Mega had come out of nowhere. Kelly had watched in horror as the rhino-shark woman practically shredded Maria and tossed her aside. Then she’d turned on Charlie and was trying to drown her. Charlie had little to fight back with in this setting. Not to mention she was still probably dealing with the platypus venom. It wasn’t a fair fight by any means.
And Mega was out of control. It was like the blood in the water affected her like it would a real shark. And now all Mega wanted to do was kill.
Kelly stayed in camo mode. She crept closer, not wanting Mega to turn on her in her crazed attack. She thought about trying to hypnotize Mega like she’d done in the past for fun, but decided that Mega was too frantic to be caught by her pulsing. She swam closer and saw that Mega’s teeth dug deep into Charlie’s upper arm. She saw Charlie panicking, flailing. Drowning. She saw her head loll forward as she lost consciousness.
Kelly felt her heart hit her throat. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t okay. She pushed forward, staying camouflaged, and swam around Mega, slipping under her as she floated near the bottom. Mega didn’t see her. Kelly made a V with her legs around Mega’s protruding belly. And then she cringed and slammed both heels into the woman and held them there.
Mega’s body recoiled in shock. She released Charlie’s arm, letting the girl float away, and screamed, twisting and turning until full paralysis set in. After what seemed like an eternity, Kelly yanked her spikes out, then swam quickly to Charlie’s limp body. She grabbed the girl around the waist and streamed through the water toward the shore. She raised Charlie’s head above the surface, not knowing what to do to get her to start breathing again—all she could do was hope Charlie’s healing power was up to this kind of challenge.
Seeing people standing in the shallow water, Kelly reached for the bottom, found it, and started running, dragging Charlie with her.
“Kelly!” said Mac. “What did you do to her?” He ran at Kelly, furious, and tried to yank Charlie away.
“It was Mega,” Kelly said, breathing hard. “Hurry—does anyone know how to get her to breathe?” She looked up and saw Charlie’s mom running toward them with her emergency kit. Kelly and Mac climbed the bank and laid Charlie on the ground as residents of the area came to see what was happening.
“Tell me what happened,” said Dr. Wilde in a serious but calm voice. She checked Charlie’s airways and started CPR as Kelly explained everything.
Maria was nearby, back in her normal body and nursing her wounds. She still had the Mark Five on her wrist. Every now and then as Kelly told what happened, Maria nodded.
Dr. Wilde continued CPR on Charlie, pumping her chest until finally Charlie choked and coughed up a bunch of water. She lifted her head and puked on Kelly’s leg, and then she groaned. Her left arm was limp and full of ugly tooth punctures and cuts. Her suit had a puncture hole in the thigh. Dr. Wilde slit Charlie’s sleeve and the bottom half of her pant leg and checked the wounds. She looked at Kelly.
Kelly looked down. She didn’t try to justify it. “That’s from a platypus spike. I hit her somewhere else, too—more like a glancing hit, not a direct stab.”
“My ankle,” said Charlie weakly. “That one doesn’t hurt anymore. The suit helped.” She sat up on one elbow. “Where’s Maria? Is she okay?”
“She’s resting over there under that tree by Dr. Sharma,” said her mom. “She’s healing nicely. Mac got the Mark Five on her and brought her to shore just as I was coming to help.”
Charlie looked at Kelly. “I saw you swimming toward me when . . . when I almost . . . when Mega had me trapped.” Her voice wavered. “What happened? I blacked out.”
“I stayed camouflaged and attacked Mega,” said Kelly quietly. Then I grabbed you. She’s probably still stuck at the bottom of the lake, paralyzed. I stabbed her in two places. She’s going to hurt for a while.”
Charlie’s expression flickered. “Why did you rescue me?”
Kelly pressed her lips together, then spoke carefully. “Because you’re my friend. I meant what I told you guys earlier. I know you have no reason to believe me. I was terrible to you. But I really want to go . . . home. . . .” She started to cry and didn’t try to hold back her tears. “I made a huge mistake. And I’m so sorry.”
Charlie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know if she could believe Kelly, even after this. Kelly was so good at acting, and she was so good at lying. But she’d saved her life. She’d said she wanted to go home when she thought she was talking to Zed.
She winced as her mother cleaned up the puncture wounds on her arm. “Tell us where Dr. Gray is.”
Kelly closed her eyes and let out a breath. “He’s on that island. I’m almost sure of it. Prowl said he’s got a huge container full of formula that he’s been working on in the lab. He’s going to pour it into his mist machine thing and somehow release it into the air. It’s supposed to turn everyone into chimeras.” She looked sorrowful. “I didn’t know he was going to do that—not until we got here. He . . . he told me he was doing good things. That he was working for the government and wanted to help people. And . . .” she looked at the ground. “He said you were the bad guys for trying to stop him.” She took in a shuddering breath. “I was sad and lonely and I believed him. And now it’s too late for me to escape. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go home because of what I did.”
“Ugh, Kelly,” said Mac. “Just . . . why?”
Maria laid a hand on Mac’s arm and shook her head slightly.
“We’ll talk about that later,” said Charlie’s mom firmly to Kelly. She sat back and looked sternly at her. “Just like always, we’ll do what we can to help you. It’s going to be okay.”
Kelly hung her head. “I hope so.”
“But now we have to stop a madman,” said Charlie. “Who’s with him?”
“Cyke, Braun, Fang, and Morph,” said Kelly. “Are you going to try to go after him now?”
“Absolutely,” said Charlie. She tested her leg, finding she could move it again, though it still hurt. She struggled to stand. “We don’t have a choice. We need to stop him before he destroys people’s lives. He could turn on that machine at any second.” She looked up as she realized Dr. Sharma had finished with Maria. “Are you all ready?” Charlie asked. “We can heal up on the way.”
Maria and Mac looked at each other and nodded.
Dr. Wilde looked like she was going to object, but then she just sighed and seemed like she wasn’t going to fight it. “You’re right. Let’s go,” she said. “Quinn, can you let Erica know what’s up? And tell Nubia we need her at the ferry dock. Where’s Charles?”
“He’s coming,” said Dr. Sharma. “Jack’s staying behind with Erica to keep an eye on the prisoners and wait for the government people to show up.”
Charlie turned to Kelly and studied her for a long moment. The girl had fought her. But she’d also saved her life. Maybe she could find a way to give her one more chance. “It’s hard to believe in you. You know?”
Kelly bit her lip and her eyes welled up. She looked at the ground. “I know.”
“But right now we could really use your help.”
Kelly looked up at Charlie. “You mean it?”
Charlie nodded and reached out a hand to help Kelly stand. “Come on.”