Page 32 of Beneath the Desert Bloom
Then he barked again, sharp and piercing, and launched off the deck, tearing across the yard, yipping and growling like he’d just spotted a demon in the brush.
“Shit—Miso!” Lauren scrambled to her feet, water sloshing violently as she tried to climb out of the tub. She grabbed a towel and bolted barefoot toward the dark. “No no no—Miso, come back!”
But Miso was already charging into the darkness beyond the deck, yipping furiously at something neither of them could see.
Then, a massive shape moved in the trees. Not a coyote, not a human, not anything they could name.
It wasn’t loud, but it was huge. A shadow breaking the line of Joshua trees, too tall, too still, too alien.
Lauren screamed.
Miso barked like his tiny life depended on it.
Nora rose slowly from the water, steam trailing down her skin like smoke. Her heart beat fast, but it wasn’t fear. It was recognition.
She knew that shape.
Her fingers gripped the edge of the hot tub. Water lapped against her bare thighs, cooling now, forgotten.
He was there.
He’d come.
Lauren stumbled back, grabbing Nora’s arm. “Did you see that?! What the fuck was that?!”
Nora opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
The shadow disappeared, like fog, like dream logic. Gone before it had fully formed.
Miso came skittering back, tail down, ears flat, whining.
Lauren scooped him up, breath hitching. “Nope. No. Absolutely not. I’m not staying out here in the fucking open! This is how horror movies start.”
Nora finally looked at her. Really looked.
Lauren’s pupils were blown wide. Her hands were shaking.
And Nora’s skin? Still warm. Still humming.
He hadn’t come to hurt them. He’d come because she was here. Because she’d called him without meaning to. Because he couldn’t stay away.
“Maybe it wasn’t dangerous,” Nora said quietly.
Lauren wheeled on her. “Are you kidding me?! That thing was huge! Like eight feet tall! It was watching us!”
Nora didn’t answer.
Lauren stared at her for a long beat.
“I’m going inside,” she muttered, and turned away.
She hurried across the deck, dripping wet, clutching Miso to her chest like a talisman. “Please, Nora, come on!”
“I’ll just shut the tub and be right in.” Nora got out of the tub and grabbed a towel, drying herself off slowly while staring into the dark.
The night felt alive. She touched her thigh. The mark there still tingled.
“You saw me,” she whispered.
