| |
Ellery had known the story of the men in the tavern was a lie—he had felt it—but just who this man’s father might be and what he could gain by going out after the Mer, he could not understand. It was as though a man were sending his son out to die.
“He did not want you to return,” Ellery said, more to himself and yet his voice carried. Manning continued to grin.
“It is not the Mer that I was after. Although that appears to be a bonus, a beautiful wife of my own.”
“What were you after?” Nara asked, shivering at Ellery’s side, but she stood tall, her sword ablaze. He wanted to hold her close, even if it meant allowing the Mer to take them or anyone else.
“He sent you?” Marina asked, slowly climbing to her feet. Was this the guest she had been waiting for? An arrogant young man who had one of his companions killed and the other one nearly.
“I am capable,” Manning snapped, although he sounded like a petulant child. “More so than you, it appears. You could not even contain one woman.”
The Mer hovering behind Manning hissed something, her focus moving to Nara, and despite knowing she could look after herself, Ellery pulled her behind him. Between the sound of the rain and the deepening pool at his feet, he could not and might not hear other Mer emerging.
“We need to get out of the water,” he said to Nara, but she did not respond. He looked down as she was looking behind them. Ellery turned then, taking in the ripples and movement through the water.
He might long to be anywhere else but here, but this was their purpose. This was the life they led, if not by choice but necessity.
“She must be protected,” Marina hissed. But the one behind Manning was looking at something else, at the man who had arrived with Nara, the one who was sure she was the reason Marina was hurt.
None of them were safe, no matter who had been sent by whom or what they were truly after. Beyond them, at the door of the house, stood two women in white. Their wet, long, dark hair hung over their faces and the child between them.
“The house is a link to the sea.” Nara’s voice was nearly lost as the rain increased, the sound overwhelming as it fell on every surface, including him.
“How do we break that link?”
“I don’t understand how it works. I went into a house, but I do not know which one, and I was in another world, one beneath the ocean.”
Ellery looked back at her as he ran his hand across her cheek. There was something sad behind her golden eyes, and no matter what he hoped for them, he had already guessed this life ended here. And without answers.
“No!” Marina screamed, and they both turned back towards her as another Mer had emerged from the water behind her—or had emerged from the house. He did not know which, and it did not matter. They could come from anywhere wet.
The Mer behind Manning had moved as well, pushing him a little to the side. Manning flinched, grabbing at his arm, and his sword slipped from his fingers into the water at his feet.
Their movement was far more fluid and almost beautiful. Far more dangerous than anyone realised, they appeared to swim across the surface towards Marina and the man standing before her. He was still trying to protect her from Manning, who was not interested in her at all.
Not now that the blood ran down his arm and into the water, creating more ripples of its own. Ellery knew Manning should get out of the water. He was not going to survive whatever quest his father had sent him on. Ellery wanted to know more, but he knew it was too late to learn any more. Especially from this man, as the water darkened around him.
Nara shot lightning into the water at Manning’s feet. She must have been watching too, and Ellery was tempted to put his hand to her arm and stop her. This man was not worth her time, although the Mer were. He had to refocus on why they were there. They were there to stop the Mer, not these people, not these men who were outside of their reason for being. No matter what they thought they had in way of a connection with Nara and Ellery, it no longer mattered.
“Eldon!” Nara cried, aiming her lightning at his feet.
The Mer had surrounded him. They hissed and moved away from him, then closed back in. Marina closed her arms around him, pulling him back from their reach, although Ellery wondered if that was truly possible when this whole village was designed for them. They might need the rain to walk amongst the people, but only a little. Marina had to understand that—it was the reason she was there, waiting for them. Or was it?
She hissed, and the others hissed in return, as though they were creatures fighting over food. The two lunged for Eldon, teeth bared, and Marina clumsily swiped at them, not used to her long, clawed fingers. Ellery wondered if she might have done this for him when Eldon stiffened in her arms, and the others growled. In her clumsiness, it appeared she had caught his throat, and as she released his rapidly paling body and the thick red blood ran down his neck, the other two Mer converged on him.
Someone screamed, but it was not Eldon, who no longer had the ability to scream. Ellery wondered if there was enough essence left for the Mer to take. He couldn’t see as they pressed against him, pushing him under the deepening water.
Marina screamed, a high, ear-piercing sound that overwhelmed Ellery and pushed the air from his lungs. Looking down over her clawed hands and her saturated dress, Marina appeared an odd mix of maid and Mer. The sound continued beyond a scream. Nara pushed her hands over her ears, and Ellery realised then the distance between them.
He must have stepped forward as Eldon died, his focus on the Mer taking him down. He had forgotten Manning and the other risks to them in this town. Manning was grimacing at the noise Marina made, but he had managed to get hold of Nara. He edged her further away from Ellery, across the water and towards the gate. Ellery knew he would never make it that far. No matter who his father might be working with, Manning was not safe, and neither was Nara.
Nara’s sword glowed bright blue, and she touched it to the water at her feet, but her eyes were on Ellery as the light pulsed. Manning released her and jumped back instantly. He muttered something that was lost to the sound of the continued rain and Marina’s unending scream. He swung at Nara with the back of his hand, but she dodged it easily, which seemed to rile him further. And for a moment, Ellery was sure the rain had stopped. Although the scream continued, there was an odd silence surrounding it.
Ellery could not take his eyes from Nara, but as Marina finally stopped her noise, he turned slowly to take her in. A wild anger flared across her face, the silvery green tinge to her skin became darker, and he stepped towards her. Other Mer appeared in the water around her, as though they had been there all along. Some looked towards Manning, some towards the house, and Ellery realised that the women who had been standing at the top of the stairs were gone.
He closed his hand more tightly around the handle of his sword—which, although comfortable, was heavy. He took a step forward as the gate swung open with a squeal. The man who had been lying unconscious on Ellery’s bed now stood in the gate, dry despite the heavy rain.
“Manning?” he asked, appearing not to see what was before him, and something hissed. As he stepped inside the gate, a Mer appeared before him, rising from the water. He smiled as he took her outstretched hand.
“She is mine!” Manning screamed across the void. And for a moment, Ellery wondered if they had slipped into whatever it was that allowed the women and perhaps the Mer to move between the two worlds.
“I thought you came for Nara?” Ellery said. Nara raised her eyebrows at him, as though he were perhaps giving her away.
“Millard,” Manning murmured, as though trying to remember something, but his focus was on the Mer at the gate with the other man—the man he had dragged into this.
Anger flared in Ellery. How could these people know who they had been? “Who are you?” he demanded. “What do you want with us?”
Manning smiled, turning his focus from the Mer to Ellery. “I only want her. She is everything my father has longed for, and you stole her.”
Ellery shook his head. Nara had never belonged to anyone but him, never belonged with anyone but him. “You have the wrong girl,” he said.
“You stupid old man,” Manning hissed, sounding far more like the Mer than Ellery expected. “You have no idea how special she is.”
Ellery knew perfectly well how special she was. It was this man who had no idea of who Nara was or what she should be doing.
A cry near the gate drew his attention, and although Ellery did not want to look away from Manning, he glanced towards it and the man standing stock-still almost up to his knees in water. Three Mer stood between him and the rest of the group, but he didn’t appear to see them. He was calling out to Manning, but his focus was still on Nara—that was, until the man at the gate drew his sword.
Manning looked about then, as though he had forgotten why he was there. Was it for Nara who held her sword towards him now? Or the Mer who had enchanted him? He seemed to be looking for her, although how many of the Mer he could truly make out wasn’t clear.
As the first Mer leapt at the man by the gate, Manning tried to run towards them, but the deep water pulled at his legs, and his progress was slow. Nara’s sword glowed blue, but she didn’t use it as the other three closed in on the man and he fell to his knees. Manning continued his slow progress towards them, although whether he was going to kill or protect the Mer, Ellery could not guess.
By the time Manning was near enough that he might have been able to help his colleague, the Mer had disappeared beneath the surface with the man. Ellery wondered what had drawn him from his bed. Although he did not know the man, he was disappointed for him that he had not been able to stay there.
Manning stood in the middle of the courtyard, knee-deep in water, looking around as though he was not sure where everyone had gone. He growled something, then dropped his sword as the water rippled around him. A Mer rose out before him, and Nara shot lightning at her. But as the Mer cried out, Manning pulled her out of the way and took a glancing blow from the blast. He swung around, falling into the waiting arms of the Mer. As he closed his arms around her, she pushed her hand into his chest, and he cried out.
Nara shot another lightning strike towards them. The Mer pulled Manning under the water, and the lightning missed them both. The rain started to fall again, a light misty rain that disrupted the surface of the pond that covered the courtyard. It was too hard to see what might lie beneath, and now there was only Nara and Ellery left standing in the pond.
She turned towards him then, although her focus was on the water. Ellery wondered if he would see what was coming for them. They would never learn of Manning’s history or what his father might have wanted with Nara.
Sharp claws dug into Ellery’s back, taking him by surprise, and the pain brought him to his knees. Nara ran toward him, screaming something that he could not make out. Her sword glowed gloriously blue, and he hoped it would hit him and take away the pain. The hand moved inside his chest, and he cried out again as it closed around his heart.
“Sunshine,” he whispered. And before she could reach him, before he could hold her one last time, the smell of the fire tree overwhelmed his senses. He was finally warm again as the steam rose around him and the glow of the fire hissed in the water still surrounding him. He raised a hand as his fingers glowed and disappeared, becoming the embers that would be carried to the tree.