Something grabbed my left arm and clamped down on it with a merciless grip.
Next thing I knew, I was underwater again.
My nostrils and throat burned as water tried to force its way in. I flailed in protest, legs kicking wildly until one of my feet hit something soft, and I managed to break free and resurface briefly. I sputtered out the dirty lake water and gulped down as much air as I could before I was jerked back under.
I twisted. I turned. I kicked. I punched. I did everything I could to shake the thing off, but it was moving around me in relentlessly quick motions, dodging almost every attack I threw. Even the attacks that did make contact with it didn’t seem to count for anything. I might as well’ve been hitting a solid block of reinforced concrete, for all my target seemed to care.
The muscles in my legs and in my one free arm throbbed, and my mind dulled at the mercy of the ache.
A sharp pain ripped suddenly through my left arm. But it was a fleeting, hard-to-focus-on pain. It was getting harder and harder to focus on anything.
Was this really how I was going to go?
My body went rigid as I prepared it for one last attempt at freedom. The creature must’ve sensed there was still some fight in me, because its grip on my arm got even tighter. Something sharp crushed through my skin, and then I felt a vicious twist that had to have ripped my left arm at least part-way off.
A surge of adrenaline made me oblivious to the fact that I wasn’t sure I still owned two arms. I kept fighting. I jerked and kicked with everything I had. My foot hit something, and for a second the grip on my left arm loosened again. Using the one arm I could still feel, I tried to reach around and shove off whatever was attacking me.
But when I reached out, my hand didn’t find a body to shove. It only brushed something that felt like strands of hair, which slid through my outstretched fingers and then disappeared.
And then I was free.
Easy as that.
My body relaxed and began to float, bobbing awkwardly up and down under the water. I lifted my head to gaze in the direction I thought the surface should be in. It was disorienting, at first, but my eyes eventually found the sunlight.
God, it was so far away.
The sun’s rays seemed so feeble, so pointless in the murky brown water they were barely penetrating. And the surface? Five feet, ten feet, maybe fifty feet away—I didn’t know. All I knew was that it seemed so out of reach now.
I kicked half-heartedly towards it anyway. It didn’t get any closer. I should’ve been panicking. But all I felt was cold.
Very, very cold.
Then the light went away.
A shadow moved over me. The pressure was back on my arms all of a sudden, although this time it wasn’t as strong. Of course, that might’ve been because my nerves were pretty much shot at this point. Still, I could feel enough to know I was being pulled again, and it made me want to scream.
Couldn’t they just let me drown in peace?
My eyes closed again, and I saw faces—Lora’s face, Mom’s face. Faces I was never going to see again. I reached out. I wanted to touch them one last time, but my hand treaded nothing but water before floating slowly back down to my side.
Whatever had me was whipping me through that water with ease now, but whether we were going up, or down, or whatever, I didn’t know. After a moment the light came back again, and even from behind closed eyelids I could tell it was brighter than before.
It was blinding, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from fluttering open once more in response. Just as they did, my head crashed through the water’s surface.
My left arm was shaking, a weird, itching numbness running through it. I was light- headed, and not quite sure how I’d made it to that precious, previously underappreciated oxygen—but I had.
I could breathe.
There was an arm around my waist, and whoever it belonged to was still pulling me along through the water. It didn’t occur to me to try and see who it was. I didn’t care. Everything was so peaceful now, and I was too busy enjoying the miracle of oxygen to worry about anything else.
I felt my legs, and then my back, scrape along the lake’s rocky bottom. A second later I was brought to an abrupt stop. Everything was still for a moment, and then I was lifted out of the water and into a strong pair of arms that cradled me against a broad, muscular chest. I was soaked, and in the rising wind I quickly succumbed to a fit of shivers. It had started to rain, too, and, even though I was already drenched, I huddled closer to whoever held me in an attempt to get away from the pounding raindrops.
“Are you alone?” said a deep voice.
Alone?
I tried to lift my head, but found I didn’t have the strength.
“Answer me!” barked the voice.
Just give me a minute! I kind of almost drowned there…
“Vanessa. Please.”
Vanessa? My name is not Vanessa...
I heard footsteps, followed by what sounded like a low growl. I tried twisting my neck around to get a better look.
And this, it turned out, was a very bad idea.
About twenty feet from me stood a huge… creature. At first glance I would’ve called it a wolf, but it was as big as a grizzly bear—if not bigger. It was stocky, with thick trunks for legs and feet with claws so long that even from this distance I automatically drew back at the sight of them. The creature was dripping wet, and its long black fur clung to its body, clearly outlining the bulging muscles in its legs and neck.
There was a tiny, blonde-haired girl walking toward it.
Even on its four legs, the beast could easily look her in the eyes.
I was terrified for this girl—this girl who appeared unbelievably small and fragile next to the beast. Her stride was confident. But as she approached the creature, it let out another menacing growl, baring teeth that looked several inches too long for its mouth.
I wanted to shout. To beg the girl to turn around. But my mouth was so dry I could barely swallow. My eyes kept unwillingly shifting back to that beast’s frightening display of a mouth, and soon I noticed the fur directly around that mouth was darker, and several of its teeth were covered in red splotches.
Blood?
My eyes drifted to my mangled arm.
Was that the thing that had tried to drown me?
I turned my attention back to the creature, and a small gasp escaped my mouth. The girl now stood only inches from it, her stance still perfectly relaxed.
The giant wolf-creature was pacing irritably. Every time one of its oversized paws collided with the earth, the tiny pebbles covering the beach around it rattled like they were being subjected to an extremely localized earthquake. Several times it stopped directly in front of the girl, brought its face so close to hers that the tip of its nose almost bumped against her forehead, and let out a low growl.
The girl never even flinched.
“Last chance,” she said in a cold voice, after about five of those up-close-and-personal growls.
The creature turned its head in my direction then, and its glare caused a fresh set of shivers to run through my body. Thankfully, its eyes lingered for only a few seconds before turning back to the girl.
Then it sat down and tilted its head to the right.
For a long time, it held that pose, looking almost like it was calculating something.
Then it laughed.
There was nothing animal-like about this laugh, either; it was shrill, piercing, and devoid of any humor. And there was a strange, soft echo around it, but there was no mistaking it for what it was.
Now might be a good time to point out that I am not, in fact, insane.
Or at least I didn’t think I was.
But then it spoke.
I uttered a small curse in surprise, and the person holding me cleared his throat and redistributed my weight in his arms. Somehow, I’d almost forgotten about my brush with death, and that I was still being held by whoever my savior was—maybe because the g
uy had been so quiet.
Or maybe because the talking wolf-thing happened to be demanding my attention.
Yeah, that was probably it.
I didn’t understand the language it was speaking in. The words were quick and seemed to fall together in an almost melodic way. Its tone, I decided after a minute or so of listening, sounded amused. You know—assuming it could speak in a tone. And that it was capable of complex emotions.
Okay, maybe I was going insane.
It went on for at least a full minute, pacing as it spoke and hardly pausing for breath.
I wanted to wriggle free of my holder and run away from this insanity, but I didn’t feel like I had the strength yet. So instead I watched the wolf-thing’s mouth in stunned silence, trying to understand how it could possibly be forming words.
That mouth didn’t open and fall with those words. It stayed closed, save for an occasional snap or baring of teeth that seemed to be punctuating the points it was trying to make.
More proof that you’re hallucinating, I tried reasoning with myself. The words and everything else are all in your head.
When it finally seemed to be finished, nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
There was no sound other than the plop, plop, plop of the steady raindrops as they further disrupted the rough surface of the lake.
Then, in a motion so fast I would’ve missed it if I’d blinked, the blonde girl had the creature—the huge, three-times-her-size creature—by the throat, and in another blur of movement she lifted it effortlessly into the air and flung it across the beach.
The creature managed to twist itself so it would land on its feet. It hit the ground so hard that its claws dug multiple long, deep ditches before it was able to skid to a stop directly in front of the guy holding the gun. It gave a disgruntled growl as it straightened up and shook off the dirt that had gotten into its fur.
The guy with the gun hesitated. He said something in what sounded like the same language the creature had used, to which it responded with a vicious snarl.
They both fell silent.
The creature’s ears laid flat against its head as it gave another low growl.
The blonde girl took two steps toward them, but then seemed to change her mind and stopped midway through the third step. She just stood, arms folded against her chest and eyes alternating between the creature and Gun Guy.
My holder shifted his weight back to the right.
Gunfire shattered the silence.
One, two, three—I couldn’t keep count. At least ten bullets had to have hit the creature, several of them landing square in its chest. It winced as the first bullets hit, but then stood its ground, even when Gun Guy threw the first gun aside and pulled another from his coat pocket and unloaded its clip as well.
My mouth dropped open. “It’s not…dying,” I said, more to myself than anybody.
“He’s not trying to kill her.”
I looked up at the guy holding me.
He’d sounded annoyed.
“What? Why not?”
The click of another clip of ammunition being loaded echoed through the air.
“It looks like he’s trying to kill it to me,” I added.
“Those bullets he’s using? They’re not even going to seriously injure her, and he knows it. He just wants to annoy her enough that she runs away.” There was no mistaking the irritation in his voice now. “At least that seems to be working,” he added under his breath, tilting his head in the direction of the confrontation.
The creature was crouching submissively now, backing up slowly and tossing its head in frustration with each bullet that hit. It still wasn’t attempting to dodge them—not that it really needed to, since they were just bouncing harmlessly off of it.
“And… there she goes,” said my holder.
I watched as the creature gave one last snarl before hurdling off into the woods. “Wouldn’t have expected her to give up that easily but…ah well.” He shifted my weight once more and walked toward the other two.
It was kind of awkward being carried around by this stranger, but I still didn’t feel up to supporting my own weight. Pain was still throbbing through my blood-streaked arm, making me feel faint every time I moved it too much. So I settled for my role as baggage, and I took this opportunity to get a good look my carrier for the first time.
He didn’t look much older than me; if I had to put a number on it I would’ve guessed he was nineteen or twenty at the oldest. His eyes were a deep, rich brown and easily the most attention-grabbing of his features. His dark hair, which was cropped short against his head, glistened from the reflection of the water droplets that clung to it.
“Like what you see?” He said suddenly, glancing down at me with a sly smile that caused me to blush. His light brown complexion was enhanced by that good-natured smile which, despite the nightmarish situation, sent a flood of warmth over me. I instantly felt like I could trust this guy.
He had pulled me out of the water, after all.
“Thank you, by the way,” I said.
“Don’t mention it,” he said without looking at me. We were approaching the other two now, and I realized at once that we’d walked into the middle of an argument.
“She’s the enemy, Kael!” the blonde girl shouted, taking a step toward Gun Guy—Kael, I guessed. And I realized just how small she was, then; the top of her head barely reached the guy’s chin. “Or at least, she’s our enemy—but maybe you still haven’t decided whose side you’re on?”
“Watch it, Vanessa,” said Kael.
I automatically turned to him as he spoke, but my gaze didn’t stay on him for long. His light blue eyes were fixed into a fierce glare that made him appear downright dangerous.
“You know very well where my loyalty lies,” he said. “I think I’ve proven that more than enough to satisfy most people.”
“Except when it comes to—”
“No one’s saying you haven’t,” interjected my holder.
“I am, Will!”
I felt Will recoil slightly. “Vanessa I…”
“My God Will! You always take his side!”
“That’s not entirely—”
“She almost killed another human, and we—no he— just let her get away! There were three of us. Three against one! What are we going to tell the others?” Vanessa’s high-pitched voice sounded a lot like my Mom’s when she was angry.
Will’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “We’ll tell them we had other things to worry about,” he replied in a calm voice. “Which is true.”
I felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden as three sets of eyes fixed on me.
“How bad is it?” Vanessa asked, her voice abruptly shifting to a gentler tone—one I much preferred over her screechy angry one.
“Her wounds are already healing,” Will said quietly.
I’d been trying to avoid looking at my mangled arm anymore than I had to, but Will’s words ignited my curiosity.
So I took a deep breath and looked down.
I gasped.
It was the only noise I could manage to get out.
My arm was still there, and what was more— it was completely in one piece. Aside from a few dried up squiggles, there was hardly even any blood. The only other proof that I’d been attacked at all lay in the long, ridged scar that ran from my wrist all the way up past my elbow—but even that was faint, like the scar on my forehead from stitches I’d had nearly ten years ago. And it was getting harder to see every second. The throbbing pain in that arm was lessening too, even as I stared at it.
I slowly looked back up at Will. “H-h-hey. What the hell is going on here?”
Will didn’t answer right away, so I looked frantically to Vanessa. She averted her eyes, and when I glanced back at Will he did the same. Blood pounded behind my ears.
“Hello? Is anybody going to answer me?”
“It’s kind of a difficult question.”
I was surprised by
the voice, which still sounded harsh but not entirely unkind.
Kael didn’t look away when I lifted my eyes to him.
“I can handle the answer, I promise,” I said, frowning.
His eyes were still fiercely locked with mine. But he hesitated to say more, and the other two still didn’t bother to speak up, either.
I squirmed my way out of Will’s arms and planted both feet hard on the ground. My legs attempted to buckle beneath me, and I ended up having to grab Will’s shoulder to steady myself.
“I don’t think now is the best time,” Kael said, his eyes staring vacantly off into the distance. Suddenly he sounded almost…bored. Bored.
Honestly.
“Oh really?” I snapped. “Well what would be a good time for you, then?”
His gaze was very serious as it met mine again. “I’d prefer never, actually,” he said. “I hope we don’t ever have to see each other again.”
I glared at him. “The feeling is most definitely mutual.”
Kael laughed a humorless laugh, and Vanessa cleared her throat and shot him a nasty look before turning to me.
“Um…how are you feeling, Alex?” she asked, voice wavering slightly.
“You can see for yourself,” I said, holding out my arm. The scar was almost gone at this point. “I’m f-f-f-”
Why was I stuttering?
“I’m fi-fi-” I tried again.
“Alex?” I heard Will’s muffled voice say my name, but all of a sudden I was too tired to care about answering.
My eyes started to water, begging me to close them. I tried to ignore their burning, tried to stay focused on the people around me. But no matter how hard I stared, they just got blurrier. Sound began to slip away, too—the wind thrashing across the lake, cars passing on the distant road—it all grew more and more faint, until I was surrounded by complete silence.
And then darkness overtook me.
3
insane
“My god,” I said aloud to nobody. “That was the strangest dream I’ve ever had.” I sat up slowly, running a hand through my bed-worn hair and rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
I was in my room. Safe, in my room. It had all been a dream—a very vivid dream, for sure—but just a dream. I turned my head to my left and inched the covers off my arm. I held my breath as I examined it, but let it out a second later as I realized it was perfectly whole.
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