Takes place after Make the devil your friend.
- Down,
- down,
- down.
Would the fall never come to an end?
‘I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. ‘I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.
Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down.
- I think-’
It was dark and cold. One of the blankets had been spread out underneath him, above the rotting, thin mattress. It only kept the chill out a little. The other blankets he’d bundled around himself. As much as his broken rib would allow. His whole side was bruised and swollen, and he shivered with a fever. He wasn’t sure if the bite from the wolf was infected. It was too painful for him to lean over and check the bandages.
- Presently she began again. ‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth!
- How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards!
The Antipathies, I think-’ (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) ‘-but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know.
- Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand
- or Australia?’
Jet stared at the ceiling of his room-turned-cell, trying to will himself to fall back asleep for whatever small amount of time that he could. He didn’t know who would come in to harass him next. Empyrean was tolerable to speak with, but no one ever let him be there by himself, so Jet had to put up with the sneers and rude comments from everyone else.
- Down,
- down,
- down.
There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. ‘Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!’
- (Dinah was the cat.)
‘I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear, I wish you were down here with me!
There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know.
- But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’
Aquamarine was probably worried. Jet felt bad about that, but it was nice to think that someone was worried about him. Maybe Cymophane. He doubted the others would worry. Faustite was of the opinion that they were all replaceable. Why waste time worrying about someone? But Jet was glad that Faustite promised to keep an eye on Aquamarine should the worst happen. Prehnite, Lopezite, and Bloodstone he knew even less about, but they’d been willing to help. They were part of the Queen’s chosen after all.
He was frustrated that he hadn’t been told any information about what was keeping him there. There were no hints, just preaching about how the Negaverse was wrong and the White Moon was right. But if he couldn’t find anything out about where they were keeping this weapon, how could anyone else get in to help him?
- And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, ‘Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes,
- ‘Do bats eat cats?’
for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it.
The fever was probably getting to him. He was imagining things. Voices at the edge of his consciousness. But if he died there, what would it matter to the White Moon? They would have one less General to worry about. Jet had promised the Queen he would make it back alive, that he would apologize to Axinite for keeping him in the dark.
But if they didn’t get information soon--
Arles? he suddenly thought to himself. He tried pushing himself up from the bed, but his head was swimming.
Oh good, you’re awake, the voice responded, louder now. It was no longer a voice that sounded like it was underwater. It still sounded far away, but not as impossible to make out.
It’s been difficult getting close enough to do anything useful, Arles admitted with a sigh, but it sounded like he was grinning as he did so. Then again, that was normal for the youma.
Do you really have that book memorized? Jet thought tiredly to himself, but quickly continued before Arles could think to start quoting from it again. Jet had never read the book before, so it took him a while to recognize his youma’s strange quirk.
Is Aquamarine okay? he couldn’t help but ask.
Physically yes, the youma hummed. Whether he was irritated about being asked questions that didn’t relate to the mission, Jet couldn’t tell. But he also didn’t like Arles’ answer.
Is he still snapping at people?
Yes.
Jet breathed a sigh of relief. That meant Aquamarine was okay enough. That was good.
Have you had any luck finding anything?
The building is quite large. I have been testing out where it seems as though the weapon’s power reaches and trying to determine the center point that way, Arles explained, which seemed reasonable enough to Jet. He had no idea where he was in the building, but it was clearly somewhere close enough for Arles to communicate with him.
I suppose I should ask how you are fairing, the youma said, which Jet responded to with a quiet laugh.
I’m okay, was as much of an answer as Arles was going to get. He didn’t need him to go back to Aquamarine to start worrying him even more than he probably already was. They’re feeding me. Or at least one of them is. The older one. Empyrean. He’s a Page of Jupiter. He seems to have more influence over the others than even Ganymede.
Curiouser and curiouser, Arles grinned, apparently amused by the mystery of who Empyrean was to the others. I’ll be sure to keep an ear out then. Oh, but make sure you don’t die. I would hate to suffer the consequences of a broken bond, Arles warned, but it didn’t sound like he was too concerned about it. Jet rolled his eyes because that was the most he could do in his current state.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember what it was like to not be in pain.
