Page 71 of Emerald

She doesn’t finish her sentence because there is a splash from the nearby stream and we both freeze.

22

Olivia

Whenayellowtentaclesmacks onto the bank, we both yelp and Rin clutches me close to her. There’s too much fear pumping through me to be angry, and, just like with Ree, I clutch her back, squeezing tight just like I prefer.

This place is the scariest fucking planet…

I’m pulling in a breath to scream for Kroaicho when a head pops above the stream, the flow of water splashing up and over on one side.

It’s a human head, though the eyes are just as black as Rin’s but somehow… far creepier. More predatory.

“The fuck…” I whisper.

The head keeps rising and we both breath out a relieved breath when we see a mouth rise out of the water. With the widest grin I’ve ever seen on anyone.

“Yes!” the figure says in a voice as sunny as her hair. “I knew it!”

Rin’s still shaking beside me and she starts talking in a wavering voice. “Will the tentacle monster… hurt us?”

The woman looks down. “Oh, no! Those are mine.”

She rises out of the water more and I realize that the tentacles are coming from her head. My stomach lurches at the sight of them wriggling from somewhere that shouldn’t ever…

I stop the thoughts there, chiding myself for suddenly being judgmental. Not being that way is something I’ve prided myself on and doing that to someone as sweet… and alright, also fucking scary… looking just isn’t right.

“My name is Eli, by the way,” she chirps.

“Nice to meet you, Eli,” I say automatically.

“Oh! Are you Australian? That is so cool!” she gushes, and my eye twitches.

I should be used to it by now, but Americans are the worst at telling the difference.

“No, I’m from New Zealand,” I correct her, “but I did spend a lot of time in other countries when I was young, including Australia, so my accent is mixed.”

“Oh, sorry.” Her tentacles droop for a moment, but then perk right back up. “That is even cooler! I knew I would find you! Wroahk was all grumpy and ‘you can’t go’ about it, but we tasted your blood in the water and I knew this was the way to find you. Oh, hi, you must be Rin. Kira came to get me after you were snatched and after she saw the water coming up out of the ground and just let me tell you that Wroahk is going to be so pissed,” she draws out the last word and adds a flair of drama to it.

“But I knew that I was—”

I feel bad about it, but I cut her off. I don’t know how she managed to say all of that without taking a breath, but I think if I let her keep going she won’t stop. “Who is Wroahk?”

“Oh. Well, he’s sorta my shark-octopus uh, boyfriend. He’s really sweet, and also the biggest possible jerk ever. He has some anger issues that we are working on right now. So I really, really think you shouldn’t mention that I almost died. I—”

This time it’s Rin who cuts her off. “You almost died?”

“Oh… right,” Eli says, two tentacles coming up out of the water and wrapping around her shoulders like she’s comforting herself. “I got caught against some rocks and the water was going through my gills so fast it hurt… But I got free! Totally safe and sound and I am so happy that I found you. I am going to taunt Wroahk about how much bigger he is and how he couldn’t fit and how I was able to trick him to… oh, you shouldn’t probably bring that up either. He might kill something if you do. I mean, not you. Well, not you as long as you make sure I say you’re community. You’ll be—”

“Can you take us back that way?” I interrupt.

“Oh, no, no,” Eli says, more tentacles wrapping around her. “You would definitely die. And I don’t really think... Don’t tell Wroahk I said this, but I don’t think I should get back in there either. It was really scary.”

She stops talking suddenly, shivering and my brain is finally able to catch up with all of the chatter to realize that she risked her life for me. I feel doubly guilty for thinking about how odd she looks, and I don’t know how to ever repay her for what she did.

For now, I just offer what I can. My name. “Please call me Liv,” I say in a quiet voice. “And thank you so much for searching for me. You didn’t have to and I appreciate it.”

She makes apshhhsound, which oddly sounds more like a whale than a human. “Of course I had to! I just—”

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