Page 98 of The Silent Mountain
Elio shifts around so quickly that he stumbles again and almost drops to the ground. “By Aengus!” he says breathlessly. “No way!”
“Wait a moment…“ I look at him, realizing he looks fascinated instead of terrified. “You know what she is!?”
“I can’t say for certain,” he whispers. “But she looks like something out of the books.” He brushes over his pants to get rid of the dirt, before carefully stepping closer to the creature. The woman hisses nervously, moving away from the edge of the cave and further into the water.
“Don’t worry,” Elio says softly. “It’s okay. You don’t need to be afraid.”
The woman tilts her head to the side, eyeing Elio and carefully swimming closer again. “I am Elio,” he says. “And that’s Alana. You saved us, didn’t you?”
Again, she stares at us curiously before nodding.
Elio turns to me. “She is not evil, Alana,” he explains. “She is a nixe, a water creature. They are said to only be a danger to those who are evil.”
“You were the one singing?” I ask quietly.
The nixe nods. She is oddly fascinating, in a way only a mythical creature can be, both ugly and beautiful at the same time.
“Their songs have a certain effect on humans,” Elio explains further. “In some horror stories, they are said to lure little children into the sea and kill them.” The nixe hisses at his words, and Elio makes sure to reassure her. “It’s just stories,” he says. “I know you aren’t evil. The woman who raised me, she knew one when she was younger. She told me all about them.”
The creature swims closer again, reaching out her arm so that her fingers reach the ground of the cave. There, she draws something into the dusty ground.Magy.
“Magy,” I recite. “Wait… Maggie!”
“You were the nixe she was talking about!” Elio exclaims. “Lorelai!”
The nixe presses her hand on her heart, tears filling her eyes.
“I am so sorry,” I say quietly. “Yes, Maggie passed on.”
Lorelai nods, her lips quivering slightly.
“Lorelai, we can talk about everything,” Elio says. “Maggie was so important to me too, and there is not one day that passes without me thinking of her, but…” He glances at me.
“You brought us here to save us, right?” I ask.
Lorelai nods before moving her wet finger through the dust again. She draws the ocean and then a single island, then an arrow leading below the island. So, this is the only place she could have brought us. We are not in an underwater cave; we are actually on land! Well, technically. Now that I look around a little closer, I can spy a path leading from the entrance of the cave deeper inside the island, and probably either to the surface or to an underground system of tunnels.
“So, you say, we should just get to the surface of the island and…“ I pause when I see her horrified expression. She presses her hand against her mouth and shakes her head. “Are you saying it’s not safe up there?”
Lorelai hurries to draw more into the dust. Little stick figures that seem to symbolize humans or shifters…
But humans, living here?
Then she draws birds flocking around them. “Wait a moment!” I gasp. “This is the place the birds are coming from! This is where the curse spreads from.”
She nods.
“And there are humans here, meaning our theory was correct… Following the birds will lead us to the base of the enemy.” I pause. “Probably the cult.” I brush through my hair in agitation. “I can’t believe this; we are in the enemy’s lair.”
Elio just keeps staring at me. “No way,” he mutters.
“What are our alternatives?” I ask. “Lorelai, could you… could you maybe take us back?”
Lorelai looks at us; worry all over her face, before she draws a monster with tentacles into the water. “By now, we unfortunately are well acquainted with that one,” I say. “Say Elio, I never really asked, but is it usual for this creature to be so close to the shore?”
Both Elio and Lorelai shake their heads.
I gaze at the water-woman. “So, the cult, or rather the evil people here on this island, they are responsible for it being around?” When Lorelai nods, I decide to spin my thoughts further. “The creature was lured closer to the shore so that no one would come close to the island by accident, but also to distract the dragons.”
