In the Depths of Porcelain (A Depths book) (book 1)

Chapter 16: Blink

The cat had followed me into the hover car, and when I had gotten inside and sat down, he had sat on my lap.  He had been a near perfect stand for my sketchpad.  

     So I had been sketching Luna and something had slammed into the window with a thud, so we felt nervous.  

     Or at least I felt nervous.  It was nerve racking to know that almost anything would be able to find a way to kill all of us.  I mean, sure, it would probably die too, but that doesn't change my mind.  

     I had been almost finished with my drawing of Luna when that thing had crashed into the windshield.  It had scared me, but I had just finished.  I had been lucky.  

     I'm probably being dramatic about how lucky I am, but I think it is important for me to have something to enjoy in the night.  

     Okay, now that I say that out loud, it sounds different than in my head.  More, I don't know, creepy.  I hope that's not who I am to you.  ¨Creepy kid in the corner,¨ or whatever.  

     The scrape marks are a reason to stop.  Though our journey had just begun, we had to stop.  

     We stopped and Ruby got out first.  She looked around curiously.  

     She gasped and rushed over to something.  I didn't know why, but I followed her instantly.  

     Something was on the ground.  It almost looked like road kill.  But it had three scratch marks down it's back.  

     Wait, it just moved.  It was thrashing, but in a way that only something that was living could thrash.  

     It was human.  A girl, maybe six or seven.  Her brown hair was soft but knotted with blood.  

     She was whimpering.  Sobbing.  

     I rushed over to her and sat down beside her.  She looked up.  There was a scratch all the way across her face.  Over her eyelid.  It was scabbed.  

     ¨Please help me," she begged and burst into sobs.  I pulled her up and her eyes switched colors.  And I don't mean like in the subtle way like green to blue.  

    No, I mean from a deep blue to a fiery red.  It was burning and startling.  I flinched.  It was the color saw for her.  That fiery red.  

     I had only seen that color once before.  A siren.  She looked at me pitifully, like I was incorrect.  The problem for her was, I knew I wasn't.  

     She realized what I was thinking and knew that I knew.  

     Giant teeth came out of her face and she turned into a sea monster.  Those teeth were sharp and she had scaly skin.  

     I backed away.  I took several steps back, and she let out a long call.  It was beautiful, but I knew not to listen at all.  I turned around with a great challenge.  

     Luna looked at me curiously from closer to the hover car.  I hadn't even realized that I had put my hands over my ears.  

     Luna took one look at the siren before helping me away from her, basically dragging me.  

     The siren made herself look like Luna.  The only difference was the eyes.    

     But it didn't seem to matter to my brain.  It tried to drag me back.  I couldn't even remember what she had looked like before.  I just saw her as Luna.  

     But Luna's hand on my arm reminded me of what was real, and I followed her back to the hover.  The siren, still in the shape of Luna, started to cry.  I felt like prey, like I could be stolen easily.  

     But I followed the real  Luna back to the hover car.  The siren just wanted to kill me, I reminded myself, trying to consider their greed.  

     I looked and she was following me.