Nethereal (Soul Cycle Book 1) (53 page)

Nakvin took Randolph’s vacant seat and leaned close. “Do you know where Vernon is?”

“You mean you don't?”

Nakvin threw her hands up in frustration. “He was safe and sound last night. When I checked his room this morning, he was gone.”

Jaren scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “You saw the state he was in. The witless bastard probably wandered off. He could be anywhere.”

“I know!” Nakvin’s fangs bit her lower lip. “Saying so doesn't help.”

“Well I doubt he’ll cause much trouble, and he’s already served his purpose. Elena's fine, isn't she?”

Nakvin hesitated before saying, “I think so.”

Jaren leaned back. “Have Teg and the Freeholders look for him. He’ll turn up.”

Nakvin nodded reluctantly.

“One more thing before you leave,” Jaren said. “Round up the senior staff. Bring Vaun and Elena, too. I'm holding a meeting in thirty minutes.”

“
Vaun
?” Nakvin's nose wrinkled. “The man hates me. You know he'll be sleazing around that dungeon of his. I can't stand it down there!”

“Find Teg first, and take him with you,” Jaren said in a managerial tone.

Uttering a sigh, Nakvin rose and exited the room with a rush of white robes.

Nakvin did not seek Teg's help in dealing with Vaun. Instead, she decided to get the worst part of her task over with as soon as possible.

Descending into the bowels of the ship, Nakvin shivered as she neared Vaun’s apartments—and not just because of the noticeable temperature drop. Her footsteps kept pace with the rapid thudding of her heart.

Nakvin entered the corridor leading to Vaun’s room and froze when she heard men’s voices behind her. She found the courage to turn and caught a fleeting glimpse of two hazy figures that suddenly vanished.

“Why do you trouble me, harpy?” A harsh, empty voice challenged from behind her.

Nakvin spun around and came face-to-face with Vaun's emotionless mask. “Senior staff meeting in twenty minutes,” she blurted out.

“Indeed,” said Vaun. “It is strange that my presence is desired of a sudden. Am I to be deprived of still more property in the meantime?”

Numbed by cold and fright, Nakvin could only repeat, “Property?”

“The white scimitar I pried from the priest’s dead hand,” Vaun said. “Don’t pretend that its theft and your appearance are merely coincident.”

Anger replaced Nakvin’s fear. “You've always been disgusting, Vaun, but now you're getting paranoid.”

The necromancer stood motionless. The hollow eyes of his mask studied her silently.

“Ask Jaren his reasons for the meeting,” Nakvin said. “I'm sure he'll tell if you ask nicely.”

Metal hissed against leather as Vaun’s curved grey blade left its sheath. Its indigo aura imprinted itself on Nakvin's eyes.

“I should slit your warbling throat,” he said. “Our relationship would markedly improve, I assure you.”

“I don't think Elena would appreciate it,” Nakvin said.

Quickly as it had appeared, the sword's glow was quenched in the depths of Vaun's cloak. The necromancer stalked past Nakvin and faded into the dark corridor.

Alone outside Vaun's workshop, Nakvin gathered up her robes and hurried for the lift.

Jaren was impressed. His officers, along with Eldrid, Vaun, and Elena, had assembled in the captain’s mess five minutes later than ordered but ten minutes earlier than expected. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder at the long black table, waiting in expectant silence.

“I'll make a long story short,” Jaren said. “Teg, Deim, and I swore an oath to deliver our cargo to the baal of the Eighth. Nakvin swore too, but it looks like she's been released. Anyway, we broke that vow, and we're paying the price.”

“I wonder how dear a price it is,” said Vaun.

“It started when we left the Nine Circles,” said Teg. “A humming sound. It was quiet at first, and it came in short spells. Since then it's been getting louder and lasting longer.”

“And there are voices,” said Deim, “the voices of the cubes.”

“All of which could be fatally distracting while leading an invasion,” Jaren said.

“I could have warned you of this,” Vaun said. “The baal rules the stones.”

“That's why I'm taking the
Exodus
back to hell,” Jaren said. He felt Eldrid’s soft hand clutch his own.

“Please,” Eldrid said. “Don’t forsake your tribesmen because of the fiend's tortures!”

Jaren met her pleading gaze. “Don't worry. I'm not delivering the tithe.”

Eldrid smiled as a sigh of relief passed her lips.

“I'm going to kill Mephistophilis.”

Horror clouded Eldrid's face. She withdrew her hand. “You aren't serious!”

Jaren cast his eyes over the others, letting them see his resolve. “The baal tricked us into this job,” he said. “In my book, that voids our agreement.”

“Are you sure about this?” Teg asked. “Maybe we can cut a deal with Mephistophilis that saves us the hassle of killing him.”

Teg's sudden reluctance was troubling. If the baal had been a petty crime lord or even a Guild Master, Teg would gladly have killed him for less. “Bargaining with him got us into this mess,” Jaren said. “As long as we have the stones, the baal can use them against us. I sure as hell won't hand them over, so there's only one option.”

Teg jabbed a thumb at Elena. “Why don't we just take the cure?”

“Believe me,” Nakvin said,” you don't want to.”

“Get back to me when you've been haunted by petrified Gen,” said Teg.

The lady Steersman answered him with a sour expression. “I still wouldn’t risk putting Elena back in a coma.”

“I'm just considering all the angles,” said Teg. “Besides, you seem fine—almost like a whole new person.”

“The Well purges all evil,” Elena said. “Do you really want to change?”

Teg’s sapphire eyes narrowed. “I'm not evil. I just follow my own rules.”

“You show surprising reticence for a hired murderer.” said Vaun.

“That's right,” said Teg. “
Hired
; not psychotic. I don't kill without thinking it through first, and that's when I'm up against a man. This is a lord of hell we're talking about.”

“One whose service you've entered,” said Vaun.

Teg wore a bland expression, but Jaren felt as if he shared the table with a coiled serpent.

“Your opinion of my loyalty doesn’t matter,” Teg said to Vaun. “Only Jaren’s does, and if he wants proof he can ask me to kill you right now.”

All eyes looked to Jaren.

“No,” the captain said at length. “We'll need him against the baal.”

Vaun's laugh sounded like ice crumbling in a deep crevasse. “You delude yourself to presume my aid in such folly. I am no swordarm to do murder at your whim!”

“You were,” Jaren said. “You might know more about killing than Teg, and you definitely know more about demons.”

“Your flattery falls on deaf ears, Gen,” said Vaun. “Tell me why I should lay another in the grave you've dug?”

“Because you owe me,” Jaren said, “for Stochman, Fallon, and a dozen other betrayals you think you got away with.”

Vaun's voice was cold iron. “The treachery is yours! Who delivered you from the guildsman's snare?”

Jaren crossed his arms. “I'd say that letting you keep your own private slaughterhouse on my ship is fair payment for services rendered. You owe me for the rest.”

“Enough,” the necromancer said. “I go whither the black ship takes me. If her destination is the Nine Circles, so be it.”

Jaren took Vaun's statement for assent. He turned next to Elena and strove to convince himself that she was the same girl he’d found in the engine room. The young woman carried herself with an air of self-possession that she’d utterly lacked before.

“This is all moot if we can't get back,” Jaren said.

“It's possible,” said Elena.

“No more games,” Jaren said. “I want my ship back in hell.”

Elena’s lip twisted in a bemused smirk, taking Jaren by surprise. “
My
ship,” she mocked. “You have quite a flair for self-deception.”

Jaren looked down the table. No one seemed to breathe. “I don't see anyone challenging my command.”

“Your blindness isn't surprising,” Elena said. She looked to the steersmen. “But I
am
disappointed that mother didn't see the Mystery—or Deim and Vaun, for that matter.”

Nakvin's brow furrowed. “You're saying that we're all under some kind of glamer?”

“In a way,” Elena said. “But think, all of you. Don't you feel that there’s
more
to recent events: a deeper meaning beneath the surface?”

“There’s been a pattern to everything that’s happened since Caelia,” Nakvin said, “almost like…”

“This ship, everyone on it, and its passage through the Nine Circles have all been part of a grand Working,” Elena said.

“Your words ring true, sister,” said Vaun. “We know the motions and patterns of Workings, but the sheer scale of what the Arcana Divines are attempting clouds our vision.”

“Elathan’s eye sees all,” said Deim.

“This ship is a sacred vessel,” Elena told Jaren. “It’s not your toy.”

Jaren shot the flippant waif a withering glare. “And my people—my
father
—being turned to stone and sold to a devil; is that part of this Working, too?”

“More than likely,” Elena said, her rose quartz eyes unwavering.

Jaren pounded his fist on the table. “I'll tell you this,” he said. “The
Exodus
isn't my toy, but it
is
my ship. I've paid the asking price in blood. I consider mutiny theft, and if you want to know my feelings on that, ask Stochman.”

The girl held her tongue.

“Whatever this Working was, it’s over,” Jaren said. “I won’t be duped by a half-wit and a dead man!”

“
Two
dead men,” said Elena.

Nakvin’s startled look passed between her daughter and Jaren, who remained unfazed.

“All the more reason to scrap their plan,” Jaren said. “This crew has two priorities: shutting up the voices in our heads and crushing the Guild. Are we clear on that?”

Elena smiled.

Jaren stood and paced the length of the room. “I'll ask again. How do we get back to the Nine Circles?”

“I have a connection to the ether that grants me access to other Strata,” Elena said. “I can transfer it to a steersman, and by extension the whole ship.”

Jaren rounded on her. “It has to be Deim, doesn't it?”

“Thera's priesthood is hereditary,” Elena said. “He has the right blood.”

Jaren wasn't sure what the girl was implying aside from her apparent confirmation, but Deim’s sallow face flushed with something resembling pride. “If there are no other objections,” Jaren said, “I'll consider our course set.”

Nakvin and Teg exchanged nervous looks, but no one said a word.

“Deim, you have the Wheel,” Jaren said. “I want this ship back in hell by tonight.”

“I’m moving the
Exodus
” Jaren sent to the
Gambler’s Fallacy
from his quarters.

“I don’t expect you’ll tell me where,” Randolph sent back, “but I’d like to know how to reach you if necessary.”

“We’ll be out of comm range,” said Jaren. “Just make sure the Bifron fleet’s ready.”

“I’ll make the fleet my top priority,” Randolph said with a hint of unease, “as long as you’re back in time to join it.”

Jaren let his grin color his voice. “I’ll be there to
lead
it.”

The voices returned immediately after Jaren signed off. He left his cabin to walk and think but wasn’t surprised when his feet carried him to the vault. He stood in the middle of the quiet metal room and brooded over its unwholesome contents.

“Having second thoughts?” someone asked from behind him.

Jaren turned to find Eldrid standing in the doorway, her arms folded across the gold velvet-covered swell of her chest. The scent of lilac filled the chamber. “I’m not in the habit of second-guessing myself,” he said.

Eldrid pivoted into the vault and leaned against the wall. “Still,” she said, “you have the look of a man facing a difficult choice. If my counsel can aid your decision, I gladly offer it.”

“It’s nothing too agonizing,” Jaren said, “but I think there’s a good chance Mephistophilis knows about this vault. He did commission the ship.”

Eldrid’s hazel eyes gleamed. “You mean to hide them!”

A smile came unbidden to Jaren’s lips. “Since you offered, there is something you can do. Find Teg and tell him to bring a cargo lifter up from the hold.”

Eldrid started toward the exit but halted in mid-stride. “Cross wears the baal’s colors.”

Remembering Teg’s aversion to his plan gave Jaren pause, but his suspicion led to sudden inspiration. “Change of plans,” he said. “Talk to Jastis. Tell him to bring the lifter and three other Freeholders he trusts.”

Eldrid brow creased. “Why the Freeholders?”

“Because they’re the only ones with no interest in the cubes. Get them up here, and have them start moving the stones.”

“Where do you wish them hidden?” Eldrid asked.

“Wherever you decide,” Jaren said as he started from the room. “We’ll drop you and the Freeholders off in Avalon on our way to the Eighth.”

“Wait!” Eldrid said. “Where are you going?”

“The bridge,” said Jaren. “No one else should know the cubes' location, including me.”