45. Savage

Chapter 45

Savage

I t smells all snakey and slithery inside Naga House, and even more when Ben opens the door that leads us down a spiralling set of stairs. It's not the obvious sort of snakey smell. More like venom. More like?—

"There is deception in this serpent, " Scythe says into the group chat.

I sense Aurelia's uncertainty as she trudges down the stairs on her tip toes like she's worried stepping too firmly will alert her father that's she's here. But her voice is firm. " Uncle Ben was the one who warned me to run on the night of the Halfeather fire. He's always been on my side."

Staring at the back of the man called Ben, I assess him. I saw him twice at Halfeather House so long ago and he looks exactly the same. He reminds me of the Muffin Man. Short and round with red cheeks. He just needs a chef's hat and apron, and I'd believe him to be a good guy. And if he's my regina's uncle, then he's my uncle too, and I think I'd like that because I've never had an uncle. He smells of the tuna pasta he had for dinner tonight and Dove body wash. I smell his hatchlings on him too.

But even bakers can be bad people.

It's at that point that I've assessed his gait and come to his hands. He's got no blood contract on his fingers like the serpent king did with us. I glance at my own hands, and the missing index finger on the right, which caused me only a little trouble in the beginning when I'd forgotten and tried to scratch my nose. Sometimes I get phantom twitches from the missing thing.

But I'm used to it now.

The stairs are pretty long, even more than the one in the anima dorms at the academy, but this one is cleaner and with electric yellow lights. I suppose serpent houses don't have the same magic as dragon houses. I can't wait to tell Xander.

When we reach the end of the stairs, we come to a level space made all of grey brick. Five archways lead into more well-lit corridors. They all look the same, but there are black snakey markings all along the border of the arches. By the way Aurelia is staring at them, I think she's reading them. For the millionth time, I wonder how I got such a smart regina.

"This looks like a catacomb," Lyle says unhappily into the group chat.

"What's a cat-a-comb?" I ask, imagining something Lyle would use to comb his hair.

"A crypt," Aurelia says, watching Uncle Ben closely as he leads us through one archway. "A place where people used to bury the dead in the olden days, in stone tombs instead of in the earth."

"Creepy," I say. "Imagine having a whole heap of dead people under your house! Scythe would have to scare all the ghosts away."

"I think Lyle is right, though," Aurelia says, her shoulders stiffening.

"This way," Ben says, pointing to the archway in the far right. "Most of them interconnect down the line, but this is the only one that doesn't."

"That tracks with our map," Scythe says to the group chat. He's not even speaking to Uncle Ben, which means he really doesn't trust him. So I do the only thing I know best. I march up to Uncle Ben, bend down because he's much shorter than me, and sniff loudly at his neck.

"Savage," Aurelia chides. "That's rude."

"I didn't touch him!" I protest. "But he doesn't smell right." And I don't mean the tuna pasta.

Uncle Ben takes a step away from me, his frightened eyes looking at the wolf tattoo on my chest. He doesn't have a barcode and serial number on his cheek, which means he's not the venomous sort of serpent. "Show me your teeth," I demand.

"Savage," Aurelia says again. "Leave him alone."

Grumbling, I step back and shake my head in dismay at my brothers.

"Look," Uncle Ben says, putting his arms up like he's being arrested, "I'll just take you as far as I know, and then you can do as you please. The next watch will take over soon. If I'm not back, there will be an alert."

"Of course," Aurelia says, glancing at Scythe with see? eyes. "Thank you."

We walk through the archway, me sniffing for slithery magics the entire time. Aurelia probably knows what it feels like more than me, so I just make sure nothing jumps out and tries to attack us. Uncle Ben makes a sharp turn into a room that has less light. Aurelia follows him right in.

It's a bigger space, with black stones on the floor that feel softer on my bare feet than the other stone. There are two statues of women with serpent tails from the waist down, their hands out as if to say ‘stop'. The room beyond them is dark.

I don't like the way it smells in here either.

"Wow," Aurelia breathes, wandering forward to marvel at the statues like she's Indiana Jones.

Lyle is the last to walk in.

There's a click.

Everyone freezes.

"No one move," Scythe rasps.

But it wasn't my paws that did the clicking. I lunge at Uncle Ben, ripping open his shirt. Buttons go flying in all directions.

"I knew it!" I say, pointing at the curling black mark over his right man-boob.

Aurelia's face pales in horror and she takes a step back away from him.

"Lyle, do not move!" Scythe commands harshly.

"I'm sorry," Ben sobs, his shoulders shaking. "I'm so sorry, Lia. I had no choice."