A Boat Made of Bone (The Chthonic Saga) (44 page)

Kate slipped her backpack off and pulled the Nalgene out. Cipher rolled his eyes in a bored gesture and began to count backwards from ten. Kate took a sip of water and returned the bottle to her pack.

“I will sing,” she said. The performers behind them let out a collective gasp. “You’ll let him go if my singing pleases you?”

“I promise it,” Cipher said, standing up and crossing his heart with one hand.

Will was silent. Kate glanced at him and noted the frown on his lips. “I have to do this, Will. It’s what I came for.” She turned to the crowd of entertainers. “Does anyone have a guitar I can borrow?”

***

A man pushed through the crowd and emerged carrying a polished yellow six-string acoustic guitar in one hand. A strap dangled from it. Kate stared at the guitar wondering if it would be too big. The guy carrying it stopped in front of her and smiled.

“Listen,” he said in a soft, kind voice. Kate had been so fixated on the guitar that she failed to notice
who
was bringing her the guitar. A man, that was the most she’d paid attention to. “Listen,” he repeated. “I’ve noticed that he prefers a simple chord progression with a complex melody and lyrics that are about
him
.”

Kate closed her mouth, nodding. “Thanks for the tip, Mr. Denver.” He looked just like the pictures—wearing something he might have worn at the height of his career, including large, wire-framed glasses and a pair of heeled boots.

“You can do this. We all want you to,” he said quietly before leaving.

“Thanks,” she said again, a shiver making her gut tremble.

John Denver! I’m playing on John Denver’s guitar,
she thought, turning back to face Cipher. There would be time to muse on that later. For now she had to focus on the moment. She ducked under the strap and did a few practice strums on the guitar before adjusting the tuning. The tone was good—deep in the low notes and bright in all the right places. Kate finished warming up her fingers and then cleared her throat. Will stood to her side, shifting on his feet uncomfortably while Cipher had settled back into his throne in a casual repose. Beatrice regarded her from behind Cipher with a severe look, almost as though she feared what would happen next.

“Go ahead,” the demon said. “This should be very good. Very good indeed.”

Kate squeezed her eyes shut and began playing. She wanted to follow John Denver’s advice and sing a song devoted to glorifying this insecure, narcissistic demon. Instead the song she’d written for Will—what seemed like ages ago—spilled from her lips. She didn’t fight it. Kate knew from years of playing that if she fought what the muses gave her, her creative process was sapped and she suffered a famine of production.

The room was hushed except for her singing and playing. Even Cipher watched with an intense stare, his head cocked to one side and his face fixed into a passive expression. Kate’s voice soared through the chamber, echoing up into the dome as though through the heavens. Her eyes were closed as the desire to possess Will and bring him into her world flowed into her voice, undistilled by the worry of how the world would perceive her for loving a dream, and untethered of any of her own earthly prejudices.

When she finished, the room was as silent as a tomb. The sound of someone’s feet shuffling across the floor disturbed the quiet as though they shifted uncomfortably, waiting for a pronouncement from Cipher.

Kate glanced shyly at Will. “Kate . . . that was . . . I’m speechless. Beautiful, but the word hardly does it justice,” he said, drawing himself up with a deep inhalation, seemingly preparing for a negative response from the demon.

“Thanks,” she answered with a nod, resting her hands on the body of the guitar.

“What I want to know,” Cipher boomed with a voice full of distaste, “is how that song has anything to do with me? Because it didn’t.” He pressed down on the armrests of his throne as he rose to his feet and began pacing with his arms crossed. His finger and thumb toyed with his chin and rubbed up and down across the stubble covering his angular jaw line. “I’m offended actually. I mean, why would you do that? Are you trying to insult me? What are you saying . . . That I’m a kraken? So, you’re the gorgon and I’m the kraken and you’re going to turn me to stone? Is that it? I’m hurt. Really hurt. Look at me. I’m not a hideous creature. Am I? Beatrice?” He turned and stared at the small woman with an appeal in his face.

“No, my lord. Never,” Beatrice answered in a voice like dark silk. It was the first Kate had heard her speak.

“Thank you, sweet rosebud.” Cipher turned, seeming satisfied.

Kate exchanged a worried glance with Will.

“Your singing was beautiful. If only—if only,” he exclaimed loudly, dramatically, “you’d sung about
me,
I could set William free. But I regret to tell you that a deal is, after all, a deal.”

“Kate, thank you. Thank you. It was beautiful. No matter what he says, no matter if it didn’t work. Think nothing of it,” Will said in concerned rush.

“It didn’t work, Kate, that’s true. You had the opportunity and you flung it aside in order to serenade your womanizing, dead boyfriend. I hope you’re happy,” the demon said, his voice rising an octave. He raised his arm and made a clipped come-hither gesture with his hand. A scuffling sound rose from the far edges of the room as two large guards carrying spears came toward Kate.

Her heard thundered. She hissed and turned toward Cipher. “The muses do what they want. I can’t stop them. I can only answer to them,” Kate explained as the guards drew closer. “If I don’t listen to them, they never come back.”

“What’s this? You blame the muses? They’ll be outraged to hear an excuse like this,” Cipher said with a smirk, as though he couldn’t wait to see the muses rip Kate apart. The guards arrived and pushed Will aside. They positioned themselves on either side of her. 

“I’d like another chance,” Kate said plainly as the men took her by the arms, preparing to haul her off. “I’ve never sung to such a noble audience and for such a beautiful God. Please. Please . . .” she begged, losing all her dignity but unable to care. The guards began to drag her away. Will paced in a tight circle, alternately wringing his hands and toying with the hilt of his sword.

Kate tried to dig her heels into the smooth floor as the guards pulled her away. “Please, Cipher. One more chance!” she yelled. “I will sing your beauty the praises it deserves! I’ve never seen a more beautiful creature than you. Never!”  

Cipher fingered his chin and chuckled. “Liar. But you have what they call
chutzpah.
I like that. I’m going to allow it. One more chance. If you disappoint me, my minions will take your body and you’ll be trapped here forever in a body of Chthonos. Do you agree to these terms?”

The guards stopped, loosened their grip, and let Kate regain her balance. She shook herself and straightened the guitar that was still balanced around her body on its strap.

Kate glanced at Will. He was shaking his head and saying
no, no, no
under his breath. Kate moved to resume her position beside him. She ran a shaking hand through her hair and stopped beside Will.

“This must be good, better. Worthy of a swoon, you understand?” Cipher asked.

Kate nodded and peered at Beatrice. Kate could see from the set of her mouth that she would respond like Will, with the repeated
no,
over and over. As though she feared that Kate couldn’t do it. Kate could do it. She had to. Despite her performance anxiety, sometimes the pressure was what forced the best from Kate.

A boom came from behind her and she turned, along with everyone else in the chamber.

Standing with his back against the double doors, Kate could see Leonardo through the bodies like trees in a forest. “Excuse me. Sorry. Running a bit late today.” He ducked into the crowd.

Kate twisted and saw that Beatrice had gotten to her feet behind Cipher.

Cipher threw his arms wide. “Leonardo! Welcome, old friend. Come, please, and sit here beside me. We’re about to get a new citizen of Necropolis. Watch the deciding recital next to me.” Cipher sat down on the top step of his dais and patted a spot next to him. Beatrice remained standing, watching Leonardo move through the crowd and cross the floor between them and the throne. Kate swore she could see Beatrice’s pulse fluttering in the creamy skin of her neck.

“Kate, don’t do this,” Will said, taking advantage of the commotion due to Leonardo’s sudden appearance. “I would want to die a thousand more deaths and be confined to this hell a million more lifetimes if Cipher is not pleased and they kill you.”

“I don’t want to live if you’re trapped in this place forever, Will. I’d rather be here. I’d rather stay and find a way out with you, at your side, than return to Earth knowing you’re stuck here,” Kate whispered.

“No, don’t talk like that. You have no idea what this place is like. You’re young. You have an entire life ahead of you. Go. Live it. Find love. Make a family,” he said in a whisper.

Kate shook her head and looked away, watching Leonardo climb the stairs to the top of the dais. The air between Beatrice and Leonardo thickened with visible desire and years of frustration. How could Cipher not detect it? Seeing it only solidified Kate’s resolve. 

This is the right thing to do.

With Leonardo settled, Cipher signaled for Kate to begin. Beatrice remained standing behind him, her face impassive, though her eyes burned.

Kate recalled John Denver’s admonition and began playing a simple chord progression, picking it out delicately, plucking the strings like tickling the back of her lover. Will’s back. Before she started to sing, she breathed a prayer to the muses, pleading with them to use her as a medium to subdue this demon and save her love.

When Kate opened her mouth, she didn’t know what she would sing of. Words poured from her, their source unknown, singing of the godly beauty of the most perfect creature ever to grace the visible world. She painted the story of this creature’s birth, made up a mythology that epitomized him as the most beneficent god to ever grant life to imperfect beings, and detailed a love story that made him the hero of a woman’s life.

Cipher listened. His mouth dropped open when Kate’s voice articulated the words sent to her from the ether. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and he wiped them discreetly with his perfect fingers. Beatrice began to smile. Her chin lifted and the light spilling through the stained glass windows in the dome sparked against her tiara and brightened her brow. Leonardo stole a glance back at Beatrice and his expression softened. He looked back at Kate and clenched his fists and muttered his own prayer.

Throughout her song, Will weakened and stumbled to his knees and rested back on his ankles as he stared at her, dumbfounded. The entire crowd of misanthropes hovering at the outer fringes of the chamber went to their knees. Cipher took it as worshipful and felt the cold cavern where his heart should have been expand and swell.

Kate finished. The final notes eventually died and no sound took their place.

At last Cipher spoke. “Well, I must say that was unexpectedly amazing.” He patted his thighs and stood up, clapping a few times. “That applause was for me. For being so great, so powerful, so generous to my creatures. All reasons why your song was inspired and beautiful. It’s all true, I admit it, I am magnanimous and I condescend to live here on this planet with you, my creatures.”

Kate undid the guitar strap and turned to find John Denver in the audience. He rose and hurried forward and took it. “Well done,” he said with a wink.

“Thank you,” she said.

The folk singer retreated back into the audience of entertainers and Kate swiveled around to confront Cipher.

“So Will is free to go, then?”

“I regret to say yes. You have won this time. I truly did wish to make you one of my creatures.”

Kate watched as Cipher strutted back and forth a few more times before he stopped.

“But, and that is a big but, there is one caveat. I’m so terribly sorry, young miss, but you see, this is how it is with all those wishing to leave Chthonos,” he frowned mockingly as his eyes glittered devilishly. “You have twelve Earth hours to get off Chthonos or you’ll be trapped here indefinitely. Perhaps eternally. I hope you have a watch or some way to tell time—your internal clock and whatnot.”

A male minion dressed in all black except for the white embroidery decorating his chest, collar, and the length of his thighs, pranced lithely up the steps of the dais. He handed Cipher a large hourglass and then retreated with a few bows and took up a post at the bottom of the platform. Cipher made a flowery show of holding the hourglass up for all to see. The empty chamber was on top. With a ridiculous flourish, the demon flipped the large hourglass quickly and smiled. He set the tall thing on the ground beside him.

“There, you see? Time is already running out. To give you an idea of how long it will take you to reach the portal off Chthonos—on foot it would take you ten hours. It will be a race. Can you do it? Do you wish to change your mind?” He smirked at Kate, looking from her to Will, Cipher’s handsome face flashing a rictus smile as though he enjoyed the torture of his taunts.

Beatrice sat down, but flashed Kate a look that could only be a warning. Cipher turned and glanced down at her, his cloak fluttering behind him dramatically.