Dancing with the vodka t.., p.25
Whispers from the Poisoned Isle (Jekua Book 4), page 25
“This seems like as good a place as any to camp,” said Niona. “Lots of places we can use as shelter in case it rains or in case any wild animals come a-knockin’. Good lookin’ out, Aeiko.”
Aeiko opened their mouth to say something, but a sudden screech cut through the air that made them all jump. Everyone’s heads turned frantically, seeking out the source of the noise. Alani knew this place would be nothing but trouble.
Balt laughed, pointing. They all followed the line of his finger and looked at the top of a row of concession stands advertising corndogs, tai dairs, and funnel cakes. Jumping up and down on the white-and-red striped awning were two of those all-black versions of Juntoos.
“It was just a Muntoo,” Balt said.
The shadow monkeys were bouncing around, smacking each other in the head and screaming. Alani couldn’t tell if they were playing or fighting. Their yellow eyes glared at each other, and they slipped in and out of shadows to launch surprise attacks.
“Those things look nasty,” said Aeiko.
“They’re harmless. Even more harmless than a regular Juntoo,” Balt said. “Juntoos like to mess with people sometimes, but from what I’ve read, Muntoos avoid people whenever possible. They’re very reclusive creatures. They’ll probably leave through the shadows whenever they notice us.”
“Since when are you the expert on Yuluhu Jekua variants?” Niona asked mockingly.
“Hey, I’m no expert, but I know some things.”
They left the bickering Muntoos alone and continued meandering through the amusement park. Up ahead, Balt and Niona were debating his credentials as a Yuluhu Jekua expert, while Alani and Aeiko lagged behind with Brine. The coral golem’s large, flat head rotated back and forth, seemingly taking in his surroundings. Alani had never seen him so deeply interested in anything before.
Oddly, she could relate to the golem. For whatever reason, she was on edge here, but she was also fascinated by the booths and rides all around them.
“I’ve never been somewhere like this,” she said to Aeiko.
They looked at her. “A theme park?”
“Mhmm,” she nodded. Before this Church-mandated pilgrimage, she had never left the shores of Totta Island, and there was nothing like this on Totta. She was honestly surprised there was something like it in the middle of Yuluhu, given the island’s small size.
“Not even to the one in Canti?”
Alani’s brow furrowed. “What?” She had no idea what they were talking about. Canti City was the biggest city on Totta, but it didn’t harbor an amusement park.
“That, uh…what’s it called? I can’t remember the name of it. But that stupid little parking lot they’ve got there with the ferris wheel set up and a couple games,” Aeiko said, giggling at the memory of the place.
“Oh!” Alani exclaimed, suddenly remembering what they were talking about. “No, I’ve never been to that one either. I don’t think I really want to.”
There was a tiny carnival perpetually running in Canti—although “carnival” might be a generous term to describe the setup. All it consisted of was a few booths for snacks, some games like a rubber ducky pull and a bottle ring toss, and then a mid-sized ferris wheel. It was all located in some random parking lot in the middle of the city, which was shared with a run-of-the-mill department store. Alani had heard of it, but she’d never visited. She was not keen to ride a carnival ride that was set up in a parking lot next to the highway.
Aeiko laughed. “It’s definitely an experience,” they said.
“You actually rode that ferris wheel?” Alani balked.
Another peal of laughter. “Of course!” Aeiko said. “How could we not? That’s the main attraction. That’s the first lesson of going to an amusement park: you don’t skip the main attraction.”
“Not even when it’s obviously a deathtrap?”
“Oh, no, that makes it an even greater requirement. You can’t pass up something like that.”
Alani chuckled. “You went with Siuv, right?” she asked.
They nodded. “Yeah, that was a stop on our trip up to Totswa Point after graduation.”
She remembered Siuv embarking on that trip. She’d been so jealous, both because Siuv got a break from their parents and because she’d always heard how beautiful the view at Totswa Point was. She’d wanted to go, but she was too young to work and save up her own money like Siuv and Aeiko and the rest of their friends had. Not to mention, she could get away with tagging along on their adventures throughout Tanepke, but it was an entirely different story to join them traveling across half the island. No way would Siuv want her little sister to cramp her style like that.
“I’ve never seen Totswa Point either,” Alani admitted. There were lots of places she hadn’t been, lots of things she hadn’t experienced, having been caught in the Undertow.
Now it was Aeiko’s turn to balk. “Really?” they said. “Not even for this pilgrimage?”
Alani shook her head. “We headed straight from home to Himony.”
The city was on the northeastern coast of the island, while Totswa Point was in the northwest. It was a popular cliffside view of the ocean, at the end of some winding, beautiful hiking trails. Totta wasn’t much of a tourist destination, but when tourists visited, they were either there for the nature over by Totswa Point or the resorts in Himony.
A lot of people also dove off Totswa Point into the waters below, which was resolutely not something that Alani ever planned to do if she eventually made it up there. She would stay secure up on the cliff, thank you very much. She enjoyed pretty views, not pumping adrenaline through her veins.
After all she’d been through with this pilgrimage, she already felt she’d had enough thrills for a lifetime. She reached for the soulstitcher on her chest, tapping a fingernail on it.
“You have to go,” Aeiko told her. “It’s so beautiful. People hype it up a lot, but they’re not exaggerating.”
“I’ve seen photos,” Alani said. “It does look nice.”
“The photos don’t do it justice, believe me. Hey, next time I go back home to visit my parents, we should take a trip out there.”
Alani smiled. “That would be great,” she said. After the Xamaneki Garden, she wouldn’t mind adding Totswa Point to the list of breathtaking places Aeiko shared with her.
Then a smirk crossed Aeiko’s face. “We can also get you on that ferris wheel in Canti, while we’re at it.”
Her smile instantly vanished. “Absolutely not,” she said.
“You have to visit a theme park at least once!” they insisted.
“I’m in one right now,” Alani pointed out.
“Oh, this doesn’t count,” Aeiko said with a scowl. “Unless you want to take a spin on this ferris wheel…”
That caught Balt’s attention. “Y’all wanna ride the ferris wheel?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.
“I think that’s what she’s saying,” Aeiko grinned.
“Not at all,” said Alani, shooting them an angry look that quickly shifted into amusement.
They walked around exploring Celebration Park while the sun continued its slow descent behind the horizon. More of those same giant sunflower-esque plants were found all over the park, and they glowed brightly in the dark, granting them enough light to see by without resorting to their linkpad flashlights.
As the moon replaced the sun, more shadowy Jekuas revealed themselves. Amorphous creatures with pitch black skin appeared from around the corner of various run-down buildings, or peeked their heads out from the passenger car windows high up on the ferris wheel. When Niona asked Balt what the constantly-shifting Jekuas were, he had to confess that he didn’t know, which of course invited her mockery.
The creatures’ presence added to Alani’s sense of unease. They were almost ghostlike, and she felt like they were being watched by apparitions as they strolled through the park. It was almost as if they were intruding on a burial site, stomping through a cemetery while they jabbered on with each other about nothing in particular. It was just an amusement park, a place where at one time kids were running around, parents were spending too much money on too little, and the aroma of fried foods filled the air—but it still felt wrong somehow, them being there.
These Jekuas felt to Alani like the ghosts of all those people who had once spent time at Celebration Park, who had once found joy within its chain link perimeter. Like the forgotten chapel they’d stumbled upon, this was another place on the island that had once been brimming with life, needlessly cut short.
Alani tried to ignore the shadow Jekuas while they sought out a good place to rest overnight. It was impossible, since Balt and Niona would excitedly point at every one they spotted, but she tried. They also found a few creatures called Mushcaps, which were small, green mushrooms with six eyes and stubby arms that were walking around the park, keeping to themselves.
“Everything here is either poisonous or shadowy,” Balt said, watching a pair of Mushcaps totter across the walkway, disappearing into an open porta-potty together. Nobody wanted to know what they were doing in there.
“Not surprising, given the rest of the island,” said Niona.
The park was covered by the large, glowing plants that none of them recognized. They bloomed even brighter as the sky grew darker. There were some areas with only one or two of the enormous flowers, while other areas had groves of them. Alani observed the big patches carefully, seeking out the tiniest bit of movement from a Jekua hidden within, but she never saw anything.
One of the shadowy ghosts peered out at them from the top of a tall, thin structure on their left. It clung to a rusty bell at the tip of the wooden plank, and Alani figured that maybe the bottom had once held something for people to hit with a hammer to test their strength. Where that piece was now, she had no idea.
The creature observing them actually wasn’t black, but rather a dark shade of purple. Its body was round and pudgy, with stubby arms and legs wrapped around the bell. Each hand had three fingers, and each foot had three toes, all of which seemed to exude purple wisps that floated upward only a foot or so before dissipating like embers from a campfire. It had what looked like a mouth, but was just a collection of broken pieces of white-painted wood, shaped into the shallow curve of an eternal smile. Its eyes were merely blue plastic rings, taken from the nearby ring toss game.
“Any clue what that weird-ass thing is?” Niona asked Balt.
“Not at all,” he said.
Alani could scarcely believe it. The thing had to be exceedingly rare, or something that had only come into being on this island in recent years, if Balt didn’t recognize it. He knew his grandmother’s bestiary front to back by heart.
Niona held up her arm to scan the Jekua with her Jektionary. After a few moments of processing, she read the results from her device.
“Says it’s something called a…a, uh…how the hell do you say this?”
Balt leaned over to read the name. His face contorted in confusion before he gave the pronunciation a shot. “Kloptokarut,” he said uncertainly.
“What does that mean?” said Niona. “Who names this shit?”
Ignoring her, Balt kept reading the Jektionary’s entry on the thing. “Says it’s a Radiant- and Gravity-Type. Neat.” He looked up at the ghost—the Kloptokarut—and then started rummaging around in his bag. He pulled out what Alani presumed to be a blank memory card, which he inserted into his kayet. “I wanna imprint it.”
“Wow. A Glowbra ain’t good enough for you, but this little freak is?” said Niona.
“If I’d had the mana for it—and if I didn’t think it might bite me in the face if I tried—I woulda gone for the Glowbra,” said Balt. “This thing seems nice enough, though, and I’ve restored more mana.”
“Whatever you say, pal.” Niona glanced at the strange Jekua again and said, “I don’t think I’d want this thing, but go for it.”
Balt chuckled and said, “Honestly, I’ve been itchin’ to imprint something all day. I think this dude seems pretty cool, I dunno what your beef is.”
Light yellow soulclay drifted out from his kayet, reaching toward the unsuspecting Kloptokarut. It stared at the encroaching substance, but it was impossible to tell what it might be thinking with its static facial features. It seemed to not mind what was happening, remaining perfectly still atop the wooden spire as soulclay enveloped it.
But that peace only lasted for a moment before it let go of the bell and started flying through the air, away from them.
“Shit,” Balt muttered, giving chase. Everyone followed behind, Niona and Aeiko laughing at his struggles.
The Kloptokarut wasn’t speedy, but it swerved between various booths and weaved between the interlaced wooden structures of Celebration Park’s rickety rollercoasters. Balt swore as he tried to keep up with the Jekua (which seemed more ghostlike than ever), proclaiming several times that he’d nearly lost his magical grip on it.
The five of them dashed through a patch of the tall, illuminated flowers, their chests beaten by the large, flat collection of disc florets at the center. Some petals were accidentally torn off, and they immediately lost their intense glow as they fluttered to the ground.
Finally, the Kloptokarut came to a stop resting on a pink passenger car midway up the ferris wheel. The car rocked forwards and back with the weight of the Jekua when it landed, watching them with its deadened ring eyes.
“Are you almost done?” Niona asked, nudging Balt. They were all standing within a patch of the chest-high flowers, their gently pulsating glow threatening to lull Alani to sleep. Only Brine remained on the outskirts, watching from a few feet away.
“Hey, chill,” Balt whispered harshly. “It’s hard to concentrate on imprinting when you’re running around a theme park at the same time, believe it or not.”
“I’m choosin’ not.”
Much to Balt’s relief, it seemed the Jekua had calmed down and was remaining still for the duration of his spell. It flexed its fingers, sending more curls of purple smoke into the sky.
A flower brushed against Alani’s left arm, startling her. She jerked away, sending her right side straight into another flower. What startled her this time, however, was that her body went through the flower, which flickered in and out of existence as she stood inside it.
She stared at the flickering flower with puzzlement. “Look,” she then said, tapping Aeiko on the shoulder.
They tore their gaze from the Kloptokarut, smiling at her. That smile was quickly wiped away when they saw what was happening, replaced by a fascinated expression. “Weird,” they murmured, unable to look away.
Alani took one step to the left, removing her body from the illusory flower, and it ceased blinking. Why were some of these flowers fake? What sort of magic had created them, and for what purpose?
Balt’s soulclay retreated from the Kloptokarut perched high up on the ferris wheel and returned to his kayet. “Hell yes,” he beamed, reading the text on his device. Another Jekua successfully imprinted.
“Feelin’ satisfied now?” Niona asked him.
“Yep.”
“What’re you gonna name it?” she then asked. “I’ve got some ideas.”
“I really do not want to hear whatever ideas you’ve cooked up,” he said.
“What, like your names are so much better?” she teased. “C’mon, whatcha got?”
Before he could answer, Alani noticed a rustling amongst the flowers at the far end of the patch, about twenty or thirty feet away from where Balt and Niona were standing.
“I think something’s nearby,” she blurted out.
But she was too late. There was a screech, and then the flowers parted, and the creature leapt forth.
23
Stalker
Everything happened so quickly, Niona almost couldn’t even process what she was seeing. One second they were all standing around jovially, watching Balt imprint some dumb new Jekua, and the next second was filled with bloodshed.
A glowing, multicolored blur zoomed through Niona’s field of vision, flying toward the ferris wheel. The blur landed on one of the lower passenger cars, stilling for mere moments before jumping again, but it was enough for her to get a decent look at the thing.
It was a large reptilian creature, and though it was no larger than Balt, the monster was way more intimidating than he could ever hope to be. It was covered in glittering green scales with white stripes, which glowed even brighter than the rest of it, reminding Niona of Alani’s tattoos. It dug great, meaty claws into the wood of the ferris wheel, ripping out chunks as it steadied itself. Two muscular legs ended in large-taloned feet, each with one huge, prominent curved claw. Its long, thick tail was covered in what at first glance appeared to be feathers, but Niona then realized were actually flower petals. Some of those same petals hung from its arms and ruffled its neck. The creature’s head was almost bird-like, except the beak was replaced with a mouth filled with gleaming off-white fangs.
“Holy shit—” Niona managed to sputter as the Jekua launched itself upward onto a higher passenger car. In its wake, a large, glowing flower suddenly sprouted from the top of the passenger car it had been standing on. It was exactly like the illuminated flowers that covered the entirety of the park.
The thing grabbed on to the underside of the passenger car that Balt’s Kloptokarut was resting on. Niona was sure it would use its Gravity magic to fly away again, or use it to flatten out this monster, or do anything at all—but it didn’t have time.
They watched as the predator scrambled up the pink car, shredding the side with its claws, and hurled itself onto the top where it proceeded to make a meal out of the Kloptokarut.
It dug its teeth into the poor thing’s neck, sending wisps of purple smoke sputtering into the air. Then it grasped the Kloptokarut’s stout body in its claws and pulled, ripping the head off completely. Blue blood sprayed the pink passenger car and rained down onto the dirt and dead grass below like a summer shower, eliciting a scream from Aeiko. When Niona turned to face them and Alani, she saw that Alani had been stunned into silence.
