Page 6 of North Is the Night
I huff. “So can the moon goddess. And she’d likely darn her own stockings. Clean up her own messes too. Now, no more talk of god-husbands. Let’s just get this done.”
Before long, I’m packing the last perch into the top of my crock. Aina is crouched over at the water’s edge, washing her hands. She stands, shielding her eyes with her hand, as she gazes out across the lake. The setting sun is casting a glare.
“What are they doing?” she asks.
I glance up, squinting. My brother Aksel is perched in the front of our other fishing boat, waving at us. “Maybe they caught a massive pike,” I say with a shrug. It doesn’t make me happy. It’s just more work.
“They’ll have the boat over if they keep rocking it like that,” Aina warns.
I look up again. Aksel isn’t so much waving as gesturing frantically. Cupping his mouth, he shouts across the water. Meanwhile, Onni faces the opposite way, rowing as hard as he can. I rise to my feet. “What the... ”
“Run!”
I join Aina at the water’s edge. What is he saying?
“Siiri, run!”
Screams erupt behind us. Up and down the beach, the others scatter. My heart leaps into my throat. On the shore, not fifteen feet from me, stands a woman. No... amonster. She has the body of a woman, draped in heavy black robes. The cloth is soiled and torn, dragging on the ground, hanging off her skeletal frame. Her face is painted—a band of mottled white across her eyes and nose—while her forehead and exposed neck are smeared with what looks like dried, flaking blood. Perched on her head is a set of curling black ram’s horns.
She looks at me with eyes darker than two starless skies. They dare me to leap into their depths. Sucking in a breath, I blink, breaking our connection. Her mouth opens, showing broken, rotting teeth. She hisses, taking a step forward, and one thought fills me.
Run.
Grabbing Aina by the hand, I take off down the beach.
She asks no questions. She just holds my hand, and we sprint. Our feet crunch against the pebbles. I chance a look over my shoulder as I pull her towards the trees. The creature slowly turns and raises her tattooed hand, pointing right at us. In a swirl of black smoke, a monstrous wolf appears at the creature’s side. The jaws of the beast open wide as it pants, exposing rows of sharp white teeth. The glowing red eyes track us like prey. With a growl, it leaps from its mistress’s side.
The chase is on.
“Ilmatar, help us,” I cry to the heavens. “Aina,run.”
2
Siiri
“What is that creature?”Aina cries as soon as we slip under the cover of the trees.
“My guess is that’s the thing stealing girls,” I pant. “Not some lonely fisherman and not a scurrilous Swede.”
I pull us deeper into the forest, Aina’s hand clasped firmly in mine. It’s darker here. Too dark. We should have been home already. Behind us, I can still hear the screams of the people on the beach. The men will soon be out in droves, bows and axes at the ready. They’ll come for us. They’ll help. We just have to find a place to hide.
“You’re faster than me, Siiri.” Aina pulls on my hand. “I can’t keep up. Just go—”
“Not a chance.”
Through the dim trees, the underbrush rustles and twigs snap. As we burst into a clearing, I stop and drop Aina’s hand, still holding tight to my little filleting knife. Chest heaving, I put a protective arm up in front of her. Something is coming, and Aina’s right, we can’t keep running. Better to stand and catch my breath. Better to die facing my foe.
“That thing is here for one of us. Siiri, you need togo.” She gives me a shove. “Keep running.”
Too late.
In another swirl of billowing black smoke, the horned woman appears before us on the other side of the clearing. Her head tips to the side at an impossible angle, more owl than human, and those black eyes gauge us, as if she’s deciding which of us to kill first.
“Stay behind me,” I rasp, stepping in front of Aina.
She clings to my hips with both hands. I can feel the warmth of her breath on my neck.
The creature’s mouth opens wide, and I can’t help but gag. Once, when I was hunting with Onni, we came across a dead deer washed up on the beach. The carcass was bloated and rotting, bugs eating away its eyes. The waves slowly pushed it back and forth against the pebbles. The smell of that mangled, bloated deer carcass emanates out of this creature’s cavernous mouth. Moist decay, sour rot. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. My eyes sting. My nose and throat burn. Behind me, Aina makes a choking sound.
