Chapter Nine

The creature scuttled around wildly, its headless body somehow still alive. The creature staggered around until it tripped over its long, prickly legs and dropped to the ground where the other hundred or so crawled right over it. I wrinkled my nose when I saw that its blood wasn't red, but bright orange. It was almost the same color as Alivia's neon feathers. Everyone broke their stunned gazes from the headless creature being trampled and they all shot into action.

In a single slice, Adalynn chopped off every single one of a crawler's legs. Its body dropped to the sand and it spun and flipped around wildly like a break dancer. The clean, dry sand was now bright and coated in the sticky orange goo. As Angie seemed to be struggling with her sand crawler, I took aim and shot two arrows into it, one of them sticking into one of its bright red eyes. She smiled at me appreciatively before the brutality that made her a warrior returned to her eyes.

"No!" Anadar shouted, and I realized he was talking to me. I gave him an innocent shrug and he shook his head, slicing one of the creatures in half with his claws. "Not you! Stay hidden and don't let them spot you!"

I pouted but obeyed, ducking down behind Alfozo's head and hugging my bow tightly to my chest. What would happen if they noticed I didn't belong down here like the others?

"Now I'm just useless…" I grumbled, wanting to join the fight instead of hiding up here like a baby.

Even Alfozo was fighting; he used his sharp shovel-like beak as a sword, stabbing body after body until his face was coated in their orange blood.

After five minutes, the suspense was killing me so I peeked over the edge of Alfozo's wing to see what was going on. The ground was covered in the massacred husks of the sand crawlers and their orange blood. The sand was now shining with a tint of red from the other's wounds. Aliza's flame colored feathers made it hard to see the blood that was pulsing from a wound along her breastbone, but the crimson liquid was clearly visible along the patches of white on Ashlynn's back. Aden stood at her side, hacking away at a mangled, yet still alive, crawler. The more Aden stabbed at it the angrier it got, like poking a hibernating bear. Before it had a chance to try and tear Aden's arm off, Ashlynn stabbed it with her long steel beak, piercing through its side so it collapsed to the ground.

I heard a sharp growl-like hiss and looked around to see who had made that terrible sound. Anadar was thrashing around violently, a ball of teeth and claws as he sliced at the creature that held his tail locked in its pincer-like jaws. As much as he slashed at it, the crawler would not let go, and blood started to pour out from the end of his long pink tail.

One of the creature's prickly legs ripped the bandages from the wound on his abdomen and I saw it had started bleeding again. He wasn't showing any signs of being able to get his tail free so he could turn around and slice it in two, and I remembered how he said that these creatures have locking jaws. I got up on my knees and pulled an arrow from my quiver, quickly loading and firing it into the face of the monster. It let out a shriek of pain and surprise and I launched another three straight into its neck. Its body slumped lifeless to the ground and the jaws fell open, allowing Anadar to slip his tail out.

"Nice shot, but I don't suggest you try that again," he shouted up to me.

A chest rattling cry rang out in the air. It was so high-pitched it made everyone cover their ears and cringe. The noise made a ripple run up my spine and it made my teeth ache like when you bite into an ice cold popsicle. Everyone looked around after, dazed from the shock waves. In the center of the army, one of the crawlers stood up on its hind legs like a horse getting ready to charge into battle. Its bright, ruby colored eyes were boring straight into me and the rest of them followed so I had a billion eyes on me.

I'm caught.

Anadar seemed to realize this too. "Now she's done it…" I thought I heard him mutter before he ordered everyone to cover me.

Within minutes, the army swarmed towards Alfozo and I and all I saw were snapping jaws and red eyes everywhere. The others surrounded us like a protective border and acted as our defensive while Alfozo and I launched the attacks. I shot arrow after arrow, feeling the bag on my back growing lighter each time I fired one. This was hard too, especially since one arrow didn't usually kill, it took about two or three. One of them I had to shoot five into until it went still. Everywhere I turned there was one lunging for whatever they could get of me. You'd slice one in half and there were at least two new ones in its place. Maybe I'd counted wrong when I thought there were a hundred, it felt like there were thousands now.

Throughout the battle, I felt myself changing inside. I was becoming the savior, the angel without real wings, the one meant to save this underground world from chaos and monsters and hatred. I felt like a warrior, powerful and strong, hot blood coursing through my veins like lava bursting from a volcano. But if I was an angel, why did I have to kill?

Maybe I'm an angel of darkness.

Each time I pulled back on the string of my bow, my vision seemed to become a magnifying glass that would zoom in on the key points that I needed to hit to kill. I only saw eyes, necks, weak abdomens, open and exposed jaws. My heightened vision detected one of the crawlers get dangerously near, breaking the barrier of swords and claws so it could get through to us. Its fang-like pinchers were grazing Alfozo's wing when my blood bubbled and energy electrified the nerve endings in my brain. My arm whipped back and propelled five arrows into the creature at a breakneck speed, all of them hitting just where I'd planned them too. It shrieked and fell back in time for Alfozo to tuck his wing into his side. One thing I hadn't calculated about this move was how risky it was.

Before I could pull back, the jaws were locked around my forearm and I no longer felt Alfozo's soft feathers beneath me. Instead I felt the tiny needles of teeth tear into my flesh as my body lifted into the air and was hurled a good thirty feet. I landed on my face in the sand, feeling the hot grains stick to my cheeks and coat my tongue. I spat a few times and wiped my tongue on my shirt. My arm throbbed as I watched the blood pulsate from my wound and turn my white shirt a Valentine's Day red. I looked up saw a mob of crawlers charging at me. I couldn't even get up to run, my injured leg immobilizing me.

I tried to drag myself, but my throbbing arm and my aching leg didn't allow for much movement. They all jumped, sending themselves about ten feet in the air before landing with loud thuds all around me and hissing aggressively in my face. I tried to swat at them, but I also tried to keep my hands out of the reach of their jaws. I reached into my quiver and pulled out an arrow, even though my bow wasn't anywhere nearby. I closed my eyes and stabbed up into the crowd. A blood curdling scream rang out and orange goo dropped onto my face, making me want to puke. I had jabbed the arrow straight into one of its eyes, and I saw that the soft red sack had burst, spouting neon blood everywhere as it clawed furiously at the arrow stuck in its socket.

That one fell back as the others closed in. I was all out of ideas and pinned on my back now so I couldn't get another arrow out. I tried curling up into a ball to keep away from the horrible faces that were jumping out at me like in a nightmare. I suddenly felt splattered with something warm. I looked up just in time to see a big splop of blood squish into my face. I grimaced and wiped at my eyes. I also wiped my mouth, grossed out by the thought of this nasty goo touching my lips.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a dark gray blur flashing around like lightning. He seemed to be teleporting; in one spot splicing a sand crawler in two, and then gone again shredding another before it even had a chance to realize it was next. Anadar sliced the one that was inches from my face into ribbons and then grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, throwing me up onto his back. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck as he ran off on all fours, getting far away from the beastly creatures.

"Stay!" he growled at me like I was a little puppy being trained, dumping me hastily onto the ground.

He spun around and was gone like lightning, back to tearing and shredding at these hostile monsters. I suddenly felt thankful that Anadar was with us, because I knew if he wasn't we wouldn't stand a chance at surviving out here. Adalynn and Angie wouldn't have even survived their poisonings from breathing in the smoke from those burning plants.

I was a good distance away, so none of them would be able to get anywhere near me. They didn't even seem to know where I had gone, looking around dazed until they were stabbed with a sword or slashed at by a set of claws. The pain in my arm suddenly became almost unbearable and the smell of my blood and the gooey crawler's blood made me nauseous. My stomach churned and I turned to the side to puke, sending up last night's fish and cheese from the pit of my stomach. I wretched again and again until I was shaking and my stomach was wrung dry like a sponge.

The smell of vomit was making me feel worse, so I buried it under a mound of sand until it was no longer visible and the odor was somewhat neutralized. I could feel my head spinning, sweat dripping down my temples as I tried to breathe evenly. I dropped flat on my back like a swatted fly as I felt the blood drain from my arm. Everything around me seemed to wobble, and I expected to look up into the hot sky and see a couple of buzzards circling the sun above me. Of course I didn't see that, there was no sun down here.

A ball of heat tingled in my stomach and then it spread out to my toes and my fingertips, feeling warm and comforting like sinking into a hot tub in late January. My vision became hazy and my head was throbbing. I closed my eyes and tried taking deep breaths through my nose.

If I could just sleep… I thought before the voices started.

I kept hearing them babbling above me, wondering if I was dead. I felt someone take hold of my wrist and check it for a pulse, sighing with relief when they realized I was alive. My name kept on being repeated, and I felt like everyone was chanting it. "Shelby, Shelby, Shelby." The repetition of the word made it start to sound strange to me, like it was no longer a word, and I wanted to change my name so I wouldn't have to answer.

I opened my eyes and looked around, my head pounding and my stomach feeling hollow. I couldn't feel my arm anymore so I looked down to see if it was still there. It was, Aden must have tied a tourniquet around it to stop the bleeding because it had lost all feeling. I've only been on this little expedition for about three days now and I've already been injured twice!

Aden's face swam into my vision and he smiled slightly at me. He placed something soft and cool on my forehead and then had me open my mouth. I tasted the familiar sour flavor of that nasty pain medicine. I welcomed the exhaustion it brought to me and I just let my head slump to the side, not caring about the crown, being an angel, or anything. I just focused on Aden's gentle smile until he grew hazier and hazier, disappearing completely once my eyelids fell shut.

* * *

My throat hurt and I felt like the air was being pressed out of my lungs. It probably had nothing to do with the fact that I was screaming bloody murder. I sat up, drenched in sweat and looked around to see where I was. I no longer saw the face of that angry, beautiful girl with wings. I kept hearing her voice in my head though. "Make loa! Make loa! Make loa!" she had screamed accusatively at me as my skin was stripped down to the bone until I landed in that dark hole, already a skeleton ready to be buried.

A cool hand rested gently on my shoulder and I whirled around, looking up to see Adalynn. Her eyes were a golden bronze color and I realized that they were the same color as my skin. There was even a small brown spot in her right eye that looked like the little freckle I had on my neck. She smiled slightly at me, for once not looking like she wanted to destroy me with lasers from her eyes.

"What…" I started to ask until my voice caught in my dry throat.

She held a finger to my lips and held up a water pouch. "Drink," she commanded, trickling the icy liquid down my throat. It slid down with ease, cooling the fire that burned the raw edges of my gullet. I guzzled down almost all of it until she pulled the bag away so I could catch my breath.

"Where are we?" I was able to speak this time.

"We are still in the dry lands," she replied. "You didn't miss much; you were only asleep for three days."

Three days! Was it even possible to sleep that long? I looked around nervously, seeing that we were in the air and the others were flying beside us.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked me. "Aden said that all of this stress that you are not used to must have sent you into shock, so it is good you slept so long."

When I sat up, my head ached. "Where's Aden?" I asked, expecting him to be the one looking over me instead of Adalynn.

"I had ordered him to sleep as well," she laughed, looking over at Ashlynn where Aden lie unconscious on her back. "He has been losing his own sleep over taking care of you, so I told him I would watch over you while he rested."

I felt guilty that he was wearing himself out to take care of me, and I was glad that she had made him sleep.

"Why do you usually scream when you awake?" Adalynn asked.

I blushed slightly. "I've just been having some nightmares lately. Why, has it been happening a lot?"

She nodded her head, wrapping her arms around her body like she felt a chill. "At least twice each night you've woken this way…"

"Everyone must be getting tired of me waking them up each night," I murmured sheepishly, feeling bad for disturbing everyone's well deserved sleep.

"Actually, we have almost become immune to your screams. It's been happening so much that we all know it is nothing to worry about," she said.

"I wish it would stop…"

"What are they about? These nightmares?" she questioned, twisting her long braid around her hand.

I hesitated, trying to think of a way to talk about it without going into panic. Thinking about the nightmare gave me chills, and I just wanted to forget and throw it in the trash.

"There's this girl and she has these big, pretty angel wings. She'll take my hand and tell me to fly with her but I can't, because I don't have any wings," I took in a deep breath, "once we get up high, my skin starts to…disappear so I can see all my bones and my heart and the girls starts screaming something at me…"

"What does she say to you?" she asked, the curiosity burning in her eyes.

"I don't even know if they're real words, but she it sounded like she was saying, 'mah-kay loa'," I said, not sure if I was pronouncing it right.

Adalynn's skin colored eyes grew wide and round and I could see my reflection in them. She gave me a startled look, which made me wonder what I'd said.

"You do not know what 'make loa' means?" she said as I shook my head, "It means death…" Her voice sounded very grave and distant as I swallowed hard.

It hadn't seemed liked she was telling me I was going to die. The accusative way she shouted, it made it seem more like she was calling me death.

"Are you sure the 'Anela is good?" I asked her softly.

"What?"

"Am I supposed to be something good? Or am I something of darkness and death?"

She shook her head. "The 'Anela is meant to bring us light again by spreading good and balance. She has no darkness in her."

"In my dream it was like she was telling me I was death. And when we were fighting those sand crawlers, I just kept killing them. One after another, I kept causing death. How is killing supposed to bring light?"

"We are being asked to land now, princess," Alfozo turned and said to Adalynn before she could answer me.

She looked down and saw Anadar was motioning for everyone to come down. She just rolled her eyes. "That Po'ele is getting on my nerves," she grumbled as Alfozo slowly descended from the air.

"C'mon, he's not that bad," I said lightly.

She snorted, "You should have seen the fights we've all been getting into while you were asleep. I thought he and Archer were going to the death..."

"No one got hurt too bad, did they?" I asked, noticing the small claw mark on her forearm.

"No one is severely injured, but there was blood a few times. Aden has been acting in your place to try and keep things peaceful." She smiled.

I frowned. "Wait, so now I'm supposed to be some peace maker too?" I groaned and lie back down.

"Well, the 'Anela is meant to be a gentle, peaceful being who loves all creatures, even Po'eles…" her voice seemed to trail off.

"I don't know if I'd describe myself as gentle," I scoffed.

Adalynn laughed lightly. "I don't know if I would either. But you do have a way about you that is…caring and compassionate. You have a very open and unbiased heart, you give everyone a chance…even someone we all fear…"

"Like your grandma said, don't be too quick to judge him," I whispered as we touched ground.

Adalynn just rolled her eyes at me before she flipped onto the ground, landing smoothly on her feet. I sat up to see what was going on, my leg still sore and now my arm burning on top of it.

"We cannot fly for this part of the journey," Anadar said as he gnawed on a rough looking stone.

"Why can we not fly?" Adalynn questioned haughtily.

"Because, your highness," he sneered at the title, "we have to go through there in order to follow the trail," he pointed to a narrow cavern that went into the canyon wall. "Can your Manu fly through there? Because I think it would be quite a tight squeeze for her wingspan."

"Well how will they get through then? They cannot walk great distances…" Aden said, now awake, gently stroking Ashlynn's blood coated feathers.

Anadar studied each bird for a moment. "They'll have to be carried then," he said at last.

"How can we carry them? Look how big they are!" I exclaimed, trying to imagine lifting Alfozo. I couldn't see it happening in a million years.

"We'll break it up; two will walk and two will be carried and then we'll switch," said Anadar, "The two larger ones shall walk first," he looked over at Alfozo and Aliza, who agreed to walk first. It took Aden, Amrit, and Angie to lift Ashlynn on their backs while Archer and Adalynn carried Alivia, who was the smallest.

The birds seemed much discomforted at being the ones going for a ride this time; lying on their backs and staring up at the sky with their wings tucked in. Archer stood in the front of Alivia while Adalynn was back near her tail. Aden and Amrit stood side by side under Ashlynn while Angie brought up her back end.

Anadar's pink mushroom shaped nose poked up over Alfozo's wing and I saw his dark eyes appear. "You will not be able to stay up there. It will be a struggle for him to carry his own weight alone on foot."

Alfozo spread his wing out for me to crawl onto and he lowered me carefully to the ground.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked him.

He nodded and told me not to worry, even though his eyes seemed a little stressed at the idea of traveling on his delicate claws.

"Can you walk?" Anadar asked me, towering from above. Man, he looked big when I was just standing beside him; now that I was sitting he was even bigger.

I nodded and pushed up uneasily to my feet. Once I applied the slightest pressure to my left leg, the muscle seemed to turn to Jell-O and I wobbled backwards. Alfozo caught me with his wing and I clung to it for stability.

"I'll take that as a negative," said Anadar.

"No, I'll be fine," I insisted, trying to hop on one foot. Again, after a few hops and I was ready to take a break. Maybe I could just crawl through the cavern and go in the back so I wouldn't slow anyone down.

He crouched down on all four paws and stared at me with his shiny, black eyes. "I guess I'll have to carry you then." I studied him unsurely as he waited for me to get up on his back. "Come now, I don't bite…much," he smirked when he noticed my hesitation.

I cautiously crawled over to him and scrambled up onto his back. Even down on all fours he was bigger than a full grown bear. I wrapped my arms securely around his neck and let my feet dangle at his sides. It surprised me how soft and silky his thick gray fur was. It was soft like a bunny sort of, and it actually felt familiar, sort of like the material of the blanket I'd been covered with back at the hospital in Malu.

We all headed for the crevice in the canyon, with Anadar and I leading the way and Alfozo at the rear. I hoped he and Aliza weren't having too hard of a time hobbling along. I remembered how small their bird-like feet were. They were good in battle for tearing and slashing at their enemies, but there was no way they could carry the hundreds of pounds they all weighed for too long. The only time they were on the ground was when they slept.

Inside the narrow tunnel it was dark and dry. It almost seemed like there was no air at all in here, and it became hard to breathe after a while. The dry heat made my injuries throb slightly, even with the lingering pain medicine in me. It was so dark I could hardly see, and I felt like I was back in the dungeon again. I guess Anadar could see fine in the dark because he showed no signs of blindness. I'm pretty sure possums are nocturnal back on the surface, so maybe it's the same down here, if that's even what he is. We had to stop after about an hour for the birds to be shifted around. I heard everyone struggling and grunting in the dark so I was guessing they were trying to lift Alfozo. I felt guilty for not being able to help them.

The long silence stretched on and it made me feel sort of crazy. Every time I tried to speak I felt like my voice would be swallowed up by the darkness. I tried once more to say something and words finally came out this time, even though I hadn't anticipated what they would be.

"So, how do you know the dry lands so well?" I asked Anadar. He was quiet for a minute so I wondered if he had heard me.

"I live out here," he replied at last.

I felt my mouth drop open slightly and I wondered if he saw in the dark. How could anyone live out here? It was dry and hot, there was no food or water anywhere and there were those nasty sand crawlers lurking around. It didn't seem like a very ideal place to visit, let alone live.

"Why would you want to live way out here?" I asked.

"I never said I wanted to, I just said I did."

I heard his claws scrape against the walls on either side of us so the tunnel must be narrowing even more up ahead. I thought I heard the sound of feathers brushing against the cavern walls too.

"Oh, well how come you live here? Are you all alone?" I questioned.

He sniffed in a careless manner. "I live out here because I was banished from Po'ele lands, but that was long ago…" His voice sounded off in the distance for a moment.

"Why were you banished?"

He chuckled slightly, "For doing things like I am now, helping the enemy." He had been banished for helping people like us? That must be like major treason for a Po'ele to help humans.

"Aren't you lonely out here?" I whispered, "Do you still get to see your family?"

"My, don't we have a lot of questions," he shook his head, but his voice still sounded light and sarcastic like it usually did.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized, feeling myself blush slightly. I didn't ask any more questions, hoping I hadn't already offended him. He didn't seem upset with me though.

I got tired of being blind and I remembered my phone was still in that burlap bag that I had over my shoulder. I felt around inside until my fingers brushed against it. I turned it on, hoping it wasn't dead, and I sighed in relief when I saw a faint light bounce off my retinas. Everyone seemed a little startled by the sudden light, even Anadar turned around to see what I was doing.

"Sorry," I apologized, aiming the light down so it wouldn't hit anyone in the eyes.

I held the screen down and studied Anadar's fur to keep myself busy. I noticed along his back was a small burn mark in the shape of a lightning bolt. I couldn't help myself from reaching out and lightly touching the rough, weathered skin. The shape of it made it seem unnatural, like he had received this purposely from someone.

"That is the mark of my banishment," I heard him whisper. He must have noticed my fingers studying it. "When you are banished, they mark you so no one ever forgets that you can never return…"

I started to feel sad for him, feeling it must be frightening being kicked out of your own home and never allowed back. All I could manage to say was, "Oh…" as I traced my index finger across the zigzagging shape. I occupied myself with its shape for so long that when I looked up into the darkness, I started to see lightning bolt spots in bright colors before my eyes.

We traveled on for a good couple hours with rest breaks in between until everyone started lagging behind. It must be hard for the others since they were carrying the weight of the birds. I kept hearing occasional grunts and groans as they tried to keep the birds steady above their shoulders. Everyone's feet started to drag along the stony cave floor, scraping like a fork on a plate.

"We're almost out of this tunnel, and then we can stop," Anadar called back over his shoulder to the others, who sounded ready to collapse from exhaustion.

As we stepped further, the ceiling up ahead grew lower and lower until Anadar had to hunch over, and my back scraped against the rocky ceiling. The birds could no longer be carried, so they all had to get down and scamper along on their claws by themselves. My head hit a protruding jagged rock that was sticking out of the ceiling and I hadn't seen it coming since it was so dark.

"Ow!" I griped, nearly falling over backwards.

"Watch your head, the ceiling's a little low," said Anadar.

"Thanks for the heads up," I grumbled, rubbing my head.

"How much lower will this get?" I heard Adalynn ask from behind.

"Much lower. I had forgotten about this part of the tunnel." He crouched down even more until he was practically crawling.

"Much lower?" Aden questioned, "The birds cannot go much farther until they are stuck!"

I could hear their backs grinding against the ceiling, knocking some crumbling debris loose and their claws scraped at the ground as they dragged themselves along on their bellies. This must be so claustrophobic for them when they're so used to the wide open skies and being weightless in the air.

"This is it," Anadar whispered, and we all stopped.

"Why have we stopped?" Archer demanded, crawling up behind Anadar, who was still staring straight ahead into the darkness before us.

"Please say you do not expect us to swim?" I heard Ashlynn squeak.

"Swim?" everyone gasped.

"We'll have to if we want to get out of here," the Po'ele sighed. I heard the soft ripple of water as I felt him reach his paw out to it and dip a claw into the cool surface.

"How far?" asked Angie.

"Not sure. Who here can hold their breath the longest?" he questioned curiously, looking back at everyone. Even though I couldn't see their faces, I knew they were all a little afraid.

"I can hold my breath pretty long," I piped up. Surfing helped me increase my time of holding my breath under water by a lot. I could hold my breath for two and a half minutes, I had Ava time me once.

"Anyone who isn't essential to the quest?" he scoffed, and I narrowed my eyes at the direction his voice had come from.

"I'll go," I heard Aden offer, "Amrit will come with me."

The two of them crawled up beside us and I heard them both breathing raggedly. Everyone was, the air down here was so thick and dry it made you feel almost lightheaded. How would they hold their breath underwater when they were barely getting enough air now on land?

"Try and go as far as you can straight ahead, don't go changing direction too much because you'll get lost and drown," Anadar cautioned them. "I'm detecting an opening in a small cavern along the other side, I cannot quiet sense how far, the water is too distorting to the scent, but I don't believe it is far." I heard him sniffing wildly at what lay ahead in the dark.

I heard them each take in a large breath, there was a big splash, and then there was silence as the water grew calm again. We all waited tensely for them to come back, counting the seconds they were gone. What if something happens and they drown? What if Anadar's wrong and there's no cavern up ahead for them to get into and they run out of air before they can turn back? I tried to calm down and rein in my overactive imagination when someone came up, spluttering and gasping for breath after about two minutes passed. It didn't sound like Aden, so it must be Amrit. I heard him pull himself out of the water and drop to the ground, coughing up water. He had to catch his breath before he could speak.

"What happened?" Anadar asked in his gruff voice as Amrit choked on a mouthful of water.

"There was a cavern, we could see the light from the surface, but as we got closer…" he coughed again, "…there is something down there…"

"What do you mean something? Did you see what it looked like?" the possum asked, intrigued.

Amrit took in a shaky breath, "I saw nothing but tentacles. They tried to grab at me but I swam away before I could be caught."

"Where's Aden?" My voice cracked slightly.

He didn't speak at first; he just choked some more and tried to take in as much air as possible. "The tentacles grabbed him. I would have helped but I had run out of air. He was trying to fight it, but I don't think it was enough…" his voice sounded like a combination of ashamed and saddened.

"He is…gone?" Adalynn said softly, her voice dull.

"He's been under so long…" Anadar sighed. He didn't really know Aden, but he had been one of the few who had tried to be cordial to him.

I felt a ripple of every painful feeling run up my spine and spread out across my shoulder blades. I couldn't breathe, the air was too thick and the lump in my throat made it impossible too. Tears flowed from my eyes and trickled down my cheeks. What was the point of continuing on this journey? Aden was probably the only person down here I cared enough about to try and save. I wasn't about to just sit here and accept that he was gone. After all he's done for me and the countless times he's saved my life, I owed him my efforts to try and save him.

I didn't have time to waste, Anadar would sense what I intended to do next at any moment now and try to stop me. I quickly rolled and pushed up onto my right foot, managing to keep my balance, and then I flung myself down into the water like I was diving off a diving board. I heard the others call after me in protest, but I ignored them. The cool water felt so nice, refreshing me to the core and ridding the sand and sweat that was caked all over my body. My hair floated all around me like seaweed and it startled me a few times when it swam into my peripheral vision. I kept a look out for both Aden and the tentacles, but I saw neither.

After swimming a few yards, a slight discomfort started to settle in my lungs and my arm started throbbing at the sudden use. My leg didn't bother me though, the cool water actually felt good on the wound as I carefully kicked my legs. I opened my eyes and looked around, seeing only dark blurry shapes under the water. I saw the bright light of the surface up ahead that Amrit had mentioned and I swam to it eagerly before my lungs popped.

Something shot out of nowhere and blindsided me, sending my flimsy body tumbling through the dark water and knocking the little breath I had left out of me. My already blurred vision became even hazier as I tried to get my bearings straight. I couldn't seem to decide which way was up and which way I had been going as I scanned around for an exit. I was struck again, this time something sticky and squishy wrapping itself around my waist, squeezing the remaining air out of me. As I opened my eyes I saw a thin, red tentacle was snarled around me, its suction cups running along the surface of my skin and clothes.

I wanted to scream but I couldn't suck in a breath of air to do so. My lungs felt ready to burst when the creature pulled me right up to its massively perturb eyeball. It wasn't round though; it was almost like a cube. It had more than one pupil suspended in the gel-like substance, covering the eye in five light absorbing lenses that took in every angle of my terrified face. The square shape and number of dots made it resemble a di sort of, only it was a dark amber color.

The tentacle drew me closer to the eye, and as I was about to succumb to the inviting blackness, I watched the eye grow wide and all five of the swirling pupils clustered together until they formed one intimidating ball of blackness. The eye stared skeptically at me and then my body was propelled through the water. The next thing I knew I was breathing again. I coughed up some water before collapsing on my back to let my heart rate slow. I suddenly felt overcome with enervation and I couldn't feel my limbs as I choked on the air.

Something suddenly shot straight up and out of the water before whacking down hard on the ground. It was that big red tentacle, and it was maneuvering itself around in a gradual and deliberate way, leaving a trail of clear slime behind it. I watched as it menacingly crept towards me, its movements reminding me of a snail. As it got closer to me, I tried to drag myself away, although it seemed to know exactly where I was. Whenever I'd roll to the side it would turn and follow like a heat seeking missile.

I felt it brush against my leg and my skin crawled at the slimy touch. It was all red, and squishy, and suction cuppy. The creature found me once again and this time it encircled my ankle with its wet, drippy appendage. I clawed violently at the ground, crying out to someone who wasn't there to help me. There was nothing for me to grab, no extremity sticking out of the ground for me to latch onto. My nails dug desperately into the soft, cold dirt but they only dragged along as I was pulled screaming towards the water where its hungry jaws waited to devour me.

My body went still once the creature suddenly stopped dragging me. I relaxed for a moment, but my finger muscles didn't as I dug my nails deeper into the soil until they bled. I still felt the tentacle around me, but its grip had loosened immensely. It was like it was just holding me so I wouldn't run away. Maybe it wasn't hungry yet, full from Aden still, and it was just holding me here until its appetite increased again. I craned my neck to look behind me, expecting to see a set of vicious jaws and that golden, cube-shaped eye.

I didn't though; instead I saw the red squishy membrane of the top of a round head and I saw the one big intelligent eye that seemed to be almost glistening in the cave's light. It watched me carefully as it lifted up its tiny, claw-like beak and rested it along the rim of the pool. The tentacle unwound from around me and it lightly patted my knee before drawing back into the water. This creature no longer seemed threatening; more so just curious as it watched me.

As intimidated as I was, I couldn't tear my eyes away from this breathtaking creature. It reminded me of an octopus, but it's eyes were more intelligent and thoughtful. It actually looked kind of cute, with its big soft eye and its little beak that seemed to be turned up into a smile. I watched as its one large eye suddenly divided and somehow morphed into two, moving along with its beak. There was an affable and almost loving look on its face as it watched my every move. I no longer felt afraid of it, I was more curious now, and I wanted to reach out and touch it.

I crawled over to the edge and watched its big, endearing eyes grow wide with excitement as I approached. With a shaking hand, I slowly leaned forwards and pressed my palm to its soft, squishy head. The texture was smooth like cream and a little slimy, but it didn't gross me out. The creature let out a little squeak of delight against my touch. It wasn't as large and intimidating as it seemed earlier, although it was still pretty good sized.

"What's your name little fella?" I cooed to it as more excited squeals arose from it.

A small, slender tentacle popped up out of the water and wrapped around my fingers like it wanted to hold my hand. The water bubbled and two little creatures popped up beside it. They were like the bigger one, only they were no bigger than a box of Cheerios. I cooed like I was at a puppy pound and I lightly patted their squishy little heads too. One was a bright teal color and the other was a light lavender purple. They let out sweet tiny squeaks even more high pitched and excited than the bigger one's. Sitting on the teal one's head was an even smaller octopus. It was light pink and no bigger than my fist. It whimpered for attention, so I gently stroked its little head with my thumb.

The way the smaller ones crowded around the big octopus, I was thinking it might be their mom. They all seemed to be fighting for my attention, pushing each other with their tentacles so I would pet them next. The tiniest one actually hopped off the teal one's head and squished its way over to me, suctioning itself to my thigh. I giggled and lightly tickled its head until it slipped off and bounced back into the water.

The mom octopus slid her tentacle around my wounded leg and I tried to carefully pull away without hurting her feelings. As I inched my leg back, she seemed to tighten her grip. I twisted my leg around and pointed to the bandages on my calf to show I was injured, hoping she'd understand I didn't want it to be touched. She squealed and clicked before her tentacle ripped the bandage right off to my surprise, exposing the gaping wound. A clear liquid formed at the tip of her tentacle and she carefully dressed my injury in the stuff. At first it stung a little, but then the pain died away.

I stared in amazement as the hole healed right before my eyes until it was completely gone. It didn't even look like it had been healed; more like it had never been there to begin with, leaving no scar behind. I held my bandaged arm out to her to see if she'd fix that too. She went to work immediately, twining her long, squishy arms around mine and letting the clear fluid soak into my flesh, magically healing my wounds. She even fixed the now burning red suction cup marks she had left on my body earlier, healing my still slightly tender ribs as well.

"Thank you so much," I said, giving her tentacle a shake like it was a hand or something. She gave me a beaky smile back and let out a joyful squeak.

A low groan from nearby caught my attention. I whirled around and gasped at the doubled over lump that sat curled up on the ground. They moaned so miserably that it nearly broke my heart. I realized it was definitely human; I saw clearly distinguishable hair, two arm, legs, and clothes. Something about their face I recognized right away.

"Aden!" I cried, feeling tears burn my eyes when I saw he was still alive.

I got up and ran to him, ignoring the cries and whimpers of the octopuses. I dropped to my knees at his side and lightly brushed the hair off his forehead. His eyes were squeezed shut tight and he let out a wail of physical suffering that seemed to reverberate off the glowing cave walls.

I tried rubbing his feverish head to comfort him. His cries made my tears of relief morph into tears of fear. What was the matter with him, how had he gotten so ill and in pain? His skin was burning up and his body was covered in round, red sucker marks from the octopus. His marks seemed different than mine had been though, more severe and painful. His were inflamed, red with infection, and oozing a purple liquid. These marks covered his arms, legs, and neck so every inch of him was burning up. Sweat drenched his face and neck, his skin clammy. His muscles were all locked and his limbs twitched and spasmed here and there.

Poison.

"Aden, don't worry, you're gonna be okay! I'm gonna get help!" I kept repeating to him. He stared at me directly, but he seemed to be struggling to find my face as his eyes bounced back and forth.

"Please kill me, I can't stand it!" he begged. All the veins beneath his skin stood out prominently, every tendon in his neck bulging as he gritted his teeth in agony.

What do I do?

I looked around fearfully, not knowing how to help him. An idea hit me and I jumped to my feet. Aden clutched tightly to my hand, crushing the bones with his great strength as I struggled to pull away from him.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna leave you," I reassured him.

I couldn't get him to let go until I promised about fifteen times that I wouldn't leave his side. Once he relaxed some, I lifted under his arms and clasped my fingers around his chest so I could pull him over to the water. I dragged his twitching and burning body over to the water's edge where I carefully sat him up and leaned him against my side. He felt like he was on fire, his skin clammy and sallow as his wounds grew more inflamed.

I looked down at the octopuses, who were shrinking back slightly and cowering. Their big square eyes stared up at Aden's trembling figure in terror and the mother pulled her children behind her for protection. They all quickly ducked under the water, hiding beneath the dark murky surface.

"No, please come back!" I shouted. "My friend needs your help!"

She did not surface again, and neither did the little ones. I kept screaming for them to come back, but they wouldn't. They were long gone, probably down at the bottom by now and ignoring me. Hope inflated my heart for a moment when I saw the water become disturbed as someone came up to the surface. Disappointment hit me when I saw it wasn't one of the octopuses, but a human.

Adalynn came up, gasping for breath as she reached her hand out to me so I could pull her out. I hoisted her out of the water and she collapsed on the ground, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. I was relieved that she didn't have any of these poisonous sucker marks on her like the ones that were killing Aden now. He let out another moan, which was interrupted by a shiver that shook his whole body, and his head seemed to fall back lifelessly against my shoulder.

Just then, I heard the others come up too; one by one surfacing and sucking air greedily into their lungs. Everyone swam to shore and dragged themselves out. The birds seemed to be having the hardest time, their graceful and feathery wings clearly not designed for swimming as they bobbed up and down and spun in circles. Angie and Archer helped rein them in, pulling them one by one out by their wings. Anadar dragged himself out, looking like a mound of dripping fur as he dropped onto his belly to rest.

Getting up on all fours, he shook his coat out like a dog, sending a mist of water raining down on us. His ears twitched along with his whiskers as he shook the water droplets off his muzzle. His piercing eyes turned on me and they appeared to be blazing with fury.

"That had to have been the most suicidal thing I have ever witnessed in all my life!" he shouted at me. "You could have been killed!" His nose twitched angrily.

"I don't care, I had to help Aden!" I shot back, "Lucky for him I did come, just look at him!" He seemed to be starting to lose consciousness, his eyes already half dead.

"The safety of Palekana does not depend on him! It depends on you!" he spat at me, "You cannot go around doing foolish things that could get you killed for the safety of others!"

"Well, I'm not gonna sit by while my friends get killed!" I said defensively.

"You will do just that if necessary!" Anadar barked at me.

"I won't!" I argued, just in time for his tail to smack me in the back of my head.

Mom gave me some of these sometimes when I talked stupid; she called them 'dope slaps'. I ignored the pain and wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me touch where he struck me.

"I'll always protect the people I care about. Even if it means I get killed…" I said one last time, looking down at Aden who was slowly slipping away, lightly touching his hair.

"Just remember, if you die, they all will," he said coolly, twitching his whiskers to the side.

Adalynn crawled over beside Aden and I and she lightly caressed his hair. "Why is he like this?" she asked, taking in the temperature of his skin.

"I think the octopuses poisoned him. These marks don't look too good," I said looking down at the oozing, red rings on his arms and neck.

"What can we do for him?" She looked desperate to save her cousin.

"I had some of these marks too, only mine didn't get bad because the octopus healed me," I told her.

Anadar raised his head to look over at me. "Did you say that it healed you?" He no longer sounded angry, now more suspicious.

I nodded. "Yeah, they sort of love me or something."

"Do they now?" he asked, sounding curious now.

"Yep, I thought it was gonna eat me, but it carried me up to the surface and then it healed all my wounds. See, my leg's fine now and so is my arm." I leaned Aden into Adalynn as I stood up and strutted around to show my leg was no longer incapacitated. I even threw in a cartwheel for dramatic effect.

"Very peculiar, suckers don't usually take too kindly to many, especially not humans." Anadar sniffed casually at the air like he was looking for something in particular.

"I tried to get them to help Aden, but they got scared when they saw him and they swam away," I sighed.

"Keep everyone back and you try to get them to come up to help. If they can cure his poisoning, then they are his only hope. He appears to only have but minutes left," he said.

We looked over at Aden, who was moaning and burning at Adalynn's side. I had her pull him back from the water and she drifted away too as I got down on my knees and dipped my hand in the water.

I wriggled my fingers along the surface, hoping to attract them again, but they would not surface. My hand splashed around playfully, and this still didn't make them come up to me. I started trying to make those squeaking sounds that they had made, curling my tongue up and squealing from the back of my throat.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Anadar asked contemptuously.

"I'm trying to make the noise that they were making earlier," I said in between squeaks.

"Oh, so now you speak sucker?" he chortled in a mocking tone.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, continuing to squeal for their help. I heard a squeak back and I thought it was them, but I realized it was Adalynn trying to help me. Angie joined in too, and the three of us went off into a high pitched song.

The surface bubbled, and like a blessing, the mother appeared. My last squeak caught in my throat as I stared at her in awe. I held out my hand in a friendly gesture and she swam over, happily twining her tentacle through my fingers like we've been best friends for years.

"I do not believe it…" Adalynn whispered, her eyes wide as she stared at the graceful creature before me.

"Please, I need you to help my friend," I begged the octopus. "Do you understand me?" As intelligent as her eyes seemed, I don't think she had a clue as to what I was saying.

"They do not speak in our tongue," said Anadar with a huff of frustration. "Here, take this."

I turned and saw him dumping out the green contents of a clear, diamond shaped vial before carefully tossing it to me. I stared at it in confusion for a moment.

"What the heck am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, befuddled.

"Fill it with as much of the cure from it as you can get."

I looked back over at the mother octopus, who stared back curiously, her eyes darting to the little glass bottle. Was he telling me to take it by force? I couldn't, I had seen her make that clear liquid herself, drawing it from her tentacles. Only she could make the cure, so the only way I was getting any was if I could get her to comprehend what I was begging for.

I held the vial out to her. "Please, he's hurt and he needs you to fix him like you fixed me. Put cure into bottle?" I tried to explain to the creature.

I picked up my old bandage off the ground, the one she had ripped off my calf wound. I held the old, blood stained cloth out to her so she'd remember and then I gestured towards the empty glass bottle, tipping it over myself like I was pouring something onto my skin. Her eyes seemed to suddenly flash with acuity. She dipped the skinny end of one of her tentacles into the vial in my hands until it was curled at the bottom. I watched as that familiar clear fluid seeped from her skin and filled the contents of the jar until it reached the top. Anadar emptied out two more bottles and handed them to me for her to fill. Once we had all the magic goo we needed, I thanked her and turned back to Aden.

I lifted his head onto my lap as I carefully trickled the clear liquid all over the feverish blisters that burned red against his pale skin. He growled through his teeth and winced for a second before the pain started to slowly dissipate from his eyes. His sucker wounds gradually faded away until they were gone and his skin was smooth and pearly once again. His fever diminished, and he no longer felt clammy. Finally, he opened his eyes and this time he was able to find my face with ease, smiling up at me as brightly as the sun.

"I am so glad you are healed!" Adalynn cried, wrapping her arms around her cousin's neck as he struggled to sit up.

I was surprised when I saw tears were flowing from her dark, but tranquil, eyes. For the short time I've known Adalynn, she has never seemed to be the loving and expressive type, but here she was proving me wrong like usual. She looked like she couldn't be happier that Aden was safe.

"How was I saved?" Aden asked, lightly rubbing the back of his head.

"Them," I pointed to the octopuses.

Aden seemed to almost cringe away when he saw the sea creatures. They all seemed to shrink back in fear too. I guess humans and octopuses don't get along too good down here. I wonder why they seemed to like me so much. I crawled back over to the water's edge and carefully held my hand out to the mother. She twined her tentacle around my index finger in a way to show a bond.

"Unbelievable," Anadar shook his head in incredulity.

"What? Are they usually not this friendly?" I questioned.

He sat back and scratched at his ear. "Not particularly. Suckers tend to despise humans after what they did to them hundreds of years ago when they first arrived in Palekana."

"What did the humans do to them?" I asked.

"When the humans first arrived down here, they discovered the suckers in nearby water bodies outside of Malu. Then they were just settling in and they were in need of a new food source, if you catch my drift," the possum said, eyeing the family of octopuses skeptically.

My jaw dropped. "You mean they hate us because we…ate them?"

"Ate them near to extinction. Sucker meat became a delicacy to the humans until the suckers started fighting back and poisoning people who tried to net them," he said.

I looked sadly back at the mommy octopus and her three babies. How many of them were left, or were they the only ones? She appeared to have heard and understood every word, her eyes large and anguished as she stared back into mine. The delicate creature lifted its tentacle carefully to my face and dabbed at my cheek. I saw that she had one of my tears dangling from the tip until she curiously dropped it into her open beak and tasted the flavor of my sadness.

"How come she's not scared of me too?" I asked, still holding her tentacle around my finger.

"Because you are the 'Anela," said Anadar, "She before you had helped protect and defend the suckers from harm. They were devoted to her, and that devotion shall be carried on to you now."