All she had to do was reach out to the creature. Let it talk to her. Not think about the Noctuans crying in the woods.
The Noctuans crying in the woods.
The thought of hearing their wails again nearly made Nyssa forget how to walk. If she let the serpent in, she might let them in too. Their songs from nights before filled her memory, and she forced her feet to continue on, one after the other.
By the time they reached the end of the jetty, her teeth were chattering.
Face red and heart numb, she turned to both Lex and Nadir.
"Stand back in case she doesn't listen to me."
Nadir and Lex exchanged a glance, but they both nodded and waited back. Nyssa took the torch, continued to the edge, and stuffed the long stick between two rocks. The amber light bounced off the dark water.
Her eagle landed on her forearm and gave her hand a nip before tugging the end of her sleeve and urging her back.
"I know," she whispered. "But I have to do this."
A confused chirp left him, but he didn't tug on her arm again. Instead, he flew into the air, and she knew he would be circling above her.
She didn't even know where to start.
“Nyssa, what’s wrong?” Lex called.
“It’s nothing,” she said quickly. “Give me a moment.”
The Ulfram howl filled her ears, and that fear of hearing their cries again made her chest tighten. She dropped to her knees and closed her eyes in an attempt to just feel out into the ocean and keep the Noctuan cries as distant echoes.
Her hands hugged behind her neck, and she pushed her core out into the abyss of black.
For a moment, nothing happened. Nyssa could feel her own hesitation to let anything in. Body trembling at the thought of being back in that raging darkness she'd found herself in with the dragons.
She could still hear the Ulfram in the Forest.
Nyssa rose to her feet and shrugged her boots off.
"What are you doing?" Lex called out.
"Going in the ocean," Nyssa replied as she tossed the shoes behind her.
"Bad idea," Nadir cut in.
"Nyssa, it is dark. You cannot see," Lex argued.
"I can't hear anything," Nyssa snapped.
Lex's face paled, and Nyssa saw the realization of what was wrong rise on Lex’s face.
"What do you mean you can’t hear anything?" Lex asked slowly. "As in you cannot hear the creature because it is below the water or—“
"I cannot hearanyof them."
Lex's chest visibly caved, and the color drained from her face. “What…You pushed them out?Is this what you've been hiding from me?"
"What was I supposed to do?" Nyssa argued. "They were screaming in that Forest. Crying because of him—because ofher. Pushing that pain into me and looking for answers. I couldn't..." Her voice trailed, and she stared at the ground. "I'm sorry."
The words had barely left her lips when she started forward and pushed between Nadir and Lex to head back to the beach. A tear fell down her face, but she wiped it away forcefully, determined to hide in the darkness for the rest of the night and possibly the whole of the next day.
Maybe the next month.
