Totem

Chapter I -- Return to Earth

It wasn't long before Cora was forced to stop her flight. Marcella found that they were slowing, then descending back down to solid ground.

"Why are we stopping?"

"That information is classified," Cora said as she lifted her left forearm. She pressed against it with her right index finger and it beeped and flashed.

"Running low on power?"

Cora didn't respond, she simply turned back to Marcella and pinched her mechanical fingers tight around the girl's elbow again. Marcella's body jerked as Cora dragged her on.

"I bet those fancy rocket feet use way more energy, don't they? Are you even going to have enough left to make it back to Earth?"

"Please do not force me to silence you."

Marcella didn't need to be warned twice. She quietly allowed Cora to lead her westward, away from the citadel, away from her friends.

"You move fast," she finally said, "we're almost at the border. You know how to find it from this side? It seemed pretty much impossible from Earth, not without a . . . guide . . ."

Raphael flew past Marcella's head and drew her attention. Her jaw hung open as she noticed Narri's home. Not only was it visible, but it had been entirely ransacked.

"What happened?"

Cora pulled Marcella close and their eyes locked. The android had triangular pupils and they dilated like camera lenses. "I will not hesitate to remove your tongue. My orders do not include a provision which requires you to be able to speak upon your ret-- ret--return."

"You're gettin' real tired, Cora. You think you're going to make it?"

"Classified--classified--classified." Cora repeated the word on a loop as she dragged Marcella along with her. Marcella noticed the lights behind Cora's ear were all red now, and they were flashing faster than ever.

Raphael led the way into Narri's shack and Marcella gasped at the mess. Clearly, the border guard had put up a fight against whoever had done this.

"Where's Narri?" Marcella asked but Cora just kept repeating the same word. Her movements were becoming jerky and Marcella could see she was fighting her depleting power reserve.

"Classified . . . classi--classi--class . . ." Cora twitched as her voice dipped lower and lower. Marcella heard a noise behind her and turned just in time to see a bleeding and bruised Narri fly out of the darkness with a heavy frying pan held high over her head.

The woman screamed and rushed Cora. The pan came swinging down and smashed the android's head. "Teach ya tah mess up my home!"

"Narri, what happened to you?" Marcella asked.

"This damn Techie happened!" Narri's pan came crashing down against Cora's head again and again. "Where's that damn emberwing?"

"Emberwing?"

"The bird! Where is it?"

"You mean Raphael? What's an emberwing?"

There was a tweet from behind Marcella, she turned to see the tiny canary fluttering his feathers. The bird's colors grew and lashed out like bubbles of hot lava. Fire erupted over his body as he lifted into the air. The flames took hold of Narri's shack as a huge beast of fire consumed Raphael's body.

"That's an emberwing." Narri tilted her head towards Raphael, readying her pan.

"I don't think that'll do much . . ."

Raphael swooped after Marcella and Narri. The girl grabbed the woman by the waist and they tumbled out the back door of the shack. Raphael came soaring out after them and took off into the sky, slimming back down to his tiny, harmless yellow body.

"Oh no . . . oh no oh no! What did'ja do girl? My shack! Dah border!"

"What's wrong, Narri? I . . . I was just trying to help, Raphael was coming at us, we had to do something."

"You stupid, stupid girl! When dah door closes, so does dah border!"

"So? We'll just . . . eat some of those berries and go see Wilhelm. Oh! Or we could see the fish woman, or what ever we can do to get back."

"You don't get it!" Narri tossed her pan to the ground and stood over Marcella. The woman seemed taller when she was angry. "Without me to open dah door, dah border stays closed."

"You mean . . . we're stuck here?"

"Stucker 'an a raccoon's fist in a snare."

"What does that mean?"

"It means Lemuria is doomed. And all dah othah realms too."

"What?"

"Lemuria is dah nexus, girl! Wid out you dere tah save it. . . It's gonna die. After . . . all dah realms are gonna go wid it. Even Earth."

"So . . . you're saying we're stuck here, and everyone, everywhere, is going to die because of it?"

Narri crossed her arms and glared at Marcella, who turned back to the empty spot where the border once was.

"No! I said I'd help! I promised!"

"So much for dat."

"It can't be over! There has to be something we can do! I can't just let everyone die!"

Narri looked like she was about to say something, but she stopped herself. She moved closer to Marcella, appearing shorter now that she was calm. "Maybe . . . only one person's gottah die."

"What does that mean?"

"Always one border a mortal can cross widout my help."

"And . . . uh . . . what border is that, exactly."

"Dah border intah death."

Marcella's eyes grew wide. She plotted the notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and fought to suppress her old habits. "Okay . . . so you're saying I have to die?"

Narri crossed her arms, a pose she seemed comfortable in, and shrugged. The trinkets woven into her hair jingled with the motion.

"And what would that be for, exactly?"

"At least one woman in dah undahworld knows how tah open dah border widout my help."

"And who's that?"

"Yah granny."

"So, if I . . . die, and find Rowena in the underworld, she can help me get back to Lemuria? But if she can just . . . leave when ever she wants, why is she still there."

"Dah undahworld's a mysterious place, when yah go dere against yah will." Narri's face twisted and she shook her head. "Let's just say, it ain't good. Poor Rowena Louge ain't feelin' so mystic an' powerful now."

"And since I'd be choosing to go . . . what does that mean for me?"

"Who really knows? Very few mortals choose dah undahworld. Even suicidals aren't expectin' it. You'd be dah first in a long time who knows what she's gettin' into."

"Do I?" Marcella questioned Narri with both her words and her posture but the woman didn't say anything. "What happens if I remind Rowena who she is and she wants to take me back here for her studies? What if she doesn't want to help?"

"That's a risk we're gonna hafta take."

Marcella fell to the ground sitting with her legs splayed out in front of her. "Fine, do it then. Kill me."