Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13) (19 page)

The ship leveled out and resumed a beeline for a pitch-black mole on the swirling gray face of Voltis. A tartha trumpeted in the distance and others of its kind picked up the call until it sounded like a pack of dinosaurs lamenting their missed meal.

Shelton shuddered. "That sound gives me the creeps."

"What a bizarre noise for such huge creatures." Adam held out his phone to record another tartha making a last-ditch effort to catch us.

I looked up at the unassailable wall of churning clouds, aether, volcanic ash, and ice stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions. "Looks like the surface of a gas giant."

"Like dark Jupiter." Shelton jabbed a finger toward a spinning ball of ice. "Look at that!"

Plumes of fire exploded from holes in the side of the ice, a comet streaking from the heavens. The object plunged into the ocean several hundred yards away and exploded in a geyser of steam. Huge waves rose in its wake. The
Falcheen
rose above the water and let the ripples subside before dropping back down on course.

Shelton gripped the rail with white-knuckled intensity. "Is that the tunnel?"

The black spot had grown into an uninviting maw. Salty mist whipped across the deck and the turbulence vibrated the deck beneath our feet until I thought the ship would fly apart. The temperature soared and dipped, making my nose run while the constant roar of the Voltis Maelstrom thrummed my entire being like a guitar string. "I'm gonna catch a cold if this keeps up."

Almost there now, the navigators fought with the crystal rods, pushing, pulling, and rotating them to keep on course as elemental fury pummeled the
Falcheen
from all sides. A huge wave swelled ahead.

Tahlee shouted, "Hold fast!" and the ship held course.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Shelton gripped the railing.

I cast a shield spell over the four of us just as the huge wave crested twenty feet above the deck. The
Falcheen
's sharp bow pierced the wave and sliced through it. Water cascaded across my shield and ran across the deck like a small river. Some water froze into icy puddles, leaving treacherous footing for the members of the deck crew that ran from station to station assisting the navigators.

The tunnel grew larger and larger, its face rough basalt, dense and dark from eons of volcanic activity, its insides a mystery of dark pitch. The gaping maw swallowed us. The turbulence went still and the roar of the maelstrom dropped to a whisper.

I looked back and watched as the last shreds of daylight vanished from the hull of the ship before darkness devoured it. For a moment, I felt no rush of wind, no pull on my guts to tell me if we were moving or sitting still.
What if we're about to hit a wall?
I panicked and channeled a light globe, but it did nothing to penetrate the thick darkness.

Tahlee's shouts rang through the darkness and beams of light speared out from the weapon gems on the outer hull. Soon the dark surface of the tunnel became visible, though the way ahead was shrouded in pitch. We coasted slowly for hours, navigating narrow turns and sudden dips as the tunnel wound like a serpent through the bowels of the mountain. A river of lava flowed along the bottom of the next cavern, giving us a sweltering journey until we reached the cold darkness once again.

Ghostly wails echoed from ahead, making me wonder if the sound was a trick of the wind, or hints that something horrible lay in wait.

I shivered. "Reminds me of El Dorado." Icy fingers walked up my back at the thought of the light-draining creatures that tried to devour us in the depths of that cursed city.

"I keep waiting for a giant worm monster to eat us," Shelton said.

Adam grinned. "Let's tell each other ghost stories."

Shelton gave him a withering glare. "You start that and I'll throw you overboard." He sighed. "Man, I wish Bella was here."

"I have a teddy bear you can borrow," Adam said with a straight face.

Shelton balled up a fist. "Keep it up, wise guy."

The spooky wails grew louder, like hearing the echoes of distant conversations as the ship reached a sharp bend in the tunnel. The crew steered carefully, pivoting the back end to keep the middle of the ship from scraping the tunnel wall. It reminded me of trying to carry a long couch around the corner of a hallway, just on a much grander scale.

When we cleared the bend, the ship climbed a rise toward flashes of orange light.

"I think we're almost through," Shelton said hopefully.

Adam frowned. "I don't think that's sunlight."

"I hope it's not another lava cave," I said.

The truth was much worse. Plumes of fire jetted from pockmarked holes in the wall of the tunnel at seemingly random intervals. To make matters worse, the tunnel snaked around another bend just ahead.

Tahlee cried a command and the ship glided for a landing on the tunnel floor. The crew slumped, many lying on the deck next to their stations.

"Must be break time," Shelton said.

"Man, I feel kind of guilty." Adam leaned against the railing. "I can't imagine having to keep this ship aloft through the kind of weather we went through out there."

Illaena and Tahlee joined us at the prow and looked at the next challenge. I carefully watched their faces to see if they looked worried, but neither sera betrayed any emotion, conversing with one another in a businesslike tone.

"Would it be wrong of me to ask how much further?" Shelton asked.

Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Well," he said, "aren't you a little curious?"

Illaena projected a holographic map from a gem, displaying a tunnel that snaked through the mountain before emerging in a blank gray area. "This is the halfway point of the tunnel. From here until the end, things will be much more challenging."

Shelton grimaced. "More fire spouts?"

"Fire, ice, and water," she said, "and the tunnel is only the first third of the trip."

"The first third?" Adam's mouth dropped open.

Illaena nodded grimly and looked at me. "Let us hope this journey is worth it, for the way ahead is fraught with danger."

Chapter 17

I didn't exactly find Illaena's words encouraging, and the thought of facing a gauntlet of elements didn't sound appealing. On the other hand, we had no choice. We had stop Kaelissa from obtaining her secret weapon.

My imagination ran wild with possibilities. An army of dragons? A herd of unicorns from another realm? The Tooth Fairy?

"Probably the Easter Bunny," Shelton suggested as we sat down for lunch a few minutes later. "Probably keeps his harem of egg-laying bunnies in there too."

Adam studied the recordings of the maelstrom he'd made as we approached it. "Even magic has to follow rules."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shelton said. "You don't believe in the Easter Bunny?"

"No, I mean the actual storm itself." Adam enlarged the hologram and focused on the brilliant light show of fire and lightning. "It seems impossible to have hot wind one second and freezing cold the next. And how has such violent geological activity like volcanoes and earthquakes continued nonstop for eons?"

"You're saying magic doesn't explain this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong. After all, Seraphina is so full of aether, maybe it acts as a catalyst to keep the maelstrom churning for eternity."

"That'd be my guess," Shelton said. "The only other thing that could be causing it is whatever is at the center."

"That worries me," Elyssa said. "What if this is a Glimmer effect?"

That raised a few confused eyebrows.

I frowned. "Glimmer effect?"

"Yeah, like in Eden where our realm touches the Glimmer, we have pocket dimensions." Elyssa made a fist and circled a finger around it. "You know how the realms orbit around the moon in the Glimmer?"

"The Anchor Stone," I clarified. "What does that have to do with the maelstrom?"

"What if there's a big hole in the realm at the middle of Voltis?" She dug a finger into her glurk and hollowed it out. "What if there's a pocket dimension or a black hole in the middle?"

A crazed look flashed across Shelton's eyes. "Holy supermassive black holes—I never thought of that."

"But the Mzodi have been there before," Adam said. "How else do they have a route?"

"They didn't make it all the way through," Elyssa said. "Xalara seemed pretty clear on that. Maybe we should ask Illaena if she's withholding information from us."

"Yeah," Shelton said dryly, "because she's been so forthcoming with us already."

"Probably not a good time right now since they're all asleep." Adam poured himself another glass of blue wine and took a long drink. "I think Elyssa might have a point about a pocket dimension in the center. If all the realms touch the Glimmer, it stands to reason they each interact with it in a different way."

"Eden touches the Glimmer in at least a dozen different places all over the world," I said. "If that's true with Seraphina, why is there only one Voltis Maelstrom?"

"It's possible the massive aether vortexes all over the planet are areas where Seraphina touches the Glimmer." Adam swished the liquid in his glass into a miniature whirlpool. "Even vast quantities of aether don't naturally create vortexes unless there's a catalyst."

That got me to thinking about the field trip Elyssa and I had taken to the Glimmer. "If you're right, maybe there's a way to enter the Glimmer through one of these juxtapositions."

Elyssa's eyes brightened. "If we can get to the Glimmer, we might be able to get home!"

"Yeah, but don't you need a green rock like Cora had?" Shelton said. "I thought you had to go through the reflected world and all that stuff too."

"Maybe." The Rift—a void of stars—separated the Glimmer from Eden, and inside the Rift were guardians. Using the green pebble Cora had given us, Elyssa and I had jumped into water and entered the reflected world—the mirror version of the real world. The guardians weren't present in that reality, making it easier for us to scoot through the Rift. On the other hand, if you tarried in the reflected world too long, your own reflections would catch you and steal your soul.

Adam rubbed his hands together. "Man, this is exciting! Maybe we can back door our way to Eden and give Victus and Serena the ass-whooping they so richly deserve."

"Amen, brother!" Shelton held up a hand and Adam smacked it with his.

The sharp tug of gravity woke us early the next morning. Elyssa and I headed to the top deck and held our collective breath as the crew deftly navigated us past the fire spouts and around narrow bends. Sweat dripped down my face as the temperature rose until it felt like an oven.

Other crew kept the navigators supplied with water, swapping positions when someone became too tired to continue. Hours later, we reached the end of the fire tunnel and entered a white cavern. It was like being tossed from the furnace into a freezer. Sweat crystallized on my skin and before long, we were all shivering and rubbing our arms for warmth. Illaena and Tahlee studied the tunnel map and consulted. I overheard them arguing about heading forward or backing up for more heat and resting.

"Sounds like there's a little friction," Elyssa commented, her enhanced hearing picking up the conversation as well.

Tahlee motioned over one of the navigators and spoke with her for a moment then folded her arms and stared at Illaena with an
I told you so
look plain on her face.

Illaena frowned and slashed a hand forward. The crew took their positions and we launched forward through the ice cavern at high speed. Within seconds, the wind had frozen all the sweat on my body, and my shivering was uncontrollable. Though the navigators wore determined looks on their faces, shivering, chattering teeth, and freezing tears on their cheeks showed their suffering.

The navigator controlling the first control rod on the port side slumped at her post and the ship lurched hard left. Tahlee shouted a command, but all of the backup crew were already in use and the other navigators were huddled and resting around a glowing gem for warmth.

"All stop," Illaena commanded.

"We can't stop!" Tahlee shouted to Illaena. "There's no safe place to land."

Seeing no alternative, I raced to the unmanned control rod as the other navigators fought to keep the ship straight. "What do I do?"

Tahlee bared her teeth. "Channel into it!"

A sphere of Brilliance gathered on my right fist and I focused it into the rod. At once, the
Falcheen
leveled off and straightened.

Tahlee frowned and stared at me. "How are you channeling so much power?"

I stifled a grin and shrugged. "I slept well." The other crew stared at me as well, but the freezing wind was really wearing on me and I just wanted to get the hell out of this cavern. "What now?"

"Push the rod in different directions to control direction and altitude." Tahlee jogged over to my position and indicated the arrows at the base. "Right now you are holding the rod in neutral which provides only levitation. Push forward, pull back, or shift to the side for lateral movement, and pull up or push down on the rod for altitude."

It didn't sound hard, but considering I had to synchronize with five other navigators, it sounded like a lot. "I'll do my best."

She nodded curtly. "Listen to my orders and you will be fine." Tahlee resumed her position next to Illaena on the control pedestal and shouted an order. "Fast forward, ninety degrees."

The ship shot forward, but my side began to vibrate wildly, as if something was dragging against a rough surface. Since I was at the front control rod, I glanced at the navigator behind me and saw her pushing her rod forward while pulling up. I mimicked her and the movement of the
Falcheen
smoothed out.

I caught an acknowledging nod from Tahlee and suppressed the urge to pump my fist and whoop it up. Elyssa came up beside me with a glowing red gem and held it next to me. The warmth melted the ice in my bones, though freezing wind still buffeted my skin.