Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter 58

Joel cut and ripped into the vines. They were thick and knotted together—but with the help of Aanya, Reyna, and Aarrrgghh coming to help, they were making progress. Eventually, they cut deep enough to see two small bodies huddled together. Nico had a nearly unconscious Laura wrapped tight in his arms, eyes wide and wild like a cornered animal.

"Are you okay?" Joel asked as they widened the gap just enough to get them out.

"I'm not hurt," Nico said, his voice shaking. But not hurt didn't mean okay. He passed Laura to Aarrrgghh—who pulled her out as gently as he could.

Reyna helped Nico out of the tangle of vines, her eyes narrowing at him. "What's wrong?"

Nico took a minute. He was quiet, watching Aarrrgghh set Laura on the ground. "I could hear them talking... those things? They're people."

"What?" Aanya's eyes widened. "What do you mean they're people?"

"Or at least they used to be," Nico looked... haunted. Like he'd seen something he wished he could unsee. "Whoever is behind this... they're turning people's souls into these monsters."

***

Riding a dinosaur had not been on Claire's bucket list. But she had to admit it was cool. She was sitting behind Harley, on a goddamn T-Rex! Antigone was sitting on Pickles' back, using his sail as a backrest. She looked peeved, silently angry. But at what, Claire didn't know.

Mama was large and beefy, sparse feathers running over her top half from her head to her tail. The feathers were thin, barely really feathers. One thing was for sure, Jurassic Park needed an update.

Mama's feet also seemed to not make quite as much noise when she walked. She was surprisingly quiet for an animal so big. Claire could just make out a quiet echoing thump in the earth whenever she took a step.

She looked over, watching the way Pickles walked. It was the first time she'd bothered to watch how he behaved, beyond him having a silly kind of personality and a penchant for being affectionate to Harley. He walked with a small waddle, his two front limbs curled a bit to his chest. He was stubby, with short hind legs so he stood much smaller than Mama—but Claire was pretty sure he was longer in length. He was definitely built to swim rather than to stalk around on land.

A deep rumbling snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked around, confused. Then she realized it was Mama vocalizing.

"Harley?" She prodded. "What is she doing?"

Mama stopped walking, nose tilted up like she was smelling something. The deep-throated rumbling was something you felt in your body more than you actually heard it. Then she opened her mouth and a loud barking growl reverberated in the trees around them. Claire flinched.

But Harley didn't look fazed at all. He followed where Mama's head was swiveling. Below them, Pickles was doing his own security sweep—sniffing the air and listening.

"Are we still being followed?" Antigone whispered.

As if to answer, Pickles hissed at they way they'd come and started toeing backwards. He crouched, getting on all fours, his eyes narrowed into slits and he snarled.

Mama turned around, growling deep and low. She tilted her head, then every muscle in her body went stiff. She planted her feet and stared hard in the direction they'd come in, growling in a way that the sound seemed to travel through the ground. Harley dug both hands into the protofeathers on her neck.