Mutante: Chapter 8
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
It took a grueling hour of constant hurry with nary a moment to talk to get back to the path. They had to go around another flock of glass jellies, a deep ravine with giant rock eels poking their noses out of the hole, and another crab demon—not to mention that the killer whales followed their progress the whole way, siren-plants screamed at them from all directions, and Robert spent the whole time hacking away at kelp leaves that tried to cocoon them.
Rosie’s arms had long been aching when finally the kelp parted in front of them and they could suddenly see more than two feet in front of themselves. The water stopped buffeting them, too. She blinked at the empty space. Was this the real path, or had she led them into another trap? Keeping one hand firmly on Waterdancer’s saddle, she surveyed their surroundings. Kelp leaves beat against the border of the path, but came no closer; it was as though they were walking through a tunnel of safety with currents, monsters, and kelp all screaming to get at them from the outside.
“Let’s rest for a minute,” Rosie said. She shook out her arms, and so did Robert, though he did not re-sheathe his sword.
“I’ve never seen the forest so hostile!”
“Neither have I. It was as though everything conspired against us so that we wouldn’t reach the path.”
Robert grimaced. “It’s getting more dangerous. I’m not sure we should continue.”
“We should be fine as long as we stay on the path,” she disagreed.
He looked away. “I—you were right. If I hadn’t been so determined to prove myself heroic, we wouldn’t have left the path. It’s my fault.” He gave her an awkward smile-grimace. “Thanks for saving me.”
“You’re welcome.” She hesitated. “I couldn’t have left anyone out there either. I just—it sounded like a siren-plant to me. But I could have been wrong. If someone really had been out there, they would have been glad to be rescued.”
He coughed. “Well, I think I’ll be trusting your instincts from now on. You certainly found the path for us. I didn’t think it was possible without that compass of yours—and I didn’t know how we’d find a second to look at it, what with us being surrounded on all sides—but you got us here anyway. Thank you.”
Rosie blushed. “I didn’t think I could find it either, but well, it just felt like it was over here.”
“You just keep listening to those instincts.” He turned in a slow circle. “I guess we know it’s the right path,” he said, pointing towards the many creatures ramming the invisible barrier.
“I guess so,” she said, the shakiness spilling down into her tail. Now that they were out of danger for the moment, she couldn’t hide the tremors that tore through her.
Robert studied her. “Hey, are you ok?”
Rosie nodded tightly.
“Nothing got us,” he said soothingly. “The path is safe, right?”
“R-right.” This was the path, she reminded herself. Though she had been fooled before, this one felt more substantial than the other had. And there was a—something that she couldn’t quite explain to herself, a friendliness, to the path that had been absent on the other path.
Rosie cleared her throat. “Well, shall we continue? The sooner we deliver supplies, the sooner we can leave the forest.”
Robert ran a hand down Waterdancer’s neck. “You ready, Waterdancer?”
The seahorse whinnied tiredly.
This time Robert assiduously kept Waterdancer to the center of the path. Maybe he finally believed her that the path was safe, or maybe he just didn’t want her too stressed about it. Either way, Rosie was glad that she didn’t have to throw herself into the outside world to save him again.
As they continued along their tunnel of safety, the water outside grew darker and darker, the kelp clustered around the “walls” even more thickly, and wailing surrounded them on every side.
Rosie had only encountered a siren-flower a few times in her life; clearly something had happened to the forest. Finally, finally! the path began to rise and eventually shifted from its usual ocean floor to the stones Grandma Essie used for her permanent path around the house. Not far now.
A stone archway rose up in front of them, and she sighed in relief. They were here.
Robert pulled Waterdancer to a stop. “The path just ended,” he said with a frown. “Where now?”
“Through the archway,” Rosie said.
“Archway? I don’t see any archway.”
With a huff of annoyance at his antics, Rosie pointed to the stone archway that stood only two tail-lengths from them. “Right there. It’s dark, but it’s not that dark.”
“What are you talking about?” He held up a hand. “I can’t hardly even see my hand through this murk.”
Rosie frowned. “Really? Must be some kind of magic.” She let go of Waterdancer’s saddle and swam over the archway, cautiously poking it to see if it was just an illusion. Cold stone met her questing fingertips. She put a hand through the open archway without a problem.
“Rosie!” Robert called. “Where are you?”
For a second, Rosie considered just swimming through the archway and leaving him and his seahorse behind. No more having to convince him. No more trying to explain magic. No more endangering someone else . . . . Maybe he would turn around and follow the path safely out of the forest. More likely, though, he would simply stay right there, or worse, venture off the path in an effort to find her. The idiot.
“Rosie!” he repeated, a note of panic entering his voice.
She sighed, calling herself every kind of fool. At least Grandma Essie would probably scare him off. Her nastiness was the stuff of legends. “Right here,” she called back. She swam over to him and took his hand. “Follow me.” she said and tugged him to the archway and then through it.
He blinked. “I could have sworn there was a cliff there.”
Rosie shrugged. “Probably just another illusion Grandma put on her house. Or maybe something Aunt Rina cooked up. I don’t know.”
“Wicked,” he said in awed tones. “That’s really cool. I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
“You don’t know much about magic, do you?”
He gave her a sour look. “From Vana, remember? No witches, either good or bad, out there.”
“Right. Well, anyway, we’d better get to the house.” She glanced towards Waterdancer. “I don’t think he’ll fit inside. You can probably leave him on the front porch, though.”
“On—”
Rosie pointed to the small porch her Grandma had installed “all the better to keep people waiting.” She swam to the door and rang the bell next to it.
“Sometimes she takes a while to answer her door. I usually wait here for about fifteen minutes. Annoying, but it’s not exactly a good idea to enter a witch’s house without being invited in.”
Robert swallowed hard. “I can imagine.”
To pass the time, Rosie examined the yard as best she could. Kelp was plastered against the yard’s borders as well. Really, if the archway hadn’t been there, she doubted they would have been able to get into the yard, let alone the house. And some of the kelp was off—growing in shades she had never seen before: virulent green, deep purple, sky-blue, sunfish-yellow. An underwater rainbow—one she suspected might not be healthy to chase. Hopefully, she could just drop off the supplies and go back home. If Grandma and Aunt Rina were upping their feud to more than just their usual tricks, she didn’t want to be anywhere nearby.
“I’ve never seen kelp like that,” Robert said, a speculative gleam in his eye. “I wonder if it’s even more potent than the usual magical kelp. It would probably fetch a pretty penny.”
“It probably would—but then you might be responsible for someone’s death,” she said flatly. “It’s magic kelp of a new variety. You have no idea what it might do! Magic isn’t a toy—it’s too unpredictable!”
Robert twitched. “I suppose so, but still . . . .”
“Or it might kill you to just touch it,” Rosie continued. “We’ve already had several near-death experiences today. How about we leave that for another day?”
Robert turned away from the kelp and began trying to see through the peephole. “It has to have been fifteen minutes. Are you sure your grandmother knows we’re here?”
Rosie sighed. “I don’t think it’s been fifteen minutes, but we can ring the bell again.” As the bell echoed this time, though, she felt a prickle of unease, as though something less than friendly had just turned its attention on her. She surveyed the yard once more. Was the unfriendly thing out there?
Inside seemed safer than out in the open, so she knocked roughly on the door. It swung open, apparently unlatched. Rosie bit her lip.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Robert said in a hushed voice.
“So do I,” she agreed. “But what else can we do? I have to find my grandmother. If you’d prefer to stay out here—”
Robert shook his head vehemently. “Are you kidding? I will not leave you out here! There could be something inside.” He drew his sword. “Let’s go find your grandmother.”
A/N: And now we’re finally at Grandma’s house! Any guesses on what’s inside? 😉
Thanks for reading and engaging! I thoroughly appreciate it since this story is a bit out of the box for me.
I’m still looking for a beta. If you’re interested, please PM me. And if any of the rest of y’all notice something that can be strengthened, please let me know! I always want my stories to be the best they can be. Plus, I want to keep growing as an author 🙂
See you on Saturday!
