Page 184 of Song of Her Siren

“Find her, Gordin,” the creature bellowed. “And bind her with a tau stone.”

I kicked and screamed when a rough hand grabbed my ankle, dragging me through the mud. My vision had returned enough that I could discern a winged man with a melted face bent over me, a necklace in his hands. Whatever this tau stone was, I couldn’t let him put it on me. Energy flew from my hands, knocking him across the cavern. He landed with a crunch before sliding down the wall.

Clutching the doll to my chest, I stumbled to my feet. I had to get out of here. I had to find those children and make sure they were safe. I saw the creature with the spindly fingers bent over what looked like a well with a stream of mist flowing from it. Strange.

The portal, an inner voice whispered.Close it.

And though I felt the urge to obey the voice, I didn’t want those creatures to attack me again. I stumbled back, my chest aching as I struggled to move through thick mud that coated the floor toward a pinprick of light in the opposite direction. I had to get out of there.

A war cry rang out, and the creature with the spindly fingers Gordin had calledMistressmoved toward me, floating above the ground as if she was a spirit ascended from the crypt. “You will not escape me, witch!”

I fell onto my bottom as she reached for me with those talon-like fingers. “Help!” I screamed, praying for a higher power to intervene.

A thousand pinpricks of light swarmed the mistress, swirling around her face in a cyclone. What were those things? She swatted at the lights with a snarl. “Get off me!”

The lights tightened like a noose around her face, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream when they wrapped around her eyes. The creature with the melted face pulled himself up, his wings pinned behind him while he watched with a wicked grin as his mistress’s eyes were burned by what appeared to be fireflies.

I stumbled to my feet, only to be knocked down again when the floor shook with great tremors. What was happening?

The fireflies fluttered away in a stream toward that pinprick of light in the distance. Both creatures fell to the ground when what looked like a monstrous snake made of sludge slithered out of the well of mists.

“Indus worm!” Gordin cried out. “The Darkness has found us!”

“I can’t see!” The mistress sat up, frantically rubbing her eyes. “Kill it, Gordin!”

Gordin backed up, flattening his wings against the wall.

The giant worm rose high above the mistress, its massive head scraping the top of the cavern. Eyes glowing as red as hot coals, saliva dripped from its sharp fangs and sizzled when it hit the ground. It reared back with a roar, then slammed its open maw on top of the demon mistress, swallowing her in one gulp.

Too terrified to move, I clutched the doll to my chest, gaping up at the creature as it reared back its head again. Suddenly, a child appeared in my arms.

“I’m here, Mommy,” she said, moments before the monster came crashing down.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Shiri

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