and Lucien kept his scabior aimed there, pushing the Cartesian farther and farther back.
By the time Lucien was able to sound off two more pops, a more crucial sound reached his ear. Evee screaming for help.
Like a wild man, Lucien spun about on his heels, tracking the sound of her voice. Evee was still in the river, her head bobbing up and then going under the murky water. Each time her head poked out of the water, less and less of it appeared. She flailed her arms frantically, coughed and sputtered whenever her mouth broke the surface of the water.
Lucien was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was obvious Evee needed to be pulled out of the river, but the rift overhead was still open. If he ignored it and went after Evee, another Cartesian could easily make its way through the rift and take her.
Praying Evee could at least dog-paddle, Lucien put all his energy into the open rift and held on to his scabior with two hands. Although only seconds passed before he heard yet another explosive sound, which meant the Cartesian had been pushed into another dimension and the rift was finally closed, it felt like hours.
For the entire time he fought the Cartesian, all Lucien heard was Evee sputtering and screaming, “H-help! I c-can’t swim!”
Evee knew she was about to die. Panic-stricken, she paddled with hands and feet as hard as she could to stay afloat in the water, but it was only enough to get her nose and mouth to break surface—every once in a while. Each time she got sucked down below the surface, her mouth and nose filled with muddy silt from the river. Bad enough she couldn’t breathe, it made her want to throw up. The few seconds she broke the surface of the water she spent coughing, gagging, trying to cøapture as much oxygen as she could before slipping helplessly downward.
She tried moving her arms like she’d seen swimmers do, out and down, kicking furiously, desperate to move up and forward. But her body refused to stay horizontal. It felt weighted with stones and determined to pull her feetfirst down into the depths of the Mississippi.
Evee didn’t know what scared her more: the realization that she was about to drown or having seen the Cartesian take aim for her. Either way, she didn’t plan to go quietly into any dark night. All she knew to do was to keep fighting, struggling, hoping.
For the life of her, Evee had no idea why she’d run into the river instead of in the opposite direction toward land and buildings. Surely she would have found a safe, dry place to hide. But something seemed to overtake her logical brain as soon as she saw the Cartesian’s arm cock and aim. Her brain immediately screamed, RUN! And in that horrifying moment, the only direction that made sense to her was away.
Even as she bobbed up and then underwater, fighting for air, for her life, she still saw the gruesome face of the Cartesian in her mind’s eye. Monstrously huge head covered with scraggly fur. Long, pointed ears that flapped over at the tips. A flat nose with no bridge, and nostrils that looked canyon-size. Eyes solid black, without pupils, and the size of saucers. And its teeth, the most horrible of all—each tooth a thick pointed incisor, a mouth equipped to shred and masticate anything it got hold of. She shuddered, thinking about it.
Trying to keep her wits about her and forcing herself to think of the water, the enemy trying to destroy her now, Evee kicked harder, moved her arms and hands overhead, then down one at a time, hoping for progress. She heard herself crying out for help, but the voice sounded like it came from far away and from someone else. She didn’t know which was worse: drowning or being chewed to death by a Cartesian. Both carried the same weight of fear in her heart.
Exhaustion sat atop her like concrete blocks, forcing her lower into the water. She barely had the energy to care anymore.
As she sank lower into the dark water, Evee suddenly felt an arm wrap around her waist. Freaked, she twisted and turned, trying to get away. Opened her mouth to scream, only to have it fill with silt. She only had a few seconds of breath left in her lungs, and she used it to struggle all the more. The more she fought, the tighter the grip grew on her waist.
Finally, after what seemed to take an eternity, her head surfaced above water. Evee coughed, spat and gasped. When her lungs filled with air, her brain suddenly went into overdrive. She screamed, looking left and right, then up, searching for the Cartesian. Then the pressure around her waist registered once again, and all she saw in her mind’s eye were long black talons ready to gut her from stem to stern. She screamed, whirling about, shoving her elbows backward, trying to pummel whatever held her.
“Stop, it’s me, Evee. It’s me.”
Evee heard the voice, but her fear overrode recognition. She tried frantically to get away. “Let go, you ugly son of a bitch! Let me go!”
Arms wrapped around her waist tighter, and she felt her back pressed against...a man?
“It’s me, Evee. Lucien. You’re safe. It’s okay. You’re okay.”
Startled, Evee turned her head sharply to the left. Lucien’s face loomed beside her. A whimper of gratitude escaped her.
“The C-Cartesian,” Evee said. “I—I...it...” Before any more words could form, she burst into tears that quickly turned into sobs, her body shivering against Lucien.
“I know,” he said softly against her ear. “But you’re safe now. I’ve got you. The Cartesian is gone. You’re safe.”
Evee put her arms around his neck, and Lucien swam closer to shore. Before long, he stood upright, leaned over and scooped her into his arms.
Without another thought, she wrapped both of her arms around his neck as he walked onto shore, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. She shivered as if she’d just been dunked into a tub of ice water.
“I’m taking you home so you can get into some dry clothes,” Lucien said matter-of-factly.
“I—I can walk from here,” Evee said through chattering teeth. She removed her arms from around his neck, and Lucien set her tentatively, seemingly reluctantly, on her feet.
The minute her feet touched the ground, it felt like every muscle in Evee’s body suddenly turned to mush. She felt her body go limp, but before she hit the ground, Lucien had her back in his arms again.
Neither of them spoke as Lucien walked the long distance to her home. She clung to him once more, buried her face against his chest. She felt safe in his arms, as if the bulging muscles in his arms and chest, his soft breath against her hair and face, was the safest place on earth. He never once broke stride or panted for breath as he cradled her.
It wasn’t until they’d crossed the threshold of the three-story Victorian that Evee and her sisters called home, which they’d inherited from their mother, that Lucien set her feet back on the ground. He held on to her arm, as if making sure she’d stand steady before fully releasing her.
Evee had no sooner leaned against the kitchen table to catch her breath than Hoot, her horned owl familiar, came flying into the room at full speed. He flew straight toward Lucien, swooped down onto his left shoulder and dug his talons into him.
“Let go of him now!” Evee shouted hoarsely at Hoot, shooing him away.
“He has no business being here, Evette. Make him leave,” Hoot demanded.
Evee
