Chapter 5: Naughty Devils

Beth stepped out of the secret tunnel into the center of the Labyrinth, her shoe catching a rock and sending it skittering across the cold stone.

Up above, a large gemstone shone like a tiny star, warming the entire room to a comfortable temperature. Large tables were covered in different magical items in various states of disrepair, and rats moved around in the shadows, carrying what looked like rocks of different sizes.

Ratu was leaning over a stack of books, her kimono hanging open and revealing a patch of scales that traveled along the inner curve of her breast. Her kimono had a phoenix on it that flew in circles and occasionally leapt off of the silken fabric to cross over bare skin and then dove back in.

Across from her was Sofia, who was mumbling to herself while tucking bookmarks into a book. She set it aside and then picked up a new one, an assortment of bookmarks held between the fingers of her free hand.

“Hmm?” The cyclops looked up at Beth, who was followed in by Asterion. “Oh, hey. More news from above?”

“That, and a delivery. Wait, where’s Yuki?”

“The fox is helping the rats.” Ratu sat back and adjusted her kimono. “You see, when the earthquake hit, it apparently fractured large areas of the Labyrinth and they are now being flooded out by the river. One of the only reasons we aren’t underwater right now is because of her ability to freeze large bodies of water with her magic. So tell me about this delivery of yours?”

Asterion stepped forward and lowered his bundle.

“Oh, you have my full attention now.” Ratu abandoned her books and stepped around the table. “Who do we have here?”

Sofia closed the book she had been looking through, her eye wide with interest.

“No idea. We think she was in the new part of the house.” Beth knelt down over the woman on the floor.

Her hands and feet had been bound, but she was still unconscious. Her frizzy hair was caramel colored, with a pair of ears sticking out of them, and she had a human face with just a slight cleft lip. Patches of black hair started around her neck, and her entire torso was covered in a thin layer of fur. Her belly was white, however, and a matching spot was also on the end of her tail.

“Fascinating.” Ratu knelt down over the woman, her tongue flitting in and out of her lips. “Her facial features suggest post-adolescent reconstruction, and she smells of ... wood polish and dust. And what’s this?” She traced her finger along a patch of the woman’s skin that transitioned into fur. “Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?” Beth, genuinely curious, took a seat nearby.

“Oh, the skin beneath her fur is different than her exposed skin. Like, on a cellular level.” Ratu pulled out a magnifying glass from her sleeve, her green snake-eye magnified through its lens. “Human hair follicles here, but the fur of a cat elsewhere.” She licked her lips, her tongue elongating and hovering over the cat girl’s slumbering form for a second before disappearing. “So she’s human, or was, anyway.”

“Someone made her like this?”

“Oh yes. There are many artifacts across the world that can affect such a transformation. Not much different than that time you were turned to stone, only in this situation, the results were more organic.” Ratu tucked away the magnifying glass.

“Wow. Is there any way to undo it?”

“Experimentally? Perhaps. Without knowledge of the method of her transformation, I’m afraid that anything we did would be extremely risky. Besides, I think we should probably talk to her first. Maybe she’s this way on purpose.”

“I guess.” Beth rubbed her arms. There was a chill in the air. “Other than the flooding, any other problems?”

“Some rocks fell in here.” Sofia pointed to the rats. “They were nice enough to help us clean up this area. And we might have news.” She patted the stack of books next to her. All of them had multiple bookmarks inserted into their pages. “We think we know how to get Mike to the faerie realm.”

“I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic. Will probably drop everything to do it.”

Sofia sighed. “Yeah, I bet he will. You’re still planning to go with him ... right?”

“I am.”

Sofia and Ratu exchanged a look.

“Then we need to address the issue of your spiritual hitchhiker first,” Ratu said. “The last thing we need is to discover that Oliver has been biding his time until he can get you alone with Mike. Going to a strange realm would be the perfect time and place for such a move.”

Beth frowned. “So what are we going to do?”

“I have everything ready for that, actually.” Ratu pointed at the woman on the floor. “Asterion, can you please take our guest to the pagoda? Put the irons on her—they’re enchanted to prevent her from leaving—but give her a nice room. Beth, is Jenny with you?”

Beth laughed. “Always.” She turned around to reveal the doll sitting in a handmade pouch that Tink had knitted for her. Jenny dangled her arms over the side and did a slow clap.

“Good. We’ll need her help. I’ll need your help as well, Sofia.” She looked over at Sofia. “And Yuki’s. That should be enough.”

“That’s a lot of hands.” Sofia closed the book she was working on. “But I could use the distraction. I’ll get these put away for safekeeping, and then come join you once I find the fox.”

“Thank you, Sofia. Walk with me, Beth.”

Ratu walked toward the pagoda, which looked like it had been stolen from a miniature golf course. It was only fifteen feet tall and was decorated in silken flags. Asterion was ahead of them, and he ducked down to step through the silken folds hanging over the entryway.

Beth stepped through and gazed up. The pagoda was far bigger on the inside, stretching several stories high. She had only been inside a couple of times, but never long enough to explore it properly.

Asterion took the cat girl into one of the rooms on the first floor, but Ratu continued up the ramp that spiraled toward the top.

Beth followed the naga, pausing to look in one of the rooms on the way. Inside was a lone table with a sphere of water hovering above a marble bowl. Inside the sphere was a necklace with a blue crystal pendant. She had seen it once before.

“What’s that about?” Beth asked.

“Oh. That’s an interesting story I don’t have time for right now. Let’s just say it’s a research project. This way.” Ratu gestured for Beth to follow her, and they climbed the spiral, moving even higher.

Beth often wondered what would happen if she were to drill a hole in the wall and look outside of it. Would she only be seven feet off the ground? Or would the pagoda burst like a giant balloon, spilling its contents everywhere? If they climbed all the way to the top, would they become tiny?

“In here, please.”

Ratu pointed to a room with an unusually large entryway, and she realized that they were at the top of the spiral. When she walked in, she expected to find a throne room, or maybe a giant bed for the naga to sleep in while in snake form, but neither of these was the case.

Glowing runes lined the floor and walls, but in the center of the room were a pair of large glass chambers stacked one on top of the other, and both were suspended within a wooden and wire frame. The magical device was an impressive eight feet tall.

Beth stared. “Is that ... an hourglass?”

“Sort of. The premise is the same. What goes up top will fall into the bottom. However, this one has been built to allow the flowing of souls from one place to the other.”

Beth’s stomach tightened. “That sounds super dangerous.”

“Oh, it is.” Ratu regarded the device. “Soul magic always is. However, your current situation is potentially worse. Think of it like cancer. For now, that remnant is benign, but it could start to grow, and consume your immortal soul to become something else.”

“Shit. So, what, you’re going to pull my soul out and stick it in that ... thing?”

“Ah, that’s where Jenny comes in.” Ratu walked up to the device. “The larger the device, the more chances for error. It’s actually a thought I had the other day. Jenny will inhabit your body and you will be inside the doll. When I put you, as the doll, inside of here and turn it on, your soul will pass to the bottom of the chamber, carrying along the soul shard itself. I’ve designed a filter that will allow your soul to return to the doll and trap the demon soul in this.” She pulled a crystalline container from beneath the hourglass. “I got the idea for this material very recently. It’s capable of holding a human soul indefinitely and should be able to ensure that your parasitic passenger is isolated and contained. Then we put you back in the doll and take you out.”

“So what happens if my soul doesn’t go back into the doll?”

“Jenny’s an expert. She’ll get you back where you need to be, no problem.” Ratu winked. “Worst case scenario, this fails and Jenny gets a body.”

“Ha ha.” Beth examined the equipment again. “How long will it take?”

“Once the device is ready, about twenty minutes. I would like the others here to assist me first, so we should probably make ourselves comfortable.” Ratu looked around the room. “There’s a sitting room just below us that is far more comfortable. We should wait there. Would you like some tea?”

Beth nodded. “Do you have something for frazzled nerves?”

Ratu smiled, then pulled a tin from her sleeves. “I have just the thing.”

“What else do you have in there? I’ve seen you pull stuff out before. Is that a magic kimono? I would kill to have pockets like yours.”

“Oh, I have all sorts of things in here.” Ratu walked toward the door, and Beth followed. “Yes, the kimono is magical. It’s something I made to keep the important things on hand.”

“Like tea?”

“Like tea.”

Ratu stopped outside of a doorway and gestured inside. Beth walked in and found a small sitting room with a serving table and some comfortable chairs.

“This is lovely.” Beth took a seat and watched the naga put some loose leaf tea inside of a metal ball, then lay it in a teacup.

“Thank you. This pagoda has been my home for many centuries, and it has served me well.”

“Wow, centuries? Do you just take it with you?”

“Oh yes. It takes some doing, but the whole thing comes down much like a tent, and can be rebuilt at a later time. It has been convenient being able to move about without leaving all my research behind.”

“Have you moved often?”

“Indeed.” Ratu pulled a pot of water off of its serving dish and held it in the palms of her hands. Her palms glowed with heat, and a trickle of vapor squeezed out of the opening. “It was actually a stroke of good fortune that Emily found me when she did.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I found myself in a bad situation with little hope of a favourable outcome.” The vapor from the pot was already turning to steam. “Are you familiar with the naga?”

“No, I’m not.”

Ratu smiled demurely. “Once, there were many of us. It was our job to guard the sacred waterways and treasures of the mortal world. I won’t bore you with the details, but I was known to get rather curious about the treasures I was guarding. I was seen as a bit of a troublemaker in this respect. The naga migrated across Asia from our home in the mountains, seeking out new waterways to guard, or even mortals to watch.”

“So what happened? To the other naga?”

“You would know it as the Industrial Revolution. Rivers being poisoned and drying up sickened the naga, and many of them fell prey to mortals or other magical beings. Naga rely on their connection with the earth to maintain their health, both mental and physical. I was one of the lucky ones. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to relocate to the Philippines, and had spent many decades hiding among them from one of my own kind. I avoided some of the unnecessary wars and pollution of the mainland, and was able to lie low when trouble came about.”

“Interesting. So you came from the Philippines?”

Ratu nodded, then poured the water into the cups. “Let that steep first. Yes, I lived there for a very long time. It’s why I look the way I do. Most naga would appear as Indian to you, but we prefer to say that Indian people look like the naga.”

“So you can change your human form?”

“Only during a proper shedding.” Ratu smirked. “During my next shedding, I could choose to look like you if I wished. But then I would be locked into that form for quite some time, and you would come to resent me as you grew old and your own beauty faded.”

“I doubt I’d resent you. I would totally rock my old lady bod.”

Ratu laughed. “I have no doubt. Anyway, while living in the Philippines, I chose to change my facial features to minimize detection, but otherwise remained in this general form. I even lived as a human a few times. It was not hard to find a home in the mountains by my river, and I even partook in human culture, though rarely for long stretches of time.”

“So I could run into a naga almost anywhere?”

“Not quite. They need to live in an underground space with an ample water source, much like the Labyrinth. We like to be connected to the world in this manner. Many of them rarely venture out, but I’ve always been a bit more ... curious.”

“If naga can change their shapes, how do you find other naga?”

“We always know. Think of it like true-seeing. Though I may change my face a hundred times, my identity would be known immediately.” Her face darkened, and she looked down at her tea. “That is a story I do not wish to discuss.”

“I won’t ask. I’m just curious about your people is all.” Beth lifted the tea to her lips and paused. She could feel the heat on her lips from the liquid, and assumed she would burn her mouth. “So there are male nagas out there?”

“Indeed. Finer men you will likely never see, but such is the gift of the divine.”

“Do all naga have the patterns like you do?” Beth pointed at her own neck for emphasis.

“Only if they choose. I do it as a reminder that I am more than just this human form.”

Beth sat in silence for a few moments, but had to know. “Are those patterns everywhere?”

Ratu laughed. “You are a rare individual. Yes, those patterns are everywhere, and yes, it does feel different from regular skin.”

A wave of heat filled Beth’s cheeks, and she sipped her tea to hide her embarrassment, promptly burning her tongue. The two of them chatted for awhile about nothing in particular, and it occurred to Beth that she had never really had a chance to get to know the naga on a personal level. Ratu preferred the solitude of the Labyrinth, away from the others, and now Beth wondered why that was.

Eventually, Sofia returned with Yuki, who wore a look of concern on her face.

“Is Mike okay?” she asked upon seeing Beth. “Sofia said there was an attack.”

“He’s fine, though his ego might be a little bruised. He did get beat up by someone half his size.” Beth had just finished her second cup of peppermint tea, and she was feeling much better about what was to come.

“I should have been there.” The kitsune’s eyes glowed for a moment, and then she let out an exasperated sigh. “It really doesn’t matter, though. He finds trouble no matter what he’s doing.”

“He’s like a magnet for it.” Beth set down her cup. “Are we ready?”

“I think so. Come.” Ratu set her cup down as well, and led the group back up to the room with the magical hourglass. Once inside, she had Beth wait by the device, then spoke in low tones with the others.

Beth craned her neck, trying to catch any additional info, but all she caught was bits of magical jargon she didn’t understand, and a level of seriousness from all three of them that made her nervous. She pulled Jenny out of her sling and held her tight against her chest.

“You wouldn’t let anything happen to me, would you?”

The doll’s head rotated a hundred and eighty degrees to look Beth in the face, then winked.

“Okay, remember the ‘do fewer creepy things’ talk? This is a creepy thing.”

Jenny’s head swiveled forward, and Beth shivered.

“Okay, we’re ready.” Ratu walked up to Beth, then looked down at Jenny. “Yuki is going to help me regulate the flow of magic into the device. I estimate that her assistance will triple the chances of success. Sofia’s unique ability to tap into the future will be used to prevent the device from overloading, which eliminates almost every other potentially bad outcome.”

“I get to stand next to the device and yell at them if it’s about to explode,” the cyclops grumbled.

Ratu waved a hand dismissively. “Any questions before we begin?”

“No.” Beth handed Jenny to Ratu. “But this is the fucking weirdest girl’s night ever.”

“It isn’t night time, but we’re getting close.” Ratu took the doll. “I’m not certain what you may experience while in spirit form, but do your best to hang on.”

“Let’s just get it over with.” Beth looked at the doll. “That’s your cue.”

Jenny’s eyes glowed, and the world became a gray mist until all that was left was Jenny and Beth.

A shadow stretched itself out of the doll, and Jenny stepped free, her long hair obscuring her face. She took a few lurching steps toward Beth, then rolled her head to one side to reveal a macabre grin. Jenny lifted her arm and poked Beth in the shoulder.

“Tag. You’re it.” Though her voice was just a whisper, the whole world imploded, and then went dark.

“We’re sure this is the room she came from?” Mike stood in the second floor hallway, his eyes on the door in front of him. The hallway used to be L-shaped, but with the appearance of the latest addition, it now split at the end.

“Quite sure, Lord Mike.” Reggie stood farther back, a rat guard on each side. “Her scent trail comes to this room.”

“Oh boy.” He put his hand on the door, then looked at Tink. “You sure about this?”

The goblin’s goggles were over her eyes, but he knew that they were both bloodshot from the fight earlier. He had practically dragged Tink to the centaur village for some quick medical care, and she had dragged him back after they declared her ornery, but fine.

She now wore fierce grin and held a crossbow aimed at the door.

“Tink ready.”

He pushed open the door and stepped aside, allowing Tink to rush in. The rats followed, and he and Reggie brought up the rear.

“Huh.” The room was practically empty. Tink was surveying the perimeter, but unless there was a secret door hidden away, there wasn’t anything to be seen. A broken harp had been tipped over in the corner, and the floors were made of wood. “What is this place?”

“Empty. Room good for music and dance.” Tink pushed her goggles up. “Tink remember, Emily play music box in here.”

“What music box?”

“Tink no see.” The goblin touched the walls, then looked out the window. “No place for sneaky cat bitch to hide.”

“Do you suppose she was trapped?” He looked around the room, then turned at the sound of footsteps.

Dana stepped around the corner carrying a small toolbox.

“There you are. So far, nothing major to report. Some roof damage and you need new windows. There was a temporary clog in the fountain, but Naia and I fixed it.” She paused and surveyed the room, then looked at the harp. “So this is where she came from?”

“Yeah. I didn’t get the sense that she was after me or anything. It was more like she was trying to run away.”

“Makes sense. Maybe she got locked away in here and wanted her freedom.” Dana set the toolbox down. “I took a peek in the room downstairs. Didn’t see anything lurking about, but you should probably come down and check it out with me.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s full of all sorts of things. Easier for you to just come see it.” Dana took a look around. “Far more interesting than this room. This place looks like it’s been cleaned out.”

He nodded, then headed for the door. Tink looked up from the harp, then set it down to follow. Reggie stopped at the stairs, then looked up.

With a series of grunts and squeaks, he sent the rat soldiers up the stairs.

“If anybody comes out of the third floor, we will know.” He adjusted his plastic glasses and followed them down the stairs, holding Tink’s hand to walk on his back legs.

At the bottom, they turned into the office and Mike saw Death standing outside the new room, bony fingers stroking his chin and a cup of tea in the other.

“Ah, Mike Radley, you have found a most interesting space. I have been waiting for you to join me, and—” Death’s fiery orbs looked beyond Mike. “Is that a magical toolbox?”

“What?” He looked at the toolbox Dana was holding. “Why do you think it’s magical?”

Death pushed Mike aside and knelt down to inspect it. “What sort of magic makes it float like this? And it seems to be following you, Mike Radley.”

Dana frowned. “He has a weird sense of humor, doesn’t he?”

“You can see him?” Mike asked.

“Of course, but we’ve never talked or anything.” She pointed at herself. “I did technically die, so I thought that explained why I could see him. But whenever I tried to talk with him, he just kept looking at his maps. I figured maybe he was pissed that I got away or something, so I’ve just been leaving him alone.”

“Mike Radley, who are you talking to?” Death was looking near where Dana stood, his bony brow furrowed.

“I’m talking to Dana. You ... can you not see her?”

“I am capable of seeing anything with a soul, yet I only see you, the goblin, and His Majesty, the Rat King. Are you saying there is somebody else here?” Death held out a bony hand. “You may call me Death. I am pleased to meet you.”

“Oh, I still have my soul. That’s the problem.” Dana reached out for his hand, but her hand passed through it. “I can’t touch him, apparently.”

“Her hand went through yours,” Mike explained.

“Fascinating.” Death stood up and swallowed some more tea. “You have brought me a better room to conduct my studies in, and an intriguing mystery. Today has been a wonderful day for me.”

Mike shook his head in disbelief. “I’m happy for you, Death. Really.”

Death let out a chuckle and stepped away from Dana. “I am learning so much in your home.”

“Yeah, so am I.” He shook his head with a grin, then turned to look in the new room.

It was well decorated, and had several bookshelves covered with a variety of items. On one wall was a large collection of pictures and some devices that looked like goggles with sticks on them, and the other wall had a large phonograph machine. Covering the walls was a bewildering assortment of artifacts that looked like they came straight out of a museum, and in the middle of the room was a large, ebony table with a stack of records on it.

“See what I mean?” Dana walked over to the phonograph. “Now that you’re here, I can try this out and see if it works.”

“Why do I have to be here?” he asked.

“In case it doesn’t. Didn’t want to take the blame.” She smirked, and picked up a record and put in on the phonograph. Mike watched her mess with the device until the scratchy tones of an old record filled the room with soft music.

“Sounds like it works.”

“Yeah. The record isn’t labeled though, and I didn’t take enough liberal arts classes to tell you what song it is.”

“Tink like phonograph.” The goblin moved toward the device, then took a step back. “But Tink no touch. Break too many times.”

“Break it as much as you like,” Mike told her. “I’ll just have you fix it.”

Tink grinned, and Dana handed her a record. While the two of them messed with the phonograph, he circled the room. What looked like Egyptian hieroglyphs had been carved into the sides of the shelves, and several of the pictures were printed in duplicate.

“Weird.” He held up a picture of a dig site. The pictures seemed old, but the clarity of the image was amazing. In the one he held, a large statue was being excavated. “Why are there two of every copy?”

“Oh, neat.” Dana picked up one of the goggles and held it to her face. “These are stereoscopes. Here.” She took the picture from him and set it in the frame, then fiddled with a knob at the top. “Now look.”

When he held it to his eyes, he saw the world of the picture extend into three-dimensions. “That is pretty cool.”

“Right, Mike Radley?” Death’s voice came from over his shoulder, and he nearly dropped the stereoscope. Death had found a stereoscope of his own and was looking at a picture of a pyramid. “This is way more interesting than a map.”

“I’m sure.” He looked around, then spotted a large statue tucked in an alcove clutching a scepter. “Is that Anubis?”

Dana looked up at the statue. “It might be. Certainly looks straight out of the movies, doesn’t it?”

“Wasn’t he a death god or something? Shit.” He set his stereoscope down. “Let’s leave for now. I feel like we’re just going to end up cursed or something if we go digging through all this stuff without the necessary precautions. Last thing I need is to unleash the mummy’s wrath or something.”

A loud screech filled the room, causing him to jump. Everyone turned to look at Tink, who had lifted up a panel on the phonograph, causing the record to pop off. The goblin blushed, then lowered the panel.

“May I continue to use this room, Mike Radley?” the Grim Reaper asked.

“Yes, but no fighting with Anubis.” He pointed at the statue. “There’s plenty of room in my heart for both of you.”

“You are a good soul, Mike Radley.” Death held the stereoscope to his face.

“So ... upstairs?” He looked at Tink and Reggie. The goblin and the Rat King nodded, and they left Death behind to enjoy the pictures in the room.

“Hello?”

Beth hovered in the void, her eyes on a shape in the distance. There were no stars, no ground, just blackness, save for something that looked suspiciously like an antique lamp post. She tried to kick or swim through the void, but was unable to discern any sort of movement.

From all around her came a low pitched buzzing sound that turned on and off intermittently. She wondered if she was hearing voices from the real world, or if this was some dumb version of purgatory.

Typically, when she and Jenny exchanged places, she was unconscious for all of it. She wondered now if her soul was already inside of the device, slowly being extracted into the lower chamber.

She would have shivered at the thought, if she had a proper body.

The light from the lamp post flickered, and she realized that she was moving closer to it. She let out a sigh, relieved to see something other than a yawning void around her.

Her limbs were transparent until she stepped into the light of the lamp. The lamp post stood on a round patch of cobblestone roughly ten feet in diameter. Curious, she crouched down and looked at the edge of the island she was on. The ground flickered and expanded with the light of the torch, and she tried to feel the edges of the ground with her fingers, only for her hands to vanish once they were outside of the light.

“Light equals matter. Okay.” She walked around the edge of the island, but learned nothing new, then turned her attention toward the lamp.

It was ornate, and roughly ten feet tall. The flame inside was far too bright to look at directly, so she focused on the wrought iron structure beneath. Intricate patterns shifted along the length of the lamp, and the flickering light above cast twisted shadows down its length.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

The voice startled her, and she spun on one foot, her back slamming against the lamp.

“You!” she hissed.

“Me.” Oliver stepped out of the darkness, wearing a white button down shirt and dress pants. His red skin was paler than usual, and his tie had been undone, hanging limply over his shoulders. “Or, at least as much me as I ever remember being.”

“So you survived.” She stepped around the lamp, putting it between her and the demon. Mike and Yuki had rescued her from an eternal damnation with the demon by putting a dagger through his head and then popping the dimension he was trapped in, like bursting a bubble. With nowhere to go, it was assumed that Oliver had simply ceased to exist.

“And you’d be right, in a manner of speaking.” Oliver grinned, without a hint of malice. “Of course I can hear your thoughts. You are literally just a soul right now. It’s like reading a book for me.”

“How are you here?”

“I’m that little part of me that Oliver left on you. Maybe, in a way, I’m technically just an offshoot of the original, or what’s left of him.” He held up his hands to reveal that, despite the light’s presence, they were semi-transparent. “I’m afraid that something like this is beyond my own knowledge, at least, until you ask me about it. Upon your destruction of my dimension, the universe hung on a coin toss involving the fate of the demon you knew as Oliver. Should he be freed and dumped back into the material plane? Or was his place in eternal destruction? His opinion could hardly be asked, as that cursed blade kept him from waking.”

“So he is gone.”

“He is, but he isn’t. The Void is funny like that. By nature, non-existence is a paradox. I can have an empty box, or a full box, but the Void itself cannot be an empty box, because that would imply that something exists in the first place. I guess you could say that he went to the same place that your dreams do when you’re awake.”