lyrics he’d been playing around with—about a beautiful ex-Siren turned Mortal girl—didn’t work anymore. The ex-Siren in the song was his girl, connected to him in ways his mind couldn’t even begin to understand.
He was stil thinking about her cocky smile and the way she chewed stick after stick of gum, the way old Wal ace Gunn chain-smoked Lucky Strikes, when he caught the scent of something unfamiliar and nauseating.
Motor oil and rotten eggs and singed hair.
Link breathed in again, gagging from the stench.
He stared ahead, but the Tunnel was seriously dark, even for a quarter Incubus. And there were noises.
Not the harmless kind of noises, like your house settling at night. These were real scare-the-crap-out-of-you noises.
Ragged, uneven breathing. Something sharp dragging against stone.
What the hell was that?
Boo stopped walking and growled, the black hair standing up along his back.
Two yel ow eyes were staring back from the depths of the Tunnel.
Link was smart enough to know a Dark Caster’s eyes when he saw them. Especial y after he had spent the better part of a year in love with one. But this wasn’t Ridley. Al he could think about was Sarafine. He wasn’t sure he had enough Incubus juice to face off against her. Boo growled again.
The figure stepped closer. It wasn’t Sarafine.
He could see it now, but he had no idea who or what it was.
As Link’s eyes settled on the smooth grayish-black skin, a part of him knew he was looking at a man, or what used to be one. Aside from the unnatural skin color and a head so bald it looked like it belonged in those alien photos, the facial features were completely human. Except for the enormous yel ow eyes—crazed and primal—like a rabid animal.
It was watching him, its eyes widening with anticipation as Link’s widened with fear. The figure stepped out of the black mouth of the Tunnel, where it had been lingering, and for a second Link was sure it was a man. He was wearing ratty black pants that were too short, as if he’d outgrown them a long time ago, and nothing else. Shirtless and barefoot, his body was the same sickening shade of bruised black as his face.
But that’s where the physical similarities between this thing and a man ended. As it extended its hand, reaching toward him, Link saw a web of skin that stretched from the bottom of its arm down to the creature’s waist, like a deformed wing. It looked like something out of one of Link’s comic books, but he couldn’t turn the page and make it disappear.
He jumped back, banging into the wal next to him.
He smel ed the blood as it ran down his arm.
The creature’s head jerked up. “Where is the boy going?”
A chil ran down the back of Link’s neck.
The voice had a creepy quality that was always a sign someone was on the way to a padded cel , in the movies. It sounded like the thing was talking to someone right next to it, but there was no one there.
At least Link hoped so.
“I—I was just leavin’, man. Me and my dog,” Link stammered. “Sorry to bother you.”
“The boy wanders away from home, and what does he see?” The voice rose and fel in the singsong rhythm of a terrifying and twisted nursery rhyme.
Link wasn’t planning to stick around and find out.
He started to back up, and the creature reached out its broken and bent fingers, exposing tears in the winglike web of dark skin extending from its body.
It bared its teeth in a demented smile while singing the disturbing rhyme. “The monster in the mirror waiting to kil me…”
For a second, the thing stared at him as if it had presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was waiting for an answer. Link didn’t have one.
The smile twisted into a sneer and, without warning, the thing lunged at him.
Boo charged forward, but the creature caught the dog in the air as he jumped, knocking him against the exposed stone wal . Boo yelped, and Link felt his hands curve
He was stil thinking about her cocky smile and the way she chewed stick after stick of gum, the way old Wal ace Gunn chain-smoked Lucky Strikes, when he caught the scent of something unfamiliar and nauseating.
Motor oil and rotten eggs and singed hair.
Link breathed in again, gagging from the stench.
He stared ahead, but the Tunnel was seriously dark, even for a quarter Incubus. And there were noises.
Not the harmless kind of noises, like your house settling at night. These were real scare-the-crap-out-of-you noises.
Ragged, uneven breathing. Something sharp dragging against stone.
What the hell was that?
Boo stopped walking and growled, the black hair standing up along his back.
Two yel ow eyes were staring back from the depths of the Tunnel.
Link was smart enough to know a Dark Caster’s eyes when he saw them. Especial y after he had spent the better part of a year in love with one. But this wasn’t Ridley. Al he could think about was Sarafine. He wasn’t sure he had enough Incubus juice to face off against her. Boo growled again.
The figure stepped closer. It wasn’t Sarafine.
He could see it now, but he had no idea who or what it was.
As Link’s eyes settled on the smooth grayish-black skin, a part of him knew he was looking at a man, or what used to be one. Aside from the unnatural skin color and a head so bald it looked like it belonged in those alien photos, the facial features were completely human. Except for the enormous yel ow eyes—crazed and primal—like a rabid animal.
It was watching him, its eyes widening with anticipation as Link’s widened with fear. The figure stepped out of the black mouth of the Tunnel, where it had been lingering, and for a second Link was sure it was a man. He was wearing ratty black pants that were too short, as if he’d outgrown them a long time ago, and nothing else. Shirtless and barefoot, his body was the same sickening shade of bruised black as his face.
But that’s where the physical similarities between this thing and a man ended. As it extended its hand, reaching toward him, Link saw a web of skin that stretched from the bottom of its arm down to the creature’s waist, like a deformed wing. It looked like something out of one of Link’s comic books, but he couldn’t turn the page and make it disappear.
He jumped back, banging into the wal next to him.
He smel ed the blood as it ran down his arm.
The creature’s head jerked up. “Where is the boy going?”
A chil ran down the back of Link’s neck.
The voice had a creepy quality that was always a sign someone was on the way to a padded cel , in the movies. It sounded like the thing was talking to someone right next to it, but there was no one there.
At least Link hoped so.
“I—I was just leavin’, man. Me and my dog,” Link stammered. “Sorry to bother you.”
“The boy wanders away from home, and what does he see?” The voice rose and fel in the singsong rhythm of a terrifying and twisted nursery rhyme.
Link wasn’t planning to stick around and find out.
He started to back up, and the creature reached out its broken and bent fingers, exposing tears in the winglike web of dark skin extending from its body.
It bared its teeth in a demented smile while singing the disturbing rhyme. “The monster in the mirror waiting to kil me…”
For a second, the thing stared at him as if it had presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was presented a riddle for Link to solve and it was waiting for an answer. Link didn’t have one.
The smile twisted into a sneer and, without warning, the thing lunged at him.
Boo charged forward, but the creature caught the dog in the air as he jumped, knocking him against the exposed stone wal . Boo yelped, and Link felt his hands curve
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