Page 15 of Seducing Scylla
“Then civilization evolved, and humans became more powerful than the gods intended. They developed weapons and strategies that we could not defend against. We monsters did not band together like humans. We are mostly solitary creatures. We did not stand a chance.So, the gods banded together and created this.” She spreads her arm out in front of us in a wave. “A safe haven for us all to live in peace, where humans cannot find us, and we cannot terrorize humans.”
“Except I’m here.”
“Except you are here.” Scylla nods.
“What does that mean then, for Aeolia?”
“I do not know, but it cannot be good.”
Scylla trails along beside me in the shallows of the water, the sand too scratchy for her sensitive tentacles. As we near the first part of the container that is half submerged in the water, I’m reminded of the other containers.
“We should probably check those too.” I point out to the three containers I can see bobbing out in the ocean.
“Let us check here first and then I will have a look, and you will stay here.”
I cross my arms and huff. I don’t particularly want to swim out that far anyway, but I don’t want to be left alone either.
Scylla swims ahead of me to the broken container, ducking in and emerging again before I even reach it on foot.
She shakes her head. “There is nothing here.”
“But Elena was stuck. I went to find something to help lever her out of there. How did she get free?”
“The metal is torn at the back, perhaps someone else got them out?”
“But who?”
“It could be many things. Perhaps the Drakons came back.”
Unease fills my gut, my stomach twisting. “Let’s check the other one.”
I rush over to the other container, the one I was in. Shallow water lines the bottom, but it is otherwise empty as well. I spin, facing Scylla in the water.
“Where could they have gone?”
My shoulders sag in defeat. I was a coward, and now those women are gone. I don’t even know if they’re safe. I think of Elena, trapped, half-submerged in the water, and hope she’s okay.
“It’s all my fault.” I sigh dejectedly.
“It was not your fault. You had been taken against your will; I understand why you ran. You did not want to be taken again. You were faced with strange creatures taking another woman away and you did not want to find yourself sharing the same fate you justescaped from. I do not think the Drakons will harm her. I have not known them to eat humans.”
I balk. Scylla voices everything that swirls around in my head and while it doesn’t make me feel better, I don’t feel worse.
“Are you sure?”
Scylla doesn’t respond, and that tells me everything I need to know. We’re both in unchartered territory here, neither of us really knowing anything for sure.
“I will take you back to my cave and then I will go and check the other floating boxes.”
“I’m probably not going to go home, am I?” I look Scylla straight in the eyes, the realization that I am undoubtedly stuck here hitting home. A mythical island isn’t exactly going to be on any maps for people to look for us. And who would be looking for me anyway? Joe?
“Do you want to go home?” Scylla is quiet, her question tentative.
I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s not like I have anything to go home to, I guess.”
It’s not the answer Scylla is looking for, her shoulders drooping as she turns away from me. But how can I say with my whole heart that this is where I want to be? That I want to be with her as her mate? I didn’t come here by choice, but now I have no choice but to stay. So many choices that are not really choices at all. I kick at the sand as we head back toward Scylla’s cave.
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