The Darkness Within

•Chapter 21 - Lake•

And so they did it.

Lily was the diversion, she ran around the tree a couple times, while Jacob climbed it. The Erumpent followed her until she saw Jacob dangling from a branch, so it laid on the ground beneath him.

Lily had never been a very active person. All of this running had made her blood race through her veins. She didn't know if her forehead was wet form sweat or from the previous splashing from the Erumpent in the Seal's habitat.

"Climb up!" Jacob told her, extending his hand down. That caught the animal's attention, so Lily did her best to climb the tree as fast as possible. She could barely believe she was on a tree, and she didn't have much time to admire it, because suddenly, she felt the power swirl inside of her. It was hard keeping it under control with all the rush and the adrenaline. "Are you okay, Lily?"

Lily nodded, but she obviously wasn't. She sat down on a branch and leaned against the trunk. Her breathing was fast and she could hear her heart beating against her ears. Jacob knew she wasn't alright. Maybe she was allergic to the musk?

"Newt!" Jacon yelled.

Suddenly, he slipped. Jacob fell to a lower branch, meaning he was only about a foot higher than the Erumpent's paws dangling in the air.

Just as Jacob saw Newt coming in the distance, the beast got up on its feet and, for some reason, poured its venom.

"Come on," Lily whined breathlessly. She knew exactly what an Erumpent's fluid did ; it made things explode. The beast itself watched as the lower trunk of the tree exploded and both Jacob and Lily weren't sent falling, along with the tree, onto a frozen lake.

They started running away, and when Lily looked back to see if Jacob was still there, she spotted Newt not so far away. How easy his life looked like form their perspective.

Although Lily was pretty confident on ice, Jacob wasn't, and neither was the Erumpent, who had fallen and was now sliding towards them.

Jacob was now also on the ground, and as Lily ran back to help him up, Newt apparated between his friend and the beast, opening his case up as it absorbed the creature.

And just as the Erumpent was able to lick Jacob's face, Newt locked the case, closing the animal in.