by J. E. Taylor
The trident shot forth like a lightning bolt, but this time the aim was true. The middle fork pierced right through my brother’s heart. My chest ached and my throat tightened against the sudden swell of tears blinding me.
Jeremiah’s eyes widened, and he looked down at the tongs embedded in his chest before his gaze returned to mine. “Kylee?” he whispered and then slowly sank to his knees. He transformed into his native merman form.
“I’m sorry, Jeremiah,” I whispered and pushed harder until the bottom of the trident forks burned into his chest.
His tail banged the floor a couple times, and I waited until his last breath wheezed out of his lungs before I commanded the weapon to shrink back to trinket size. His body crusted over like an ancient sea coral that had been exposed for too long, freezing him forever in death.
My gaze moved to the trinket in my palm just before my knees gave way. I dropped to the floor and crawled to Alex. His breath was labored. I rolled him on his back, his pained gaze meeting mine.
“Kylee,” he whispered and coughed blood.
I reached for my charm bracelet and found my wrist empty. I frantically scanned the boat cabin. I scrambled to my feet and stumbled across the room to where the bracelet lay still attached to the mace. My shrinking incantation sounded slurred like I had a little too much wine, but I guessed that was from the bang on my head. I connected the trident charm and filtered through the rest of them until I came upon a delicate decanter. I twisted it off and crawled back to Alex, sputtering the right spell to make the ambrosia vial expand.
Thankfully, Alex was still breathing and conscious. I poured three drops in his mouth and peeled his shirt up to reveal the hole where the spike had gone through. I poured five drops of the ambrosia on his skin surrounding the injury.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. This is going to hurt,” I said and rolled him over. He just groaned. This time, I poured what equaled a quarter cup of liquid right into the puncture and then turned him on his side.
He gasped as I held him in place. I capped the decanter, whispered the spell to shrink it back to charm size, and clasped it on my bracelet.
“I know it hurts,” I said as his jaw tightened. “But it will heal you.”
“What is it?” he asked though labored breaths.
“Nectar of the Gods.”
His eyebrows rose. “Immortality?”
I guessed he knew Greek mythology. Chuckling, I shook my head. “While it has healing qualities for humans like the ocean does for me, it does not make you immortal.” I stoked his cheek gently. “Although one could argue that it can help you cheat death a time or two.”
He laughed, but his laugh turned into a convulsing cough that sprayed blood everywhere. A wad of blood came up, then he settled down with a groan, leaning into me. His breathing was less labored now, less like a wet rag than before. I lifted the shirt in the back and smiled at the entry wound. Instead of being an inch in diameter, it had shrunk to the size of a bullet in the short time we sat here. In no time, his skin would be smooth and unmarred.
I closed my eyes, and the world swam.
“KYLEE?”
A wet hand caressed my cheek. Weightlessness gripped me, yet my entire body felt heavy. It was an odd sensation.
“Kylee, please wake up.”
The words whispered at a distance, but they pulled at me, drawing me closer.
“Please, please, wake up.”
Lips drifted across mine. The softness was welcomed and sweet, and his breath tickled my face. Splashing taps on my cheek made me turn away.
“Kylee?”
My name hung on the air, and I blinked my eyes open. Alex’s concerned gaze met mine. I lifted my head and winced. My muscles didn’t like me very much, and I couldn’t quite figure out where I was.
“Where are we?”
“We are in the emergency float on the deck. I filled it with sea water, so it’s kind of like a kiddy pool.” He wiped my cheek with water and helped me sit up. “It’s not exactly clean, but I think it did the trick.”
“What happened?”
“You passed out.”
I had to suppress a ‘duh.’ The last thing I remembered was his wound healing, and then everything went black. I waited for more of an explanation.
“I think you might have crushed your entire ribcage and possibly shattered your shoulder. The back of your head was bleeding, I’m sure you have a hell of a concussion, and I think you may even have cracked your cranium. I have no idea how you did what you did at the end.” He stopped and wiped his face. “Luckily, I remembered what the ocean did for you before. So...” He waved at the pool and gave me a shrug. “I didn’t know if it would work, and I didn’t have any magic elixir like you did.”
My back stung to high heaven, but at least breathing didn’t hurt like it had before. The water healed some of my ailments, but not the cuts from my brother’s claws. I did a slow assessment of all my limbs, torso, and head. I seemed to be in one piece even though my head still felt a bit fuzzy.
“Kylee?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.
I turned to look at him.
“I remember... everything.” His gaze dropped away from mine and he stood, retreating into the cabin now that he knew I was okay.
I climbed to my feet and stepped out of the makeshift tub. Glancing at the red-tinged water produced an unpleasant shiver. I had to have been bleeding pretty bad to turn an entire lifeboat full of sea water red. Either that or someone put food coloring in it as a bad joke.
Each step pulled at the cuts on my back. I winced as I walked carefully into the cabin. Alex was sitting on one of the couches, dripping bloody water all over the place. I almost said something, but a quick glance around quieted me. All the furniture in the room was splattered with blood, and the floor had a thick puddle where Alex had fallen. The crusted shape of my brother still sat in the same place as well.
The entire scene looked like it was cut right out of a B-horror flick.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I approached him.
Alex shook his head. “I tried to kill you more than once and I...” He waved towards the helm. A blush bloomed in his cheeks, spreading to his entire face. “I don’t really know what that was,” he finally said and avoided my gaze.
“You are a very strong man.”
He covered his face with his hands.
“Look at me, Alex,” I said softly as I took the seat opposite him. It was a struggle, but he finally met my gaze. “You resisted my brother’s siren call more than once. That is something I have never seen before.”
“I tried to kill you.”
“Yeah, well, that roundhouse kick I did could have killed you, too. And my brilliant idea of making those pirates shoot each other nearly got you shot. A half inch the other way, and you would have died.”
“I deserved it.” His lips pressed together, and his brow creased in that familiar look of self-loathing.
I used to see that expression on his face any time he got into an argument with his ex-wife. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” His sharp gaze jumped to mine.
“Blame yourself.”
He bit his lip and stared at me. “Kylee, I was still in there.”
“I know. I’m still breathing.”
His eyebrow went up.
“You have no idea how much willpower it takes to refuse to follow a siren’s orders. My brother gave you a direct order to kill me. You didn’t. Instead, you attacked him. That doesn’t happen. Ever. I have seen husbands kill their wives and mothers slaughter their children without a blink. I’ve seen brothers and sisters turn on each other.” I stopped and closed my eyes. “You are the only man that ever resisted. Why?”
He laughed. “Are you seriously asking that?”
I nodded.
He leaned forward. “I jumped on a plane and traveled halfway around the world to make sure you were safe. However misguided that was, that is not done simply out of friendship.” He looked down at his hands clas
ped between his knees. “Did you mean what you said to me?” His gaze pierced through me with a mixture of hope and dread. “Or was that just said to reach whatever was left of me?”
I swallowed and it was my turn to look away. A part of me didn’t want to admit to the adoration I felt for him. It was much easier to admit my feelings when I thought we were both doomed.
“Kylee?” he asked, drawing my gaze back to his.
“Yes.” My answer was quiet and small. “I meant it.”
He leaned back on the couch, relief smoothing the lines in his face. “I thought you might have been feeding me some bullshit just to survive.” He glanced at his soiled shirt and my bloodstained bathing suit. “I need to get some clean clothes on.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come on.”
I took his hand and let him lead me downstairs to the bedroom we hadn’t been in together since the first day of this catastrophic cruise. He led me into the shower and turned the water on, pulling me inside with him.
Neither of us had cleaned up since we left California, and the hot water stream felt like heaven until I turned my back into it. I winced as my cuts took a direct hit.
Alex quickly washed himself with the body wash and shampoo and then did the same to me, taking care to avoid getting soap directly in my cuts. The water ran red for longer than I cared to see, but it soon turned pink and then clear. He shampooed my hair twice, and it felt like I entered nirvana. His fingers were gentle and soft as they kneaded my scalp.
After I was all clean, he turned me towards him and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me to his chest.
“Thank you for saving me,” he whispered in my ear. “I know what you had to sacrifice in order to do that.”
I hugged him back, the numbness of my actions thawing, and with it came the tears. Tears mourning my brother’s death, mourning all the death and destruction he created. Alex held tight while I cried. When all my tears dried up, I pulled out of his grasp.
He shut the water off and wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed the second towel and dried me off before he turned me around to inspect my back.
“I think you might need stitches for a couple of these.” His finger traced my skin between cuts, then he opened the medicine cabinet.
“The first aid kit is in the bathroom upstairs,” I said as he shuffled through the cabinets in the bathroom.
“Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” He stepped out of the room.
I sat on the toilet seat waiting for him letting the numbness take hold of both my mind and my body. When he came back, he wore shorts and a T-shirt. He pulled me into the bedroom where he had the entire first aid kit laid out on the bed. He pulled the vanity stool over and sat me down on it before starting to work on my back.
He dabbed something cool and soothing on the burning cuts and I sighed.
“So what do we do now?” he asked as he continued to work on patching me up the best he could.
I remained quiet, mulling it over. I wasn’t sure if he was asking about us or our current situation, so I went with the safer bet. “I have no idea how we’re going to get this boat back to port and explain the loss of the crew and the condition of the cabin upstairs.”
He huffed a laugh. “I wasn’t asking about the fucked up predicament we are in.”
“Oh.”
He turned the stool so I faced him and continued patching the front of my shoulder. Once he had the bandage in place, he met my gaze.
“How does this work?” He pointed between the two of us.
“You know what I am and what I’ve done. But you don’t know everything.” I stood and rifled through my suitcase, pulling on a pair of shorts and a comfortable loose tank top before I turned to him. “If there is ever going to be anything more between us, you need to know what my deal is.”
He closed up the first aid kit and patted the corner of the bed next to where he sat. His expression was neutral. Unreadable.
“I do have a paranormal investigation agency, but that’s not what I’m doing here. This trip was something I was ordered to do.”
“By who?” he asked cautiously.
“Fate. I work for her as a kind of bounty hunter.”
“Fate?” He laughed at me like I was shoveling shit in his direction.
The air shifted and I cringed. I had hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with Fate until I got home. Alex shot to his feet and stepped back into the side table. His eyes widened at the vision of the queen bitch herself. I stood, putting myself between her and Alex. The tight set of her lips and the blaze in her eyes left me shaking.
Her signature red dress billowed as she pointed her finger at me. “You violated the rules,” she growled.
“I did what you said. I killed my own flesh and blood.” My teeth clicked closed so tight that my jaw hurt.
“You employed your siren,” she spat back.
I nodded. “Twice. But no innocents died as a result.”
Her hands balled into fists. “I should drag your ass back to Lucifer right now,” she said with all the fire and fury written in her face.
Alex’s hands curled around my shoulders. “I don’t think so.” He held on to me like I could be yanked from his life at the whim of the woman standing before him, which was an accurate assessment.
Her fiery gaze moved from mine to his. “She also violated her contract by telling you about our deal.” She crossed her arms. “So what punishment do you deem fitting for breaking the rules?”
Alex stared Fate down, blissfully unafraid of the woman. “She killed her own brother. What more do you want from her?”
“Do whatever you want to me, but leave him alone,” I said as a hot flash of panic filled my form. My heart jumped into my throat, pounding hard enough to make breathing as difficult as it had been after my brother crushed my ribs.
Fate was a fickle bitch, and she could yank him out of my life just as easily as she could yank me back to hell. And she liked tormenting me. I wouldn’t put anything past her right now, especially with the lack of fear coming from Alex.
She stepped closer, glaring down at me.
“If you so much as harm a hair on his head, I’ll open so many goddamned portals that this Earth will be overrun by monsters, and you will not have your little bounty hunter to clean up the mess.” The ultimatum slipped out of my mouth in a feral growl. After all the shit she had put me through, if she yanked Alex from this world to spite me, I would do damage on a cataclysmic scale.
Fate blinked at the venom in my voice, and perhaps she heard the truth in my words because she took a step back, distancing herself. Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. She pulled a book out of her skirt ruffles and ran her perfectly-manicured nail down each page before she flipped to the other side, continuing page after page while we waited for her sentence. She slammed the book closed and glared at me, sliding the book back in her pockets.
“You are a lucky girl. The people who died on your watch were already on death’s list, and he isn’t.” Her gaze moved beyond me to Alex and back. “But I cannot let your transgression go unpunished.” An evil smile spread across her lips.
I went to speak, but she reached out with her hand and yanked at the air, pulling her fist tight. My body jerked, and I inhaled at the sudden release from my throat. For a moment, I thought she’d cut it wide open, but then Fate held her hand over a vial. Light filled the glass, and she corked it.
“That should teach you,” Fate purred before she blinked out, leaving a swirl of smoke in her place.
My legs turned to jelly, and I took an unsteady step before sitting on the side of the bed.
“She’s quite the bitch,” Alex said and crouched down in front of me. “Why don’t you tell her to go pound sand?”
I met his gaze and opened my mouth. No sound came out. My hand went to my throat. The skin was intact, but I could no longer speak. Fate had left me a mute. She stole my damn voice.
“Kylee?”
I pointed to my throat.
His eyes grew. “What did she do?”
I tapped my throat and waved bye-bye.
“She took your voice?”
I nodded and closed my eyes, hanging my head. I took a breath and gathered my wits. Lots of people existed with less.
Do you know sign language? I signed slowly, hoping I had the gestures correct.
He just stared at my hands. I could have been signing ancient Greek to him for all he knew. I’d have to teach him how to read what I was saying, but in the meantime, we had more pressing issues to attend to. Like how to explain the condition of the boat and not end up rotting somewhere in jail in Greece for the rest of our lives.
Chapter 15
We stood looking at the dingy in the cargo hold. It was one of those nice proactive lifeboats. The inflatable one Alex had used as my healing tub wasn’t the only one on board. I was glad the captain had given us a full tour of the boat before we set sail, because otherwise I would have never dreamt up this plan.
“Are you sure?” Alex asked.
I nodded and typed a message to him on his tablet. It’s the only plausible way for us to get out of this.
We had hashed out every other scenario, from cruising into harbor with the boat as is to calling for help, and everything in between. Our only hope of being let on the plane home was to get into the lifeboat and head back with the story that we escaped when pirates took over the yacht. It weaved the truth together and would explain quite a lot if any of the bodies or boats were found. Every other scenario landed us in a jail cell.
“It’s risky. They might find this boat before we get to shore,” Alex said, rubbing his chin. “But maybe if they do, it will lend credence to our story.”
I think the bizarre massacre on the cruise ship might help our situation, too. Let’s see what we can gather. We are close to two hundred miles southeast of Crete, so in all likelihood, we are looking at five days in that thing before we hit land. I finished typing, handed him the tablet, and turned my back on our escape route, heading back into the belly of the boat.
“We can’t fare too well,” he said. “Escaping in a well-equipped dingy is kind of suspect.”
