead you astray.” 

“Lupa, I appreciate the advice, but I know you know it
’s crap.” She looks at me and starts to laugh, her crow’s feet deepening near her eyes. 

“Or you could go with the nicer butt!” She doubles over, and we’re both laughing as Gunthreon walks by ever so slowly to grab a cookie. We both glance at his butt and crack up even more. He looks as though he’s been publicly groped.

Lupa hands me a spoon, a jar of wildflower honey, and some additional advice: “I think you need sleep. We all need sleep. Finish your tea and hit the hay, girl. You’ve all got a long journey ahead of you still. Today was nothing.” She pinches my cheek. “Please, no more explosions in my house. I don’t think my tea cups can take it.”

“Oh, believe me, that will
not
be happening again”—at least tonight. My body reacts to the thought of Conner against me, whispering to me. I sip my berry-tainted tea, realizing I am thoroughly confused.

“I’ll make sure that power-hungry Gunthreon doesn’t try to sneak to your room to make you talk about what happened,” says Lupa. “I’ll keep him busy.” She
’s suddenly got a devilish glow about her, and I love this woman even more.

“Thanks for everything, Lupa,” I say. “Gunthreon’s a lucky man.” She turns and heads for her own room. I wash the dishes, and eventually end up climbing into the bed she made for me. The linens smell of lilacs, and I burrow my face in the pillow
, deep enough for near suffocation.

Chapter 32

Cold

I open my eyes to dirty stone walls, and the stench of d
ecay makes me grimace. It’s cold in this dungeon of a place, the dampness of the air sticking to my skin. I am alone, and I feel like something is very wrong. There are chains attached to the walls, and bones, non-human and human alike, scattered here and there. My ears home in on speech, and I run to the nearest wall and peek around the corner.

There, I find another room like the one I am in, but much larger. I see a greble—make that the greble who wants to eat my brain, Tartarin—and someone else I cannot see. In the middle of the room is a huge metal box that seems to be perspiring. The sweat from the machine trickles along the floor, threatening my feet with dirt and grime. The container is at least fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide, littered with dials and levers of all sorts. It appears that one side of the box opens on giant hinges. 

“You better be doing your job right, you stupid human,” barks Tartarin, as jolly as ever.

“I know what I
’m doing. He’s happy with my progress, so let it be, you ugly pile of horse manure.”

Tartarin moves quickly, and before I even blink, he pulls this person into view. I don’t recognize him. He wears a lab coat with a pocket protector and looks human enough to me, even though I can see someone did a number on the left side of his face. Tartarin pushes him away, practically throwing him to the ground.

Just then a door opens and another person enters. I recognize the cloak.

“Please get up, Dr. Speck. Tartarin, you touch him again and I will make you eat your own hands for breakfast,” says Devoten. I hold my breath, hoping that his dark energy—sudo-abominor—will not hunt my energy down, for I feel it wake up, and almost sniff like a bloodhound.

“Who knows if he’s really doing his job?” says Tartarin, looking mighty pissed-off.

Despite his cloak hood over his face, I know Devoten is staring at Dr. Speck. “Oh, he knows what he must do, don’t you, Doctor?” A small trickle of the dark energy that
’s Devoten’s sneaks toward me. I can feel it approaching, slowly.

“Yes, sir, I do. Your happiness is important, sir. We really do need the metal, though, sir.” He actually smiles at Devoten, and it’s a loving smile, which makes me want to pull out Devoten’s own eyes for makin
g this man experience the unfortunate emotion of infatuation. “Is she strong enough yet?” asks Dr. Speck.

Devoten turns in my direction as I hear him say, “Let’s all hope she is. Otherwise, we might have a date with some deathmen.” A small yelp escapes Dr. Speck as he turns an odd, greenish hue, and the dark energy crawls up my leg, grasping it like a thorned weed.

*********

I wake up in bed in Lupa’s house, shuddering at the remnants of my experience. I attempt to climb out of bed, then land on my butt as my water-drenched slippers come in contact with the stone floor.

As I lie still, the sun gleams in my face, cheerily informing me that, despite the fact that I’m totally exhausted, it’s morning. I feign stupidity as I close the curtains and climb back into bed, shuddering as I think of Devoten and what technology he may have brought to Renhala. Two more hours of sleep won’t hurt.

*********

“Let her sleep a little longer,” whispers Lupa as she walks past the bedroom door.

“Kailey.” This is whispered by Bu. I try to fake a snore, but have a feeling it doesn’t matter what I do. “Kailey.” His voice is slightly louder.

“I’m sleeping, Bu.” 

“Oh. Sorry.” He turns to walk away. “Hey, wait. You silly, Kailey.” He trounces in my bedroom and sits on the bed, practically tipping me out of it. “Lupa made breakfast. You have to come eat. They keep telling me to save some for you, but, but—”

“Just save me a cup of tea and a biscuit. You can have the rest, Bu.” The speed with which he jumps off my bed and into the hallway makes my head spin. The talking in the kitchen gets louder as Bu exclaims he can eat most of my portion.

“Tell her to get her lazy ass up and save her own biscuit.” Conner sounds like he must have gotten some real good shut-eye. Who is he to talk about
my
biscuit anyway?

I drag my legs off the bed and sit up, not wanting to stand. My body feels like I ran a marathon and a half. I feel my head and my crazy hair, which is especially knotted this morning. A simple pat doesn’t really do the job, but I don’t have to impress anyone this morning, not even the handsome gentleman with the killer blue eyes who hates me now.

The kitchen smells yummy, and I plop my butt on one of Lupa’s chairs. Bu gives me the smallest biscuit I’ve ever seen and a cold cup of tea. He smiles at me with crumbs all over his face, and I do my best to return the smile.

“Hon, I can whip you up something else, too, if you want.” Lupa is as fresh as ever; she’s almost glowing. Gunthreon looks just as fresh, so I am happy at least someone had a pleasant night.

Gunthreon sits with a map spread out before him. “We’re planning our route, and we’ll want to leave as soon as we can,” he says. “Make sure to pack your things up soon.”

I frown. “How
come we need to pack up our bags?” I ask, upset. “Can’t we just transport ourselves where we need to go—you know, travel between places we need to search?”

“Well, generally, we are not supposed to be able to ‘travel’ within Renhala—only from your realm to Renhala and vice versa. Travelling within Renhala is usually done the old-fashioned way—with feet,” says Gunthreon. “But after what you did last night, maybe we would be better off. Try bringing us somewhere, just me and you, within Renhala.”

He stands before me with a smile plastered across his face, expecting me to do what I did (twice) last night. I close my eyes and do my best, but we end up in my apartment three times.

“I’m sorry Gunth, can’t do it,” I say once we
’re back at Lupa’s place.

“That’s
fine. We’ll work on it,” he chatter with a sense of displeasure. “Just go get your stuff ready, because we want to leave sooner rather than later.”

“Can I go clean myself up?”

He grunts first, then gives me a yes that is not the most pleasant as he walks toward Conner, who examines the map. “From what I’ve heard,” says Gunthreon, “we need to head east, to Socola—the mooncats’ land.”

Conner frowns. “Are you sure? That may be a little tough for those of us less experienced.” He nods in my direction.

“What, aren’t I powerful enough, eh?” I say. “You all keep telling me I am. Starting to doubt, aren’t you?” I say with a small amount of hostility towards them. “Whatever. What the hell is a mooncat, anyway? It sounds like a dessert.” I’m quite brave this morning after my debaucherous night.

Bu stares at me. “You don’t know about them? They scare Bu, and they are
not
desserts.”

“Bu, no offense, but I think everything scares you.” Tears instantly well up in his eyes. “Sorry, Bu. I’m just tired this morning. I know you
’re not a scaredy-cat. You have been very brave.”

I hear Conner clearing his throat. “Mooncats, for your information, are perhaps the most seductive creatures in Renhala. They are beautiful and enticing, but you must
never
be alone with them, not even one. Make sure you always have one of us with you. Understand?” Conner tries to make his point without looking directly at me.

“Sure, whatever you say soulspeaker—and who made you an expert? I think I can handle a few cats, though.”

Conner laughs under his breath, cockily, and Gunthreon gives me a stern look, making me take a step back. “You’d better listen to what he’s saying, Kailey. Do not underestimate them. Besides, the land of the mooncats is lit only by moonlight, hence their name. Enjoy the sun while you can.”

I swallow hard. I think about meeples. If bunnies can be that d
angerous... “I hear you.”

“Good. Then go
get cleaned up, and pack. We leave in twenty minutes.”

As I head back to the bathroom, I grab L
upa. “What about Ladimer?” I query. “Will he know where we’re going?”

“Don’t worry about him. He’ll find us if he needs to, or wants to. He has his ways.”

“Where was that castle that I traveled to? It was the most hauntingly beautiful place.”

She walks to her room and comes back with a beautiful, bound book. As she thumbs through the pages, I see the most vivid maps imaginable, and the scenes actually move slightly—a ripple of water here, a palm-like tree swaying there. Her finger lands on one page that seems to be mostly water. “There, somewhere. Ladimer’s family home. His family is the only one that has ever lived on his island. It is not on any map, but is known to be in that sea.”

“
Kailey, are you ready?”
I hear Gunthreon yell.
“You have fifteen minutes left!”
 

“
Okay
!” I jump up and run into the bathroom, pumping the ice cold water in Lupa’s rudimentary shower.

“Ahhh!” I shout as I step foot in the water.