Darius stared out ahead of us, and I knew he was going through our options. Thankfully, he’d stopped including me in his chaotic thought-fests. There was clearly a reason for his placement in the vampire hierarchy, and it wasn’t just his age.
“We haven’t seen the dragon in a while,” Darius said.
“True.” I rubbed the ground with my toe. The top flaked off, dry and brittle. “But if the clown thinks we’re going to the castle, it might pass over this area. This is one of only a few entrance points on this side of the underworld. We’ve taken a lot of time getting around those other sects. And that’s not even taking into account that there’s clearly no cover by design.”
Silence fell again, and I waited for Darius to put those new tidbits into his think tank.
He shook his head. “It is impossible to tell how long it will take to cross.”
“This has to be an illusion.” I looked up at the gray-blue sky showering down yellowed light. Puffy white clouds hung above us, getting lower and smaller on the horizon, emphasizing the impression the desert went on forever. “Unless you were wrong about the underworld, and it has pockets of infinity like you say the Realm does.”
Darius continued to stare out at the desert, not answering. He’d probably already thought about that. Then replayed his conversation with Ja, including all the little nuances most people wouldn’t notice.
It was exhausting me, and I wasn’t actually doing anything.
“I can try to tear this down, like I did on the bank of the River.” I pulled my lip through my teeth. “The trick is to imagine what I want to do and then let my dark passenger, A-K-A my power and the reason I’ll end up in the looney bin, do its thing.”
“Why would he put an illusion here?” Darius asked softly, squinting now. His wheels had to really be turning. “Is he trying to turn people away, or does he simply wish to watch who approaches his castle?” He rubbed his chin, something I’d never seen him do.
“Perplexed, huh?” I nodded and started forward. “Let’s just handle this my way.”
“That is exactly how you will end up revealing yourself.” His roving eyes caught up to me.
“This is going to show my extreme ignorance on most things magical worlds, but…cameras don’t work outside the Brink, right?”
“No, not that I have seen. Something happens to them when they go through the gates, even those powered with batteries. Light in the Realm is created magically. I assume the same is true of the light here, such as it is.” He looked up at the glow above us that never wavered or changed wattage.
“I’d love to know how,” I said, gesturing toward the fake sun. Despite the danger, I half wanted to see if I could use my magic and try and get the blueprints.
“As would I. In the Realm, it is usually a flame or an orb created with magic. Elf magic, pixie magic—there are a few creatures that can achieve the effect naturally. But the magic has to be stored in an appropriate container—it’s tied to a specific source. I don’t see that here.”
“My dad has tricks.”
“It would seem so. Ones he is not sharing with the elves.”
“So if he doesn’t have cameras, someone has to physically watch for travelers. I doubt there is scaffolding above us, so that someone would have to fly or sit on the ground. Sitting on the ground doesn’t make sense, because they don’t have phones here. The watcher would have to race us to announce our presence. I’d kill it before it put on the jets. So we’re really only worried about flying things.”
“Yes,” Darius said simply. He’d thought of all that.
I continued talking through my thought anyway while I walked, I’d already decided; Darius kept pace with me. “We’ve only seen one flying thing. The dragon. Which…could be a problem. I didn’t try any real magic on it, but it’s a dragon. It might be impervious to my magic, or too far away for me to do anything.
“If it is our dragon friend and his clown sidekick, they won’t try to tattle on us. They’ll try to kill us and take our stuff. Which isn’t ideal, I grant you, but I am confident I can think of something to keep from dying.”
“And if it is another dragon? Is that why you were rubbing your chin?”
“No.”
Oh good. There was a more perplexing situation at hand than a rogue dragon.
“I’m sure I could figure it out. Violently.” I looked up at the sky. “Like I said, I can always try to crack this bitch open and see the guts. Just give me the word.”
“Since when do you ask for permission?”
“You think ahead, right? Isn’t that your claim to fame? So I’m letting you do your thing. Don’t get lazy on me now.”
Darius looked behind. We’d already put substantial distance between us and the lush green trees, but the horizon looked unchanged, the way ahead never ending. “The risk is not yet worth the reward. You showing that level of power so close to the castle…” He shook his head and glanced upward. “Not yet. How are you doing on energy?”
“I’m feeling the drain of all this traveling. I could use sleep, finally. You?”
“The same. I am amazed we were able to last so long without it. Longer even than in the Realm.” He tsk’ed. “I should’ve asked earlier.” After a pause, he said, “I almost wonder if we should go back to the cover of the trees and take care of that before we get too far out.”
“This can’t go on forever. It can’t. It’s more eye trickery. Impressive, though. If I wasn’t stuck in it, I’d give the old man a nod of approval.”
Darius’s honeyed gaze came to rest on me for a moment, assessing.
“What?” I asked.
“Were you like your mom?”
“Somewhat. Why? Are you wondering how like my father I am?”
“Yes. It is a pity things are the way they are.”
“Tell me about it. That is, if he’s a cool guy. Or maybe he’s mostly an asshole with a few good qualities. In which case, I’m good with the way things are. Except for the hiding thing.”
He smiled at me and looked forward again. “Touché.”
We fell into silence as the faux-sun blazed down on us. Our feet crackled on the brittle ground. I thought back to the map. To what I had thought was a relatively small section of nothingness between sects. I’d seen a few at this point, and many of them had turned out to be an oasis of some sort, or just a common travel way. Demons in those areas tended to mind their own business, and if they looked me askance, they went back to minding their own business as soon as I met their gaze.
I thought back to those demons, and how quickly they’d looked away. “You don’t think word of me has spread already, do you?”
Darius glanced over at me before going back to his scanning. “Why do you ask?”
“Did you notice any demons wary of making eye contact with other demons in the oases?
His gaze stopped moving, now pointed upward. “I did notice demons seeming wary of each other. Shifty-eyed, as you would say. You clearly looked out of place to them, but you didn’t seem to raise any more concern than the others.”