Girl Enchanted (Book 2 of The Girl Trilogy) (9 page)

But, at once, I was pulled back by a
sudden force. It felt like a strong wind had grabbed hold of me and
my entire body retreated backwards through the air and away from
Shaul.

I heard a duel of Latin spells and
enchantments alternate back and forth from Shaul to Aver. I heard a
crying baby. The sounds stopped. My mind spun as the windy force
released me abruptly into Aver’s arms.

I heard angelic voices in the sky
above, “Unholy, unholy.” A million stars trailed through the
morning sky in the shape of a serpent in the firmament. “Unclean,
unclean.” I felt the power of energy pour down upon us in
defilement.

A part of me wanted to be right where
I was, enraptured by Aver’s touch. His hold was strong and self
assuring. It felt right. “Unholy, unholy.”

I turned away and threw my head into
my hands. My hair was wild and messy, falling over my
shoulders

“
Unclean, unclean.” The
voices were beautiful, deceiving.

“
Stay with me, Cordellia,”
Aver begged. “I need you.”

Even in the chaos of the moment, his
words touched me deeply. He needed me. But, then my mind cleared
and I remembered he was the Devil. Was I crazy to fall for his
deceptive seductions? Surely he did not need me. I struggled to get
away. To my surprise, he didn’t fight, and I broke free from him
relatively easily as I fell to the ground.

I heard Shaul’s voice. He called upon
the spirits from the dark side and to my great astonishment, a huge
round smiley face lifted above Aver and me. It was laughing
maniacally. What a strange machination. An absurd horror. I looked
up at the red emoticon, fierce in the sky, and saw it inhale deeply
then suck Aver up into its mouth and shake him by the head like a
rag doll. The smiley face spit him out and burped.

My heart nearly split when I saw Aver
lying lifeless on the ground. I screamed out like a crazed girl,
“What have you done?” My voice was hoarse and raspy as I looked
over at Shaul.

He came toward me, but I ran away not
knowing where I was going. I just wanted out of this world. I
stumbled forward, tripping over a rock. My chest kept rising and
falling uncontrollably as I thought of Aver and how I would never
see him again. He was dead. As much as I logically wanted it so, I
couldn’t live without him. He was me. I was him.

With that recognition, I tumbled off
the cliff. I didn’t even bother to command my wings open. Instead,
I just fell head first into the glistening lake.

To my surprise, the water was cool and
refreshing. I was relieved in a sense to be back in my natural
habitat. My sheer white gown tore away from my body without effort
as my legs transformed into a sleek red fish tale.

Again, I noticed that my vision was
enhanced beneath the surface of the lake. For a second, I had
forgotten that that had occurred the last time. The surroundings
looked crystal clear with sparkling bubbles of air from my fall all
around me. I swam deeper toward the enormous light that shined so
bright in the distance.

The music in my mind was soft and
melancholy. I knew the sadness I was hearing in the rhythms was
because I was separated from my soul mates. Both Shaul and Aver.
But, I told myself I didn’t care because it was the only way I
could swim onward. I couldn’t care. It would be the death of
me.

My mind ached of mental torture. I
felt like my heart was splitting open at the thought of Aver’s
death. Oh, how could I care so much about the most evil serpent of
all time? He was such a horror. In truth, he was the manifestation
of all that was bad in the world and yet I yearned for him with all
my heart and all my soul even though I hardly even knew him. And
now I would never see him again. Oh, just stop thinking, I told
myself.

My thoughts made me feel crazy. I
mean, how could I care for someone I just met? The only
rationalization I had was that when a person finds their soul mate,
the draw is irrational and all encompassing. It’s like the force of
the soul draws to the other. The yearning to be one in perfect
unity is a power greater than logic.

I was swimming rather slowly because I
didn’t know where I was going and I hardly cared. The light was so
bright before me and I didn’t want to swim into it like I did the
last time with Shaul. The energy had been too intense for my
physical body and I burnt up into nothing. It had been such a
shock. I didn’t want to go through that again. I wanted peace and
serenity. I wanted to go some place I could relax and gather my
thoughts.

A school of many carp swam before me
and past. At first I was startled, but I shouldn’t have been. There
was plant life floating in the water of this bottomless lake. I
should have expected to see fish as well.

The carp seemed to know where they
were going, so I decided to follow them. They were moving parallel
to the light. We were pretty deep within the lake at this time. I
wondered what could possibly be off to the side of this bottomless
water source.

I followed the fish to a forest of
water willows. The long, thin stalks rose up from a floating plot
of land that looked like an island wading under the water. Before I
reached the mass of earth, I saw that it was neither attached above
or below but seemed to be held in place somehow by the force of the
light far below.

At first I hesitated in following the
carp through the willows, but they seemed at ease as they wove
through the thin stalks. It seemed safe enough, so I proceeded. I
felt a strong sense of curiosity at what lay ahead.

The forest was dim now that the light
was beneath us and partially blocked by this underwater land mass.
I could see light in the distance through the willows, so I
presumed that the island likely ended breaking way to the
brightness.

The willows continued on for quite
some time and I started to get nervous. It was hard to see ahead
through the denseness of the forest. We had woven in and out
through so many of the plants in varying directions that I wasn’t
sure if I could find my way out on my own now.

The music in my mind was spooky. It
had an ominous feel that was inexplicable. I felt very far away
from Shaul and Aver now, far away from the community, far away from
my mother, far away from Telly Belle. This was what I wanted. This
was good.

My long hair caught on one of the
willows and pulled me backwards. I stopped to untangle it, but it
was wrapped around tightly. Then I saw something rush past,
something dark and shadowy. It wasn’t a fish, but an entirely
different entity. My body tensed as I felt it brush over my
tail.

9

I whipped my head around to see what
had just brushed against my tail. It was an astonishing creature,
dark and transparent like a shadow. I backed away from it.
Adrenaline rushed through my body.

Staring me in the eyes, the creature
waded in the water before me for a second. Though its figure had a
shadowy quality, its head was in the form of a goat and its body
was shaped like a cat.

It hissed at me. I tried to move away,
but my hair was still tangled in the willow. At once, it jumped on
me and scratched my arm and chest with its claws. I twisted around,
struggling to throw the thing off of me, but it kept switching from
a physical, tangible form to an immaterial shadowy figure. Just
when I thought I got a hold of it, my hands slipped through it. And
that happened over and over again.

I was in a frenzied panic. My body was
bleeding from the scratches into the water and I couldn’t get the
creature off of me. I was thrashing around so much that my tangled
hair ripped away from the willow.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t break
free. I screamed with all of my might, bringing a loud musical roar
into the lake. To my utter astonishment, the sound vibrated through
the being. I saw the sound waves like light shaking in patterns
within its essence. It released its claws and shook uncontrollably
for a minute in convulsions. Then it swam away in
fright.

I was shocked that I possessed such a
power over the ethereal. My mind began to reel. What was that
horrifying creature? Where did it come from? But, as my thoughts
spun around in my head, the blood flowed out of me in a red
cloud.

I was ok. I had several scratches on
my arms and chest. They were only minor wounds, mostly surface
scratches and shallow piercings, but I was afraid of what other
creatures the blood might attract.

Now, after the attack, I considered
turning back. The carp were gone by now and I didn’t know where I
was. If I retreated, I might get lost trying to find my way back. I
had followed the fish through so many twists and turns, I didn’t
really know where I was. Maybe I would find my way, and then again,
maybe not.

When I looked back, I saw that the
forest of willows was dim and gloomy. It looked so thick and
endless. I could spend hours trying to find my way off the
island.

But, when I looked ahead through the
plants in the direction that the creature swam away through, I
could see light. I wanted to know what was there. I really didn’t
have anything to go back to if I retreated. I wasn’t ready to face
Shaul now that he killed Aver. And the community was after
me.

My curiosity got the best of me, so I
swam through the willows in the direction of the light. I wanted to
find a place of refuge. But, ultimately, I wanted to find a home. I
was tired of all my struggles. After the U.S. Economy Crash, the
world had become a despairing place. Now that I was a josephine
maybe the best place for me to live was within the lake. Maybe I
could find a home just ahead, parallel to the light.

The music in my mind was more
pronounced under the water, so I reasoned the lake was where I
belonged. Even though I was part faerie, the music in Aurora
Springs did not hold the same intensity as beneath these waters.
Yes, somewhere within this underwater world was where I belonged.
But, where?

As I moved ahead, I noticed a
flickering light in the distance. It looked like some kind of light
atop an industrial building. The other light sources that blended
together from afar now came into clearer focus. From what I could
see through the willows, it appeared as if there were multiple city
lights. Was I swimming toward an underwater city?

My curiosity propelled me to swim
faster. The blood from my arms and chest trailed away from me as I
swam. Some of the willows slapped against my tail as I rushed
through the dense brush. As I approached the far edge of the
forest, I paused and hid behind a cluster of high reaching bulbous
plants while I surveyed the sights before me.

It appeared as if I had come upon an
industrial development. There were rows of plain brown buildings
set on a level clearing. Light posts were intermittently lit along
the dirt paths lining the building fronts. The largest building
that looked like a warehouse had a flashing light on its roof that
reminded me of the lights on top of old fashioned police cars that
I had seen in dome cinema movies.

I didn’t see any signs of life around.
Aside from the industrial lights, the city showed no signs of
occupancy. I wondered how in the world this town could have been
built underwater. I had never heard of people creating such
structures in the depths of a lake. But, here they were before my
eyes.

My curiosity got the best of me. I
couldn’t help it—I had to explore this setting. What could possibly
be inside of these buildings? Were they simply empty and abandoned
structures? No, that couldn’t be. Somebody was manning them because
the lights were lit. My mind raced with questions.

I decided to swim around the back of a
row of small buildings. If anyone was around, I figured they would
be less likely to notice someone in the back hidden away from the
light posts. The warehouse peeked my curiosity the most. It was the
biggest, so I assumed it was the main building and would likely
hold the most important materials, if any materials at
all.

There were three back doors and one
double door that was wedged partway open. With the back exit set
ajar like that, I got the feeling that someone or something was
inside working. Maybe whoever was in the warehouse was in the
process of moving things out and that was why he or she left the
doors insecure.

To my relief, the blood seemed to have
stopped flowing out of my arms and chest. I hid on the side of the
building behind some stacked up, empty aquariums, cages, and
medical cargo. The aquariums and cages were of a variety of sizes
ranging from the size of my hand to the size of a whale. Now my
curiosity was even stronger. What could these apparatuses be for?
Though, I admit, I was frightened, I just had to know. A part of me
feared that maybe I had come upon something top secret.

I wanted to sneak into the warehouse
so badly, but I tried to control myself and wait to see if anyone
would come out. But, every minute felt like an hour. As I waited, I
tried to figure out who could have built these structures and why
did they build them.

Whoever erected these buildings must
have known about the huge, overpowering light deep within the lake.
I reasoned that the light or the use of the light must somehow be
connected to this project. At this point I couldn’t fathom how or
why, but I was determined to find out.