“Do you two want to go to the dining hall? You can stay here if you’d prefer. I’m sorry if things haven’t been comfortable here for you,” Ben said. Brandon frowned and looked over at me in thought.
“Caspian will be there?” Brandon asked tentatively.
“As soon as he’s done with his calls. I told him I was going to get you two for lunch.” Brandon frowned, stomping over to me.
“You want to go or stay here?” He asked.
“Let’s go,” I said. I needed to get out of this cabin or I was going to go insane. If I wasn’t already insane. Makwa was doing a thorough job of getting me there. Ben led us to the dining hall where lunch was being served up. It looked about the same as breakfast with aluminum buffet trays filled with food. There were about ten people milling about, filling up their plates and eating. We quickly followed suit.
Ben stayed with us, sitting across from us at the table with his own food. He spooned up a big pile of greens. Brandon and I dug into cornbread, both of us eyeing the people eating. They’d seemed really interested in us before but now they didn’t pay us much mind as they quietly ate. Perhaps it had just been Caspian that drew their attention then. He did have a huge following.
“Kill him,” Makwa whispered. I swallowed down a big spoonful of baked beans and looked up at Ben.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the contract,” I said, trying to think of normal life. I couldn’t imagine going camping around the country right now. I was ready to go home.
“Yes, I imagine not,” he responded, setting his spoon back down before eating any. His hand came up and he mindlessly tweaked the end of his mustache while he watched Brandon and I eat.
The woman at the table behind ours abruptly fell forward into her plate of food.
“Is she okay?” Brandon asked, jumping up immediately and running over. He tilted the woman’s head to the side and moved the plate out of the way. Ben didn’t move at all. His pale eyes slid to me and I felt unsettled by his lack of concern.
Suddenly, another man fell over. He tumbled out of his seat, sliding to the ground. Brandon looked up in confusion. Another person laid their head down and then promptly fell asleep.
“You might want to sit down,” Ben told him. Brandon's face transformed into an angry snarl. He launched himself towards Ben, leaping over the table to grab his shirt. He threw a punch, his knuckles making impact on Ben’s jaw.
Ben didn’t seem to have expected any of that so it took him a second to start fighting back. He bared his teeth, his eyes flashing in anger as he pulled back and punched Brandon in the face. They went to the ground, scrambling around, grabbing and punching.
“Find Cas,” Brandon spit out at me. I got up from my seat but when I did my vision spun and blackened. I slammed back in the seat, leaning over the table to keep from falling to the ground. Brandon was barely fighting now. He threw a punch but it was far too slow. Ben smacked his arm away then rolled Brandon off him before getting up from the ground.
“You bastard,” Brandon spat, trying to crawl towards Ben who was walking towards me. Brandon gripped his ankle and Ben looked down at Brandon like he was shit on his shoe. He pulled his leg back then kicked him in the face.
“Stop,” I said with a weak voice, my eyes growing heavy.
“Precious girl,” Ben said, turning back to me. “I’m going to make you a goddess.” I pressed my forehead to the table, unable to keep it up any longer. All of a sudden darkness pressed forward, Makwa barreling himself into the front of my mind and attempting to take over my body.
His raspy laugh spilled from my mouth growing louder and more maniacal but my body still wouldn’t move, even with him straining to do it. Finally the laughter stopped and I gave one long, slow breath before my eyes closed and I passed out.
18
My consciousness felt weighed down, rising slowly out of an empty, dreamless sleep. I was somewhere between asleep and awake, drifting down a river. My mind began to imagine that’s where I was, the New River that day we all rode our floats down languidly, the sun warming my face. I felt peaceful and tired.
It had started such a wonderful day, Caspian admitting he liked me, the memory of our first touches still humming across my skin, and the anticipation of sex a potent energy in the air between us. His bandmates were raucous with laughter and we were all having fun. Each one of us was bursting with life.
Just that night it would start to change. That hadn’t happened yet though. It was just a group of young adults burgeoning, our dreams still right there in our hands.
I could hear the lapping of water against rocks. I could hear the far-away laughter of the band. The splash of water and roughhousing was muted like a pillow was over my head. I felt Caspian’s fingers find mine, lacing them together in the water as we continued to float. I smiled, opening my eyes to see him.
Unlike that day, the sky was dark and shadows were wrapped around the trees along the bank like blankets. Caspian was a nokken--large alien eyes sucking me in and his lips puckered over what I knew to be a hundred needle teeth. The fingers in my hand felt like the soft, thick skin of a seal instead of human skin.
People were standing around the shore and I looked over to see hunters with shadowed faces, brimming with sick desire for violence. A creature rose up from the forest, black moth wings wide, red eyes glowing down on us. The weight of his presence was a loud white noise in my head again—my tolerance for him completely gone.
The laughter had dried all up and when I looked around I saw the floating bodies of Caspian’s band. They had colorless complexions and skin peeling open on wounds that no longer bled. I felt sick to my stomach.
Where was Brandon? The question brought panic. I eyed the floating corpses one after the other, cataloging the gray skin and gaping bloodless wounds—on Matthias’ neck, on Grady’s head, an arrow jutting from Simon's chest.
Where was Brandon though? He didn’t die. He was alive. I felt anxiousness clawing up my intestines. The hunters on the side of the river were wading into it now. Loren’s eyes were covered with a ball cap, his hand gripping a pickaxe, and a vicious smile etched into his face leering at me beneath the brim of his hat. Blood drenched half of his face.
“Where’s Brandon!” I tried to scream but my voice was barely a whisper. Caspian was gone I realized, my hand empty and his float bobbing around with no one inside. My eyes slid to the body floating beside it, Brandon’s green hair fanning out as brown leaves edged the side of his face. The blue of his eyes was pale gray, facing up towards the black sky. His face was lax of all its normal anger and chaos.
