Page 47 of Elixir of Strife
There was a reason he came to us barefaced. He wanted us to see that it was him. He wanted us to know.
The Quartz Spider still had the look of a haunted man, the lines in his face deep-set and grim. But he looked even worse now. The circles under his eyes were more sunken, his hair and his beard even more unkempt. I could see the fragility of this man, both his body and his mind.
Max approached the Quartz Spider carefully. “We don’t have to go through all of this again, Brendan.”
Wordlessly, his ghost of a smile never faltering, Brendan raised his hands. Two intricate glass bottles gleamed in the eerie green light.
“My elixir!” Daniel said.
Flora elbowed him out of the way. “No. Myelixirs. Both of them.”
The Quartz Spider’s shoulders trembled, but only once, a mirthless, hollow chuckle.
“You can have them both back.”
He unstoppered both of the bottles, then tipped them onto the ground. The turbulent waters swirled and frothed as they met, spinning and surging. Within mere seconds, it wasn’t a puddle any longer. The pure, liquid essence of water combined, divided, combined again, until there was enough to reach past the soles of our shoes, a beach at low tide.
I tugged on Max’s arm and backed away foolishly, as if there was anywhere to run. “The water’s rising. Everyone, get to higher ground.”
Except there was no higher ground. We had to improvise.
Max and I sped toward the closest of the silky threads and curtains that reached up into the pocket dimension’s impossible ceiling, testing it for strength. Tattered and ripped, but sturdy. And kind of sticky, too. Max climbed up first. I followed, the water nearly up to my ankles.
Edel pulled what looked like a handful of beans out of one pocket, casting them onto the ground. A beanstalk sprung up instantly, reaching high above, thick enough to climb. I marveled as she clambered up like a squirrel, limbs a blur as she ascended to safety. Daniel clumsily followed suit, with Flora shimmying up the other side.
“It was him all along,” Max shouted.
“What?” I yelled back, my pulse racing, my heart in my throat.
“The breaking bottles, the steam — all him. It was the Quartz Spider.”
“Yeah, okay,” I answered, not sure I could grasp what he meant, too focused on grasping our literal lifeline.
My brain barely had the power to process the connection with the Quartz Spider, and I barely had the strength to keep holding on to Max and the great strand we were hanging from. Good thing the fabric or whatever it was happened to be just tacky enough to help keep me suspended.
I suspected I knew what these long, sticky, silky strands actually were. I did not want to think about how they were made. I did not want to think about what had made them.
Plus, there was the pressing matter of the waters still churning and steadily rising from below. Divina blubbered as she paddled to keep her head above the surface, spun around by the force of the whirlpool. Twin elixirs. Fucking Brendan Shum and his bullshit. Where did he even go? The Quartz Spider was already gone.
“We can’t keep this up forever, Max.” I kicked at the air, fighting to shimmy up the length of silk. How far up did it go? What would we find at the end? “The water keeps coming.”
“The elixirs are interacting with each other. I don’t know. Something. Different sources, maybe? Different climates? Like ocean currents meeting, but more violent, and — Leon, look out!’
Something was pulling me down. I should have been looking down. Wicked acrylic nails dug into my ankle. It was Divina Brillante, practically snarling as she bared her teeth at me. The look in her eyes, the angry splashing — she wasn’t trying to save herself. She only wanted to take me down with her.
Max’s hand clamped like iron around mine, his thighs trying to lock me into place. But the stirring of the waves only added more weight and force to Divina’s grip, tugging me ever lower. I kicked, gasped, struggled to hold on. My arms were tired, my ankle burning with pain, the muscles in my leg straining to their limit. I thought Divina would rip it right out of the socket.
She roared as she threw out another hand, her full weight dragging on my ankle. Too much. My fingers slipped from Max’s grasp.
“Leon!”
I fell, hair and skin and clothes immediately soaked in ice-cold water. And still Divina didn’t let go, clawing at me, scrabbling like she meant to use me as a life raft, like I was just a piece of driftwood. How the fuck was I supposed to fight her like this? I choked on a mouthful of water, suffered through the sting when it went up my nose.
If I could get a clear shot, swim close enough and touch her by the neck, the face, I could infuse her blood with an overwhelming dose of terror. A fear hex to buy me some time, but would it save my life? Would it save the day? I could still drown.
The waves pummeled at my body, threatening to pull me under. Divina grabbed at my hair, my clothes. She wanted me dead. From somewhere above us, Max bellowed his fury, his voice like thunder.
And in my head, another voice.
