The Secret Sea - (Chaptered Version)

31

I crack a smile. The joke is terrible, but the mushroom's delivery is perfect.

"Ah, there you are!" says Danica. "Are you ticklish?"

The tentacles start wrapping around my middle. I turn white. "Shit!" The fungal coils wiggle and gyrate against my stomach and back. Although the sensation is disturbing, the tickles take their toll and I can't help chuckling.

Eve dashes to the side and flanks Danica, raising her arm with the pen in her hand. Before she can stab it into the mushroom's flesh, a thick tentacle slams against her and sends her flying backwards. She lands solidly against a rubber tree.

"I see you, too!" says Danica, growling. "What did the buffalo say when his son left the house?"

"Eve, no!" I yell, snickering at the same time. "Let go of me, you freak!"

"Bison," replies Danica.

"I bite!" yells VarnLiqn. He starts to shred the tentacles wrapped around me. One by one, the writhing cords thump to the ground.

The mushroom screams in pain and I feel myself fall. VarnLiqn is still grinding through the animate vegetation. I scramble to Eve and lift her to her feet. "We have to run!"

"No...we need...the blood," says Eve with a cough.

I look over my shoulder, see truncated tentacles retract to the mushroom. It's red cap and brown stem turn black before exploding with swollen boils and shafts of hair--a strange mass of oozing flesh.

"Okay, let's go," says Eve, starting to run. "VarnLiqn, come on!"

I watching the leshi solidify into a gigantic black wolf graced with leathery bat wings. The animal's lupine head lifts high and unleashes a reverberating howl through the jungle. Thumping paws and snapping branches invade my ears as the shapeshifter gives chase.

"Danica's done tickling," I yell.

"You think?" asks Eve. We kick off our backwards shoes so we can run faster. It's no use--the beast is hot on our heels. In desperation, we dive between the crisscrossed roots of a towering wimba tree, taking refuge in a small hollow near its trunk. Danica's thick head slams against the bark and I feel my jaw rattle. I hold Eve closer as the wolf's teeth tears apart the roots in front of us.

"I'm using the void cube!" I yell, pulling it from my pocket.

"Wait!" says Eve. Before I can protest, she leans forward and jabs the wolf in the cheek with the pen, quickly plunging up some of its blood. A stray claw slashes Eve's arm and she drops the instrument.

"What are you doing?" I scream, pulling her toward me. I tear off some of my shirt and wrap it around her arm to stop the bleeding. We're a few bites away from being in Danica's jaws.

"I...I'm okay. Get the pen," says Eve. A wall of gleaming white teeth prevents me from fulfilling her request.

A distant cry fills the air. "Glenish Rasntashae! Volentaen spriritas! Kalenchanse! Kalenchanse!"

"That's VarnLiqn," I say, my adrenaline spiking. "He's speaking in tongues."

"No, that's faerie speak," corrects Eve. "He's calling to his kin." The canopy above us shakes, loosing a profusion of leaves. A blur of dark shapes skitter down the tree trunks amidst the tumbling foliage. When the shadows reach the ground, they collect into a tight swarm and rush the enraged leshi from behind. Danica rears back and howls in pain as her attackers latch on to her arching back and rip at her flesh.

"Raccoons! Dozens of them!" I blurt. VarnLiqn is among them. He looks different than the rest.

"White-nosed coati," says Eve. "Amazonian raccoons. VarnLiqn called to them for help. Hurry, grab the pen while Danica is distracted! They can't hold her off for long."

I pull Eve from the hollow and rush to grab the pen. Danica swings her head around, and growls. A huge flap of her wings sends most of the coatis flying, but they return immediately. The wolf ignores their incessant attack and rushes toward us again.

"The cube! Use the cube!" yells Eve, as soon as the pen rolls into my hand.

I see VarnLiqn hanging on Danica's jaw. "Come on! We're leaving!" I yell to him.

"You go. Me stay!" yells VarnLiqn.

I shake my head. "Not without you!"

"We fine. Go!" growls my raccoon buddy. Danica is five strides away and closing fast.

"USE IT!" yells Eve, clinging to me.

I throw the cube at my feet and we fall through silent darkness.