Monster Girl Islands 2

by Logan Jacobs

  “Marella,” I groaned from eating entirely too much, too fast, “I agree, we should definitely take the queen some of the purple berries. She will love them.”

  “Depending on how much we have to carry and how quickly we can move,” Mira added as she gnawed some meat from a bone, “I would like to bring some of these rabbits with us, too. They are so easy to hunt, and I know Hali would love it. She is always up for a culinary challenge.”

  “We will see what we can do.” I nodded. “I know I definitely enjoyed it.”

  Just then, George arrived with two huge mountain rams, one on his back and the other in his mouth. He carefully set one down in front of Nixie, and then slid the other one off his back for himself. We all busied ourselves with clearing the table, and we gave the bones and leftover rabbit meat to Nixie to polish off when she was done with her ram. Then Marella and I gathered more dried wood for the fire and stoked it up as hot as we could get it for the dragon eggs.

  “You might find these useful,” Jonas said from behind me.

  I turned to find he had thick cloaks in his arms made from patchwork fur for both me and Marella. He and Mira had already wrapped similar ones around their own shoulders, so I reached out to grab the one he offered.

  “Thank you,” I almost moaned. “I didn’t realize how used to the heat and humidity I’d gotten until I climbed out of your cave.”

  “I nearly froze my ass off until I got enough hunting done to make several blankets and cloaks,” Jonas laughed. “It was a rough few weeks there at the start.”

  “Can we try to call Mommy now?” Marella almost begged as she tugged on my pants leg.

  I could imagine she missed Talise and was excited to have some kind of communication with her, so I glanced over my shoulder at the dragons and didn’t see anything left of their evening meal.

  “What do you think, George?” I asked. “You ready to help us send this message?”

  Anything for you and Marella, he said as he dipped his head.

  “Gather around the dragons near the fire,” Jonas instructed. “We will bring the party to them.”

  We all wordlessly made a circle around the dragons, with me sitting next to George, then Marella, Jonas, Mira, and finally Nixie closing the circle from her place on the other side of her mate.

  “Will this be safe for Nixie?” Mira asked before I could voice my concern. “I don’t want to drain her of any of her much needed energy.”

  “I think having her close by will be enough without having to involve her directly,” Jonas said with a smile. “I can sense the bond between Ben and George with no effort on my part at all, that’s how powerful it is. Mira, if you will just move closer to George, Nixie can provide backup support through your bond without draining herself.”

  Once Mira moved next to George to close the circle, Jonas lowered himself to the ground, and we all followed suit. I quickly moved to slide some of the cloak under my butt, though. The damn ground was cold through my thin pants and was literally freezing my ass off.

  Marella giggled before she did the same and settled into her spot next to me.

  “The process is simple if you know how to locate the dragon-kin bonds within you,” Jonas stated as he looked around the circle. “Do I need to talk anyone through how to do that?”

  “Actually,” I said, “Mira showed me how to do just that on our way here.”

  “Excellent.” He smiled. “This will go so much easier, then. Ben and Mira, place one hand on George and take the hand of the other person next to you.”

  We followed his instructions and then looked back to the old soothsayer.

  “Now,” he went on, “close your eyes and reach for the bonds. George, you focus on your bond with Ben, and this will provide him with all the strength and power he needs for this. Mira, you focus on Nerissa, Marella, you will focus on your mommy, and I will focus on Sela. Ben, you are the wildcard. I need you to focus on all three of the women. If that gets to be too much, we will unfortunately have to drop Nerissa from the mix, and Mira will shift her focus to Talise. Begin now.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I began to search for my dragon heart that held all the bonds I’d created with my dragon, my children, and all the women I loved. Unlike the first time I tried, it took very little effort to find, and I knew this had everything to do with the dragon I currently rested my right hand on. I could feel his hum vibrating throughout my whole body, and it made my dragon heart shine brighter than any star in the night sky.

  I easily picked out the aqua color that was Talise first, and I imagined myself picking up the bond and setting it on a shelf while I dove down for another bond. I found Nerissa next, but decided to come back for her after I found Sela. Soon, the moss green color that matched the warrior’s scales caught my attention, and I went through the imaginary routine of placing her bond on the shelf next to Talise. I didn’t feel strained or anything like that, so I went back in for Nerissa’s silvery mother of pearl bond strand and placed her on the shelf next to the other women. Then I scooped up the bonds into my figurative hands and held them close to me, and I felt each of them individually but somehow at the same time. I could sense the empathy and strength unique to Talise, the determination and bravery that was Sela, and Nerissa’s leadership and patience.

  “I don’t think it’s possible for this call to gather any more power than it has,” Jonas gasped, but I didn’t open my eyes to look at him. “I have never felt anything like it, Ben. You have great power.”

  “I don’t really know what I’m doing,” I admitted. “I’m just mentally filing the bonds on a shelf.”

  “Well, it is working,” the old man chuckled. “I am going to throw it out along the ether and toward the village. Brace yourselves, I honestly have no idea how this is going to feel.”

  Suddenly, I felt like I was on the world’s fastest roller coaster, and I could see myself and the others barreling our way southeast at an incomprehensible speed. Marella’s grip on my hand tightened, and I could understand how this would freak anyone out who had never even thought about moving so fast, even if it wasn’t our actual bodies flying through the air.

  We landed, for lack of a better word, in Sela’s bedchambers, where the heavily pregnant woman was snoring soundly in her bed. Sleeping next to her was Careen, who also had a tiny baby bump on her stomach. Nerissa was holding a sleeping Arrick and dozing off in a chair sitting next to the bed, and Talise was staring out of the window that faced the southeast edge of the jungle where we’d all disappeared several days ago. Her already alabaster skin was even more pale, and the dark circles under her eye that had plagued her during her pregnancy were settled in deep once again.

  “Talise,” I tried to whisper, but the name came roaring out of my mouth like thunder without any warning.

  The healer whipped around, and before I could say anything, she screamed a blood-curdling screech that likely woke the whole fucking palace. All of the women in the room jumped straight up, and Arrick started crying after the rude awakening.

  “Shh, shh,” I blurted out. “It’s okay, I promise, just breathe.”

  Instead of breathing and calming down or any of that shit, Talise threw her hands over her face and screamed again. I glanced at Nerissa for help and was met with terrified looks from her, Arrick, and Careen. In fact, Nerissa had handed Arrick over to Careen and put herself between us and those in her care.

  I took a step toward them, and they instinctively stepped back away from me.

  Well, this was going fucking splendidly.

  Thank the gods for Sela and her damn determination. She slid out of bed with her huge pregnant belly, slowly made her way toward us, and completely ignored Nerissa’s hisses to stay back. If any of these women were going to make sense out of this whole spectacle, it was going to be Sela.

  “Ben?” she barely breathed as tears poured down her face. “How are you all here, and how in the hell do you have my dead grandfather with you? Are you about
to cross into the shadows?”

  “No,” I groaned, “it’s nothing like that, we are alive and safe.”

  “You don’t look alive and safe!” Talise cried from the corner of the room she had backed herself into while she kept her eyes covered, “I can see through you! That doesn’t say alive to me!”

  “Allow me to explain,” Jonas begged. “We were attempting a simple dream call, but with the power of Ben and George’s dragon bond behind it, it seems we did an actual astral projection across the ether.”

  “Where are you projecting from?” Sela asked as she got straight to the point.

  “From the place I have called home since I left the village all those years ago,” Jonas said. “There is much to explain, and I promise I will as soon as we can return to you.”

  “You will be coming back?” Sela asked and pleaded at the same time. “All of you?”

  “Yes,” Jonas told her, “I promise. We just can’t right now. Nixie has two eggs that have to hatch before we can move, but as soon as the babies are born, we will be on our way.”

  For the first time since landing on this island, I missed having a goddamn cell phone.

  “I swear to you,” I added as I looked at my women, “our intent was only to let you all know we are safe and well. We knew you had to be worrying yourselves to death, and we just wanted to ease your fears, not increase them.”

  At this point, all of the women were just staring silently at us in disbelief, but at least Talise had stopped screaming and uncovered her face. That was a start.

  “Mommy,” Marella said in her little voice, “we will be back home on the day Sela has the babies. We will get there just in time. They will come fast.”

  This amazing, precious daughter of mine broke through to all of the women in the room with her sweet voice, and suddenly the looks of disbelief and terror melted into sobs of relief and joy.

  “Dattee!” said a little voice that drew everyone’s attention. “Mella!”

  We all watched as Arrick toddled his way over to where we were and got as close as he could without walking right through our images.

  “Wook so sillgy,” he babbled. “Jurge, Meera, too. Gramp too.”

  “Did he just say we looked silly?” I asked as I looked at Nerissa. “And I’m not even going to wonder how he knew who you were, Jonas, I have had enough weird for one day.”

  “Yes,” Nerissa sighed, “but silly isn’t exactly the word I would use, and neither is weird. Terrifying is more like it. All of you except George are wrapped in fur like a beast, you’re glowing, and there is no definitive shape to you. You are all blurry like I might have drunk the goddess’ nectar mixed with a lot of ganjika before looking at you.”

  “We’re fucking Jedi force ghosts,” I sighed.

  “What?” Nerissa asked.

  “Just … uhhhh … We look like pale, blue, smokey versions of ourselves?”

  “That describes it perfectly.” Talise nodded vigorously. “But now that I have my wits about me and realize you aren’t all spectrals passing into the shadows, I really am relieved beyond all measure to know you are okay. I may actually be able to sleep tonight.”

  “That goes for all of us,” Nerissa said before a smirk flitted across her face. “Well, except for Sela. That’s all she can do.”

  “I wish I could argue that,” Sela groaned and rubbed her huge belly.

  Dear ones, George cut in suddenly, you may not realize it, but our energy is draining rapidly. We must break the connection. I am sorry.

  “Wait,” Nerissa gasped, “was that George?”

  “You heard him?” I gaped.

  “We all did.” Careen smiled.

  “We must go,” Jonas cut in, “we can’t risk expending too much energy. We will try a less spectacular connection in a few days after we have rested. Be at peace, darlings. We will be together soon.”

  With that, Jonas pulled us all back to the here and now with a hard and fast yank.

  Jonas and George just shook their heads back and forth to acclimate to the sudden change, but Marella, Mira, and I had to sit down, lay back, and wait for the world to stop spinning.

  “When you are able to,” Jonas said from somewhere off to the side, “make your way into the big cot at the back of the cave. All three of you should fit in it. I will let you rest for a bit, but I will insist on waking you to eat once I get more soup ready. You must eat to replenish your energy.”

  I recovered before either of the girls did and stood up on fairly sturdy feet. Then I reached down, scooped up Marella, and carried her to the cot in the back of the cave like Jonas had instructed before I went back out to get Mira.

  The warrior was standing, but was quite wobbly, so I put my arm around her waist to support her, but I quickly found out it would be much easier just to pick her up and carry her to the cot, too. She didn’t put up any fuss when I did just that, and then I laid her gently down on one side of Marella, covered them with their fur cloaks, and flopped down on the other side of my daughter. Within seconds, I burrowed deep into my own cloak and passed right the fuck out.

  What seemed like just minutes later, Jonas was shaking me awake to eat some tasty soup and drink some kind of magic tea, or at least he claimed it would do magic things.

  “You must eat and drink,” he ordered, “there is no room for debate about this. The soup will help a lot, but the tea will make sure you get the proper rest and rid you of the headache I know is threatening to split your skull.”

  “That it is,” was all I could mumble before I followed orders and ate all the soup and drank all the tea the man gave me.

  “I will need your help with the other two,” he added. “The first time is always difficult, but you were anchored to George through your bond. Since these two only held one bond each, they are going to feel it twice as hard, especially Marella.”

  “Just tell me what to do,” I said and had to admit I was already feeling somewhat better. At least the room had stopped spinning in every direction and decided only one would suffice.

  “Let’s start with Mira,” the old soothsayer said. “Help me rouse her and get her sitting up.”

  I pulled Mira up and moved to sit behind her and shake her awake. She moaned and protested defiantly, but I shook her some more and reached down to tickle her lower back. This made her jump and grab her head before she let out another groan of pain.

  “Shit … ” she growled.

  “Sorry,” I chuckled. “You have to wake up and eat this magic soup and drink this magic tea. I promise it will ease the pain in your head.”

  “I’d rather fight a hundred of those raiders than do that again,” she mumbled, but she opened her mouth enough that Jonas could shove the first spoonful of soup into her mouth. Then she stopped resisting and just let the old man feed her the soup.

  When he was satisfied she had enough, he held the cup of tea to her mouth, and she obediently slurped it down.

  “When will this headache end?” she grumbled.

  “Mine is already starting to fade,” I said, and I kissed her on the head before tucking her back in to rest some more.

  Then I moved back to my side of the bed and pulled Marella into my lap. I sat her up and shook her gently, and she barely popped one eye open to look at me.

  “Time to eat?” she whispered.

  “Yes, my love,” I told her.

  “Okay,” she sighed before she opened her mouth.

  I held her up so she wouldn’t choke, and Jonas put the first spoonful into her mouth. She went through the motions just like Mira had, but recovered quick enough to hold her own cup and drink the tea her grandfather had given her. Then she flopped back down into her spot, and I tucked her in too before turning to the man who was taking care of all of our needs.

  “Thank you, Jonas,” I said.

  “Thank me by drinking one more cup of tea,” he chuckled as he handed me the cup. “You need the rest before we discuss all the things we need to discuss.”

&n
bsp; “What things?” I asked before downing the barely warm tea. I didn’t know what was in it, but it tasted like the purple berries, and I didn’t mind that one single bit. The tea hit me almost immediately, though, and I realized slipping drugs into tea was a bad habit among this family.

  “You and your girls like to drug their drinks,” I snickered at the old man, who I realized was actually kind of my father-in-law, or something close.

  “They admittedly learned it from me,” Jonas laughed. “I was also the main healer along with being the resident soothsayer. Anyway, we need to discuss your next steps, the map you found, and I imagine you would like to know how you ended up on this island.”

  “That sure would be nice,” I sighed as I laid back into my warm spot next to my daughter and started to drift off.

  But then a lingering thought jumped back to the surface of my brain.

  If this man knew how I ended up here, he might know the “why” I was here, too.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning, I woke up with all of my usual energy, thank the gods. Jonas and his granddaughters may have had a bad habit of secretly drugging people’s drinks, but I had to admit, it seemed to work pretty damn well.

  Not that I wanted it to keep happening. I much preferred to drug my own drinks, thank you very much.

  Mira was the slowest to recover, but this made sense since she wasn’t anchored to Nixie nor was she a soothsayer. She’d grumbled with all the signs of the worst hangover ever for an hour or so, until she was strong enough to afford some privacy in the water closet, where Jonas had a bath waiting for her. Then she emerged much more like the warrior I loved.