looks mildly confused and startled. “What is this, Emma?”
“Some sort of creature that I assume they encountered. I haven’t read any of it yet, other than the description under the drawing.”
Zoë’s glance moves down the page. “What the hell is a unisus?”
“I have no idea. But I think we’re going to find out very soon.”
Zoë settles herself into a spot on her bed and warily flips the page to the next drawing. Her expression grows grim as she examines the next sketch. “Emma, come and look at this.”
I take a seat on the bed next to Zoë so we can look through the images together. There are four separate drawings of the same creature, labeled as an alloquet. They cover the spread of both pages. The creature is absolutely terrifying. Its body is that of a human, but that is where the humanity ends. The alloquet has a hairless tail that is so long, the creature must either hold it in the air or drag it on the ground. It curves up just before it reaches its overly pronounced calf muscle, and stretches several feet both up and away from its body.
A detailed drawing of the alloquet’s tail reveals that it features an extreme point, almost like the tip of an arrow. It's covered in small, sharp spikes to inflict a great amount of damage to whatever it comes in contact with.
A third drawing shows the facial details of the alloquet. It has very masculine, human-like features, with overly pronounced cheekbones and soulless black eyes. I look down its face to the creature’s mouth. It is much larger than a human mouth and sits atop a wide, squared off jaw. Protruding from the parted lips are long, fanged teeth, resembling those of a predatory animal.
The fourth and final image is that of the top of the creature’s head. It is covered in large, bony horns that curl around it in a protective barrier, resembling the head of a ram.
A small paragraph under the third and fourth images details the alloquet’s persona. Our eyes must reach the paragraph at the same time. Zoë reads it aloud. “Runs at speeds double that of a human. Incapable of speech. Communicates through growls, screams, grunts, and gestures. Must be outsmarted to escape its wrath. Do not under any circumstances attempt to outrun.”
She lowers the journal to her lap and turns her head toward me. “Do you really think that this is what we are going to have to face to save Natalie?”
“If it is, then at least we will be prepared.”
“We can’t possibly memorize everything in these journals in just two days. I don’t even think we can read everything in these journals in two days time.”
“We will learn as much as we can and take that knowledge with us.” My gaze drops down to my lap. “What do you think it will be like? Trying to find someone in our walk.”
“I have no idea," she answers. "I’ve never tried to find anyone.”
“Well how did you find me the first time?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I just went to sleep one night and you were there.”
“How long had you been walking before we met?”
“I don’t even think I realized it was more than a dream for a while. I never had anyone explain to me what it was all about. I just figured that’s what everyone did when they went to sleep, until a few years after we met. I just sort of started to realize that we were different.”
“How?” I ask.
Zoë chuckles. “None of the other kids believed me when I told them that we rode a Pegasus to the top of a mountain while we were asleep.”
We laugh together. She turns to glance at the clock. “Forty five minutes until your dad calls. Should we each take a journal and do some reading?”
“That’s probably a smart move.” I relocate back to my bed and find the spot where I left off in the car.
. . . “You can’t make Mama come here. She has to find it herself.”
“I wasn’t trying to make her come here. How did you know I was thinking of her?” She dropped her doll and came to me. “I saw what you were thinking.”
“How is that possible?” I begged of her with much confusion in my voice.
Her expression became worried. Her forehead tightened, her brows shifted closer together and the tone of her voice had fear and slight anger in it. “The tall man did it. He will come