The Mermaid's Lament

by Alexes Razevich

  I could keep up my defense for a while, but not forever. And I didn’t want to be trying to walk back out of the reserve in the dark. Nola needed to break Michael’s curse and her worrying about me wasn’t going to help. Having us all in one place inside one of her protective circles made sense. I nodded and made a shooing motion to him with my hand. He caught my meaning and ran back to the cabin. As soon as he was inside, I called upon all the magic I had in me and summoned up a series of tornados I set spinning all around the outside of the cabin. Between the tornados and the trees, I summoned dark clouds and let their rain pour down. The witch’s spells couldn’t get through water to harm us.

  I timed the spinning tornados and raced to the door in the few seconds that a calm path opened up, pulled the door open and slammed it shut behind me as soon as I was inside. And got my first glimpse of Michael Rawlings, the man who’d caused so much trouble.

  21

  First off, Michael Rawlings was too young for Lady as far as I was concerned. I knew now that Lady wasn’t the forty-two years old that her bio claimed, but Michael didn’t know that. Why he thought a grown woman would be attracted to someone who was mid-twenties at most and looked about twelve was beyond me.

  He was tall, thin, and rangy, with collar-length sandy brown hair and blue eyes that might show intelligence once the curse was off him. Now those eyes looked sleepy or stoned as Michael stared straight ahead at nothing. I didn’t think he’d even registered we were here.

  He was good looking, I’d give him that, with the kind of bone structure that would let him grow into stunningly handsome eventually and would keep him attractive well into middle-age and beyond.

  He sat in an overstuffed wingchair upholstered in lime green. The room also sported a stained, beige couch and a couple of plastic end tables, the kind you might use out on a patio. I didn’t know what the witches—or anyone else—did here, but I’d have thought the furniture would be better. At the back of the room, a door led to something.

  “Bathroom,” Nola said, seeing where my gaze had traveled. “Chemical toilet. No running water so we’ll have to be careful with water needed for spells.”

  Nola sat on the couch, her backpack on her knees, rummaging through its contents. A thirty-two ounce Coke bottle, refilled with what I guessed was water, sat on one of the plastic end tables.

  Edwin had a smaller bottle in his hand. Bits of green leaves floated in the water—rue, maybe. He was walking the perimeter of the living room, sprinkling protection. Once he’d made a complete circuit, I felt my shoulders relax and the tension in my stomach ease. I trusted the tornados I’d summoned to stop the witches outside from invading the cabin, but it was wearing on me to keep up the magic.

  Nola had pulled three little bags from her pack. Two were clear plastic baggies and I could see more rue, and some yellow flower bits—yarrow perhaps. Two of the bags were suede and drawn closed with purple twine. She was singing to herself under her breath as she mixed a pinch of this and a dab of that into little plastic spray bottles also drawn from her pack. I could only make out a few of the words.

  “Rue and bay leaf,

  mumble mumble and twine,

  mumble-y mumble bits

  mumble the divine.”

  She pulled a bottle of some kind of essential oil from her bag and added a few drops to a couple of the leaf and water mixtures. The smell of cinnamon wafted in the air.

  Evidently finished with her preparations, Nola got up, picked up the spray bottles, and walked over to stand in front of Michael, who still sat slumped and dazed-looking in the ugly lime-green chair.

  Edwin stood a little behind her, watching over her shoulder. I could see what she was doing from where I sat on the couch and stayed there.

  Nola turned and handed all the bottles but one to Edwin. He looked surprised a moment, but held them. They looked tiny in his big hands. Nola started singing softly again as she spritzed Michael with whatever was in the first bottle. Done, she handed that bottle to Edwin, and took another from him. She spritzed Michael again, but without singing this time.

  When she’d finished spraying him with water from the fourth and final bottle, he blinked rapidly a few times and straightened up in the chair. His eyes widened. I saw the fear in them.

  “Who are you?” he said. “Where are the witches?”

  Edwin stepped forward and held out his hand. “Hey dude. Feeling better? I’m Edwin.” He indicated Nola and me with short bobs of his chin. “That’s Shay, and that’s Nola. We’re here to take you home.”

  Michael blinked rapidly, trying to take in Edwin’s words, I thought, as he struggled to his feet. He was wobbly and had to put one hand on the arm of the chair to stay upright.

  “Are the witches still here?” Michael said. “They won’t let you go. They for sure won’t let me go. They want something I don’t have and won’t tell them where it is.”

  “Miranda told us,” I said. “She’s how we knew where you were. Edwin’s right, we’re here to take you home. Do what we ask, and no harm will come to you.”

  He blinked again, taking that in. “Miranda sent you?”

  I nodded and held out my hand. It was pretty clear Michael knew what had happened to him and why. It was also pretty clear he wasn’t sure if he should trust us or not. He took my hand, but doubt clouded his eyes.

  “I thought I knew all of my sister’s friends.”

  I cleared my throat, wondering if honesty was really the wisest move. “Edwin and I work for Lady Califia. She hired me to retrieve the Mermaid’s Lament.”

  Michael stiffened. He pulled his hand free of mine. “I don’t have it.”

  “I know that,” I said. “Miranda says she knows where it is. We bring you to her, she gives us the necklace, everyone’s happy.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Even Lady.”

  “Especially Lady.”

  “And Calypso?” he said.

  “She says she’s fine with it. And both have promised that no harm will come to you if Calypso gets the necklace back by Saturday at dawn.”

  “What day is today?” he asked.

  “Friday,” I said.

  He ran his hand over his hair, taking that in.

  “Let’s go see your sister,” I said.

  He tensed. “The witches?”

  Yeah. The damn witches. I’d let the tornadoes die down once the cabin’s interior was protected. I knew I didn’t have the energy left to keep wind spinning around us all the way back to the car. I turned to Nola. “Can you do a protection circle around us?

  She pressed her lips together, thinking. “Probably not. I mean, I could certainly do a mobile protection circle, but chances are the witches will follow. If one of us so much as stumbled and broke the circle, the whole thing would dissolve.”

  And the witches would be on us in a hot second.

  I could blow them away with wind but unless I sent them miles and miles away, which was probably beyond my abilities though I’d never actually tried, they’d be back before we reached the car.

  Water seemed the best bet. Rain that just needed to fall on the four of us was easier to control than wind, and it disrupted magic. Not my magic, since I was the conduit, but it would interrupt and destroy any spell or curse the witches sent our way. Which still left us vulnerable to physical attack. I glanced at Edwin. If the witches, who outnumbered us, went for a physical attack, most of our defense would have to come from him.

  “I hope no one minds getting wet,” I said. “We’ll be heavily rained on the moment we step out the door.”

  “What?” Michael said, but the other two simply nodded. Edwin reached for the knob and pulled the door open.

  22

  The witches were waiting outside. I counted six crouched in the limbs of the Eucalyptus trees. One cackled and set herself in a position that I was pretty sure meant she was going to launch herself toward us. I summoned up a hell of a rain to pour down on the four of us. The witch swore and repositioned herself in the
tree.

  Yeah. I could see it already. Things were going to get physical.

  “Edwin,” I said. “That trick you did with the harpoons? Could you do it now? Make three? One for each of us.”

  Three, because I didn’t trust that Michael would know what to do with a weapon. Nor did I completely trust him not to turn on us and try to break away.

  Again, I had no idea how he did it, but a spear—not a harpoon this time—appeared in Edwin’s hand. He gave it to Nola. A second spear appeared, and he handed it to me. The spear was longer than I was, maybe six feet, about an inch around, and heavier than I’d expected. I jiggled it around a bit to find a comfortable balance point. When I looked up again, Edwin had a wicked looking sword in his hands. Hands, because I’m sure that even for him, it took two to hold and wield the thing.

  I glanced up in the trees. The witches seemed surprised at the suddenly appearing weapons. Good, I thought. Maybe they’ll leave us alone.

  The rain was coming hard enough that the dirt was turning to mud.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  Edwin took point. Nola and I kept Michael between us. We didn’t frog march him or even crowd him, but we made sure we were close. I was right-handed, but Nola, I noticed now, was left-handed. We were positioned so each of us held our spear in our dominate hand, spears to the outside with Michael in between.

  A blur of motion caught my eye. The witches were gliding from tree to tree as we walked, staying even or ahead of us. Waiting for the perfect moment to attack, I thought.

  We were almost out of the copse of Eucalyptus trees.

  The witches screamed. All of them. All at once. The sound was primal, animal-like. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and adrenaline rushed through me. Before I could get two hands on my spear, three witches had dropped from the trees. One landed on Nola’s back, knocking her to the ground. Edwin spun and hacked off her head with one blow of his sword. Blood spurted from the wound. Nola sat up and crabwalked away from the dead witch, but not fast enough to avoid the witch’s blood on her skin and clothes. The rain was still beating down hard enough to wash the blood off Nola.

  The witch who’d aimed for me missed as I spun and pushed Michael up toward Edwin. The witch crashed into the muddy ground but was up and on her feet again in a heartbeat like some damn MMA fighter. She bared her teeth and leaped toward me.

  I didn’t think. Didn’t consider the consequences. I shoved the spear into her belly and pushed until I hit spine at the back. When I turned to check on my companions, the third witch lay dead at Edwin’s feet.

  Branches in the trees around us shook as the remaining witches scattered away from us. I grabbed Michael by the arm and ran until I was free of the trees and out in open land again.

  He stared at me wide-eyed.

  “You killed them,” Michael said.

  “Not by choice,” I said. “Out of necessity. We wouldn’t have harmed them if they hadn’t attacked.”

  Or if you hadn’t been stupid and stolen the necklace in the first place, I thought.

  He swallowed hard and nodded.

  Edwin and Nola came out of the trees and stood with us.

  “They won’t attack again in the open,” Edwin said. “At least I don’t think they will.”

  “Probably not,” I said. “I’ll keep the rain going so they can’t get us with magic.”

  In the few minutes Edwin and Nola had been out of my sight, Edwin had acquired a leather back strap sheath for the sword, which now rode high on his back. Nola still carried her spear. Mine was in the witch I’d killed. Edwin hadn’t conjured up another for me. I hoped that meant I wasn’t going to need another one.

  We walked back to the car as fast as we could, still keeping an eye out for the witches. We were all drenched and half drowned from the rain by the time we reached the road. The sun had nearly gone and the temperature had dropped. Michael shivered so hard his teeth chattered.

  I stopped the rain and summoned up a warm breeze, to help dry and warm us. Edwin went around to the back of the SUV, pulled open the hatch door, and pulled out towels for us all. I gave him a look.

  He shrugged. “You work for Lady, it’s a good idea to have supplies for many occasions.”

  We dried off as best we could. Nola hadn’t spoken since the first witch had died. I was pretty sure she’d never seen someone killed in front of her like that. It was an ugly, ugly sight, one I’d been lucky to only see twice before this. I didn’t want a fourth time.

  Nola claimed the shotgun seat. I was about to pull open the back door when the crunch of feet on gravel made me spin around and look down the road.

  Saylor.

  And his four henchmen, the same ones I’d seen at Scotty’s the other day.

  Michael stood a few paces behind me. Two of Saylor’s minions ran with incredible speed and grabbed him, one on each side, and were dragging him away almost before I registered what was happening. I started to sprint toward Michael, but another of Saylor’s henchmen, a big, shaven-head brute of a man slammed into me, driving me to the ground. He fell on top of me and pinned my arms at my sides.

  I had to make the two that had Michael let him loose. I summoned my will and my control over earth and made the ground shake under them. From the side of my eye, I saw Edwin bolt from the car and punch Saylor in the gut. Nola let out a small yell but I couldn’t see her to know what was happening. I brought my knee up hard and caught the brute lying on top of me between the legs. He swore loudly and rolled off me to clutch at his crotch.

  I scrambled up to my feet and rumbled the land beneath the running minions and Michael, making it buck and heave. One minion stumbled, but he kept hold of Michael’s arm and used Michael’s body to steady himself.

  But it slowed all three long enough for me to send a blast of wind to blow dirt in their eyes and to send the earth beneath their feet heaving up and down again. I ran toward the three. Michael was smart enough to use the moment his captors were off balance and blinded to yank his arms free of both men and give them each a shove. They fell to the ground while Michael stayed on his feet. I ran toward them.

  Michael hesitated half a nano-second and sprinted across the road toward a residential area. I chased after him, lengthening my strides to catch him before he could reach the homes and hide himself in some shrubbery or take turn after turn onto too many streets for me to follow, but he was faster than I would ever be. By the time I reached the first street, he’d vanished from view.

  I stood in front of someone’s multi-million dollar home, my chest heaving from the exertion, thinking fuck!

  23

  I wasn’t helping anyone standing there getting angry at myself. I trotted back toward the car, to see if I could help Edwin or Nola.

  Edwin’s nose was bleeding and Nola was fuming when I reached them. Saylor and his minions had vanished.

  “Where’d they go?” I said.

  Edwin held up an arm and pointed down the road.

  “They had a driver waiting,” Nola said. “He drove up. Saylor and his goons jumped in and they sped away.”

  Fuck, again.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Edwin, and was surprised at the depth of my concern.

  “Fine,” he said, his word clipped and his voice cold.

  “I have a cloth in my pack,” Nola said. She looked around to find where her pack had been flung by the henchman, retrieved it, and rummaged inside.

  I’d already grabbed one of the towels we’d used to dry off and handed it to Edwin.

  He dabbed at the blood on his face and still running from his nose. Nola gently pulled it from her hand and replaced it with a cloth from her bag.

  I guess it’s good to be a demigod. The blood stopped flowing within seconds. Or maybe there was something magical about the cloth. Or maybe he used his healer abilities on himself. I’d ask about that later. We needed to decide what to do now that Michael was gone.

  In my mind, there was only one thing to do. We had to go to Mi
randa, tell her what happened, and convince her to uncurse the necklace and hand it over.

  “We can take you home first,” I said to Nola. “This could turn into a very long night.”

  She propped her right hand on her hip. “Not a chance. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. Well, except for the killing witches part. I could have done without that.” She smiled the tiniest bit. “And, you know, I am a curse-breaker. You might find it useful to have me along in case this Miranda person gets bulky about uncursing the pearls.”

  Why I hadn’t thought of that was beyond me. I guessed I had it in my mind that Miranda had to break the curse she’d laid on the Mermaid’s Lament. But twice now I’d seen Nola break curses others had set. It seemed logical she could break Miranda’s curse as well. We were a team now, for this job, each of us bringing something the others lacked. It was only right that we should be together to recover the prize.

  But Miranda still had to hand over the necklace. Getting that to happen was going to be a challenge since we didn’t have Michael to trade for it and time was running out.

  From the back seat as we were traveling down the hill toward the beach Nola piped up with, “What are you going to tell Miranda, Shay? She’s expecting you to bring her brother to her, right?”

  Edwin turned his head slightly to look at me. “I was wondering the same thing.”

  I opened my mouth to answer but shut it again. My mind spun a bunch of possible methods, but none of them seemed right. Finally I said, “I’m not quite sure yet, but I’ll think of something.”

  “I hope so,” Edwin said. “The Mermaid’s Lament has to be in Calypso’s hands by dawn or—“

  “I know the stakes,” I said testily. And then, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  Edwin shrugged. “Snap away. Just come up with a solution.”