Page 110 of The Sea of Zemira (The Zemiran Chronicles 1)

“Oh, this?” His eyebrows shot up as a cynical smile twisted his lips. “No, milady. He did, though. The one who lurks in the forest.” His head cocked. “Wendigos must eat, don’t they?”

She felt her heartbeat pounding in her throat. “A wha—?”

Unexpectedly, a grumble echoed behind Jastris. The boy moved to the side as a skeletal figure slowly crawled around him, extending its long limbs with each step, never taking his eyes off Nola.

Oh, to the Gods, what is this nightmare?She thought.

The grimy paws pressed into the mud making a pattering, squishing sound.

The creature’s bleached bones stuck out through its crusty fur. Its head was the color of burned wood with midnight-black eyes and lips covered in dried blood. The eyes sunk deep into its skull, creating a ghastly appearance.

The siren refused to blink as a subtle, deflated expression flashed briefly over the creature’s features before its lip curled.

Jastris’s eyes burned into hers, leaving no trace of kindness in them.

“Fear him, siren,” he said, in a strange, soothing tone. “He does love the taste of fear.” The boy stepped forward, standing next to the creature. “It is okay to be afraid.”

Nola shook her head but felt frozen. Her mind said to step back, but her legs would not move.

The wendigo’s lips curled further, snarling at the siren girl—her limbs turned to ice—she was utterly horrified.

Nola swallowed down the lump in her throat to be able to speak. “Jastris,” she choked out as the color drained from her face.

“It was genuinely nice to meet you, Nola.” The boy stepped back. “But Prygus has to eat now,” he said, his threat calm and eerie. “He likes it when they run.” He gestured to the forest. “He’ll give you a head start.”

Another thick snarl escaped the wendigo’s bloodied lips. It bared its pointed teeth as its mouth quirked upward, twisting its warped face. As the creature crouched low, the bones on its elongated spine protruded even more from its back.

The wendigo’s features darkened; it let out an ear-piercing screech which sent Nola’s legs sprinting away on their own.

Nola quickened her pace, only to hear the sound of footsteps rushing through the forest behind her. The crackling of leaves was close; panic surged through her veins.

I am going to die.

As the thought left her, she tripped over her dress and stumbled to the ground.

Nola watched the creature leap high through the air. She lifted her hands as it came crashing on her, immediately sinking its teeth into her shoulder.

She screeched at the stabbing pain but willed herself to fight, kicking her legs up to give space between her and the wendigo as it tried to nip at her flesh.

An eerie sound rang out of the creature’s mouth as it grated its teeth. Nola shifted to the right, feeling dizzy from the pain, but kept moving as she felt another bite, that time on her leg.

Her mouth let out a strange noise before her siren call boomed through the swamp. The trees toppled down, and mud shot out around them.

She screamed again, letting off a loud, vibrating blast throughout the forest.

But the noise that came from Nola was not what she had expected—it was foreign—a siren’s sonic scream.

The creature swiftly covered its ears as if the sound of her voice shattered his eardrums.

Nola quickly jumped to her feet and rushed to a thin branch lying on the ground. Anything she could use as a weapon. The creature was still on its knees, its head bent back as it watched her. The ache in her shoulder from when it bit her was nothing compared to the panic rising in her chest. The wendigo watched with its black eyes as she lifted her arm, the stick’s sharp end pointing its way, but she stopped moving towards it when she noticed something strange. It cowered before her.

Is this creature submitting to me?She asked herself, letting out a nervous breath.

Prygus dug its claws into the mud, its head lying low. The dingy-colored fur on its back stood straight—afraid. The wendigo was terrified of the siren.

It did not matter what control she had over that thing; the smell of rotten flesh was still vivid in her memory. She had to get off that cursed land.

Nola looked around the forest one more time before tossing the stick on the ground and dashed in the opposite direction towards the sea.

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