Labyrinth: Into the Malignant Book 2

Beasts and Scales

                  

A hand pulled me up and I looked up into the girls' eyes. She smirked at me and dragged me away from where I was. There were bound to be other creatures exploring the area with an underlying attempt of violence. Her tug brought me to the side of the rocks to be hidden from view. "Did you find anything?" She looked around frantically to make sure we weren't followed.

"I may have seen something. I'm going to need a couple other people. It's not safe for just the two of us" I said. She thought for a moment before snapping her fingers and disappearing in swish of her tail.

I searched the cliffs for about five minutes before she returned with a small group of people. I nodded at each person as I counted. There were seven of us in total. "Alright, there is a blue glow somewhere in here. I need you to find it. Do not proceed. It is extremely dangerous. We need to work fast, so if you find it, you will report back to me immediately" I commanded and the group dispersed at the end of my harsh tone.

"Name?" I asked the woman who had gotten the group together. She had been in contact with me the most while I was down here, yet I knew little to nothing about her. "Something tells me not to share it with you" Her eyes held silent accusation.

"Believe me or not, but I need some sort of way to recognize you" I continued my search along the rocks while she floated in confusion.

"Call me Hil" She relented. "I require the same from you" She added.

"Elle, now search if you want to get out of here" I turned to her and gave her a pointed look before returning to my search. "How long do we have?" I asked.

"Time is nothing down here, but a weight to drag you down. You feel it, but as long as you don't acknowledge it, it has no power" Her hair swayed in the water as I starred at her in irritation. "We have enough time" She sighed.

It wasn't until my hands were oozing blood from the cuts that I gained by running my hands over the cliff, when I heard a strong tail making its way towards me. I saw the rather small girl as she came barreling towards me. She would have slammed me into the cliff if it weren't for my quick movement that caught her heavy body. She may have been tiny, but the look was definitely deceiving.

"I found it! I found it!" She said breathlessly. I pushed her away from me so I could process what she said.

"Explain yourself." The girl took a deep breath before plunging into explanations. She started from when she left, so I took that time of unimportant information to study her. She was very young, fifteen possibly. Her youthful body would have many heads turning to her. Her tail was a soft orange color with the soft blue twinge signifying that the waters were going to start warming soon and she was going to need to cool her tail. Her odd hair like the rest cascaded down her bare back. If it weren't for the small amount of fabric that she creatively wrapped around herself, her torso would have been naked.

Like her, I was given a long piece of fabric to cover myself. I held the ends of the fabric and put the rest behind my head like I was about to tie a winter scarf, but I let the material slide down to just above mid back. I took the end of the left side of the material and covered my right breast and crossed the end of the right side to cover my left breast before tying the two ends behind my neck. Some girls chose to just wrap it around themselves, and others draped it. There were only a few who discarded the material completely, I avoided those creatures.

"and it was so bright! I made rushed back here immediately to find you!" The young girl's cheery voice brought me back from where I sunk deep within my own thoughts. I nodded to the girl and she began to swim away, but I pulled her tail. "What do others call you?" I asked.