“Okay, I’ll try not to get killed,” I whispered, tickling Snowy’s ears.
“Are you talking to your horse?” Tuntuni made a cuckoo gesture with his wing, drawing circles at the side of his head. “Isn’t that a little wacka wacka?”
“Look who’s talkin’,” muttered Neel.
And with that, we pushed offshore in our peacock barge, waving good-bye to our loyal horses.
The full, red moon hung high in the sky, beaming down on us with an eerie light. The tides were on our side, propelling the little boat forward on the water. We didn’t have to row, but Neel steered us straight with the wooden rudder. To balance out the long barge, I sat at the far front end, with the golden and silver spheres in the middle. Tuntuni plunked himself in my lap and fell asleep.
As we floated along, something strange began to happen. Just like I could hear Snowy’s thoughts in my mind, I felt a buzzing all around me, as if something—the sky, the sea, the very air—were speaking to me.
No, it’s the moon.
“Did you say something, Neel?”
“Hmm?” he called from the back of the boat.
Look at the water to see my reflection, Daughter.
The dark red moon was enormous in the mirrorlike surface of the sea.
“Mother?” I whispered, barely believing it.
I have been a poor mother to you, my little piece of the moon …
The voice sounded so sad. Did she know what we’d just been through?
“The underworld kingdom,” I started. “We buried the lake …”
He will rise again, I fear, the moon replied. Until then, Daughter, you have freed me of my obligation. And this month on the night of no moon, when I come down to Earth in my human form, I can visit you.
My birth mother could come down to Earth on the night of the new moon! It couldn’t be a coincidence that was the same amount of time I had to find my parents before they became baby-demon food.
The sea wind whipped my hair and the salt water stung my cheeks. I looked back at Neel, who was staring ahead, steering the boat into the dark water. My eyes fell on the surface of the sea, and I started. Was I seeing what I thought I was seeing?
The moon shone even more brightly than before, making the surface of the water shimmer as if made of bobbing red rubies. Tentatively, I ran my fingers in the sea. Then I scooped my hand back into the boat.
Clunk, clink, thunk.
I didn’t leave your father’s kingdom entirely empty-handed, Daughter. These are your birthright.
I scooped my hand along the sea again.
“What was that?” Neel called.
I didn’t know what to say. At my feet glimmered dozens of bloodred rubies I’d just plucked from the water’s surface. Wordlessly, I held up one of the stones. The night was dark, but in the glow of the python jewel, the ruby shimmered.
“Where did you get that?”
I pointed at the sea. With a grin, Neel started scooping in fistfuls of rubies himself.
At the sound of all the clunking, Tuni woke up.
“Cross ruby seas full of love beneath the dark red moon,” he recited.
I slid the smooth jewels through my fingers. “Thank you,” I whispered, “Mother.”
You’re welcome, Daughter. I’m afraid you’ll need them in the terrible place you’re going.
“We’re not going straight to Maya Pahar?” I felt a pit of dread growing in my stomach.
Check the map, the moon said before disappearing behind a gray cloud.
In the back of the boat, Neel whooped as he scooped up more and more rubies.
“Watch it,” I called. The boat sunk pretty close to the surface of the water. “We’re heavy enough as it is.”
I took Ma’s map from my pocket, and peered at it in the python jewel’s light.
“Oh no … the thing’s shape-shifting again.”
“Look, we’re approaching shore!” Neel pointed to a vague gray line on the horizon.
“Neel,” I warned, “according to the map, that’s not the Maya Mountains anymore.”
The lines on the paper finally stopped moving. The little bird peeked over my shoulder. “Okay, now the Maya Mountains are on the other side of …” Tuni stopped. He made a choking noise, and discharged several yellow tail feathers.
“What?” Neel asked.
“That shoreline in front of us is definitely not the Maya Mountains.” My stomach was in knots.
“What is it, then?”
I turned around to face him, my eyes wide. “It’s Demon Land!”
We pulled the boat onshore as quietly as we could, hiding it beneath some dried palm fronds. Neel made a sort of sling with the silk scarf around his waist, and tucked the golden and silver spheres into it. If the whole situation weren’t so dire, I would have made a joke about his bowling ball babies. Instead, I slung my backpack, bow, and quiver onto my shoulders in silence. We both stuffed our pockets and packs full of the rubies we’d gathered from the sea. We didn’t speak once, except in looks and gestures. This was bad. Really, really bad.
I tucked the python jewel inside Neel’s jacket, which I was still wearing, so there was only the light from the stars to guide our way. The moon seemed to have disappeared permanently behind the clouds. I couldn’t blame her. She probably didn’t want to watch her daughter get eaten by a horde of hungry rakkhosh.
The thin strip of beach was empty, except for piles of rotting animal carcasses. I wondered if some of those skeletal remains might actually be human. Beyond the beach, there was evidence of wanton destruction everywhere. Trees pulled out by their roots, burned remains of wood and paper, candy wrappers, gigantic balls of chewed gum, empty soda cans—many of them half-eaten with teeth marks all over them. The trees hung heavy with goopy body fluids—snot or spit or boogers, I couldn’t tell, but their rancid odor made my eyes water.
“Hygiene is clearly not a priority here!” Tuntuni sputtered.
We crept as quickly as we could through the woods at the edge of the shore. There was the long-dead corpse of a vulture hanging from one of the trees. I shuddered, swatting away a sticky string hanging from a branch.
I saw the remains of a lawn mower that someone had tried to snack on. And what was that other thing behind the rock? A front-loading washing machine with a gigantic bite out of its side?
“Some gourmet tastes your relatives have,” I said before I could stop myself. Nice going, Kiran.
Neel didn’t answer, but even in the darkness I could tell he was scowling. “Look, they’ll all eat me as easily as they’ll eat you.”
“Except for your fangirls, of course.” I tried for a lighter tone, but Neel didn’t look like he was in the mood to laugh.
To our left, something was crashing through the forest. We all froze. A raucous, bawdy, and yet horrifying singing filled the bitter air.
“Hob, gum, goom, geer! Pass the blood! Pass the beer!
Hob, goom, gum, geet! We want to feast on human meat!”
The noise came from a little too nearby—just beyond a clump of palm trees.
“Run!” Neel yanked me behind him as he dashed through the trees. I kept up as much as I could. My arms got scratched by hanging branches, and my feet bruised by roots sticking out of the ground, but I ran like my life depended on it. Which, basically, it did.