Page 49 of Choosing Jenny
Evening light shone ahead, where the two quarter moons glowed faintly against the lavender sky of Halla. Their light glittered across the Diamond Sea, making it sparkle beautifully. The mesmerizing evening sky was something to be savored with my loves, not a scamming con artist, but life had other plans.
“Nothing good,” he answered me, fidgeting yet again. The closer we got to the island, the more he shifted anxiously in his seat. “They’re vicious things.”
“How do we defend against them?” Omen asked.
She had joined us in the cockpit for the trip, hoping to avoid the lovebirds. Surge and Sam were in the lounge alone, grateful for some time together. When their chatter had turned from words to soft, intimate laughter, I had turned off the lounge comm and hoped they shut the door.
“By dodging them entirely,” Gram replied. “There is no fighting the Vulavi. You know how they claimed their island, right?”
Omen shook her head. “The holy texts don’t say anything about them.”
“Right, and you wouldn’t want to read anything aside from your holy texts,” he teased.
“They must really spook you if you’re stalling this much,” she volleyed right back.
Gram rolled his eyes but relented. “Fine. Their island was originally a small mining colony, around two hundred years ago, before the Vulavi took it over.” He was quiet for a beat. “Took it overis a genteel euphemism. It’s what some of the history books say about them, but that’s not what they did. Not really. If you can find the forbidden histories, copies of them that Justice couldn’t destroy during the war, there are drawings from the only survivor of the massacre.”
My stomach turned. “Massacre?” One of my least favorite words.
Gram nodded and went on. “The forbidden histories say the survivor went mad after he drew them, something about reliving what had happened to his coworkers. I’m not sure he truly survived at all, considering. I’d rather be dead than mad.”
“Go on,” Omen said quietly.
“The Vulavi are sadistic beasts.” I didn’t miss Gram’s slight shudder. “They eat whatever is around them that isn’t Vulavi. The living, the dead, it doesn’t matter to them. They aredevourers. And they like to share their still-squirming meals with each other.”
I swallowed hard, considering that’s what we were about to confront. “How do you mean?”
“They have long snouts full of half-sharp teeth, so the one with the dullest teeth will clamp around the head of their meal to subdue them, while the others will take their time to eat the limbs. Sometimes, they fight over the torso, where the meat is supposedly the sweetest meat.”
I nearly gagged. “That is…”
“Useful to know,” Omen said with a straight face. “Please continue.”
“They are short—shorter than Surge. They’d probably come up to his waist at most. But their bodies are long and laid out like a dreck. A long, barbed tail, four legs. They aren’t particularly fast on land, but they zip through water. It’s said that drownings in certain parts of Halla are actually Vulavi attacks, and no one ever sees it coming.”
“And we’re going to steal their eggs?” I asked, mouth dry at the thought.
“Technically, we’re going to steal theirholy treasure,” Gram said, his tone morose. “The Vulaven Eggs are not how they breed. They give live birth. The eggs are said to be eggs laid by their goddess, Vulaven. They are kept in the rear of the cave on the island to keep them safe from people like us.”
“They think the eggs are…what? Sacred relics?”
Gram nodded. “They believe one hatched and gave birth to the first Vulavi. So now, each one is treated like an unborn sibling. But really, the eggs are just ancient crystalline formations, smoothed and rounded by time. Priceless, yes, but not actual offspring.”
“So, they’re ignorant, that’s good,” Omen said, thinking out loud. “What about the island itself?”
“Primarily, it’s a rocky wasteland. Covered in sand and their huge dead-ended cave. The island had been green and beautiful before the Vulavi came, but they ate everything down to the dirt.”
“How do you know all of this?” Omen wondered.
“There was an expedition of scientists who tried to study them after the miner incident,” Gram said. “Some lived long enough to share what they learned. Some didn’t.”
I frowned. “If they ate everything down to the dirt, what do they eat now?”
“Anything in the sea around them. Birds foolish enough to land there. Any ship crews that wreck in the rocks around the island.”
“So, they’re probably pretty hungry, then, right?” I hated that my mind immediately went to that, but I couldn’t stop those morbid thoughts.
“They’re always hungry,” Gram confirmed. “And the bad news is, their population is estimated to be around a thousand, all living in that cave. The good news is, they are very hard sleepers, and they are diurnal, and we are going to arrive at night when they are unconscious. It’s the only thing we have going for us. That, and the wall paths.”
