Dead Water

by Tim O'Rourke

  “I’ve heard that in some parts, that’s called blinking,” Gayle said.

  “I like that,” I smiled back at her. “Okay so we can blink but we can also do this!”

  With a quick and sudden shake of my shoulders, I released my wings and shot into the air. I hovered above them, those claws at each tip snatching at the air. “We own the skies; the wolves don’t,” I said.

  “So we can escape quicker than the wolves,” Alice said.

  “No,” I said. “Any army that controls the skies wins the war. We can look down upon them. We can see where the wolves are. Where they are heading, how big their number is, and we can strike from above before they even know we are there. And with our ability to blink, we can change our formation instantly. The wolves won’t know which way to turn. They won’t know from which way our attack will come.”

  “You make it sound like we are going to war,” Peter said, looking up at me hovering above their heads.

  “Not war,” I said, dropping slowly out of the sky and settling on the shore again. “An intervention.”

  “What’s that?” Alice asked.

  “This world has been pushed,” I started to explain. “This world is run by wolves. They have overrun the humans and bent them to their will. They are matching with human children and are slowly destroying them. If we do nothing, then the humans will no longer exist. In the world I grew up in – the world I came from – that was called genocide.”

  “What do we care for the humans?” another of the half and half’s spoke up.

  “Do you not care that human children are taken from their parents, driven out in the night and held captive in prisons masquerading as schools? Does it not frighten you that these children are chosen to be matched with wolves, and those that aren’t are sent back to their homes, towns and villages, turned dumb so that they cannot speak of the horrors they have seen? If we stand back and do nothing – regardless of the fact we are not humans – then we may as well join the wolves. Because to sit back and do nothing, is as bad as taking part. But each and every one of us gathered here now are only able to do so because of the blood that has been shed by the humans. If it wasn’t for the blood spilt into these Dead Waters – then we would be dead also. We are not human; you are right about that, but the best part of me – the part I cherish the most – is my humanity. The ability to love and be loved – to offer kindness and understanding – those are the things I want to define me. All those qualities make us different from those wolves. And I believe we are different because we have been bathed in the Dead Waters. We have the humans to thank for being different to the other wolves. I am proud to be different from the rest. We owe the humans that at least. I, for one, cannot sit on my hands and do nothing – I have to intervene. I have to push back.”

  “I can’t sit back and do nothing either,” Meren said, getting up and coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with me.

  I looked at the group, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Murphy watching me.

  “I want to push back, too,” Peter said, standing up.

  “Me too,” Alice said, joining him.

  One by one, the others got to their feet. And it was as I looked at them all staring back at me, I realised they were looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to say something more.

  “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving,” I smiled back at them.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Potter

  I opened my eyes and went to put a hand to my head, but I couldn’t. My hands were secured behind me. I twisted my wrists and heard the sound of metal chains clinking. I was lying down on my side. The ground was hard, made of stone and covered with straw. It was something you would find a wild animal caged in. The cell stank of piss and shit. I tried to lift my head off the ground to get my bearings. The back of my head throbbed from where I’d been struck. The cell was dimly lit and something about it seemed familiar, but I just couldn’t be sure where I’d seen it before. Slowly, gritting my teeth against the pain, I lifted my head. There was a cell door. The hatch was open and a stream of white light poured in from whatever lay on the other side.

  I slowly turned around on the floor. There was a small bed, the type you get in a police station cell. It was a hard plinth of concrete. Placed on top was a plastic-looking mattress. It looked more comfortable than the floor. Despite having my hands cuffed behind my back, I would have struggled up onto the bed if it hadn’t already been occupied. I could see the shape of someone lying on it.

  “Hello?” I croaked. My throat felt dry and sore. “Hello?” I managed again, wondering if I was sharing the filthy cell with another prisoner.

  The shape rolled over, then swung its feet over the side of the bed.

  “Hello again,” a voice said. It was soft and female.

  Straining, I lifted my head an inch off the ground to try and see who the voice belonged to. My new heart leapt at the sight of Kayla looking down at me from the bed.

  “Kayla?” I gasped. “They got you, too?”

  “No, I’m one of them,” she said.

  “Look, this isn’t the time to start throwing one of your fucking hissy fits,” I groaned. “Just get down here and untie me.”

  “You don’t understand,” Kayla said, standing up. “I really am one of them.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” I muttered, twisting my wrists in their chains. “Where’s Sam? Maybe I’ll get some sense out of him? Doubtful – but you never know.”

  “Sam?” Kayla said, screwing up her nose. “Who’s Sam?”

  I looked at her standing above me, bright flaming red hair and brilliant yellow eyes. “You really aren’t Kayla, are you?”

  “No,” she smiled. Then, shaking herself free of Kayla’s skin, she revealed the wolf hiding beneath.

  “A fucking wolf,” I groaned. “I might have guessed. When am I ever gonna learn my lesson not to trust a bit of skirt?”

  “Potter,” the wolf said, licking its snout with a huge pink tongue. “Oh, Potter.”

  “Who are you?” I sneered.

  The wolf padded towards me on its giant paws. It was covered in a coat of gleaming white fur. A bushy tail wagged excitedly out behind it. I remembered how Murphy had described Pen. Was this her?

  “Pen?” I whispered.

  The wolf cocked its head to one side. “Lola,” the wolf eventually woofed.

  Lola? My mind scrambled through the pain. Lola? Hadn’t Sam mentioned a wolf named Lola? Hadn’t this wolf wanted to match with Kayla?

  With my heart starting to race, I stared into the wolf’s piercing yellow eyes and said, “What have you done with Kayla? Where is she?”

  “We thought you might be able to tell us that,” the wolf barked.

  “Who’s we?” I shot back.

  Before Lola had a chance to answer, the cell door was swung slowly open. A stream of fluorescent light spilled into the cell, momentarily blinding me. With my eyes screwed half shut, I peered up at the figure looming in the doorway.

  “Who’s there?” I snapped.

  My question was answered with a soft, wicked chuckle. The figure stepped out of the blinding light and into the cell.

  “Hello, Potter,” Jack Seth smiled, his bright orange eyes spinning wildly in his emaciated face. “How is my little sister, Kiera?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kiera

  Potter had been gone some time – too long to search for some food. Leaving Murphy with the others, I set off up the shore to look for him. I followed his footprints, until they led away from the sand and into the forest. With the trees seeming to close in all around me, I headed into the gloom. With my eyes seeing through the darkness, I was easily able to follow the marks he had left behind. The broken twigs and disturbed undergrowth were all obvious pointers to the direction in which he had travelled. I made my way amongst the overbearing tree trunks until I came upon an area where the ground had been almost trodden flat. Hunkering down, I inspected t
he ground. The area hadn’t been trodden down, like I had first thought. Somebody had fallen to the ground here. Potter? I wondered.

  Brushing my fingers delicately over the ground, I came across two other sets of footprints. One set was definitely that of a female, and the other, a tall male. Crouching, I edged my way around the track marks, looking for the direction in which they had headed. There was no sign of Potter’s footprints, so I could only assume he had been carried away over the shoulder of the male. The male’s footprints were deeper on his route away from the scene than they were on his approach, telling me he had carried something heavy away with him. Fearing that something terrible had happened to Potter, I jumped to my feet and started off after the footprints. They led away from the direction of the lake and out of the forest. Why would anyone come to take Potter? My mind scrambled. Had whoever taken him come across him by chance? Had he been taken by wolves? Skin-walkers? We had been told by Sam that the wolves no longer lived near the forest, they had all vacated the caves behind the Fountain of Souls and were now in Wasp Water with the Wolf Man. Had Sam got it wrong or had he lied?

  There was nothing here for the wolves anymore. There was only the lake...

  “The lake,” I breathed out loud, stopping in my tracks.

  The wolves might not live here anymore, but what if they knew the power of the Dead Waters? Hadn’t Sam told Murphy that the wolves wouldn’t want us coming to the lake because of the waters’ healing properties? So why then leave them unguarded....?

  “It’s a trap!” I gasped. “We’ve been led into a trap.”

  If they had taken Potter already, what about Murphy and...

  “...the half and half’s...” I breathed, then suddenly I dropped to my knees. Blood trickled from my left eye. This was something which hadn’t happened for a while. Had my body been too much like stone before – unable to shed any blood, needing every last drop? Whatever the reason, it now dribbled from my eye and onto my cheek. Then, just like a flashbulb going off in my head I saw Jack Seth again. Those flashbulbs had been away for too long. Had bathing in the Dead Waters restored that inner ability to be able to see?

  Jack was standing on that stage again. A sea of body parts whizzed over my head and clattered into him. The crowd roared and it was deafening. I clapped my hands to each side of my head and covered my ears.

  Traitor! Traitor! Traitor! The Skin-walkers roared at him.

  But who had Jack betrayed? The wolves? But he was one of them.

  Who did you betray, Jack? I screamed at him over the roar of the crowd. Who did you betray?

  You, little sister! he smiled back at me. I betrayed you and your friends. I betrayed all of you!

  “No!” I cried out, those flashbulbs fading in my mind. Wiping away the blood from my face with my fingertips, I clambered to my feet again.

  Spinning round, I raced back the way I had come, back towards the lake and the others. With my hair streaming out behind me, I clenched my teeth and....blinked...as Gayle had called it. The world became a blur around me as I raced through the trees. Each trunk passed me like a fleeting shadow. I broke through the treeline and onto the shore. Snapping my head left, I could see my friends gathered around the fire someway off along the shore. Then, snapping my head to the right, I saw a throng of wolves silently making their way towards them. They approached with their heads down and bellies almost dragging along in the sand. Their tails protruded like arrows from behind them. Their bodies looked sleek, huge, and powerful beneath the dying moon.

  Turning my back on them, I raced along the shore towards Murphy and the others. Within seconds, I had reached them.

  “We’ve got company,” I said to Murphy, jabbing my finger in the direction of the approaching wolves.

  Jumping to his slippered feet, Murphy barked, “Where’s Potter?”

  “They’ve taken him already,” I said, eyes wide.

  “Then it’s just me and you,” he said, unbuttoning his shirt.

  “And the others,” I said, glancing at the group gathered around the fire.

  “We can’t expect them to fight,” Murphy growled at me. “They’re not used to dealing with shit like this.”

  “We’ve got to learn to defend ourselves sometime,” Meren said, springing to her feet.

  “And now looks like a good time to start,” I said, the wolves now picking up speed and racing along the shore towards us.

  “Up! On your feet!” Meren shouted at the others still gathered by the fire.

  True to their earlier promise, all of them sprang to their feet.

  Realising he was never going to talk Meren or any of the others into backing down, Murphy looked at them and barked, “Form a line!”

  Without question, they stood up along the shore.

  “Wings,” Murphy snapped as the wolves bounded towards us. There was a thunderous beating sound as we all released our wings.

  “Hold the line!” Murphy ordered.

  The wolves were so close now, that we could see the drool spraying from their giant foaming jaws. I glanced to my left at Meren. Her claws and fangs were already out and gleaming brightly. Her hair shone an electric blue.

  “Hold,” Murphy whispered. “Just a few more seconds.”

  The wolves were almost on top of us now as they bounded at a terrifying speed towards us. Sand sprayed up from beneath their vicious-looking paws, and their eyes shone so bright, the light which seeped from them was almost blinding.

  “Now!” Murphy roared, shooting up into the air.

  We followed his lead and leapt into the night, the wolves missing us by inches below. Some of them skidded to a halt in the sand. Others yelped and growled, craning their giant heads up to see where we had suddenly disappeared to.

  “Now let’s kill the fuckers!” Murphy roared, plummeting out of the sky and onto his prey.

  Within an instant, Murphy had snatched one of the wolves off the shore and was slicing and dicing it into quarters with his claws. Entrails and fur-covered lumps of flesh rained out of the black sky as Murphy shredded the wolf. As if spurred on by this, the others dropped out of the sky. With their claws and fangs at the ready, they bit, clawed, and ripped at the wolves below. The wolves fought back, lunging up at the approaching half and half’s with their mighty paws and cavernous jaws. But we were faster – slicker. And just like Gayle had said, we blinked at speed around the wolves. They spun around as if chasing their own long bushy tails as we blinked before them, above them, behind them, to the side of them, all at once. We raked at them with our claws, slicing open their thick throats in violent sprays of black blood. I saw Peter zoom forward, his wings arched high behind him. With his mouth open, he ripped into the snout of a wolf. Then, soaring upwards, he took half of the wolf’s face with him. It dangled wetly from his mouth, then he spat it out. Peter wiped the blood away, then dropped out of the sky once again to finish off the wolf, which now lumbered blindly around on the shoreline.

  I looked down at the sand, which was now covered with so much blood, that for a moment, I thought the lake had completely washed over the shore. Meren raced out of the sky, her claws out before her. In the light of the moon they glistened like a set of blades. A wolf lunged up at Alice as she swooped through the air. Unbeknown to the wolf, Meren was approaching on him fast. Just as the wolf’s mighty paw was about to knock Alice out of the air, Meren had sliced open its back and was soaring away with its spine dangling from her claws. The wolf collapsed into the sand like a pile of fur-covered jelly.

  Behind me I heard screaming. Spinning around in the air, I saw a wolf standing up on its back legs. Its jaws were fixed tight around the ankle of one of the girls. She beat her wings furiously as she desperately fought to stay airborne. The wolf was strong, heavy, and he was yanking her back down towards the ground. With the claws opening and closing on each of my wings, I raced forwards, the wind rippling against my face. Dropping low so my stomach was just millimetres above the sand, I raced towards the wolf. With my arms tucked in
against my sides to give me as much speed and propulsion as possible, I rocketed towards the wolf that had now almost pulled the girl out of the sky.

  As I skimmed past, the claws at the tips of my wings sliced through the back legs of the wolf. With a bewildering yelp, it released its crushing bite on the girl and collapsed. She shot free into the sky, blood trailing from her mauled ankle. The wolf tried to stand, but without any back legs, it rolled over onto its side, where it lay panting, its giant tongue lolling from its wide jaws. Spiralling upwards, I back-flipped, and then raced towards the ground. With my lips pulled back and fangs out, I tore the wolf’s head free from its neck. Fur and blood oozed between my fangs. I let the wolf’s head fall from my mouth and into the Dead Waters, where I spat a wad of fur and blood from my mouth. With my wings thrumming as fast as my heart, I hovered in the sky and surveyed the carnage below me. The shore was littered with disregarded wolf body parts. The last of them were losing their fight with two of the half and half’s.

  Murphy swooped in and hovered beside me. He grunted with satisfaction at the sight below him.

  “They did good,” Murphy said. Then, looking at me, he added, “Now we go and get Potter, Kayla, and Sam back from whoever has them. And when we find out who has our friends, we rip him a new arsehole, right?”

  “Right,” I said.

  Murphy then swooped away from me, and back towards the shore.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Potter

  “I might have known you’d be behind this,” I said, Seth dragging me to my feet. “And to think that Kiera nearly had me believing that there was a chance there might be some good in you.”

  “She told you about me then?” Seth asked, shoving me towards the open cell doorway. “She told you I was her brother?”

  “Yeah, she did,” I spat. “I think she took the news quite well, considering.”