Page 17 of Skalterra By Nightmare (The Skalterra Duology #1)

Either I was bad at research, or the internet had an upsetting lack of easy-to-follow resources on using flails in battle. I leaned against the wooden railing of the shop’s back deck, enjoying the heat of the summer sun mixed with the cool marina breeze as I spent my lunch break scrolling through videos.

So far, Live-Action Role Players seemed to be the leading experts on how to use a flail, though the ones they swung around in their medieval-styled battles had a lot more cushioning than the one I was trying to get used to in Skalterra.

“Wren Warrender.”

Galahad’s voice, weak and raspy, prodded at the back of my head, and I nearly dropped my phone into the water below in surprise.

“I can’t sleep right now,”

I snapped.

“I have work.”

“Don’t get your leathers twisted,”

Galahad growled.

“I’m here to tell you we won’t need you for a few nights.”

“What?”

I straightened up and looked around. I hated talking to someone I couldn’t see. Where was I supposed to glare.

“I just saved all our lives! What do you mean you don’t need me?”

“You nearly killed me last night.”

“You need me.”

I jammed my phone in my pocket, and then pulled it back out, still unsure where to look.

“Oh, yes. You made it clear you’re a valuable weapon, but the Baron is just as interested in that as we are. We don’t need her studying you for personal gain, or trying to figure out your name and pulling you under her control.”

“That’s stupid.”

“It’s not—”

“Let me talk to Ferrin. He’ll listen.”

“Ferrin’s studies haven’t advanced as far as Nocturmancy, so you’re stuck with me unfortunately.”

I scowled at the harbor, stewing in frustration.

“You need me,”

I repeated. It was the only argument I had.

“Wren Warrender, here I thought you wanted nothing to do with Skalterra.”

I hated the smug lilt in his gravelly voice, but not as much as I hated that I wanted to go back.

“Don’t flatter yourself,”

I spat.

“Keldori gets boring when you can’t turn into a scaly lizard lady.”

“You turning into a scaly lizard lady nearly killed me. Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the magick left to bring you here. For now, enjoy your nights off.”

I mumbled a colorful goodbye that I wasn’t sure Galahad was still around to hear. The shop door creaked open behind me, and I made room for Liam at the railing.

“Were you yelling at someone out here?” he asked.

“It was a video,”

I lied and half-heartedly waved my phone at him.

“Larping?”

He grinned at my screen.

“We’ve got a club at Von Leer, and I know the guy in charge. Do you want his number?”

I jammed my phone into my pocket before Liam could snoop any further. A few days ago, I might’ve replied with some irritated quip, but I didn’t have the energy to snap at Liam anymore.

“I don’t do clubs,”

I said.

“If you’re out here, is my break over?”

I whisked towards the back door.

“My uncle found Riley’s truck.”

I froze.

“Oh.”

I turned back to look at him, but he kept his back to me as he leaned against the deck railing.

“Is that good or bad?”

“Neither. It was on Von Leer’s campus, which was where he was seen last, so it doesn’t really offer any new information. Teddy drove it back yesterday, so some of us were going to take it to the cove tonight and have a bonfire for Riley.”

“But isn’t it evidence?”

I asked.

“Shouldn’t the police look it over?”

“Maybe, but there’s no official investigation. My aunt and uncle don’t want one.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged, and when he finally turned to look at me, he forced a smile.

“Wish I knew. Anyways. Tonight, the cove. Did you want to come? I know you don’t know Riley, but you’ve been so helpful in the search. His friends might want to meet you.”

The guilt and shame that crept in my stomach felt like Galahad’s diluted Skal from the night before.

“I haven’t been that helpful.”

Liam took my half-confession as humility and laughed.

“Sabrina is coming here after work. If you promise not to fall asleep at the beach, you can go with us.”

“I’m not going to fall asleep.”

I glowered at him.

“Okay, fine. If you really must, you can fall asleep. Lucky for you, I’m pretty good at getting you up those stairs.”

He beamed at me and flexed his arm in jest.

“Oh, my god,”

I growled and made to exit back into the shop again.

“I’m not going to fall asleep, and if I do, leave me on the beach!”

The sound of his laughter followed me all the way to the register.

Gams was so thrilled that I’d agreed to go to the bonfire that she called Mom to let her know I was officiall.

“making friends”. Her voice echoed from the stairwell behind me, loud enough to be heard all the way across the shop at the ice-cream stand, and I avoided Liam’s gaze.

“Shut up,”

I growled at him when we finally made our exit to the street.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were about to.”

“Never. I don’t tease my friends.”

I swatted at him with the hoodie I had draped over my arm, and he danced out of the way, cackling.

Sabrina leaned against the hood of an old gray pick-up truck. It was smaller than I expected, with a rusted dent in the front bumper and enough stickers in the back window to make me question just how much window could be obscured and still be considered road-legal. Two stand-up paddleboards stuck out of the truck bed.

“Got the boards in the back already!”

Sabrina sang.

“Xander and Molly are already there, I think, and Pax, Fiona, and Luke are on their way!”

I faltered on the sidewalk as Liam got into the driver’s seat.

“That’s a lot of people.”

I tried to sound casual. It wasn’t too late. I could still cancel, but Sabrina shrugged me off.

“They’re nice. You’ll like them.”

I shuffled into the middle seat of the truck cab, and Liam apologized as he reached into my space to grab the stick shift. Sabrina slid in on my other side, and I pressed my knees together, trying to be smaller. I cast one last, wistful glance at the shop. Jonquil watched us from the other side of the glass window, her tail flicking as we pulled away from the curb.

Sabrina and Liam passed the drive with idle small talk. They seemed to be avoiding the topic of Riley, though I caught Sabrina gently patting the dashboard several times, as if doing so somehow brought her closer to the missing man.

Liam, meanwhile, kept his trademark grin in place, but his brow remained knotted as he watched the road. When the conversation lulled, the silence fell heavy until Sabrina would inevitably break it.

We pulled off the main highway and onto backroads. Flashes of sparkling blue winked at us through the trees that lined the drive, but the ocean didn’t seem to be getting any nearer. When Liam pulled into a wooded, gravel parking lot, I recoiled in my seat.

“Where’s the beach?”

I demanded. The cramped truck cab was suddenly stifling.

Sabrina swung her legs out of the cab and dropped to the gravel.

“The beach is down there.”

She jerked her head in the direction of the forest and went to tend to the paddleboards.

Liam exited on my other side, going to help Sabrina lift the first board from the truck bed. Misplaced panic, warm and unwelcome, welled in my chest as I eyed the dark trees. They swayed in the sea breeze, moving in a way that made them look like a single organism.

“But the boards—”

I tried to say through a tightening throat.

“They’re light, don’t worry!”

Liam called from the back. His voice sounded distant and muted, hard to hear over the roaring of blood in my ears.

A red SUV was parked a few spots away. Whoever had driven it might already be in the woods.

No.

That was silly.

No one was waiting for us in the woods.

The woods were safe.

Liam and Sabrina were—

Metal rang out behind me as Sabrina accidentally swung a paddle into the side of the truck. She shouted an apology, but the sound had brought my thundering heart into my throat.

I was not afraid of the woods. I was Just-Wren. Nightmare. The one who had brought the Grand Baron to her knees.

But the woods didn’t know that.

And this… This was a trick. It had to be. It had been last time.

No.

I forced myself out of the truck cab. It was in my head. Liam was my friend. Gams had said so to Mom on the phone.

But Linsey had also been my friend, and for so much longer. And I had been nothing but rude to Liam since I’d met him.

A door slammed shut, and Liam came around the front of the truck with a board under his arm.

“Inflatable, see?”

He gave the board a shrug to show off its light weight.

“We’ll be fine. If you could grab the paddles, though—”

“No.”

I spat the word. I hadn’t meant for it to be an attack, but I couldn’t take it back now.

“Then take a board, and let’s get moving.”

Sabrina came up behind me with the second board under her arm.

“Molly and Xander are waiting.”

Waiting. In the woods?

No, the woods were safe. Safe. It was daytime. I’d fought the Grimguard in the woods and at night.

But as real as Skalterra was, that had still, in a way, been a dream. And this felt too real.

This felt too much like graduation night.

I stared at the board under Sabrina’s arm, and then at the paddles on the ground.

I wanted to go to the beach with them. I wanted to meet Riley’s friends. I wanted to have one night where I could relax and feel normal and maybe forget about Grimguards, barons, and rotsbane.

But I could not go through those woods.

More importantly, I couldn’t let Liam and Sabrina know why. I couldn’t let them see the mess of a human that I was hiding.

“I said no.”

It was more of a snarl this time, and Sabrina’s eyebrows jumped up into her strawberry curls.

“I changed my mind. I don’t want to go.”

“Wren—”

Liam started, but I whirled around to face him and cut him off.

“You didn’t say there’d be so many people,”

I accused.

“Or that we’d have to walk there.”

“It’s really not that far,”

Sabrina said.

“That’s not the point!”

My voice rose, but it was as if someone else was talking. It wasn’t me yelling at Liam and Sabrina. I’d never yell at them, not over something so trivial.

“You both lied! And the road was windy, and I don’t feel good, and after we get down there, we’re going to have to walk back up when we’re done!”

Liam and Sabrina exchanged a look. Liam’s raised eyebrows told me he was taken aback, but the wrinkle of Sabrina’s nose indicated something closer to disgust.

“So wait here. See you in a few hours.”

Sabrina maneuvered one of the paddles into her free arm and turned towards the wooded path.

“Come on, Liam. If she changes her mind, she can find us.”

I leaned against the truck, relieved to have temporarily won, but burning with panic and embarrassment. I’d have to call Gams to come get me. She’d understand.

I waited for Liam to follow Sabrina, but he came back to the truck and heaved his board back into the bed.

“What’re you doing?”

I snapped.

“Liam?”

Sabrina called from the pathway.

“I’ll meet you there!”

He waved at Sabrina and went to tighten the straps that held the paddleboard in place.

“I’ll take Wren back to Ethel’s.”

Sabrina blew a curly lock of hair from her face and rolled her eyes as she turned away. Liam smiled at me over the truck bed. I glowered back.

“Grab that paddle for me?” he asked.

I stooped to grab the paddle from the ground and place it next to the board. The panic was gone. I was safe. I would not be going into the forest. Instead, shame burned at my every fiber.

I was silent as I slid into the passenger seat, and I stared straight ahead as Liam backed us out of the parking spot.

We went back up the windy road, and were several miles down the highway before I couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

“I’m sorry.”

I said it loud enough, I was sure of it, but for several moments, Liam didn’t say anything back. When he did, he said the worst thing possible.

“It’s okay.”

Something hot burned at the edges of my vision, and I blinked back whatever traitorous tears were threatening to spill over. I didn’t want his pity or his understanding. I wanted him to be angry. He deserved to be angry.

“It’s not.”

“I get it.”

He was trying to sound gentle, but his tone was tight and careful.

“You don’t like meeting new people.”

“I don’t like the trees,”

I blurted.

“Oh.”

I could see him looking at me in my peripheral vision, but I continued to stare forward at the road.

“I didn’t know that.”

“I mean, I don’t really like people either. But it’s mostly the woods.”

“I know.”

“I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“Probably not, but it’s okay. Wren?”

He reached across the center seat to put a hand on my shoulder.

“You’re okay.”

I pressed my hands against my eyes. I wanted to undo the last thirty minutes. I wanted to go back in time and decide to stay home, lonely but safe.

Liam took an exit off the highway, though I was sure we were still several miles out from Keel Watch Harbor.

“What’re you doing?”

I demanded, finally turning to look at him. He had that stupid grin on his face again.

“Don’t worry. We aren’t going into the woods.”

“But where are we going?”

“The beach.”

Grassy marshes extended on either side of the road here, and in the distance, the ocean shimmered.

“Your friends are waiting for you.”

“They’re Riley’s friends, first of all.”

He pulled on the window crank to let salty air into the truck cab.

“Second, there’s more than one way to get to the cove. You don’t mind the water, do you?”

We pulled into a new gravel parking lot. This one overlooked a sandy beach where families played. The waves that lapped at the shore hardly reached a foot in height, and a dog chased after his owner in the gentle surf.

Liam got out first, returning to the truck bed to pull out the paddleboard.

“You’ll have to sit still,”

he instructed as I got out on the passenger side.

“It’s hard with two people, but doable if your sense of balance isn’t trash.”

“We’re going to paddle to your friends?”

“Riley’s friends,”

he reminded me.

“It’s less than a mile to the cove from here. It’ll be easy. You’ll want to leave your shoes in the truck, though.”

I threw my shoes in the truck bed, exchanging them for the paddle, and chased Liam to the sandy beach. He waded out past the white foam wash of the tide and set the board down in the gentle surf.

“Riley and I used to do this all the time to get to the cove. You’ll like it. At least, I think you will.”

He held the board steady, and his dark blond curls caught the sun.

“It’ll be fun.”

I slid onto the front of the board, tucking my feet under myself to sit crisscross. Liam dragged us out into deeper water, soaking his trunks and the hem of his t-shirt. The board lurched when he pulled himself up behind me.

“Careful!”

I hissed as Liam stood up.

“Don’t worry, you’ll only fall in if I want you to fall in.”

“So reassuring.”

The flat of the paddle reached and dipped into the water beside me as Liam propelled us forward. We glided over kelp, rocks, and sand, and I tried to keep my balance centered while craning my neck to look into the water below us.

“Starfish!”

Liam said.

“To your right!”

“Technically, they’re called sea stars,”

I mumbled.

“They aren’t fish.”

“Starfish,”

Liam repeated, louder and slower.

A purple sea star splayed out across the rocks beneath us, and we wobbled as I strained for a better look. I wondered if Skalterra had sea stars too, or if it was another word that would baffle Orla.

“So, do I get to know why you don’t like the woods?”

Liam asked.

“Nope.”

I settled back, leaning on my hands now that I was more comfortable on the board. The sea breeze ruffled my hair as we glided forward in the direction of a rocky outcropping that cut into the water a couple hundred yards ahead of us. Trees clung to the cliffside as if spilling over from the forest that sat atop the bluffs.

“What about the scar on your palm? Do I get to know about that?”

I curled my fingers in on themselves, wondering when Liam had noticed Galahad’s mark.

“Definitely not.”

“Okay. Then why Von Leer?”

“What?”

I whipped my head around to look up at Liam, and the board lurched with the movement. Liam kept his eyes on the rocks ahead but smirked as he dipped the paddle back into the water.

“You want to go to Von Leer. Why?”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t, but your Von Leer admissions officer will. Have you been practicing interview questions?”

“No, but—”

“So why Von Leer?”

I scowled and turned back to face forward.

“They have a good biochemistry program.”

“Great. Why biochemistry?”

We weren’t too far from the shore yet. I could probably abandon ship and swim back still.

“It’s interesting, and I like it.”

“Sorry, your admission to Von Leer University has not been accepted. Try again.”

“But that’s the truth!”

“It’s not good enough.”

“Okay, fine. It’s a challenging field, and I like challenges.”

“Miss Warrender,”

Liam said with an air of fake austerity.

“how dare you waste the time of an institution as prestigious as ours.”

I shifted my weight to one side, and Liam fell to his knees behind me in an effort to keep the board balanced.

“Watch it,”

he laughed.

“You watch it!”

I flicked water backwards at him, and he rose back to his feet.

“I like challenges. Biochemistry is challenging.”

“No, there’s got to be more to it than that.”

“I like the idea of biochemistry because it would impress my mom. Maybe I could be a doctor, or a research scientist—something she could brag to her author friends about. But that’s it, so if Von Leer wants something more, I’m screwed.”

“Oh.”

Liam took several pulls on the paddle before speaking again.

“But what do you like?”

“I like volcanoes.”

A gull cried out in the silence that followed. When Liam continued to say nothing, I forced myself to keep talking.

“Von Leer has one of the best geophysics programs in the country. How could it not with all the nearby mountains? Not only that, they’re the school closest to my mom that even has a volcanology track. But I’m afraid to tell my mom because my dad is a geophysicist, and they haven’t talked since before I was born. I wasn’t even allowed to mention him growing up. I’m still not.”

“Volcanoes, huh?”

Liam was gracious enough not to linger on the topic of my estranged father.

“I don’t know, I think it’s interesting that a good portion of the world is living within the blast zone of giant explosion machines, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We can try to predict when they’ll blow, but ultimately we’re at their mercy. How could I not try to understand them? How isn’t everyone obsessed with them?”

“Welcome to Von Leer, Miss Warrender. Our geophysics program will be thrilled to have someone as enthusiastic about giant explosion machines as you are.”

Liam pointed the paddle at another purple sea star exploring the rocks below us.

“Starfish. That’s two-zero.”

“I didn’t know the sea stars were a competition!”

I leaned over the water, scanning for more.

“How many points do I get for a crab?”

“Depends. How big is it?”

I watched the orange shell of a Dungeness crab shuffle sideways towards Liam’s sea star.

“Pretty big.”

“Zero points. It’s not a starfish.”

I smiled in spite of myself. Liam wasn’t such bad company, and I was starting to dread when our paddle would come to an end at the cove. I still didn’t understand why he was so nice to me, even now after I’d yelled at him and Sabrina.

Maybe it was because my bad attitude had yet to deter his attempts at friendship, but it had been a long time since anyone had made me feel so comfortable just being myself. Liam had no expectations. He took me as I was, even when I wasn’t sure I even liked myself.

“It was graduation night,”

I said before I knew what I was doing.

“About three weeks ago.”

“What was?”

“The night in the woods.”

“Wren, you don’t have to—”

“It’s okay,”

I said through a tightening throat.

“I was really rude to you and Sabrina. I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but you deserve to at least know why, and maybe I’ll feel better if I talk about it. So this is the story about the time I thought I killed Linsey Harper.”