The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Gwyndolyn Russell (learn to read books txt) 📖

arm. As her weight took it over, it dug into his forearm and rubbed until the skin turned red with blood.

With a groan, he gripped the rope with his good hand.

Mjolnir started to climb again. They were nearly there.

Up at the top, Mjolnir tied the rope down and hoisted the other end up. Jackal clambered over the edge. Then Yaaranam.

They all sat down for a moment and panted.

"I am never doing that again." Jackal said.

"Thanks," Yaaranam breathed, "for not dropping me. I know you wanted to."

"I thought about what Reaper would do if I did."

She smiled at him.

"Aw, my beautiful fur!" Mjolnir picked at his shoulder which now only had patches of fur. "Oh, do you know how long it takes to grow back?! Ages! This is terrible!"

"You're hurt, too." Yaaranam pointed at Jackal's arm.

"Just a scratch." He picked himself up. "Let's keep moving."

Yaaranam followed him into the cave.

Stalactites hung from the ceiling, their counterparts jutting up from the floor. The air here burned with each breath. The moisture stuck to their skin.

What they thought were puddles of water, burned on contact. It threatened to eat right through the soles of their boots.

The tunnel twisted side to side, the darkness held at bay by a series of chemical lights thrown on the ground. Old ones, which no longer glowed, littered the floor.

A faint beep reverberated from deeper within.

The further they went, the louder it got.

Mjolnir soon stopped as the tunnel opened wider.

"Do you hear that?" His ears stood up.

"The beeping?" Jackal asked.

"No...skittering."

"Something is running around." Yaaranam said, all four of her ears twitched in opposite directions to better pick up the sounds.

"It could be water dripping, or something." Jackal shook his head and stepped in further.

The chem lights were against the walls of the cavern, unable to light up the entire space. The sound of dripping water echoed through, but Jackal could not hear the pitter patter of creatures like the others.

A red light blinked in the darkness in sync with the beeping.

They approached it slowly.

"Is that a robot?" Jackal asked.

"It's just a head…" Mjolnir added.

"You two are idiots." Yaaranam sighed and picked the blinking object up. "It's a bichani."

"A bichani? Wait, what's it doing out here and in pieces?"

"We might be able to piece it back together." She bounced the head around in her hands.

"There's a part over there." Mjolnir pointed into the shadows.

"I'll look over here." Jackal headed in the other direction.

"Humans can see in the dark?" Yaaranam asked.

"Better than standing here with you and a dismembered head."

Yaaranam decided to look as well, leaving the head on top of a table she found lit up with a few chem lights.

First a leg was found, broken in half at the knee with odd chew marks on it. Then an arm. Half a torso. The other half. The other leg without a foot. Half of the upper arm. Destroyed wires and harnesses.

Bit by bit they pieced the machine back together. Each part seemed to attach itself once placed in the right spot. As soon as the head was attached the red light flickered. Shut off. The beeping stopped.

A moment of silence. They watched, nearly shaking with excitement. Could it turn back on? Yaaranam was already thinking of a hundred questions to ask it. If her father had been here surely this bichani would have met him.

The face of the machine lit up with a ray of green light sliding down. A few clicks and beeps.

Screaming.

A blood curdling scream cut through their ears. Yaaranam covered her ears, reeling back. Mjolnir groaned.

The bichani stopped screaming and covered its face.

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry.” He said, “I thought I was still being torn apart.”

“T-torn apart?” Jackal picked at his ear.

“Wait…” The bichani perked up. “Who are you?” His face lit up with a question mark.

Yaaranam backed away, cursing under her breath. She rubbed at her ringing ears.

It seemed both of his giant companions were preoccupied at the moment. His ears were ringing as well, but he seemed to be able to recover much quicker.

“I’m Lieutenant Jackal. That’s Mjolnir and Yaaranam. We found you in here ripped apart.”

“Ah...I see…” He tapped on the side of his head.

“Do you know what happened?”

“The last thing I remember…” A series of dots scrolled across his face. “Right! Those strange creatures came out of the shadows. They attacked us. I remember they were playing tug of war with me.” Up to his feet, he looked himself over. Puzzled, he stared at his missing arm.

“We...couldn’t find it.”

“Oh, no matter! It’s not that important! What’s important is I’m alive again!” He shoved his fist into the air, the lights on his helmet lighting up as if he had thrown confetti.

“Were you with anyone?” Yaaranam hissed, still holding her ears.

“Hmm…” Dots scrolled across his face. “Yes! I was! There were five of us!” He looked around. “Now there seems to be only me… And you!”

“Was there another eldiravan?” She asked. “Short red hair? A male.”

“There were three of them, but only one with red hair.”

Jackal held onto the side of his head, his nose scrunching up. It ached something awful all of a sudden, like an ice pick shoved right through the temple.

“Do you know his name?”

“Yes!” An exclamation point appeared on his face. Then dots. A frowning face. “No…”

“What do you mean ‘no’?!” She got closer to the bichani.

“I’m sure I knew his name.”

She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “You have to remember! Was it Vactubstein?! Jneki?!”

The frowning face turned into a crying one.

“I’m sorry, miss, I don’t remember! I really don’t remember!”

“Hey, relax…” Jackal tried to stop her, but the sudden pain in his head made him step back.

Mjolnir grabbed her shoulder.

“He just had a traumatic experience.” He said calmly. “He’s not exactly whole either. Maybe with some repairs he could remember.”

She let the bichani go and sighed.

“I’m so close...He must have been here.”

A gust of wind showed up on the machine’s face as it wiped its brow. He watched Jackal shake his own head and