by E. Van Lowe
Chapter Thirty-Two
I peered over at Alan, wondering if this time I’d see the petrified look in his eyes I’d seen at Great Aunt Winsome’s. He was peering into the darkened tunnel, oblivious that my eyes were on him. He seemed anxious to do battle.
The sloshing sounds from within were now just beyond the opening. The fear that had worked its way into my chest earlier now bubbled up my throat, and I thought I might lose my guts as we stood there waiting.
I realized then, I didn’t have a plan. Snatch Lara from the creature’s arms as he emerged and run? That was it. I wished we’d come up with something better, but I was so consumed I didn’t take the time to plan our next move.
The creature emerged from the drain. He was slick with wetness, a shiny, horrid monster, glinting in the moonlight. Green slime oozed from scratches on his face and arms. I realized the green slime was the creature’s blood caused by the damage Lara had done to him. Speaking of Lara, she lay limp in his arms, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we were too late.
“Lara! Over here,” I called, and she stirred, her head shifting ever so slightly in my direction.
My heart jolted in my chest when she moved, and adrenaline flooded my veins. The weight that had been clogging my chest vanished upon seeing she was still alive. I breathed in, my lungs finally filling with air.
Seeing us, the creature raised a claw and snapped it at me.
Rive dropped down, as if from the heavens, onto the creature’s back. We had no idea he was there. He’d been crouching, unseen, in the shadows on the bridge above the drainpipe, waiting for his chance. He clutched a syringe in his hand, and swung it toward the creature’s shoulder blade.
The creature released Lara, dropping her in the shallows, as he shifted and bucked in an attempt to throw Rive from his back, while keeping him from driving the needle home.
As they struggled, I rushed to Lara, picked her up out of the shallow creek, and carried her dripping body to the nearest shoreline. I set her gently onto the gravelly shore. Her eyes were closed, but her chest was gently rising.
“Lara. Lara!” I cried out, a gentle whisper. “I’m here.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “You came for me,” she said in a breath so shallow I almost didn’t hear her.
“Of course I came for you. I’d go to hell to get you back,” I said, and crushed her against my chest.
“Was I wrong to deny us the chance to be together?”
“Don’t talk now. You’re safe, that’s all that matters.” I planted a gentle kiss on her cheek, and realized her cheek was wet, not with creek water, but with my own joyful tears.
“As the Lycorian was carrying me to what I was certain would be my death, all I could think was how foolish I’d been to deny us a chance at happiness. No one should deny true love.”
She was weak, and each word was a chore to come by. “Don’t talk,” I repeated.
Meanwhile, Rive was riding the creature for all he was worth, trying his best to drive the needle home. It had to be a sedative, meant to slow the creature down, but he was having no luck administering it.
The creature reached over its shoulder, and pulled him off its back, tossing him aside as if he were a child’s toy.
Then the creature vanished before my eyes.
As I wondered where he disappeared to, he reappeared right in front of me.
“There is a price for lies!” The creature’s words exploded in my mind, and before I could shield Lara, he lashed out toward her chest. I thought he missed her, but suddenly blood was everywhere, spurting from her chest as if from a geyser.
He was about to reach for her again when a spear slammed into his shoulder, knocking him backwards.
“I’m not your pal!” These words were from Alan.
I looked over, stunned to see Alan aiming the spear gun at the creature’s chest. He must have had the spear gun concealed beneath the long duster all along.
“You wanna mess with someone? Mess with me!” He fired a second shot, but the creature again disappeared, this time reappearing by his side.
The spear gun went flying from his hands as the creature lashed out at him with one vicious swipe.
Alan collapsed to his knees, his eyes going wide. They were filled with childlike wonder as if he’d just been given a free trip to Disneyworld. Blood began seeping from a neat slice across the base of his throat. He looked over at me, opened his mouth to speak, only to spew up a mouthful of blood.
This cannot be happening.
I looked down at Lara in my arms. Her eyes were once again closed, her chest lay still. She was growing cold. She seemed like a beautiful child, drifting off to sleep. But I knew better.
I looked away, and saw both Petros and Rive standing in the creek bed, the horror of Lara’s death frozen on both their faces.
The creature had departed while I wasn’t looking. He’d done his damage. He had taken two lives in payment for the promise Petros had made to him, and was returning to the sea with some small form of victory.
Alan kneeled a few feet from me, the blood stain on the front of his duster growing rapidly as his life drained away into the creek. He struggled to hold himself upright. It was as if he knew holding himself up was the only way he could keep himself alive. His eyes were still on me, but I knew with a certainty that he was no longer seeing me; he was looking into the afterlife.
“Thanks, fellas,” I called over to Petros and Rive. The words, filled with rage, scorched up my throat. “Thanks a lot!”
As tears began streaming down my face, I heard a distant roar moving toward us. It sounded like a fast approaching locomotive, or a hurricane.
A wind whipped up in the tiny creek, stirring the water and tossing debris into the air. The wind and the sound increased in magnitude, and then, something came into view. It was a ten foot tidal wave, pushing toward us up the canal.
The swirling wind grew to gale force intensity as the wave drew nearer. I struggled to keep my balance in the storm.
Eudora Applegate came into view, riding the wave that was coming toward us. It was a vibrantly colorful wave, and as it got closer, Eudora Applegate struck a regal pose riding in on a tidal wave of butterflies.
“My daughter,” she screamed over the tumultuous sound of a million butterfly wings. “Petros, get my daughter.”
Petros moved to me, and gently removed Lara from my arms.
The wave stopped moving ten feet from me. It floated there, above the creek, a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color. Eudora, dressed all in white, stepped from atop the wave, and was transported down to the surface of the water on a magic carpet of butterflies.
She hovered above the surface of the water, surveying the area.
“Petros, take Lara to the hoarfrost baths at once,” she commanded.
“Yes, Countess,” he replied.
“I don’t know what that is, but it’s too late. She’s dead,” I called to her. “Because of all of you, she’s dead,” I said, casting my indicting gaze on each of them, one at a time.
Eudora eyed me, and her gaze softened. “It’s not too late for the hoarfrost baths to save her, Josh. They are enchanted. As long as there’s a spark of life left in Lara’s body, the baths will bring her back.” She turned to Petros. “Be gone, Petros. Now! Or should we wait until that spark of life has drained away?”
Without another word, Petros secured Lara in his arms. In moments he was on the shore, galloping up the embankment. He moved across the bridge, and out of sight at a dead run.
Eudora again briefly surveyed the area with distaste. “Take me away from this place,” she commanded, and the butterfly carpet began to rise.
“Wait!” I cried out. “Alan is still alive. Take him to the hoarfrost baths, too.”
My friend was now seated in the shallow water. He continued struggling to hold himself upright. A thick, ugly bloodstain widened on the chest of the duster. I sensed he’d fall over any minute, and once that happened, it would be the end for him.
“Your friend is not my concern,” Eudora said, eyeing him as if she were eying the trash.
“I know, but he’s my friend, and he’s bleeding out. I won’t be able to get him to a hospital in time to save him. You must! Please!”
She looked at me curiously. “Why should I?”
“Because you can.”
“That is not reason enough for me. I am not of your world. Your world would not raise a finger to save me or my kind.” She signaled with her hands, and the butterfly carpet began to rise.
“Wait!” I called even louder. “How bout we make a deal?”
“A deal?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “You have nothing I would want.” The carpet again stopped its ascent.
“You want me to be with your daughter, my soulmate. Save my friend, and I will do it. I will become her slave.”
“That’s very generous of you, Josh, but it’s an empty promise. My daughter does not want to be with you.”
“That was true, but after tonight, I believe things have changed.”
“That’s not much of an assurance.”
I gazed over at Alan who was about to topple over into the creek.
“We love each other. You know we do. She didn’t want to be with me because she was trying to protect me, but I can get her to come around. I’m yours. Just save my friend. Please,” I pleaded, my voice cracking.
She gazed at me for several moments that seemed to stretch on forever. As each moment passed, I could feel my friend’s life draining away.
“I’m yours. I’ll do anything.”
“Rive,” she called, practically cutting me off. “Take the young man to the hoarfrost baths, and be quick about it. We don’t want to lose him.”
“Yes, Countess.”
Rive hauled my friend’s lifeless body up from out of the creek. Blood and water ran freely down the hem of Alan’s duster. Rive galloped away, following the same path as Petros, up the embankment, across the bridge, and out of sight.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“You do realize you’ve given me your word?” Eudora said with a hint of skepticism.
“Yes. And you have it. You won’t regret this. I promise.”
“I’m sure. My home is your home,” she said with an air of indifference, and with that, the butterfly carpet lifted her up to the crest of the wave where she was carted off.
I stood silent and still, knee deep in creek water for several minutes. My heart pounded in my chest. My breathing came in short, ragged bursts. Once the wave had departed, the gentle sound of the creek flowing to the sea began to relax me, and my heartbeat slowed. My breathing returned to normal.
Both Lara and my friend had died, at least, in my eyes they had. I wondered how much of a spark of life was needed for the hoarfrost bath to work its magic. I didn’t want to think about either of them not making it, and so I told myself I needed to get up to the fortress to be there when they opened their eyes.
I dragged over to the shore, and as I stepped out of the water, I again realized I didn’t have any shoes. I wondered if Conner would drive me up to the Applegate fortress. He’d done enough already, but perhaps he’d do this one last favor.
As I began moving up the slope toward the path, I spotted a carpet of butterflies hovering alongside the trail up ahead. For me? I wondered. I hoped so.