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VICTOR
Day 80
I stand next to Karl on the south bay, our feet are bare, and my toes are cold as the ocean laps at them.
"Are you ready, brother?" I ask, resting my hand on his bulky shoulder. Staring out to sea, he doesn't blink as the sun rises higher over the horizon.
"As much as I'll ever be." His words sound sure, but the slight shake of his hands tells me he’s nervous. I pat him once and turn to Garrot.
"Let's begin." I say and help him pick Leyland off the sand.
"This won't work, you know." He attempts to struggle, but we have a firm grip on him, his hands are shackled to his feet. We need them free, but we have bound his back so his wings cannot come free.
"Shut up, Leyland." Garrot grumbles as we position him next to an unmoving Karl. This morning, before Leyland arose, Garrot confessed they had slept together. That his hope the show of love would bring Leyland back from the darkness, didn't work. How his guilt ate at him for it.
"Everly is lost. In Atlantis. They could be torturing her, and here I am, making love to the man I love, but who also isn't." Tears brimmed his eyes as Karl took him in an embrace.
"We understand, Gar. Everly will, too." Karl soothed. It didn't help much. Garrot is still in a sombre mood. The wind picks up, spraying a fine mist into our faces. The ocean, she calls out to me. I slip father in, up to my knees.
"Vic?" Garrot calls after me, but I barely hear him. Memories of Everly marking me flood my mind. A wave of sadness crashes over me. Her striking red locks floating in the crystal ocean. Her alabaster skin turning pink as she gave and received love. My heart squeezes. I... miss her.
"Victor!" Karl barks, his tone snapping me out of my mind.
"Sorry, I," I shake my head and join them in a line.
"Ok lads, it's time." Karl takes Garrot's hand, who takes Leyland's. I reach out and grab his. We form a line on the shoreline. Our hands joined and our hearts screaming out for our woman. I don't know if this is possible, but it's worth a try.
Karl
Day 80
The waves lap at my feet as I stretch my hand out towards the line where the sea meets the ocean. I close my eyes and tug on my inner light. It comes willingly, almost as excited to do this as I am. I feel brown light pouring from my skin as the sand below our feet rumbles. Concentrating, I think of Everly. Of everything she means to me. To us. To the world. Of the tiny, innocent child inside her. I pour everything I feel into my power and watch as it swells inside of me.
Everly.
Please, mother, let this work.
Leyland
Day 80
The ocean twists and turns, its waves become angry and wild. Karl is deathly pale when I look around Garrot to watch the light pour from him and disappear into the waves.
"Let me go, Garrot. I don't want her back. She is nothing to me."
"Le, I swear if you don't shut the fuck up, I will gag you. Your shitty little mouth isn't needed." He warns not taking his eyes off the sea.
"That's not how it was last night." I tease. Maybe if I piss him off enough, he'll let me go.
"Last night was a mistake, Leyland. I thought I could bring you back, make you whole again." Tears roll down his face. His hand squeezes mine.
"I remember not too long ago, after a fae stole and tortured me, Everly cried. She cried for the man I was. The one I lost and never really found again." I speak as the memories flood my mind. She cried because she loved the man I was. Would she cry for the man I am now if I perished?
"She exploded the fae." He replies laughter in his voice. I look to him; the tears have dried on his cheeks. "She brought you back then, she can do it again. This time, we are never letting you go again." His green eyes flick to mine briefly before returning to the ocean.
Everly brought me back once. I can't let her do it twice.
Everly
Day 13 in Atlantis
"Shit!" The ground shakes so hard I almost topple over and land on my arse.
"What's happening?" Darcy yells, panic sending her to her knees, scrambling for something to hold onto.
"It is but an earth tremor. Fear not, today is the day. Everly, you will take your crown and then," he stumbles towards me, his eyes wide with madness, "I will rid this world of its many flaws."
I panic and throw my hands out, silver light bursts from my palms and sends Poseidon flying. He hits the fireplace with a shower of dust as his body explodes the bricks. Selkie rush me. Their claws dragging across my skin leaving my tunic in tatters. Darcy jumps on one of their backs, screaming incoherently as she hits her fist into its skull over and over.
Luckily, there are only three in the room, the others stood outside. Gordon blocks the doorway.
"Don't let them in!" I yell as I make my way to Poseidon. He pushes off the floor and throws a hand up.
"You thought that would kill me?" Spittle flies from his mouth as an invisible force wraps around my throat and lifts me off the floor. "Pathetic attempt, child. You are weak! Your mother blessed you with power beyond comprehension and you waste your time among humans, mating with the dregs of Other kind." He stalks closer. I raise my hand and try to push him back, force him to let me go, anything. I can't breathe past the fingers of nothing squeezing my airway. It doesn't work.
"Father," Gordon calls out, the Selkie in front of him all have weapons raised and pointing at him. Poseidon turns, the grip on me loosens enough for me to drag in a small breath. My head spins. "You cannot kill her yet. You need her to take the crown, do you not?" His voice is calm. Eerily calm considering the tip of a trident is mere centimetres from his eye.
"That doesn't mean I can't torture her some." Poseidon spits back, his face bright red with anger.
"The people would revolt, father, if you harm her and she has visible marks."
Darcy falls from the Selkie's back and picks up a vase. She raises it above her head and smashes it down over its head. The Selkie falls to the floor and doesn't move.
"Kill her, Gordon," Poseidon points a gnarled finger at Darcy. "Or I will." His tone is lethal.
"No," I gurgle, drawing the attention back to me. My feet hit the floor as the pressure threatening to burst veins lets me go. "No. Spare her and I'll take the crown." I beg between gasping breaths.
"Such a human notion, loyalty." He spits the word out like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, "Disgusting. Fine," he waves a finger in the air and the Selkie in front of Gordon backs away, Darcy cries out as she’s lifted into the air. "Have it your way. But make no mistake, daughter, I will kill them, slowly, if you try anything." He lets her drop to the floor. "Come, Gordon, we must prepare." The floor beneath us shakes again, only this time, I fall over. I land next to Darcy; she grabs my hands as dust rains down on us from above.
"Gordon," I wrap my arm around Darcy, the other around my belly, the baby kicks. "He will kill us all. Not just every being on land, but you, me," I look down at the pink woman shaking beside me, "Darcy. He won't stop until we’re all dead and he has every ounce of power." He blinks, long and slow, then spins on his heel and leaves. Just before the door swishes closed, the sound of something hitting the floor catches my attention. He dropped something. The door closes and the room falls into silence once more.
Gordon
My mind desperately tries to come up with reasons as to why my father should not kill Everly and Darcy. I believe somehow, my mother’s spirit resides in Darcy, I do not know how or why, but it doesn’t mean I’ll allow my father to kill her. His need for vengeance against my mother is not on my behalf. It’s not to avenge the fact she abandoned me, left me to be eaten by sea creatures. No. his need to punish her has nothing to do with me. I might hate my mother for what she did to me, but I do not hate Darcy. Nor my sister.