“Shut up for a second,” Eli ordered, closing her eyes. She peeled off a ragged edge of fingernail from her left thumb and threw it onto the ground. Where it landed, she felt the vibrations ripple through sand and soil and bedrock. She waited for the vibrations to come up against the Labyrinth, the invisible passageways she knew so well.
Nothing.
She frowned, ripped another nail off — this time accidentally catching the edge of her skin and leaving a bloody flap — and threw it down harder. It disappeared into the earth and vanished, swallowed by the world. Nothing.
She opened her eyes.
“What?” asked Tav. They looked like they had been holding their breath. “What is it? Are we lost?”
“Yes and no,” said Eli slowly, marvelling at what she had discovered. “We’re in the wastelands.”
“Where are all the glittering palaces and deadly beautiful faeries?” Cam looked up at her.
“You never paid attention to the Hedge-Witch’s lessons, did you?” Tav sighed.
“We’re not all teacher’s pets.”
“Did she tell you anything about the wastelands?” asked Eli.
“No,” said Tav, frowning. “She told us about the Coven, and the chaotic magic, and a few basic charms and tricks to survive. They were mostly ‘how to not get killed’ classes. She hadn’t originally planned on us coming here, although several of us wanted —”
Cam nudged them and they fell silent. Eli wondered what was left unsaid.
“So you wanted to vacation in the deadly City of Eyes? This trip is going to be a disappointment,” said Eli with forced lightness. “We’re not used to tourists.”
Tav shook their head. “Not to vacation —”
“Tav’s always talking big plans.” Cam laughed. “They’re a dreamer. Some kind of magic-hunting Indiana Jones.”
“What I want —”
“What I want is a large iced coffee,” said Cam. “And a chocolate muffin. Where’s the closest Starbucks?”
“Everyone wants something,” said Eli grimly. She could hear the fervour in Tav’s voice, and it made her skin itch. What was Cam stopping Tav from telling her? But she didn’t have time to analyze the strangeness of humans today. She grabbed Cam’s bag and threw it over her shoulder. Then she started walking.
“Where are you going?” Tav called after her. “I thought you said we were lost!”
“It doesn’t matter!” Eli called back cheerfully. “No one returns from the wastelands.”
Nineteen
A cherry-red sun was overhead, moving through the sky as the City of Ghosts danced wildly around it. The star burned the landscape with its hungry gaze.
Eli could tell that her companions were growing tired: Cam had tried to keep up a running commentary on the sad landscape and the red star but had fallen silent over an hour ago, saving his energy for the panting breaths that punctuated his steps. Tav had said very little.
Once, when the two had fallen behind, Eli could make out anxious whispers in low voices. Cam sounded worried. Words like “hurt” and “reckless” fluttered uneasily in the space between them. Eli wondered what mistake Tav had been about to make — or might still make. The thought thrilled her. Eli let them argue and pretended she heard nothing.
Eli marched them in a straight line for several hours. The spiny plants thickened to a dense greygreen shrub that stabbed and clung to their bodies as if in desperation. A few thin red streams, like a damaged capillary network, trickled above the sand, the water droplets burning when they touched skin. Boulders were strewn haphazardly in the brush. And, of course, there continued to be junk: tarnished silver chains and bottle caps and a mouldy Twister mat. It reminded Eli of the children’s hoard of stolen toys, only abandoned and left to rot.
Eli had never seen any of these plants or stones before and was starting to feel strangely sorry for them. She let her hand linger on a beautiful, forgotten rock that had a gold-and-black sheen to it. It wasn’t granite, but they were both made of stone, and that had to count for something.
“Stop that.” She pulled Cam away from a prickly bush that had released dozens of thin needles into his ankle.
“I’m doing your world a favour,” he said, kicking at it again. “Someone needs to weed this place.”
Eli hissed. Cam drew back, startled. She pulled him close, their noses almost touching. “These plants are not like the ones you grow on your balcony. Offend them and there will be consequences.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He moved closer to Tav, and the two of them kept a distance from Eli for a time.
What she had said was partly true: if you offended the trees in the forest or the walls of the Labyrinth, you would come to regret it. All things demanded respect in the City of Eyes. But she wasn’t sure these sorrowful creatures with so little magic left could do them any harm.
The truth was she felt heartbroken for them. And more than that, she felt kinship — perhaps this is where she would end up if she failed. If she was unmade. Her parts would be tossed to the sand, then left to be forgotten.
She knew instinctively that if there was ever a place and time for gentleness, it was the wastelands. She could almost feel the pain of the land as it gave way to the pressure of footsteps. They were bruising its skin.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to a spiny plant as she stepped over it.
After some time, she could hear Cam struggling to breathe and could smell Tav’s sweat through their shirt. They had taken off their jacket and tied it around their waist.
When they reached a cluster of rocks the colour of blackcurrants, Eli stopped.
“Why don’t we rest here for a bit,” she said, checking her blades for sand damage. “I’m tired.”
“Well, by all means, let the lady rest,” Cam wheezed.
Tav’s lips curled into a small, secretive smile. They nodded.
“Does that mean night is coming?” Cam asked, looking up at the sky, which had turned mauve and grey. “I can’t tell what time it is.”
Eli shrugged. “We don’t really have a day/night cycle here. You get used to it.” She leaned against the largest rock and gently touched its surface. It was smooth and cool under her palm. She felt the urge to rest her face against it. She brought her mouth near its surface and whispered, “Thank you.” It felt like the respectful thing to do. It’s how she would have spoken to one of the trees in the forest.
Her companions were weary and sweaty and painfully out of place. Cam stomped over to where Eli was standing and tried to climb onto the rock, only to jump back when his hand touched it.
“Ouch!” He held out his palm and revealed a dozen tiny cuts, as if he had plunged his hand into a bramble. “Why didn’t it hurt you?”
“She’s from here,” said Tav.
Eli shook her head. “No one is from here. And you can’t treat this world like yours. Everything has feelings. You have to treat everything like a lover and an enemy.” She heard herself repeating Circinae’s lessons and bit her tongue before she launched into a full lecture.
Tav was laying their jacket on the ground. “That doesn’t make sense.”