Chapter 29 #2
“Where are they taking us?” Petrina called up from behind.
“I don’t know, but something’s—”
“Wrong. So you’ve said. Care to elaborate?”
She couldn’t. She wished she could. The answers were back in the village with the woman who tried to kill her. Selene only knew that Gus was agitated, and it had started when they’d both sensed Augustus—Michail—cross the Llinunae Stone’s boundary line.
She calls.
Selene knew a warning when she heard it, even if the words held no outward meaning.
“I hear the waterfall,” Petrina said. “Our boat is close. Selene, wait, that’s the wrong way.”
When Selene didn’t stop, Petrina did and threw up her hands. “This is madness. We have to get off this island, and you’re heading right back into the middle of it.”
“Stay if you want. I have to find Augustus.”
Only minutes later, the forest began taking on an unfamiliar shape.
The ancient trees became more gnarled and decrepit, as if the weight of universes pushed down on them.
The roots twisted from the ground like skeletal fingers, clawing the soil.
Moss hung in heavy, wet sheets, and every now and then, a drop of water landed on Selene’s hot skin.
The forest here was a thick, tangled mess of shadows and humidity intermingled with spearing shafts of light. Each step gave way to softer and softer ground, and soon, her boot sank into suctioning mud.
Selene stopped at the edge of a land of murky pools buzzing with insects. A glimmer of red eyes blinked out beneath the surface, then vanished.
Petrina came up fast behind her, her breath sawing from her chest. “Oh, look. A swamp. Wonderful. It smells…lovely.”
If you liked the mix of decaying leaves and rotting vegetation. The earth smelled sour here and clung to the back of Selene’s throat. Somewhere off to the left, hidden among the tall reeds, something shifted and splashed lazily into the black water, leaving only the faintest ripples in its wake.
Selene lifted a brow. “I thought you were leaving.”
“I am,” she said. “After I save your ass from whatever trouble you’re getting yourself into. Again.” Petrina sighed, then glanced around. “You’re sure you want to go this way?”
Ahead, Gus alighted on a branch to wait.
“I don’t have a choice.”
Augustus chased Lili and Roslyn, leaping over roots and skirting around trees. He had his cutlass out and swiped ruthlessly at the vines and moss hanging from the branches.
His mind raced with only one thought: save Selene. Her voice continued to call, frantic, and Lili wanted to kill her. He wouldn’t let that happen.
Soon, the ground turned soft and patched with plains of moss and black pools. He battled the suction of his boots as much as the bite of the gnat swarms.
“She’s here,” Roslyn said from ahead.
“I don’t hear anything,” Lili said.
“You won’t, but that doesn’t mean she won’t kill you. Stay vigilant.”
Selene wouldn’t hurt anyone. Not ever. Lili had to know that. The woman he loved was pure and kind and—
Golden light opened up in the clearing ahead. Swirls of mist clouded around Selene—she reached for him, fingers long and tipped with mud.
“Augustus.”
She was naked and caked with dirt, and her hair hung in drabs.
Augustus’s heart lurched. No one could see her like this.
Every man appeared to have the same idea, but Augustus was determined to reach her first.
She was his.
“Quick!” Roslyn shouted to Lili. “Before it’s sucked inside!”
The women leapt across solid patches of earth, racing ahead of the men.
“No!” Oskar shouted, rage reddening his face. “Don’t touch her!”
Similarly, Blaze screamed, “Leave him alone!”
Oskar drew blades from his bandolier, following after the women with a vengeance so pure that Augustus almost let him have it. But the women were after Selene, and she was his, and he would save her. He would cut down anyone who dared—
A line of fire erupted in front of all the men, startling everyone back. The flare was gone as quickly as it landed, merely scorching the moss and vines.
Little Gus zipped up into Augustus’s face and nudged him in the chest. Pushing, pushing, pushing—
“Stop that,” Augustus croaked. “Don’t you see? Selene is right over there.”
Gus squawked and pushed, wing beats frantic.
The other men were free to go on, but it was the women who reached Selene first.
Roslyn spun with her swords, slicing through the air.
Selene ducked the swing. Her limbs melted, flesh stretching like wax in fire. One arm curled the wrong way. Her jaw split downward, and kept splitting, mouth gaping too wide, too long—
A piercing scream ripped through the air.
Augustus collapsed, hands over his ears.
Gus landed on his shoulder and tugged at his shirt collar, pulling him away.
But, Selene…
Augustus looked up—
Gods.
Wait.
That wasn’t Selene.
That wasn’t…
Roslyn’s words struck like a mallet to the chest.
Nahrin.
A fucking swamp siren.
They were all dead.
Selene’s exhaustion vanished.
Pure shock overtook her.
In the clearing, the shapeless, viscous figure—its skin a pale nude color—seemed to be sucked—no, slurped— into a hole in the ground.
That same small island of land vibrated and lifted.
Mud and moss and black water shook from a massive dark green head.
Vertical slits opened to large, yellow eyes, and its mouth appeared next, showcasing rows of sharp teeth.
The creature rose and rose and rose—easily twice the height of the tallest man facing it down. Maybe more.
Tentacles shot from the soft earth and slapped down, throwing mud.
The creature pulled itself out of a deep hole, and swamp water showered into the deep crevice left in its absence. Small fish wriggled on the now-damp earth, and frogs leapt toward the safety of the gnarled forest.
All the men—her friends—watched in frozen horror, only now coming out of their stupor.
Roslyn and Lili stood their ground, swords in hand, and screamed for everyone to run. The Rangers were shouting the creature’s name: Nahrin.
This was exactly the sort of creature the village was likely protecting itself from. And she’d run directly into its nest.
Gus and Turos crossed overtop the swamp siren, raining it with fire, but their flame didn’t penetrate its thick, bumpy skin. The attack only enraged it.
The Nahrin roared, strings of green-black saliva pulling between razor teeth.
Gigantic tentacles slapped at the earth and rocked the ground, shaking the men off their unsteady feet.
Half of them dropped to their knees, feet sliding under them as they fought to get back up.
Tentacles wrapped around trees, pulling the siren’s large body across the wet, soggy ground.
“I’m beginning to think you’re bad luck,” Petrina said, twirling her blades from their sheaths. They were long and glinted in a thin shaft of sunlight.
Selene palmed her own knife—when Petrina had given it to her earlier, it was for protection against a human. She had half a mind to just toss it. What good would it do against this creature?
The Nahrin swept a tentacle across the ground, and two Blades went flying into a tree.
Roslyn pushed two of the Rangers out of danger, then spun to catch a descending tentacle with her crossed swords. With her feet spread and teeth gritted, she pushed and strained, holding the strength of the beast back until finally—finally—it gave up.
The massive creature pushed up and hauled itself closer to the two downed Blades. It took one of the men by the ankle, slapped him against the ground, and then tossed his body into its mouth.
The crunch of bones filled the clearing.
Selene’s stomach dropped toward the ground and spun.
Lili, face spotted with mud and her braid soaked, hacked at one of the tentacles with her cutlass. The blade didn’t so much as scratch the beast. It shoved her hard toward a tree that she narrowly missed, and she skidded across the soft earth instead.
“Lili!”
Augustus.
He wobbled to his feet on the far side of the clearing, his cutlass in hand, but hanging down the length of his leg. He staggered toward the Nahrin, jaw set, eyes determined. Any other day, Selene might feel sorry for whoever stood on the other end of that focus, but not now.
“Augustus, no!” she shouted, sprinting into the clearing.
Petrina kept pace and spun into a battle against a flailing tentacle. She moved as if carried by the breeze, without the hitch of the ground’s suctioning mud.
Selene ducked and rolled beneath a tentacle.
Augustus, still too far, stared at her with wide eyes.
The siren roared and hefted its body up and toward him. Augustus lifted his gaze, taking blind steps backward. A tentacle slithered and unfurled across the swamp floor, seeking his ankles—
Blaze hurtled into Augustus at full speed, and the two men rolled out of the way.
The weight inside Selene’s chest lifted, but only temporarily.
The siren turned. The vertical slits over its yellow eyes shut, and when they parted again, its focus was on her.
Selene let instinct take over and flipped the knife up to grip the tip. She pulled her arm back, then, with her free arm acting as a guide, she threw.
She didn’t breathe as the blade flew—
End over end.
A perfect arc.
Straight into the creature’s right eye.
The Nahrin roared and bobbed up and down on its six meaty arms. It hurled its body around, half-blind, swinging tentacles everywhere. It pulled trees up and out by the roots, then hurled them across the forest.
“The head!” Roslyn shouted to Selene and Petrina. She tapped the top of her crown. “It’s the only spot of vulnerability it has.”
Selene understood immediately. The gelatinous figure had been sucked into the top of the siren’s skull.
“We have to get above it,” she said to Petrina.
Petrina shouted to Roslyn. “Lure it into the trees.” She handed Selene one of her blades. “We’re only getting two shots at this.”
Selene sprinted behind the assassin into the forest, and shouts started behind her. Roslyn’s taunts mingled with those of some of the men. The ground shook, and puddles of water vibrated for several feet.
Petrina assessed the trees as she ran past until she found one with low branches. She pulled herself up and climbed.
Selene tucked the blade into her belt and followed. Bark scraped her palms, and her burning, exhausted muscles protested every inch. They climbed until reaching a particularly thick branch that hung out over the path of the siren.
A handful of men, plus Roslyn and Lili, backed down the path with flagging arms and shouted taunts.
Augustus was among them. He crossed beneath her and shot a look skyward. Every word he was thinking translated up at her with his eyes. Don’t you fucking die on me now, i psychi mou.
He wasn’t getting rid of her that easily.
The Nahrin lurched and lunged forward. Its large body smashed against trees, splintering them with thunderous cracks and showering branches into the black waters.
It emitted a low, resonant sound—a bone-deep hum that vibrated the very air.
Each powerful, brine-scented wave was thick with the smell of rotting seaweed, sending sharp, metallic tangs into the air, mingling with the swamp’s already fetid stench.
It drew closer; atop its crown, a puckered hole became visible. It might have been smaller than Selene’s hand—they’d have to make this perfect.
“I’ll go first,” Petrina said. She stared down while squatting, balanced on her tiptoes. “And if I fail, you need to be right behind me. Understand?”
Selene lifted her chin to nod—
The Nahrin roared beneath her. The men threatened the creature with swords to slow or stop it—it wasn’t happy. The massive body pushed skyward and didn’t stop.
“Hold on to—” Petrina started.
Its head struck the underside of the branch they were perched on. A thunderous crack splintered the air.
Selene dropped to her chest and wrapped tightly around the thick wood. Her weight rolled off the side—
Her legs held.
The rest of the branch broke and arced down with Petrina attached. She landed on the siren’s bumpy, thick-skinned crown with an unceremonious sprawl. Petrina rolled down the back while grappling for a hold.
The siren’s head rose toward the branch again.
Selene let go and turned mid-air. She landed like a cat atop the surface—its skin was surprisingly cold, and her boots gripped well to the coarse surface.
A wet mist shot from the puckered hole, and Selene lunged toward it. Inside, the nude-colored membrane swirled and rolled.
Selene plunged her blade in all the way to the hilt, the knife sinking with ease.
A greenish-black slime burped from the hole, and the siren’s limbs lashed furiously.
She scrambled to hold on to the hilt—don’t let go, the old advice shouted—but her palm slipped, wet with the creature’s blood. The body rocked beneath her, sending her forward.
“Selene!”
Augustus’s shout added to the symphony of slapping tentacles, snapping roots, and the grating squeals of trees pulled up from the muck.
The Nahrin’s head whipped Selene forward into the open air.
The world rotated around her too fast for her to grasp one thing in her focus. It all smeared together like paint on a canvas—the muddy ground, the cracked trees, the thick canopy, and the blue sky—over and over and over. Selene hurtled toward the ground, and she braced for the pain of landing.
Out of nowhere, Augustus caught her—his arms around her, his body beneath hers.
Her world didn’t end in pain, but in the warmth of the man who had come for her.
He sheltered her as they rolled, the world spinning once again, only this time, sticks broke against her back, and stones cut into her spine by turns.
Then, the entire world stopped breathing.
Nothing moved.
All sound vanished like smoke.
Selene parted her lids and saw only filtered sunlight and the careful, fluttering descent of leaves from above.
Augustus groaned.
Her heart lurched, and she sat up only to find her legs tangled with his.
Augustus pulled her onto his heaving chest and wrapped her in his arms. His blue and brown eyes darted across her face. “Tell me this is real.”
Hot tears stung the backs of her eyes. “It’s real.”
His mouth found hers, and she was enveloped in his sun and sea and wind.
A hand smacked Selene on the shoulder, and Petrina dropped to her butt with a grunt. “You did good.”
Selene followed her nod to where the beast lay in a heap, surrounded by broken trees and her exhausted friends.
Augustus sat beside her, one arm holding her tight to his side. A shudder went through him.
“I’m only half-surprised you survived,” Petrina said, her lips quirked up to one side. Then she popped to her feet. “Can we get the fuck off this island now?”
Selene met Augustus’s eyes and smiled. “Yes. Let’s get out of here.”