Page 8 of Song of the Abyss

For whatever reason, she was unaware of her surroundings. Clearly, she could see. Her fingers flew in front of her as only a person who could see would do. Could she not hear?

Narrowing his eyes, he tested this theory. As strange as it was, there was a thread in his chest that screamed for him to know more about this woman. He needed to understand her. Why? He had no idea.

Daios knocked off another of those metal containers, listening to it clink and echo as it tumbled across the strange texture of stone and then fell into the pool. Nothing. No reaction at all.

It made him brave. Her lack of reaction only made him want to test this even more. Perhaps that was what made him so unfit for this mission. After all, he was supposed to find a way in and then report back. There should be multiple People of Water wandering through the pipes right now, seeking out the best way to kidnap this woman who fate had handed to him.

But all he had to do was reach out. He could grab her by the waist and yank her into the water with him. But she was still an achromo. Still a monstrous being who he had fought against his entire life. The thought of connecting one of his longer tentacles to her throat? To create that connection so he could breathe for her underwater?

It made him want to vomit.

Still, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling his giant body out of the water. Using his one arm, he lurched forward until he was right behind her. Only his fluke remained in the water, and he knew that this put him in a precarious position. If anyone walked in, they would see him here. They would scream and he would have a hard time getting back in the water before they all arrived with their blisteringly hot weapons that would rip and tear through his body.

But he wanted to know. He had to know.

Daios watched his arm as though it belonged to a stranger. One moment, he was coiling his tail underneath him so he could loom above her. And the next, his good arm was reaching out toward her hair. Carefully, so delicately that surely she wouldn’t feel anything at all, he reached for the clip.

She wore a clear square over one eye, and he could see through it from this angle. She saw something far more than just the world in front of her. Every hand flick was moving something in that glass. Messages, perhaps, but it looked more like a map. Like someone had sent her a map, and she was looking through it at the best way to do... something.

So, this little creature had more plans than he had expected. Perhaps he had been foolish to think she would be easy to capture. She was still the General’s daughter after all.

With a quick snapping movement of his claws, he untangled the clip from her hair and launched himself back toward the pool. But he still watched, and all he saw was the slow motion waterfall of her hair falling out of its confines. He’d been right. It was smooth and so soft as it had fallen across his webs with the barest of touches. Like the finest material he had ever seen in his life.

A precious, golden waterfall that made every muscle in his body tense. He told himself it was because he had to rush away from the stupid thing that he’d done and that she surely would call for reinforcements.

Because she whipped around so quickly that he almost didn’t get out of her way before she saw him. Maybe she did. Maybe she’d have the sense to realize that a dark figure had been directly behind her, and all that remained was the splashing edges of the water and the waves that billowed onto the floor from where she stood.

He’d already darted into the pipe with her clip in his hand and his hearts thundering in his chest. Stupid. What a risk. She’d probably go into hiding now after she started screaming, but... she didn’t.

Daios hesitated, then turned at one of the connectors where he could squeeze his body into a “U” in the tight fit. He couldn’t leave. Not when she hadn’t reacted the way he’d expected. So he returned to that golden light and peered through the water to see her standing there. The water was still rioting from the massive length of his body, disturbing it, but she wasn’t screaming. She was just standing, staring at the water like she’d seen a ghost.

Maybe she had.

Daios bared his teeth in what he was certain was an evil grin. She had no idea that he was coming for her.

A part of him he didn’t recognize unfurled in his chest. A demon, surely, because it whispered words he’d only heard in the darkest times of his life before.

“Hunt her,” it growled in his chest, rumbling through him until he felt his gills vibrate with the sound.

The woman above him stumbled back from the pool at the sound. Maybe she hadn’t lost all her ability to hear. Or perhaps she recognized the feeling that she was suddenly prey.

A predator had entered her home. Now he wanted to see just how easy she was to hunt.

With that feral grin still in place, he tossed her clip out into the center of the pool and waited.

4

Anya

Anya had no idea what had just happened. Her hair had fallen out of its clip and she swore she had felt something very cold radiating against her spine, but that was... insane.

She would have known if someone came into the room. She’d known when that ridiculously rude maid had come in. And she’d heard what the woman said. She had the glass over her eye, and Bitsy was very good about translating any sound that happened around her. So, of course, she knew that her father wanted her to go back and entertain people.

She just didn’t want to go back.

Anya didn’t think she should be required to do anything she didn’t want to. Her father could entertain his guests on his own, without her, and he would be absolutely fine. But god forbid she deny him anything! She was his pretty little songbird. She was supposed to sing when he told her to sing.

He argued it was to keep her safe. She was in danger wherever she went, and he was the only person who could keep her safe.

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