Wrought Iron, Book 1 of Merlin's Message

Chapter 11 - Passage

"Hey!" Mike blurted. "There's fish in the water."

Sure enough, A school of small white fish surrounded the boat.

"Nobody move!" Dafydd ordered.

He took a piece of beef jerky and tossed it out away from the boat. The fish took for it in a frenzy. The water boiled and frothed as the creatures tore into each other while trying to tear into the jerky.

"Yow!" Mike yelped. "Okay, swimming at your own risk."

"Oh!" Hannah got their attention. "Remember the book and letter? It said terror above and below. So, we better watch above us!

"Too right, Hannah." Dafydd agreed.

Gavin and Mike got headlamps on and started scanning the overhead.

"Cave opening, straight ahead!" Gavin called.

"Aye," Dafydd answered. "That must be the place."

Gavin stared into the round black abyss before him and looked around at the stygian waters surrounding the boat.

His vision of the hungry darkness, back in the desert, came flooding back to him. Vertigo dropped over him, and he swayed slightly. His balance failed. Darkness called to him in silent invitation. With an effort of will, he leaned away from the edge of the boat. An insatiable hunger came off the water in waves and tried to draw him into a headlong plunge. Gavin's feet shuffled forward with a life of their own. A coldness crept up his back and pushed. No! He raised his hands. Leaden force fought to hold them down. The ring burned and glowed red on his finger. Suddenly strength flowed through him, and he got his hands on the boat's edge. He pushed back with all of his will.

A hand clamped on his upper arm, and he jumped with a start.

"Gavin!" a strident whisper speared into his consciousness.

Light put out the darkness, and the ravenous hunger fled.

Gavin looked into Taeko's glimmering obsidian eyes once again.

"Gavin," she repeated. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know. I'm okay." He sucked in a deep breath and panted.

"Fish puke." Taeko glanced around. No one was paying attention to her and Gavin. "Here." She pressed a steel cup, warm with tea, into his hand. "Drink."

Gavin took a long pull on the tea, draining the cup.

"Taeko? What's with you and tea anyway?

"I like tea," she shrugged. "And my mom made a big deal, all my life, about serving whatever you're drinking, before or whatever. It isn't a big deal. Besides, later on, I got it, how something simple like that can calm people down, help them center, you know?"

"You and your mom got it right. It works. Thanks."

Gavin dropped his eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's the darkness, isn't it, like it was that night in the desert?" Taeko stated.

He looked up, and she held his eyes.

"How did you know?"

"I see it too."

Gavin thought a moment. "Why? What? Why aren't you, uh, well, affected by it, like I am."