At that, the hairs rise on my arms, and I shiver.“Okay, well that’s beyond horrifying.”
“And all the while they whistle an eerie tune, and you slowly die listening to them feasting on your suffering.”That last bit from Knox seems entirely unnecessary, because I was already terrified, and I grimace, thinking about the nemins coming for me.
“That’s enough, Knox,”Thane growls, and I’m grateful for it because I don’t want to hear any more.“When dealing with a hollowing, one of the strongest nemin in the group acts like a leader of sorts, and is usually the last to appear after the other nemins have secured their prey. None of them feed until the leader is present. We need all members of the hollowing for the games, because without the leader, the nemins would struggle to hunt as a united group. The moment the last nemin is in view, we’ll work quickly to capture them.”
The air cools yet again, the icy breeze picking up, brushing against the trees, and teasing my hair. I get the strange sensation of cold fingers tugging at my clothes, ruffling the black feathers woven into the material that bands across my chest. When I blow out a breath, a cloud materializes before my lips, and I wrap my arms tightly around myself.
“Okay, well let’s just hope we can get this over and done with. I am officially freaked out now, so I guess we shouldn’t need to wait much longer.”I laugh nervously.
“It’ll be over soon,”Raith tells me. There’s a rustle in the trees, and he adds.“Fuck. What was that?”
I sit up straight, getting a bad feeling even though from his comical tone I’m pretty sure he’s messing with me.“Nice try, guys,”I say with a weak smile.
No one replies, and the forest is eerily quiet.
“Guys?”I hiss, my heart starting to pound harder.
Still nothing.
My heart’s racing now, and I frantically scan the tree line, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of my mates, but I don’t spot them.Relax Shade, I’m sure they’re still out there. They’re just trying to make sure you’re properly terrified so the nemins turn up.Logically, I feel like that must be true, but telling myself that doesn’t stop me from being afraid.
“Guys!” I hiss again, my voice shriller this time. When my mates are using their shadow whisper power on me, my voice is hushed, but this time, the word echoes around the clearing, bouncing off the massive trees. I snap my lips shut, hating how that one word is penetrating the quiet around me and disturbing the forest.Crap.My breathing quickens, the air so cold my lips go numb, and then it starts.
A low whistle weaves through the trees, the crisp sound reaching my ears. Dread pools in the pit of my stomach as awareness prickles down the back of my neck, and I get the feeling that someone orsomethingother than my guys is watching me.
I squirm against the rock, wishing I was anywhere but here.Just remember, if it wasn’t you, it would be someone else,I tell myself. But right now, I’m not feeling very noble. No, right now I feel like an idiot, and my legs twitch as I fight against the urge to run. Not that I would know where to run to anyway. I’d only get lost in the forest, and knowing my luck, probably run right into the lair of another shadow monster. Pretending to be brave, I stay seated, my body tight as I fight against my flight reflex, even though my instincts are telling me to hightail it out of here.
“Please don’t let me die,” I mutter under my breath to the guys, but my voice is still not being masked, and that only makes this so much worse.
The whistling becomes louder, and the cheery tune grates against my ears. It sounds wrong. Everything about it has warning bells clanging in my mind.
“I swear, if I die a horrible death today, I’m going to find a way to haunt you all,” I threaten under my breath, my teeth starting to chatter from the cold. I wonder then what it would be like to turn into a soul wandering the shadow realm. It sounds pretty boring, but I guess as a soul there wouldn’t be any sense of time. Would there? I mean, would I even know who or whereI was? Or would I be like a zombie ghost simply aimlessly wandering around?
The whistling grows louder until I’m sure I know the direction it’s coming from. I clench my eyes shut because if I see what’s coming I’m going to scream, and I’m still trying to be brave.
Just when I think I can’t resist opening my eyes, the forest falls silent as the whistling abruptly stops. A strange floral scent mixed with the smell of rotting flesh assaults my nose, and tears prick at my closed eyes.Calm down, Shade. You have your big girl pants on, remember?Except I really don’t. I’ve never been the brave one. At least, not that I can remember.
Something stings my leg, and I snap my eyes open, horrified to see there’s a tiny wooden dart jutting from my skin. Warmth radiates from where the dart has hit me, and instinctively, I try to reach down and remove it.
Only…my hands won’t move. My fingers tingle, like tiny needles are pricking my skin.Oh, crap. I’m freaking paralyzed.
My face still has feeling, but the rest of my body has become completely useless to me. I try to move my arms and legs, but I’m stuck in a seated position against the boulder, with my legs stretched out in front of me. Fear and panic flood my system.No. No. No. Why did I agree to this?Glowing eyes penetrate the tree line in front of me, and if I hadn’t needed to pee before, I definitely need to go now.
Five strange little creatures step out into the moonlight, moving away from the cover of the trees, and I’m not sure what I expected, but this isn’t it. The skin of their small, wrinkled bodies is an ashen gray, and their limbs are gangly and childlike as they walk toward me on two legs. They’re different heights, with the tallest nemin being around 3 feet high. They have white claws on their hairy hands, and their round, sunken eyes seem comically large for their bald heads. Two slits are situated wherea human’s nose would be, and when they smile, their thin, pale lips stretch from one side of their faces to the other, revealing rows of pointed, decaying teeth.
They’re dressed in layers of moss and bark, and tiny white flowers have sprouted over their clothes. The flowers jiggle and shake as the creatures move toward me, and honestly, in their own way, the nemins are kind of…adorable. One of the nemins sneezes, and a cloud of shadows appears before its mouth like a puff of smoke.
The sound reminds me of when a puppy sneezes, and stupidly, my fear eases a little. That is, until one of the smallest creatures on the right licks it’s lips with a furred, black tongue and starts to sing. Following the tune of the whistling from earlier, its high-pitched voice fills the air.
A tasty morsel, we can see,
Delicious, not vicious, for us to eat,
We hope it screams, we hope it begs,
We will slowly devour it until we’re fed.
The tune is surprisingly catchy, and when the tiny nemin finishes, it blinks at me innocently, like it wasn’t just singing about torturing and eating me.
