Chapter Twenty-Two
Vhaena
THE BOULDERS
“That bitch! How could Natascha give us up like that?!” Inka panted as we stopped running.
She was bent over with her hands on her knees. How we were able to outrun a demon was beyond me. I had been certain we were goners and that no amount of running and weaving through the boulders would have saved us. But I guess I was wrong.
“Not that I disagree, but she did it for her. It was a good strategy, and one that worked.” She had to have gotten away because the demon was definitely coming after us. I had heard him right behind us until I didn’t.
“Yeah, I know. I just didn’t think another woman would betray us like that. We’re all in this, trying to survive,” she huffed. “Maybe it’s different when you’re in that situation though. I don’t know.”
“I think what Amalia said on the ship got to her. It was a betray or be killed kind of situation.” I wasn’t trying to defend Natascha, but I could understand why she did it.
Inka closed her eyes and sighed heavily. “Yeah. You’re right. And if I really think about it, I can’t blame her. We’re nothing but strangers to her, and she just wants to go home. I do, too…”
We continued walking through the boulders.
It was like a maze. We got turned around at some point and wound up right back where we started.
I pulled out the hawthorn berries and crushed a few in my palm before running them across the rock.
One, to make sure we didn’t accidentally back-track. Two, so we could find our way out.
The only downside was that we didn’t have much left to eat when we finally found a good place to hide for the night.
We popped the remainder of the food in our mouths, and I savored every last bit.
We were both tired when darkness fell. Inka seemed to be struggling more than I, so I took the first shift of the night.
She fell asleep quickly, curled in the dirt with her back against the rock.
It was hot tonight, and there wasn’t much of a breeze with the rocks blocking the wind.
And I was thirsty again. I couldn’t believe we still hadn’t found any water, but at least we’d had the berries to quench our thirst temporarily.
Sweat dripped down my brow and dampened my clothes.
I hiked my skirt up to my knees and rolled my sleeves up as far as they could go.
What I would give for a bath right about now.
I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, and I was tempted to lick it off just to moisten my cracked lips. The berries only did so much in terms of thirst.
The thought of submerging myself and filling my mouth with water was enough to make me salivate a bit.
Which was beneficial at the moment. My hands were sticky with the hawthorn juice and covered in grime.
It made me cringe every time my fingers touched and I had to peel them apart.
I gathered what little saliva I had, spit into my hands and rubbed them together as furiously as I could.
I considered wiping them off on my skirt, but I didn’t want it to become even more nasty than it already was, so I resorted to running my hands across the boulder behind me.
I really hated this place. The dangers. The lack of resources.
And even worse, the long stretches of silence.
That was when my mind went to places darker than the nights on this hellsforsaken island.
I had to fight over and over to hold back my emotions.
There were so many building that I knew the moment I let one slip through, that the rest would burst forth and consume me.
I couldn’t be here when that happened.
So, instead, I forced myself to think about other things. While it would have been best to try to plan our day tomorrow and mentally prepare, it was too daunting. I was tired of being scared and just wanted to break.
The first thing that came to mind was the demon who attacked the other demon. His stare. The rage pouring from him. His eyes… My thoughts unexpectedly shifted to Daemon for some reason. I forced it away.
I started to think of cooking. With nuts and hawthorn berries on my mind, I wondered if they could be combined.
I could roast the nuts and give them a rich, earthy flavor.
The hawthorn berries could be made into a delicious jam.
If I ground down the nuts, I could combine them with the jam, mixing the nutty and sweet flavors that would pair perfectly when spread across freshly baked bread.
My stomach audibly grumbled. Maybe I should have thought of something else.
Though, I quite enjoyed getting my mind away from this place for a few minutes.
I started thinking of places Ma and I could go—if I ever made it out of here alive.
We could travel and see new cities, try new foods, and find a nice, quiet place to settle and live out the rest of our lives.
A gurgling croak brought me out of my thoughts.
I scanned the darkness for the source, though it was pointless.
I couldn’t see anything. Searching for a black raven in the night was like looking for a piece of straw in a haystack.
But a moment later I could hear the wings, then his talons scraping on the rock above me.
“Wingnut…” Though I couldn’t see, I still glared in his direction.
“I’m mad at you again. You didn’t have the decency to warn us that a demon was nearby.
” I kept my voice to a low, barely audible whisper.
“If you’re here to help, then help. The berries were great, but…
I don’t know. Just warn me next time there’s a demon around. Okay?”
He screeched. It was loud and startling against the quiet of the night.
“Shh! Not right now, you dimwit,” I hissed.
He stopped and I listened for any additional noises, though I doubted the sound of a bird would have attracted a demon. I released a breath when I didn’t hear anything else.
“Neo would have never been so dumb,” I grumbled. “Only do it when there’s danger. Got it?”
I heard his beak snap a few times in rapid succession, and I took it as his affirmation.
“Good. And maybe lead us to some water too. You can find things faster than we can.”
Another clack of his beak, and I heard him fly away.
“Not right now— Ugh…” I ran a hand down my face. He was definitely not Neo.
I leaned my head back against the rock, taking in the quiet once again. But something was different about it. It wasn’t a peaceful silence anymore. It was filled with tension, like a string stretched too taut beginning to fray.
A faint rustle sounded in the distance, echoing between the boulders. Rocks shifted, clattering against each other. I snatched my spoon from my waistband, on alert. It was probably just a loose stone that fell, or maybe Wingnut. But then I heard it again. Coming from every direction.
I slowly rose to my feet, keeping my back pressed against the hard stone behind me.
My ears strained for the slightest noise, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.
But silence fell around me once again. Yet, my gut twisted, and a tingle ran up my spine until the hairs on the back of my neck stood.
We weren’t alone.
All of a sudden, I was thrown to the ground as the boulder behind me thrust forward, the earth rumbling beneath my feet. A hollow thud echoed through the narrow spaces between the boulders.
“Inka,” I whisper-shouted, grabbing for her in the dark. “Wake up.”
“Like I could sleep through that! What’s going on?”
“I have no idea. Something’s out there.” I pulled her to a stand.
We didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just listened and waited. We didn’t know which direction to go.
A sudden crack broke the silence. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It wasn’t stone breaking. It wasn’t wood. It was…bone.
Another sound followed, quieter this time. Except it was very different—sloshing, like a soaked towel that was dropped on the floor. Only it happened over and over. And it was moving. It was behind us, above us. Then to our right…
It grated against my nerves. My heart was beating so hard it thudded in my ears.
“I think whatever it is has found us,” Inka’s whispered voice shook.
Though she couldn’t see me, I nodded. “We need to go.”
I reached for her wrist in the dark, grabbing it and pulling her behind me as we went left, away from the sounds. With my other hand, I ran it along the rocks to guide me. I still couldn’t see. It wouldn’t have made a difference if I had closed my eyes.
Inka and I ran as fast as we could, but even with my hand guiding me, we were still slow and clumsy.
Then, my face smacked right into another boulder, and a searing pain ran through me.
Warm blood gushed down my temple and over my eyes, but I didn’t have time to wipe it off.
Scraping sounds against the rock behind us were getting louder—closer.
“Hold on to my shirt,” I told Inka, blood scattering off my lips with the movement.
With both of my hands now outstretched, and Inka’s grip on the back of my shirt, I moved forward a bit faster. I panted through the pain in my face, forcing myself to breathe through my mouth and spitting out the blood that drained onto my tongue.
There was a familiar croak to my left. I didn’t even hesitate before I followed it. I knew that it had to be Wingnut, and I had to pray his instincts would be to go away from whatever was chasing us. After several steps, there was another croak to my right, and we turned again.
He was leading us out.
Something glowed behind me, faintly illuminating the surrounding rocks, and I could see the silhouette of the raven in front of me, low enough to guide us through the maze of boulders.
“Oh, god! Don’t look back! Keep running!” Inka yelled, pushing at my back for me to go faster.
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I surged forward until I felt the resistance of Inka’s weight, knowing it was as fast as she could go—and went a little faster.
I had no idea what it was, but I wasn’t about to slow us down by looking back to find out.
Six more sharp turns and then there was an opening, and I could just make out the shape of trees.
The sounds of snarls and curses came from behind just as we flung ourselves through a tight gap between the rocks and onto softer, grassy ground. But we didn’t stop until we reached the trees and slammed our backs against one on the other side.
The scraping sound stopped. I dared to peek around the trunk.
Eight long, spindly limbs gripped the boulders as it braced its body above the ground—four on either side of the narrow path we had only just emerged from.
The creature glowed, covered in a slimy substance that dripped from its body, leaving a luminescent trail down the rocks that puddled several feet below it.
Had it been in the daylight, the gray of its body would have camouflaged against the surrounding rock.
Just in front of it—below its ashen, oily body—was a dark figure staring up at the creature. The demon trembled as he held his clearly broken arm.
In the blink of an eye, the spider beast pierced the demon’s body with one of its legs. The demon bellowed as his body was skewered and lifted into the air before disappearing back behind the boulders. And all went dark once again.