Unchanged (21 page)

~

What we needed was a solid plan. We didn't have one, not even after hours of trying to formulate one. The best idea we came up with was to overpower Merko, tie him down, and force him to eat food from our kitchen.

"Pretty lame," Brandt observed.

"Well, it's all we've got," I reminded him testily. It was early, so early the sun hadn't risen and half the town was probably still sleeping. "Did you call Austin?"

"Yeah. He'll be waiting."

"Good." I paused a moment to breathe evenly, to steady my pulse. I was doing this, no doubt. I just needed to focus on the fact that I was about to attempt to kill a supernatural being who'd tormented me in past lives. "Why now?" I asked suddenly. "Why did I remember these lives, but Eve didn't remember Olivia's?"

"Because it's your third life," Brandt said, though it was obvious he'd thrown the response out as a guess.

"What does that mean?"

"Three is like, a magical number or something," he answered with a shrug. "And once I heard somewhere that a triangle is the strongest shape. But sometimes other numbers are important too, like five or nine. So I don't know."

"I read something recently about three consecutive lives. Where did
you
hear this stuff?"

"The Discovery Channel, I think. Or maybe the History Channel. I can't believe I remembered it."

"So you're not just a future frat boy after all."

He just grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, though his face grew solemn quickly. "Maybe this life is the last point of your triangle. Your last chance. And you remembering is nature's way of helping you."

"Oh, that's great." I laughed a little, hoping he was completely, utterly wrong. If this was my last life and Merko killed me a third time, I would never see Ahaziel again.

"Anyway, how are we going to find this sea demon?"

"We're not," I said, zipping up my backpack. "He's going to find us. Me, actually."

We stepped out of the house and I waited as Brandt locked the door. The brisk wind buffeted about me, shaking the neighborhood trees and churning the clouds. The weather seemed portentous somehow.

I was beyond scared.

The sun still hadn't risen when we picked up Austin and drove to the edge of the woods. I'd chosen the entrance to the hiking trail near the area where I'd first seen Ahaziel. It was as good a place as any for Merko to sneak up on me, plus the car wouldn't look out of place, even in an empty parking lot. With any luck, Merko wouldn't even realize I had driven here with others. I hoped he'd think I was alone, searching for Ahaziel, perhaps.

"Fifteen minutes," I reminded the guys. "I don't want him to see you too soon."

Brandt nodded warily. Austin just looked confused. We hadn't told him what we were doing, exactly.

"Be careful," Brandt implored as I got out of the car.

Backpack hitched up on my shoulders, I set off into the trees, ducking to avoid branches, my footsteps on the frozen ground clearly audible. My knees trembled uncontrollably. I was prepared, more or less, to face the thing of my nightmares. To face death, dying.

Because there was always the chance I wouldn't see the dawn.

"Ahaziel?" I called, my voice sounding small against the distant whistle of wind.

Someone laughed. Chuckled, actually, as if at some private joke.

I scanned the trees in front of me, not able to pinpoint the direction of the sound. I glanced over my shoulder but saw nothing there either. Had I imagined the chuckle? Maybe the wind had carried the sound from somewhere else, somewhere I couldn't see. Maybe it hadn't even been a chuckle. My mind, frayed with fear, had been playing tricks on me.

"Hello, Lilly."

I whirled and found myself facing Merko. If I'd ever doubted it, I knew instantly I was right to be afraid. Looking into his liquid black eyes, I saw clearly he would stop at nothing to kill me.

"Get away from me," I said in the most threatening voice I could manage. Had it been fifteen minutes? Or five? I hoped I didn't have to stall too long until Brandt and Austin got here. It seemed Merko had always killed me quickly, hardly bothering to toy with me first.

"I have so much fun with you," he said in protest, grinning. His teeth were sharp and slightly black. Glistening droplets trickled off the ends of his curly hair, as if he'd just come from a swim.

"What are you?" I asked, as if I didn't know. I hoped he didn't realize how much I had remembered. I'd always had a natural dislike of him, even as Olivia, and maybe he wouldn't recognize how it had transformed into hatred and horror.

Merko only chuckled, more gleefully manic this time. I glanced around nervously. Where were Brandt and Austin? We needed to get this done fast. The longer it took, the longer it would be until I could find Ahaziel and help him, whatever trouble he was in. If he was well and able, he would have been here.

I hoped I wouldn't be too late for him.

"Where's Ahaziel?" I demanded, just in case Merko had something to do with his absence. Which was entirely plausible.

"He won't be coming for you, if that's what you're wondering. Not this time."

"What have you done?" I shrieked, backing away from him. A thick, sinking feeling seemed to bog me down, choking me, sucking at my feet so I couldn't move.

"It's nothing I've done," he said, looking too pleased. "It's what he's done. Or rather, hasn't done. Has he ever told you what he has to do to stay alive?"

A needling, gasping fear overtook me. I shook my head and kept shaking it, muttering "No, no" under my breath. The word got louder and louder until I was shouting it, screaming it in Merko's face without knowing exactly what I was protesting, only that I didn't like him or his words or the fact that Ahaziel might be dying and I wasn't there to stop it.

Merko's sharp-toothed countenance loomed horrifyingly in front of me until suddenly it didn't.

I blinked away the black spots that had crowded into my vision. Merko was on the ground, pinned by Austin and my brother.

"Lilly! The rope!" Brandt cried.

The rope. I scrambled to get the backpack off and my fingers were clumsy on the zipper, but somehow I managed to get the rope out and toss it to Brandt. Merko was struggling for all he was worth but Austin was strong and knocked him out with one punch. Brandt concentrated on looping a knot around his wrists, complaining about slippery skin, but in the end he managed it. Once he'd done the hands he took care of the feet, and then the boys were carrying him to the car. Merko swayed between them.

"I'll drive," I volunteered, only because it was more preferable than sitting in the back beside my killer. "You two sit in the back with him and whatever you do
don't let him get away
." I drove out of the lot onto the road that would take me to Austin's house. "Are your parents back yet? Are they awake?" I asked, noticing the subtle lightening in the air despite the storm clouds.

"They're back. But I think we can probably get him down to the basement without them noticing. Can someone tell me what's going on now?"

"This guy's been hurting Lilly," Brandt answered before I could come up with a response.

"Why aren't we going to the police?"

"It's more complicated than that," I said.

At last we reached Austin's house. As the boys hefted Merko out of the backseat, I ran ahead with Austin's keys to unlock a side door on the same side of the house as the basement. I watched them carry him across a corner of lawn and up the path, hoping Austin's parents were either still sleeping or else somewhere on the opposite side of the house, far enough away so they couldn't hear us. They were notoriously uninvolved but I was on edge.

This is before
, I thought, shivering as we descended into the basement without incident.
Before I turn Merko human. Before I kill him and become a murderer. Before I can carry on with my normal life and be together with Ahaziel.

But that was only if the plan worked. And if Ahaziel was still all right, which I hoped feverishly he would be.

After shutting the door to the rest of the house and locking it, I sat on one of the couches, chewing on a nail as I watched Austin and Brandt tie a still-unconscious Merko to a hard-backed chair. I couldn't help but feel we were all in some kind of gangster movie. I wondered if there would be blood like in a movie. Then I realized if we were successful, of course there would be. I wasn't sure if Merko bled now but humans definitely did. Could I actually bring myself to spill his blood? I tried to picture myself slitting his throat or plunging a knife into his chest, but the images were comical. Maybe we could strangle him instead. But what would we do with the body once he was dead?

There seemed to be several details I had failed to consider.

"What if this doesn't work?" I asked Brandt worriedly.

"I guess you'll have to figure out how to kill him another way."

"Kill him?" Austin cried. "What is this?"

They stepped away from Merko, having finished securing the ropes. "If he's really a water spirit like you said," Brandt mused, ignoring his friend, "he may have a weakness to electricity."

I stared at him, waiting for an explanation that never came. "What, are we going to throw a toaster at him or something?"

"No. I doubt that would work. I was thinking more along the lines of lightning."

"Brandt, unless we're going to conduct some Benjamin Franklin style experiments, I don't see how we're going to make sure Merko gets struck by lightning."

He shrugged. "Maybe we could convince him to stick a fork in a light socket."

"What about fire?" I suggested. "Water and fire are opposites, right?"

"Are you guys planning to burn someone to death?" Austin demanded. "Because if I'd known that I would never—"

"Quiet!" I shouted.

Merko was awake and watching us. For how long I had no idea. I felt myself go still. Brandt and Austin were both clearly uneasy now in a way they hadn't been in the forest. Merko, with his thin pointy smile and blurry visage, was creepy enough to unsettle anyone.

I reached for the backpack on the coffee table in front of me and pulled out a package of fruit snacks.

"That was the best you could do?" Brandt asked, a tremor of nervousness in his voice. Maybe he was finally starting to wonder if I'd gone crazy.

I didn't take the time to answer my brother or even look at him. I just held the stupid little plastic package up, trying not to let my hand shake, until Merko grew curious enough to ask what it was.

"Fruit snacks," I told him. "Only they have nothing to do with real fruit, let alone anything that came out of the ocean. Pretty much every ingredient in these is some unpronounceable synthetic. A completely human food."

"Do you plan to snack while you attempt to kill me?" he wondered sneeringly. "Or give me a lesson in nutrition?"

I smiled as coldly as I could, though my heart was throbbing madly. "No. I'm going to feed these to you."

Was that a flicker of something—fear, or uncertainty maybe—in his glittering eyes? I couldn't be sure. He laughed derisively, making me doubt my plan all over again.

"You won't be so confident when this is done," I promised. "Guys, hold his mouth open please."

Brandt and Austin did so, Brandt holding the head back and Austin gripping the lower jaw, his fingers well away from those disconcerting teeth. Ripping the package open, I grabbed two or three of the fruit snacks and dropped them in Merko's mouth. Austin clamped the jaw shut, forcing Merko either to chew or swallow.

"Is he human?" Brandt wondered.

"Human?" Austin echoed, puzzled.

"I don't know," I said. "He swallowed."

I turned and withdrew from the backpack the steak knife Brandt and I had taken from our kitchen earlier. I pointed it at Merko, watching his expression carefully.

"Whoa, Lilly, what are you doing?" Austin said.

I stepped closer to Merko. There was no clue to be had from his eyes or the angle of his mouth. I touched the point of the knife to his throat, holding his black gaze.

He killed you
, I reminded myself.
Twice now, heartlessly and brutally. Here's your chance to repay him.

"Wait," Merko said, his face cracking at last into vulnerability. "Wait. Lilly, please."

His plea took me by surprise and I lowered the knife a fraction, then all the way so it was straight along my side. It was strange to see him looking so desperate and afraid. I had become used to him as a freakish, otherworldly villain and I wasn't prepared to see him acting so . . .
human.

And then I knew we had done it. We had made him human.

I couldn't kill another human, not even knowing he'd once been an evil sea creature with murderous tendencies. He posed no threat now, tied to a chair. He was as fragile and vulnerable as me, as any of my friends. Still, I couldn't let him go. I wondered if we might reach some sort of understanding, a truce maybe.

"Merko—," I began with a sigh.

Suddenly his face twisted into something terrifying, a snarling, sneering expression that wasn't even close to human. I dropped the knife as I jumped back, gasping with horror. He lunged forward, having somehow managed to slip free of his bonds. Brandt and Austin were shouting but I couldn't understand them. I smelled saltwater, the scent so strong it nearly gagged me. The slick, pallid shape of Merko's blurred, distorted face filled my vision, and it was the last thing I saw before suffocating blackness overtook me.