“Yeah, I guess so.”
Carlos held on, staring for another few minutes. His knees gave out beneath the water as he stumbled backwards into Genoa’s waiting arms. He turned, held her tight, and immediately started crying. “She’s alright,” he said between sobs. “Our little girl is alright.”
Patting him on the back, Genoa said, “I trained her. Of course she is alright. And now it is time to bring her home.” Over his shoulder, Genoa locked eyes with Nel. “How do I get there?”
“I don’t kn–”
“The waters,” Ylva interrupted, “connect all of Hell.”
Genoa glanced down at her feet. She was already waist deep in the dark water. Her feet looked like nothing more than shadows beneath the surface. “Great,” she said. “How do I use it?”
“Wade out and submerge yourself. You will feel a pressure. As the pressure mounts, think of your destination. Names of the owner will prevent undue wandering.”
“So just think of Juliana? Or a theater hall with an amphitheater? What do you mean by wandering?”
Eva stepped forwards, her black feet parting the water around them. “When I was in Hell, I managed to find my way around a bit. I wasn’t thinking of much of anything before finding myself in the abattoir. Thinking of home brought me back to my–a safe island I found myself on.”
Ylva looked down at Eva with her eyebrows ever so slightly raised. “The abattoir? Truly?”
Eva gave a small shrug. “That’s where she said I was,” she said with a gesture towards a nodding Arachne.
After a moment of silence, Ylva gave a brief nod of acknowledgment. “We do not believe any have accidentally wandered into the domains the Keeper keeps.”
“Fascinating,” Genoa said in a tone that said anything but. “How does it help me get to Juliana?”
Ylva frowned slightly, but turned to address Genoa. “Talkina are few in number. Being theatergoing demons of puppetry, many will have theaters of varying types within their domains. Without knowing his name, you may end up in any of them.”
“So I just think of a theater and if it is the wrong one, jump in some water and try again?”
“That would be exceedingly foolhardy.”
Genoa grit her teeth together. “You just–”
“Bees,” Eva said.
“What?”
“A theater with bees. That is what Nel said, is it not?”
There was a small splash of water behind Genoa as Nel jumped at being addressed. “Y-yeah. Golden bee statues all over the place.”
“That should prove unique enough to find the proper domain,” Ylva said. There was a brief pause before she continued. “Barring any sort of sudden fascination in golden bees among the talkina population.”
“Great,” Genoa said as she started moving around Nel to get deeper in the water. She paused before taking a full step. “We can return here to leave, right?”
“Enter the waters and think of Our glorious name.”
Rolling her eyes, Genoa turned to continue out into the water. She paused as five sharp fingers curled gently around her wrist.
“You’re not going alone,” Eva said. “Juliana is my friend too.”
“You can’t be going yet,” Zoe said, stomping out into the water. “You just woke up.”
“And I feel great!” Eva stretched for emphasis. “Being mostly dead turned out to be a great bout of rest.”
“And you,” Zoe said, ignoring the younger girl. “Charging in without a plan? Wasn’t it you who was always going on about knowing what you’re walking into?”
Genoa frowned and took a deep breath. “The guild lessons I taught you are not law. Besides,” she said with a smile, “you dropped out before I could get to the most important lesson: follow your instincts.”
“So you’re just going to run off and get yourself killed?”
“I am going to run off and get my daughter back.”
Zoe crossed her arms in front of her chest with a small scowl.
“Eva,” Ylva said before Zoe could open her mouth again. “You will be unable to return to the mortal realm through Our domain.”
Eva blinked at the statuesque woman for just a moment before nodding. “I understand. I have a beacon and should be able to return when I need.”
There was an almost imperceptible nod from Ylva while everyone stared at Eva.
Zoe was the first to speak. “Why can’t you come back through here?”
“I can, it is just against the rules for Ylva to help me. I suppose I qualify for them now.”
“What is–”
“Later! Let’s get Juliana and Shalise home and then we can all talk.”
That was something Genoa was perfectly willing to consent to. Eva started leading her off into the water almost as much as she was leading Eva out. Arachne trailed behind with a hand on Eva’s shoulder.
By the time they were in up to their necks, it was easier to simply swim than try to walk along the sand. And there was definitely a pressure there. It was somewhat similar to her limited experience with diving, except that they were on the surface rather than down several meters.
“Alright,” Eva said. “Golden bee statue theater.”
And she dunked her head beneath the surface of the water.
Genoa paused, watching to see what would happen.
A hand shaped shadow reached up out of the depths of the water and gripped Eva. It pulled her under, dragging her for a short distance before it vanished from her sight.
Genoa started. She almost dived in to try to pull her back, but Arachne’s claws gripped her shoulder.
With a silent shake of her head, Arachne calmly allowed herself to sink into the water. A moment later, a hand gripped her and pulled her off into the depths.
So that is supposed to happen, Genoa thought. They could have warned her.
Taking a deep breath, Genoa dove under the water. She repeated the destination in her head over and over again.
It was awkward. Golden bee statue theater. It felt odd in her mind. That awkwardness was probably why she had never been able to teleport like Zoe. It used a similar, very awkward-feeling method of deciding where to go.
She waited. It hadn’t taken long for the hand to grasp either of the other two. Bracing herself as she continued to repeat the destination, Genoa held her breath beneath the heavy water.
The hand never came. One moment she was beneath the water and the next moment she was completely dry.
Dry and falling.
A single moon watched on as she plummeted into an ocean of viscous liquid.
Chapter 017
It was no wonder that Zoe Baxter had run off. Human children were menaces. The entire lot of them.
Even the quiet ones.
In fact, they were the worst of all.
The others tended to be more honest with their disinterest. They would twiddle with their phones, or their thumbs, or simply ignore her while talking–loudly, more often than not–with their friends.
The quiet ones sat, taking notes in their notebooks. They waited for dismissal before gathering their supplies and they always turned on their homework on time.
Fools, Catherine thought, as if I would waste my valuable time actually grading their work.
Catherine had found a novel method of paper grading. Rolling a six-sided dice. The students tended to complain if their grades were lower than a seven or so, so Catherine subtracted the dice roll from ten. It kept them happy and far less likely to bother her outside of the classroom hours that she was required to be there for.
Even on occasions where they scored lower than a seven… well, at least they couldn’t get lower than a four.
In that, the students who did not turn in homework to the lowly substitute were actually ahead of the game.
It hadn’t always been like that. She used to have the students wrapped around her little finger. All of them hung off her every word at one point.
All until Mr. Anderson heard about the exciting contents of her lesson.