The Deep

Chapter 9

*Mack*

The girl who has been plaguing my dreams is standing on the deck of my boat. I mean, she is just a few feet away from me! She was real and she was here. I felt myself stepping forward without even realizing what I was doing.

"Mack," Jamie grabs my arm, "she's completely naked. How the hell did she swim all the way out here without clothes? Without freezing to death? Or without the help of any diving equipment?"

I ignore him and take another step forward. Her hair is longer. Her skin is darker than the first night I saw her. But Jamie is right. She's naked just like that first night I saw her on the road. "How'd you get here? Why are you all alone in the middle of nowhere?" Jamie shouts at her. Her gaze slices over to Jamie and tilts her head. She appraises him slowly, narrowing her eyes in the process.

"You ask many questions," she titters along the edge of the railing, "but will not heed warning. Water not safe for humans. Go back to land, Elin."

Elin? She peers straight at me when she says that name. Elin. It sounds nearly similar to the song she sang to me. She also has a weird accent as she speaks. Not like Jamie's but definitely not like mine. It takes me a moment to realize that she's waiting for a response from me. Even Jamie is staring at me with a question all over his face.

"What is it? What's down there?" I ask her, getting closer and closer with every second that she is in front of me. I now have to crane my neck just to look up at her towering figure. She's so ethereal.

She does an odd hand motion and says, "Beast Predator."

Her eyes briefly flicker overboard as if sensing something in the water. But that's crazy, right? She can't possibly know that the animal that we've been looking for is under us right now. Unless she's also hunting the same thing we are. "This is fucking insane, Mack! I'm turning this boat around now and radioing this in. Make sure she doesn't go overboard." Jamie clammers back inside, leaving me alone with her.

"Good," she then says, "good to leave water. Do not come back, Elin."

She turns to the water to go, but I grab her hand to stop her. "What are you doing? You can't go back in, you'll drown." She hisses at my hand, yanking her own away from me. "You drown if you stay, Elin. I protect you from Beast Predator." She stays vigilant, eying the water warily.

An idea starts to form about her in my head. An impossibility. "My name's Mack. We saw each other once about a month ago. Do you remember?" She circles to the other side of my boat. I can't imagine how cold she must be right now. I'm practically freezing down to my core myself. "Yes," she answers me, "you were in the bea-car. You tried to help." I feel relieved to know that she remembered me. I don't understand why.

"What's your name?" She turns her head, meeting my eyes. There's something different about them but I can't point it out. Weren't they clearer last time? Lighter? Or am I just going insane? "aAreyah," she sings to me. It takes more effort for her to sing the notes this time. More than the other song that she had sung to me. "I am Arya." So, so beautiful. My mind slowly falls into a daze.

I am drawn to the beauty of her skin. The loveliness of her hair. The scent of her body. Salt and sweet. I feel my body lean closer to hers. Her face is stoic as I do so. The pull is addictive. It's something that I cannot explain to myself. There's a shift in her. I see it happen slowly.

Arya tilts her head as if she hears something and her eyes slide over to the left of me. They turn deadly as I am shoved out of the way. A spear comes hurling from somewhere within the darkness. She deflects the spear and lunges herself into the water. "Arya, no!" I scramble to the edge, searching the black waters for her but she's gone. My heart pinches at the thought that she's gone. I'll go crazy if she is.

The boat begins to rock violently. Erratically. My brain finally puts it together. These waves...how big they're getting... Something is circling us in the water! Arya and this Beast Predator? What the hell am I getting myself into here? What is she?

"Mackenzie!" Jamie's panicked voice slams me back to the present. I have to forcibly pull myself away from the deck. Away from her.

"Mack! Help me!"

Jamie has his whole body propped up against the wheel of the boat. He's struggling to keep hold of it. "The turbulence is keeping the wheel from staying in place," he explains. "I won't be able to hold on much longer. Where's the girl?" I roll up my sleeves and push against the current with Jamie, ignoring his question.

A hit causes the boat to lean all the way to the left. The force makes us crash against the wall. The lights go out as we hit the water and begin to sink. The very last thing I hear is Jamie calling me and Arya's song breaking through the waves.