Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,148

king would love that. And, wait a minute, why is it so much easier to think all of a sudden? I had to fight so hard at first.”

“So did I,” Sophie added, and the thought felt like stretching her mind, waking up muscles she hadn’t been using.

“I’m wearing a piece of magsidian that keeps my head clear so I can guide you down the Path,” Nubiti explained. “You must be benefitting from the proximity to it.”

“So wait… is everyone else still hallucinating right now?” Sophie asked, whipping around when Nubiti told her, “Yes.”

She had to find them—help them.

But it was too dark.

And her body was so tired.

And she didn’t know how to pull all the strings and make everything work yet.

“They’re fine,” Nubiti assured her. “It’s all in their minds.”

“That doesn’t make it any less traumatic,” Sophie snapped back, squeezing her eyes, trying to block any flashbacks of her creepy visions.

She’d have to face them someday—analyze what the hallucinations said about her deepest fears.

But she’d had more than enough of them for the moment.

“This is a horrible thing to do to people!” she told Nubiti. “How can you just stand by, letting them suffer?”

“Because this is how we protect our king! My people are small. And few. Who would ever fear us if we didn’t give them a reason to?”

“I’m pretty sure all you’d have to do is show them that trick you guys do with the stomping-and-opening-up-huge-cracks-in-the-ground thing,” Sophie reminded her.

“That is no trick,” Nubiti huffed, “and it takes far more energy than you think. This is better. And safer. No enemy poses any real danger if they cannot even find King Enki, and if they’re too frightened and weary to resist capture. Besides—the only weapon we’re using is darkness. How is that cruel?”

Sophie wished she had a good answer, because Nubiti’s points were valid.

But the Path was still so incredibly awful.

Nubiti let out a sigh. “Every moment we stand here arguing is another moment the rest of your group must endure their delusions. So why don’t you take my hands and let me lead us out of the maze?”

“So the King’s Path is also a maze?” Stina asked.

“Of course. Between the darkness and the endless twisting corridors, no one can get through unless we want them to. No one,” she emphasized. “That’s the point. To keep our Grand Hall as a safe haven. I know you doubt our security—”

“Don’t you?” Sophie interrupted. “Isn’t that why you told us about the magsidian?”

“I worry about certain places,” Nubiti admitted. “But not about the King’s Path. That’s why I planned your visit to start with the tour of the city, so you would feel the difference. The Path is our masterpiece. Even you, with all your moonlark gifts, couldn’t begin to brave it.”

“Stina kinda did,” Sophie noted.

“Not really,” Stina admitted. “I mean, I did way better than you. You were a disaster. But… if your inflicting hadn’t snapped me out of it, I’d still be thinking I was being chased by kelpies and unicorns. There might’ve been a talking murcat, too, and maybe a flock of boobries? I don’t know—it was super weird and really overwhelming.”

“Exactly,” Nubiti said. “And we need to keep moving. I’m sure King Enki is growing frustrated with our tardiness—and you must not tell him about your strange reactions to the darkness. He will consider it an insult.”

“How is it an insult?” Stina wondered.

“Because he says it is,” Nubiti said, as if that was all that mattered.

And Sophie was ready to argue, but… maybe that’s how it worked for kings.

They weren’t just above the law.

They made the law.

“Time to hurry,” Nubiti said, hooking an arm around Sophie’s and dragging her forward as Stina flailed to keep her grip on Sophie’s other arm.

“What about the rest of our group?” Sophie asked, wishing she could spot some trace of them in the darkness.

But no.

Nubiti’s pendant might’ve cleared her head, but it didn’t lighten the endless, overwhelming black.

“They will follow my voice,” Nubiti assured her, calling out, “THIS WAY!” and Sophie thought she might’ve heard the sound of feet shuffling after them.

The steps were listless.

Loping.

Like zombies hunting flesh.

She shook her head to fight the fresh wave of panic. “This is a bad place to have a vivid imagination.”

“Yes” was all Nubiti told her, then shouted, “KEEP UP!” and increased their pace even more.

Sophie counted their steps, glad her mind could stay focused on the numbers.

One hundred.

Two hundred.

Three.

Four.

Five.

On the five hundred and twenty-third step, there was light.

Blissful, glorious light.

Only a glimmer—and