Worlds of Waves and Shadows

Forty

A sharp ringing invaded her ears, bringing in waves of pain that hit her with no prior warning.

Zaira groaned. Something felt off, unbalanced and her head....

"Ahh." She hissed as her fingers grazed the site of pain on her forehead, coming off slick with what she knew to be blood.

Her head throbbed with a dull, persistent agony. But it did not stop the reality from crashing into her, sensing becoming sharper.

She vaguely remembered them arriving at Kaenisa's house and then...then-

A loud shriek sent panic roiling through her stomach, much of the world still fuzzy.

Zaira cast a glance around. Gosh, it was a zillion degrees.

She could feel the sweat soaking her clothes. Zaira must have been really out of it because everything was...upside down?

"Zaira...." Someone called out, voice muffled, just as an ear-splitting screech later, a gust of relatively cooler air rushed in.

She realised it then, staring at a pair of leather shoes joined by two feet covered in slippers that were coming towards her. Zaira was upside down.

No.

A greatly menacing growl finished the puzzle.

She knew exactly, what had happened.

"Oh my god." Shefali said as General Cazek swore under his breath.

Only, she had yet to see Kaenisa's mother surprised by anything and, The General never swore.

Zaira forced herself out of her dazed state, frantically trying to unbuckle the seatbelt that kept her dangling above the roof of the car while simultaneously attempting in vain to wake up a very unconscious Rolan.

To her relief, Kaenisa was stirring, letting out a rather pained groan while Zaic, who hung upside down from the passenger seat, mumbled something that she did not know and did not want to know.

Then it hit her, the cold, heavy fear as she frantically swivelled her head side to side, looking for-

"Sarina!" Ms Mehta called out just as the seatbelt gave.

Zaira's heart thundered against her chest as she tugged aggressively at The Russian. What the hell did Sarina see in him except dead weight!?

Both of them tumbled out of the car, landing at General Cazek's feet but, she did not waste a second, springing up, eyes searching for a head full of platinum locks as the General, rushed to his daughter's aid.

Dread hurled up from the pit of her stomach as she spotted Sarina at last, cowering on the other side of the totalled car, and hovering over her was nine feet of wrinkled grey skin, bulky muscle and salivating jowls.

But what scared her the most were those dull, obsidian eyes, full of hunger and void of any trace of humanity.

"No." Zaira breathed, breaking into a run, feeling more helpless than she had ever felt in her life, watching the behemoth raise its clawed hand.