“Okay, now what?” David asked. When he saw Faren’s tears, he took her in his arms. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”
“How do you know that?”
David wished he had all the answers. He wished he could make everything right with words alone. “I have faith,” was all he could think to say.
He took Faren’s arm and led her back into the forest. As soon as they entered the tree line, the rain started up again, though lighter now. It dripped from the leaves and saturated the ground where taller plant life was scarce. In other spots, where the forest was thicker, the shower hardly penetrated the emergent layer towering overhead.
The couple had only walked for a few minutes when the unmistakable whirring of sea demons filled the air. The dreadful noise mixed with the peaceful ramblings of the rainforest, creating an eerie melody. One not easily forgotten.
David and Faren ran from the dreadful sound, hopping over fallen logs, and downed trees. Vines hung down, tangling in their hair and smacking their faces.
“Where are we going?” David asked mid-sprint.
“There’s a cave nearby. I think we can make it there before they see us.”
He could hear the sea demons all around them, but they remained invisible behind their emerald veil. The sound of pounding water raged in the background, but David couldn’t see anything but trees.
They cut through a small stream flowing across their path. David nearly slipped on the stones scattered around the bottom, but Faren kept a firm grip on his hand.
“There,” she shouted.
Like a beautiful mirage, a magnificent waterfall came into view. The massive spectacle towered ninety-five feet in the air, cascading over the cliff with such intensity that it took David’s breath away. A large cloud of foam and spray bubbled at the foot of the rushing falls, pushing thousands of gallons of water south.
Faren and David fought their way through liana shrubs and sapling trees to get to the riverbank. Dead branches and leaves drifted by, caught in the current, and large boulders poked above the surface like stone islands. The mud was slippery and the moss growing along the rocks made it difficult to maneuver very quickly, but they pressed on.
All the while, the sound of the sea demons sloshing through the saturated weeds got closer and louder. And they were coming at them from all sides. David could hear talking, but it was muffled and too far away to understand.
“We have to climb,” Faren instructed him when they reached the cliff. “The cave is hidden behind the falls.”
David didn’t stop to ask questions. He hoisted himself up, ignoring the excruciating pain shooting through his injured hand. The surface was slick from the rain, and the insects living among the nooks and crannies crawled up their legs and bit their faces.
Rock climbing without ropes and harnesses wasn’t as simple as it looked on television. Some of the rocks pulled loose, while others were so eroded from time, their smooth surfaces made the difficult feat nearly impossible.
No matter how much his hand throbbed or how sore his legs got, David refused to slow down. The misty rain felt more like a downpour, slamming into him, trying to knock him from his lifeline, but he simply wiped the water from his eyes and ascended with Faren by his side, gritting his teeth and trying his hardest not to scream.
She was an excellent climber. Where David felt clumsy and disoriented, she looked like a pro clinging to the side of the bluff. It was as if she had been doing it her entire life.
Faren reached the top first, but when she bent down to pull David to safety, she gasped. A look of shock crossed her face, and she had trouble finding her voice. “Oh, my… David, hurry,” she cried. “Take my hand.”
When he tried to look down, she hollered, “No, don’t look down. Just climb… faster… faster.”
It didn’t take long for him to find out the hard way why she was panicking. Something yanked hard on his ankle. He grunted and fell back, grasping a large protruding rock in time to stop his fall.
“Going somewhere?” the demon called up. She tried to pry him from the face of the cliff again, but David hung on for dear life.
He tried to kick her, but she dodged his foot. “Shit!” he screamed when he cracked his big toe on the unforgiving rock.
“Climb,” Faren called out. “David, climb.”
He was only five feet from the ledge, but each time he made progress, the demon pulled on him again, making him slip farther from Faren’s outstretched hand. David’s sweat mixed with the rain and dripped down his face. It stung his eyes, making it hard to see. He could feel his energy slipping away.
The demon laughed and tugged on his leg again. “You thought you were going to make it,” she teased him. “Sweet victory for me.”
David seized his last burst of energy and pulled himself up, crying out when he put all of his weight on his fractured hand. Inch after agonizing inch he climbed.
“Come on, David, you’re almost here,” Faren cheered him on. “Please, don’t give up.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” the demon hissed. “You’re mine.”
“Not today!” Faren cried out.
As the sea demon crawled up David’s body like a squirrel up a tree, Faren threw a large rock at her. The stone hit its mark, breaking the monster’s nose and jaw. She let go, her screams echoing back to them as she fell to her death.
“Grab my hand,” Faren called out to him again. “Use your feet.”
David kicked the side of the cliff to propel himself upward. His fingers grazed hers moments before the rocks underneath him crumbled and he began to fall.
Chapter 13
Premonition
I’VE GOT YOU,” FAREN CRIED, GRIPPING David’s sweaty hand. “Don’t let go.”
David’s heart was pounding so hard it threatened to leap out of his chest. Even though he dangled fifty feet over the ground, it felt like he was still falling.
“Grab the ledge with your other hand!” Faren cried over the deafening sound of the rushing falls. “I know it hurts, but I can’t hold you much longer; you’re slipping.” She grunted under the strain of his heavy frame.
David scaled the cliff side and latched onto the rocky edge with his free hand. He screamed when the pain in his mangled hand escalated tenfold; he could hear it cracking under the strain. The rain made it hard to get his footing, and he slipped a couple of times, but he still managed to pull himself up. With Faren’s help, he finally reached safety.
When they embraced, he welcomed her touch with tremendous relief. Her soft skin and inviting aroma put him at ease. David brushed the wet hair from Faren’s face and kissed her. “I love you,” he mouthed.
She smiled tenderly and snuggled against him.
“How is your hand?”
“Numb.”
David took in the beauty of the rainforest, content to be in the arms of the one he loved. Grand canopies grew in abundance, protecting the smaller trees and shrubs below. Kapok trees guarded the forest like wooden warriors. Black and white colobus monkeys gossiped back and forth about their visitors, and wild cats came out from hiding to investigate the commotion. It was a shame to leave it all behind to hide in a giant hole like a naked mole rat.
Right away, the whirring started up again. David looked down, but the only sea demon he saw lay in a mangled heap at the foot of the bluff. Her dead eyes stared up at them despite the fact she was lying on her stomach, and her right arm was badly broken. Her splintered elbow poked through the shredded skin surrounding the wound. As he watched, she disintegrated into a pool of unrecognizable goo.
Faren jumped to her feet when the whirring continued to get closer. “We have to go,” she said, pulling on David’s hand. “Hurry, come on.” As she started down the narrow footpath to the cave, he stopped her.
“Not yet,” he said, ripping a wide strip from the bottom of his shorts. “Gather all the dry stuff you can find.”
“What do you mean?” she asked in a panic. “What are you doing
?”
“We need sticks and leaves, but they have to be dry.”
While she rushed to the edge of the trail to collect vegetation protected from the rain by tall shrubs, he soaked the material in the milky resin seeping from a gap in the side of a rubber tree overlapping the path.
“Damn, all I need is to catch myself on fire,” he muttered under his breath when he got some of the resin on his fingers. He bent down and wiped them on the wet grass, cursing when it didn’t come off right away. “Faren, how are you doing?”
She lifted handfuls of brush into the air. “How is this?”
“Yeah, that’s good.” He picked up a thick branch and ushered her behind the falls to their safe haven.
“Wow, it’s really dark in there,” David mumbled. He dreaded crawling into a hollow where his worst enemy was so prevalent, but the muffled shouts coming up the cliff wall made the insects hiding inside appear less intimidating. He took Faren by the hand and ducked into the unknown.
Inside the pitch-black cave, it was at least ten degrees cooler than it had been outside and the enclosed space masked the sound of the falls. David was surprised how refreshing it smelled.
“What do I do with this stuff?” Faren asked.
“Go ahead and set it down.”
David got down on his knees and scooped the brush into a small pile, weeding out the bigger sticks by touch alone.
Faren knelt down beside him. “What are you going to do with it?”
David used his teeth to tie the sappy material around the branch as tight as he could and set it to the side. “I’m making a torch,” he explained. “We’ll need one before we go any farther.”
It had been years since he’d started a fire without the aid of matches or gasoline, and now that he was stuck on a strange island in a parallel realm, the Boy Scouts seemed a million years ago and a world away.
He felt around for a bigger stick, ground it into the piece of flat wood lying in front of him, and rubbed it between his palms. Faster and faster, he moved his hands. Five minutes later, he could feel the beads of perspiration forming on his brow and a blister popping up on his index finger. After a bit, David stopped to check on his progress. He groaned in frustration and resumed rubbing the stick between his palms. He felt an immense weight lift off his shoulders when the first spark came to life.
“David, that’s amazing,” Faren exclaimed. “How did you learn to do that?”
“I used to go camping every weekend.”
He leaned over and blew on the brush, stoking the young flame. “Burn, baby, burn,” David encouraged the fire when it started growing. He held his homemade torch over the sizzling heat, and seconds later, it blazed brightly, filling the cavern with the smell of burning rubber.
“Instant sun,” he said proudly. He got to his feet and helped Faren up.
David raised the torch and peered down the massive passageway. He could hear insects crawling around, but he couldn’t see them in the soft glow. That made things worse. His imagination filled in the gaps with horrifying images of immense man-eaters.
David took a couple of cautious steps into the tunnel. “How far does this go?”
“I’m not sure,” Faren admitted, looking around. “I’ve never been here before.” She squeezed his arm, giving him an anxious smile.
Her uneasiness made David even more nervous. “Why haven’t you ever been up here before?”
“It’s nothing… just a legend…”
Something moved behind them, like rope dragging across concrete. David swung around, but there was nothing there. Faren’s grip tightened on his arm.
“Now you’ve got me freaked out,” he complained. “Is there something in here we need to be afraid of?”
When they turned back around, the flame lit up the sea demon’s face, casting a creepy shadow on the wall.
David and Faren took off into the darkened tunnel. David forgot all about scorpions and spiders. They were cute dancing monkeys in comparison to the monster tailing them now.
As they raced down the passage, the walls seemed to close in on them. A rancid smell lingered in the air that wasn’t there before; it clung to David’s skin and burned his nose. He threw his hand over his mouth to block the odor, but it was pointless. The nasty stench was everywhere.
“You can only run so far,” the demon called after them. The whirring resounded through the tunnel as David and Faren fled, crunching insects and dodging vampire bats.
The fissure carved into the wall ahead was barely big enough for them to fit through without turning sideways. Surely, the demon couldn’t follow them. Wrong. Seconds after David and Faren squeezed their way into the cleft, he looked back to see her right behind them.
The screeching bats were overwhelming. There had to be thousands hanging upside down from the ceiling. Their flapping wings caused the torch to waver, but to David’s relief, it didn’t go out. Over their obnoxious squeaks, he could still hear the demon grunting and straining as she squeezed her way through the tight fissure.
The vast amount of bat guano shocked David, and he stopped dead in his tracks. The smell overpowered him, making him gag. Then he remembered what accompanied bat excrement. He lowered the torch to find himself in his worst nightmare. There were millions of cockroaches and various other insects climbing around in the deep guano. A bat pup struggled against the ravenous bugs, its fate already sealed.
David and Faren tried to run through the muck, but it was impossible. The guano came up to their knees. Bugs ran up their legs and into their hair. Faren screamed, and David could hear her thrashing around to rid herself of the vermin. Daddy long legs with huge jaws fell from the ceiling and crawled down his back. He flicked a scorpion off his shoulder, too terrified to scream. Bats swooped down, grazing their heads.
The sound of rushing water intensified, and a sliver of light up ahead gave David hope. He took Faren’s hand and pushed on, moving as fast as he could through the sludge. He looked back to see cockroaches and beetles swarming the demon. They crawled across her skin and weaved in and out of her hair, but she didn’t seem to notice. A beetle raced into her open mouth. She chewed it up, still coming at them with murder in her eyes.
“David, I can’t do this!” Faren screamed. She started crying, still flailing around. “I have to get them off me!”
The bats grew more agitated the noisier she got. They dropped from the ceiling and soared down to investigate. That was when Faren lost it completely.
“David, there’s one in my hair!” she screamed. “Oh, don’t let it bite me.”
The guano had thinned out enough where they could run again, and they took off as fast as he could for the light. They emerged from the other side as if they were on fire.
“David, help me!” Faren screamed, shaking her head from side to side. The bugs fell from her body in crawling gobs, but the bat was still tangled in her hair, desperate to escape.
A pounding waterfall poured from a break in the ceiling to an underground river that flowed into the next room. The sun shining into the cavern lit up everything around them, but all David saw when he looked at the subterranean waterway was salvation.
When he rushed her to the river and pushed her in, she screamed. She came up sputtering and choking.
David could see her legs kicking around underwater. “You’re not changing,” he said in disbelief. “What’s happening?”
He climbed in after her, minding to keep the torch dry, not caring what lived beneath the surface. Anything had to be a better alternative to letting insects take up residence in his ears.
“In fresh water, I’m as human as you are,” Faren said, making her way back over to him. “Only the sea changes us.”
He met her halfway, fighting to keep his head above the surface. The water was cooler and the current was stronger than David had expected, and he could feel tiny fish nibbling his legs.
A big splash behind them cut their conversation short. David looked back to see the sea demon swimmin
g toward them. She disappeared underwater and didn’t resurface.
“Swim!” Faren screamed.
David kicked his legs as hard as he could, but swimming and keeping the torchlight safe was difficult; he felt like a dying fish flopping around in the water. Finally, he opted to let the river carry him, and he and Faren latched onto each other as they floated into the next room. That was when another kind of danger reared its ugly head. The current was getting stronger, and it was trying to suck the couple under the approaching wall of rock.
David tossed the torch as far from the river as he could, and he and Faren struggled to get to the bank. Faren vanished from sight, igniting David’s fear. He dove but couldn’t see anything past the tip of his nose. When he felt her hair brushing across his legs, he pulled her back to the surface and helped her to the riverbank. Stumbling from the water, they slumped against the wall out of breath.
The room was rather small compared to the first, and it was… a dead end.
“What do we do now?” David spun around, hoping to see another way out. The sound of scurrying feet stopped him. “What is that noise?”
“No,” Faren whimpered, sliding up the wall. “They’re coming. I can’t believe it,” she said. “The legends are true.”
“Who’s coming?”
The resonance of tiny toenails clicking across the rocky walls grew louder.
“Don’t move,” Faren said. “They can’t see you if you don’t move.”
“What can’t?”
Before she could answer him, the demon sauntered in, dripping wet. “Why don’t you run?” she asked. She looked around and when they didn’t answer, “Oh yes, I see,” she added in a cocky tone. “You can’t.”
Faren stepped away from the wall and screamed as loud as she could. Her sudden outburst even shocked the sea demon. The creature stopped walking and stared at them. “What was that for? No one can hear you.”
Faren appeared to be the smug one now. “Not true,” she said, stepping back.
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