Page 78 of Katabasis
“What they wanted was to be better than everyone else,” said Elspeth. “And now they’ve got the chance to prove it. They get to go wrestling in the muck. Proving their might and vanquishing weaker minds. Every single day. They’re probably in paradise. The upshot is, Hell’s not so bad for the people who are in it. They’re exactly where they wanted to be.”
The kettle began to whistle. Elspeth took it off the stove, tipped water carefully into two teacups, and handed one to Alice. “Here you are.”
“Thanks.” Alice lowered her head to sip, but a foul stench hit her nose. She blinked down; thick, black pellets floated at the surface of the water. This was decidedly not Earl Grey. Elspeth was watching her, so she put on a wincing smile and feigned a sip.
“Sugar?” Elspeth asked.
“Go on, then.”
Elspeth reached behind the stove and plinked something tiny into Alice’s cup. Alice stirred, and pretended not to notice it was a pebble. “So then, um—if you don’t mind my asking, what court are you due in for?”
Elspeth blinked at her.
“Sorry,” said Alice. “I suppose that’s rude.”
“Incredibly,” said Elspeth.
“I only think, sometimes, it would be so nice to just pass on and start over.” Alice took another pretend sip of her tea. “I mean, if you didn’t do anything terrible, you might as well stomach it and move on, don’t you think?”
Elspeth’s eyes narrowed. “You two seem very invested in persuading me to give up and die.”
“No, no, I’m just—I’m trying to understand.” Alice’s mouth had gone dry. She swallowed, which did not help. “Seems strange to keep chasing after something that doesn’t exist, when you could just—I mean, when it would be so easy to just go on.”
“I deny the premise, but sure.” Elspeth leaned against the stove. “Something wrong with the tea?”
“No, no, it’s fine—um.” Alice curled her fingers around her cup. She felt dizzy. Oh, she was terrible at this. “So are you—are you close, then? Do you know where it is?”
Elspeth sipped from her own tea, unspeaking.
“What’s stopping you?” Alice pressed. “Is it the Kripkes?”
A strange look came over Elspeth’s face.
Was this the pentagram working? Alice could not tell. She had not played around with the Liar Paradox since her first year, and could not remember acutely what it did to its victims. Was that a glaze over Elspeth’s eyes? Was she dazed?
“We could help,” said Alice. “Me and Peter. If it were the three of us against the Kripkes, they’d never stand a chance. Only you’d have to share with us what you know. If we could just see your notes, I mean...”
Elspeth did not answer. She appeared frozen in place. Her fingers clenched unmoving around her cup of tea, which was pitched forward, dripping, but she did not seem to notice. Her eyes were fixed downward at Archimedes, who now stood, hackles raised, spine curved, glaring up at Alice.
“Baby,” said Elspeth. “What’s wrong?”
Archimedes batted at the mat. Alice’s gut dropped. Archimedes went at the mat like a thing possessed, hissing and scratching at its surface. At last he succeeded in nudging the corner of the mat to the side, revealing a smudge of chalk and several red, glistening drops of blood.
For a long moment Alice and Elspeth blinked at one another. Ever so slowly Elspeth set her cup down on the stove.
A number of possible excuses crossed Alice’s mind. None of them seemed worth the effort.
“Peter, darling.” Elspeth raised her voice. “Why don’t you come up here.”
An excruciating silence. Alice briefly considered running, or fighting—but to where? And with what? She could only clutch her teacup and stand there like a fool. Peter appeared atop the stairs, arm dripping, face pale. He met Alice’s eyes; frantically she shook her head.
“Over there,” Elspeth barked. Peter obeyed, and took a place next to Alice. Side by side they were like chastened children, waiting for punishment. Archimedes perched up on the stove beside Elspeth, glaring righteously through pinprick pupils.Wretched thing, thought Alice;after all we fed you.
Elspeth tapped her spear against the ground. “I think you ought to tell me who you’re here for.”
“We told you,” said Alice. “We’re sojourning—”
“Liars.”
