Chapter 8

Time stopped for a moment. Then a jerk at her core like someone had wrapped a rope around her middle, then pulled her forward, sent her stumbling, then the whole world shifted and churned.

The silence seemed to crackle like a radio station trying to find a signal; voices and high cries faded in and out of the static. Yet, Neivayka couldn’t make out anything specific and couldn’t even concentrate enough to try. Light swirled around her, blending then bursting into a kaleidoscope of brilliant color blinding her.

She couldn’t take it anymore. The swirling colors, the sounds fading in and out, and the jerking pressure of her stomach was too much for her to bear. Closing her eyes, Neivayka curled up into a ball, caving underneath the overwhelming pressure.

Suddenly, she hit the ground. Not forcefully, but firmly as if she had just jumped off the bottom stair to the floor. The sound of voices sharpened, and the high-pitched cries became familiar.

Seagulls.

The cries had been seagulls. The voices surrounded her, but the words seemed either out of place, distorted, or in another language; she couldn’t figure out which.

Slowly, Neivayka straightened and began to look around, trying to figure out where she was. Despite having made the decision to jump through a portal, she found it hard to accept what her eyes were telling her. One moment, she had been in Iola’s living room and the next, she was standing on a wooden pier overlooking the busy seaport that she had seen in the picture.

People were hustling by, barely paying Neivayka any mind as if someone appearing out of nowhere happened every day. She stood up quickly and stumbled to the edge of the peer before people decided to run her down.

At first glance, everything looked normal. Fishermen were pulling in the day's catch, people wandering around looking out at the sea. Young boys racing around, shoving, and teasing each other, lovers walking hand in hand, gazing contently out over the cove.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first glance. However, she couldn’t dismiss the feeling something was wrong.

She caught a bright shimmer out of the corner of her eye, like sunlight reflecting off the water. Yet, when she turned to look, all she saw was a group of rugged old fishermen staring down at a vat of crabs.

Neivayka stared hard at the group, trying to calm herself with the familiar sight of crabbers. Hoping her gut would calm down so her mind could focus on getting out of there.

She had lived next to the ocean her whole life, so a busy port like this was something she was used to seeing. When she was younger, Neivayka would sneak out and go watch the men come and go wishing she could sneak onto their boats and sail away with them. Her childhood dream of visiting far-off places struck a poignant chord in her chest, and she felt the urge once again to run away with the fishermen.

Her feet began to walk towards them, even before the desire had blossomed completely in her mind. Neivayka skid to a halt when the crabs came into full unobstructed view.

They were huge! And though the bucket had looked normal, the number of giant heads popping out was impossible. The heads alone had to be at least three feet wide and a good foot thick. When one of the crabs was lifted almost out of the water, she found its size was the least terrifying thing about it.

A man with a huge, burly beard that fell almost to his knees was gripping one by its size and examined it. Razor-sharp rows of teeth flashed as the crab creature hiss and used every one of its short claws, and there were about ten more than there should have been to try and get the man’s hands off him.

A scream involuntarily flew out of Neivayka’s mouth, drawing the attention of everyone nearby, including the fishermen who gave her a confused and scorn-filled look.

The scene wavered for an instant, and the husky rugged men shifted to a loud, barking group of walruses, then back to normal a second later. Panicked, Neivayka stumbled back away from the walrus men with their evil crab demons still splashing about in the impossibly large bucket.

What was happening to her? Had she finally snapped? The trip through the portal had been the finishing touch to melt her already overheated brain. She must have been suffering from an aneurysm. Or worse, maybe she really was in a mental hospital strapped to a bed waiting for her next dose of medicine to be normal again.

Her desperate attempt to flee was cut off by a large body that suddenly stepped in her way.

“Slow down, little one,” said a silky-smooth voice.

His deep soothing baritone put her at ease immediately. Neivayka met dark soulless eyes that shifted into the most beautiful baby blues she had ever seen. A sweet innocence exuded from the man making it easy to trust him. His strong, firm lips were turned up in a gentle grin as if he knew a joke that he was dying to tell. His sun-kissed blond hair floated angelically around his head giving him a young, boyish look.

An angel, Neivayka’s mushy brain whispered. In a world full of hell, I found an angel.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” her rescuer purred out.

“Neivayka,” she breathed, enthralled.

“Neivayka,” he whispered as if it was the most beautiful word in the English language. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

He raised a strong hand to brush over her burning cheeks, and Neivayka leaned into him vowing silently to go to the ends of the earth for this amazingly wonderful, gorgeous man. She was so close she could have kissed him and probably would have if the wavering light hadn’t distracted her once more.

The man’s handsome face paled and sunk in as his blue eyes bled black again. His sweet, innocent, boyish grin transformed into a razor-edged leer that looked more like a hungry growl instead of a smile.