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“They left,” Skye whispered. “Where did they go?” she stared up at the cloudy sky, and around at the low curling waves that nudged them where they stood in the low tide.
Hunter swept his arms wide, to the ocean, the sky that went on forever, and his clan, somewhere out there. “Wherever they wanted to, just like you told them.” She glowed. “How did you think of that solution?” he asked.
“Call it a calculated guess,” she smiled, then laughed.
Her joy was irresistible and he found himself laughing with her, almost startling himself. This would take some getting used to. Spontaneous. Happy. “So, tell me the calculation?”
“I’ll tell you while we walk. We cannot stay here in the tide one more second.” They turned and waded out of the low waves on to the empty beach. The low clouds that had darkened the Bay all day were breaking apart, and the late afternoon sun lit her drying hair to white gold, catching the tips of her eyelashes as she turned to smile at him again. He restrained himself from laying kisses on those eyelids, and feeling the butterfly tickle of her eyelashes against his skin.
She tugged him along, swinging their linked hands as they walked across the wet sand. It was so...human. He felt light-hearted: incredulously so. She had done this.
“It was you with the wave,” she explained. “Controlling the ocean. It made me think. You said your magic is like taking what exists and bending it. Well, life is energy, isn’t it?” He nodded in agreement although he felt uncertain what she meant, exactly.
“I think the ocean has got to be the most powerful force in the world,” she continued, “unequalled for energy. You persuaded it to cover your clan. Just – incredible!” She looked at him, awestruck, and he felt his face heat.
“I did what I had to do, to keep them safe. Once you helped me to figure out how,” he mumbled.
“Yes! You persuaded the energy of the ocean, the molecules, the atoms, whatever it is – I suck at science – to cover your clan. You are Nemaro, of water. Your clan might not be able to draw on the energy of the ocean – but you can. Clearly,” she shook her head again in dazzled admiration and he ducked his head, grinning.
When he looked at her again, her eyes were so warm his heart struck a double beat. Then her expression grew solemn and she stopped, her gaze holding his. He stopped too.
“Hunter, you are Keeper. You hold your connection to your clan in your heart. Through your connection you’ve sustained them with the life-force from the stolen lives, without understanding how or why. Learning how to use your power, by harnessing the energy of the ocean that you are all already part of – surely you could sustain your clan while you let the stolen lives choose where they wanted to go.”
“You knew some of them might choose to go into my clan?”
Skye nodded. “Just a guess. The stolen souls are still human. I felt their sorrow when they left me, and I knew it was realising they’d lost their chance to live. I thought that if they had the choice, some of them might want to live on through your clan. And the others – it was the story of the Little Mermaid that made me think some might want to be part of the waves. And some might want to go...on,” she looked up at the sky, her face thoughtful.
He was silent for a moment. “That makes sense.”
“Some of them did go to your clan, didn’t they? Do you think they are still out there? Your clan?”
“Yes.”
“Immortal?”
“We have no way of knowing.”
He looked down as they splashed out of the foam onto the wet sand, trying to work out how to explain. The impact of their feet on the firm wet sand compressed the grains, momentarily disbursing the water and lightening the space around their feet. It seemed somehow metaphorical. “The lives went.”
“I know.”
He looked up and saw tears in her eyes. No more spent souls departing in anguish. “Skye, I’m so sorry you experienced their lives ending when they left you.”
“I’m glad I did,” her voice was soft. “If I hadn’t, I could never have understood. Would never have realised what them being stolen really meant. The surviving souls needed to be freed.”
“You’re right, they did. But I think we may have freed...me as well.” She went still. “I might be wrong, but...” He blew out a short breath and looked at the horizon for a moment, before meeting her eyes again. “All of this has been about greed for power and control. That’s how it started, and why it has gone on for so long. Taking what isn’t yours, holding onto it whatever the cost. The lord and his line. The Seers. Thea. Jarrod. Even Tobias. Even...”
“...Even my dad.”
“Yes. And I was the pawn that made it worse than it could ever have been, and made it last. The taking, and the keeping.” He took a deep breath. “I think you helped me to end it. Really end it. By giving, not taking. Releasing, not keeping. Giving to the point of utter sacrifice. I think I’m...free.”
“Do you mean...not Nemaro?”
“I will always be Nemaro. Liam didn’t break the curse. But I think I’m – I’m just me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I can’t sense my clan anymore.” He recalled the lights racing along the threads of connection. “The stolen lives used my connection with my clan to reach them, just like we hoped. But it’s like the threads were burnt behind them. Like bridges being destroyed.”
“So...does that mean you’re not Keeper anymore? That you’re just Hunter?”
He nodded. “I think so. No longer the least of them all, no longer slave to their needs or servant to my power. Just...me.”
“Wow.”
They both turned and stared back across the shifting surface of the ocean that hid Hunter’s clan.
“What will life be like for them now? Do you think we will find out?” she wondered. A stirring of dread in Hunter’s gut told him that they would. How soon? He caught the dark thought in her eyes too as he turned from searching the waves to look at her.
“If you’re not joined, what will life be like for you now?” she asked instead, side-stepping the Nemaro threat. He didn’t blame her.
“I think it might be like...whatever we want it to be. Maybe.”
“Which is...?”
“Together, of course.”
Her smile was radiant as they began to walk again. He followed her gaze towards the village, recalling the first time this miracle girl had walked him out of his prison and up the distant stone steps. Beside him he heard Skye’s intake of breath as a figure appeared at the top of the steps. “Morgan!”
Hunter followed as Skye began to run.
