Fire (The Mermaid Legacy - Book 2) (12 page)

“If you had been any sort of father at all you would have warned me, warned us about the dangers of mixing Oceanids and humans.”

“Humans do not respond well to our kind, Alex.”

“
I’m
human and I responded fine.”

He didn’t reply, just shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose briefly, closing his eyes for a few moments.

“I don’t expect you to understand my actions or even forgive me, but we have a bigger problem here than our history…”

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

A screeching trumpet wailed through The Haven, interrupting our argument.

“What was that?” I whispered, a cold shiver racing up my spine as something pushed urgently at my thoughts.

“A distress call,” Dad replied before we raced out of the council room. Everyone in The Haven was following Aoi in a rush to get to the source of the sound as it reverberated again.

“What is making that?” I asked Dad.

“Zmija.”

“They didn’t make that sound before.”

“It’s a shout for help,” he replied, still avoiding looking at me for longer than he absolutely had to.

We wound our way through the great mass of Oceanids gathered at the entrance, all chattering worriedly as Aoi and Azura hurried towards them.

The Oceanids parted, inclining their heads as the leading couple dove through the opening, white sand swirling into the water as they went.

The screeching noise came again and again as the Oceanids at the entrance trickled out of The Haven one by one.

Dad and I were the last to leave and when we joined them on the other side the chaos was just wider spread.

“What’s going on?” I asked Dad as we drifted slightly above the melee. We could just make out a tangle of Zmija at the centre of which Aoi and Azura stood surrounded by brightly coloured creatures with whom they seemed to be deep in conversation.

Dad shrugged non-commitally as we watched Azura turn suddenly and begin to weep. Aoi wrapped her in his arms and comforted her for a few moments before he spoke to the Mami-Wata that had crowded around the Zmija as they formed a procession into The Haven.

When we re-entered The Haven, it was a hive of activity. Azura had regained her composure quickly and was instructing a flock of Oceanids as they darted around doing her bidding. Surrounding her were dozens of Oceanid children. They looked as tired and frightened as the group I’d found in the trap and many of them clung to each other in terror.

Azura did her very best to comfort them between giving those around her orders, and I watched with admiration as she cuddled and kissed as many of them as she could, whispering words into their ears until they smiled or hugged her back.

Dad had drifted away from me to speak to some of the Miengu who were guarding the entrance to The Haven. When he returned there was a pall of horror and fury around him.

“What is it?” I asked

“These children had almost exactly the same experience as the ones you protected earlier. They fled to the forest when Neith’s thugs came for them and forced their parents to join his army. They are fortunate to have survived in the open ocean as long as they did.”

“That sounds about right. So many of them though!” I muttered as I watched several Oceanids leading the children away to their new homes.

When all of the children had been shown into a gorgeous reef studded in brilliant colours with miniature versions of the capsules that had been in each of the cells in Ferengren, Azura and Aoi motioned to Dad and Ime to join them.

“You have until this afternoon to come up with a plan and then we go into action.” Aoi’s eyes flashed in fury. “One group of children is bad enough, but so many…and the Zmija say they can hear still more coming. Not all they hear are making it to The Haven.”

I shuddered.

Dad and I hurried back to the council room.

“OK, what did you see when you were at Ferengren?” Dad asked.

I explained the squid and the cell, the regiments of Oceanids and the manner in which Neith treated them. I explained the Påvirke and their ability to squirm into my head. When I got to the part about Merrick I struggled to talk around the lump in my throat.

“You really love him don’t you?” Dad asked gently.

I nodded, trying to hide my tear-crumpled face.

“It’s funny how life works out sometimes.” He smiled gently at me. “When I asked for a Traduzir to be assigned to you I was furious when Merrick showed up. He was so young and I was so worried about your protection.”

“You asked for Merrick to watch me?” I’d always assumed it had been Talita’s idea to have Merrick guard me.

Dad nodded.

“Why?”

“Do you remember the car accident Mom was in?”

I nodded, welling up again as I remembered how badly Mom had been hurt, and how long it had taken for her to recover.

“Some of my previous enemies found me, they wanted me to join the army they were creating. When I said no I was told I had three years and then they were coming for me.” He looked at me again, his expression worried. “I don’t know how they even knew about Gillian, or how they managed to tamper with the brakes of her car.”

I cleared my throat, past the fear that threatened to overwhelm me. “Maybe they didn’t?” I asked hopefully.

He smiled gently at me. “We had your mom’s brakes checked the week before the wreck,” he said quietly. “They were replaced at a service we’d had done on the car, and they worked perfectly for a full week. I spent weeks trying to decide what to do, and in the end the only solution I could come up with was to separate myself from you and your mom. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.”

“So you still love her?” I asked in a whisper, staring at my fingers which were clasped tightly in my lap, the white of my knuckles showing through the stretched skin.

He nodded. “I do, but Alex, sometimes love isn’t enough to withstand the forces life throws at it. It was surprisingly easy to convince your mom that I was someone she didn’t like, someone she couldn’t be with.” He shook his head, smiling sadly. “Humans,” he muttered, shaking his head. “That was also when I arranged for Merrick to begin guarding you. I have to say, when I first met him, I didn’t think he would grow to love you as he clearly does.”

“Why not?”

“He wasn’t thrilled to be looking after a Halfling and had many strong opinions about you and other humans.” Dad smiled. “You obviously changed his mind.”

I swallowed hard, rubbing my hands over my face and pushing away the fear and grief that had continued to almost overwhelm me, every time I thought about Merrick.

“We will rescue him.” Dad spoke quietly.

“Not unless we come up with an incredible plan,” I whispered, allowing the fear that continuously edged my thoughts a tiny voice. “I don’t even know where to begin!”

“Let’s start with the biggest advantage Neith has,” Dad suggested.

“Oh you mean his massive, well organised and very motivated army?”

“No, I was thinking more along the lines of the children…our Oceanids, in fact any Oceanids, are going to struggle to attack children. Did you see any at Ferengren?”

I shook my head. “No, but Neith did specifically threaten the adults with the death of their children if they didn’t do as he said. Perhaps he was keeping them in a different part of Ferengren. I was only there for a short while and…” The flashes of brilliant colour on my way out suddenly made sense. “Oh wait, I think they were being kept in a big group near the entrance to Ferengren.”

“We have to find a way to get them away from there before we attack, otherwise it will be a complete shambles.”

“What if Neith has been using the Påvirke on them too? They will quite probably be our greatest threat as they are so powerful.”

He winced. “We’ll have to fine-tune that bit of the plan later. For now, what skills do you think we need?”

“We definitely need to be able to fight one on one, but also to fight as a unit. If I practise I might be able to make the whole pod multitalented…at least that’s the theory, but having a whole bunch of talents hurtling all over the show might be more disastrous than if we each fought one on one.”

He nodded. “You’re right, co-ordination is one of our greatest challenges, especially because no one here has ever fought before. I have got quite a lot of experience with organising Oceanids though so that shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve trained groups like this before, but it only makes us equal to Neith, not better than him and that’s what we need to be.” He gazed at me unhappily. “You are our greatest tactical advantage, it’s just…” His face was pained.

“You don’t think I can do this.”

He didn’t answer me.

I clenched my fists at my sides, hurt that the one person who really knew me didn’t have enough faith in me.

“I have amazing talents, Dad,” I said, forming a blue ball of power between my palms, holding it out for him to see. “I can see and hear and smell like the strongest Traduzir. I have extreme speed and the ability to read not only emotions and motives in a person’s
spiritus
but also their immediate future action. All of the Oceanid talents run through me and can be amplified and unified and shared through me.” Tears stung my throat. “And of all the people here, I didn’t think I’d have to convince
you
to believe in me.”

“Oh Alex, no…” He moved to try and hug me but I moved away from him angrily. “Alexandra, I
do
believe in you, I always have. You are amazing Alex, I’ve always known that and it’s not something I question at all, my darling, I just…”

“Just what, Dad?”

“I just don’t want you in the middle of all of this. I…I’m not strong enough to watch you be the focus of so much evil. From the moment you were born and filled the room with your lusty little cries, I’ve been trying to protect you from this and now…now you’re the central player in it.”

“You could have stopped that you know. If you’d just told me who I was, I wouldn’t have been so helpless when I first met them on the camping trip. I might have been able to lead them in peace and Neith would never have had the tactical advantage he does now.”

He winced. “I made a mistake, Alex. I didn’t trust you enough to tell you that your old man was half mermaid without you completely freaking out. I didn’t think you were strong enough to handle it. I was wrong on both counts.”

“So what…you just want me to sit this one out? Stand on the sidelines while everyone else fights for my cause? For my love? For my species?”

“Could I take your place? Please Alex, let me bear the brunt of Neith’s hatred, not you.”

I stared at my Dad in shock as his eyes filled with tears, as a plan began to form.

“OK,” I replied. His face registered first surprise and then delight. “On one condition.” I held up my hand as he moved to hug me again.

“What?” He was immediately alert.

“When the time comes, I will ‘defect’ to Neith’s side and lead an attack from the inside.”

Dad went white.

“Absolutely not! How is that taking your place?”

“Dad, just think about it for a moment. If Neith believes I’m on his side, he will reveal his plan to me, he will put me in charge of groups of Oceanids, he will show me where the children are and release Merrick. I’ll have the best advantage
and
be out of danger…for the most part.”

“That is a huge
if
, Alex. What if he finds out what you’re planning to do?”

“How would he?”

“He probably has spies within The Haven. Think about it, how would he know that the children were in the traps unless he had someone here…maybe not in The Haven, but close. We can’t rule that out.”

“OK, so we don’t tell anyone here. I’ll train with everyone, teach them to access my talents, be a complete part of this army and then go ahead of them and wait for you to lead them there.”

Dad shook his head again. “Alex, it’s too dangerous.”

“The safest place for me to be, at the beginning of the attack at least, is right beside Neith.”

“And the most dangerous place for you to be when the attack begins is right beside Neith.”

“Well then, you best make sure you get to me on time.” I threw him a tentative grin.

He didn’t smile back at me, his face creased in worry.

“How else are we going to win this thing, Dad? We need to have someone on the inside, someone we can trust. We can’t afford to lose, because if we do, Merrick, Mom, everyone will die.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “ I know, Alex, but how do I substitute your life for theirs?”

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

He sighed. “The
only
way this might work, and I’m not saying it will or that I think it’s a good idea is if we use your plan, but it’s me on the inside.”

I was immediately horrified at the idea because as much as I was angry with Dad, I didn’t want him to die, and I knew, even if I’d told
him
it would all be OK, that there was a good chance it wouldn’t be. The consequences didn’t bear thinking about.

“I have some experience with betrayal of this nature, it’s why I had to leave the ocean.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I led a pod of Gurrer who took on the responsibility The Haven now holds. We implemented peace and innocence in each pod and looked for Oceanid traitors, those who betrayed our kind to humans. On one mission we came across a pod that had been annihilated, completely wiped out, all except for one old Oceanid. It was confusing because there were no resources humans would be interested in there. I sent the rest of my group ahead, staying the night to search for clues, and talking to the Oceanid who had survived a brutal beating. He described a group of Oceanids as the vigilantes. They had come to the pod demanding a type of tax for their work as the peace keepers. We were the only peace-keeping group in the ocean so it had to be some of my pod that had done it. I spent a few weeks trying to work out who it could be, confiding only in my second in command about my worries. She was completely committed to finding the traitors in our midst and eventually pinpointed three of them, the biggest and most aggressive of them, as the perpetrators.She set up a ‘trial’ for them in a deep cavern, far away from the surface and completely isolated in the wastes of the blue. When I went to sit as judge, all four of them attacked me and beat me until they thought I was dead. It was Nasrin, my second in command, the woman I was engaged to marry, who set me adrift on the current so that all would know that their hero had fallen.”