Chapter Four

She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep, but when she woke up, Ryder’s arm was draped around her.

Holy crap! Brooklyn didn’t move an inch. She just lay there with his arm around her. She closed her eyes and smiled. This isn’t so bad, she thought. She had actually slept well once Ryder was next to her.

Brooklyn stayed there, secure in his embrace until she felt him stir. She pretended to sleep as he whipped his arm off of her.

“Shit!” he proclaimed as he quickly rolled over to the other half of the bed.

She couldn’t take it any longer, so she rolled over. “Oh hey, you’re awake,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I ah, I just woke up,” he stammered.

“Hey, Ryder, this is kind of embarrassing, but do you have a bathroom or something down here?” asked Brooklyn.

Ryder smiled.

Ah! That smile made her knees feel like jelly!

“Yeah, let me show you where it is.”

After helping her up, Brooklyn realized her foot already felt ten times better. She was even able to bear weight on it.

As if he was reading her mind, Ryder asked, “How’s your foot feeling?”

“A lot better. That medicine is amazing,” she said.

The bathroom reminded her of an ancient Greek aqueduct. There was more or less a seat with a hole and running water flowing beneath. There was even a sink with clean running water you could pump from a different underground stream. At least Brooklyn hoped it was a different stream.

Brooklyn left the bathroom and managed to find her way to the kitchen, where Ryder was preparing breakfast.

After taking a look at her foot and applying new medicine to the wound, Ryder wrapped it in a clean bandage and served breakfast.

“Yum, this is delicious!” proclaimed Brooklyn. “What is it?”

“Lera berries with fresh cream and homemade bread,” replied Ryder. “If you’d like, we can go pick some today. That is, if your foot is feeling up to it.”

“Do they grow underground?” asked Brooklyn with a confused look on her face.

“No, silly, we would have to go up to the surface,” said Ryder with a smile.

His teeth are perfect, she thought as she tried not to stare.

“Does that sound good?” he asked.

“Yup, I would love to see what Necoh looks like on the surface,” replied Brooklyn.

After they finished eating she helped Ryder clean up the kitchen. Their hands touched while they were washing the dishes. Brooklyn inhaled sharply. Her hand tingled where his had brushed against her.

Ryder went to find Brooklyn a pair of shoes while she put the dishes away on open shelves.

When he returned, he handed her a pair of leather shoes that had been well worn. Remembering that they probably belonged to his mother, Brooklyn simply thanked him and slipped them on. She had to loosen one to fit over her bandaged foot.

After enough twists and turns to qualify as a maze, Brooklyn and Ryder reached the surface. Although they were under the cover of dense brush and foliage, the natural light still felt blinding. It took her several minutes before her eyes adjusted and she was able to take in her surroundings.

“Wow,” Brooklyn gasped. “It’s beautiful.” As she looked around she saw exotic looking plants and flowers that were vibrant blue, green, purple, and pretty much any color you could imagine. Large ferns easily stretched twenty feet above their heads. “Ryder, this is amazing.”

He grinned. “Come on, let’s get some lera berries and I can show you a little bit more of Necoh.”

They didn’t have to walk far to get to the lera berries. Ryder set down two wooden buckets he had been carrying. “Let’s see if we can fill these,” he stated.

Ryder and Brooklyn got to work picking the sweet, tangy lera berries by the handful. Within minutes, Brooklyn had already filled a quarter of her bucket.

“You must really like living here, it’s so peaceful and beautiful,” murmured Brooklyn.

“Well, it’s different, and I don’t have to put up with Jocelyn and her pretentious family,” replied Ryder. After a moment he added, “It must be nice to have a break from your brother and that asshole Kai,” he added.

His words shook Brooklyn. In all of the craziness she had completely forgotten about Kai and Parker. Her heart ached just thinking about the two of them together. Brooklyn turned her back and fumed as she continued to pick berries. Why would he bring that up? Is he trying to be an asshole? 

Realizing he had done something wrong, Ryder called out, “Seriously, why do you even care about a loser like him?”

“Can we just please drop it?” she snapped.

“Um, yeah, sure, sorry. I just didn’t think you would be into someone like that,” he retorted.

Ugh! I wish he would just shut up! Brooklyn focused on the task at hand.

Several more minutes passed before either of them spoke. Finally Ryder turned to apologize. “Look, Brooklyn, I’m really sorry. It’s just that—” but before he could finish, he realized she wasn’t where he had left her. She was gone. His heart began to race and sweat dampened his brow.

“Brooklyn? Brooklyn! Where are you?” he yelled frantically. He searched for her high and low but he couldn’t find her anywhere. He began to fan out and search a larger area. That’s when he found her, sitting next to a pond, with her head in her hands, sobbing.

He felt terrible. Her tear-streaked face reminded him of when his little sister Brianna would cry. “Brooklyn, hey, Brooklyn— look, I’m really sorry! I was just being an ass, please, stop crying.”

She looked up at him, but before she could utter a single word, a horrifying shriek filled the air. Her hands slammed to cover her ears to protect herself from the deafening sound. She felt blood trickling through her fingers as she attempted to run to Ryder.

Before she had made it two steps she felt something grab at her legs. She tripped and crashed to the ground. Pain shot through her injured foot and up through her arm. As she attempted to get up, it was as if her nightmares were coming true. That’s when she felt Grishma’s hot, repulsive breath on the back of her neck.

Brooklyn was too terrified to attempt to turn and face her attacker. So this is what it’s like to die… she thought.

“Brooklyn!” she could hear Ryder’s pleading and frantic cries, but it was too late. She knew it was over.

As she felt Grishma inhale deeply she could only guess what was coming next. She weakly attempted to cover her ears as it unleashed the worst sound she had ever heard. As the pain overcame her senses she looked out to see Ryder charging them, then everything went black.

Adrenaline coursed through Ryder’s veins as he ran toward Grishma. He couldn’t let it take someone else away from him!

He frantically searched the forest floor for some type of weapon. Finally, his eyes landed on a large rock with several sharp points. He picked it up and hurled it at the monster’s head.

Grishma ducked out of the way and laughed. “Is that all you’ve got, boy?”

“Damn you! Leave her alone!” he screamed as he picked up another rock and threw it. 

The beast roared as the rock made direct contact with her jaw.

He sprinted toward Brooklyn’s limp body, but before he could get close enough, the gruesome monster snatched her up and raced into the woods.

Ryder attempted to follow them for several miles. However, the task soon became pointless as Ryder lost its track in the thick foliage.

He sat down and buried his head in his hands. “How the hell could I let this happen again?” he yelled. Tears of frustration and anger filled his eyes, causing his voice to choke. He pounded his fists into the damp dirt and screamed out in pain.