The Labyrinth of the Dead by Sara M. Harvey Read Free Book Online Page A

simple to take some of your spit and tears. You get
weepy when you sleep. All I needed was some blood and you were so kind to leave
that on the willow. Between that and this," she dangled the charm from her
dainty fingers, "it was so easy to come here."
    "I thought you wanted to get back to
the living realm?"
    "Oh, no. I wanted to get here .
The living realm can wait."
    "I see. What is here that you want?"
Portia asked, although fearing the answer she might hear.
    "You," Kanika said, simply. "And
Imogen."
    "Well, then, I suppose you’ll be
helping me find her after all."
    "Sure thing," Kanika answered, but her
tone sounded less than convincing.
    Portia got to her
feet and put the scattered containers back into her satchel. She collected the
battle axe and settled her wings down beneath her coat. The feathers rasped
against the silk. The hanging coin began once more to sway, urgently swinging
toward the center of the island. Portia began to follow its lead; Kanika hung
back a moment.
    "Are you sure you want to listen to
that? Some things here have their own motives."
    "I’m sure they do," Portia replied
dryly.
    "Some things here just want to get
home."
    "For the moment this damnable thing is
in accord with my own sense of direction, and therefore this is the path we
will follow." She absently touched the charmed medallions that hung around her
neck, and the blue glow illuminated her path once more. The glow clung to the
ground like a fog, guiding her steps toward the ominous shapes in the distance.
    Kanika’s eyes followed Portia’s, but it was apparent from
the deep furrow that formed in her elegant high forehead, the girl could not
see the trail to follow it.
    Portia took some gratification in that.
"You’ll have to trust me, my dear."
    Kanika’s fingers were cool as Portia grasped them, and a
current of trepidation ran through her. Beside her, the girl walked unperturbed
and nearly lighthearted, but Portia sensed something dark beneath the blithe
surface of her companion. Dark, menacing, and terrifyingly familiar.

     
    —5—
     
    COILS OF black smoke wound up from the skyline of
the city, billowing from tall chimneys. It might have been a city of the living
world, but for the hulking buildings that almost seemed to breathe, taking in
clean air and belching out wretched fumes. Below their feet, the ground hummed
with the cacophony of industry that grew louder as they moved away from the
docks.
    "What is this place?" Portia asked.
    "They call it the city of Salus."
    "Salus, as in salvation?"
    Kanika’s lashes swept low over her grey gaze. "One of the
many things available here. Do you see why I was so eager to come, now?"
    "You’re looking for salvation? That’s
what all this is about?"
    "Yes. What can be more noble than that?
Well, perhaps walking into the land of the dead to rescue a loved one." She
winked. "Now we must hurry. There are few sanctuaries in this place, and night
is coming."
    They reached the city gates and found
them standing slightly open. The black iron spires had been clad in worm-eaten
wood. Deep gouges marred the front of them, as well as the jagged stone walls.
    "So what’s trying to get in?"
    Kanika smirked. "Nothing compared to
what’s trying to get out." She pulled the gate fully open to reveal a patchwork
of discolored planks on the inside, each one scraped and scratched twice as
badly as the front. It was not comforting.
    "I see. Then what is trying to get
out?"
    Kanika pointed to the gashes in the
wood. "Lost souls."
    "That’s all?"
    Kanika tilted her head to one side.
"This doesn’t frighten you?"
    "Not really, no. Kanika, do you know
what I do?"
    The girl paused and Portia saw it
again: the shift behind her eyes like ripples on a pond. Kanika smiled and it
was familiarly coy. The hairs rose on the back of Portia’s neck and a tremor
raced through her wings.
    "I know what you do," Kanika purred.
"And I should have known that you wouldn’t be afraid." She beamed up into
Portia’s