AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The bandages wrapped around Demetrius’s shins seemed to glow in the morning sunlight coming through the windows. He couldn’t stop thinking about the people who had drowned out at the pond believing someone they knew or someone they loved and trusted was doing that to them. Claudia Sykes, most likely seeing her husband. And then Devin Sykes, seeing his wife come back from the dead only to hold him under and drown him.
And Jordie, their trainer. Cody had seen him following Hannah to his truck, so apparently the nix had changed into Hannah and lured Jordie away with its song.
Demetrius couldn’t recall anything about the nix’s singing except for the way it had made him feel. Happy, relaxed, and eager to follow what he’d thought had been Cody, do anything he had asked. Though, looking back on it, Demetrius had been suspicious of the t-shirt. And the scent that had been so different from Cody’s.
He reclined the hospital bed a little and closed his eyes. He’d slept hard through the night, thanks to some amazing pain killers, but he was tired again. Cody had been released after being examined and having the scrapes on his knees cleaned and bandaged. He’d offered to stay and sleep in a chair in the room with him, but Demetrius had ordered him to go home.
He smiled, then chuckled when he recalled the text he’d received from Cody after he’d gotten home. Apparently the deputy who’d driven Cody’s truck back to the house hadn’t noticed the raccoon stowaway in the back. Cody had sent a picture of the raccoon sitting pressed up against the back of the cab, its front paws clutching each other.
Cody wrote: Guess we have a new roommate. Little guy was happy to have the overripe bananas.
Demetrius shook his head and kept his eyes closed. He dozed a bit, dreaming of being back in the water and fighting for air. Just as he was about to open his mouth and allow the water into his lungs, Demetrius’s body jumped and he woke up. His heart monitor was beeping fast, and he was covered in a fine layer of sweat.
Oh, yeah, it was going to take some time to put this behind him.
The door eased open, and Oliver looked around the edge, smiling when he saw Demetrius awake. He came fully into the room, followed by Clarabell.
“How are you feeling?”
“Pretty worn out,” Demetrius said with a small smile.
“Second time I’ve seen you drown,” Clarabell said with a shake of her head. “Let’s not try for three, okay?”
“I am right there with you,” Demetrius said. “How’s Cody doing?”
Clarabell nodded. “He’s okay. I went by to pick up my stuff and talked with him a bit. He’s shaken, of course, but he’s managing well. I’m staying with Oliver and Dave for a couple of nights.”
“Oh, thanks,” Demetrius said. “I’m glad Cody’s okay. Yesterday was a really hard day for him.”
“Um, excuse me,” Oliver said, waving his hands along the side of the hospital bed. “For both of you.”
“He told us about your business license being suspended,” Clarabell said. “Sorry to hear that. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Demetrius shrugged. “I agree with you, but there’s not much we can do. And we don’t have a lot of money to fight it. I’m just glad we don’t have to pay them any monetary damages.”
“Well, a lot of the town has heard you and Cody found the other bodies of the missing persons, and stopped the ‘man’,” Oliver made air quotes, “who had been drowning people. So the town is talking you guys up again.”
“And going back to eat at Margie’s,” Clarabell added.
Demetrius smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“Me, too,” Oliver said. “I really like the food there.”
“So what the hell was that thing?” Demetrius said. “And how’d you learn about it?”
“The library,” Clarabell said.
“Those books are amazing,” Oliver added. “We had a few options we’d taken notes on, but when we learned it was a shapeshifter, we knew it had to be a nix.”
“That was terrifying,” Demetrius said with a shudder. “And unnerving.”
“We all should definitely come up with some kind of code word,” Clarabell said.
“I like that idea,” Demetrius said, then sighed. “But it makes me sad we’d have to do that.”
“I know,” Oliver said. “But it’s probably a good idea to help us all stay safe.”
“Anyway,” Clarabell said, “the nix uses its song to hypnotize people, so that’s how it was able to get all those people to the Pond.”
