The Rengling

04

Colette's first idea is to run and hide. The words I'm not ready intermingle with the horrified curses and screams inside her head. All of the confidence she'd gained in the past month and a half immediately slips away, replaced with the fear that she and Gigi are about to be killed.

Then the Rengling steps forward and Gigi springs into action, and suddenly there's no time to be afraid.

While Gigi yanks off her gloves and calls forth vines to wrap around the Rengling's body, Colette closes her eyes and wills herself to become invisible. Blend, blend, blend, blend. Come on, come on.

Her eyes fly open, and she looks down. She is nowhere to be seen.

Thank god.

The Rengling lets out a snarl of rage, and her gaze snaps over to Gigi to find that the pink-haired girl has trapped it within a thick rope of vines. She almost smiles as the Rengling thrashes against his natural prison, but quickly shakes off her pride for what her friend can do and shoves herself under Gigi's bed, reaching for the large duffel bag filled with kitchen appliances she and Gigi were able to use as weapons. She pries the bag open and yanks out the carving and and chef's knives.

As soon as the knives touch her hands, they, too, become invisible, and then she throws herself out from underneath the bed, silently praying that Gigi still has a handle on the beast.

She straightens up, looks up—

—and watches as the Rengling rips free of his bindings and lunges for Gigi.

"Gigi!" Colette shrieks before she can stop herself. Dammit. Now she's given away her location. What help is she going to be now?

Luckily, it doesn't seem to matter. The Rengling's concentration doesn't stray from Gigi as it gains on her, arms outstretched, mouth open wide. Gigi attempts to attack it with some more vines, but it sees them coming now, and grabs at them before they can be useful.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, Colette thinks as she creeps forward, clutching the knives tightly in her hands. She feels like her heart is about to tear itself out of her chest, and oh god, what if she messes up? What if she can't kill the Rengling like Gigi thinks she can? What if the distraction is all for not?

She sucks in a breath as quietly as she can, and holds it. Don't breathe. Don't mess up. Don't you dare. You got this. You've got this. You—

Colette just reaches the Rengling's back when suddenly the thing is lifting Gigi off the ground, its gnarled hand wrapped around her throat. Gigi paws at the hand cutting off her airway, visibly tries to summon vines to give her aid, but it's no use—she's too weak.

The Rengling sucks in a long, slow breath, and Gigi goes limp in its arms. White wisps like glowing smoke begin to arise from her body.

"No!" Colette cries.

Without thinking, without planning, without making sure her aim is precise, she jabs the chef's knife into the Rengling's back as hard as she can. She can feel the knife sinking into the creature's flesh, but she hardly pays it any mind. All she can think about is stopping this thing from killing her friend.

The Rengling lets out a pain-filled roar, dropping Gigi to the floor in a careless heap. And then the next thing Colette knows, it turns on her and whips her blindly across the face. The force is enough to send her reeling, and she trips on her own two feet before crumbling to the floor.