Page 39
Story: A Soul to Protect
He put his finger up again and then slithered into the water. Like before, he ducked beneath the waves, but this time moved and scouted back and forth. The large and frightful fins from before lifted from his back and pressed their tips together, making it look like a singular sail fin. Nothing leapt away, even when he seemed to purposefully disturb the sand.
Eventually, he stuck his torso out of the water and waved for her to come closer.
Linh released a quiet squeal of joy. Rather than just getting her feet wet, she retied the bottoms of her pants above her knees and ran into the waves.
“Eek! It’s so cold,” she shouted with a laugh.
Linh pushed up her sleeves until they were bundled around her elbows, and scooped up a handful of water. She watched as it drained through the gaps in her cupped hands. She sniffed it, taking in its oddly refreshing smell.
As much as she wanted to, she didn’t dare run up and down the shore like her heart told her to. She remained where Nathair had already scouted, never going past his depth and the wide curl of his tail.
Waves broke around him as if he was stone, whereas their shoves tried to push her to her arse. He dipped under occasionally, likely to double-check that nothing came to disturb her moment of joy. She got to watch the way his tail pushed up and down, rather than side to side. It occasionally breached the surface in loops, and he truly did look like a giant sea snake as he swam.
He really is magnificent.
A deadly predator. A lethal killer both on land and in water. A creature of nightmares.
She was rather giddy that he was her protector.
I’d like to see anyone take me now,she thought with a laugh.
Linh was aware she was growing rather dependent on that idea. It might be why she’d had little anxiety about being recaptured, or what had happened to her.
Ever since he’d saved her, he’d been frightening enough to chase away those fears.
She needed that so fucking much.
There had been nothing worse than suffering nightmares while currently experiencing one. The relief from it was such a balm to her soul that she wanted to weep.
Before her thoughts could trail back any further, Nathair popped out of the water.
Although she’d been enjoying herself, her feet were frozen.
“I’m going to get out now, okay? It’s too cold.”
Nathair tilted his head, then straightened it. He patted his stomach.
“Am I hungry?” He nodded, and she shrugged. “Not right now, but I will be when it’s time for dinner.”
He waved her back, telling her to leave. When she did as she was told, he pointed towards the cave, and she figured he wanted her away from the water completely.
She wasn’t going to argue with a Duskwalker.
“Oh, a shell?!” She crouched down to pick up the small clam shell. She ran her fingers over its coarse texture, brushing sand from between its pale-pink ridges.
She found another and picked it up as well.These are so cool. I didn’t know they’d wash up on shore. Oh! That one is even bigger.She ran over to a big white one that looked like some kind of critter could have lived inside it. Spikey and twisted, it reminded her of a snail’s shell, but with a point.
She didn’t know what animal it was from, but took it anyway.
I would love to take this home and show my mum.
Her parents would be so relieved to see her return, and she would like to give them something to show that not all of her days apart from them had been horrid.
A pang radiated around her heart and twisted her stomach into knots.I hope they’re okay.She’d thought that many times, and hated that she knew the answer.
They wouldn’t be okay.
Clenching her eyes and biting back the sudden strike of her thoughts, she turned once she was close enough to the cave entrance. The sun continued to shine on her, and with her out in the open, no Demon could attack her.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39 (Reading here)
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189