Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I glanced at the others as they talked. I didn’t hear a word they said as I glanced down at Harper, who sat up looking confused with sleepy eyes. She rubbed at them with the heel of her hand as she squinted at us. Our gazes met, and she widened her eyes as she dropped her hand when she must’ve seen the resolve of what I was going to do written on my face. She parted her lips and was about to say something.
Slátra moved back another step, still holding Rune’s sword and ready to bolt outside.
It had to have been some kind of old instincts that took over as I snatched the sword out of Slátra’s hold and ran outside. The old broken door slammed against the wall as I flung it open. I listened to it as it crashed down on the ground, and I barely made out the two men’s shouts as I sprinted deeper into the woods, realizing I could’ve grabbed my horse. It was too late to turn back the farther I ran.
A woman singing met my ears, coming from somewhere deeper in the forest. It was a melody that was beautiful and alluring, sending chills through me.
How did I not think of this?
Why didn’t I realize something bad was going to happen?
I heard this type of singing in movies and TV shows, and it always ended up being a siren calling to her next male victim.
I had to get to Rune. I had to save him.
He wasmineto protect. He needed me.
A branch snapped like what I had heard on our travels. But this time, something scurried away as I broke through the thicket and wove around trees and bushes. I jumped over fallen limbs and boulders as I followed my gut on where to go.
Twigs slapped against my face a few times, nicking at my cheeks and stinging. I felt the well of blood cool in the crisp night.
Time escaped me, and I couldn’t tell how long I’d been running, but something ran with me— that I couldn’t see—a few feet from my side. It had to have been camouflaged in all the greenery and shadows of the night. Tiny hairs raised on the back of my neck and along my arms from the awful feeling it gave me. My stomach twisted until I felt like I was going to throw up from fear.
Whatever it was, it oozed tainted power andfuck you up and eat your fleshvibes. I didn’t want to see what it looked like because then, that would make it even more real than it was now. My frantic mind, for whatever reason, imagined it looked like that alien from the movieSigns. Tall, lean, and fucking terrifying.
I wove and jumped over more fallen limbs in the way. My body shook, and my head spun while chills ran through my body when a ghost of a hand reached toward me. Without a doubt, I knew it was the thing that had been running by my side, and now it was notching things up and taking its taunting to another level.
Holy crap... it was toying with its food.
I stumbled when its cold, boney hand grabbed my upper arm. Screaming, I twisted as I swung my borrowed sword like an amateur. Which angered me that I suddenly couldn’t fight like I had earlier with Rune.
I must’ve hit it hard enough because it made an ungodly screech as its sharp nails dug into the flesh of my arm and raked at it as it jerked away from me. I bit onto my bottom lip to hold back a yell but a whimper slipped from me. My arm was on fire, and it spread up to my shoulder.
At least it wasn’t holding onto me anymore.
The singing grew louder, making my breaths shudder. The closer I got, the more it made my skin crawl, like bugs walking on me and burrowing beneath the skin.
The light but known sounds of the creature’s footsteps beside me increased in pace as it ran by my side. I got a better look at it as it reached out again for me. It had long, stringy hair and eyes that reflected in the small beam of moonlight coming through a gap in the canopy of foliage.
I ducked its claws and dug my heels into the ground to stop running. Just as I wanted, it went ahead of me before it whirled around, narrowing its eyes while a snarl curled its inhumanly wide mouth. It had razor-sharp teeth that gleamed in the night and something I didn’t want to be gnawing on me.
Gripping my sword tighter, I lunged at it with a yell. It ducked away and screeched as it leaped toward me with its claws reaching out to me again. I sidestepped it while swiping my blade at it, missing it by a hair.
Over the screeching of the creature and the loud melody of the woman, I faintly heard a man’s groan, matching the sound of Rune when he came. My stomach dropped like a heavy stone, and my chest squeezed at that faint sound.
He wouldn’t cheat on me. He wouldn’t break my trust. He couldn’t...
Shrieking, I lunged at the creature and put all my weight into my sword as I swiped at him. I barely saw it in the darkness, but I felt the weapon connect. The creature screamed and struggled against me as the blade went all the way through it from one side to the other. It fell to the ground in two separate pieces, its scream growing softer until it only gurgled.
I sprinted toward the singing woman and Rune, praying that he wasn’t fucking her.
“Follow your gut, beauty. Don’t listen to the lies of your spiraling mind.”Rune’s assurance from earlier whispered in my head.
His reminder played over and over in my head as I made my way to him until I broke through the tree line and came to a screaming halt.
Ahead of me was a lake of some sort that reminded me of a swamp with moss covering the mud and multiple glowing eyes of alligators off to the side. The sound of what had to be the equivalent of June bugs rattled all around me. Fireflies danced along, creating a stark contrast to how fucked up the scene was across from me.
In the shallow part of the water was a woman dressed in a flowing, bordering on see-through, white dress with her beautiful black hair over her shoulders and back, reaching her bottom. She had a tail that reminded me of a cow as it twitched a few times while she sang, the tip of it skimming along the water that reached her calf. She held Rune to her chest so his cheek rested against her, his eyes open but blank. His arms were loosely wrapped around her, holding onto her like a sleepy lover. His cape was muddy like he’d been lying on his back for a while.
