Chapters (41)
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- PART TWO
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Calliope called, “Chance, let’s go.” They should grab the rocks and run back to the portal. Leave Arlen to the Suuke. That’s what he’d wanted, right? For them to leave the demon/god alone? Maybe the Suuke hadn’t been after them. The bones in Room 33, the bones of the elite, the rulers of the people, religious leaders who’d held the knowledge of crossing worlds. Maybe the Suuke had been protecting that knowledge. Had been protecting the portal. Maybe the Suuke was the guardian.
Chance turned toward Calliope, briefly. Then jumped onto the Suuke’s back.
What was he doing? Trying to save Arlen? Or the Suuke?
Calliope no longer had a clear path to the Suuke because Chance was in the way.
She grasped the dagger, searching the Suuke’s massive black-and-white body for a vulnerable spot. How could she stab it without risking Chance?
She could throw him the dagger. Would he kill it again? This time for good.
From around the front of the truck, Coyote sprung at the Suuke’s face, attacking.
Calliope stood dumbstruck for a split second. Eunjoo had been calling Coyote.
Its face bloody, the Suuke’s hands went to Coyote.
Chance and Arlen fell to the ground.
The Suuke flailed, and batted Coyote away. The trickster animal fell to the ground on its side, emitting a grave howl.
This was her opportunity.
She lunged.
With all the force of her body, with the force of the Ancients and the Ancients holding her tight, she sliced into the Suuke’s flesh, she sliced with one fell swoop and severed its head from its body. Like the bodies in Room 33, the skull fell away from the bones, head and body separated on the sand. Centuries from now, in this world or hers, would someone find this tusked jawbone buried under silt? Would they know what had happened? Who had left it thus? She was part of the story. Not only a historian, a pregnant woman, a mother. She was a warrior. A demon slayer. She dropped the dagger, keeled forward, her head between her thighs, heaving. She’d finished it.
She couldn’t believe it.
She’d saved them.
She, not Chance, had killed the Suuke.
And Chance was free.
She looked up, where Chance was kneeling on the ground. He nodded at her, his expression still stoic though not quite as inscrutable. She’d done well.
Chance pulled himself up, reached to help Arlen, still lying on his stomach.
Arlen did not reach back. “Just go.” He breathed quietly. “Brother.”
They ran to the truck, grabbed the rocks. The sun was high in the sky, hovering directly above them. Was it noon? Had they missed it? Her heart pounding, they sprinted to the doorway of the Great House.
Mara handed back the corn girl. Calliope held the rock baby under one arm, the corn girl in the other.