Hidden Realms

by Unknown

  I stared, my spikes retreating again.

  “You bitch!” Marty shouted.

  Something heavy hit me from behind. I fell hard, landing on Colin. Scrambling across his body, I tried to put distance between myself and Marty.

  He grabbed my hair, yanking my head backward.

  The needle jabbed my neck.

  I gasped, a dizzying rush of pressure hitting me, starting from my neck and surging outward. Sizzling energy surged through my skin, making me shriek, and I collapsed as he flung me to the ground.

  Behind me, Marty scoffed. “Half-breed scum,” he muttered. “I hope the Wisdom takes his time on you.”

  His footsteps clunked on the metal floor as he headed back to the front. The engine revved again.

  I choked. My skin burned. I could feel my legs changing. The fabric of my shorts and shirt scraped on me like acidified sandpaper and the air was too thick. Too heavy. I couldn’t breathe.

  The ambulance rocked. Marty was driving again.

  My hands grasped at the cold metal ground, trying to pull me toward the door. Gold dust shimmered on my arms and hands. Heaving, my lungs fought to breathe the air. My fingers curled, digging against the metal as spots swarmed over my vision, devouring the light.

  This wouldn’t happen.

  I wouldn’t die like this.

  Tears stung my eyes as I clung to the thought, repeating it inside my head louder and louder till the words became a shout.

  I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t do this now. This wouldn’t happen.

  Would. Not. Happen.

  The air grew thinner.

  I gasped. The burning pain of fabric on my skin faded to a dull ache and the light from the ambulance windows returned in a rush. Trembling hard, I pushed up from the floor with hands that bore only traces of iridescence.

  My gaze went to the front of the vehicle. The world was sharp – sharper than it had ever been. I could see everything, down to the tiny print on the medical machines strapped to the wall and Marty’s pulse throbbing in his neck.

  Spikes stung as they pushed from my arms again.

  On shaking legs, I stepped around Colin, trying to ignore the way my stomach twisted at the sight of him. Against the wall, Baylie still lay, her chest rising and falling in steady rhythm.

  My fingers balled into a fist. The spikes spread out straighter from my skin.

  I crept toward the driver’s seat and raised my arm, bracing myself to threaten him into stopping.

  Marty caught sight of me in the rearview mirror.

  His eyes went wide. “What the–”

  He yanked the wheel sideways, sending me stumbling. The engine roared as he floored the pedal. Grabbing at the railing on the wall, I barely stopped myself from falling.

  Gravity dragged at me as the ambulance raced down the road. Clutching at the rail, I fought to pull myself forward, closer to him.

  Marty looked over his shoulder, checking on me, and then he swerved hard, throwing me back against the wall. The impact drove the air from my lungs. Electricity raced over my skin, trying to change it again.

  “Keep fighting, you little half-breed bitch!” Marty yelled. “You still won’t stop this!”

  He whipped the wheel around again, hurling me in the other direction and nearly breaking my hold on the railing.

  “Do you have any idea what we’re going to do to you? Any idea how the Wisdom is going to bleed you dry?”

  I clutched at the rail and looked to the front.

  Marty’s eyes were locked on me in the rearview mirror.

  But the ambulance was heading straight for a curve. And a tree.

  I gasped.

  “The Beast is coming for you,” Marty snarled. “It’s waited so long in the deep, and now–”

  Metal screamed and glass shattered as the front of the ambulance crumpled and the world tilted. I tumbled forward, slamming into the wall, and boxes and bottles came after me, pelting me as the floor and I both crashed back down.

  I opened my eyes.

  The ambulance was still. Broken glass tinkled down from the front window behind me, and a hissing noise came from the engine. In a jumble on the floor near my legs, Baylie stirred groggily, her brow furrowing as she struggled to wake.

  I leaned away from the wall and then froze, pain lancing through me as all my muscles protested in chorus. As if to compensate, tingles of electricity surged across my body, setting off the burn of transformation all over again. I choked as air clogged my lungs like soup – thick and impossible to breathe – and my fingers dug into the floor, fighting the change.

  “You…”

  I flinched and looked to the front.

  Marty lay in the driver’s seat, the tatters of an airbag in front of him and a splintered branch from the tree rammed through his chest.

  Nausea raced up my throat at the sight.

  Slowly, his head turned to the side and his eyes pinned me. “We…” he whispered. “We’re everywhere. You’ll never… escape us all.”

  His lips curled into a smile, and then a breath left him.

  He went still.

  I stared. Trembling shook me and I gasped, trying to breathe around the impossibly dense air.

  “Chloe?” Baylie murmured, her eyes squeezed shut against the light. “What…”

  I looked down at her. My skin was burning and everything hurt. Pressed against the floor, my hands trembled while my legs shimmered iridescently.

  “Chloe! Baylie!”

  My head snapped up at the sound of Noah’s voice. The back door tore open, nearly leaving its hinges, and light flooded the inside of the ambulance.

  “Holy…” he started. “Maddox, get in here!”

  Noah clambered up the step and hurried toward us as Maddox rounded the corner of the ambulance.

  “Here,” Noah said, shoving Colin’s body toward him.

  Maddox grabbed the man’s legs and yanked him backwards. With a disgusted look to the body as it tumbled to the ground, he climbed in after his brother.

  “Can you get her out?” Noah asked him, nodding to Baylie.

  Without a word, Maddox scooped her up and then turned in the tight confines to carry Baylie toward the door.

  I shuddered, the air growing thicker. I dug my fingers into the icy metal as black spots swam across my sight.

  Noah crouched in front of me. “Chloe? What happened? What’d they do to you?”

  “In… injected… something. Can’t…”

  He caught me as I slumped to the side. Muscling me back upright, he pressed his hands to my face. “Focus, Chloe. Come on. Fight it.”

  I closed my eyes, struggling to do as he said. To breathe. To fight. To stay human.

  And not die.

  “Baylie’s waking up,” Maddox called from beyond the door.

  “They’ve done something to Chloe,” Noah shouted back. “Injected her with something.”

  I heard Maddox swear.

  “Come on…” Noah urged me.

  I choked and then gasped as the air thinned. The burning faded from my skin again, though quivers still shook me.

  “That’s right,” he said, relief clear in his voice. “Breathe.”

  I opened my eyes. His gaze met mine.

  He smiled. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  “Can you move?”

  I winced, pushing away from the wall with muscles that felt like they’d give out at any moment.

  “What’d they give you?” he asked.

  “I don’t… Just keeps trying to make me–”

  I gripped his arm as shivers ran through me.

  “We need to get you to the water,” Noah said.

  I shook my head hard. “No, no I–”

  “Chloe, we have to.”

  I looked over at him, and I could see the worry in his eyes. My legs quivered, threatening to collapse on me again.

  Swallowing hard, I nodded.

  With his arm supporting me, Noah helped me toward the ambulance
door.

  “Maddox,” Noah called as we reached the step. “We need to get her out of here.”

  By the vehicle’s side, Maddox looked up. Baylie sat on the ground next to him, blinking blearily with a hand to her head. “Take the car. Dad’s on his way and I’ve called Diane. She’s coming to get us.”

  Noah nodded and then turned, holding me as I climbed down. The ground swayed as I reached it, and my grip on his arm tightened.

  Step by wobbly step, we made it across the country road to the car.

  Shifting around, he lowered me into the seat and then shut the door and ran for the driver’s side. My head leaned over, resting on the window as I focused on keeping myself breathing.

  The door slammed. The engine started. In a cloud of dust, Noah sent the car roaring away from the ambulance.

  “Just hang in there,” he urged. “Just hang on.”

  Shivering, I looked over at him. His hands clutched the wheel and beyond the windows, the trees swept past at high speed.

  “Mom and Dad,” I whispered. “The other ambulance. Were they…”

  “They’re fine. The other EMTs were as confused as us when those bastards took off.”

  I let out a breath in relief.

  “And then you…” I pressed a shaking hand to my leg as it tried to change again. “You both came after us.”

  He glanced to me. “Yeah.”

  I paused. “What are you?”

  He hesitated, returning his gaze to the road. “Save your energy, Chloe.”

  “Noah…”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Please.”

  He grimaced. “Greliaran.”

  My brow furrowed.

  “It’s from some dead language,” he continued reluctantly. “Means guardian or protector or something. We’re kind of like you: we look human but aren’t. Not quite, anyway. And we… I mean, we just…”

  “Stop bullets,” I said hoarsely as he trailed off.

  He glanced to me again. “Yeah. Sort of.” He paused. “I guess that’s a plus.”

  His hands adjusted on the wheel. “I only found out I was like this a few months ago. Dad, Maddox, they started showing signs of it when they were both really young. But I… I just didn’t. I thought maybe I hadn’t inherited it. That maybe I could just be human like our mom and not have to deal with the stuff they did. Hide things the way they did. But then, all of a sudden one day, there it all was. And I would have told you, but…we can’t. Dad drilled that into us since we were kids. It’s all secret, you see. It has to be, if we don’t want to end up in a lab or something. Not even Baylie knows.”

  “But Diane…” I managed.

  He sighed. “When Maddox was thirteen, he was hurt in a hit-and-run. Diane and Dad were around the back of the house; they heard it happen. They came running, found Maddox, and when his skin changed like ours does and he started healing up in front of her… Dad sort of had to explain.” Noah gave a half-hearted chuckle. “She didn’t really freak. Not too much, anyway. She was just pissed he hadn’t shared it with her sooner. But then, Diane’s awesome. He probably should have.”

  I watched him steer the car around another curve. The mountains were falling behind us and I could feel our proximity to the coast like a feather running over my skin, sending shivers through me.

  “You don’t have to be near the water, though,” I whispered.

  “It feels better,” he admitted. “But it’s not like it is for you.”

  I swallowed, leaning my head on the window again. The sense of the ocean nearby was getting worse. Making it harder to fight.

  “Hang on,” he urged. “We’re almost there.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Home. Our stretch of beach is about as secluded as anything gets in town, so that’s probably the safest place for you to…”

  My eyes closed. I didn’t want to think about it.

  “You won’t die, Chloe.”

  I looked over at him.

  “You’ve made it this far,” he insisted. “You won’t.”

  I shivered. Up ahead, the outskirts of Santa Lucina came into view.

  “And then what happens?” I whispered.

  His brow furrowed.

  “I-I change like they do. Then what?”

  “You’re better. Whatever they gave you gets out of your system, you change back, and you’re fine.”

  I glanced to him. He didn’t meet my eyes as he kept driving.

  Biting my lip, I turned back to the window. The seat fabric hurt, and I shifted around on it, trying to make the burning stop. Filaments formed on my skin, tying my legs together and then snapping into smoke as I pulled them apart.

  The car flew by fences and houses, rushing into town. Slowing to as far above the speed limit as he dared, Noah wove the sedan through the streets, cursing under his breath every time a stoplight appeared.

  And finally, his house came into sight.

  Pulling up fast in the driveway, he left the engine running and threw his door open the moment he could slam the gearshift into park.

  I leaned my head back, fighting to keep the air from thickening.

  The door flew open and his arms wrapped around me, lifting me up from the seat.

  “I can walk,” I protested hoarsely.

  He ignored me. Shifting me around in his arms, he took off running.

  Wind whistled in my ears as Noah circled the garage and raced through the backyard. His footsteps thudded on the wooden steps and then went silent when he reached the sand.

  I could feel the saltwater in the air and I pressed my forehead to his shoulder, struggling desperately to keep my body from changing at the sensation.

  He skidded to a stop with a curse.

  I turned my head, following his gaze.

  Dehaians were walking from the water. Scales melted from their legs as they moved, becoming swim trunks that shimmered faintly in the sunlight.

  Noah’s grip on me tightened.

  “Chloe?” Zeke called, pushing past one of the men and running toward us through the waves.

  “Who the hell?” Noah growled.

  “He’s not one of them,” I whispered.

  The words didn’t make Noah relax.

  Jogging onto the beach, Zeke started toward us and then slowed, his gaze going from Noah to me and back.

  “We’re here to help,” he said cautiously. “We just need to get her in the water first.”

  Noah didn’t move. “You all get the hell away from here, then. I’m not leaving her vulnerable with any of you around.”

  Zeke stared at him. “Vulnerable? Do you even know what she…” He grimaced. “Look, whoever you are, we don’t have time for this. Did the Sylphaen dose her?”

  “Leave.”

  “Dammit, did they dose her or is she just reacting to being out of the water this long?”

  Noah paused. I swallowed in the thickening air, trying to force the words out.

  He beat me to it. “They did.”

  Zeke muttered something in a language I’d never heard. “Get her in the water. Carefully, though. With what they gave her, too fast could be… bad.”

  Noah hesitated. A shudder rippled through me as my legs tried to change again.

  Growling a curse, Noah headed into the water.

  Saltwater spray hit me as the waves tumbled in around us, and I gasped, my body spasming in his arms. He clutched me tighter as tingles crawled over my skin and a cry escaped me at the feeling. My skin was changing. My hands flailed out, clutching at nothing, and I couldn’t breathe in the stupid, dense, useless air.

  “Easy,” Noah urged, his voice tense.

  He lowered me down.

  I shrieked as the waves swept around me, over me, through me, tearing me apart. The water scorched my skin like acid and I thrashed in Noah’s arms, trying to escape the pain while the ocean flooded down my throat, drowning me.

  Noah clutched me tighter, holding me to his chest as my tears mingled with the saltwa
ter.

  And slowly, the world stopped hurting.

  I gasped, my vision clearing. A sensation like a million tiny fingers caressing my skin ran over me, soothing the pain away. Blinking hard, I looked down at my body, afraid of what I would find.

  My clothes were crumbling, as though a fire was burning them to dust despite the waves. Filaments of light shone through the vanishing fabric, twisting across my legs and chasing down toward my ankles and up across my chest, becoming iridescent, cream-toned scales as they passed. When the light reached my feet, it spread, transforming my flesh into a broad, translucent fin and bringing with it a feeling like unbearable pressure finally being released.

  A breath escaped me. Lifting a hand, I watched the sunlight play across my shimmering skin. Nothing seemed as strange as I’d believed it would be.

  Everything just felt right.

  Noah shifted his grip slightly. I looked up.

  From just above the rolling waves, he watched me.

  I tensed, uncertain what he’d think now.

  He seemed to feel my fear, and carefully, his arms adjusted around me. He pulled me back up through the water, his mouth curving into a smile.

  My head broke the surface.

  The air was too thick. It burned.

  I gasped and jerked away. His hold broke and I fell into the water.

  Horror swept over me. Fighting to stay balanced against the current, I turned, looking back up at him.

  His expression mirrored my own.

  Frantic, my gaze darted around. Above the surface, I could hear Noah yelling at the dehaians standing near the shore.

  Zeke dove through the waves, shifting form in a heartbeat and pulling up beside me.

  “Why–” I started. I blinked at the sound of my own voice, as clear beneath the water as in the open air. “Why can’t I breathe up there?”

  A wince twisted his face. “It’s not permanent. But the Sylphaen–”

  “The who?”

  “Those guys who injected that stuff into you. They gave you some messed-up form of neiphiandine. It’s a medicine, normally. It forces a full transformation and keeps you like that for a while.”

  At my expression, he grimaced. “I told you, it’s not permanent. But it means you can’t go back above the water right now.”

  “How long does it last?”