Page 28 of Darkest Dredge

It wasn’t until I got to the statue belonging to Noah’s mask—I could tell by the groin area with the four sections that locked together to create one massive unit—that a fresh wave of heat twisted through me.

This time, it had nothing to do with the sweltering atmosphere.

My pulse accelerated. An ache settled between my thighs and once again I was painfully aware of the foreign objects nestled against my cervix.

Closing my notebook and setting it to the side, I laid back and pulled Noah’s shirt up to expose my center. Taking a breath, I pushed two fingers inside me as far as they could reach and gasped when I felt one of them. Too deep to pull them out.

Maybe… Maybe I could squeeze them out.

Chapter Fourteen

Noah

A hot spear of pain lanced through my leg while the rest of my body felt entombed in ice. Even in a body built to outlast human civilization, it seemed it was outmatched by this horned beast.

The creature’s grip on my ankle remained vice-tight with the toothy suckers digging into my flesh and dragging me toward the ocean floor.

It intended to drown me, and I waited for my lungs to fill with water and the cold dark to strangle me.

But death never came.

I could breathe the freezing salt water better than air and the chilly water closed in on me like a compression glove. Stabilizing and secure.

Unknown shapes rippled around me through frigid murk. More rock formations? Like the one that jutted above the surface where Bea was tucked safe away from the monster.

Fight harder. The disembodied voice in my mind roared to life. Your task is not complete.

There was no time to dissect the mask’s latest demand as the pale horror hurled me through the water, slamming me against the seabed. The solid stone cracked audibly from the collision, kicking up a cloud of debris blinding me to the monster’s next attack.

Out of the sediment, tentacles closed around me, cast wide like a net.

No time to react. The mutant animal’s beak snapped viciously, its tentacles drawing me toward the gnashing maw.

Digging my claws into its flesh, the water turned black with noxious blood. The ribbons I slashed seared hot, glowing gold just as my eyes that vaguely illuminated my way through the swirling debris.

I clung to it.

Oh, have you figured where you are on the food chain? You’re stuck on the ocean floor with me. I bellowed my thought into its tiny brain, pressing on it like a pimple.

The monster cringed away at my internal taunt. Could it hear me? I tried another psychic assault, this time imagining it in great pain. It thrashed and squeezed, confirming the theory burning my brain like a brand.

Of course.

This mask did more than alter my physical form to resemble Cthulhu.

It turned my own mind into a weapon.

Kill.

I wasn’t sure who said it—the mask or my own subconscious making sense of my new reality faster than the rest of my brain could. It didn’t matter.

The moment the word bloomed in my mind, the creature writhed in pain and more blood spurted into the water, casting us in total blackness.

Then with its last dying scream, it collapsed to the sea floor with a muffled thunk. Lifeless.

Well done, sailor, the mask congratulated me in my ear. But your task is not yet complete. Look at what I’ve brought you here to save.

As the blood and grime settled, the sunken world around me came into view.