Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 16: The Smell of Truth

~Skai

"Told yah they were awake!"

"You told me you smelled the girl wake up. What of the boy?"

"He was already awake." The two flew into the roomlike section Jack and I sat waiting in. Ajaia's lightning blue light flickered softly over the walls. For the first time, I noticed gems set into them around where normal walls would meet a normal ceiling. Here though, the ceiling was just as rounded as the single curving wall. Only the glass floor was flat. I glanced down at the clouds, felt my world begin to spin, and hurriedly looked back up.

Ajaia rolled her eyes in response to her sister, who likewise dropped to the floor. Marrianna had barely touched ground, however, before she'd started zigzagging around us. Apparently, she was unable to hold still, even on land.

"You could smell us wake up?" Jack asked, eyes filled with wonder.

"No," Ajaia cut in before Marrianna could answer. "She just enjoys pretending her nose can tell her all sorts of impossible things."

"Like what?"

I stood up. "Is there any food around?"

Marrianna and Ajaia looked at each other. Eventually Ajaia cleared her throat. "I'm not sure your stomachs can-"

"Never mind," I sighed. "How about water? Do you have any of that?" Their expressions were their answer. Of course. I shook my head. "Look. There's something we need to find. Maybe you can help us?"

"Is that why you can't leave?" Ajaia asked incredulously. "What in the Sky could a couple of ground creatures possibly need so bad?"

Jack stood too. "We're looking for a castle. It's supposedly huge."

The end of Jack's sentence was nearly drowned out by Marrianna's gasp. "You want to go to Archibald's Palace?!"

"Um. . . yes?" Jack said.

"Do you know where-" I didn't get further than that, though, before I too was interrupted.

"I can't let you go there!"

"But we need-"

"No! I just can't!"

"For once," said Ajaia, lying down on the floor. "I actually agree with my little sister. You can't go to Archibald's Palace and that's that."

"You'll just have to wait till Zi and Ze get back from their hunting trip. Then-"

"We need to go there!" I said desperately.

"Do you even know anything about it?" Marrianna was the same blue as her sister, only she wasn't flickering. Other than that, the two looked almost identical. At least, from the details I could make out through Ajaia's light.

"Well. . .well no," Jack said.

"But that doesn't change the fact that we need to go there," I added quickly.

"I'll tell you what it's like. Archibald happens to be the tallest thing in existence, living or nonliving alike, with the ability of spell-casting on top of everything else! His castle is guarded with a million traps, and on the spare chance they don't kill you, you'll be caught, and he'll keep you trapped in a golden cage till the end of your days!"

I grimaced involuntarily. Insult to injury.

"Where'd you hear that?" asked Ajaia, looking annoyed. From what I'd seen, she always looked annoyed.

"My nostrils," Marrianna replied matter-of-factly.

Ajaia groaned in frustration. "If you talk about your nostrils one more time I'll-"

"I have a better sense of smell than you and you know it! So you can't say-"

"I don't care how well you can smell. Your nose can't tell you things like that."

"Can too. And I'll tell you what. Colton, the little one I scared last week, he's trapped in a cage in there right now!"

Ajaia huffed smoke. Then she turned back to me and Jack. "Aside from a few exaggerations," (Marrianna stuck out a forked tongue, making a slight hiss) "my sister is correct. No one in the Land of a Thousand Skies would dare tread on Archibald's grounds."

Jack started protesting, but I only heard it from far away, like I was underwater. I knew what I had to say to get them to take me there, or at least point us in the right direction. Still, it took Jack stepping back and saying, "Tell them, Skai," for me to force the words out.

I stepped forward, eyes hard, determination pure steel. I had to do it. I had told Jack myself. We had to fulfill our end of the bargain, which meant we had to get to the castle. The first step was to convince these two.

"Ajaia, Marrianna, there's something you should know."

There must have been something in my voice or stance that told them I wasn't just going to beg some more, because they didn't immediately shoot me down. They both looked at me curiously.

I just hoped this wasn't a big mistake. If they weren't who they seemed to be, or let this leak. . .

"What is it?" Marrianna asked.

I took a deep breath and went for it, ignoring all of my instincts currently screaming at me. "I have plenty of practice avoiding capture- I've been hiding from all sorts of powerful people for months. And we do not come to this lightly. We made a bargain with a Hoshaldrian magician."

"And what do you know of magicians?" Ajaia asked, not looking remotely convinced.

"Too much," I said softly. Then I looked her in the eye. "I am the one who holds the Semper."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment below: what did you like? Dislike? I'd love to hear from you!