Underwater (27 page)

Grabbing the handle, I stopped and looked back at him. “The water. Will it still fire?”

Nathaniel smiled.
I grew up in Bayview, just on the border of the state park. By the time I was altered by Perla, I’d been hunting with my father for ten years. It will fire.

I looked beyond the tree line at the night sky. Somewhere across this lake Saxon was being held captive and facing death. A shudder rolled through my body, despite being warm.

“Let’s go.” I looked toward the Cape.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Getting to Cape Horn via Mer was infinitely quicker than driving there on the curvy backwoods roads.

We hid in a small alcove made of fallen rocks along the northern side of the Cape, where a handful of other Mer waited. I counted ten, but that was only the few who broke the surface of the water as Hayden, Evey, and I approached. There was double that, if you included the ones who lurked just below the water. There were males and females, some with younglings, who clung to their shoulders. Their wide, scared eyes tugged at my heart as we pulled ourselves up on the rocks to catch our breath and tried to dry out the gun.

A few of the Mer gazed warily at the metal rifle gleaming in the moonlight. I was willing to bet that many of them had been chased out of the woods and off of the beaches with guns. Some had spears made of long sticks and sharpened rocks they shifted between hands anxiously while they watched the three of us get settled on the rocks.

Have they begun the sacrifice, Paddox?
Nathaniel circled the crowd.

A merman with a shock of copper-colored hair shook his head.
No. They’re waiting for the Mere Monstrom to make its appearance. After that, they’ll begin.

Nathaniel stopped his circle right in front of us.
Does anybody know that the rest of you are missing? Were you followed?

No.
Paddox shook his head.
We went to the front of the Cape and then retreated. It’s my guess they didn’t even notice us leaving.

Nathaniel whirled his sturdy tail in a loop, raising the upper half of his body high enough out of the water that he could face each and every one of us.
This is Evey and Hayden. They are Saxon’s friends. They mean us no harm.
He gestured to me.
And this is Luna…Saxon’s mate.

Mouths dropped open, and my head suddenly filled with the murmurs amongst the Mer. I heard doubts, accolades, and downright disbelief as they gaped at me, searching my soaked prom dress and waterlogged makeup for some visible proof of
why
he was willing to face death for me.

A face toward the back of the crowd caught my eye, and the moment it came into focus, my blood chilled to arctic temperatures.

Isolde.

Instinctively, I scooted backward on the rocks. “Guys…”

Perla followed my line of sight to where Isolde sank back under the water.
Luna, Isolde wants to help us. She’s guilt ridden for the trouble she caused. Isolde, come forward.

Isolde dove deep down into the blackness, then reappeared before me. Ian’s face turned from determined to repulsed, and he shifted toward the back of the crowd, away from her. Nope. Still no hope for
that
union.

Explain to Luna what you’ve explained to me.
Nathaniel’s deep voice was authoritative. It made all of the Mer focus their attention on him. Why wasn’t he the one leading the clan?

Isolde lifted her chin, and our eyes met.
I used to mistreat humans. I scared them on purpose and put their lives in danger for fun. Tipping boats, pulling swimmers down until they were nearly out of air, then letting them go at the last possible minute. I treated them like toys that I abused. I had little regard for human life, even though my own mother was once human.

I swallowed the arsenal of insults I’d been saving just for her.

When Saxon told me he loved a human, I went crazy with jealousy.
Isolde closed her eyes.
I love him. I have since we were younglings. I always knew that altering a human is our responsibility to the clan, but figured that once it was done, once I’d taken a mate and established the connection, my feelings for Saxon would go away. But I was wrong. Ian won’t have anything to do with me, and Saxon wouldn’t speak to me because of the way I treated his precious humans. And then I did the worst thing I could have ever done. I let them sentence Saxon to death to save myself.

Finish up, Isolde.
Nathaniel growled.
We have things to do tonight.

Isolde brought her-red rimmed eyes up to meet mine. I would have sworn that she was crying…you know, had she not been submerged in water.
I’m so sorry…I didn’t really believe Saxon could possibly love you. But he does, and he loves the humans. He’s willing to die for what he believes in, and I want to save him. Even if it means my life for his. It’s the least I can do.

Nathaniel glowered.
Yes, it certainly is.

This is it.
Perla turned toward the crowd.
The moment we’ve been planning for. We will go save my son, and start the revolution.

Nathaniel slowly sank back below the water, his eyes locked on the clan members.
It is time to stop being ruled and controlled by fear. It is time to coexist with the humans and protect our species with peace, rather than violence. It is time to take back our clan.

Fists punched out of the water, one by one—accompanied by war cries—until the fists of every man, woman, and child were out of the water. So many Mer rose against the Council’s barbaric ways, ready for a new way to live. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes.

Nathaniel turned to Hayden.
I’ll go with you into the woods. We’ll approach from the back. If you’re not comfortable using the gun, I am. There should not be unnecessary bloodshed. Perla, Isolde, and Luna, you’ll go to the front of the Cape and plead your case. We’ll give the Council one last chance to make the right choice. If they don’t we’ll attack.

He moved his head slowly, scanning the small crowd.
Divide yourselves. One half of the group will follow us up through the woods. The other will approach from the water. Do not use force until you must. Put your younglings deep below the rocks. Tell them to stay put until they’re told to move. Evey will stay here and protect them.
He took a spear from one of the mermen and handed it out of the water to Evey.
If any Mer tries to harm a youngling, use this spear. Scream and Perla will come help you. Do you understand?

She took the spear out of his hand, gulped, and nodded. My heart pounded as I watched my sister sit there in her soaked prom dress, her blonde hair hanging down her shoulders in wet clumps. My poor kid sister…sucked into the kind of drama that usually only existed in the movies. I wished I could take her home and curl up under a blanket with her.

A Mer I’d not yet seen approached from around the edge of the Cape. When he spoke, his voice was breathless and had an edge of hysteria.
It’s coming! It’s coming!

Panic roiled through the crowd, hushed, panicked voices filling every corner of my head. The younglings started to cry, and I closed my eyes to block out the sound.

The cry of the Mere Monstrom was like feedback from a thousand oversized speakers and the cry of a million beached whales. It rang in my ears and crawled up into my skull like a spiked bug, puncturing my brain. The water started to vibrate, sending it up into tiny white peaks all across the surface, and the Mer in my line of sight curled up under the surface, clutching their heads. Slapping my hands over my ears, I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed it would be over quickly.

In a flash, it ended. And for a second, maybe two, there was nothing but deafening silence. My first thought was how I’d managed to go eighteen years without ever hearing such a catastrophic noise before…and then it happened again.

Rocks fell from the cave above our heads, and many of the Mer cried out in agony. Trickles of blood started to dribble from the nostrils of some of the younglings, and a sharp pain shot through my ears to the backs of my eyes. The sound shook my bones and rattled my teeth inside of my mouth. It felt like being electrocuted and shook to death from the inside out.

Finally, it stopped.

The alcove exploded into a flurry of activity. Angered choruses of
go, go, go,
rang out as the group split into two. Mer emerged from the water, their tails thrashing apart and splitting into two legs amongst groans and shudders. Their skin rippled in the moonlight, rings of movement traveling up their bodies as they settled into their new form before each Mer scrambled onto his feet to follow Nathaniel and Hayden into the blackened forest.

Evey placed herself waist deep in the water between the younglings and the rest of the lake. Her mouth was set in a determined line. “Go.” She waved me away with Perla. “Go save him.”

My stomach seized. I didn’t want to leave my sister in this cave. What if something happened to her? Panic rushed through me, and I started to breath hard. Evey’s eyes locked on mine, and she nodded firmly. There was no more fear on her face. Only strength.

I returned the nod, then flopped back into the water, gasping as the cold water saturated my clothes again. Perla’s hand grasped mine, and the bitter chill went away, though my teeth continued chattering.

Watching the Mer arch up out of the water, then crest back down wavelessly was incredible. I allowed Perla to hold my body as she swam, lifting me above the surface every few yards to suck in a new pull of fresh air. She positioned us on the outermost edge of the group, behind a clump of mermaids who’d peeked above the surface to watch the sacrifice
.

Perla squeezed my shoulder with her hands.
Keep as much of your body in the water as possible. If they see your clothing, they’ll know a human is amongst us.

Ian swam past me, squeezing my hand.
We can do this, Luna. Be strong.

I nodded at him, my eyes filling. There was something so comforting about having Ian in the water with me. “Thank you.”

The water around Cape Horn filled with a flurry of activity as at least a hundred Mer of every shape and size had gathered to watch the sacrifice. They clung to each other, their faces contorted with fear, and just like in our hiding spot, younglings cried as their mothers hushed them. Mermen treaded water in front of their families with their spears drawn, and not a soul dared to speak for fear of drawing attention to themselves.

As if that would help him at all…

The water just below the rocks at Cape Horn was domed, and the earth beneath the lake itself shook. The trees at the top of the cliff swayed back and forth as though they were made of paper, and the water around me turned to whitecaps as several boulders roughly the size of mountain bikes cracked off and fell into the water. Choking on a mouthful of lake as it slapped me in the face, I spotted Darrow and Bascom—as well as several Mer I suspected were other members of the Council I’d not seen yet—standing atop the Cape.

Saxon was bound, with Bascom’s giant hand clamped around his neck. His face was pointed at the ground, and while the light from the full moon above us didn’t reach his face, he appeared heartbreakingly calm. He looked as though he’d succumbed to what was happening, and all of the fight had been drained from his body. With a wave of his hand, Darrow gestured for Saxon to be brought forward. Bascom used the hand around Saxon’s throat to shove him forward, then pulled his foot back to kick him in the middle of his back as hard as he could. Saxon fell to one knee, then struggled to get back to his feet without his arms. If he cried out, I was too far away to hear it. Behind me, Perla choked back a sob.

Ten feet away from me, lost in the crowd, Ian surfaced just long enough to nod at me.

I bit into my lip so hard I tasted blood. I couldn’t lose it now.
It’s time.
Perla’s voice was so quiet that I almost assumed it was my own thought.

“Stop!” I screamed. Perla lifted me far enough out of the water that the top of my dress was visible.

Mer heads turned all around me. Some gasped and moved away as though I were covered in infectious boils. Others gaped at me with unabashed curiosity. In one swift movement, several Mer surrounded me, making a protective border between the rest of the clan and me. Together we moved forward, coming closer to the rise in the water at the base of the cliff. As we moved, the Mere Monstrom came into my view, turning my stomach and sending my heart leaping into my throat.

The moonlight did little to illuminate what appeared to be its back. It was a massive dome in the water rivaling a 747 in size. There were gills, though. That much was clear by the grating breaths it took in and out, sucking with it debris like driftwood and large chunks of seaweed. Spikes lined its back, each one splitting into two needlelike barbs at the top. Sharp clusters of coral grew in thick patches across its flesh like an impenetrable armor.

A stench wafted off of its exposed scales, and it turned my stomach inside out. It was like a dumpster filled with garbage and spoiled fish…but a hundred times worse. Death, rotting flesh, mud, murk. The Mer closest to it shook as they watched it, their spears pointed at the massive beast, waiting for it to strike at any minute. Fear shook my insides, rattling me in Perla’s arms. If this was just the Mere Monstrom’s back, I never wanted to see the whole thing. Not ever.

Darrow stepped forward and looked over the edge of the ten-foot drop down to the lake.
Did I hear one of the clan protest?

This was it…
my
time to be strong. “No!” I yelled up at him. “You heard me!”

When Darrow peered down at me, he twisted his scarred face into a grimace—I prayed their special abilities didn’t include death-by-hard-stare.
You? You certainly didn’t learn your lesson when you ran, did you?
He stood up straight and clenched his baseball glove-sized fists at the other Council members.
We should have killed her when we had the chance. Get down there and seize her. Now!

Two of the other Council members dove into the water, but Paddox, Ian, and three other Mer tackled them. The sound of splashing filled the air as the Council members were wrestled into submission, and the spiked ends of several spears were pressed against their throats.
One more move toward the girl, and we’ll kill them, do you understand me, Darrow?
Paddox snarled.
We don’t want anyone to get hurt. We just want you to release the boy and for the Council to step down as leaders of this clan.

“Luna?” Saxon’s voice rang out. He spotted me through his puffed and blackened eyes. “Are you hurt? You…you shouldn’t have come.”