Oceanside

Chapter 23

Odette

The cool air whips my hair, my hands fly up to comb it out of my face so I could see properly. The wind causes ripples in the swamp water surrounding me. The bark of the tree bites into my back as I shove further away from the dark water. The sound of metal clanking softly echoes through the night air. I looked down to see a chain around my ankle.

My hands shot to the metal, tugging on it. The cold metal bruises my skin. I hooked my thumb under it and tried to slip the heel of my foot out but it didn't budge. I nearly whimpered in pain at the hard metal pushing into my ankle.

A blaring noise rips through the sky. My hands flew up to cover my ears but it did nothing to stop them from throbbing in pain. The sound was like a distorted snarl, too loud for any normal animal. As it died out a new sound replaced it, sloshing water. It was as if something incredibly large was charging through the swamp.

My eyes scanned the area as I pushed up onto my feet. The heavy weight of the chain reminded me I couldn't move from this tree. Below me the water mirrored the dark sky, the moon glaring off of it. Everything around me was dark and foggy. I couldn't make out anything more than fifteen feet. The trees that were close were just outlines of black, moss hanging off of them like distorted snakes.

A low rumble vibrated through the air sending vibrations across the water's surface and goosebumps over my skin. From the fog a giant wolf. He looked like a normal wolf but with long fangs that hung from his snout. And he was red, so red he almost glowed.

I scrambled back then tipped my head up. There were several branches above me. As he stalked forward I picked up the chain around the trunk of the tree and looped it higher. It settled on a knot and I jumped to catch the first branch.

Without warning something large slammed into the tree. I screamed as I fell back to the ground, throwing my hands up over my head as broken branches came crashing down around me. The entire platform I was on shook violently as the new animal charged the other one. I pushed up onto my forearms watching as the beast tore into the wolf.

The beast was a distorted version of the wolf but instead of being solid grey he had splotches of white. It splattered around his head and paws, slashes of it across his chest and back. Those patches were stained red as he killed the wolf. His matted hair dripping wet with swamp water.

I stayed on the ground frozen in my position until he turned his gaze to me. He whipped around and I flinched back. His glowing green eyes locked on my figure. He stalked closer to me much quicker than the other wolf. I cringed back into the tree, sobs hiccupping out of me.

My entire body felt like ice, my heart beating so loud I swore I heard it in the air around us. The beast climbed up onto the platform, leering over me. Blood and water dripped down onto my face. I turned my head, squeezing my eyes closed as his large head dipped down even with mine. I had already seen the large jaw and razor-sharp teeth from afar, I didn't need to see them up close. I heard his jaws opening, then it roared in my face.

With a gasp I jerked into a sitting position. My heart beat in my ears and a layer of sweat covered my skin. I panted lightly, my eyes flickering around the room then to the window. It was still dark outside but that didn't comfort me. If anything it made it worse. Those creatures came out in the night.

My first thought was, where was Silas? It was undoubtable that he had become my comfort person. I felt safe around him and he seemed to cure any and all of my nerves. Because of that, it was my first action to flip the covers off me and climb out of the bed. I looked at the clock that showed it was two in the morning. Despite feeling a little bad for this I knew he wouldn't mind. Silas never seemed to mind.