FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) (34 page)

“Then you forgive me? You still want to be with me?” he asked, his eyes hopeful.

I couldn’t answer, not now. Though I truly believe in his goodness, I just couldn’t get past him delivering Polly, Trey, and Lord knows how many others to King Zale for heaven knows what purpose…and lying to me all the while.

“I thought not,” he said, moving away from my touch. “Bobby, take Meikle to the edge of town. Benji, Airianna, remember when to take Marina. I have to go,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. “You will live. Your eyes will shine for a lifetime. That thought alone will carry me through. Goodbye my little Rubylocks.” With no chance for me to respond, he jumped from the cliff’s ledge and disappeared beneath the waves.

“Troy.” His name fell from my lips like tears. My chest felt like it had a branding iron against it. Falling to my knees, I started panicking.

“Marina, it’s best if you come away from the edge,” said Airianna, trying to guide me inside, but I wouldn’t budge.

The panic passed quicker than I could have anticipated. I sat very still, very calm. My mind was blank, but for a series of singular thoughts, passing through one at a time.

“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked.

“Marina, now isn’t the time to—”

“Tell me. What will King Zale do to him for not delivering me or Meikle?”

“He will die,” said Airianna gravely.

“How will they kill him?”

“Marina, I really don’t think—” started Benji.

“The deliverer cannot be killed by conventional means,” I said flatly. “How will they kill him?”

“They will skin him alive,” Airianna whispered mournfully.

“What else?” Tears flowed from my eyes.

“They start skinning him from the bottom of his fin. Then, while he’s still breathing, they will roast him and feast,” said Airianna, her voice quivering.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push away the gruesome visions. It was more horrifying than I could have ever imagined. “When will this happen?”

“In about an hour,” said Benji. “Troy has probably gone to see his father and sister one last time. Then, he’ll stop at his house and seal the pathway to his underwater home.”

“I need you both to do me a favor, no questions asked,” I said, turning to face them. “I need you to take me to Zale.”

“What? No!” cried Airianna. “You’re my best friend! I can’t let you!”

“I love you Airi, you know that. But, I can’t live knowing what his final moments will be like. I can’t…I won’t let him die like that, not for me. Now,” I said, wiping my eyes and Airianna’s, “take me to Zale.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tyranny

Death was inevitable. The only unknowns were when, where, and how. We were never meant to think about dying in our teens. Life in an institution with pill-happy witch doctors put death front and center for most residents. For me, however, it was more like a game—one I played very well. Now, in this moment, death morphed from something virtual to something tangible. With Benji and Airianna on either side of me, we walked in silence towards the pier near my house. Despite feeling strangely serene, my heart pounded with greater ferocity as we neared the pier, the doorway to death. Bless my poor little heart, showing fight until the end.

If the Zale’s kill their own kind in such a grisly manner, how do they execute Normals? Suppose I’ll find out soon enough. I’ll join Polly, Trey, and the others in the spirit world as a floating face within a shattered porthole. As we started the long march down the eager pier, I crammed the ulva and Gravity Gum Airianna handed me into my mouth. I felt almost ghostly. Maybe a part of me had already died.

Upon reaching the edge, the sea started churning, as though applauding my arrival. My red carpet moment had at last arrived.

“Marina! No!” Troy. I didn’t need to turn around. His voice was part of me.

“Benji, please stop him,” I said soberly.

“I can do it from here.” Turning to face a rapidly approaching Troy, Benji held his palms up, and a green mist formed an impenetrable barrier between us. “Stalking blocker. It won’t let him near the water until you’re done with Zale.”

“Benji, don’t do this! Let me through!” Troy demanded, beating on the barrier.

“I’m sorry, Troy,” he said.

“Marina?”

I slowly urged my body to rotate, my neck to lift, and my eyes to find his. The sheer panic in his eyes traumatized me more than the unknown way in which I would die.

“I won’t let you die for me. I couldn’t bear it if you died like that,” I said, tears stinging my eyes.

“I’m happy to die if it means saving you. I’m prepared to die.”

“No one can prepare themselves for a death like that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Why are you doing this?” he pleaded.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep the sadness from reaching my voice. “I’m proving it. It’s my turn, don’t you think?” The pale moonlight reflected off the tears welling up in his eyes. “Airi, Benji, please,” I begged, unable to watch him cry. Airianna and Benji each grabbed a hand, and we jumped into the sea. As we fell, I heard the desperate echoes of Troy, crying my name.

“We have to blindfold you,” said Airianna, her aqua fin shimmering like thousands of fine crystals.

Benji floated forward to blindfold my eyes. When he did, I smirked at his fin.

“Go on, say it,” he groaned.

“Cheese Curl Tail,” I said, grinning at his bright orange fin.

“I’ve earned that one,” he sighed. “It’s really admirable, what you’re doing for Troy. I was wrong about you…Cheese Curl Head.” He then shaded my eyes with a black sea leaf.

Benji and Airianna made quick work of the miles, guiding me like a motherless baby dolphin through the increasingly chilly waters.

“Oh!” Airianna gasped.

“What? What is it?” I asked, pointlessly shifting my head side to side.

Benji removed the blindfold. When he did, I echoed Airianna’s gasp. Dolphins, whales, and countless colorful fish, both big and small, formed two columns alongside us, creating a path towards a collection of sunken purple lights in the distance. As we moved closer to the lights, the creatures bowed their heads and cried.

“They’re crying,” I whispered.

“They came to say goodbye, Marina,” said Airianna sorrowfully.

As we glided down the long path to Zale’s kingdom, I worked very hard not to cry at the bowing heads and heartbreaking eyes.

The six great white sharks guarding the entrance to Zale’s kingdom parted as we approached.

“This is Zale City,” said Airianna, pointing around the assortment of sinister-looking buildings.

“Narcissistic overload,” I said, spying the Zale name on literally every building.

“King Zale insists on having his name on everything.” I detected a hint of disgust in Benji’s voice.

Compared to Fairla’s bright, bustling, cheerful vibe, Zale City was more akin to a mortuary. A deep purple haze cloaked each diminutive business; the structures looked exactly alike, with the same dreary signposts and dull black archways. Wanted posters with Doctor Tenly’s face smiling funnily blanketed the city. Gloomy Ravenflames moved about the streets, while armed guards wearing uniforms emblazoned with a “Z” patrolled storefronts. The city seemed much more confined than Fairla.

“Airi,” I whispered, “where do they live? I don’t see any houses or neighborhoods.”

“King Zale doesn’t believe in individual houses. Ravenflames live in small spaces above or below the businesses,” she whispered.

“The only ‘home’ allowed is the castle,” supplied Benji.

“Not much for sharing, is he?” I said.

“That’s Zale,” said Benji. “We’re here.”

I was too busy staring at the depressing city to notice we had reached yet another shark-guarded entrance. The Zale’s castle looked like a bouquet of inverted purple and gray icicles.

“Who seeks entrance to King Zale’s castle?” asked a stout Ravenflame, appearing from nowhere.

“We are here to deliver the Normal, Marina Valentine, on behalf of Troy Tombolo,” said Benji stiffly.

“Proceed.”

Upon gliding through the purple vapor surrounding the castle, two Ravenflame guards escorted us to a dark, reddish room off the imposing foyer.

“Wait here,” they growled.

The room was quite large, lit only by floating wisps of red smoke, and the center formed a massive sunken pit some ten feet below where the guards left us waiting. The bottom of the pit sparkled with red rubies and purple amethysts, which formed the shape of a six-point flower. Instantly, I thought of the flower vision I had while stealing the soul snatching stone. I didn’t dare point this out to Airianna, but judging by her delicate little wheeze and bulging eyes, I’m guessing she saw it as well.

Two doors on the opposite side of the room slid open. Wearing purple robes to match their fins, Katrina, Kyle, Kathreena, and Kellen slithered inside. Not two seconds later, the floor beneath us vibrated. The six-point flower design shifted, parting left to right. Two elaborate thrones rose from deep inside the pit. I could see the glistening crowns atop their heads as the colossal onyx thrones slowly crept upward until eye level with us. One throne faced the Zale children, while the other faced us...faced me.

With piercing, dark purple eyes, King Zale studied me. His ear-length, black and red hair fell in waves beneath his jewel-covered crown, emphasizing his sallow cheeks and broad jaw.

“So this is the Siren Savior. Florescent hair, unnatural eyes, and a puny figure, yet she’s the migraine ruining my roasted whale,” said King Zale, cocking his head side to side, like a dog. “Marina Valentine, here in my not-so-humble abode. Unwelcome.” His voice was gruff, his tone belittling. “I will accept your greeting.”

“He means bow,” Katrina sneered.

“I bow to God, and last I checked, you aren’t him,” I said.

King Zale ran a measuring eye over my body. “God is such a misleading label, like devil or sinner or saint. Poor Normals believe in only one god. He reigns in the sky and will save the common folk from evil,” he said, mockingly tossing his hands up in the air. “There is more than one god, child.”

“You mean like yourself?” I asked.

“Like myself.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll stick with the one in the sky, thanks.”

King Zale’s trident raged red in his hands. “You are quite an energy. No other Normal has shown your level of bravery in their time of delivery. Almost makes me want to dance.”

“They weep. Wah, wah, wah. Boo hoo little Normals,” cried Kathreena.

“I don’t cry easily,” I said.

“Oh, a challenge! I do love challenges,” said the king.

“Well, trying is the first step to disappointment,” I said.

“Ah, the urge to dance increases. Tell me, would you like to meet my queen?”

“I would so love to meet the woman who married you,” I said.

“Turn, my dear. Meet our latest Normal,” he said.

The throne next to him rotated, revealing a shockingly familiar face.

“Queen Tombolo?” I said, staring helplessly into the eyes of Troy’s mother.

“Didn’t suit me, did it? It was a little, I don’t know, lackluster, maybe. What do you think, doll?” she said in a silky-smooth voice.

Seeing Troy’s mother sitting stoically next to the likes of King Zale, surrounded by her evil stepchildren, made my blood boil. How could she abandon Troy and Treeva? How could she break the bond of eternal serendipity? I now understand the pain and doubt King Tombolo feels. She chose power and greed over love and family.

“Nah, it’s not lacking luster. It does have a quality to it that just didn’t fit you…what could it be? Hmm,” I said, placing a finger to my temple. “Oh, duh, I’ve got it! Class.”

“Bravo! Little doll face has a backbone. You know, I’m actually glad. All the ones before you were so soft shell. I had given up hope in finding a real little spitfire.”

“You see, Marina, power is pleasure,” said King Zale.

“And pain…pain is quite pleasurable,” the queen added as Katrina glided forward to take her stepmother’s decorated hand.

I’ve had about enough of this crap. If I’m going to die, I’m going out kicking some fancy-fin butt. Game on. “You know, I’m tired of the fake pleasantries. We all know you’re toying with me like a fish on a hook. Why don’t we just get on with things,” I said, folding my arms.

“You do not have my father’s permission to speak, Normal,” growled Kellen.

“Oh, shut it, you little possessed brat!” Surprisingly, the little twit hid behind his big brother. Wimp. “I broke your porthole and stole a red stone, very much like the one your daughter shoved into my gut.” King Zale’s eyes flashed with fury. “Oh, yes, I know all about Prehendo Animus,” I said.

The King moved uncomfortably in his throne.

Queen Zale slowly clapped her hands. “My, my. Quite the vocabulary. So, either you found a Mermish to English translation program—”

“More like Assfin to English.”

“You little smart aleck, you! Granted, it’s like you grew up in a parentless, probably toothless, rural hole, but I enjoy you nonetheless. Call me crazy.”

“Okay. Crazy-ass-merqueen.” As King Zale started dancing in circles, and Queen Zale cackled, I heard Doctor Tenly’s voice in my mind.
Tell them what we know. Be crafty…hint to my presence. If all goes well…duck
. “In fact,” I continued as Doctor Tenly suggested, “you’d be surprised how effective my Assfin to English program has been and how many things it taught me. Off the top of my head, I’d say there are at least, oh, one, two…six. And I’m not the only one who uses the program.”

With a flurry of boiling bubbles engulfing him, King Zale stopped his twirling. His anger exploded with the force of an atomic bomb. Raising his fiery trident and pointing it at me, he screamed, “You shall writhe!”

“ESACNE!” roared a distant voice. The bolt from King Zale’s trident stopped just shy of my nose, trapped inside a clear bubble.

All eyes traveled to the source of the voice.

“Troy,” I sighed, happy to see him in spite of myself.

“You will not hurt her,” Troy said loudly, moving to shield me from King Zale.