Page 25 of Monsters in My Bed
My twin mates scowl, despising the idea. “No, Rastorj can take Roxy, and Mark can go with them whileyoucan stay withus.”
I open my mouth to argue and then shut it, rubbing my temple because arguing would be futile. “Listen, I don't want us to get separated—”
“Then we'll all go in together,” Mark compromises. “Vizruk and Osz wouldn't go if they didn't think it was safe.”
While I know Mark is right, I still can sense my other mates’ unease, and that bothers me.What are they worried about?Both of them are careful not to send me anything telepathically, and I glare over my shoulder at them. When Roxy stumbles, gripping her stomach, I snap to attention and rush to her side. Rastorj is on the other, and together, we help her up.
“Let me carry you.”
“No. I want to walk.”
Rastorj mutters under his breath about stubborn mates, and I can't help but agree with him—we are a little tenacious when we know what we want—but I wish Roxy would let someone help her more. Eventually, Rastorj will reach a breaking point and scoop her up, but I admire his dedication to respecting Roxy’s requests. If this were Xhoshad, Nerazi, or Seriq, I would already be in the pools.
As we go through the volcano, nothing looks familiar. The only thing that tells me we're getting close is how hot the air around us gets. Sweat drips off my face and between my breasts. A rumble sounds somewhere from deep within the mountain, and suddenly above our heads, the rocky ceiling crashes down. I grab Rox's hand at the last minute and yank her to my right, while Rastorj tumbles back towards my mates. In the blink of an eye, a wall of boulders separates us.
“Roxanne!” Rastorj shouts, but the sound is muffled.
It doesn't matter. Roxy can't hear him anyway. She lies at my feet, her stomach split open as blood seeps out. I struggle to not pass out or vomit at the sight.
“Oh, fuck! Guys! We have to get to those poolsnow. Right now!”
“We can't get through!” Mark yells.
Vizruk and Osz send me pictures through our mental link, calming me as they show me where I need to go. They flash a final image of the babies asleep in their arms. A manic thought enters my head.All my kids do is sleep.All around the world, parents of newborns complain of their lack of sleep, but not me. Maybe it's because they’re constantly held and rocked, knowing that nothing can touch their dreams and paint them into nightmares. They’re safe, and now I need to help Roxy.
With a strength born out of fear and necessity, I scoot my hands under her armpits and drag Roxy along the rocky ground. A path of blood soon follows, both from her weeping stomach and the cuts that I'm causing from dragging her limp form. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to lift her entirely, but the sinqol will heal her.
It better.
I have no idea how much time passes before I finally see the faint radiance of the pools. I breathe a sigh of relief as I heave Roxy into the cavern-like grotto. Something inside of me lights up at the sight of the shimmering sinqol, my hands responding like they did when I was back in the arena with Mark and The Fallacious.
My glowing hands mesmerize me as I trudge toward the edge of the pool, collapsing in exhaustion. All my mom strength drains away. Roxy is barely conscious, but she stares at the sinqol with an expression of awe.
“Alexis, what is this?”
“It's your savior. Ok, listen up. I'm not trying to kill you, I swear. You're going to get gills so you can breathe. Don't panic. I love you.”
With this, I push her off the side, hoping my words register so that she doesn't have a death panic like I did. From my vantage point, I can see inside the crystal clear depths of the sinqol with ease. Below me, Roxy thrashes wildly, no doubt fighting the vivid liquid as it tries to take her baby and heal her. Bubbles float to the surface, and I know she's screaming underneath there.
Salty tears warm my cheeks as I sob for all the pain that she's suffering. Watching her is like an out-of-body experience because I so vividly recall everything that happened to me. I watch as a small, round ball bursts from her stomach, and then the sinqol sews her back together. The ball—her egg—sinks lower and lower to the pool floor, just as mine did.
What I was certain took hours, merely only takes minutes. Roxy floats somewhere between the middle and the surface, her eyes closed and her body limp. As the sinqol supports her, I squint into the glowing light, trying to make out her gills—but I don't see any. I'm worried that what happened to me isn't happening to her.
In a panic, I dive in, reaching her side in seconds. Thank goodness the sinqol doesn’t fight me. Roxy jolts at my touch, her mouth opening in a silent scream as the glowing blue liquid floods in. She quickly clamps her lips shut, and I swim us back to the surface. She pushes out with ease, unlike me. The damned sinqol tugs me back down, just like before, and I wonder if maybe it doesn't want to kill me.
Down, down, down I go, back toward the swirling black abyss at the bottom and Roxy's egg. I make sure to land besides the latter, scooping it into my arms. Holding it close to me, I examine the dark sphere. It's much smaller than my egg, and I wonder if this is because I had twins or because of something else.
I look back up at the surface, waiting for the burning of my lungs to become too much. When I open my mouth and suck in the sinqol, I prepare for unconsciousness, but it never happens. I reach a hand to my neck, feeling the gills, and try not to freak out. I have no idea what's going on and why it only happens to me.
The Pharos.
The thought whispers in my mind, and I'm unsure if it was my own. Either way, it's an answer. This is happening because I'm the Pharos—the light—and the sinqol is the reason for this. Another rumble shakes the ground like before, and I cling to the rocky side of the pool in an attempt to keep from being sucked into the black portal.
As the quaking increases, the calm waters around me become turbulent, swirling faster and faster to create a whirlpool. Between the obsidian hole beside me and the surface of the pool, I watch in horror as the sinqol fades away, sucked down into the darkness of the portal. Against my will, I'm pulled into the churning vortex.
I scream for Roxy, clinging to her egg. The glowing liquid floods in my mouth, slipping down my throat, and I gag even though I can breathe with ease. Fighting in vain against the force pulling me, I finally lose the battle, and the darkness swallows me whole before winking out of existence. Only to spit me out at the feet of the very man who broke my heart.
Seriq.
