Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 31: War Cries pt. 1

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Ja'lia zigzagged through the underwater plants to try and get away from the submarine that had been chasing her for what felt like forever. From the corner of her eye, she could see Tsireya had somehow found Kiri and Tuk, and they were also being chased by one of those submarines, causing Ja'lia's blood to boil.

She quickly changed her course and raced over to see if she could distract the demons so that her friends could get away. But it seemed that she was too late. Ja'lia watched in horror as Kiri's grip on the youngest child slipped, and Tuk flew off the ilu.

Her nerves grew as she worried that Tuk would be captured, but the submarine didn't seem interested in Tuk as it continued its chase of the other teens.

Relief washed over her like a ton of bricks until she saw a string of lights quickly moving towards her, causing her neck to snap in the direction of the light and her eyes to widen when she saw the submarine coming at her at full speed. The girl immediately raced forward, pushing her ilu as fast as the poor animal could go as she went deeper into the plants, hoping for some cover.

However, it seemed her hope had run out of luck as the underwater plants had become less frequent, and the small submarine was still on her ilu's tail. She slightly turned her head to see that the demons were preparing to shoot something at her, and when Ja'lia felt a pang of pain coming through her queue, she knew that they had hit her ilu.

Ja'lia watched helplessly as her ilu was torn out of the water, and she knew that she was next.

There was nothing that she could do to save herself now. She didn't have any weapons, and all the other ilus in the area were either occupied or hiding somewhere. The girl watched as the submarine moved towards her when suddenly she saw a flash of movement from the corner of her eye.

As soon as Ja'lia turned her head, she saw Lo'ak bolting towards her, his eyes filled with rage and determination. Lo'ak held out his arm towards her, and she gladly accepted as she gracefully moved to the back of the ilu, latching her arms around Lo'ak's waist while he brought a hand back to hold her upper thigh.

The two teens dashed toward the underwater forestation as Ja'lia could feel her heartbeat in her ears from her fear and frustration of feeling so helpless. When the two teens made it back into the plants, they waited a few seconds before jumping off the ilu. They watched Lo'ak's ilu use himself as a distraction so they could get away, and without any hesitation, the two weaved through the plants until Ja'lia saw a hollow plant.

She remembered how Tsireya told her that those plants had air pockets, and while Ja'lia could probably hold her breath for a few more minutes, she didn't want to risk another submarine finding her and Lo'ak.

Ja'lia tapped Lo'ak's shoulder and pointed to the plant. The boy nodded and grabbed a hold of her hand while they both swam as quickly as they could. Once they reached the hollow plant, Ja'lia could see it was already occupied, but she could recognize the person anywhere.

As they surfaced above the water, a high-pitched scream was heard from the youngest Sully child. "Tuk!" Lo'ak yelled in relief, causing Tuk's body to instantly relax when she realized it was a threat that had scared the life out of her. Tuk immediately swam over and latched herself onto Ja'lia as she tried to calm her ragged breathing.

Ja'lia placed her hand protectively on Tuk's head as she glanced down. It seemed the Sky people didn't know when to give up, and streams of lights grew closer to the three Omatikaya teens.