Page 41 of Cloak of Night
Sora and Broomstick had been stunned into silence and rode the rest of the afternoon without much conversation.
Now, though, it was time to let the horses rest and to send a message back to Daemon and Fairy.
Broomstick took the horses off to find a place to drink, and Sora tucked herself between a mossy rock and a scraggly tree growing sideways to protect itself from the wind. She began to call on her ryuu particles to form a tiny dragonfly, then she stopped.
Her messengers didn’t have to be dragonflies. This washermagic. She could make the messenger anything she wanted. Sora smiled a little. When life seemed impossible, holding on to small joys helped her get through to the possible.
Sora closed her eyes and rested her head against the moss. She wanted to create something beautiful, because there was enough that was ugly in the world right now.
She remembered her Level 10 year. The apprentices had learned to dive like the pearl divers did. Sora still recalled one of their lessons when their teacher had led them to the bottom of a sandy canyon and motioned for them to be still.
He’d pointed a stick into the distance.
Sora squinted for a moment, not seeing anything in the sandy water.
Suddenly, though, something emerged from the haze. A fever of eagle rays—eight in all—flapping their wings majestically and in perfect formation like elegant raptors flying in the sky, except they were massive beasts in thebottom of the Kichona Sea. Sora had let out a gasp and forgotten for a moment that she was underwater, that she needed to conserve her breath. Daemon had been there to quickly nudge her chin to close her mouth.
Sora envisioned that dive now as she called on the ryuu particles around her. They coalesced into a shimmering, emerald eagle ray, although much smaller than the ones she had seen. Sora also made it visible, not just ryuu particles that she could see, because otherwise Daemon and Fairy wouldn’t know it was there.
Broomstick returned with the horses. He gawked appreciatively at her work.
But whatever joy Sora had felt at creating the eagle ray vanished as she wrote the note to go with it.
Dear Daemon and Fairy,
We got your report about Prince Gin’s shipyard and how quickly he’s going to be ready to declare war. We have to stop him as soon as we can. Keep searching for Empress Aki and hurting Prince Gin in whatever way possible.
Broomstick and I just passed the Striped Coves, and we’re about two days away from Naimo Ice Caves. Along the way, though, we’ve learned a few things—
1. With Zomuri as Kichona’s patron god now, Zomuri’s viciousness is leeching into the people. They’re more irritable than usual and, sometimes, flat-out mean.
2. Mama didn’t have much on the Lake of Nightmares other than a few notes, including one that the Lake of Nightmares is made of water that causes hallucinations, making anyone who tries to swim in it believe the worst version of themselves.
Still, we have to try to get to Zomuri’s vault to retrieve the soul pearl. I hope his defenses were made with ordinary humans in mind, not taigas. Broomstick and I will need your help through our gemina bonds. The Lake of Nightmares will try to make us lose faith in ourselves, and you’ll have to remind us that we’re better than the hallucinations want us to believe.
Broomstick read the note over Sora’s shoulder. “I hope your mother’s research is wrong about the lake.”
Sora nodded. “But I suspect it’s not.”
She rolled up the paper, attached it to the eagle ray’s tail, and sent it off toward Jade Forest.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Seeing Liga’s demigod powers in action and sabotaging the ryuu’s shipyard energized Daemon. Anxiety for Sora and Broomstick, on the other hand, sapped him. The only thing he could do to balance the two—and to keep himself from going insane with worry—was throw himself into his magic.
The next day, he practiced shifting from boy to wolf form again and again until he could do it seamlessly, including conjuring clothes for himself at the switch. He and Liga flew figure eights and barrel rolls and nosedives while Daemon learned to suppress the blue sparks that leaped off his fur.
After a particularly impressive set of aerial tricks, he thought of Sora. It seemed wrong that she wasn’t here as he finally came into the magic he’d been waiting for. He wanted to watch the smile bloom on her face as he performed a loop-de-loop in the air, her eyes crinkling with joy. Then Daemon would land and charge straight at her, toss Sora on his back,and feel her body pressed against his....
Fairy cheered for him from the ground below. Daemon shook himself from the daydream.
What is wrong with me?he scolded himself. His subconscious needed to let go of its old fantasies.
When it was time for a break from flying practice, he sat on the ground in the chestnut grove with Fairy and played with his other demigod powers, like conjuring something better to eat than the berries Fairy had scavenged. His rose-apple jam and flaky biscuits weren’t as good as the ones from the Citadel dining hall, but they pleased her so much, Daemon swore to himself he’d keep on trying to perfect them. Plus, Liga really liked tasting human food.
When evening fell, though, a storm broke out over Jade Forest. Lightning slashed through the sky, and thunder shook the trees. All the remaining chestnuts pelted Daemon, Liga, and Fairy. They were soaked from the rain within seconds.
“It seems our dear father has noticed my absence,” Liga said.
