Chapter 39 - Serpentine

Demi

The Flow

“Wow, that’s a lot of sea serpents,” Emporos murmured before crunching down on another handful of that delectable-looking popcorn. “Seriously, how did so many—”

He cut himself short, side eyeing me.

Meanwhile, I was… uh, very distracted by my tablet. My Tutorial. You know, the one about domain-type gates. I mean, I was committed already, but there was no harm in learning more, right? Right! This was important, critical training.

“Demi?” Emporos asked when I didn’t respond.

“Yes, fine!” I snapped, hurling that tablet across the flow, the black square ricocheting off the invisible walls and splashing through the water underfoot. “I may have used a minor miracle before. Just a little one. You know, to get them off that stupid beach and closer to the gate. And it worked, okay? How was I to know that it would cause this—this mess?”

The demonic merchant was just watching me, a strange expression on his face. “Oh… oh, honey. You know making even small changes to an ecosystem can have a huge impact, right? Like forcing the sea serpents south… during the silverfin spawn… and with no natural predators out there where the nimbus is thin. Normally, the river dragons closer to Asphodel would keep them under control, but…” He trailed off, just waving at the portal.

He didn’t need to say it. It was obvious.

The damn serpents had multiplied out of control.

There were thousands. And that was just in the bay beside Apati. There were many, many more downriver. They’d destroyed every ship in the Outer Reaches. Which was a mixed blessing honestly. It meant that the Cheater couldn’t travel by boat… but, then again, that didn’t really seem like a necessity. Not anymore.

“Didn’t you take the miracle Tutorial?” he offered gently.

Which hurt even more than getting yelled at for some reason.

It was the pity in his eyes. Like I was a failure. A minus.

“No, no I didn’t!” I snapped back, the pressure that had been building in the hollow void in my chest growing, growing, growing until it felt like I would burst.

And then, well… I did.

“I didn’t even know that was a thing! No told me and no one covered any of this during orientation. Which isn’t fair at all! Why didn’t they teach us about ecosystems and gate design and evolutionary trees and space turtles, and why is there so much math – like way, way too much math? There has to be an easier way to do this, right? How do the other skafos manage it? Are they all dead? Insane? Driven mad by an “unstable genius? Except, who fucking knows? Because I’ve never even met any of them!

“And why don’t I have any furniture? Or food? What does drinking the Flow do? And if it’s so bad for me, then why does it taste soooo good?”

I was breathing hard, my chest heaving, my eyes wide and wild.

“Just… just have a drink. It’ll help,” Emporos offered, more pity shining there.

Slurp. Slurp, slurp, slurp.

He was right. I did feel better… for some unknown reason.

“Look, I know this is a lot and that we got off to a rocky start, but I really am here to help,” the merchant explained – his point only undercut slightly by the way his eyes smoldered like a demon. “As for the orientation, they don’t teach this stuff for a reason. Because most skafos don’t need it. They’re little more than spiritual taxi drivers. They just ferry the Guides from one place to another. But you’ve started down a different path.

“Administrators are… different. The requirements are more stringent. They are more like architects. They don’t steer the ship, they help build it.”

His gaze shifted back to the portal where a hundred serpent corpses were slowly being roasted alive inside that massive ship – the one that was so huge that the top portion still speared out of the bay like a monstrous, smoking mountain.

“At least Nyx managed to kill most of the serpents in the bay,” he offered, obviously trying to help. “That should help cut down on their numbers. Plus, some of the crew is still alive. That could work to your advantage… maybe.”

Wow. Wow, was he rooting for me now?

Is this how low I’d fallen? My competition was trying to help me?

“And there’s always Eris and Horus,” he offered when I didn’t answer.

“As though that will help!” I shot back, the portal shifting again. Showing a familiar macabre, little cottage in the woods. “They’re never going to leave! I’ve already tried everything. Well, everything within the scope of my minor miracles.”

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Which wasn’t much that far from the river.

Like I sent a horde of demon monkeys at them.

Okay, fine. It was like a smallish group. There weren’t many left. I was hoping it would draw in PK and drive them out of the cottage. Instead, the oversized cat just killed the monkeys long before they got close – as well as every other monster I’d sent toward that glade. Like he was defending it. Like he was protecting them.

Yet this was too much.

Horus was… was serving Eris food? On the patio? While acid rain pitter pattered against their poo-crete umbrella? While she was wrapped in a ratskin blanket and working on her “reports?” I’d even started to think that maybe – just maybe – they did make a cute couple. I was even starting to root for them!

“Ahh, those blood fruit tarts looks delicious,” Emporos murmured.

They did. They looked good. So good.

Which raised another, more dire question.

Like why would they ever leave the PB&B? I mean, hadn’t Horus been healed for days now? Possibly even weeks? Or would they just stay there forever?

And if they did… would Nyx ever make it to the gate?

I couldn’t even make it stop raining! The weather system around Apati and the forest was irrevocably fucked, Fang’s sisters producing so much steam that it had destabilized the climate for hundreds of miles in every direction. And that acid rain was keeping Horus and Eris trapped at the cottage – or, at least, giving them an inane pretense to stay put. To tell stories about their dark and compelling childhoods and eat pastries.

My eyes whipped back to Emporos, my painted brow furrowed. Or… wait.

Was he really trying to help? Or was this it? Was this his plan?

An empty promise to help me bypass the Tutorial – one predicated on the assumption that the Cheater would actually run out of nimbus or drugs or his enthusiasm for his insane family vacation – that he would ever make it to the gate?

An assumption that was starting to look like a steaming pile of kraell shit. Was this how the merchant had screwed me? Would I be stuck with him in this office for all of eternity watching my failures play out on screen over and over again.

Without pastries? Or back rubs? Or a fluffy blanket?

And there was only one way to find out.

One last trick at my disposal.

The emergency blessing.

I didn’t want to do it. The instructions even said to only pull it in cases of dire emergency or a Cheater infestation. But this counted, right? Right?

Red warning spirits started flashing around my office, my empty chest heaving, my little hands clamped around the huge lever that had materialized from the Flow.

“What are you doing?” Emporos demanded, those smoldering eyes wide now, the pity gone and replaced with something different – concern. Possibly even fear.

“What’s wrong?” I insisted. “What does it matter if I pull it? Won’t it just backfire on me like my last miracle? Possibly even help the Cheater? Shouldn’t you be rooting for that outcome? You know, if you’re gambling on the Cheater staying alive?”

We stood like that for a long time. A standoff.

The lack of response was answer enough.

He hadn’t been trying to help me. He’d been trying to scare me – to deter me from using the tools at my disposal. I could see it in the way his eyes shied away from mine, the way he fiddled with his mug nervously.

“Look, let’s not be hasty. Do you even know what that does?” he demanded.

No. No, I didn’t. I bet there was a Tutorial for it, but I didn’t care anymore.

But, obviously, I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Of course, I do,” I answered, not batting a single eye.

Emporos swallowed. “Fine… okay, I may have been trying to trick you. To encourage you not to use your miracles. But you don’t understand the stakes for me.”

My cute fox mask contorted, my lips pulling away into a feral grin.

Yes… yes, I finally had him. I’d made him admit it.

Which could only mean one thing.

This lever was my answer to winning.

To finally killing the damn Cheater!

So, I did what I had to do. I heaved at the lever, pulling with all of my strength – which wasn’t much. I actually had to sort of jump to get enough leverage—

And then the lever slid down with a solid thunk. Those red spirits were flashing wildly now, a wail rising from the depths of the Flow even as the lever disappeared and a counter appeared overhead, one counting down with inevitable certainty.

Emporos could only look on in horror. Then he dropped his head into his hands and I felt this tiny fire in my chest – one I hadn’t felt in ages – not since orientation. The same feeling I’d gotten every time my test scores came back. One of pure triumph—

Wait, was he… was he laughing?

The merchant raised those smoldering eyes to meet mine once more, a grin on his painted lips. One that quickly extinguished the fire in my chest. One that had me second guessing my conclusion. Had that been the trick, or…

“So, I guess you forgot that the emergency miracle sends a support message to your boss,” Emporos offered. “Either that, or you’ve finally worked up the nerve to fight for your job. I have to admit, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

I blinked. Blinked again.

Ahh… ahh, yes. It was that second thing. Definitely.

“Of course,” I said, trying my best not to scream.

Out loud anyway. Inside, it was just one long existential shriek.

“Then game on, Demi. Game on,” Emporos offered, clapping softly.

I liked that. It wasn’t an A+, but it was nice to be appreciated—

Oh shit. My eyes were locked on the screen now.

The one where a meteor was barreling through the atmosphere, a giant flaming chunk of rock that was streaking down, down, down. Heading directly toward a familiar screaming bamboo forest. Toward a tiny lake. One resting beside a quaint cottage. Would this be enough to force them to move? Probably. Almost certainly.

Or it could kill them both and destroy any chance of killing the Cheater.

“This is fantastic,” Emporos purred, grabbing another handful of popcorn. “Will they die? Escape? Force Nyx into the gate before Charon shows up?” Emporos continued, smiling gleefully at the screen. “The stakes make it more fun.”

A frown pulled at my lips. That wasn’t the reaction I’d been hoping for.

Emporos didn’t even seem worried that Charon was coming.

“Aren’t you nervous if you get found in here?” I demanded.

He looked at me in surprise. “What? Why?”

“Because, uh, you’re not supposed to be here.”

His smile just widened. “You’re right. I’m not. But I didn’t break in. I was invited, wasn’t I? By you. We even have a deal – one where you agreed to let me stay in exchange for my help. Also, providing you with access to Nyx's old case files.”

He waved at the air, a scroll of parchment forming from the shadows and unraveling, splashing against the ground and rolling toward me – one with our agreement spelled out in excruciating detail. There were even pictures. And video.

And with it came a sudden realization.

“You tricked me!” I snapped at him.

“Me? I didn’t pull the lever,” Emporos replied, hand to his chest.

Yet he was still smiling. Just like the Cheater – just like an asshole.

This was it. This right here. This was how he’d screwed me.

By tricking me into screwing myself.

And now there was nothing I could do.

Nothing but wait and watch and drink and hope.

Sluuuuurp. Slurp, sluuuuuurp.