Chapter 30
W ater sloshed beneath us as the skiff thudded into the edge of the strange, otherworldly swamp.
I swiped a hand across my sweaty forehead, careful not to spook Fetch as I held the torch up, taking in our surroundings.
Gnarled trees stretched high into the sky all around, and the thick red fog that’d concealed the place from the outside had faded completely.
I sucked in a deep breath, doing my best to calm my pounding heart.
A dark energy emanated from the swamp itself, brushing against the edges of my awareness even as I did my best to shut it out.
And the sensation only grew stronger when I focused on the heart of the place—the second layer, where the true monsters lurked.
“Alright, lads and lasses,” Paddy said, hopping over the edge of the skiff and landing in the swamp with a thunk. “Keep the volume to a whisper, and don’t stray far from me and the boys. The place has a way of getting you all turned ‘round.”
He still had some swagger and confidence to his tone, but it was tinged with something else.
Terror?
“Did we really have to come here at night?” Moll asked, creeping toward the edge of the boat as the others began to pile out.
“Wouldn’t be all that much brighter, even if it was high noon anyway,” Scotty answered, the skiff rocking as he stepped awkwardly over the side.
It was too high to get a good look at the overly-thick canopy that lay high above us, but a chill crept up my spine at the thought of it.
The tree coverage wasn’t nearly dense enough for such a thing to exist. According to Garth, vines and branches wove together up there, forming a solid dome that blotted out all but the faintest pricks of moonlight.
Hook gave Garth a hand as he moved to make the jump, keeping the older man steady as he landed on the muddy ground.
But he ignored Garth’s word of thanks, waving him forward as he waited for the rest of us to exit.
Whatever had been said during their private conversation, it’d gone just like Xander had predicted.
Garth had given the captain enough to change his mind about letting him come along, but he clearly wasn’t happy about it.
I stepped out of the boat next, accepting Hook’s arm as I landed, and suddenly felt glad for the dark as we locked eyes, sending a flash of heat to my cheeks.
“No risks,” he grunted.
I dipped my head in assent, turning away from his gaze as Xander helped Molly to the ground beside me.
Paddy waved us onward without any further conversation, leading our trek while his brothers took up positions on each side. Andrew had the rear, and he walked just behind Moll and me, with his head on a constant swivel as he searched for any sign of danger.
The muddy ground gripped my shoes with every step, and a dull ache began to creep into my temples, regardless of how hard I worked to suppress my magic.
“So why does Noru ever leave, if he has access to all this?” Moll asked. “They say he’s the king of this place, so can’t he just eat the other monsters?”
“He does feed on the other monsters,” Andrew answered. “They say he hardly eats, when he’s in the outside world. It ain’t about food.”
“So what is it about?” I asked, yanking my foot out of the muddy ground that sucked down on my shoe with every step.
“No one knows. It’s different than the other beasties, though. It’s like he actively seeks humans out, just to kill them.”
“And when, exactly, are we planning on running into him?” Moll asked, sparing a nervous glance over her shoulder as a soft plunk dropped into the lake at our left.
“Don’t worry. He only comes to this layer on his way out for Ebonfall,” the boy replied, pausing for a second before adding, “as far as anyone knows.”
I let out a humorless chuckle. “Very encouraging.”
Another plunk.
He held up a finger, and I went silent when a low hoot split the air.
If I hadn’t seen him do it right before my eyes, I would’ve assumed it was just an owl, but the other O’Donnellys brought the group to a sudden halt, and the boy zipped past us to meet up with Paddy, his footsteps effortless and silent despite the thick muck.
“We gettin’ close to the second layer?” Tom asked.
“Quiet,” Scotty grunted, his voice low.
The brothers convened for a brief moment, then continued moving, with Andrew creeping to the back once again. “Eyes peeled for monsters. Something’s off to our left.”
I nodded slowly, goosebumps flaring up as I held my torch a little further in that direction. I squinted, trying to make something out in the inky blackness, but saw nothing.
Moll pulled closer into my side, gripping the incapacitator in her free hand. “What do you think it is?” she whispered.
“If we’re lucky it’s some kind of big fish. If not…” Andrew didn’t elaborate.
“If not?” I cut in, hurrying him along.
“If not then maybe it’s a?—”
Movement flashed in front of my eyes, whipping through the air a few inches in front of my face like a cracking whip, and things erupted into chaos. “Move!” Andrew spat, whipping his dagger from its sheath.
Fetch stirred at my shoulder, and I willed him to stay put with a thought as I ran, ignoring the shooting pain in my skull. I dashed forward, with Moll right at my side.
The O’Donnellys, on the other hand, leapt into action, waving their torches in wild arcs as they urged us onward. “Keep it moving,” Scotty shouted, his voice barely audible over the splashing sounds that were now erupting all around us.
Hook and Xander ignored the command, sprinting their way to the rear of the group. “Fuck,” Hook spat, tearing his blade from its sheath.
I spared a glance over my shoulder to see a trio of elephant-sized frogs hopping after us. Spikes jutted out from the tops of their heads, and I winced as one opened its mouth, revealing a line of razor-sharp teeth.
My hand shot to Moll’s wrist on instinct as they bellowed in unison, and I pulled her along as I broke into a full-on sprint. Garth panted heavily just in front of us, but, to his credit, he kept up the pace, staying nearly even with Tom.
“Sharp turn!” Paddy shouted, taking a hard left as we passed a massive willow tree.
And we followed suit, the pounding in my skull growing stronger and stronger as we charged through the woods, which grew denser with every yard we traveled. Too dense for the frogs?
A tree rumbled and cracked just ahead, putting a halt to that notion as one of the massive beasts leapt right into our path.
Raw bloodthirst seemed to ooze off of the monster, washing over me in waves.
And it wasn’t based on any visual signs.
Somehow, I could feel him, on a deeper level than any of my normal senses.
The frog’s essence, laid bare for me to see. My temples screamed as I focused in on it, but I ignored them, delving even deeper—like I’d done with the ships. If I could feel his essence, then I could?—
A bloodcurdling roar split the air, like a mix between a lion, a bullfrog, and a human scream.
Now, it had to be now. I mentally lunged forward, even further into his mind.
He pressed back desperately, eager to keep me out, but I smashed into him with everything I had, blasting down his defenses.
I reached inside, driving a single thought straight into its brain.
RUN!
The frog’s eyes lit up in terror, and he whirled, leaping right back to where he’d come from. The ground rumbled under his weight, and he landed in the water with a plunk a second later.
I sucked in a ragged breath, using every ounce of willpower I had to force my legs to keep churning.
“Gods, Harm,” Xander said, his voice coming from just behind me. “I’d heard that the Tideblessings were stronger here, but what I just felt goes beyond that.”
I nodded, hardly able to muster a reply.
You just need to keep running. You just need to keep running.
I repeated the mantra over and over, putting one foot in front of the other.
Time hardly seemed to pass as we ran, and the mantra morphed into empty words rumbling through my exhausted brain.
Every footfall rattled my teeth, and a thousand little nodes of conscious bloodlust seemed to close in on me from all around.
The minds of monsters? But the nodes closest to me were different, a tiny circle of safety in the storm of blind rage.
They ranged from indifferent toward me, as was the case for the O’Donnellys, to concerned and loving, in the cases of Moll and Fetch. And Hook’s? I shuffled through them, fixating on his little node of awareness.
The tsunami of pain and guilt that greeted me washed away everything else, threatening to suck me right into it. I delved deeper nonetheless, searching desperately. What else was there? What were his feelings toward me? What?—
His mind snapped shut like a trap, hurling me out as quickly as I’d arrived. I scrambled wildly as my knees gave out, and I would’ve been sent sprawling if not for the sturdy arm that gripped my shoulder from behind.
I spun, heart skipping a beat as Hook stared down at me, his face unreadable. “Up. Gotta keep moving.”
And I did just that, tamping down on my magic with everything I had. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop it completely. Something about this strange, terrible place had it bleeding out of me like an open wound. And there seemed to be nothing I could do to staunch the bleeding.
Paddy’s torch slowed to a halt sometime later, and I hardly had the energy to feel relieved as I came to a stop, sucking in a gasping breath. I let a dribble of the magic out, goosebumps pricking up on my arms as I probed the darkness. “They’re still… coming,” I managed. “Need to run.”
Paddy waved his torch, striding to the center of our little group to meet back up with his brothers. “The bastards have alerted half the beasties in this layer. It’s more than just them that’re after us.”
“So what do we do?” Moll managed, panting nearly as hard as I was.