Xander steered the SUV into a scrub lot, then down a narrow industrial track lined on both sides with collapsed fencing. From here, he cut behind a derelict gas station, then crossed another disused lot, bouncing over potholes, pushing through tall weeds, finally stopping in front of a wide brick building with jink’s warehouse painted across the bay doors.

Johan got out of the SUV and when Kitty didn’t follow he grabbed her by the hair again.

“Okay, okay. Jesus.”

The air smelled garbagy and old. Several stray cats paraded around a pile of bald tires, their crooked tails hoisted. Johan, Xander, and Kitty—still clutching the box and her skateboard—entered Jink’s through a side door. They took a metallic, echoey stairway to a basement with a low ceiling and a smooth cement floor. Pipes dripped. Low-wattage lights hummed and flickered.

They walked a short way and then came across Sly Boy, beaten and gagged, chained on his hands and knees to ringbolts in the floor.

9
The Flooded World

“Do you know what the blood-eagle ritual is?”

Johan walked a slow figure eight, the heels of his shoes clicking off the cement floor. He had his hands behind his back, like a lecturing professor, looking between Sly Boy and Kitty, who’d been pushed to her knees. Xander stood behind her, one hand wrapped in her hair. She wasn’t going anywhere.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Sly Boy mumbled. His gag had been removed. It lay on the floor nearby, damp and bloody. “Oh Christ. Oh sweet Jesus.”

“So you know?” Johan asked him, a surprised note in his voice.

“Yeah, I know.” Sly Boy looked up. His left eye was swollen closed, seeping bright tears. “I wish to hell I didn’t.”

“And you, Kitty?”

She shook her head, feeling the tug of Xander’s strong hand. Johan could have asked a simple question—her name, what birthday she’d just celebrated—and she might not have been able to answer. The sky had been split down the middle, allowing a rain of misery and brokenness. The world’s clear shapes had been flooded.

“Then allow me to educate you.” Johan stepped toward Kitty, taking one hand from behind his back to stroke his beard. “The blood-eagle is a Viking execution ritual, a punishment for the loss of honor, or for some grave wrongdoing. First, the outline of an eagle is carved into your back. Then, while still alive, your ribs are separated from your spine, using an ax, and your lungs are pulled out and placed over your shoulders in the manner of wings.”