Day III

Omer left early again the next morning. Stella woke up feeling slightly nauseous and sickly. She got up and made herself some coffee and a piece of toast. The warm aroma of her breakfast seemed to improve her state overall and, by the time she had to leave for work, she felt much better.

Her day at work progressed very much like the previous one. She busied herself with the various treatments of her favorite creatures (this time making sure to stay away from the sea serpents) and idle chatter with her coworkers. Besjana, a young Albanian witch who was her best friend at work, sat outside with her for lunch that day.

"Weather isn't too bad for this time of year, eh Bes?" Said Stella, observing the clear blue sky above them.

"Not too bad, no," her friend smiled at her.

Stella, as much as she loved Omer, did appreciate the fact that she had managed to find other friends around. Though she and Bes were not yet so close – on account of having only known each other for a couple of months – she nevertheless had been a kind guiding figure to Stella.

After sitting and chewing in silence for several minutes, Bes smiled and said: "You must get all the details, no? About the cave your husband goes in."

Stella chuckled. "Yes, haven't you heard? Katopodis and him found a bunch of fascinating creatures down there! They have their own isolated biosystem inside the cave."

"Crazy," said Bes. "And think this was all just under our feets this entire time. Makes you think what else is under, no?"

"It really does."

"Ha! I think this is why Katopodis did not come to work today. He scared of the creatures in cave! He is big coward."

"Katopodis didn't show up to work today?" Inquired Stella.

"No, no, he sent letter saying he is sick," Bes explained.

"Hmmm," replied Stella.

It was odd that Katopodis, though indeed a skittish man that he was, had been so freaked out by some albino creatures that he'd decided to call in sick that day. Was Omer hiding something from her? Was he not telling her about everything he had seen in the cave in full? Could there be something much more serious hiding in its depths? Something to do with the sick hippocampi? She would have to ask her husband when he came back from work that night.

Stella reflected on this strange occurrence for the rest of the day. She hadn't known Omer to hide any details from her before, so this must be quite serious. Excluding the possibility, of course, that Katopodis was indeed actually sick. And yet, something did not sit right with Stella.

At 5 o'clock she disapparated back home as usual. As she reappeared at the front gate of her house, Stella immediately noticed how much colder it was here than on the island. Must be the altitude, she thought to herself as she paced toward the front door of her home. She raised her and to tap the lock and –

"Hee Hee Hee!"

Stella turned around at once. Someone – or something – giggled behind her and, to her horror, she recognized the voice…

"What the – is that you again? Kid? What do you want?"

"Hee Hee Hee!"

The voice came from a different direction this time. Around the bushes to her left. Stella quickly turned her wand to face the sound.

"Listen I – I don't know who or – or what you are, but I don't want any trouble! Please leave me and my house alone I – "

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

Stella turned again – this time to her right – to the sound of swift footsteps.

"I'm – I'm warning you!" She called, trying to sound far braver than she felt at that moment.

"Hee Hee Hee!"

Stella stepped back. She couldn't figure out where the voice had come from this time. Not unless –

She turned both her wand and her gaze upwards toward the roof –

"AAAAAAAAARGH!"

It was too late. The little pale boy lunged at her with his full weight, knocking her to the ground. He shrieked and clawed at her face viciously. Stella cried bloody murder as the boy dug his unnaturally sharp claws at her face.

Her wand out of reach – dropped as the boy's weight hit her head, her arms – desperately trying to fight the abnormally strong child off of her, she felt weak and incapable of stopping the torrent of slashing viciousness aimed at her face. A moment later Stella's mouth was filled with a warm, wet, iron-y taste.

Blood, she thought. Her own.

Was this how she would die? Here, alone and cold without her friends or family? Without Omer…

The sharp pain seemed to last for hours. She could not fight it any longer. She would have to resign to this cruel fate –

"Stella?!"

As if from a trance, Stella woke up and opened her eyes to see Omer staring at her with a worried look on his ashen face. He was pale and shaken as he grabbed her and helped her up. The boy was nowhere to be seen again…

"What are you doing on the floor?"

"But… Wha – "

Stella's hands jumped to her face. It hadn't been mangled afterall. There wasn't so much as a scratch on her cheek. How could it be?

"Stella what the hell is going on?" Demanded Omer once his wife did not reply.

"I – the boy he – he jumped on top of me and ripped my – my face to shreds…"

"What? What boy? All I saw was you laying on the ground moaning…" explained her husband. "Did you get poisoned at work again?"

"What? No! I didn't even go near the sea serpents!"

"This is too weird. Come inside, please. I'll make you some chai, okay?"

Stella was led in a state of utter confusion into her home, where Omer laid her on the biggest sofa and went to the kitchen to make her the hot beverage he had promised.

How could it be? She had felt sharp claws dig through her flesh mere moments ago. How is it that she is the only one who seems to see or sense this child? Was it all in her head?

"I don't want you going to work tomorrow, you hear?" Said Omer as he handed her a mug full of hot, honey-colored chai. "It must be stress getting to you. I've seen it before, some people have trouble adjusting to – "

"I know what I saw!" Stella yelled at him.

Omer gave her an indignant look.

"I felt hi – it. I felt it clawing through my face!"

"Your face looks fine to me…"

"That's because… Well, I don't know how but it got healed somehow!"

"Right…" mumbled Omer, undoubtedly questioning his wife's sanity. "Look just stay home and rest tomorrow, okay? Do me that favor."

"Okay…"

That promise seemed to satisfy her husband. If anything, a day off would allow her to get to the bottom of this insanity.

Stella let a few minutes pass as she slowly sipped from her warm mug. She finally felt relaxed enough to remember what she'd wanted to ask her husband.

"Omer?" Said Stella softly after a long silence.

"Yes, my love?" Replied her husband.

Stella chuckled. "Since when am I 'my love'?"

Omer looked a little taken aback. "What? You don't like when I call you my love?"

"No, it's just you never did before," she replied with a warm smile. "Anyhow," she continued, "I heard that Katopodis was out sick today, what happened? Is it something to do with the cave?"

Omer paused for a moment before putting on an unconvincingly befuddled face. "No, I don't know why he sent he was sick today… Maybe – er – he was too afraid of the creatures, eh?" He chuckled nervously.

Stella gave him a serious look in return. "Omer… I know you well enough by now to recognize you're nervous about telling me something…"

Her husband considered for a second before letting out a grim sigh. "Fine," he concluded. "But please don't tell anyone about this yet."

"What is it? Is it something dangerous?"

"Well… yes. We – er – we found skolopendra in the cave…"

"What?! But – "

"I know, I know, every source we have claims that they never existed and were one of the few magical creatures of the ancient world that were purely mythological but – "

"But you found something that resembles their description in that cave?"

"Not resemble, fits perfectly. Giant centipede-like monsters – pale as snow – that live deep inside the cave's ecosystem…"

"I can't believe it…" Stella felt excitement rushing through her veins, breathing them into life again. New discoveries to do with magical creatures had always been what thrilled her the most. "This must be the magizoological discovery of the decade! If not the century! But – what do they eat?"

"Ha! I knew you'd be excited!" Exclaimed Omer, completely forgoing the guilty look on his face. "They seem to eat other creatures mostly. Some of them appear to be cannibalistic too… They are very violent…"

"Wait a second…" Muttered Stella, now forgetting her academic excitement for the creatures and replacing it with concern. "Are they dangerous to wizardkind too? Did something happen to Katopodis?"

Omer put on his guilty face again. "Katopodis he… well the skolopendra got to him and… well he's injured pretty bad… but he'll live. I managed to save him."

Stella just stared back at Omer in disbelief.

Taking her silence wrongly Omer added: "We couldn't tell the truth because that would cause panic – "

"Oh, YOU THINK?" Stella cut him off. "What the hell Omer? You need to tell someone immediately! Did you even tell Charlie? For all we know they could be the cause of all the strange stuff with the hippocampi! That fits perfectly actually, do they attract prey with their clicks like in the legends?"

"Er…"

"Wait another second… If Katopodis was out sick today does that mean – did you go in there all alone today?"

"Well – er – I mean I didn't have anyone else, and I didn't want to risk anybody else so…"

"OH MY GOD, and what about risking yourself?!"

Stella was livid. How could he be so stupid? Putting himself in such immense risk like that.

"Well I – "

"You are not going in there again tomorrow."

"What? But it's like you said the discovery of the century! I can't wait for – "

"No. You're not listening to me. You. Are. Not. Going. Back. In. That. Cave. Alone."

Omer's face suddenly hardened. He looked away for a split second, then turned back to her with an angry – almost, if that were possible, menacing – look on his face.

"I didn't realize you would be so controlling," he said in a sort of mean finality as he got up from the sofa.

"What the – Come back here!"

Her husband kept walking in the direction of the bedroom without looking back at her.

"Omer please," Stella found herself almost begging now. "Please promise me you won't go!"

"I can't promise anything," he mumbled before disappearing behind the door to the bedroom.

Stella went to sleep about 2 hours later that night. She had been so upset with Omer, that she had trouble getting herself to face him again. She got to bed when he had already been fast asleep.

She would wake up early tomorrow, she promised herself silently as she set up her alarm. She would make sure Omer did not go into the cave again the next day. Even if he hated her for it, she couldn't lose him. Not now. Not for this stupid cave.