Sounds dulled to a low drone, and I realized it was the blood rushing through my ears.
The bottom of the spring was bright and alive. Nix’s incantation made all the aquatic life bloom. Purple and pink seaweed grew so fast, it was like I was watching a sped-up video. Underwater moss and lichen stretched out across the rocky floor, moving with the power of her magic.
I closed my eyes and focused on the heat rising in my chest. Nix’s magic, too, was working its way through my body. But just as it was filling me up, it began swirling…going down, somehow.Like a black hole was dragging Nix’s magic out of me.
The manananggal was fighting back.
I tried to do something, focusing my own power on controlling it to my will, but like before, my talent abandoned me.
My lungs burned for air, but I didn’t want to give up. I had to keep trying. I put my hands to my chest, willing Nix’s power in, but whatever was inside me fought back even harder. The hole in my chest was getting bigger.
Behind my closed eyes, I could see Nix’s magic darkening as the monster consumed it, like it was desperate to fill the emptiness with whatever it could get its hands on.
It was then that I realized…I was hungry.
The edges of my vision turned red, like my eyes were filling with blood.
You think you can get rid of me so easily?
The voice made me spin around.
There, floating in the pool right in front of me, was…me.
I nearly screamed. It was like staring into a mirror. Same flowing dark hair, same heart-shaped face, same smile.
But her eyes—myeyes—were different. They were all red. Vicious, cruel, horrible.
The manananggal. This had to be a vision. This couldn’t be real.
You can’t kill me. I’m you,she said. Her smile was wicked and hungry. Her teeth turned into fangs.
My chest heaved, begging to inhale. My heart raced. Panic seized me like a cold fist.
The more you try to fight me, the stronger I get.
As she spoke, more blood filled my vision. She was changing,right in front of me, and so was I. She was making me. Like with her reflection, when she moved, so did I. I didn’t have any control.
Her smile split wider; her hands turned into claws. I didn’t want to watch, but she made me. Her claws moved down to her hips, and her tongue lolled out of her gaping mouth. I matched her movements. Her fangs looked needle-sharp. She laughed when she began to twist her torso back and forth, back and forth, separating herself from her legs. Pain ripped through my own stomach as she did. Muscles, spine, intestines—
No, no, no!Bubbles burst out of my mouth, and I screamed. But I wasn’t just screaming. I was laughing, too.
Just then, a hand plunged from the surface and grabbed my shirt, and I broke out into fresh air, sputtering and hissing.Amador.
I’d made it out, but all I saw was red.
I distantly heard Amador screaming and then felt a cool hand on my forehead.Nix.
I swiped out with my claws before everything went black.
The next second, I blinked, and I was lying on my back at the edge of the pool. I was me again, not a monster. Nix’s magic must have triggered my transformation somehow, but she had stopped it.
Amador and Nix were collapsed on either side of me. Nix panted heavily, her hand still on my forehead, and stared at me with wide, wet eyes. Amador, on my other side, was gasping for breath. She’d dragged me to the shore but slipped on the mud and fell next to me. She’d ruined her dress doing it.
“Did I…” I looked at my hands. There wasn’t any blood on them, but I couldn’t be sure what was real. “Did I hurt you?”
Both Amador and Nix shook their head. “You were turning, though,” Nix said. “We had to pull you out.”
So it hadn’t worked. My heart sank. I sat up and looked out across the spring. I needed to see ifshewas still in there, if she’d been real after all. But I knew, deep down, that it had all been in my head.
