The waterfall they saw from the road was further away than the three boys expected. Chris couldn’t decide if it was the luminescent night or the enormous actual size of the waterfall that made it appear such a short distance from the farmhouse. In fact, the whole landscape took on an unnatural look as being much larger than previously thought. Chris felt small in size compared to it all.
After twenty more minutes of walking together, Donny broke away and made it to the edge of the water. The pool that was created was almost perfectly circular, with a single spillway directing the overflow along its way downhill. Donny crouched along the edge, taking a double handful and splashing the water over his face and raking his wet fingers through his longish tangled hair.
“I bet you this is where the creek that ran next to the rocks comes from. The water is really refreshing!”
“It must end in that lake that I woke up next to,” Chris agreed.
“We have been walking forever, I think I’m going to soak my feet for a second.” Donny had his shoes off in no time and was rolling up his pants as he walked deeper into the cool pool.
“You may not want to do that,” A voice boomed from up the road near the waterfall.
All three stopped as they looked to find the very obvious figure of Renault walking down the path toward them. He did not seem in a hurry, but he continued to bellow as he walked.
“Strange things can lurk in the water. I feel the need to especially warn you away from pools of this kind, you never know how deep they are,” He said, coming to a normal speaking distance.
“’Strange things?’ What are you talking about? Fish?” Chris questioned. The roar of the waterfall droned on in the background like a brutal rainstorm focused on a single point. The slapping water sounds made it hard to hear.
“Yeah, I thought you said the laws of nature were good here. Why did we find that wheels aren’t moving the way they should? Now you warn us away from going for a swim?”
“It is why you three are here. Something has changed in this land recently. Men have gone mad, beasts have awoken and transportation has come to a halt. Sanity and coherence are breaking down. That is why you must hurry,” Renault said. “Donny, please,” he motioned for him to exit.
Donny agreed and began to wade out when the water broke. Jake and Chris fell backward to the grass surrounding the pool. Donny looked back paralyzed. Through the misty air a ribbon of musculature arched over like a bullwhip before it cracks.
In the silver moonlight, the serpent gleamed and struck, without pause to look around. The doglike head wrapped in a mane of black blades struck at the body standing in the water, effortlessly lifting him up high into the air, and retracting as if in reverse motion, back from where it came. Donny was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving nothing but the ripples from where the beast disappeared.
A half a beat later, both Chris and Jake were up and scrambling for the waters edge. Jake had yanked off his shirt and began to kick off his shoes as Chris plunged fully clothed in toward the spot they had last seen their friend.
“Stop! Leave him!”
“What?” Chris managed to shout in Renault’s direction. He scanned the water, as if he may be able to see below the surface. “We need him! We need him!”
Jake joined Chris in the water in the same frenzied fashion, moving forward with confidence, until the bottom dropped out from under him and he had to tread water in his jeans. Chris reached a hand out and pulled him back to the shallow ledge.
“Why should we even trust you?” he shouted in a rage at the man in the green jacket. “You have not helped us one fuck’n bit! All you have done is insult us, give us vague-ass directions and you just got one of our friends killed!”
Renault was gone. Standing on the edge of the road one moment and then not, like a trick of a stop-motion effect. It took a heartbeat to settle in the boys that they were alone, and they climbed out.
“Dammit! Just great!” Jake shouted.
Chris flopped down on the grass and began to cough until he threw up a small amount of unrecognizable stomach content. He spit and spit as Jake pulled his shirt on.
“He is not dead,” Renault surprised them. He was back in the same place he had previously occupied, standing the same way.
“Where did you go?” Chris croaked.
“What the hell, Dude?” Jake said walking towards him. “What are we going to do about Donny?”
“He will be fine,” Renault began. “You two must go on, I will do what I can. Should the shards fall in place, you will join back up with your friend.”
“I don’t know what the hell all that is supposed to mean, but how are we supposed to believe that he is okay after we just saw him get snatched like that?” Jake looked up at the man standing passively by. There was a confidence and distance on that face. A worn face, topped by the stupidest haircut that just seamed to fit him so well. Deep down both he and Chris knew Renault was right. After all, this place was so strange already. They had passed through trippy dreams to get here, but despite the comparative clarity they now enjoyed, this was still somewhat felling like one.
“Fine, listen,” Jake said letting the rage diminish, “That kid is a brother to us. We will get nowhere without him. You will do everything, everything, to find him and get him back to us. I blame you anyway, for not warning us sooner. Let’s get out of here, Chris.”