Acadia Restoration

Chapter 4

The creature sat up in a coughing fit. Max jumped back. A first he was terrified, then a familiar rage filled him. He loathed sirens. The siren looked terrified.

"Who are you?" Norah asked.

"Serina," the siren answered.

"Serina the siren, how fitting," Cristina added sarcastically.

"Who are you?" Serina asked the group. They each introduced themselves. "And where am I?".

"The shore of Hukoth," Norah answered.

"Oh," Serina said in disappointment. She wasn't where she needed to be. However, she had no intention of continuing her journey. Norah gathered the group in a circle they needed to decide what they were going to do with her. They huddled in a circle and traded ideas.

"I think we should keep her," Norah said.

"Absolutely not," Max disagreed.

"One of the items was siren vocal cords. We should keep her around. She might be useful," everyone agreed. They turned back to Serina.

"Good news you can stay with us," Cristina announced.

"Oh, okay," Serina said with no argument. "In that case do any of you have an extra set of clothes I could borrow?" Norah went and retrieved an extra outfit for her. Serina quickly shifted and changed. The group continued on. Max kept his distance from the siren. His gut twisted with fury and a strange fear. He wasn't afraid in the present, but his past fear returned to him.

He and George had snuck out early that morning, so they could go to the beach. Their house was only a mile from the shore, so they weren't too far. Max and George spent the morning playing in the sand and splashing in the waves. Then George suggested they play hide and seek. Max agreed and began to count. He heard George giggling as he waddled off. When Max was done counting to thirty he opened his eyes. George was nowhere to be seen. Max noted this as odd, considering a three year old couldn't have made it that far. Max noticed footprints in the sand. He followed them until they stopped at the water's edge.

"George? If you are there you can come out now, you win!" Max called out. He got no response except for the sounds of the waves lapping at the shore. Max tried calling out again to no avail. He heard a splash. He stepped into the water. The water was cold and the waves were strong. He continued to walk deeper into the waves. He continued to call out. He heard more splashing and looked in the direction of the noise. He saw a disturbance in the waves. He walked towards it. He was losing his footing as the water got deeper. A wave lapped at his face. Max tried to cough out the water. He noted it's metallic taste. He noticed the taste before he saw the garnet hue of the water. He called out once more and a hand sprang free from the waves. He swam towards it. He reached the hand and pulled. His brother rose to the surface. However, his brother's eyes were wide and he felt rubbery.

"George?" Max asked the body. He felt something brush against his leg. George was only half way out of the water. He felt strangely light. Max pulled upwards and felt a wave of nausea roll over him. He stared at the carcass of his brother. He looked at the spine that hung from his brother's torso that was surrounded by chewed flesh. This flesh clung loosely to the skeleton. Max cried out and tossed the body. He saw the blood that dripped on his hands. He felt another brush against him. Max jolted his body trying to rid himself of the feeling. He saw a ripple in the waves. He noticed a fin break the water's surface. He watched in horror as a creature lept from the waves.

In those seconds Max was able to memorize every detail of the creature. From its fish-like face, to it's jagged fins. It's monstrous webbed claws and those eyes, those red eyes. He went to cover his ears as it let out a cry. He felt the claws dig into his chest. He cried out in pain. He felt the monster-who he later identified as a siren-bite into his right arm. He took his left hand and grabbed onto the creature's face. He positioned his hand around the siren's eye. He lowered his thumb into the siren's eye. The creature cried out in a blood curdling howl. It loosened it's clamp on his arm. He felt his thumb mashing into the creature's eye. He felt the pop of the cornea and dripping of the eye's contents down his finger. The creature shoved him off and swam away.