Witch Song (Witch Song #1)

Chapter 11

*I'm going to be gone this weekend, so I'll post three chapters today. BTW, why is it I have over a thousands reads (yay!) and only 25 followers? Ya'll are hurting my feel bads. ;) *

11. HAVEN

 "Pogg takes good cares of you. Yes. Yes. Pogg keeps you life."

Pogg? Who? Senna thought. Disconnected pieces of information swirled in her head until she became dizzy. She felt a soft bed beneath her, but hadn't she been in a cave? She struggled to open her eyes. Thin slits of blurry light appeared with a black blob in the middle. She blinked and the blob became a ... thing.

She blinked again, but the problem wasn't her focus. Senna looked at him—she thought it was a him—up and down with a mixture of fear and revulsion. His gray-green mottled skin was as smooth and slick as a dolphin's hide. His triangular teeth sat below a flat nose. He blinked and a thick, oily substance smeared across bulging, fishlike eyes. His hands were shaped like hers, except for a thin membrane that connected his fingers like the skin of a bat's wing. He wore only a thin, greasy sack with holes cut out for his appendages.

"What are you?" Senna asked.

Something that she hoped was a grin erupted on the creature's face. He patted his chest. "Pogg, Mettlemot. Frog people."

She shrank deeper into the bed and looked for a way to escape. But what she saw brought her up short. She was in a home, but not like one she'd ever imagined. Windows that were shaped like a spinning top, with peaked ends and bulbous centers. Walls that were impossibly smooth in some places and yet appeared knotted or even woven together like the branches of a willow tree in others. There were no seams, corners, or angles—only soft curves as the wall melded into the floor or ceiling. Everything was the color of rich cream scraped from a pail of fresh milk. "Where am I?" Before he could answer, she suddenly remembered Joshen and Bruke. "Where are my friends?"

He made a high-pitched trilling sound of displeasure. "Pogg not lets hairy one in house." He jerked his head toward a bed on the other side of the room. "Other does worses. Takes longer."

Joshen lay under a mound of blankets with only his disheveled head visible. "Joshen," Senna cried. She launched herself from the bed to the knotted wooden floor. The world swirled and dimmed. Her feet smarted like a million bee stings. With a groan, she closed her eyes and dropped onto the soft mattress. Gripping the sides to keep herself upright, she waited for the flashing lights to pass. When she could, she stood carefully, her arms splayed for balance. Tottering like a baby calf on new legs, she worked her way to Joshen's bed and collapsed beside him.

His ashen face and pale lips were nothing in comparison to the jagged rattle in his lungs. Tears stung her eyes. "Will he be alright?"

Pogg waddled to her side. "Sea goes in. Pogg gets somes out and boy breaths, but nows he hot."

Senna pressed her hand against his forehead. His skin felt like sun-baked rocks. "Very hot." She tried to remember all the herbs useful for healing. "Pesnit. I need pesnit for his fever. And some garku for strength wouldn't hurt."

Pogg started toward the door. "Comes. Pogg shows."

Reluctantly, Senna stood, but her dizziness was quick to return and slow to pass. Outside the door, she looked down, a long, long set of stairs. She swayed as they seemed to rush toward her. Closing her eyes, she reached out to steady herself.

A gurgling sound of disapproval reached for her from far away. Pogg waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, his cheeks twitching with what she guessed was impatience. She teetered down the stairs.

Pogg opened the door and darted back with a high-pitched yelp.

With a bark, Bruke lunged toward her, knocking her to the floor. Ignoring Pogg's furious babbling and shoves, the dog licked her furiously, his tail wagging as fast as he could make it.