Page 12 of Pets in Space 10

The wind had died, leaving behind an eerie silence broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves and the lapping of water against the hulls of the boats.

Not peaceful stillness, but an eerie quiet — as if a million unseen eyes were watching and the swamp’s creatures were holding their breath for fear of being found.

It was the kind of silence that prickled her skin and made every sound feel magnified.

Harmonia stared at the narrow waterway ahead, her fingers clenched around the side of Landry’s boat.

The darkness pressed in, and yet her gaze remained locked on the faint shimmer dancing over the water.

Pug’s head broke the surface a moment later, his scales glinting in the pale moonlight.

He swam alongside them with smooth, powerful strokes, like a silent guardian guiding them forward.

“Lilypad found him,” Pug said, breathless, “the man’s body. She’s hurt and scared. She’s hiding beneath an old boat hull near the lagoon’s edge. She didn’t want to leave him.”

A cold ache of sorrow pierced Harmonia’s chest.

“We’re going after her,” she said. Her voice came out steadier than she felt.

“Right now? In the dark?” Hog muttered from his boat. “We need more help — more eyes, more firepower. That thing’s not natural.”

Landry glanced back at him. “We don’t know how many we can trust to keep their heads around a foe like this. Last thing we need is panicked people seeing a target in anything that moves.”

“We’ve got my dad and Tyson. We can trust them,” Hog said. “They’ve got grit, and more importantly, they listen when I talk and know the swamp like their own skin.”

A long pause.

Harmonia gave a slow nod. “All right. But no one else. I’ll protect you as best I can, but the more there are, the more difficult it will be.”

“I understand,” Hog replied before he grabbed his cellphone and connected with his son. “Tyson, I need you and Pop to follow me.”

“What’s up, Da?”

Hog pursed his lips before he replied. “Landry and I are going monster hunting. We could use extra eyes… and firepower,” Hog said.

“Lead the way, Hog. We’ll cover you.”

Moments later, the dim, guttural putt-putt of Cap’s aged motor drifted toward them. The boat pulled up beside the others, its hull creaking like an old man’s knees.

“Evenin’, Landry, Ms. Harmonia,” Cap drawled.

Tyson sat at the bow, tension in his posture, his hand near his sidearm. “What’s going on? You think you know where that snake is?”

Hog stepped over, voice low. “Yeah… and where it took Jack. Don’t ask how. Just follow us. I’ll explain once we’re outta range of curious ears.”

Tyson opened his mouth, then closed it. Whatever he saw in his father’s eyes was enough.

Landry’s gaze flicked to Harmonia. She gave a small nod, her expression unreadable.

“South,” she instructed in a low voice. “Follow the channel. Pug and I will guide us from here.”

The flotilla moved, three boats carving a slow, steady path through the swamp’s dark arteries, away from the rest of the search parties.

Around them, the cypress trees stood like shadowed sentinels.

Spanish moss dangled in long, ghostly drapes, swaying like breathless spirits.

The moon vanished behind heavy clouds, and soon the only light was the glimmer of lanterns bouncing off the water.

Harmonia lifted her hand, whispering a spell under her breath.

A glowing orb of pale light bloomed above their boat, hovering like a star come to life.

She flicked her fingers again, weaving invisible threads of protection around each vessel.

Behind them, she heard the startled gasps from Cap and Tyson.

“What in the holy — ” Tyson muttered.

“She’s a witch,” Cap said flatly. “Drink it in, boy. This is what good magic looks like. I always told ya’ll it existed.”

Landry groaned. “Just… don’t ask too many questions right now.”

Pug glided ahead of them, disappearing beneath the surface before breaching again like a silver dolphin. Harmonia kept her focus on the ley threads, guiding the others deeper into the channel.

“Motors won’t work here,” Cap warned as they entered a tight bend. “Water’s too shallow.”

The rumbling ceased. They took to paddles, the sound of wood brushing water unnaturally loud in the hush.

“Are you sure this is it?” Hog whispered.

“Yes,” Harmonia answered, her voice low but resolute.

They passed the half-submerged ruins of a cabin, vines and rot having reclaimed the wooden structure. The air thickened, growing heavy with the scent of brackish decay and something colder… fouler. A wrongness that crawled beneath her skin.

The trees opened up.

A lagoon opened before them — wide and still, like a waiting mouth, stretched wide in silent hunger.

Pug swam to the port side of the boat. His voice quivered with fear. “I’ve found the human’s body. If you give me rope, I’ll tie it around him.”

Hog rose and stepped onto the bow of his boat. He retrieved the bow line, coiling it up so he could toss the short line to Pug.

Tyson leaned forward over the side of his grandfather’s boat, squinting down into the water. “Who the hell is that?” he asked.

“Someone braver than me,” Cap muttered with an uneasy snort, peering over the edge as he pulled a long silver flask out from under his seat and took a deep swig. “Blessed or cursed — don’t matter now. We’re in it.”

Harmonia stood, her boots steady on the rocking deck. Moonlight flickered through the clouds above, illuminating her braid and the outline of her upraised arms.

“Hog, keep the rope. I’ll bring your friend home. Pug, go to Lilypad and bring her to us.”

Pug disappeared beneath the surface.

Harmonia inhaled deeply, the magic thick in her chest. Her voice rose — clear, commanding.

“Waters of this world, bearer of the stolen, return to me the body hidden beneath.”

The lagoon pulsed.

Then glowed.

Silvery light rippled outward like a heartbeat. The lagoon pulsed with ghostlight. Bubbles frothed to the surface, swirling like breath returning to a drowned body.

Beneath the glow, something stirred. A shape. Human.

Jack Parsons rose from the depths encased in a translucent sphere of water.

His body floated in peaceful repose, the horror etched on his face softened by Harmonia’s spell.

Her own horror was increasing as her magic connected with the dead man.

She kept her composure, but shivered with a cold that was seeping into her bones.

Tyson gasped and nearly fell overboard.

“What the hell?!”

Harmonia’s voice didn’t falter.

“Rest now, Jack. You are not forgotten.”

She exhaled, her arms trembling as she held them aloft.

The sphere hovered, drifting over to Hog’s boat, where she whispered another spell, covering Jack’s form in a glowing white shroud before gently laying him on the bottom of the boat.

She exhaled as the last words of the spell fell from her lips and let her arms drop, each movement slow and aching.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her knees trembled beneath her.

The weight of knowing that someone from the mageline caused the human's death pressed heavily on her conscience, a suffocating burden of guilt and sorrow.

Magic should only be used for good. This — this went against everything she had been taught.

Landry stepped behind her and caught her, his arms wrapping around her as she sagged into him.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered into her ear. “You’re not alone. I’ve got you.”

“Landry.”

Her voice was so soft it was barely audible as she clung to his strong arms. A shudder ran through her. The warmth of his body — and the magic thrumming inside him — helped stave off the cold.

But the quiet didn’t last.

Harmonia stiffened as dark magic touched the protective wards she had cast. Ice and fury swept through her as her head snapped up. Landry’s arms dropped from around her as he sensed her alarm.

“Get out of here,” she hissed. “Now!”

“What?” Hog said, startled and wary with unease.

Her eyes locked with Landry’s, blazing. “The serpent — it’s here.”

In the same breath, she whirled to the others. “Cap. Tyson. Go. Take the body. Get to safety!”

“We’re not leaving you,” Cap growled, drawing an old lever-action rifle tucked at his feet.

“I’ve got eyes too,” Tyson muttered, reaching for his weapon.

“Dammit,” Landry whispered, raising his own gun.

A silence fell again.

Then — Boom!

The water exploded beside Cap’s boat as a massive, inky mass surged upward. The serpent, twice the size it had been, coiled into the air like a summoned god of vengeance.

Harmonia moved.

She rose off the floorboards like a feather lifted on an unseen wind, her hair lifting around her face, her cloak billowing as her power flared to life.

“By the Light of the Mages of Enyo and the knowledge of the boundless Stormhold lineage — you shall not take another soul!”

The serpent screamed — an unnatural sound that cracked across the water like breaking stone as the power behind Harmonia’s spell hit it.

Its body whipped toward Hog’s boat, tail slashing in a blur of muscle and scale.

Harmonia spun, her hands outstretched — a wall of force burst forth, stopping the tail mid-air with a thunderous crack.

“Go!” she screamed to the others. “Now!”

She hovered in a corona of light, eyes blazing gold. The serpent reared, glaring at her — and in that instant, recognition flared in Harmonia’s gaze.

The monster was not mindless.

Not forgotten.

She saw the knowledge and death in its eyes.

And in a single, terrible moment, Harmonia knew: she had seen this type of magic before.

Just a short time ago, contained in the Book of Spells in the Nether room, that ancient knowledge, passed down through generations of her ancestors, that they had said was essential, she had learned that to counter the dark magic, one needed to trace it back to its source, understanding its genesis in the shadows and the places where it festered — a process that felt as cold and slow as creeping death.