Calypso by S. G. Ricketts (top 20 books to read .txt) 📖

muted green. She could have sworn that they had been blue the night before. They stared at each other mutely for a few seconds. She licked her lips, shivering from the cold and the wind.

“It will rain.” Kira blinked, surprised. His face hardened slightly, and she arched an eyebrow. “It will.”

She shook her head in disbelief. Water dripped off her as she pulled herself out of the river. “Probably,” she said. Kira hated how her voice shook. Even now, her past refused to let her go. She knelt slowly and picked up her bow, never taking her eyes off him.
The man stood, keeping his movements small. Kira’s eyebrows rose higher. Was he trying not to scare her? or was this another trap? The gryphon was missing tonight and Kira couldn’t help looking into the shadows. Was it waiting for her? Hiding in the bushes for when she ran? Something dripped onto her shoulder and she dropped to a crouch, bow balanced lightly in front of her. The man snorted and she glared at him. Another raindrop hit her on the cheek. He nodded as if to say “I told you so,” but Kira ignored him. Brushing the drops off her shoulder, she stood and dropped the bow to her side.
He snorted again. “What did you build?”

Kira frowned, eyes darting from the river to him. “Excuse me?”

“What did you build?” He stepped forward slowly, muscles rippling under his skin. His marks were a light green now, swirls of deep blue tinging the edges. Kira stood frozen. Her mind seemed to have deserted her. All the questions she had wanted to ask vanished as he approached. “What…did…you…build?” he asked again. Kira wrinkled her nose at his patronizing tone. They watched each other, but Kira refused to play his game. Lightning flashed, illuminating the banks, and the skies ripped open. The rain pounded the ground, drenching her in moments. Kira grimaced at the suddenness so typical of tropical storms. He glared up at the sky and then at her. “Come.” Long fingers motioned for her to follow him. She tightened her grip on the bow. “Come!” he said again. He didn’t look like someone who was used to being denied.

Kira lifted her bow slightly, feeling the first hints of real fear. Her voice deserted her and she licked her lips. “No.” He stepped back in surprise, then hissed. She steadied herself on the rocks, uncomfortable in his stare. “I’m not an idiot. I won’t follow you.”

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. “It’s raining.”

She nodded. “I’ll survive. With you, I don’t have that guarantee.” The rain bit into her skin, harsher than any Earthen rain. She hid the pain, focusing all her energy on him.
His mouth twitched. “I won’t kill you.” A hoarse laugh escaped her mouth. He honestly expected her to believe him. When she didn’t move, he bared his teeth and headed towards her. Kira braced herself to run but he was at her side in a moment. Distantly, she noticed that it only took him a few strides. “Come.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the forest. Her bare feet slid over the rocks, unable to slow his progress. Panicking, she swung her bow and caught him square in the jaw. He staggered back and let go of her wrist, but she couldn’t move. The pieces of her bow lay scattered across the ground. His face had broken her bow. Terrified, she watched him work his jaw. Those weird eyes fixed on her and the blood drained from her body. His hand was steel on her wrist before she could move. “You will come.” Kira didn’t have a choice.

As they stumbled into the forest, Kira cursed her arrogance. She should have waited until she was starving to come back to her fish trap. She should have fixed the trap faster. She shouldn’t have hit him. There were so many things she should have done. Why had she let his words get to her? Leaves slapped in her face, and she kept tripping over roots and into plant pods. They lit up purple-blue in protest, one exploding across her foot. The fluorescent nectar clung to her leg, eerily bright in the darkness of the storm. She gasped as he pulled her through the jungle. Her wrist looked tiny in his massive hand and she surpressed the urge to scream. So far he hadn’t done anything directly violent, even after her failed attempt to hurt him. her mind raced. Was there a reason he needed her alive? The pain from the rain and the effort of running slows her mind down. Kira took a deep breath, focusing on his back. If he wanted her alive, she could use that to her advantage.

A root tripped her and she pitched forward. Blue bark jumped out at her, its surface studded with thick yellow thorns. He jerked her up, inches away from one, and she screamed in agony. Fire lanced up her arm, her shoulder comompletely dislocated. He didn’t stop to fix it, just switched to the other wrist and kept going. Kira bit back sobs, lights dancing before her from the pain. She could barely see ten feet in front of her, and the mountain was completely lost in the rain. Everything was a blur of grey, whether because of the storm or by her shock she couldn’t tell. Her wrist began to ache as the skin pulled under his grip, and she focused on the pain. It helped bring her back to reality. Pain shot up her arm as he pulled her over a log; Kira bit her lip to keep back the cry. She had to think. She had to get away. She was smarter than this. There had to be a way.

Leaves whipped around in the wind, slapping against her face as he dragged her ever deeper into the forest. She winced and stared at his back. Eight years ago, she had run like this with another man. Kira bit the inside of her cheek, tasting blood. The panic receded slightly. She refused to think about that day. The ground gave way beneath her and she slammed into his back. He hissed and glared over his shoulder at her. Lightning lit up his face, transforming it into a horrific mask. Visions of the attacks assaulted her senses and she could suddenly smell the acid and burning flesh again. Lightning flashed again and he pulled her forward. It was too much. The videos and his face, it was all too much. She bit her lip, trying to hold back the terror. “No! No…no no no no no no!” The moan spiraled into a scream. Kira writhed in his grip, surprising him enough to twist out of it. Her dislocated arm swung limply beside her. The memories were too strong. “No! I won’t let you! No!” she screamed at him. His hand snapped around to grab her wrist, but he paused, blue-gold eyes watching it swing lifeless. Kira spun around to run, but he caught her good wrist. She could feel the skin stinging but instincts were taking over. He didn’t say a word, only looked at her. His eyes picked up the light from the plant pods, making them glow a freakish purple. Light flashed again and the world shook with the thunder. She tried to get away from his gaze, but those eyes kept watching her. A thousand deaths echoed in her mind. The rain sheeted down around them, falling in heavy drops from the leaves above. Kira twisted again and he jerked her straight. She cried out in pain. She wouldn’t end up dead like all the others. She had to survive. Of all the colonists, she’d been the only one to make it this far. She couldn’t die now.

Kira launched herself at him. Her nails just missed his face, but she was free and running before he could react. Bare feet slapped against the ground as she ran. There was no sense to the world. Everything was dark, but her instincts had taken over. In the dim light she could just make out footholds. Kira’s breath burned in her throat and she hugged her arm to her chest. Her feet flew across the ground. The forest was a green strobe light. Kira couldn’t focus. The trees stood out in stark relief against the darkness of the storm. Blue trunks jumped out at her, their gnarled arms grasping and reaching. She clumsily dodged a thorn, slipping in the mud and slamming into the trunk of a sap tree. Its bulbous body loomed up against the sky outlined by lightning, a giant towering over her. Kira screamed and ran the opposite direction. The fear was overwhelming. She had never been so afraid, so sure she was going to die. Vines slapped against her face, catching her arms and scraping across her skin. Plant pods and lantern flowers exploded in light as she thrashed through them. She couldn’t breathe. Memories long suppressed choked her. One moment she was running through a tropical storm and the next she was stumbling along with the sounds of the attack in her ears.

She was stupid, so, so stupid! How could she ever have thought that confronting him would solve anything? Her caution had kept her alive. She was stronger than this. She was the only human still alive. She was currently on the way to being dead. The ground was slick with mud and leaf clutter. Her feet kept slipping. Every breath was a dagger between her ribs. Her shoulder was a mass of agony. Everything ached on her but she couldn’t stop running. She couldn’t. A pitiful keening sound filled her ears and made her skin crawl. Horrified, she realized the sound came from her. She stumbled, gasping for air. He wouldn’t catch her. She wouldn’t let him. Her feet were cut and throbbing, but Kira kept running. Everything ached. She was on her last reserve, and she could feel her body giving out. Her legs were tingling and numb. Her sides were spasming. There wasn’t enough air in the entire forest to stop the fire in her chest. Water was everywhere, dripping in her face, stinging against her skin. She was drowning on land.

Kira searched through the trees and rain for the mountain, her hair throwing water into her eyes and sticking to her face. The forest disappeared into a gray sheet of water and the mountain was invisible. She stumbled again as her knee gave out. It slammed into a root and she pitched forward with a startled grunt. Blue bark jumped out at her; she threw her hand out and caught herself just above a thorn. Her palm slid along the jagged edge and she pushed off as hard as she could. Blood ran down her hand, dripped off her fingers. The thorn split down the center and vomited needle thorns out. She covered her head. Her palm stung where the poison had touched it, but the cut wasn’t deep. It was strangely bright, a light crimson against the whiteness of her skin. She flicked her fingers and pushed herself to the side. The needles fell around her, some sticking into her forearms. Most went over her head. Kira pulled them out as quickly as she could and pushed herself up. Her leg from the knee down was momentarily numb. It throbbed uselessly, making her slow. She had to keep running. She could already feel the poison numbing her fingers. Soon it would work its way through her arms, to her shoulders, to her heart… Kira shuddered, her movements becoming more and more sluggish. She staggered between the trees. She was going to die. Kira was going to die just like all the others: hunted, crying, and pathetic. She had to