Chapter Six

My eyes were wide as I stared at the massive creature. Not only did it speak, but it spoke English. In an English accent. I swallowed the lump that was in my throat.

"Y-you speak… English?" I said, my voice quivering.

It cocked its head to the side again, "I speak the language of the females."

"The language… of the females?" I asked for clarification. For all I knew, I was probably hallucinating.

It nodded, "Yes. The female language. The females that fell from the sky."

"Fell from the sky?" I said, "Women fell from the sky? Like me?"

"Yes. You are from the other side." It said.

"I am, I am," I said quickly, "I need help to get—."

"You are hurt?" It said in a panicked tone, "You are hurt again? Where? I will heal you."

Its hands moved rapidly over my body to find the injury. I swatted its hands away when its hands brushed against areas I didn't want touched.

"Get off, get off!" I snapped, "I'm not hurt. I meant; I need help getting back to the other side. To my home."

It shook its head, "No you do not go back to the other side."

"I have to get back to the other side. That's my home. I have friends there," I didn't mention family. I didn't have any family to mention.

"- does not give the chosen ones back."

The first word he said was not English, it was a series of clicks and one soft, strange vocal strain that I couldn't understand. But I understood the last half. I sighed heavily, putting my head on top of my knees. Tears started gently falling down from my eyes.

As I was giving up on all my hope, my body was suddenly lifted off the ground. I yelped in surprised, trying to pull myself away from the big creature. It pressed me against its chest, its arms holding me tight, but not tight enough to suffocate me.

"Let me go!" I snapped, trying to pull away.

It started making a very low humming noise. The familiar noise vibrated through its wide chest which my ear was pressed against. The noise suddenly soothed me. I felt my body go lax and my mind be taken over with calmness. I sighed contently, closing my eyes.

After a long moment, something else wrapped around me. It wasn't its arms or its legs, it was a lot smaller than that but was still pretty big. I opened my eyes and looked down at my arm where something was wrapped around me.

I screamed and scrambled away from the creature. I thought it was a snake that had wrapped around me, but when it moved, I realized it was a tail. The creature's tail.

"Oh my god… y-you have a… tail!" I screamed, "What are you!"

I didn't give it the opportunity to answer me. I took off, running as fast as I could. I heard a hiss behind me, then the sound of footsteps following me.

I couldn't see too well, so when I tripped over a rock and hit the very hard ground, I only had blamed myself. I cried out, one hand holding my leg and the other holding my cheek.

The creature picked me up and brought me back to where we were. It sat down with me between its crossed legs. It grabbed my head, its eyes examining my face.

It sighed heavily, "You are cut."

"I'm fine," I said, wiping away the tears, "It's okay. It'll heal in a few— hey!"

It licked the side of my face slowly. Slathering my cheek with its saliva. I tried to push it away, but it was way too strong for me. I was disgusted by the fact that it was licking me, but it didn't feel like there was one tongue, it felt as though there were two.

My cheek was stinging slightly, as if I had a little paper cut. It stopped licking me and looked over my cheek. My blood was dripping from its mouth. The sight of it made me gag.

As I was gagging, it moved me, so it was looking at my leg. It peeled back the leaves and examined the stitches. I cried out when its finger touched it.

"You have hurt this worse," it said, shaking its head, "I do not have the proper tools to fix this."

I was wiping its saliva off my cheek, "Well, please just don't lick—" before I could ask it not to lick my leg, it leaned over the cut and let its saliva pour down from its mouth.

I was completely grossed out, but also intriguing. I couldn't help but stare. It had four very sharp canines and very shiny white teeth. But the teeth weren't the reason I was staring. It had two tongues. One long pointed one, then another shorter wider one underneath the first.

Its long teeth were pushing against the wider one. The wider one was oozing with white saliva. I looked down at my leg where the saliva was dripping onto the wound. I could see where the stitches had pulled apart.

I hissed when the saliva slipped into the wound, "Stop that burns!" I tried to push its head away from me.

"I am sorry." It paused momentarily to say before continuing to dribble its saliva on me.

It finally finished. When I looked down at my leg, the bleed cut had turned into a pink scar. I tried to blow on it, so the burning would stop, but then I realized the burning was underneath my skin, not on top of it.

"I am sorry. It will burn, but not for very long." It said, rubbing the pink scar gently with its clawed hand.

"I guess I shouldn't be angry," I said as I looked at the scar, "It looks weeks old."

It smiled widely, its teeth sparkling in the soft glowing light in the cave. I tried to smile back, but the sharp bleach white teeth creeped me out.

It made a soft purring sound and pressed its face against mine.

"Whoa," I said, pushing it away from me, "Thanks, but I'm kind of funny about my personal space."

"What is that?" It asked.

"Hmm?"

"Those words you said, what is that?"

"Personal space?" I repeated, "It just means I like to have plenty of room to move around. I don't like to be touched, really."

"You sound strange."

My eyebrows raised, "I sound strange? What do you mean?"

Its face scrunched up as if it were thinking of the words to say, "You… you sound different than the females. The females sound different."

"Are you talking about my accent?" I asked.

"I do not know what you mean."

I sighed, "You sound like this," I said in the best English accent I could muster, "But I sound like this," I said in my American accent, "That's an accent. Is that what you're talking about?"

It nodded quickly, "Yes, yes. How did you do that? It was magic."

I couldn't help the laugh that slipped passed my lips. It was kind of childlike, its eyes wide with wonderment.

"No, it's not magic. Can you mimic my accent?" I asked, "Can you sound like me?"

I could see the determination on its face. After a moment, it opened its mouth, but what came out was a strange screeching noise. I covered my ears, the noise piercing my eardrum.

Its eyes widened and it closed its mouth quickly. I suddenly felt bad for being rude.

"I'm sorry. It sounded good." I said quickly.

"It is alright. It is an upsetting noise for the females. They do not like it either. I will not do it again."

"Uh, thanks," I said, biting my lip.

There was a breeze blowing through the cave. I shivered when it hit me. I hadn't put on my wetsuit when I left the shelter. I was just in my bikini, which wasn't very helpful against the cold.

"You are cold," it said, grabbing me and pressing me against its skin.

"I'm okay—," I started, but when I felt the creature begin to heat up, I couldn't help myself from leaning closer into him. Its skin went from cool to hot in a matter of moments. Its chest began to vibrate again, causing me to become instantly calm.

We stayed like this for a while. I fought the urge to fall asleep. Even though I was letting it hold me, I really didn't trust it. Who knows what it would do if I fell asleep? I mean, it was obvious now that it had been visiting me at night. It hadn't hurt me yet, but that could all change.

When I first saw it, I was terrified of it. But now the scientist in me wanted nothing more than to study this creature. I wished I had my sketchpad; I would give anything to sketch it.

After a while, I pulled away from it, "Uh, I really need to be getting back to my shelter."

"No! You cannot go!" It said in a panic.

"You can't keep me here," I said, tugging away from it and standing. "I want to get back to my shelter. I have food and water there."

"You cannot go," it said, standing and towering over me. I gulped a little as its eyes stared down into mine.

"W-why not?" I asked.

"It is hunter's moon," It said in a low tone, "Females do not go out during the hunter's moon."

"Hunter's moon, what is that?" I asked as I slowly sat back down on the ground.

"The sun does not return until the hunter's moon parts. It is the time where the boys prove themselves to be men."

I nodded, "Is that what attacked me?"

"Yes," It said, "The boys are sent away to prove themselves as hunters. They must survive until the hunter's moon parts. They are not allowed to return home until then."

"So they were trying to kill me?"

"No, not kill," It said, "The boys call to their inner -. The females call it the hunter. When the boys call their inner hunter, it makes them uncontrollable. Wild. Jacob was not trying to kill you. He was curious. He could smell your feminine scent and was confused. Females do not go out during the hunter's moon."

"So, you have names?" I asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Edward," it said, laying a hand flat against its chest.

"You're a boy then?" I asked.

"I am a man," he growled, his chest puffing up and his nostrils flaring.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, "I didn't mean to offend you. Where I'm from, boy and girl aren't insults. They're just gender identifiers."

"I am a man," he said with a sharp nod.

I smiled, placing my hand on its chest, "You are a man."

He smiled when I told him that. I definitely didn't want to offend him. He seemed to be my best chance at survival right now.