Ragged gasps escape my lips as I run towards the whirlpool. My lungs are burning and I can hear the heavy tread of my pursuer’s footsteps.

SPLASH!

With a final leap, I plunge into the swirling dewy water. I push myself downwards and watch as my air bubbles rise to the surface. Large shadowy figures are standing at the edge of the whirlpool, looking down at me. I swim down deeper into a dark tunnel, trying to put as much room between me and the Lurkers as I can. I know it won’t be long until they summon the Sirens to hunt me down. I can only be glad that Lurkers cannot enter water unlike us water nymphs.  

As the tunnel narrows, the conflicting currents swirl around faster pushing me along. Soon enough, the tunnel becomes so small that every stroke of my arms results in pain as I hit hard packed dirt surrounding me on all sides. My claustrophobia kicks in and I begin to panic, vividly imagining the tunnel squashing me flat.

Breathe, I think to myself, relax. I close my eyes and let the flow of the eddying water guide my body. I am almost sure that the sirens will have trouble finding me in water this dark and murky. Almost. Instead of worrying and panicking, to calm myself, I imagine the tight tunnel to actually be a large, vast, expanse of ocean. I envision this so intensely that I can almost feel the salt water clinging to my skin. I let myself drift off into my daydream, feeling completely at ease.

And then loud deafening shrieks interrupt my thoughts and I my eyes snap open.  I turn around for just a fraction of a second to see three Sirens flying through the water towards me. My survival instincts kick in and I begin swimming at top speed away from the almost human-like creatures. The only features that identify them to be Sirens are their sharp teeth and webbed feet and hands. Other than that, they look like majestic and overly beautiful models. Perhaps if the Sirens hadn’t had their teeth bared and the murderous look in their eyes, I would think so too.

“You better swim for your life water nymph!” One Siren says. I clench my teeth at the sound provocative voices. The silky smooth voices that could ultimately lead me to my death.

I will myself to swim faster, even though I know that Sirens are much better swimmers than water nymphs. But they’re arrogant, I think, they won’t waste their talents on a mere nymph.  Holding onto that small straw of hope, I propel my arms and legs with more strength and speed. The Sirens easily match my new speed and cackle maliciously. As I begin to tire, desperation is imminent in me. Inside, I already know that I am fighting a losing battle.

The tunnel opens up a little bit and I can only hope that I can get to dry land. Sirens can’t stand anything without water. But the water currents are no longer propelling me along; they are sluggishly slow waves that are pushing hard against me. I look down, so as to improve my speed, and the water travels over my head. Salty tears begin to fall away from my face and they are swept up and pushed in the direction of the sirens. With my hope dwindling and my strength being diminished with every second, the Sirens laughing gets closer.

And then, I feel wet fingers clamping down on my toes.

“Got you!” The Sirens shriek. I am in a game of cat and mouse, and, as always, the cats have won.  I struggle and kick, but the Sirens are strong. They hold onto my ankles and their sharp fingernails dig into my skin. I cry out in pain as one of the threesome bites down into my arm. I feel dizzy as I see my red blood flowing through the wound.

“Time to take you to the Lurkers!” They all screech in unison. I’m barely paying attention to them, instead I’m grappling the water in a useless but desperate attempt of escape. I am beginning to lose consciousness and my sight is blurred.

“Game over.” The Sirens laugh as I black out. The last thing I see before my eyes close is the sight of a black shadowy stallion hurtling towards us.

***

When I awaken, my vision is distorted. My arm throbs painfully and I can’t hear very well. As things begin to clear up, I see that I’m in a small, well furnished cave and the black stallion standing outside with rain pattering down on his coat. Sitting at a desk a couple metres away is a guy who looks around my age, 16, hunched over a desk scribbling something madly onto a piece of paper. As I take a closer look at the man and I feel my heart jump into my throat. There is a distinct mark tattooed into his neck. A black skull with its eyes a flaming red. He’s a Lurker. A gasp escapes my lips. I clap my hands over my mouth but it’s too late. The Lurker begins to rise.

“I see you’re awake.” He says without turning around. “You were very lucky Cove was scouting out the area where you were, you might be in the Lurker HQ by now, no doubt being questioned and tortured if he hadn’t found you.”

And against my every instinct to kick this guy and make a run for it, I can only think about how soothing his voice is despite the harsh words. He turns around and the first thing I notice is an angry red scar across the left cheek of his face. It looks very recent and I shudder a little. His hair is a light brown colour and falls across his dark eyes. I notice that his eyes are more of a mahogany colour than the red I usually see in Lurkers.

“Why did you rescue me?” I ask. I stare stubbornly into his eyes; I don’t want to look like a weakling. He glares right back and my gaze falters for a second when I get a full blast of the intensity of his stare.

“Correction, I did not rescue you, Cove did. And I was against every idea of having a fugitive in my home,” he says rigidly, “as if I don’t have enough problems as it is.” He mutters the last part and I’m taken aback at how angry he sounds.  He scowls and looks at me as if I’m a gigantic burden, like a sack of lead, weighing him down, doing him no good at all. There is a long silence with both of us glaring at each other, it’s clear neither of us are going to back down. Then he smirks and all the tension that had been built up in the last couple seconds is pushed down a couple notches

“Besides, you must be a lot of trouble if the Lurkers were willing to send a whole search team to look for you.” He laughs darkly.

“You say Lurkers as if you aren’t one.” I say icily. His laughing stops abruptly.

“I was a Lurker, now I’m an outcast, a fugitive, like you.” The way this ex-Lurker implies that we’re the same sends a shiver down my spine.

“So you’re an ex-Lurker?” I ask him, tilting my head to one side. He thinks for a few seconds and then nods.

“I guess so,” he replies. He moves his neck a bit and I see his tattoo. It has slashes across it as if he was trying to cut it out. There is a silence.

“So, little fugitive, what’s your name?” He asks me with a mocking tone in his voice. I furrow my brow at his sudden friendliness. I can’t figure out whether he is truly trying to be nice or if he’s trying to lure me into a trap. But I guess it wouldn’t hurt for him to know my name.

“Echo.” I reply shortly, “Echo Rain.”

“Havus Vanroe.” He replies with the same abruptness.  “Well little fugitive, we’re gonna move out soon and find a new place to hide. Preferably somewhere with shadows so I can—“

“Lurk.” I say finishing off his sentence. “Well I want water.” Havus glares at me.

“No, we need somewhere dark, somewhere where we can’t be found easily.” I notice that he’s including me into his plans.

“No, the Lurker’s will expect that. They won’t expect you to be anywhere near water so th—“ I’m cut off by a loud whinny. Cove’s whinny. And he’s in pain. Havus’ eyes widen and he dashes through the door, his boots leaving a scuff mark on the rug. After a second’s hesitation, I dash out after him.

It’s hard to see anything through the heavy down pour but this much is clear: Cove has been stabbed. And the man wielding the knife is around two times as high as I am. And despite the fact that Havus is a considerably shorter than the man, he charges at him anyway. They both fall to the ground, with the man landing on his back and Havus on his chest. He and Havus are in some sort of desperate struggle and Havus manages to disarm the man of his knife. It clatters onto the ground a couple metres away from me. But even though the man has no weapon, it doesn’t mean he can’t attack. He socks one fist straight into Havus’ jaw. Havus flies backwards, and hits the ground with a heavy thud. The man advances towards Havus, his sleeves pulled back. He swings his fist around ready to land a very severe punch.

In the next couple seconds, everything seems to happen in a blur. I grab the knife and fling it at the man and it lodges itself into the side of his stomach with a sickening SQUELCH! He rips out the knife from his flesh and throws it onto the ground before he falls to the ground, blood seeping out from his wound. Havus uses these moments to grab the knife and drive it into the man’s neck.  He does it so swiftly and quickly, I know that this isn’t his first kill.

He’s a murderer, I think with horror, and you might be next.

***

My eyes fill with tears and I run, I don’t know where I’m going but I run. I hear Havus call my name but I ignore him and wipe my eyes.

When my lungs are bursting and I can run no longer, I sit down on a flat rock and cry. I haven’t truly wept for a long time but now the tears are flowing freely, dripping through my fingers. A river runs next to me and I am all too grateful to submerge in it, where my tears are turn into parts of the water, swept away into running currents. The river is so calming and clean that I feel completely at home. I let myself float inside my bubble of calm and ignore the fact that I could be ambushed by Sirens again. Right now, I couldn’t care less. I feel too numb.

My thoughts drift to Havus. His strong jaw, his oddly coloured eyes, his stocky build. It’s hard to imagine he just killed someone. I flash back to the moment when the man collapsed because of the wound I inflicted. His skull tattoo glowing— skull tattoo? I try to imagine the scene more vividly. The man definitely had the Lurker mark. How could I have not noticed that before? He was a Lurker, he would’ve killed both of us. Maybe I should go back and apologise to Havus… But Havus killed the guy without blinking an eye. Does that make him as bad as the Lurker? I shut off all my thoughts and let myself feel the sense of water running over my body. I let myself drift off, not quite sleeping but very close to it.

A shadow descends over the water and I snap out of my trance. I dive down further into the water and manoeuvre through the currents effortlessly, my body feels oddly light and I duck in the shadows of a rock.  I hear a splash and desperate gasps as someone enters the water, I know it’s not a Lurker, Lurkers act like they are allergic to water, and I know it’s not a Siren as because they can descend into water without making any sound at all. I ponder my thoughts for a few minutes and despite my every thought screaming at me to swim away, I swim towards the commotion.

When the bubbles have all risen to the surface of the river, I can see someone sinking. And he’s not competent at swimming. He’s also not breathing. And on top of that, he’s the last person I want to see.

I want to leave Havus here to die. I want to just walk away and never think of him again. But then that would make me the same as him. A murderer. And I will never be the same as him. I swim up and push Havus’ body up using all my strength. He’s a lot more muscular than I originally thought and is heavier than I anticipated. When we break the water’s surface, I roll him onto the bank, gasping from my exerting myself too much. I place my ear next to his heart, expecting a strong steady beat. But there is nothing.

***

I lift my arm up into a fist and bring it down hard into Havus’ chest. I listen again. Silence. I use back of my palm and pump his heart, dreading of what I will have to do next. I keep trying to stall time; continually listening to his heart, hoping that there will be a beat. Finally, I take a deep breath and pinch his nose shut. It’s almost as if the world is in slow motion as I place my lips on his open mouth. It is my first kiss, sort of, and Havus’ lips are soft, but cold and I know that his heart has stopped for quite a while. I blow air into his lungs and can only hope that this will work. I’ve done this multiple times but never with someone other than the younger children who have not yet learned to breathe underwater. I lift my mouth off and begin pumping his chest again. Then I listen. Slowly but surely, his heart comes back to life. In a matter of minutes, his heart is at its normal pace. Havus coughs hoarsely. I realise that one side of my head has been rested at his chest. Embarrassed, I pull myself back up with my cheeks blushing red.  But I quickly try to turn the reddening of my cheeks to anger.

“What were you thinking!?” I shriek, “you knew lurkers couldn’t swim!” Havus looks at me seriously.

“Yes I knew.” He answers simply. I glare at him. “But you saved me and you knew it was me.” I ignore his very true comment.

“Why’d you jump!?” I demand, “you could’ve died!”

“Yes, but I didn’t because of you.” I’m glad he didn’t mention the kiss of life. I blush at the very thought.

“But you could’ve—“ Havus cuts me off with a kiss. His lips are warm this time and his arms rest across my neck and back. I don’t react. I don’t know how to and Havus pulls away after a moment. He stands up and I think he’s going to leave when he offers me his hand. I hesitate. My thoughts are having a miniature war with each other and are constantly clashing.

You can’t trust him, one side of my brain says.

He risked his life to see if you’d come after him, the other side says.  

Don’t trust him, the other one retorts back.

And somehow through the whole mess, I find my hand gripping his. I get to my feet and am about to say something when I hear something slide onto the bank next to us.

“Thought you escaped?” A silky smooth voice asks.

***

I whirl around and see a Siren on the flat rock that I had been crying on not that long ago. The Siren is lying on the rock in a very seductive pose. Her face is supported by a hand that is propped up next to her chest. Her blonde hair cascades over her shoulders and arms like a silky waterfall. She shoots a sly smile in Havus’ direction and winks. I feel anger bubbling up inside as I see the Siren flirt with Havus. I sneak a look at him to see him frowning rather than looking surprised or pleased.  

“Come on Havus,” the Siren purrs, “don’t you want to play?” She raises her eyebrows in question. I wonder how she knows his name.

Havus replies with a dark scowl and shakes his head rigidly. The muscles on his neck bulge making his tattoo more noticeable.

“Come and play, Havus, please?” The Siren’s voice is like honey, sweet and syrupy. She turns up the seductiveness a couple levels and tilts her head innocently to one side. “You know we’d both like that.”

I notice that the Siren’s attention is completely focused on Havus. I could try a bolt and run but that would be despicable. I look at Havus, and, if it’s possible, his scowl has darkened even more.

“No.” His answer is straight and abrupt, but it’s got an icy cold tone in it that he never used on me. I can tell the siren is getting frustrated, because she clenches her webbed fingers into a fist for one split second.

“Well then, Havus,” she begins, her words literally dripping with sweetness, “I’ll just have to make you come here don’t I?” Her smile is not sugary, however, it is bitter and laced with malice and venom. And before neither Havus nor I can even move a muscle, the Siren begins to sing.

Her voice is like heaven, like a million angels singing the most beautiful song ever composed. Every single note she hits is more than perfect, she is stunning, gorgeous, and absolutely flawless. My heart stops for a few seconds and I am drawn into her trance. I am completely mesmerised. I fight my every desire to walk forward, closer to her. But my willpower is not enough. I begin to take shaky steps forward, my eyes fixated on the beautiful Siren. I need to hear more, I need to get closer to that angelic voice. But out of the corner of my eye, something draws my attention, something far more worth her to want. Something that is even better than the Siren’s singing voice. Something that is advancing his way towards his death. Havus.

***

“NO!” I scream somewhat weakly, the trance completely broken. The Siren stops singing abruptly and Havus shakes his head, trying to release himself from the affects of the hypnotic song. The Siren’s eyes are glazing over with fury.

“How dare you defy me!” She screeches, her face contorting with rage. She slides off the rock and snarls, her sharp teeth glinting in the afternoon sun. She opens her mouth elaborately and takes a long breath. Then she sings the most perfect note imaginable. Havus returns to his trance and his head lolls to the side as if he’s a zombie. And then my breath catches in my throat. I feel like I can’t breathe, the world is swirling around and everything is distorted. The colours of the river, trees and the Siren blur and mix together. Everything becomes fuzzy and unclear.  Everything except for Havus.

I can hear the Siren’s beautiful voice through my confusion and I can just make out the fact that Havus is stumbling towards her. Rage boils up inside me and I feel sharp jolts of jealousy running through my spine. I squeeze my eyes shut and curl up my fists. Then I let out a long scream that rips itself out of my throat.

“AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!!”

Silence replies to my outburst.

I open my eyes cautiously and everything swims back into my vision. The blurry shapes slowly return to their original form. The first thing I notice when my eye sight has repaired itself to its usual sharpness, is Havus.  He is laying face-down on the ground with his arms spread out beside him, his clothes scattered with dead leaves. Then I see the Siren who is sprawled out, unconscious, on the ground next to the rock. Her limbs are in odd positions as if she’s been slammed against something with extreme force. But she’s breathing. Though only a little. I look down. All the dense, rotting foliage that had previously been under my feet has been swept away. I blink once, and then again to confirm what I’ve seen is true.

My scream was more powerful than her voice.

***

I’m shocked beyond words. I feel a sudden withdrawal of energy and fall to my knees.

The river rushes along loudly beside me and all I can do is to stare aimlessly into space.

There is no explanation for what just happened.

Havus’ groan snaps me out of my daze and I rush to his side despite the fact that my muscles are tired and are screaming for a break.

“Hey, are you alright?” I ask. I nudge his arm and wait for a reply.  He groans in response.

“Echo… echo…” He murmurs faintly.

“I’m here,” I say, my heart fluttering in my chest. “Come on, open your eyes.”

There is no response. I roll him onto his back and I see scratches on his arms. They must have been inflicted when he fell. There is also a large gash on his forehead, most probably from a sharp rock or something.

“Come on, Havus, we’re wasting time! The Lurkers are going to send on reinforcements.” Havus does nothing. I sigh and walk to the river. I grab a handful of the liquid and pour it all over Havus’ face.

“ACK!” Havus splutters, completely awake. He might have had a phobia of water before but now, ever since the near-drowning incident, he’s probably terrified. He glares at me. I can’t help but grin.

“Echo.” He says emotionlessly.

“Yeah, I’m right here!” I say exasperatedly.

“No, you defeated the Siren,” he gestures in the general direction of the unconscious model, “with echo. You deflected her song with such force that it pushed her into the rock. As well as me.”

I frown. I don’t know what to say. It’s true that I seemed to blow things back when I get angry. It might have also been this deflecting thing that got me in trouble with the Lurkers…

***

It was a couple months ago, when the Lurkers were doing their monthly check up on our river. They wanted to make sure we were producing enough of the poisonous reed that seemed to grow especially well in our river. But we hadn’t harvested enough. Mainly because there was a bug infestation that ate away most of our crops. But the Lurkers didn’t take that as an excuse and kidnapped Moss, a younger one of the water nymphs who lived in the river as ‘punishment’. When his parents tried to rebel and take their child back, one of the Lurkers punched Moss’ father square in the jaw, knocking out a couple of his teeth and took Moss’ mother as well. During that time, I had hidden behind a rock, my fingernails digging into my palm to stop myself from doing something rash. But the Lurkers didn’t stop at capturing Moss and his mother; they roped up their whole family. And by then, I felt pretty damned mad. I stepped out before I could stop myself and screamed at the Lurkers to leave Moss’ family alone. The Lurkers were blown back and they knew I was responsible. I had to flee the scene before I got killed. And I’ve been on the run ever since. A fugitive as Havus would put it.

***

“But I’m a water nymph!” I protest. Havus shakes his head in a way that makes me feel like a five year old child.

“Maybe, but somehow you can manipulate sound too.” I nod my head slowly, though I really don’t know whether what he’s saying is true or not.

“Whatever, it doesn’t really matter; we’ve got to get moving.” I say looking in the direction where the trees are getting thicker. “This river provides no cover at all.”

Havus nods and points to the Siren.

“What about her?” He asks. He draws a knife from his belt.

“No!” I say horrified. “No more killing!”

Havus looks at me quizzically but sheaths his knife. I sigh inwardly with relief.

“Then what are we going to do?” He retorts. “We can’t let her go back to the Lurkers and tell them where we are.”

I hesitate, knowing he’s right and not really knowing the solution for the problem. “Um… Well…” Then it hits me, Sirens hate dry places. “Carry her somewhere dry, like where the cave was.”

Havus nods. He looks at the Siren pointedly and then at me. Neither of us would like to touch someone who tried to sing us to death. But there isn’t any alternative.

“I’ll take the head,” he says reluctantly, “you take the feet.” I not and we hoist her onto our shoulders.

I notice the Siren’s luxurious hair that is resting against Havus’ strong jaw and shoulders and I bite my lip angrily. My straight auburn hair can’t even compete with her sleek, glossy curls. When my lips begin to bleed, I release my bite and instead picture us dumping the Siren’s body onto some cold, hard, dry dirt. For some reason, this thought motivates me to move and keep walking instead of collapsing on the spot which is no doubt what all my limbs want to do.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Havus speaks up.

“How about here?” He asks, gesturing towards the some earth a couple hundred metres away from the entrance of the cave we had previously been in. I nod. Havus and I throw her off of our shoulders carelessly; glad to get rid of her thin body.

“Where’s Cove?” I ask, suddenly remembering the black stallion. I feel ashamed for not thinking of the horse that had saved my life earlier.

“He’s… in a better place.” Havus says. His voice was probably supposed to be calm and steady but it cracks at the end and I can tell he’s grieving for his companion.

“No…” I say. My voice wobbles. I am suddenly very angry with myself. If Cove hadn’t saved me, he might not have been stabbed. He might have survived. Tears well up in my eyes and I allow myself to crumple to the ground in a sobbing heap.

“It’s my fault,” I cry, “it’s all my fault!” I sob not really knowing what else to do. Guilt washes over me and my tears drip off my chin and onto the ground. I feel Havus’ arms under the crook of my knee and on my back as he lifts me up.

“Shh…” He says soothingly, “it’s not your fault. Don’t say that.” He holds me closer to him and burries his lips in my hair. I say nothing and place my head on his shoulder listening to the strong and steady beat of his heart.

“Come on, we’ve got to go.” Havus doesn’t attempt to put me down as he walks back the way we came. When we get back to the river, my sobs have lessened to whimpers.

“Which way?” He asks me, gently placing me on the ground. I wipe away my tears and point in the direction of the dense trees Havus previously pointed out. He nods and we both walk into the woods without saying a word.

Thanks Cove, I think to myself, thanks for saving me.

***

Darkness falls and Havus and I can barely see half a metre in from of us. My skin has new bleeding scratches for low hanging branches. My stomach is growling from the lack of food even though Havus found some nuts and berries for me to eat.

“Havus, do you want to stop here?” I ask, trying to hide how tired I am. Havus looks back at me.

“Do you want to stop?” He asks with his eyebrows raised. I nod and he lifts me off the ground and continues walking. I nestle my head into his neck and I feel his breath on the top of my head.

“Echo?” He asks after carrying me for a few minutes. He stops abruptly. “Why are we running?” I think for a second not really knowing what to say.

“Because we don’t want to get caught.” I reply shortly.

“Well, yes, but, does that mean we are fugitives until we die?” I ponder the question. I had never really thought about it that way.

“Maybe…” I reply uncertainly.

“But, what if we don’t want to be fugitives forever?”

“What if we don’t have a choice?” Havus is quiet for a few minutes.

“Echo, why do we keep running? Why don’t we just stop? Let the Lurkers catch up to us.” He asks. I sigh; I don’t really want to talk about something so depressing.

“Havus,” I begin, “let me ask you a question.” I pause, waiting for a response. He nods. “Why do we keep living?” I can make out in the darkness that Havus is frowning.

“Because of love...” He replies and places his lips over mine. Waves of emotion course through my veins. Surprise. Pleasure. Love. I would be happy if I could live in this moment forever. But Havus breaks the kiss off.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” He murmurs into my hair. I don’t know how to reply. I feel like I’m flying, like this is some sort of dream. I grip Havus’ neck to make sure this dream won’t slip away. I close my eyes and fall asleep in Havus’ strong arms.

***

I awake to find the early morning sun on my eyelids. I’m sitting on a wide branch on a tree with my back against the trunk. I rub my eyes sleepily and see Havus asleep beside me. I shake him gently, so as not to accidentally push him off the branch. He groans in response and I shake him with more force. He opens his eyes sleepily and looks down to the ground.

“Here we go again, hm?” He says somewhat sarcastically. I sigh and nod. Another day of travel and aching limbs wait for us. One of the best things to look forward to when you wake up.

“I wonder why the Lurkers haven’t found us yet…” I say, looking around to see if anyone is waiting for us on the ground, ready to spring some sort of trap.

“They were probably too busy looking for the Siren than to look for us.” He replies with some bitterness in his tone. I nod and avert my gaze from his eyes. Havus slowly scales his way down the tree and I notice how high up we are.

“How did you get us up here?” I ask quizzically. It would be hard enough just to get himself up here.

Havus laughs.

“Skill,” he replies. I laugh and begin to climb down as well. I notice how long it’s been since the last time I’ve laughed. I guess I was always too busy running away from Sirens and Lurkers and whatnot.

“No but really,” I say my voice turning serious, “how did you get up here?”

“I climbed,” he replied vaguely, “I held you with one arm and climbed with the other.” It must have been hard work holding all my weight in one hand and pulling his own weight with the other. But Havus is incredibly strong and on top of that he was a Lurker… I hear a thud below me and I know he’s reached the ground. After a couple more minutes, I’ve reached the ground too. I step down but lose my footing slightly and stumble backwards, straight into Havus’ arms. He steadies me and I stand up straight.

“Thanks,” I say and blush red. Havus smiles kindly in response.

“Let’s get moving…”

***

It’s easier to see now that the sun is up and I acquire fewer scratches. Havus and I talk and laugh sharing our thoughts about the woods and the Siren and Lurkers. After a while, I ask the question that’s been on my mind for a long time.

“Why are you an outcast?” I ask, carefully trying to adjust my tone so it sounds casual. Pain flickers across Havus’ face.

“I…” He hesitates, “I… well, it was around a year ago…” I can hear the grief in his tone and I know how hard it is for him to talk about this subject.

“We were at the Lurker’s Headquarters. They had brought back some dryads for questioning. Some problem about the wood or something… But anyway, the Lurkers were interrogating the dryads because they knew something important that we didn’t. But none of the dryads said anything. So they tortured them… eventually killed a couple of them to get the answers… But no one spoke up. One of the Lurkers, Jube, didn’t like what was happening and asked a couple of the other Lurkers to help him break the remaining dryads out of the holding cell. Jube and I went way back, we were best mates and I owed him my life… So I agreed. A couple others agreed too. So one night we tried to break dryads out. And in short, we got caught… Jube and the others got killed and… I escaped the scene with Cove…”

Havus looks down at the ground and kicks at the dirt with his boots. He opens his mouth to say something but a net comes flinging down on us from above and traps us under its steel ropes. The weights on the rope open up and spray some sort of gas at us. I try to hold my breath long enough to escape the affects of the gas but I inhale when I feel my lips going cold. And then everything goes black.

***

I think it’s not the bright light that’s shining in my face that wakes me up, I think it’s the excruciating pain that is throbbing in my head. I open my eyes slowly and everything swims into focus. I am roped up to a square of strong metal, my wrists and secured to the left and right edges with some strong steel ‘U’s and my feet are bound together with some tough cord that scratches at my ankles. My mouth is gagged with some duct tape and I’m in a fairly secure room with at least five different cameras trained on me. The only exit I can see is a steel door that needs fingerprint and voice activation to open.

In short, I have literally no hope of escape.

It’s possible that they have a back door, I think to myself weakly. But deep down, I know that’s not true, even if I can’t turn my head around to see it. My tongue is very dry and it rubs abrasively against the roof of my mouth. I attempt to wet it with my saliva with no success.

The steel doors slide open, interrupting my serious mission of trying to wet my mouth. Several Lurkers walk in, dressed in black suits. Their eyes are a deep glowing red and the flames on their tattoo seem real and alive. They look nothing like Havus.

Havus… Havus… Havus!

What happened to him? Are they torturing him? Where is he?

Panic attacks my chest and I fight desperately against my restraints. The end results are very red and sore arms.

The Lurkers all stand to the side of the door and wait with their hands behind their backs. It looks like their waiting for someone very important.

Then the doors slide open again and a very familiar figure walks through the door. Despite the black suit and dark sunglasses, I can tell immediately that the figure is Havus.

***

“NO!” I attempt to get out, but the duct tape muffles my voice. The rest of the Lurkers bow to Havus and he nods curtly at them. Betrayal and pain run through me, I feel my anger boiling to the extreme.

TRAITOR! I shriek in my brain.

“Security systems down,” he says and I hear the shutting of the lenses from the cameras.

Havus  advances towards me and the rest of the Lurkers follow him in single file. When he gets close enough, I can see myself reflected in his dark glasses. I look pale and fragile with my hair flying in many directions and my eyes wide and insecure. Havus nods to one of his men and he walks over to me. I squirm in my tight lock, not wanting any Lurker, especially not Havus, to touch me. But the Lurker walks towards me anyway with a cruel smile on his lips. When his feet touch the edge of the board and I can see straight into his red eyes, he lifts his hand up. I expect him to slap me or to beat me so I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the pain to come. But he does something much worse. He rips the duct tape off my mouth.

The pain is even worse than my throbbing headache and I don’t need to see myself to know that my lips are bleeding. But that doesn’t stop me from screaming insults at Havus.

“You bastard! You idiot! I can’t believe I trusted you Havus! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!”My voice echoes around the room. My throat feels like it’s on fire. I glare at Havus with intense abhorrence in my eyes. To my surprise, Havus flinches. But his face quickly returns to the emotionless mask I usually see.

“Get her some water,” he says, gesturing slightly to one of his Lurkers. The guy nods and walks towards the steel doors, pressing his index finger to the small pad beside it. He whispers something into the microphone that is placed on the wall and the door opens with a slight hiss. I don’t quite catch what he says but I try to read his lips in my memory anyway, even though I know that the door needs the voice of a Lurker, not a fugitive.

“Echo…” Havus’ voice is soft. I turn my head around towards him with my teeth bared in a scowl. “Echo, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

I laugh spitefully even though my throat screams from the pain.

“Right,” I sneer, even though I’m in no position to be snarky. Havus takes off his sunglasses and tucks them in a pocket on his suit. I stare into his eyes and for one split second, I remember how happy I was with him. I brush the thought away quickly.

“Go ahead, kill me now.” I say with mock sarcasm in my voice, “I don’t know what I’m living for anymore.” I’m surprised at how cold my voice is.

“Echo, don’t. It’s alright, everyth—“

“Oh right!” I say, cutting him off, “everything is fine. We’re all living in a utopia where everyone has equal rights! Where every day is full of sunshine and happiness!” The sarcasm in my voice pulls through but I can hear the desperation and longing too. “And that’s exactly why I’m chained to this board with my lips bleeding and with my heart shattered in millions of pieces!” I planned for my voice to sound snide and calm but it cracks at the end.

The steel doors hiss again and the Lurker who was sent to bring me water comes back with a cup of water. Havus nods and he walks over to me, placing the glass against my mouth. It takes every ounce of my energy not to just gulp in down in one go. I seal my lips shut and refuse the water. I’m not going to be poisoned. The Lurker tries to make me drink the water by pushing the rim against my mouth a couple times but I refuse stubbornly. He looks at Havus who shakes his head. There must be some sort of code between the Lurkers where you just stare, nod or shake.

The Lurker steps away from me and returns to Havus’ side. Havus takes the glass and walks over to me.

“Drink,” he says in a soothing tone. I feel a temptation to do as he says but I fiercely deny every thought that Havus might not be part of the Lurkers.

“Look, Echo,” the exasperation in his tone is clear, “I’m not trying to poison you.” I shake my head.

“Yeah, rig—“ I’m cut off when Havus forcefully shoves the water down my mouth . The liquid runs over my tongue and provides instant relief to my burning throat. I can’t help but gulp the rest of it down. The water has the taste of my blood in it but the soothing affect is too much to resist.

“Echo…” Havus says once I’ve finished the whole glass, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Right, then what are you doing?” I retort.

“I’m trying to help you.”

“Yup. Trying to help me get killed, tortured or recruited into being a Lurker.” Havus clenches his fist.

“There hasn’t been a female Lurker in a long time.” He laughs. He tries to make his tone sound light but I can tell his laugh was forced.

“Well, then, that just leaves killing and torturing then.” Havus inhales sharply and then exhales.

“Echo, what do I have to do to earn back your trust?”

“Let’s see,” I say deliberately, “let me go and leave me alone for the rest of my screwed up life.” Havus smirks.

“Well I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he says and kisses me. I admit, it would have been a lot more romantic if I weren’t chained up to a board. When he lets me go, my heart is pounding in my chest.

No, I think fiercely, you don’t like him, he’s an idiot.

I look down and glare at the ground. Stupid love. Havus tilts my head back up so I can meet his eyes.

“I love you.” He says. I feel my heart skip a beat. He loves me. He says he loves me. Can I trust him?

And I tilt my head up a bit further so my lips can meet his. Thoughts flash through my head and I ignore every single one that hints that Havus is lying to me. Ignorance is bliss. Havus said he lives for love. Maybe I do too. But one thought niggles me at the back of my brain. The one thought that stops me from telling him that I love him too.

“You were captured with me in the net, how did you get out?” Something flickers across Havus’ faces. Pain. Regret.

“I— we, well.” He shakes his head.

“We?” I knew all of this was too good to be true. I mentally kick myself for believing him. My anger begins simmering again but one small part of me doesn’t believe that he is a heartless, stone cold Lurker.

“The rest of my crew…” He gestures towards the rest of the men in black.

“Then… how… why?!” I shriek out. I had been naïve enough to trust him. Too naïve to see past the mist. Maybe the fact that I thought I loved him shrouded the rest of the truth away from me… No, that’s not the answer, I always was naïve. Still am.

“Echo…” Havus takes a deep breath. “I wasn’t telling the truth when I told you why I got kicked out of the Lurkers. I was still a part of them when Cove found you. I was on a special task to… find new areas for the Lurkers to capture… Then the other Lurker turned up and stabbed Cove. No doubt he was the one who went crazy in the previous weeks. But nonetheless, he was still a Lurker. And I killed him. It didn’t help that I had the amazing Echo girl who had caused a ruckus, in my little hideout. But I had decided long before that, that I was going to quit being a Lurker. After the Siren accident, we ran. And the Lurkers weren’t happy about that. I told them that I was leading you into a trap, to give you to them and they gave me one last chance. It took a lot of persuasion though. They helped me get you into the tree and then in the morning when they saw how close were getting, they sprung the net. I guess they didn’t want to wait any longer. But anyway, these guys,” he gestures to the rest of his crew, “they are the rebels, the guys that want to quit along with me. They wanted to leave straight away but I wouldn’t leave without you. So through the night we concocted a plan. We would volunteer to torture you slowly to death and would knock the guard on the security surveillance. We would turn off the cameras and hope that we would have enough time to convince you that I was doing everything for the right reasons before the rest of the Lurkers find out we’re leaving.” Havus takes a deep breath and waits for my reaction. But I don’t have a chance to respond because sirens begin to blare out all around us.

***

Havus hits a button behind me and I am released from the clutches of the board. He scoops me up because I’m a little unsteady on my feet and runs towards the doors. His fellow rebel Lurkers are doing the same while my brain is trying to figure out whether Havus is the good guy. One of the Lurkers presses his finger into the door and whispers the word ‘open’ into the machine. The doors hiss open and I can’t help thinking how easy the code is to open this strong reinforced steel door. Havus sprints through it and looks frantically to the left and right directions to see if anyone is nearby. He runs in the right direction as we both hear the sound of heavy footsteps from the left. Despite being in incredible danger, the only thing I can make sense of is how sore my wrists, head and ankles are. I concentrate on the pain so I don’t have to remember Havus’ speech. I still don’t know whether I should trust him or not.

Just ditch him when you get out, I think. If I get out that is.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when I hear the sound of bullets being fired. I look over Havus’ shoulder to see the slowest one of his men being shot down. I expect someone to run back to him and help him but the others just keep running with grim expressions on their faces.

I hear the abandoned rebel Lurker scream in pain as the rest of the approaching enemy troops trample him to death. I block my ears to stop hearing the crunch of his bones being broken.

“Echo,” Havus pants. I look up at him neutrally, hiding my every emotion. “I need you to scream at the Lurkers.”

“And why would I help you?” I say, even though I know now isn’t really the time to be fighting with Havus.

“Because both our lives are at risk!” Havus snarls.

“And what if I don’t care about my life?!” I yell back at him.

“And what if I do?!”

“And what if you’re lying,” my voice is rising along with my anger. “AS USUAL!!!!!!!” I realise that Havus has tricked me into yelling the second after I say the words. The guys who managed to keep up with Havus’ fast pace aren’t affected, but the rest who have fallen behind are blown back. The Lurkers further back fall like dominoes and I swear I can hear the steel surrounding us creaking and bending.

Havus grins and I glare at him, honestly seething. It takes everything I’ve got not to slap him.

“You idiot!” I mutter, my teeth grinding against each other.

“You must admit I’m a smart idiot,” Havus says matter-of-factly through his tired pants. I notice he’s slowing down a bit. I hide my smile by looking down. I shouldn’t be laughing. I shouldn’t even still have feelings for him. I should be raking my nails down his scarred face. I can hear some commotion behind us and I know the Lurkers are reassembling. We have to move fast.

I see some doors at the end of the corridor we’re running down and for a moment I can picture the sun shining down on my face. But then bars begin to lower over the metals them. They clank into place and I know that there is no way that anyone could lift them up, no matter how strong they are. The image of me smiling at the sun vanishes and is replaced by me shackled onto another steel board.

“No!” Havus mutters. We slow to a stop when we can run no further. The remaining rebel Lurkers join us and glance around, desperately looking for a route of escape. We cannot fight the incoming hoard of Lurkers. We cannot run from the Lurkers HQ. We are cornered. And the only thing we can do is wait for our imminent death.

The Lurker troops are very nearby and I look at Havus’ distressed face. He knows we’re trapped. He presses his lips down to mine.

“Wait for it Echo,” he whispers into my mouth, “just scream on the count of three.”

“One,” he starts off.

“Two,” I reply.

“Three!” We say at the same time. Havus lifts his mouth off mine quickly and I look around at the Lurkers that are starting to come into view.

“STAND BACK!!!” I shout. And to my dismay, nothing happens.  Crestfallen I look towards Havus. He shrugs. I hear some snickers in the crowd.

“Or what girlie? Gonna blast us back again?” Someone teases. I feel my rage boiling up.

“Yeah!” Someone backs him up. “Gonna get your boyfriend to save you? Well, rest assured, we gon’ make both your deaths miserable. Some spikes perhaps, fire maybe?”

And then I lose it. No one tortures Havus. No one but me.

“NOT IF I CAUSE YOUR DEATHS FIRST!!!!!!!!” They are all blown back with such extreme force; I can hear the crunch of their bones breaking as they slam into each other. But I must have done a better job than I thought. Because the building begins to collapse around us.

***

Havus runs around the room with me in his arms. He desperately tries to kick apart a weak part in the steel but it’s no use. We will be buried under tons and tons of steel without any way to escape. The rest of the rebel Lurkers are trying to do the same as Havus, but it’s all in vain. The ceiling creaks and we all flatten ourselves against the wall. Then the roof caves in, crushing to death any of the Lurkers who survived my blow. All the lights flicker out, plunging us into darkness.

I can’t see at all and I feel my breath going shallow as I feel the walls closing in. I think it’s my claustrophobia but by Havus’ warning calls, I know it’s real. I bury my head in Havus’ chest and listen to the soothing sound of his beating heart. And then light floods into my view. I open my eyes to see the wall ripped up off the ground. Havus puts me down to crawl through the small crack. I sigh with relief when I breathe in the scent of grass. I look to the Lurkers collapsing headquarters and laugh when I see how well the building is camouflaged into the trees. Havus head appears through the crack and I pull him out. Havus tilts his head back and laughs in triumph and wraps his arms around me into a kiss. I freeze for a second from the sudden contact.

“Now tell me my little fugitive, why do we live?” He asks. My lips form into a smile against his mouth.

“We live for love!” I answer and kiss him back.