A Taste of Mercy (A Recipe for Disaster Novel 2)

the scattered remains of sanity.

 “What’d you say?” Alex asked with a frown, and even Sebastian hadn’t understood me if his raised eyebrows were any indication.

“Nothing important, don’t worry about it.” I forced myself to sound and act casual, even though I wanted to ask Nikka what was so important about what had just happened.

“You sure Callahan?” Alex asked me softly and suddenly all their care and concern just annoyed me.

“Yes, I’m fine! Would you all stop treating me like I might shatter into a million pieces? I will hold it together until I get my sister back safe and then you can worry that I’ll fall apart.” I fumed and stormed in the direction that Nikka had been taking us. My outburst was childish and I felt ashamed of it almost immediately but they were all kind enough to not call me out on it. I touched the crystal feather at my neck and it throbbed hotly but somehow didn’t burn my neck; and I heard Nikka give a brief groan that was too quiet for the others to hear.

“Cal, please don’t do that. You’re not the only one who doesn’t have much room for error right now, so just please stay calm, don’t focus too much attention on anything and follow me.” Nikka pleaded, letting me hear the weariness in her voice.

I relented and took a deep breath just as I heard another tap come from directly under my feet. I stepped off of the spot and knelt down on the hard surface; the earlier pink octopus had returned and brought a new friend with it. The orange otter from before was replaced by what looked like a puffer fish that had rolled in a bowl full of eyeballs. Each spindly tip had an eyeball on it, each eyeball was a different colour and they were all looking in different directions. Having been on the receiving end of many a good stare down, I thought that I had pretty much grown immune to the feeling of creepy intensity it can cause, but I was wrong because this thing sent my instincts into screaming. I could feel it studying us like we were mosquitoes caught in amber. Two of the eyes were close enough together for me to get a good staring contest going and eventually I crossed my eyes, making the ocular blowfish blink repeatedly.

“A most fascinating creature; and you say it understands our communications?” it inquired of the pink octopus.

“Nikka, we have company.” I called to my current guide.

She knelt next to me and sighed. “Wonderful, only you Cal; only you.”

“What’d I do now?” I hadn’t meant to whine, but the only other person I had ever heard that resigned to be dealing with me was Alex. And I had earned that one on my own, this time I wasn’t trying to be a pain in the ass.

“There are only a handful of ‘torothocatchi’ in this area and you manage to find one within an hour of being out on the water.” She turned to catch the blank look on my face. “They’re cataloguers; humans aren’t usually a common sight in these parts.” That did little to clear things up for me, but she had already started to speak to the eyeball fish rapidly in a language that I thankfully did not understand. After a few minutes of what sounded a little bit like an interrogation, the eye thing zoomed off and Nikka rose.

“I hate to be an alarmist, but does anyone else hear that?” Sebastian asked from the rear. For a moment I had no clue what he was talking about, but then I heard it; a faint crack and the sound of running water with the sharp scent of salt water in the air.

"I do believe that now would be an excellent time to run." Nikka said, all together too calm for the situation. She headed out at a steady jog and we all strove to keep up. Luckily we were about one hundred feet from the shore, unfortunately the surface gave a resounding crack and spilt into large chunks of rapidly dissolving, jagged surfaces. I heard Sebastian hit with a thump, Alex with a splash of epic proportions and I spotted Nikka crouched on a large piece, trying to keep an eye on all of us. I dove into the water and prayed I wouldn't inadvertently drown.