“Hold up, how is it that you can feel the Hermessi coming?” Riza asked Fallon.
He shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure. I think maybe Kabbah left me with something. It’s just a guess.”
“I think what really matters is that he’s capable of sensing them,” Riza replied. “A preemptive reaction would’ve been even better.”
“What, like me sensing them before they actually manifested?” Fallon asked, one eyebrow raised. “Hermessi premonitions? Sister, you are reaching!”
“Desperate times, my friend!” Riza said with a grin. “But we’ll make do with what you’ve got, don’t worry.”
The light bubble began its ascent, making us all wobble. We could hear the gale-force winds roaring outside. Thunderclaps rippled above us, sounding like angry giants eager to crush us. Despite the irregular upward trajectory, however, the swamp witches managed to get us to a higher altitude.
The light bubble made startling crackling sounds whenever lightning struck it. Fortunately, all that did was load it with more energy. Varga and I held each other close, and so did Riza and Herakles, while Fallon stood awkwardly between us, hands behind his back. The swamp witches were in front, with their backs to us, moving forward with their chants, as the bubble kept rising.
We swayed in the beating winds for a while, but once we pierced the atmosphere, silence became king. I breathed out, relaxing in Varga’s arms. We briefly glanced at one another and smiled. We’d made it off Calliope, for starters.
I wouldn’t dare be the optimist on the crew, but I was inclined to believe that we were off to a good, albeit bumpy start. However, that thought was quickly pushed away when Acantha and Nethissis, having finished their chant, turned around to smile at us. They weren’t even aware of their nosebleeds.
“Yikes,” Riza gasped and took out two linen tissues from her backpack. She handed them over to the witches, who seemed confused.
“Your noses are bleeding,” I said.
Alarmed, they grabbed the tissues and wiped their noses. Both turned pale when they saw what they’d collected. “Oh, dear,” Nethissis murmured. “I think we strained ourselves a little back there.”
“We had no choice. The Hermessi were beating us into a pulp. It was only a matter of time before they broke the spell bubble. We kept pushing upward, while they tried to take us down,” Acantha replied. She took a deep breath. “We’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “If you need vampire blood to heal, all you need to do is tell us.”
“Thanks. Let’s hope not,” Nethissis replied, her tone a little too dry for my taste. It probably had to do with the fact that Varga and I were still holding each other.
Sucks to be you, then.
“We just over exerted ourselves, that’s all,” Acantha said, her gaze fixed on the glass tablet that Phoenix had given her. “We’ll follow the map. It’s a relatively simple trajectory. If we need additional energy, we’ll be counting on you and Riza.”
I gave her a brief and confident nod, internally bracing myself for the trip ahead. Part of me worried that the nosebleeds were symptoms of something perhaps more problematic, but it was too soon to form an accurate opinion.
The possibility of exertion made sense, given the trouble we’d had taking off. From here on out, our challenge was to steer the light bubble in the right direction. Fortunately, Acantha and Nethissis were both ready for it.
My heart was still racing. The prospect of meeting Death was finally making its presence known on the horizon, and my brain was hard at work, trying to process the entire concept once again. I could only hope that we’d get there, and that we’d find her, and that she’d help us…
Riza
I didn’t like the looks of Nethissis and Acantha. They said they were fine, but it couldn’t really be fine to get a nosebleed after performing a powerful swamp witch magic spell. With their backs to us and their focus on the interstellar road ahead, I couldn’t tell if they were getting any better—but I sure as hell couldn’t take them at their word.
I worried about them, because we needed them to steer the light bubble in the right direction, then get it down to Mortis, past a potentially aggressive atmosphere. The one thing I’d learned from Kailani and Lumi, even before the apprentices had come along, was that if the Word made you bleed, it usually meant extensive internal damage—the kind that would take longer to heal.
Those nosebleeds were not a good sign, and we were relying on them to get us to Mortis. I, for one, was prepared to have my energy depleted if it helped, but in the end, it all came down to Nethissis and Acantha’s ability to steer and control the interplanetary spell. It was too late to turn back now, so the only thing I could do was hope and give them everything I could in order to help them.
We settled on the bottom of the light bubble, huddled next to one another on the floor—a makeshift surface made of solidified energy, on which the modified pentagram continued to glow white against its amber backdrop.
“How are you ladies holding up?” Herakles asked the witches about half an hour in.
We’d left Eritopia behind, with its multicolored planets and marble moons and circling clouds of pink-and-orange stardust, and we were headed somewhere deep into the In-Between, many light-years away. The spell traveled at a consistent light-speed, billions of stars dashing past us like ephemeral flickers, tiny blips swooshing left and right, gone forever from our sight.
The silence was comforting, though, and I’d slowly begun to relax, my shoulder pressing into Herakles’s. He didn’t seem to mind, though I could hear his breathing hitch from time to time—as if he was holding it for minutes on end, then pausing to inhale.
The witches didn’t answer straightaway. I gave Herakles a concerned look and repeated the question, louder this time around. “Nethi, Acantha, are you okay?”
“Yeah…” Nethissis replied, her voice faded. She didn’t sound okay.
“Do you want to look at us for a moment?” Fallon asked, watching her intently.
She gave us a glance over her shoulder. Fresh blood was trickling from her nose, and her eyes were dark and puffy. “I told you, we’re okay,” she said.
“No, you look like you’re minutes away from kicking the bucket,” Eva shot back and got up.
“Didn’t I tell you the spell weakened us a little bit?” Acantha replied. “We’ll recover. These are just some unpleasant side effects.”
“Screw that. Drink some of this,” Eva said. She bit into her wrist, enough to open up one of her veins, and pushed it against Nethissis’s lips. “Don’t be foolish, and drink. It’ll make you feel better.”
Nethissis pulled her head back and looked down at Eva’s wrist with genuine disgust. “I’d rather have a healing potion.”
It was enough to piss Eva off. “What, my blood isn’t good enough?”
Right. I’d forgotten about that. Eva’s decision to turn vampire had irritated many of the Lamias. Some had even considered it a form of treason against their species. Nevertheless, Eva had not looked back. And Nethissis seemed to be one of those who’d disagreed with her change.
“It’s a common fact now that vampire blood has a slightly quicker effect than any of our healing potions,” I said, trying to stop a conflict before it spilled over. “Nethissis, you’re better off drinking from her and letting us keep the potions for later. Hopefully, we won’t need them—or vampire blood, for that matter—once we land. Until then, however, I would like to be at peace, knowing that the two swamp witches in charge of our transport are able to finish the job. And, frankly, by the looks of you, I’m not that confident.”
Acantha gave Nethissis a discreet nudge, while Eva kept her wrist up, scowling at her. Nethissis sighed but drank from Eva’s wrist. Her expression changed—from wary to surprised and ultimately enchanted. It tasted good, from what I could tell. Or at least, she liked it. Acantha was next, after which Eva licked her wrist, the wound closing quickly.
