Page 52 of Horns & Heart
Chapter19
The giant orange spider drooled on me even as that terrible face filled my vision.And what a big, ugly maw it had.
The gunshot was loud.My ears rang with it.But it wasn’t as bad as the orange spider head exploding in a rain of yucky stuff that I couldn’t bring myself to name.I was terrified and relieved in equal measure for half a second, until the massive body went slack and collapsed on top of me.
“Ah!”
The massive beast hit me in the ribs, and I gasped.Then I went about spitting.I’d opened my mouth, and there’d been gooey, runny stuff all over, and…well.Some of it got in my mouth.
“Fucking hell, you’re high fucking maintenance, aren’t you?”
Vergis.That was Vergis’s voice, and if I’d had the energy to cry with happiness, I would have.
Instead, I managed another “Ah!”after I’d spat out more spider goo.
Vergis was somewhere to my left, his voice nearly drowned out by my thundering heartbeat.Moments later, his tall form loomed above me, horns moist and somewhat sticky with tree sap or something.Who knew what was what in this place.They had giant orange spiders here.
“Get up,” Vergis ordered as he shoved the dead monster insect off me with his boot.“We can’t stay here.”
I lay there and didn’t move.My brain wasn’t following, and also, the panic.The threat was gone, I knew that, but the panic remained.And possibly, Vergis was just another threat.
My body locked me out of the higher functions main office.I froze.I was a bug on my back in the dirt, covered in orangey and—quite frankly—smelly gunk.
“I said move.”What patience Vergis might’ve had drained from his voice.It ramped up the panic all over again.It was surreal.I was experiencing all of it as if I weren’t really in my body, just sort of on the outside, looking in.He groaned.“Oh, fuck me.”
Vergis grabbed my arm and pulled me upright.That I felt, and my whole body launched a strong protest.I felt dizzy, nauseated, my ears began buzzing, and before I really knew what was going on, I threw up.All over the splattered bug.Earlier, we’d had red apples and blackberries we’d picked at the farmhouse the previous day, and that color combo didn’t make the experience any better.
Vergis was hissing out a steady stream of curses as he stepped back so the vomit wouldn’t hit his boots.They were pretty dirty already though, looked like he’d been hiking through the mud for a while.
When I was done being sick, my vision narrowed, and I didn’t feel all there.Vergis dragged me along, much like he’d done before.
“He had to pick you.Of course he did,” I heard him say.“Fucking stupid mate call bullshit.Goddamnit, just fucking lift your feet.”
I felt bruised all over, and I wanted to cry, so I did.“Ink,” I mumbled in between sobs.And on and on.It was getting dark now, and I could barely see where Vergis was leading me.At least his cussing had quieted.
After I didn’t know how long, the forest parted, and we stood at the shore again.It was past sunset, that time when the horizon turned blue and dark purple and sparkly where the stars rose.
Vergis grabbed me by the shoulders.“Listen.Rory?You with me?”
“Please don’t kill me.”
He hissed under his breath.“If I wanted that, you’d be rotting.You’re cold, and you’ll get colder, and I am not spending the night here, so we’re taking another trip.This time around, you do what I fucking tell you to do, and you don’t let go of me, is that understood?”
“W-where are you taking me?”
He tilted his head in a very bagu-like way.“Aër.Where nothing will want to eat you.”He paused.“Seriously, how do you manage it?Finding all these beasts who think you’re yummy?”
“We need to go back.We need to help Ink and the others and?—”
“No.We wouldn’t be helping.We’ll meet them at the Stone as planned.”He crossed his arms, looking all firm and certain.
“Did y-you bring the cola ash people?Lead us into a trap?”
Vergis snorted.“You sound like one of the crazy conspiracy theorists.No, I did not bring theKoa Esherdown on us, because I am not fucking stupid.They’re every hillbilly horror flick ever rolled into one, and I don’t need that in my life.
“We’re going into the water again, and when I tell you, you’re going to wish for clear skies.”
“Clear s-skies?”
