Chapter 13

Avar

" A var! Where are you?" Maddy's voice rang with panic, shooting alarm through me too.

"I'm here." I stepped closer to her. "I didn't go anywhere."

"Oh, thank God." She pressed a hand to her chest, releasing a long breath. "I thought I lost you." She turned around again. "But where here? I can't see you..."

I stretched both arms and tentacles in front of me, but I couldn't see either of them. There was only the wet sand of the beach in front and under me.

"Fuck."

"What is it?" Maddy's voice shook. "What's happening to you? Are you okay? Are you really here?"

I was there. Sadly, the only proof of that to her seemed to be my voice.

"I'm completely invisible, right? There isn't even an apparition of me, is there?"

She shook her head. "Not that I can see."

As a human who came from the world that believed in my existence, Maddy would sense my presence better than anyone else in Nerifir. If she couldn't see me, no one else would.

"We're going back." I turned around toward the portal, wading through the water that didn't even stir around my legs.

In this world, I was less than air. When air moved, it made waves. Yet I couldn't stir a single drop.

"Do we have to?" she asked from behind me.

I stopped and turned around, realizing that she didn't move from the beach.

"Maddy, sweetheart, let's leave, now," I coaxed gently.

She rotated between me and the light from the monastery that obviously tempted her to enter the forest.

"We're here already. The place is right there." She gestured at the light. "It'd be a waste to just turn around and leave."

The horologe was almost literally in arm's reach. Tingles of anticipation ran through me in a swell. Few things were more exciting than that moment of taking possession of something no one else could ever have.

Except that I was about to lose someone who had become far more precious to me than anything I'd ever had. I was prepared to lose her by honoring our deal and giving her what she wanted. But I refused to put her in harm's way, even for the sake of her own happiness.

"It's not worth it, Maddy. What if someone attacks you? I can't even scare them away if they can't see me."

"Who is going to attack me?" She spread her arms wide, pausing to let me listen to the stillness of the night. "There's no one here. I have a knife in case of an animal attack. And if a nun happens to be mean to me, you can roar at her. Visible or not, you have enough growl in you to terrify an army."

Displeasure rumbled in my throat, and Maddy giggled .

"See? That snarl right there is enough to send anyone running for the hills."

The stubborn woman wouldn't move from her spot, dead set to get what she came here for. In this world, I didn't even have arms or tentacles to grab her and drag her to safety.

"I'll be careful," she promised sweetly, with the smile to which I found it increasingly harder to deny anything. "At the first sign of danger, you'll start yelling and roaring, and I'll run back here to the portal right away."

Unlike many portals between the worlds of the River of Mists, this one never closed. The way back to safety would remain open for her. I scanned the dark woods that surrounded the beach on the border between Sarnala, the kingdom of werewolves, and Olathana Ocean, where the sirens reigned. I listened carefully. The surf in the bay wasn't too strong, but its measured swishing against the sandy beach drowned out any other sound.

I read that werewolves had driven all the dangerous predators out of these woods. No animal could stand against the packs of blood-hungry werewolves afflicted by Moon Madness during the night of the full moon.

On a night like this, when the moon was still growing, there was little danger in this remote area from either animals or people.

"All right," I gave in, joining Maddy on the beach. "We'll proceed until the first sign of danger."

"Deal." She beamed, and I would've given any priceless thing from my collection for the ability to kiss her right now.

After putting her boots back on, she entered the woods, and I stayed close, scanning our surroundings. The surf stayed behind us, and the usual sounds of the night forest filled the air. Rustling of leaves in the breeze. Small animals scurrying in the underbrush. The occasional hoot of an owl in the distance .

"It doesn't look that much different from our human world, does it?" Maddy mused. "If one doesn't look too closely, that is. The difference is in details. Like those puffy yellow mushrooms, for example." She stepped around the ring of kibia mushrooms with their yellow cups spotted with bright orange dots.

"Don't touch them," I warned. If eaten, the mushrooms had a devastating effect on werewolves' shifting cycles. It remained unknown whether they carried any harm to humans, but I wasn't going to risk Maddy's life to find out.

"I'm not touching them," she said quickly. "I'm not here to explore, just to get the horologe and go back home."

"Good girl," I approved.

I wanted to give her what she wished for the most—her freedom. But not at the price of her health or her life.

For the first time in my existence, the desire to give overpowered the urge to possess. The realization struck me into a stupor. I stopped, unable to move my invisible limbs.

For me, the prize in our deal had never been the horologe, though I had to have it now in order to close our bargain and give Maddy her freedom. But the true reason I made that deal was Maddy's tears. I realized I'd do anything in my power to never see them again.

Her happiness had become the biggest treasure for me, bigger than even the pleasure of having her in my possession.

She moved ahead meanwhile, muttering something about the glowing moss that grew on the trunks of the trees in the forest.

A crunch of a twig under someone's paw or...a foot jolted me with alarm.

"Maddy." I rushed after her. "Listen—"

Two men slipped into her path, like shadows emerging from the forest .

She froze, startled.

I didn't care who they were or even what intentions they had. They were strangers, and that was enough for me.

"Back off!" I yelled. "Maddy. Run!"

She spun on her heel. One of the men grabbed her from behind. She squeaked, crushed in his grip.

"Let her go!" I roared, crashing into him.

The burning need to annihilate the bastard raged through me. I grabbed for him to tear him to pieces. But my hands came empty. My punches met no resistance. And my threats had no effect.

The asshole held Maddy from behind.

"Let me go!" she screamed, kicking her feet.

A kick landed on his shin. He cursed, releasing her from his hold. The moment she tried to run, however, he drew his sword and aimed it at her neck.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"Who are you?" The other one stepped behind her, blocking her way back to the beach.

"Don't you dare touch her, you fucking pricks!" I raged. "You cursed blobs of slime! If so much as a hair falls off her head, your heads will roll. I'll feed you to the sirens and their pet sharks."

"Are you a spy for the rebels?" one of the thugs asked Maddy calmly, as if I hadn't spoken at all.

"Did you not hear what I said?" I roared. "Leave her alone!"

The pale moonlight colored Maddy's brown skin with silver, making her look almost like an apparition herself.

"I don't think they can hear you..." she said, her voice breaking off, her eyes opening wide in horror. "Only I can."