Forever Dark: Book 1 of the Forever Dark Series

Chapter 20 - One of Us

"At last,” Naomi said. “A sunny day!”

It was a real scorcher, at least ninety, not a cloud in the sky. Naomi, Faith, and I were on a floating dock in the middle of a lake. We all wore black bikinis. The water sparkled and lapped around us, cool and inviting.

Party noise drifted from the beach. Scott, Ted, and the Bitch Patrol were having a barbecue. I smelled meat sizzling, strange and delicious, dripping with bubbling fat and blood-red juices. Saliva exploded on my tongue.

“What are we waiting for?” Naomi said. “I'll race you!”

I looked at Faith, who was in full vampire makeup and fangs. She was sitting cross-legged in the dock's center with a black lace parasol clutched in one hand. “Trust me,” she said. “You don't want to go over there.”

“Screw that!” Naomi dove into the water and when her head came up for air, she called, “C'mon, guys! The water's great!”

“No way,” Faith said. “I'm staying right here where it's safe.”

When I turned to argue, Faith was dead, a charred skeleton holding a burned parasol. She cocked her head, neck bones crunching. “I think I got too much sun.”

I screamed and jumped in the icy water. Oblivious, Naomi laughed and splashed ahead, making for shore with swift, clean strokes. I tried to keep pace, but my friend slipped farther and farther ahead. From out of nowhere, a wave washed over me. When I could see again, the shore seemed twice as far away. Naomi was almost there.

Scott and Ted waved from the beach. All the kids joined in, even the Bitch Patrol. “Hurry,” they yelled. “Don't miss the party!”

As Naomi came out of the water, Scott and Ted grabbed her by the arms and dragged her over to the bonfire. They had something shiny in their hands. Something metal.

Meat cleavers.

They raised their arms and brought the cleavers down on Naomi as the Bitch Patrol chanted:

“WE ARE CANNIBALS!

WE DON'T EAT ANIMALS!

CHOP HER UP! CHOP HER DOWN!

G-O-O-O SCREAM!"

They mutilated my best friend and threw her severed limbs on the barbecue. It was same meat I'd smelled before, only now it was Naomi on the grill. My stomach growled. Another wave found me and I was sucked underwater. Shapes sliced through the darkness below; hungry shapes that weren't like anything I'd ever seen before.

Kicking as hard as I could, I broke the surface, gulping air into my burning lungs. The shore, the dock, were gone. Summer was gone. It was a moonless winter night, alive with softly falling snow. I was lost, alone in the middle of a vast ocean.

Something wrapped around my leg, pulling me under. I came face to face with an octopus, its rubbery skin a deep, mottled green. It had three glowing red eyes and an almost human mouth—a sensual mouth that smiled, exposing snake-like fangs.

When the creature spoke, its voice was neither male nor female, but somehow both. "Are you lost?" it asked, and as it did, little black bubbles burst from between its lips.

“Yes,” I said, and saw the same bubbles escaping from me. Somehow, I was breathing, talking perfectly fine, even though I was underwater.

"I can show you the way home," the octopus promised. "I can show you a great many things."

“What kind of things?” It was so cool and comfortable floating here. My old life seemed unimportant and far away.

"Come with me, and I will you anything, everything . . ." Its tentacles curled around my wrists and ankles, waist and throat. "Come with me into the Dark!"

A cloud of ink shot from it. I breathed it in, and the ink became part of me. Everything went black. The creature plunged downward, dragging me deeper into a secret world where no ray of light ever shone.

We passed through a chasm, deep into a shadowy cave lit by sickly coral that cast a putrid yellow glow. We emerged into a cavern filled with ancient ruins. They were dotted with rows of six three-sided, pointed stone pillars resembling broken fangs. The pillars were covered in strange symbols that glowed and hummed, pulsing angry purple-red. The more I stared, the more the symbols seemed to slither and shift.

A swarm of human-faced octopus monsters formed a swaying, welcoming circle around us. They grinned and hissed.

I began to be afraid, to miss my old life. “What is this place?” I asked. “Where am I?”

"You are home," the octopus said. "You are one of us."

It felt wrong, yet more right with each passing second. I looked down, and my body had changed. My limbs were tentacles. I wasn't a girl anymore.

I was one of them.

I screamed, and my scream became a deep and terrible hunger growing inside me.

I had to get to that barbecue.

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