I jumped when a firm hand grabbed my shoulder. “Let’s move!” Usha hollered. We pushed our way toward the other woman. Lyric choked out a cry, and I stabbed at the man with his hands around her neck. He screamed in pain and held the side of his neck. The tall woman recovered quickly and jammed her hairpin into the other side of his neck.
“Summon the ghouls, you idiots!” Father Dave shouted. He staggered to his feet and began dragging himself toward the pool.
Two men broke off from the skirmish and placed their hands on the vines creeping along the floor. The vines lit up like fireflies and sent a wave of pulsing green light down their roots.
“Brie, swing me right!” I screamed and swung Alexis as hard as I could. Her blade cut into the side of the man about to strike me. Cold sweat and panic fueled my movement, and I thrust her forward, trying to gut another cultist running at us. The room shook just before the blade made contact and the lot of us fell to the floor.
The ceiling cracked, sending a rain of dust and pebbles down below. I cursed and jumped up. Trying to make it past our crazy attackers before they could recover. A hand grabbed my leg, and I pitched forward, almost dropping Alexis. Becca recovered her ax from the floor and swung at the offending wrist, cutting it clean off. My stomach rolled at the site of a detached hand still holding on to my ankle.
Putrid reek filled the air, and I heard the loud slam of the doors behind me. “Shit, we’ve got company,” Alexis cursed. “Better put a pep in that step, Brie.”
I chanced a glance over my shoulder to see my worst nightmare realized. Six ghouls burst into the room, followed by even more red cloaks. Their bone maws clacked together as their claws dragged across the floor. I winced at the horrible screech and ran for all I was worth.
Father Dave had reached the massive pool and was chanting some nonsense into its depths. He caught sight of me and hurled himself off the floor with a yell. The magic tree trunks were only a few paces away. I tried to pivot past the madman, but he caught the back of my blouse and used his weight to send us both to the floor.
“You insolent little bitch. Did you think I’d let you get in the way of my immortality?” He sneered. He looked at the water and grinned wide, a crazed glint in his eyes. Grabbing my chin, Dave forced me to look into the raising water of the pool. An ear slipping screech blurred my senses. The gargantuan red creature rose higher out of the water until its body almost reached the ceiling. It screeched again, clacking together its claws. Glowing green vines wrapped around its body and dug under the shell.
“Is…Is that a damn lobster?” I blinked, trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Yet the overgrown crustacean remained.
“Bear witness, girl. The almighty Omus will grace this plane once more. With him, The Order Of The Claw will gain unlimited power.” Father Dave’s face turned blotchy in his glee. “If you and your friends were smart, you would have run when you had the chance. Now you’ll have the honor of becoming the mighty Omus’ first meal.”
If one more fucking thing tried to eat me, I was going to burn the world to the ground. Enraged, I dug my fingers into the wound on his shoulder. Father Dave roared in pain and rolled off of me. “The only thing running from you is your hairline.” I hissed.
“Brie, stab this balding bitch!” Alexis hollered.
The fort lurched again, sending rocks from the cracked ceiling down around us. Father Dave would have to wait. I wasn’t about to be fish food for a damn lobster. The ground shook, and I fought to keep my balance as I darted toward the magic trunks. Aiming Alexis at the first egg like protrusion, I charged forward into the trunk.
Time slowed. Deftly, I registered that I was still holding onto the sword. A far off grounded part of my mind knew I was still underground in some bullshit cult fortress fighting for my life. But that wasn’t what my vision was showing me.
I was underwater. Just an endless sea of water. I tried to grasp at Alexis’ hilt, but there was nothing in my hand anymore. There was nothing anywhere but water. I cried out and my words were swallowed in bubbles. A shiver went up my spine as I felt something move behind me. I whipped around, but saw nothing. Fine hairs brushed along my shoulder blades. My elbow lashed out, connecting with nothing but more water. It was too dark to make out whatever monster was in here with me, but I could have sworn I heard a sigh.
“How disappointing,” a voice groaned.
Chapter 14
Brie
The voice came from all directions. In front of me, I could just make out long streaks of thick hair before it swam further into the deep.
“Don’t bother looking, child. You won’t like what you see.”
Dread sank in my belly like a lead weight. “What are you?” I asked, surprised my voice worked again.
The creature hummed. “I haven’t been asked that in a long time.” Water rushed beneath my feet. I peered down, only to find an impossible number of eyes looking back at me. I screamed and clawed upward, trying to break the surface of the water.
Laughing, the creature swam further away. “It’s no use, child. There is no out. Only here.”
“Well, what the fuck is here?” I cried.
The voice took on a somber tone. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stay long, and you couldn’t even if you wanted to.” Long tendrils of fine white hair brushed against my ankle. Stinging pain shot across my skin as it skimmed past a minor cut from where that cult member grabbed me. “It seems those other humans have done you harm.” An excited gasp filtered through the water and its tone took on a childlike excitement. “Would you like to punish them?”
I shivered, not liking the gleeful way it said punish. “Aren’t you their God, or something?” I stammered.
“I can be. ”
Damn cryptic disembodied piece of shit.“What the hell does that mean? Either you are or you’re not.”
“I am power without a body. My old one was taken away, and I was forced back into the ether to survive. If those fools in red were any stronger, I’d already have another body by now.” The jelly monster’s feelers sank low, as if disappointed. “Alas, good help is so hard to find.”
