Free The Darkling Tide by Travis Simmons Page B

we turn around we have just about the same distance to travel toward either shore.”
    “Abbie, are you bleeding?” Leona asked, worry in her voice.
    “No, I don’t think so.” Abagail looked down at her leg and she saw blood on the stone as well. “Where is that coming from?” she asked. More blood welled up out of the stone and slipped over the edge of the mossy surface. The blood was dark, nearly black.
    “It’s on the tip of your sword,” Leona told her, taking a step away from the bleeding stone.
    “What’s wrong?” Rorick called, this time closer to them.
    “Turn around, go back,” Abagail told them. “I don’t know what’s happening, but the stone I just stabbed into is bleeding.”
    Daniken hissed. A swell of silver light came from behind them and bathed the lake in moonlit glory in the overcast day.
    The stone beneath her feet shivered in the light.
    “Go back, go back!” Abagail called. She grabbed Leona and pulled her forward. “We need to get to the other side. We are in the center of the lake.
    “Ok,” Leona said, clutching her knife tighter. They started walking as quickly as she thought was safe, but if they slipped they were goners. “Abbie, what do you think it is?” Leona asked. She tried to hide the fear in her voice.
    “I don’t know,” Abagail said. She was getting really sick of the word darkling, but in that moment she couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what they were facing. Though she refused to say it aloud.
    The stone directly before her listed to the left, floating out away from the rest of the bridge creating a gap. Abagail flailed her arms awkwardly to keep her balance. Leona grabbed the neck of her cloak and pulled her back. Abagail stumbled backwards but caught her footing on the slimy bridge.
    “We are back here,” Rorick called. “We are off the bridge and going around now.”
    “Ok,” Abagail called, but her voice was shaking so bad she could barely make any noise.
    “What are we going to do Abbie?” Leona asked. She was tight on Abagail’s back, almost clinging to her sister, but just shy of actually touching her. She peered around Abagail, watching the part of the bridge that was drifting away.
    Abagail swallowed and studied the distance between them and the next part of the bridge. “Alright, I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I think we can make it if we jump.”
    “What if we don’t land right?” Leona asked. “What if one of us falls into the water?”
    “Then the other one will fish them out,” Abagail said. She really didn’t like the idea of falling into the water, so she would have to make sure it didn’t happen.
    “What if both of us fall into the water?” Leona asked.
    Abagail scoffed, mainly because she didn’t know. She didn’t think they would be able to clamber back up onto the slick bridge if they fell in. “We’re wasting time, let’s go.”
    But as they started backing up to get a running start, the next portion of the bridge drifted away to the right. The gap between the two sections of the bridge grew wider.
    “What now?” Leona asked.
    “We will have to turn back,” Abagail told her. “There’s no way we can make that jump.”
    That seemed to be what Leona was waiting to hear. Her younger sister turned back and started walking the way they came.
    Off in the distance Abagail heard something splash. She looked up so fast her neck caught and fire spread through her muscles. She groaned and rubbed the burning spot. But when she looked out across the lake she didn’t see anything, just a ripple from the direction of the noise.
    “That’s unsettling,” Leona said.
    “Just a bit,” Abagail agreed. At least the lake was no longer dead calm.
    “Was that a person?” Leona asked.
    “Where?” Abagail wondered, stopping to look around her. She tightened her grip on her sword.
    “That came up out of the water and created the ripple?” Leona asked. She hadn’t moved any further yet, and Abagail really