Zos quest book one, p.14
Zo's Quest: — Book One —, page 14
She reaches the first crossroad. Come on, Augur. What’s taking you so long? You should be able to run through this burrow like it’s daylight. She waits.
“What am I doing? Augur can do this with his eyes closed.” She chuckles to herself. “Onward, to the right.”
Two more rights and one left later, she comes the last junction, but it only offers two passageways.
“Three rights, a left, then middle-most. That’s what he said. That’s what I did. Where did I go—Oooh, CRAP.” She hadn’t checked for more than two tunnels at the third junction. Sloppy. Just sloppy. You’re better than that, Zo! Tired or not, you can’t afford dumb mistakes. You have to be better than that!
She drags her knuckles along the back of her neck and stretches. Shake it off, kid. You’re almost there, you’ve got this. She heads back.
Sure enough there are three avenues at the third junction and she now takes the farthest right, pressing on.
I bet Augur came and went by now. I’m so tired. Don’t slow down, Zo. Deep breaths, deep breaths. There. Keep going. Keep going. Remember Father, remember Ma and Bro, remember Quest. Keep going. Remember Mahdi, remember Pahana. Keep going. Remember Augur. Keep going. Remember the settled. Keep going. Remember Aminah and the siblings. Keep going. Remember the Three. Keep going. You got this! Keep going.
But despite her will, she’s depleted.
Truly, that’s all I’ve got. I’m spent. I need to rest. Just a quick power nap. Placing her rucksack beside her to mark the direction she needs to head, Zo eats.
Then she sleeps.
And she dreams…
The vine in her hair grows, and more vines sprout.
Her curls are now completely replaced with vines. She can’t hide her settlement, and everyone gawks and shuns her.
She turns to run.
Gaining speed, the Three appear and beckon her. But the harder she pursues Them, the farther away They seem, until They disappear altogether into a cave.
She follows. But inside, the scene pulls back and she is swallowed by the toothy smile of Sargon.
His face is not natural. It’s hewn in chunks and held together by a series of strings. He cackles, making it apparent that the strings that hold him together also command his movement.
Perspective continues to retreat, and the strings grow long through the dark until the crossarm of a controller can be seen. But although it’s obviously Its doing, in the darkness the Puppeteer cannot be seen.
Zo’s gaze is fixed, searching to find who wields the controls, but the crossbar suddenly sets toward her, and the vines on her head rush up, into the controller.
…She wakes.
Breathing heavy, pulse pounding, once again the stench on her becomes new. She gags and her hands open to cover her face. For a few moments, the green glow reflects intensely all around her.
She seals her hands tight.
But as the stink numbs, she lets one pinky out. The soft glow is magnified.
Without thinking, she holds out a hand entirely and stands in astonishment. The tunnel is lit up with the full brightness of a clear (green hued) day.
Floor to ceiling, the passage is comprised of a mirror-like rock. It’s like a funhouse, some surfaces reflect taller, some shorter, some disconnected, still others zoomed in, focused on random areas (her knees, an eye, her fingers).
She approaches one seemingly normal reflection. She hasn’t seen herself since she first drank from the waters of life. She gazes into her eyes.
I look kind. I never look kind! Gentle even, vulnerable? No one’s ever said that about me. And I sure as heck don’t want anyone to see me that way! Is that how people see me now, vulnerable? I mean, I guess there’s a strength in that. Showing yourself openly instead of hiding, that can show strength. It’s kind of beautiful, really. I mean, I’m not gorgeous, but there’s something beautiful—I’ve never thought of kindness as strength before.
Her smile catches her attention and her hands touch her cheeks. Oh geez, look how dirty I am! The reflective stone responds to the focus of her eye, shifting convexly, putting the very grains of dirt burrowed into her pores on full display. Ew, disgusting.
“Disgusting,” an echo resounds inside the tunnel.
Woah. Did I say that out loud?
She looks around. I don’t think anyone else’s here. Just me looking back at me. She returns to the reflection and brushing her hair away from her face, feels the vine. She pulls it forward and rests it between her eyes. You’ve caused me quite a bit of trouble.
“Trouble,” the echo returns.
What the?
Again more thoroughly examining her surroundings, she still only finds her reflections. Looking at herself from multiple angles, she curls her lip. “I’m filthy.”
“Filthy. Filthy. Disgusting. Trouble.”
She catches it, My reflections are parroting me.
“Defiled,” they continue, “Unworthy.”
“Defiled?” she asks.
“Settled. Don’t continue. Undeserving of the path.”
Her eyes focus on an enlarged image of her self-loathing mouth, and she becomes entranced.
Sinking down to her knees, she begins to mimic the reflections, “I don’t deserve it.” She bows her head into her lap, but her eyes remain fixed, absorbing the degradation.
“Filthy… Defiled… Cowering… No escape… Much trouble… Settled… Not worthy… Disgusting.”
The reflections stretch, crawling across the grimy floor and reaching toward her. But she doesn’t move.
She watches as they cover her, not realizing a heavy layer of mud is growing over her feet and legs, up her torso, hardening to a thick crust almost as quickly as it moves. Hands open, the bondage continues its creep until it consumes the glow. As the crud finally hardens over her eyes, the echos persist in her mind.
I’m filthy. Not worthy. Too much trouble…
“Zo! Zo, where are you!” Augur’s voice bounces through the tunnel. “ZO!”
Stopping nearby, he strains to hear something through the silence. “Zo?”
A faint heartbeat.
“Zo, is that you? Say something? Zo?”
Her pulse is steady, but she doesn’t make a sound.
“Zo?” He inches closer. “Zo? I need you to talk to me. I know my voice is too loud for you to sleep. Come on, my lady, give me something.”
He feels something large on the ground, and finding his way around it, her heart now beats behind him.
“Zo?” He kneels beside it. But this feels like a boulder—and the pulse is stronger.
He lays his ear against it. What is this? “Zo.” He taps on the encrusted form and tries to pick at it. “Zo! ZO!” He hits it hard, and begins to pound against it.
Muted thuds call her awareness away from self-deprecation.
Narrowing her ears toward the rapping, the distant sound of a voice is muddled by her own endless chatter.
She is drifting.
“Zo!” Her name breaks clearly through the noise.
“Zo,” the echos catch on, “Filthy Zo.”
But Augur’s voice bests the clamor, “Zo!”
“Unworthy Zo.”
“You have to fight, Zo!” He has no idea what she’s up against.
“Troublesome, Zo.”
But he doesn’t give up. “Fight, Zo! You’re not a settler!”
“Settler Zo. Not worthy.”
Consumed again, she floats through a dark void. With nothing to hold onto and no foundation to stand, she is lulled away.
Lost.
“Zo!” His voice fades into remote incoherence. “zo?”
Augur can’t break the casing, but he heard Zo’s heartbeat increase when he called to her.
His breath is heavy and he is tired. He presses his cheek against the crust. Her pulse is strong. “I know you’re there, my lady. Don’t give up. I’m not giving up.” He sits back and rests his arm over the lump. “But I do need a break.” He leans his head against the tunnel wall and sighs.
“Don’t give up, Zo.”
CHAPTER 30
Floating through the endless reflections of her mind, a light pierces between them.
What is that?
As Zo shoves mirrors aside, the light grows, then splits into Three, and dims into familiar images.
“Remember, Zo.” They speak in unison, “Remember.”
“Remember?” she questions, the restless echos still reverberate.
“Remember who you are.”
“I’m… unworthy, filthy—”
“Zo,” they insist, “remember WHOSE you are.”
“Whose I am.” She tilts her head. “Whose am I?”
The magnificent harmony of their voices rises above the swarm, “Salvador.”
“I am,” she closes her eyes to remember, but the reflections persist and manipulate the light like mirror balls of distraction, and she is swayed. “I’m unworthy.”
But the Three magnify and the synchronicity of their voices resounds, “You are a Salvador. Zo, you are chosen.”
“Chosen?”
They affirm, “Zo Salvador. Leader. Savior. Our chosen.”
But again, the mirrors capture her eye.
“But I am filthy.”
“You are chosen. We chose you, Daughter.” Their voice resonates, stirring her.
Between the echos, she can finally recognize distinct voices. “Ma?” She casts aside the babbling reflections. “Ma! Father! Bro!”
“We chose you. Believe, Zo Salvador. Remember. Believe.”
“Wait!” Frantic in her attempt to reach them, she can’t find her footing and begins to thrash in her drifting. Her family is fading and the reflections swarm in full force.
But Zo is awake.
“NO! I am a daughter. I am a Salvador!”
Moans rouse Augur.
“Zo?” He moves his ear against her covered form. I hear you. “I hear you, Zo! Fight! Fight, Zo!” He begins beating at the crust again.
Zo is also now battling from the inside. Working together, the hard cast starts to crack.
Augur picks at the fissures. “Come on, Zo! Keep fighting!”
Then her elbow bursts through, and the casing shatters like a Prince Rupert’s drop.
Augur falls backward.
She sucks in air and coughs as the dust settles, and brushes off the remnants of the shell. Then she stretches out beside her friend, who is still gasping for air.
She turns her head. “You came back for me?”
“And you,” he’s still catching his breath, “you elbowed me!”
She shakes her head and smiles. He really is funny.
He sits up. “What happened, Zo?”
“This tunnel is full of bad mirrors. Zababa warned me not to open my fists, but the way the green light magnified was beautiful, and then I saw myself, and I—my reflections entranced me and ridiculed me. I was helpless until…”
“Until I arrived.” Augur beams.
“No, not you. I think I heard you, but you faded away. No. It was the Three!”
“The Three?” he forgets his pride. “You saw Them again!”
“Yes! No. Maybe? They were my family—my adopted family. Father, Ma and Bro, they told me to remember, to believe they chose me. I’m a Salvador.”
“Okay, but how did you get out? I couldn’t break through. I could hear your heartbeat, but I couldn’t crack the shell, it wore me out! And then I heard you moan—”
“I remembered. And I fought because I believed them. I had to stop listening to what my reflections said. I had to choose to believe what they believed in me. And I’m sure you helped, too.” She smirks. Maybe he really does—no. Slow down, girl. Go with what you know. “You came back for me.”
“Of course I did. Zo, I—”
“Thank you, Augur.”
He sighs. “It’s my pleasure, my lady.”
Augur leads.
Inanna gave him a new walking stick when she snuck him away. Sargon had summoned her to assist their guest in bedtime preparations, but rather than leading him to the bathing pool, she told Augur about Zo and sent him after her. When he made it to the border and Zo wasn’t there, he knew something was wrong and determined to find her.
And now as they pass the final junction together, the tunnel begins a steep incline and Zo sees a speck of soft light ahead. She breathes a sigh of relief.
Augur takes notice. “Can you see it?”
“Can you?” she teases.
“I can feel the warmth of it. We still have a ways to go. It’s all uphill from here. And it gets hotter.”
“Do I still stink?” Zo asks.
He shrugs. “Not much. I think the funk got caught in the crust and kind of fell off with it as you broke through.”
“Good.”
He smirks. “Or I could still be nose-blind.”
She playfully hip-checks him.
By the time they reach the tunnel’s end, they’re both out of breath and sweating.
The threshold is low and narrow and bends downward before leading up and out. Augur goes first.
Zo hesitates. I’ve had more than my fill of tight spaces today. Getting down to crawl through, her heart races and her breathing becomes shallow.
Augur reaches his hand back for hers. “I’m right here.”
Her anxiety melts. You’re full of pleasant surprises today, and I’m incredibly grateful.
She takes his hand and passes through.
CHAPTER 31
It takes time for her eyes to adjust, but the pale blue hue of the moonlight is as welcoming as the memory of Amma’s warm hugs. It’s hot, but there’s a constant, gentle breeze. The moon bounces like sliver over endless dunes and sand. This land is an extensive abandonment.
“Shall we rest?” Augur suggests.
“It’s really hot. I think we should assume it’ll be way hotter when the sun comes out. It’s probably best to carry on now.”
“Okay then,” he holds out his hands, “which way?”
She sighs. “That’s the problem. I can’t see the path. We’re in a desert and there’s no way to know which way to go.”
He grins. “So we rest.”
“Yeah.” She forces a short, defeated raspberry through her lips. “I guess.”
They sit down to eat.
She bites her lip. “Can I ask you a weird question?”
Augur’s eyebrows peak. “Sure.”
“Did you have an encounter at the river?”
“‘Encounter’?” He breathes deep. “Yeah, that fits.”
“What did you— I mean, you didn’t see anything. Did you?”
He grins. “Ah, but I did, my lady.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw…” he shrugs. “I saw me. Happy. Not like laughing happy, but really content, you know? Satisfied. Fulfilled even. Confident and strong, but not haughty. And of course, flagrantly handsome.”
She rolls her eyes. “Okay, but HOW did you see it? Did you actually SEE, with your eyes?”
“I saw it. I don’t really know how else to explain it. When I got to the river, I was overwhelmed with everything. Everything. But I was determined. I pressed on, and at the river’s edge I saw this—this ME. It was the image of who I really want to be, who I hope to be. I don’t know why, but it made me thirsty, and when I drank, I saw me again, but…” He pauses, chewing on his thumbnail. “But that me isn’t someone I want anyone to see. I don’t even want to see him again.”
He swallows. “I didn’t want to cross the river then. I was afraid of being confronted like that again, of BEING that guy. I mean, I guess I AM that guy, but I was afraid the path would keep making me see him.” He rubs his thumb and lifts his eyebrows again. “But I wanted to see you more.” His grin illuminates his face. “Well, not SEE you of course, but you understand.”
Good grief, maybe it’s not just words. Maybe he really does like me. She shifts awkwardly. “So you’re on this journey for me?”
“And you’re on it for your brother.”
“No— I mean, yeah, I was but,” she nibbles her lower lip. “I’m changing. Pursuing this path—the Three, I clearly haven’t found Quest, but I think I’m finding me instead. I don’t know if it will lead me to Quest like I’d hoped.” She stops, then exhales sharply. “But I’m here now in an actual desert and I need to carry on for my own sake, literally.”
“You’re not alone, Zo.” Augur smirks.
She bites her lip again, Should I be alone?
Zo wakes up before dawn. Dear god! The heat is already intense! Look at this wasteland. There’s nothing here. Nothing. Sand and dunes. Dunes and sand. Nothing’s even moving—no wait. What is that? A beetle? Hey little guy, where are you going? “I’ll bet you have a better take on this heat than we could imagine.”
She watches it burrow itself beneath the sand, then looks up. The sun is barely beginning to rise and it feels like the temperature has jumped 10 degrees in the last 30 seconds. “Something tells me we’re not going to like what we’re about to find out. This day is not going to be pretty.”
Augur moans, rolling over. “What is this? This heat is gross! I can’t sleep.”
“It’s probably best we get started,” Zo suggests.
He sits up. “You can see the peak?”
“No, just dunes. But I can see the sunrise, so I know the general way.”
The midday is excruciating.
“Zo. Zo, I need to stop. Tracking through hot desert sand is not a blind man’s idea of a good time.”
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s idea of a good time,” she shrugs, “but here we are.”
“Well,” he plants his legs shin-deep, “I need to rest.”
“Where Augur? Where do you suggest we rest? There’s nothing but sand. Baking, scorched sand, everywhere.”
He sits down. “I need to stop.”
She huffs and crosses her arms, standing nearby.
He ignores her. “What if THIS is the peak?”
She scoffs. “There’s no way.”
“What if it is, Zo? All this time, all the work, what if THIS is it? It would very well explain why so few travel this path. And why those who do usually end up pissed by it.”
