My stomach bottomed out.
He wiggled his thinning brows like dismemberment was the best idea he’d had all day. “So, what’ll it be? Thumb, or pointer?”
“I’m not a spy!” My heart began to punch its way out of my chest. “I’m sorry, sir, but my dog…she led me here.”
Rosie sniffed the air and sat on her haunches all casual like, as if the guy hadn’t just threatened to cut off one of my fingers. Some protector she was.
The guy’s gaze fell on Rosie like he was noticing her for the first time.
“That’s no dog,” the guy said, rubbing his head while he stuck out his neck to get a better look. “Which means you can’t be working for Aapo, because no hellhound would go near her.” His shoulders seemed to relax. “Does your beast like snake heads? I have a tub of them in the back corner.”
Of course you do.
My insides clenched, but Rosie’s ears perked up and her mouth started to drool. She took off in the direction he’d pointed. She really needed a leash!
I just stood there, drumming Fuego on the ground. Was I supposed to make small talk? Smell the flowers? Beg to keep my fingers?
The guy sneezed, then wiped his reddish nose with the handkerchief. “Imagine an earth spirit having allergies! The universe has the worst sense of humor.”
Earth spirit? Was this who the Red Queen had wanted me to find? It had to be! But then I remembered what the air spirit had said yesterday: Can’t trust earth or mountain spirits. Maybe I could get to know him a little before I decided whom to trust. “I’m Zane. And you are?”
“I already told you, I’m an earth spirit.”
Okay, next question. “So, you grow all this?”
“What do you mean this?” The guy flung his trowel away like he wanted to fight me or something. “I am sure you mean do I grow magical, amazing, out of the ordinary, mind-blowing creations like never seen before?”
He narrowed his eyes and drew closer. Then, with a sniff, he threw some pea-green dust into my face.
The foul-smelling stuff flew up my nose, sending me into a coughing and wheezing fit that lasted about ten seconds until I finally inhaled a clean breath.
Ah, oxygen. So underrated.
I gripped Fuego, ready to take on this earth spirit, but as soon as I exhaled, I started to giggle. Before I could stop myself, more giggles erupted, and pretty soon I had dropped my cane and was rolling on the floor laughing at absolutely nothing.
The earth spirit stood over me, rubbing his chin and frowning. “That’s not the effect I was going for. Tell me, what are you feeling?”
Feeling? I was doubled up, roaring with laughter. I couldn’t talk, could barely see, since my eyes were leaking like crazy. My sides were going to split open and all I could think of was how long it would take for my friends to find my dead body.
The laughter gripped me like an iron claw. It was torturous. Worse than tortuous.
The earth spirit said, “This is not the right effect. Not even close!”
I sucked in a breath in between uproarious hoots and managed to grunt, “Make…ba-ha-ha…it…ba-ha-ha ga-ha-ha stop.”
The guy walked out of the periphery of my vision, and when he came back, he kneeled down and shoved a small red flower into my mouth. “Eat this.”
The thing tasted like ground-up aspirin. Look, I didn’t want to eat it, but I also didn’t want to die from laughing hysterically. The second I swallowed the last morsel, the laughfest ceased. My ribs felt like they were going to snap in two if I so much as sneezed. Tears streamed down my face. I rolled onto all fours, catching my breath. “Why…did you do that?”
“It was supposed to make you speak only the truth,” he said, sounding perplexed. Then he gasped, sneezed twice, and shouted, “That means you’re not human!”
“I am human, but I’m also a godborn.” I cleared my throat, grabbed Fuego, and stood up.
The guy remained on his knees and bowed his head down to the floor. “Oh, master, godborn, blood of the gods, forgive me,” he wailed. “I had no idea. I’m old. I don’t get many visitors. I have terrible allergies. I can’t think clearly. I was mistaken. I should have known.” He looked up at me. “I’m Kip, at your service.”
I helped him to his feet. “It’s fine. Really.” I mean, it was totally not fine, but the guy looked so desperate and freaked, I couldn’t watch him spiral downward another inch.
Rosie reappeared, licking her chops happily as if I hadn’t almost just been murdered by laughter.
“The Red Queen,” I said. “She told me about you. She told me to find or follow chapat.”
“Chapat?” Kip brightened. “Why didn’t you say so? I can show you the way.”
“You can?” This was too easy for my comfort.
Kip headed toward the back of the greenhouse.
“I almost died,” I muttered to Rosie, who gave me a wary yeah-right expression. “Fine,” I said, seeing my hellhound’s logic. “But it felt like I was going to die.”
We followed the spirit out a doorway into a lush flowering garden in the middle of the dense jungle. At the center of the garden was an undulating path in the shape of a centipede.
Chapat is a labyrinth? I thought.
“This is chapat. A place to meditate away your worries,” Kip offered as he wrung his hands.
Rosie howled and reared up on her hind legs, punching her front paws like a prizefighter.
“Meditate?” Seriously? The Fire Keeper wanted me to meditate? Was this some kind of joke?
Kip wiped his head with his handkerchief, flicked his eyes to Rosie, and said, “This is a special path. It will ease your worries, I promise.”
If he only knew that my worries started with hijacked gods and ended with a ruined world.
Gesturing toward the path, Kip said, “Like me, the centipede is a very misunderstood creature, but this will clear your mind. I promise. And then you will have good memories of my home.”
I drew closer to the labyrinth, holding my breath.
The Red Queen’s voice rang out in my head. Follow chapat.
Just as I was about to step onto the trail, Kip gripped my arm. “I nearly forgot. You must consider your deepest worry as you walk. The path will do the rest.”
“Got it.”
“And you won’t tell your godly mom or dad about the laughing fit, right?” He giggled anxiously.
So he hadn’t heard about the missing gods yet. I stepped onto the path, promising I wouldn’t rat him out.
One foot in front of the other. It took all of three seconds for my worries to bubble to the surface.
Enslumbered gods.
Step.
When you least expect it, you’ll pay with your blood for this.
Step.
Are your eyes wide open?
Step.
Those were some pretty gargantuan worries, but the earth spirit was right. With each stride, my fears began to fall farther and farther away. They were still there—I could see them, but I couldn’t really feel them, if that makes sense. Maybe Hondo was onto something with this meditation stuff.
My peripheral vision was reduced to nothing but shifting shadows. Then darkness closed in until all light had vanished. The air was still and cool.
Water drip-drip-dripped in the distance.