“Shut up.” She swatted him away and made a face, the two of them as usual teasing each other.
Meanwhile, Sora had been contemplating Fairy’s suggestion. “Tempting a god sounds like trouble,” Sora said.
“I know what I’m doing,” Fairy said. “You just have to trust that I can take care of myself. You do, don’t you?” She looked at Daemon.
He grumbled but gave in. “I trust you.”
Fairy hugged him and, at the same time, gave him her best puppy-eyed look.
“All right,” Sora said. “That leaves me and Daemon. I’ll try the earnest approach with Vespre, laying out what’s at stake and why we need him. And Daemon—”
“I know,” he said. “Tap into the fact that he’s my dad. Well, might be.”
“Only if you’re comfortable with it,” Sora said. “If you need to sit out—”
“I’m fine. But what if this doesn’t work?”
“Then we’ll try again tomorrow night,” Sora said. “Getting Vespre to help us is our best hope right now.”
They were quiet as they set up their prayer stations, because they knew what she’d said wasn’t entirely true. The god of night was not just their best hope; he was their only one. They couldn’t find the soul pearl without Vespre’s knowledge; if Zomuri’s vault was in Celestae, they would even need to ask Vespre to get it for them or take them there. And without the soul pearl, they had no path forward. There was no way a novice ryuu, a sometime-wolf/sometime-boy, and two taiga apprentices could defeat the Dragon Prince and an entire army of ryuu.
This had to work.
Sora lit a twig and put it in the small pile of sand in front of her. It burned more quickly than an actual incense stick, and she rushed to kneel on the sleeping mat so she could get a prayer off before the twig incinerated completely.
Vespre, my lord, please hear us, Sora thought. I’m here with a boy who I believe is your son, the constellation wolf, and we need your help. Our beloved kingdom is under siege. Gin Ora has usurped the throne and pledged himself to Zomuri. Prince Gin has already murdered innocents in the Ceremony of Two Hundred Hearts, taken over the entire Society of Taigas, and is on the brink of beginning a world war. We need to know where Zomuri’s vault is because there is something in there that could prevent the destruction of Kichona. Please, please help. Our kingdom needs you. Your son needs you.
The twig fell over, engulfed in flames, just as she finished her plea. This was going to be harder than she thought. The sticks were really nothing like incense.
But Sora lit another twig, planted it in the sand, and repeated her prayer. Over and over and over again. Nearby, Daemon, Fairy, and Broomstick whispered to Vespre as well.
Five hours later, their knees ached and their stomachs gnawed at them. The smoke of so many sticks clouded the air in the chestnut grove, as if the path to Celestae was blocked and the smoke had nowhere to go. Sora’s eyes watered from it, and she was beginning to feel dizzy. Broomstick coughed in the polluted air.
“We need to rest,” Fairy said.
“No,” Daemon said, suddenly the most fervent of the group, when earlier he’d had only enough enthusiasm to poke at mushrooms. “We have to keep going.”
“Our prayers are stuck under the canopy,” she said, waving at the smoke. It was thick enough that seeing through it was a bit difficult. “We can at least wait until this clears out before we send more pleas.”
“No!” Daemon said, clutching a fresh twig to his chest.
A swirl of bitter and sweet, like chicory steeped in cloying syrup, flooded through Sora’s bond with him. It was so powerful, she could almost taste Daemon’s longing, his wish that Vespre would not only be able to help with the pearl but also confirm his parentage.
Sora picked up another stick. What Daemon needed was equally important to her as stopping Prince Gin. And that was urgent. Every hour that ticked by was another hour that Empress Aki could be killed. Another hour closer to Prince Gin launching a war against one of the mainland kingdoms, and their hypnotized friends dying in the fight. Sora shuddered at the possibility.
Vespre, my lord, please hear us. . . .
The night eventually shifted to early morning, and the dark gave way to dawn. Nothing changed in their makeshift temple except that all their eyes were rimmed in red from the smoke, and their backs hurt from kneeling in one position for so long.
As the sun rose, they did, too. There was no point in reaching out to the god of night during the day.
Sora had known it would be difficult—maybe impossible—to get Vespre’s attention. And yet disappointment swamped her gemina connection like the stifling mugginess of a bog, making it hard to keep their chins up.
“We tried our best,” Sora said as they unrolled their mats and got ready for bed. She had to stay upbeat, for everyone’s sake. “But it was only our first attempt. Get some sleep. Tonight, we’ll try our best again.”
Chapter Thirteen
By the time everyone else woke up in the afternoon, Fairy was nearly bouncing out of her skin. “I have an idea,” she announced as she darted from sleep mat to sleep mat.
Broomstick rubbed his eyes, still half asleep. “You’re making me dizzy by flitting around like that.”
“Yeah, stay still,” Wolf said. “But if your idea is to magically find us coffee, I’d be all right with it.”
Fairy laughed, but only for a moment. She’d been waiting forever for them to wake up so she could share her epiphany. “I think we need to change the sticks we use with our prayers.”
“To what?” Spirit asked as she yawned and stretched.
“The twigs we used last night were just chestnut branches,” Fairy said. “But I think we’d have a better chance of Vespre paying attention to us if we made smoke from night-blooming flowers.”
“Why would that work?” Broomstick said.
“You don’t remember the story from Spirit’s mother’s books? Mortal women who want Vespre’s attention set out night bloomers like wisteria, moonflowers, and certain types of jasmine to summon him to their beds.” It was one of Fairy’s favorite myths because it had to do with plants. And she wouldn’t admit it, but it had also been her earliest primer on how to attract boys.
Wolf sat up on his mat, though, eyes alert with horror all over again.
“Stars, no!” Fairy said. “I promised you I wasn’t trying to flirt with your dad, and I won’t! That’s disgusting. Besides, we’re all going to use these flowers to contact him.”
“It’s a good plan,” Spirit said. “But where do we find the flowers? It’s daytime now, and you’re the only one who would recognize them in their unopened state.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” Fairy grinned and pointed to the base of one of the chestnut trees, where a mound of flowers was piled several yards wide and almost as tall as she was. “I didn’t sleep because I was too excited about the idea, so I went foraging for us.”
Broomstick, Wolf, and Spirit blinked.
“Wow,” Wolf said. “You did all that while we were asleep?”
“Yup! And I also gathered some lolaro berries. They’re actually five times as caffeinated as coffee beans!”