𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐒; neteyam

CHAPTER NINETEEN

NINETEEN

"as long as I've got you, I'm not afraid to die."
-pretty boy, the neighbourhood

THAT ONE RED blinker haunted her. Everywhere Namaoyi looked, every Tulkun she met, always held the same fate - its life held in that one blinkers hands.

They all jumped up on its skin, her and Neteyam, Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk. Even Tsireya was there, everyone working together to try and pull the blinker out of its skin. Even with their height and their strength and their amount, the stick didn't seem to budge.

While Lo'ak called his dad, Neteyam and Namaoyi tied a rope around it. The boy climbed back on his ilu and commanded it to swim away, pulling the blinker away with it. Namaoyi helped pull it away, kicking it and wriggling it as it smoothly flew out of the Payakans skin.

She laughed, looking down into the Tulkuns eyes. "A life for a life," she whispered thankfully, running a hand down its skin before she looked back to Neteyam.

"Go that way!" He shouted, pointing in the direction away from the boat. "I'll throw them off."

Namaoyi coughed out a splutter. "What? No, no you cannot do that!" She shouted, diving into the water beside him to hold her ilu. "Let me do it."

"Mao, please. I'll be right back, you'll barely even notice I'm gone."

"I always notice when you are gone," she whispered, her voice low as she stared into his eyes. He sighed, before reaching towards her to brush away her wet hair.

"I love you," he smiled before he sped away before she could catch him. She groaned, looking between Neteyam swimming away and the others speeding in the other direction. She didn't know what to do, so she followed her heart, and chased after him. If she'd chosen to follow the others, would it have ended any differently?

She couldn't see him, so she followed the trail the ilu left in the water. She weaved in between plants and underwater trees, hiding behind giant leaves when certain machines maneuvered past. She was fine, slightly worried, yes, but safe, until she wasn't.

It was when she caught sight of the Neteyams ilus tail, her sight being distracted as she let out a grin, before she felt herself being pulled back.

She looked behind her worriedly, seeing a machine holding onto her ilus tail. She let out cry, holding tightly onto its neck as she tried to calm its racing nerves as it flooded her body, but the machine yanking her animal once more threw her off - literally.

She watched, floating through the water alone, as her ilu was dragged away. She couldn't even will the tears to go away, them slipping through her eyes to mix with the already salty water around them. And it wasn't even the worst of it, as she watched the ilu struggle in the machines grip. She couldn't even help.

And that was when the worst of it happened, right in front of the girls very eyes.

Her ilu was stabbed, the point of the arm slicing right through the animals skin until it was poking out the other side. It bled, letting out a horrific, unforgettable squawk, as its life withered away.

One hole.

Namaoyi widened her eyes, parting her lips to let out a scream. All that came out were bubbles, therefore saving her from being seen or heard by the machine tearing her ilu apart. She span around in the ocean, desperately swimming through the water before she came across a mushroom-like plant. She swam inside it, moving up until she hit the air pocket. It was all she needed to suddenly break down.

She cried, tears running down her cheeks like racing cars, as she pushed herself onto the plants walls. Her lower body stayed in the water, her elbows leaning against the plants skin, as she sobbed into its soft exterior. She merely watched it happen, and although she knew whatever she did would have made it ten times worse for both herself and her animal, she couldn't help but feel an extreme, unbearable amount of guilt.

She only looked away, clearing her eyes of tears with a rub of her hands, when she heard it returning, scanning the ocean floor for her. She watched the machine move around within her sight, unknowingly passing right beneath her as it swam about through the plants and leaves. She took one last deep breath, telling herself to hold it together until later - if there was a later - before she swam back out of the plant and opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was the people she'd chosen not to follow. Lo'ak was clinging to a net, clawing at its threads, as Tsireya and Tuk panicked from inside it. Namaoyi widened her eyes before powering towards them, grabbing onto the other side of it as she tried to help Lo'ak free them. She had to, even if it was the last thing she did.

Namaoyi and Lo'ak were still trying to get the two girls out when the net was lifted above the waters surface, drawing them closer to the boat. It was just as Namaoyi let go with one hand, moving it so she could get a better grip on the slippery net, that Tuks foot slipped form beneath her. It made contact with Namaoyis stomach, pushing her back, and letting her fingers unravel from around the netting. She let out a shout as she fell, the three people watching from the net as she fell back to the water. They weren't that worried for her, more worried for themselves, before they saw another machines claw reaching out to her.

She grunted as her skin was grasped by the machines hand, dragging her towards the ship just as the others were dumped on its hard surface. She landed on the cement with a groan, writhing on the ground as she struggled to gain her breath back. She was winded, badly winded, from her back colliding with the rusting metal of the mechanical claw so suddenly. She had expected to hit the water, floating beneath its surface as she watched her friends be taken by the sky people above. What she had least expected was to join them after already having fallen.

Lo'ak, Tuk and Tsireya were all tied up on the other side of the ship, watching with frightened eyes as Namaoyi twitched on the ground across from them. She was too far, way too far, for them to reach her, even if their hands weren't tied behind their backs. All they could do was watch, just like she'd watched her ilu, as Quaritch moved closer to her and stared, leaning over the poor, struggling girl.