Into the Depths Below

Chapter 7

They were a day ahead of schedule.

A whole day ahead of schedule.

It was almost like a breath of relief yet all occupants of the mansion knew there was no time to relax.

After the afternoon and evening at the Bazaar, Simon and Nadira felt closer than they were before. They also felt refreshed, ready to tackle the new day. Dalathu had received notice that the pair had gathered all the ingredients they needed. The last step was to take the ingredients to Harmony, the Fairy Queen, to have her create and enchant the potion.

It would all end up being easier said than done, though.

Nadira had a nightmare.

She had found herself many thousands of feet underwater. Behind her was a cliff, a precipice of land that dropped off into a deep oceanic chasm below. She was surprised that she could see, considering how deep down she was. The water was clear and bright as though the sun was reflecting right into every single droplet. And yet, what she found below her...

The chasm underneath her was dark, menacing. It almost seemed like the darkness could grow tendrils or hands and drag her down into it. The darkness was still but there was almost an uncanny feeling that the chasm was staring back at her.

A ghostly shiver wracked her body and she refused to stare into the hole beneath her any longer.

When she looked up again, she saw her daughter.

Marina.

At first, all she could do was stare.

Marina was sickly, a hypothermic blue and purple tinted her tan skin accompanying a zombie like shade of grey. She was thin, malnourished. Her daughter was too young to have such deep bags under her eyes and Nadira almost hurt at how they mirrored her own. The young mother sobbed at the deep bruises formed on her daughter's skin, inhaling water as she did so. She did not care, the only thing that mattered was holding her child closely and tightly in her arms.

Nadira swam out to reach her daughter. She gently placed her calloused hands on Marina's shoulders. When she did, Marina opened her eyes.

Instead of their usual amber, they were a bright yellow with stripes of orange in them. Her pupils were large top to bottom of her eye slits, much like those of a lizard. Her unusually colored orbs darted around chaotically before settling on her mothers face. The child's lips curled into a snarl-like smile before her jaw unhinged, latching into Nadiras arm.

Nadira screamed. Her shock had been broken at her daughter's visage and she did everything she could to pry this demonic version of Marina off of her arm. It was proving a struggle as the twisted shadow of her child had her teeth deeply lodged into her arm. If any more pressure was put on her, Nadira feared her arm would break.

Nadira had to make a decision. She punched her daughter with as much strength she could muster in the skull. The action caused the imposter of Marina to scream a horrible noise, making her release her mothers arm. Nadira took this opportunity to kick her daughter in the stomach, trying to make more distance between the two of them. Marina's eyes widened before she broke out into a sinister, ear piercing laugh, disappearing into the depths below.

Nadira treaded water in shock, her arm bleeding like crazy. In her astonishment, she barely noticed the fang still stuck in her arm. The bleeding didn't stop. It tainted the water around her red. She would surely be a hazard for any creatures who were hungry. Any creature would be alerted to the smell of blood right away.

She heard more than she saw the waters around her stirring with life. The once still waters moved and rippled like an underwater hurricane. The rippling grew stronger and stronger until a pair of jaws came careening at her, wide open. She braced herself for impact.