LITMIR.BIZ

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Candy thought: she’d been there briefly with the women of the Fantomaya. She’d seen all kinds of visions, including one that she’d dreamed of many times since: a woman walking on a sky full of birds, while fish swam in the watery heavens around her head.

      “There’s no chance you could drop us off at the Twenty-Fifth, is there?” Candy said.

      But even as she spoke she remembered the dark side of life on the Twenty-Fifth. She’d been pursued there by a pair of monsters called the Fugit Brothers, whose features moved around their faces on clicking legs.

      “You know what?” she said. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea after all.”

      “Well, we can’t do it anyway,” Galatea told her. “It’ll take too long. The fish’ll rot.”

      “So which way are we going?” Malingo said.

      Candy had guessed already, from looking at the map.

      “We’re going between the Pyramids of Xuxux and Gorgossium.”

      Galatea grinned. Every other tooth in her mouth was missing. “You should be a-fishing, you should,” she said. “Yep, that’s where we’re going. Mizzel thinks it’s a bad plan. He says there’s all manner of things that live on the island of Midnight. Monsterosities, he says. Horridy things that will come flapping over and attack the ship.”

      “Why would they do that?” Candy asked.

      “Because they want to eat the fish. Or else they want to eat us. Maybe both. I don’t know. Whatever it is, it ain’t good news. Anyhow, we can’t be squibbies about this—”

      “Squibbies?” said Candy.

      “Cowards,” Malingo said.

      “We gotta sail past Midnight whether we like it or not,” Galatea went on. “Either that or we lose the fish, and a lot of people will go hungry.”

      “Not a good choice,” said Skebble as he climbed out of the hold. “But like the girl says, we got no choice. And…’fraid you got no choice but to come with us. Either that or we dumps you in the water again.”

      “I think we’d rather stay on board,” Candy said, giving Malingo an anxious look.

      They headed north, out of the bright afternoon waters of the straits between Four and Five into the dark seas that surrounded Midnight. It wasn’t a subtle change. One minute the Sea of Izabella was glittering with golden sunlight and they were warm; the next, waves of darkness covered the sun and a bitter cold swept in to surround them. Off to their port side they could see the immense island of Gorgossium. Even from a considerable distance they could pick out the windows of the thirteen towers of the fortress of Iniquisit and the lights that burned around the Todo mines.

      “You want a closer look?” said Mizzel to Candy.

      He passed her his battered old telescope, and she studied the island through it. There seemed to be immense heads carved from some of the stony outcrops of the island. Something that looked like a wolf’s head, something that looked vaguely human. But far more chilling were the vast insects she saw crawling around the island: like fleas or lice grown to the size of trucks. They made her shudder, even at such a safe distance.

      “Not a pretty place, is it?” Skebble said.

      “No, not really,” said Candy.

      “Plenty of folks like it though,” the Captain went on. “If you’ve got a darkness in your heart, that be the place you go, huh? That be the place you feel at home.”

      “Home…” Candy murmured.

      Malingo was standing beside her and heard her speak the word.

      “Homesick?” he said.

      “No. No. Well…sometimes. A little. Just about my mom, really. But no, that wasn’t what I was thinking.” She nodded toward Gorgossium. “It’s just strange to think of somebody calling that dismal place their home.”

      “Each to their Hour, as the poet wrote,” Malingo said.

      “Which is your Hour?” Candy asked him. “Where do you belong?”

      “I don’t know,” Malingo said sadly. “I lost my family a long time ago—or at least they lost me—and I don’t expect to see them again in this life.”

      “We could try and find them for you.”

      “One day, maybe.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “When we don’t have so many teeth nipping at our heels.”

      There was a sudden explosion of laughter from the wheelhouse, which brought the conversation to an end. Candy wandered over to see what was going on. There was a small television (which had red curtains to either side of the screen, like a little theater) placed on the floor. Mizzel, Charry and Galatea were watching it, much entertained by the antics of a cartoon boy.

      “It’s the Commexo Kid!” Charry said. “He’s so wild!”

      Candy had seen the Kid’s image many times now. It was hard to go very far in the Abarat without meeting his perpetually smiling face on a billboard or a wall. His antics and his catchphrases were used to sell everything from cradles to coffins, and all that anybody would want in between. Candy watched the flickering blue screen for a little while, thinking back to her encounter with the man who had created the character: Rojo Pixler. She’d met him on Ninnyhammer, briefly, and in the many weeks since she’d half expected to see him again at some turn in the road. He was part of her future, she knew, though she didn’t know how or why.

      On screen the Kid was playing tricks, as usual, much to the amusement of his little audience. It was simple, knockabout stuff. Paint was spattered; food was thrown. And through it all jogged the relentlessly cheerful figure of the Commexo Kid, dispensing smiles, pies and “just a li’l bit o’ love” (as he would round off every show saying) to the world.

      “Hey, Miss Misery,” said Mizzel, glancing around at Candy. “You don’t laugh!”

      “I just don’t think it’s very funny, that’s all.”

      “He’s the best!” Charry said. “Lordy Lou, the things he says!”

      “Happy! Happy! Happy!” said Galatea, perfectly copying the Kid’s squeaky voice. “That’s what I is! Happy! Happy! Hap—”

      She was interrupted by a panicked shout from Malingo. “We’ve got trouble!” he yelled. “And it’s coming from Gorgossium!”

       4 THE SCAVENGERS

      CANDY WAS THE FIRST out of the wheelhouse and back on deck. Malingo had Mizzel’s telescope to his eye and was studying the threatening skies in the direction of Gorgossium. There were four dark-winged creatures flying toward the fishing boat. They were visible because their innards glowed through their translucent flesh, as though lit by some bitter fire. They gibbered as they approached, the chatter of mad, hungry things.

      “What are they?” Candy said.

      “They’re zethekaratchia,” Mizzel informed her. “Zethek for short. The ever-hungry ones. They can never eat enough. That’s why we can see their bones.”

      “Not good news,” Candy guessed.

      “Not good news.”

      “They’ll take the fish!” Skebble said, appearing from the bowels of the ship. He’d apparently been attending to the engine, because he was covered with oil stains and carried a large hammer and an even more sizeable wrench.

      “Lock down the holds!” he yelled to his little crew. “Quickly, or we’ll lose all the fish!” He pointed a stubby finger at Malingo and Candy. “That means you as well!”

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