Ocean plants decorated the carefully tended landscape of the sea floor, and dotted various windows and doors throughout the city.
It took me several moments to discern the patterns of movement, with the mer-folk using all available dimensions to move through their city. But as with fish, they moved in tandem, following traffic laws I couldn't quite sort out at first glance.
I didn't have time to figure them out now, though, as Kirka had already moved into the bustle of a fully functioning city, her bright turquoise tail flashing in the soft lights.
I flipped into motion behind her, trying to anticipate her movements as I worked to keep up. After a moment, she realized that she had almost lost me, and slowed long enough for me to catch up.
"We're headed to Poseidon's palace," she said in that bubbly speech I couldn't quite get used to hearing. With one hand, she pointed across the city and up to one of the colonnaded buildings.
I nodded, still not trusting my own voice in this new environment, and waved her ahead. We passed mer-folk periodically, none of them panicked. If the Titans were invading, the general population didn't know of it yet.
The closer we drew to the palace, though, the more I could feel the draw of whatever was going on there. It felt much like the inspiration to go to the library, so I presumed it was a Titan trying to break from the prison dimension to this one.
This time, because of the newly formed connection between us, I saw Kirka shiver with a similar recognition, and when she glanced back at me, I nodded.
When we got to the human equivalent of a few city blocks away from our destination, she slowed. I touched her shoulder to gain her attention before I attempted my voice.
"Any idea where Clay would be?" I asked, trying to ignore the strange new squeakiness behind the bubbles in my tone.
Kirka shook her head. "Unless Skyla's had some warning about what's going on, he's probably at home with her."
"Any way to get in touch with them? You said they stopped one of these incursions. We might be able to use the help."
She flipped her tail in the equivalent of a shrug. "I can try." She stopped the next passing mermaid and murmured something to her.
I guess mermaids don't use cell phones.
And then we were headed up to the palace.
Here goes nothing.
Or maybe everything.
Kirka
The guards who had let me pass before were no longer on duty. I didn't know how long ago that had been—time sometimes passed differently in The Hotel than it did in other places, so it could have been days, or merely hours.
In any case, these guards also knew me, and opened the door, though they paused for a moment before allowing Zale to pass, as well.
"I've called for my song-sister Skyla and the human Clay, as well," I told them. "If they come, Poseidon will want to see them, as well." The younger of the guards frowned, but his older partner merely nodded and waved me through.
After we were both inside, I turned back, as if in afterthought. "By the way, have either of you seen Amphitrite?"
This time, it was the younger guard who answered, even as his elder scowled at him. "She went in moments ago."
Yeah. That one has a lot to learn.
I hope he gets the chance.
If I could keep our queen from allowing the god-monsters through to destroy us all, he would.
No pressure there, at all.
As the doors swung closed behind us, Zale swam to my side. "I can feel it," he said shortly. "A break in reality, like the one in the library."
"Can you lead me to it?"
He held out his hand to take mine, as if to lead me to it, but the instant I touched him, the power-channel between us lit up, and I could feel the disruption in reality through him.
"Oh." The word breathed out of me in long stream of tiny bubbles.
Zale's eyes had grown wide, and the light they emitted had an oddly golden tinge to it.
His magic, touched with anger, I realized.
"Let's go shut these bastards down," he said, and headed toward Poseidon's private rooms.
Following him, I was struck by how much more powerful he was than the mermen of Atlantis, with his broad shoulders, heavy bones, and earth-developed muscles.
I remembered why the Little Mermaid had given up her voice for legs.
I might consider it, too—at least for a while.
When we reached the king's quarters, Zale slammed the doors open. It didn't have quite the same impact that it would have on the surface, but Amphitrite was startled, nonetheless.
"You," she breathed, when she caught sight of me behind the human-turned-merman.
"Me," I agreed. I would have said more, but all my attention was held by the rift between worlds beside the queen.
This one was larger than the one in library, larger than the one Skyla and Clay had described seeing in Athens.
It had already begun condensing to allow the Titan through to this world.
And this was definitely the world this Titan wanted.
Amphitrite was attempting to help Oceanus break through to Atlantis.
"Why?" I asked. In the end, it was really the only important question.
"Because," the queen of the ocean said, "this one tiny world is not enough. Oceanus offers more."
That was it. In the end, she was willing to trade everything for simple greed. She couldn't stand the thought of worlds out there that she didn't control.
My heart constricted at the sheer misery of her existence.
I don't know how long we might have stood there staring at one another if Skyla and Clay hadn't burst through the doors behind us.
"No," Clay wailed at the sight of his partner, "they got you, too!"
Zale clasped his friend by the shoulders. "No one got me, man. I came on my own to find you."
Clay blinked in surprise, and Zale gave the other policeman a quick hug. "I'll tell you about it later. We need to help get rid of this thing." He gestured at the crack between worlds.
"Another one?" Clay shook his head. "Skyla, think you can contain this one, too?"
"If she can't, Kirka and I can." Zale reached out for my hand, and I smiled.
"This is all very touching," Amphitrite said, "but I don't have time for it." With a wrenching motion, she pulled the crevice in the water open wider.
My head spun at the leakage between the two realities, and my stomach turned. Without thinking, I grabbed Zale with my other hand, as well, and tugged him toward me. He met me halfway, his lips pressing to mine.
I had just enough time to recognize the difference between the last magic we had shared and this before it overwhelmed me in a flash of blue-green light. Everything around us slowed down, and I pulled away from Zale to glance around. I saw Skyla kissing Clay, the power sparking between them a dark, navy blue.
Behind the fracture, I could make out the giant form of Oceanus, a snarl on his face as he worked to pry open the fracture even farther.
On the other side of Clay and Skyla, Poseidon was throwing himself through the door toward Amphitrite, whether to save to attack her, I didn't know. But if time continued to move as slowly as it was now, he would never make it to her in time.
Zale made eye contact with me. "Ready?" he asked. I nodded, a ghost of a smile crossing my face.
Amphitrite didn't have a chance.
Neither did her Titan.
All it took was the barest touch of our palms to set off the spell we had constructed, together, without even consulting one another.
The water around Amphitrite swirled and boiled, and the mer-queen screamed once. Skyla and I lifted our voices in Siren Song, and Clay moved forward to add his power to the circle the four of us created around the fissure in reality.
At the last minute, Poseidon joined us.
I hadn't known, really, if he would put his strength behind his wife, or throw his lot in with us. His deep bass v
oice joined our song.
Music and magic swept across Atlantis.
In the end, even Amphitrite's wail became just another note in the song, and Oceanus's curses were lost as he was swept back into his prison.
Moments later, Amphitrite followed him.
When she was gone, a whirlpool of light and sound sealed the rift, leaving behind only silence, and five mer-folk.
Zale
Two days later, all of us—minus Poseidon—sat around a table in the bar of The Hotel. Turns out the king of the ocean didn't like to have legs.
Clay and I, on the other hand, were glad to have ours back.
Apparently, though, now that we had absorbed enough mer magic, we would be able to move back and forth between Atlantis and our own reality.
In fact, Poseidon had said something about the possibility that we had re-written our DNA. Any children either of us fathered might actually be mer.
I wasn't entirely certain how I felt about that.
Then again, I thought as I considered the mermaid snuggled up to my side, it looked like that could end up being a possibility, anyway.
"How long had Oceanus been whispering promises to Amphitrite?" Clay asked.
Kirka shrugged. "Centuries, maybe. Apparently there's been a small gap into the prison world in Atlantis from the beginning. Amphitrite may well have arranged to have her temple built around it."
"The song-sisters' music is changed forever," Skyla said mournfully. She was an odd one, with old-fashioned language and a tendency to be morose, but now that he wasn't stuck permanently in Atlantis, Clay seemed to like her well enough.
"And what about the other incursions?" I asked. "Are we done with those?"
"No." Kirka frowned. "At least, not necessarily. Now that the Titans know there are cracks that can be exploited according to their nature, we'll need to keep an eye out more carefully."
"Can we use this place?" Clay asked, gesturing at The Hotel.
I knew the answer to that one. "No. Amphitrite was using it as way to track the energy from one rift to another, to help the Titans find the weak spots in reality. Now that they know what she was doing, the staff—or maybe The Hotel itself—can keep anyone else from doing that."
"Then how shall we find the incursions?" Skyla asked.
Kirka drew in a deep breath. "It's going to be up to the four of us. If you two are willing to stay with us a little longer," she said, glancing between me and Clay.
We had already discussed it, though.
"We need to let our department know we're both okay," I said. "And we will have to come up with a reasonable explanation for Clay's absence. But we think we can take some leave to help you out."
"I am extraordinarily glad," Skyla said in that odd, formal way of hers—but her smile and the way she gripped Clay's hand said more than her words.
"Thank you," Kirka said, her own gaze eloquent.
"It may take more than the four of us to keep the Titans caged," I warned.
"Oh, I know," Kirka replied. Her serious expression changed into something more mischievous. "But before we start in on any of that, I have an idea."
"Yeah? What's that?"
She grinned. "I checked in when we got here. I think we should see which room the statues lead us to, and find out if I'm really all that cursed, after all."
I smiled in return, waving goodbye to our friends, and stood up to follow her. "You are singing my song, sweetheart."
About The Hotel Paranormal Series
The Hotel Paranormal is THE place for supernatural beings looking to get away from it all. Beings like werewolves, vampires, elves, sprites, djinn and more check in from all over the world for business and for pleasure—and sometimes for both.
Discover more at www.thehotelparanormal.com to learn about this multi-author shared world series!
About The Mythic Kiss Series
Join the Siren mermaid-shifters and the men who love them in The Mythic Kiss Series by Margo Bond Collins as they fight to save this world—and others—from incursions by the powerful and dangerous Titans, banished long ages past to Tartarus, a magical prison.
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About the Author
Margo Bond Collins is addicted to coffee and SF/F television, especially Supernatural (oh, those Winchesters). She writes paranormal and contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal mystery. She lives in Texas with her daughter and several spoiled pets. Although she teaches college-level English courses online, writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and the women who love (and sometimes fight) them.
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