Alterant (Belador #2)(81)
“I agree, but we have one small problem. What about these walls?”
“Hell. You willing to suffer trying to knock these railroad ties loose with kinetics?”
Not really, and she didn’t think that would improve their situation anyhow. “I could handle the pain and we’ll heal eventually, but using any power at this point might tick off these ghosts even more. Can you teleport us to other areas down here?”
“I’ve only teleported in and out of the maze at the couple places where the subway intersects these tunnels, so I don’t know if we could actually teleport outside the maze from here. If I tried to teleport us from here and the maze shifts something solid into an area I remember as being an open landing, we’d die. It’d be like hitting a solid wall at mach speed.”
She saw no other way out. “We’re screwed.”
“I can go first. If it works, I’ll come right back for you, but it’s going to take me a minute or two before I can teleport again.”
“Wait a minute. You’re going to leave me here? What if you hit something solid and splatter? I’m stuck down here forever.”
He shoved his hands to his waist and leaned toward her. “What’s your idea, then?”
“I don’t know. Let me think.” She removed her glasses and rubbed her tired eyes, then put the glasses back on. What had he just said? “You need a minute or two to teleport a second time even for a short distance? That’s why you didn’t shift to fight the demons that attacked us in the jungle, isn’t it? You were saving your energy to teleport from one continent to another when we reached the next village.”
He crossed his arms and gave her his silent routine.
Confirmation, as far as she was concerned, but . . . “Was that another side effect of your Kujoo cocktail?”
Still no answer. Fine. Taking a look around, she said, “The ghosts did this to us. Why don’t you ask them nicely to let us continue? Apologize for disturbing their home.”
A small muscle flexed in his jaw while he thought. He finally grumbled something, then stared at the railroad tie wall and said, “I’m sorry I disturbed you. If you’ll let us pass, I will respect your home.”
Nothing happened.
He glared at her. “Happy?”
“Do I look happy?” She dealt with Nightstalkers all the time, Grady in particular. Sometimes they just wanted to show off what they could do and show you who ran things in their world. She turned slowly as she spoke to the ghosts. “You have an interesting home. Nothing built above ground is anything like this.”
Tristan’s sigh suggested she was a moron.
A gas lantern took shape on one of the walls, and a rug appeared beneath her feet.
The look on Tristan’s face now was priceless.
She cleared her voice and said, “I’ve been admiring all of the maze. Do you have anything else to show us?”
Nothing happened.
Crossing her arms, she waited patiently as railroad ties began disintegrating. Once there were only two left, she stepped past Tristan and said, “Now, I’m happy.”
He caught up and passed her, moving in a hurry. “This way.”
Evalle kept up with him, but five minutes later she had her doubts that he knew where he was going. Every time he reached a new choice of direction in the maze, he’d shoot off without hesitation, then hit a dead end, backtrack and do it again.
Stress bounced off him in stronger waves at each wrong turn.
The ghosts might let them move forward, but only one could show them how to find Tristan’s sister and the Alterants.
Evalle called out, “Tristan, wait. I have an idea.”
That he stopped immediately confirmed he had no clue where he’d been going. He strode back to her, breathing hard. “Make it fast.”
Who did he think he was to order her around after she’d just gotten him out of ghost jail? But she couldn’t afford to waste time straightening him out. Storm had given her ninety minutes and they were down to the last thirty of that.
She held her patience in a tight fist. “What made the soldier talk to you the first time?”
Tristan huffed a breath that clearly said he didn’t have time for twenty questions, but he also squinted, thinking. “I’d only sensed that the area was benign when I originally left the Alterants there—I hadn’t met any spirits. When I couldn’t find any sign of the three Alterants, I returned to the chamber and walked around, talking to myself.”
“Really?” she asked, hiding a smirk.
He shrugged sheepishly. “Sometimes I think better out loud. That’s when I actually met the spirits inhabiting that space. An old guy showed up first playing checkers, then a little while later the soldier appeared.”
“What happened then?”
“The soldier asked me why I was unhappy. I explained that I’d lost three people down here. That’s when he told me about Kizira and her protectors holding the Alterants.” Tristan’s shoulders drooped in defeat. “I know I was on the right path to find that chamber until I pissed off the soldier and he disappeared.”
She’d noticed something else about the maze while they’d been walking this time. “The tunnels have changed behind us and around us. I’m thinking the spirits are just showing us this is their territory. They removed the wall so we could move forward again as long as we weren’t a threat. I think they’re now changing the maze constantly to stop us from going forward or backward.”