I stared into the wendigo's cloudy white eyes, looking up as the thing towered feet above me. It hunched over and glared back, shifting its uneven rows of teeth together every time its head twitched to one side. I began to panic and choked on the air in my throat, but I tried not to move a single muscle. My limbs jerked every once in awhile but it was something I couldn't help. It was pretty hard to keep still when staring death directly in the face.
Its elongated limbs, sunken eyes, razor sharp teeth and claws... all were so intimidating! What was I supposed to do? Run? If I moved, it'd probably get me killed faster!
I watched its eyes drift down to the bandage on my leg and somehow saw the desperate hunger in them. It made some sound that sounded awfully similar to a groan, an aching groan craving for something wicked. I could feel the tension between us tightening and strangling me, like the result of this all was inevitable.
I was going to be eaten.
The thing looked me in the eye as if it were daring me to actually dart to safety... not that there was any. I only swallowed hard and waited for something to happen. I sure wasn't going to be the first one to break the stillness.
My head staying still, I glanced over at the other wendigoes who were slowly starting to close in on us. They crawled to the forest floor and stood up like the other, appearing taller than when I first saw them and twitching their awkward, slim bodies. I really started to panic and drip with sweat when they ignored everyone else and came to me. Their eyes were curious and they watched the other one as if to ask, "why haven't you eaten her yet?".
It quickly looked at them and let out the most deafening screech I had ever heard, that being because it was directly in my ear, and it sounded like the combination of a human scream and the squeal of a train braking against tracks.
I flinched and momentarily closed my eyes that were tearing up with fear. When I opened them, I jumped at the horrid face sitting inches in front of me. I didn't mean to gasp, but when I did the wendigo let out another one of those screeches and splashed my face with its saliva and putrid breath. I cringed and turned my head away from it, but my eyes remained focused on its teeth. So frightening...
They all looked at each other like they were debating something. They seemed confused... out of place. It was almost as if they couldn't decide whether I was to be eaten or not. When I looked at the others, they watched them with the same puzzlement the creatures did me.
I was startled again when the wendigoes started screeching at each other. Some of the noises sounded angry, while the others sounded confused or upset. I was sure my ears were starting to bleed from the notorious hollers.
Eventually all the cloudy eyes set on me again and stayed like that for awhile. All the wendigoes were huddled just a few feet away but one stepped closer to me. It screeched again, only this one was just a little lighter than the last few.
Was it trying to communicate with me?
I didn't have time to test that theory out because something came barreling through the woods, screaming with a familiar sound that I couldn't directly recall. It jumped into view in a black blur, tackling one of the wendigoes and clawing at its chest.
A ghoul.
This was a different one because I was sure Odis left behind no life of the last one. I was unsure why it was targeting the wendigo... but a random, and totally stupid plan popped into my head just then.
The other wendigoes screeched at the ghoul but they didn't do anything to help their buddy. It was like they were too afraid of its attacker. Although they were taller than it, the ghoul seemed way stronger based on its bulging muscles.
I picked up a large limb on the ground and swung at the ghoul, knocking it off easily with one hit. It tumbled off and the wendigo scrambled away instantly. The ghoul was quick on its feet and turned to me with fury in its white eyes. Its large mouth opened with a screech and displayed its haunting sets of teeth.
It jumped at me like that and bit into the stick I held in defense. I took advantage of our closeness and touched my fingers to his bald head, working my tingly sensation thing until the creature dropped dead onto the ground.
After a few seconds, its heart exploded from its chest. Nice, me.
I threw the stick down and reluctantly turned to the wendigoes standing just a few feet away. They were staring... but none of them appeared angry. Finally one stepped forward and hunched over enough to meet my eyes directly. I could tell it was the same one from last time because it had a small scar across its right eye.
A small squeak escaped its mouth and then it just stood there... waiting.
"I think it's thanking you, Bella," Maeve whispered. I stared back in awe and suddenly didn't feel as afraid.
"Y-you're welcome," I mumbled. It stepped back just a little and looked to the others. They all studied one another, communicating with odd clicks and whistles until their heads twitched with nods.
The one, who I just decided to call Scar, looked at me and squeaked again. I was unsure of what it meant but when they all gathered in front of me, I let the word slip out of my mouth. "Allies?"
Odd nods came from all of them. Either they sensed I was a powerful goddess, they felt in debt to me, or they wanted my protection. It was probably all of the above.
Before I was able to say anything else, someone started to clap. But it wasn't any of the others. It came from behind me and was a sudden sound that made me jump.
When I turned around, my eyes landed on the man Odis named as a jinn. His blue skin painted with black mystical markings seemed more eerie under the dim moonlight, but his blue eyes glowed just as bright as before. The long sleeves of his robe hid his hands when he put them back down.
The crooked smile on his face made me shiver.
"Wow... in my thousands of years, I've never seen anything tame a wendigo, not to mention five. These creatures run on their hunger. Their desperation is what drives them. Never have I seen one stop to examine its prey or even offer it mercy," he said curiously in a deep voice. "They're ruthless... bloodthirsty... always craving something." He walked into the bundle of wendigoes. Surprisingly, they didn't attack. "But they're smart... in their own way, of course. What I don't understand, though, is that you let loose their meal and they didn't decide to eat you instead."
Scar hissed at him but he still didn't attack. "What kind of sorcery are you controlling these creatures with?" The jinn asked me.
"I'm not. They just decided not to kill me," I said. "It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm a goddess."
The jinn started to laugh as if that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. But he suddenly fell silent when he met my eyes. "How is it?" he breathed as his glowing eyes widened. "How does a god still live on?" He didn't seem to be asking me, more like himself.
"It's a complicated story that I don't have time to explain," I said, trying to sound as sophisticated as I could. That's how he walked and talked and I was technically superior, so...
"The purple eyes... you're... pure. A pure goddess is truly something to respect," he announced. I didn't know what to say so instead I just stood there awkwardly. "Based on your odd group, I suppose you're making some kind of journey. May I ask what it's for?"
"A rescue mission," I lied. "We're traveling to save the great wizard Galendale from his prison."
The jinn seemed surprised to hear my response. "Another great one to respect," he said. "You're referring to the castle with all the wardings, yes?" I nodded. "Why?"
What I said technically wasn't a lie but the next part was. "He was once a great friend of mine... he doesn't deserve to be locked up." I wouldn't know that for a fact. Everyone spoke about him fondly but maybe because he was powerful, not kind.
"Those are angel wardings you're going against. You'd need a pretty powerful spell to take them down," the jinn said.
"We have a spell, but we're not certain it will work," Maeve added. She held up her hand where a green mist began to take the form of a book. It was a good thing she had it on her because I wasn't sure we'd ever see our bags again. I didn't even remember when or where we dropped them.
The jinn took the book from Maeve without permission and flipped to the page with Vivian's bookmark. He examined it for awhile and then looked at us with a hidden smile. "You can't take down angel wardings with this," he said. "Try this instead." He placed his blue hand on the page and instantly the words started to shift and become bold with thick black ink. They morphed and moved on the page until they were replaced by whatever he had changed it to. When he handed it back to Maeve her eyes widened.
"Wow... t-this is brilliant," she stuttered. "Thank you!"
He actually smiled, but it dulled when he looked at me and I wasn't smiling back. "Why are you helping us?" I asked suspiciously.
He paused for a moment, pondering my question lightly. "Let's just say I'm not an idiot when it comes to picking allies," he said. "I have more important things to tend to, though. You're on your own from here." He began walking into the woods without allowing any of us to speak to him again. Eventually, he disappeared behind the trees and we heard nothing else from him.
"Looks like having a goddess on our side has it perks," Maeve stated happily. She stopped smiling when her eyes landed on the group of wendigoes. "That guy was right, though. Even for a god, taming a wendigo was said to be impossible. These things never think twice or back out on a meal, especially one right at their finger tips."
I also looked at them and studied them while they studied us. Somehow they seemed patient... waiting for the next move. "They were once human, Bella. So they'll understand you. But you obviously won't be able to understand them," Odis said. "Cannibalism is what transformed them into... this."
I didn't even want to ask for the full story behind those things. They freaked me out enough.
"Well, this day just keeps getting better and better," Darwin said as he leaped from a bush. Scar hissed at him and nearly attacked until I held up a hand. He froze and so did the goblin. Darwin lost the smile he was carrying just seconds before and didn't take his eyes off the creature. "No offense, Lady Bella, but could you tell your pets who's food and who isn't?"
"They're not pets," I said, looking at Scar. "The goblins are with us, please don't eat them." I wasn't sure why they would want to eat the goblins, but I didn't say anything of it.
All the wendigoes backed off but they didn't seem comfortable when more goblins started peeping from the bushes. I had to admit that we were a very odd group, a combination of supernaturals that was probably never thought of before. I liked it in a way, though. It let me know that we weren't alone in our soon to come fight with Salazar. Maybe we actually stood a chance against such a strong demonic force.
I was convinced for a split second until I started thinking deeper into the situation. We had numerous goblins, a few wendigoes, and then us four, five if you included Delilah. That was nowhere near as great as a whole army of gargoyles and God knows what. We barely had enough allies to form a decent army ourselves.
We needed so much more. I was sure we weren't going to get Rahul, our dragon, back anytime soon. Lord Farlen was probably busy repairing his castle so he was out of the question too. And the rest of the Freelancers were back in Boston.
"What's wrong?" Kade asked me, obviously noticing my discomfort.
"Look at us, Kade. Do you really think we can go against Salazar's army with the few members we have?" I mentioned. He took a quick glance over our group and seemed to notice our lack of numbers for the first time. Maeve and Odis did the same, gaining the the same disappointed looks as us.
To be exact, we had at least three dozen goblins, probably not even that many. They were small, no offense to them, so they really stood no chance against innumerable gargoyles ten times their size. Five wendigoes (who were actually taller than the gargoyles) could do some damage but not as much as we'd need. And the rest of us could work up some additional bruising but nothing was certain. It was basically the same as shooting rubber bands at a brick wall.
"You're right, this is barely enough," Maeve said sadly. "But we've got to keep walking for now. Like I said before, there's something truly haunting about this place."
She was barely able to finish the sentence when an oddly familiar tune began to ring in my ear. It spooked me, sending a small shiver up my spine and instantly attracting the attention of the others. Their eyes became as frantic as mine, attentive as we searched for the source of the haunting lullaby. It was just the humming of a woman, but then a beautiful, silky voice began to sing the lyrics.
"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady."
The tune was sung deliberately slow, just to add that unsettling affect that I'm sure the ghost was trying to apply. She continued on through the song, but not once did we actually see her. I couldn't pin point which direction the singing came from, which bothered me the most, honestly. I didn't know where to look, meaning I didn't know where to set my guard, not that it would do me any good.
I had the sudden feeling to break the silence among our group, but a hand clamped over my mouth from behind before that could happen. I instantly knew it was Kade when he leaned next to me.
"Don't you dare. Keep your mouth shut this time," he whispered oh-so quietly as if he had read my mind directly. His words were merely a breath against my ear, barely spoken since he obviously remembered the warning about our new arriver. I twitched against him, but I didn't make a sound. I couldn't even tell if I was still breathing or not.
I could still hear the rhyme being sang but I tried to focus more on the sound of Kade breathing next to my ear. It was surprisingly steady, meaning he was doing an excellent job at keeping calm.
Eventually, something appeared in front of us, a gruesome yet powerfully sad scene.
It was the woman and her child. There she sat in a rocking chair, shifting the cradle from side to side as her baby slept soundly, though I couldn't see it clearly. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, and her dress was slightly puffed. She had a strange smile that made me feel uneasy, but it was nowhere near as unsettling as her missing eyeballs, gauged out with nothing but hollow sockets in their place.
Even without them, she still somehow managed to stare at me... and only me.