Page 106 of The Silent Mountain
She stares at the water. “There is something in there.”
“Probably one of the sea monsters. I am assuming they got attracted by the darkness of the evil,” Stefan points out.
“No, not a sea monster,” she says, her eyes widening. “Look, Your Highness.”
I follow the direction she is pointing at, my eyes meeting the head of a person, half underwater, with only the eyes peeking out. Is this a woman?
“It’s a monster,” Theodor blurts. “We should get rid of it.”
“Yes,” some of the men yell. “Maybe that’s what got the monsters coming at us!”
Before I can react, Favia suddenly takes over. She has never done that before, not without my consent. “Wait!” she commands, glaring at the warriors, before she turns to face the creature in the water. “Hello,” she says with a smile, getting down on her knees. “What do we have here? A nixe?”
The creature slowly comes up. It’s a woman but also a water creature with a fin and sharp teeth.
“Don’t be scared,” Favia says softly. “No one will hurt you. I am here, and you can sense what I am, can’t you?”
The water-woman nods, swimming closer. She opens her mouth, cooing something.
“She is talking to us, but I am not sure what she is saying,” Favia mutters, before handing my body back to me.I apologize for acting so rashly.
No, it was good that you acted so fast,I say.I wanted to stop them too. Once this is all dealt with, I will need to have a talk with the warriors about not killing at first sight. Although, I get why they are so distrustful.
I turn my attention to the water woman, noting how she eyes me skeptically now that Favia has retreated. A breeze brushes past us, making me take up her scent. As expected, she smells like the ocean, but also like…
“Alana,” I breathe out. “I can smell Alana on you. Have you seen her?” I ask, lowering myself to my knees to be on eye-level with her and to not scare her by towering over her. “My mate! She has red hair.” I gesture for long hair.
The woman swims closer, her hand dashing out of the water, pressing her finger into the sand, and swiftly drawing the body of a woman, then she draws a brooch—the one Elio gave her—and the figure of a young man.
“Elio and Alana!” I exclaim. “You met them.”
She tilts her head and nods.
“They are alive, aren’t they? They are not hurt?” Erin helps me by asking the one question I don’t dare to ask.
The woman nods.
I look at her, letting my fingers form a heart. “This is what they mean to me,” I say. “They are everything. Where are they?”
The woman draws an island into the sand, and birds surrounding it. They are in our enemy’s lair. As I predicted! Someone wants to get rid of Alana, as much is certain to me now. “Can you take us to them?” I ask the sea woman. “Please, take us to them.”
The sea woman dashes backwards and into the water, making my heart sink to new depths, before it starts beating again as she comes up once more and waves at me. “She wants us to follow her! Everyone, prepare to follow our new friend!”
*ALANA*
Elio and I move at a snail’s pace, so as not to make any noise. Both of us press against the wall, trying to move carefully. I don’t even dare to breathe too loudly. I have trained for stealth missions back in my home pack, but this here is different. It’s real life, and somehow I can’t stop my heart from beating in anxiety and fear. This is a room full of rats under dark magic. One wrong step and we could have that disgusting army of rats after us.
The other side of the room, with our escape route, is inching closer slowly but steadily, and I am almost starting to feel relieved, when I can hear a rumbling sound. It’s low at first, but still makes the blood in my veins freeze.
Elio and I stop in our tracks, both of us looking up at the same time. I just can’t believe our terrible luck! There, right above us, the edge of the wall seems to be brittle, small stones loosening and rolling downwards. It’s just a couple of them at first but from experience I know this could be a fucking landslide.
More small rocks tumble down towards us.
The squeaking of the rats momentarily stops, making my heart drop to new lows. I gaze to my right where the horde has gathered, my gaze meeting several red eyes.
Fuck!
Grabbing Elio’s arm, I drag him forward. “Run!” I yell at him. “Run, run, run!”
