Before too long, she found what she was looking for. Pollution moved the island and the barrier islands. He’s broken the lower crust, built high amounts pressure in the mantle…
“There…a hot spot.” She hovered over the ocean where the water had begun to bubble and then turned to face the coast. “I feel it. I knew it was here. Time to die, cocksucker.”
Earth Science vs. Filth
Sabrina watched the fire elemental eat away at Pollution and wondered if this was the answer all along. The ocean water acted like acid and dissolved the monster from below, but the fire incinerated him quickly from above.
“Die, damn you!” she shouted.
It felt like she had been fighting for hours. Her arms and legs ached like she had endured the worst workout. She just wanted to curl up someplace warm and go to sleep for a week.
As she directed wave after wave at Pollution’s legs, she saw a crowd forming on the street. She’d thought it couldn’t get any worse, but it had. There were witnesses now, people with their phones pointed up at her. She just hoped it was too dark enough and she was high up enough for it to be hard for the phone cameras to capture her image.
“I’m done with this!” she shouted. “I’m done with you!”
She turned and pulled up a larger wave, the biggest one she had controlled since Pollution emerged on the street. The Tainted’s monster had risen to six hundred feet already and her wave was only a fraction of that, but she hoped it would take him out at its base.
“Fire elemental!” she shouted as a plan formulated. “Burn the right side of his foundation. I’ll take the left.”
“You…” The fire elemental looked at her with hungry eyes. “You…”
Sabrina thought about what Amber had said. “Do it, and then come get me! I dare you!”
The fire elemental crawled down the right side of Pollution’s body and intensified its attack. Sabrina guided her wave into its other side, sandwiching Pollution between the two.
The mountainous monster growled and screamed in pain; the attack had worked. Its foundation had been damaged so badly it fell forward in the shallow water.
“Yes!” she cheered.
But Sabrina’s victory was short-lived. From the ground beneath her, another tentacle of oil and sludge sprung, so fast she couldn’t avoid it. It wrapped around her like a boa constructor, trapping her legs and arms tight.
“Fuck. No!”
She amped her wings, and burned it, but the second she was free she was trapped again by another tentacle, and then another.
“This is not how it ends!” But she didn’t believe her own words. In fact, as the tentacles tightened, she began to think the opposite. She was sure she was going to die. She was sure this was exactly how it would end.
The rumbling beneath her suddenly grew worse and the tentacles’ grip on her loosened, so she yanked her wings up and amped them again.
ZAP!
She was free and falling, one wing damaged. With only one wing and the gusting winds, Sabrina spiraled as she fell, but she was able to direct her fall into deep water over the beach.
The water was cool and felt nice on her heated skin. Close to the street’s edge, Sabrina grabbed the guardrail and pulled herself up. She did not know what to do now. She was done—out of the fight. As her mind told her to flee, she heard voices—people calling to her.
More bystanders had arrived. One guy even swam in her direction, while assuring her he was there to help.
Although touched by his concern, she shouted back, “Get out of here!”
As she stared into the eyes of the man who wanted to rescue her, she heard a collective gasp from the other people who stood around. Something had happened.
“I’ll help you!”
“I’m fine. Really,” she told him. “What’s happening?”
He looked to the land and then swam back to her. “I can’t tell. There’s too much smoke. Earthquakes are knocking down buildings—it’s fucking crazy!”
As she bobbed in the water, she saw Pollution cast his tentacles straight to the sky and howl unlike anything she had ever heard. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she froze still.
Lava erupted from the hole Pollution grew from, flowing out in every direction. The ocean water sizzled, and thick, white vapor mixed with the billowing, black smoke.
“Is that lava?” her rescuer asked.
“We gotta get out of here now.”
Sabrina tried to swim back into the ocean, but a wave pushed her back in and up against the street’s guardrail.
“Damn it!”
“Hang on to me, okay?”
Instead, Sabrina watched Pollution try and pull itself out of the hole it had emerged from. It struggled and fought hard, but the lava consumed it at an incredible rate. The more Pollution moved, the faster it was devoured.
Sabrina felt the water around her grow suddenly warmer—the man who floated beside her started to panic and splash around.
“It’s too hot! Too hot!”
“Swim to the side, not against the current, to the side of it,” she told him as she began to swim swiftly away.
When she gazed back to see if the man followed her, she saw an unsettling sight—the lava had spread, and the man was dead, floating facedown in bubbling water. She knew she would be next if she did not move faster, but she still paused. Pollution was sinking into the ground—it too could not escape either.
“Fuck you!” she shouted at it.
From the center of the hole and straight through Pollution, an orange, glowing light shot out like a rocket. Sabrina could tell right away it was Amber—she’d know the orange glow of her wings anywhere.
“Yes!” she cheered as the water surrounding her grew warmer. “Yes!”
Amber must have heard her because she flew over and swooped down. “Take my hands.”
Sabrina reached up and grabbed onto Amber’s wrists. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Amber lifted Sabrina from the water but could not elevate herself much more above it. “I’m gonna land over there, at the autobody shop. Okay?”
“Okay.” Sabrina sighed with some measure of relief. “How did you do it?”
“Pollution did most of it to himself. I just connected the dots.”
“Is he…?” Sabrina asked with hesitation in her voice.
Amber dropped Sabrina to the wet cement of the autobody shop’s parking lot, and then landed beside her, quickly withdrawing her wings.
“Not yet, but he will be.” She smiled. “He can’t escape now. He trapped himself, that big idiot. He’s surrounded by ocean now.”
“Trapped himself?”
“All this drilling, digging, and messing around deep down there.” She pointed. “I wonder if he knew the risks, that one wrong move, one broken lava tube and…”
“It was a suicide mission,” Sabrina said. “And Lord Raion must have thought he could always order the Tainted to make another Pollution.”
“There will never be another,” Amber said. “We’ve won.”
The owner of the autobody shop approached, his shotgun aimed at them. “That’s it, I’ve had enough. Get the hell of my damn property.”
“George!” a woman screamed from the distance. “What are you doing talking to those two topless women?”
“I ain’t talking to them. They’re trespassing.”
“They ain’t trespassing! Stop your gawking, while I go get them some shirts.”
“Fine.”
Sabrina smiled at Amber and Amber smiled back. Sabrina felt overwhelmed with joy and wanted to kiss her double, but now was not the time.
“I don’t know what you two girls think you are, but there’ll be a reckoning for all this flying around and shooting lasers from your eyes and shit.”
“Who shot lasers from their eyes?” Amber asked.
“Who is gonna pay for all this damage? Not me? Not—”
Before he could answer, Sabrina and Amber watched a strange mist rise f
rom the ground around him. The mist thickened as it enveloped and then seemed to pass right through him. The old man’s eyes fluttered and rolled up into his head—his gun dropped, and his body went limp as it fell lifelessly to the ground.
“What just happened?” Amber asked Sabrina, bending over to check the man for a pulse.
“I don’t—”
“Here you girls are, some shirts with our logo and phone numbers of them. I hope you don’t mind green…” As the old woman approached, another mist appeared and enveloped her. Before anyone could react, she fell dead to the ground.
“What the hell?” Amber stepped back. “I stopped the lava flow. If this is from toxic gasses, it isn’t me.”
“No.” Sabrina pointed to the crowd of people who cluttered the flooded streets. One by one, they dropped like sacks of potatoes, dead.
“No.” Amber echoed.
“Gods no.” Sabrina’s bladder released, urine trickling down her leg. When she looked at the puddle, she saw Amber had done the same.
“This can’t be… There’s like forty people out there.”
“The wraiths,” Sabrina said and then began to cry.
After all the childhood stories, all the warnings from her parents, the threats from the assembly, it was finally happening. The wraiths had been sent to kill her and everyone else around her.
“I’m sorry, Amber,” Sabrina said as she reached for her hand.
Amber retrieved the shirts the old woman had brought them, pulled one on, and handed the other to Sabrina.
“I’m sorry,” Sabrina repeated as she clutched the shirt tight to her chest. “I’m sorry I got you involved in all this.”
“You—”
“This was always my fate,” Sabrina said, revealing her darkest worry. “I was born to die like this.”
Amber took her hand and held it tight. “You can’t have known that.”
“But I have,” Sabrina said and then sniffled. “I have always known it.”
When another mist formed around Amber, Sabrina screamed so loud her voice gave out. She knew this second was Amber’s last. Watching her die will be like watching my own death…
But the mist subsided, and a new bluer mist formed. It rose up from the water near their feet and took the shape of a woman—a woman Sabrina knew.
“Mira?” Sabrina broke into deeper sobs instantly. “Mira, is that really you?”
“I was Mira.”
“I looked for you. I searched for you.” Sabrina reached out to touch her friend, but the being moved away.
“Do not touch me. To do so would warrant your death.”
Sabrina did not understand. “Mira? Mira are you—”
“Yes, Sabrina London.” Mira looked at both women when she said the name. “I am a wraith now.”
Sabrina crumpled to the wet ground, but Amber grabbed her by the arms and lifted her right back up.
“What do you want?” Amber asked.
“We have our orders—destroy everyone here, everyone who saw.” Mira waved her hand as she spoke. “Every human in this dreaded city will perish today.”
Sabrina gasped. “Every human?”
“Our other order—my order—is to destroy those responsible for this disaster.”
“It wasn’t her fault. It was mine,” Sabrina said bravely. “I deserve to die, not her.”
The remains of Lord Raion’s head suddenly floated down from out of the night sky. When it reached Mira, she tossed the thing to the ground in front of both women.
“A balance of power must be maintained, and the scales are already tipped. Sabrina London, Queen of the Water Kingdom must live,” Mira said. “But since there are two, the question is: Which one of you will be Sabrina London now?”
Neither answered.
“One of you, pick it up,” Mira demanded. “Pick up the Water Kingdom’s new mantle of power.”
“Fine. I’m Sabrina London.”
“I’ll be whoever you need me to be.”
“Just don’t hurt my child.”
“The child is innocent. The Water Kingdom needs its heir.”
“Enough of this,” Mira grumbled. “I will choose.”
Sabrina faced Amber and locked eyes with her. “Take care of her, okay…”
For a second, Mira seemed to fade away, and when she returned to view, she gazed up at the sky. Sabrina looked around; there was no one there, nothing. Everyone was dead.
“New information has reached the Otherworldly Assembly. A decision has been made. I must go.”
“Mira, will I—"
“There can be only one Sabrina London.” Mira pointed to the crown. “Decide before the end of this day. And pray—pray with all your hearts and souls that you never see me again, either of you.”
When Mira and the other wraith’s vanished, Sabrina leaned back against the picture window of the autobody shop and took a deep breath. The water was inching closer, already wetting her feet to the ankles. Bodies bobbed up and down, and debris littered the dark waters.
Was this all worth it? she asked herself. Is it truly over?
She hung her head low. “I’m tired.”
“Me too,” Amber answered.
“They’re all dead, Amber.” Sabrina’s voice cracked. “All dead because of me.”
Amber drew a deep breath and blew it through her pursed lips slowly, pushing the copious strands of wet, blond hair out of her face. “Water everywhere,” she whispered. “I don’t know how you deal with all this wet hair. Remind me to trim it some.”
Sabrina smirked. “You might like going short. It can be nice at times like this.”
“Times like this…”
“Yeah.” Sabrina looked up at Amber, who eyed the crown where it sat mostly submerged in the water. “What do I do now? What do we do now?”
“We stick to my plan.”
It was at that moment that Sabrina saw a light flicker off something in Amber’s hand.
The way Amber said “my” plan suddenly stuck out in Sabrina’s mind. “What is that in your hand?” she asked quietly.
“What?” Amber answered with a shrug.
“In your hand, Amber—what are you holding in your hand?”
“Oh…this?” Clenched in her fist was a pocket knife. “I took this off that old man’s belt when I checked him for a pulse. Thought I might need it.”
“To fight the wraiths?”
“Yeah.”
Amber squared up to Sabrina and, in a burst of motion, lunged, stabbing upward, trying to gut her, but Sabrina had moved. She was not sure how she knew to step to the side, that Amber was going to attack, or how to parry the blade, but she did.
Sabrina moved so quick that Amber had stumbled forward, off balance, and slammed into the window. The glass shattered, and several large pieces cut Amber, one across her wrist and the other across her thigh. But it was a small piece of glass, no wider than a ruler, that deeply pierced her stomach during the collision.
Sabrina stood in shock as Amber turned and fell back, sliding down into the water.
“How…?” she asked as she pressed her hands to her wound. “You—you’re fluff.”
“The queen of fluff.”
Amber chuckled and spit out blood. “You should be dead.”
“Why, Amber?”
Amber looked her deep in the eyes. “I should be queen.”
“You’re Queen of the Tainted now.”
“No, Sabrina London is.” Amber coughed again. “You are.”
Sabrina looked down at the knife Amber had dropped and then at Raion’s remains. She had to decide. The wraiths—Mira—demanded it.
“Take the crown, Amber.” Sabrina picked it up out of the rising waters and tossed to her double’s side. “Take it and return control of the Water Kingdom to me.”
“No.”
Amber’s blood was pooling in the water beneath both of them as she bled to death.
“You’ll die here unless I help you,” Sabrina explained, kicking the
makeshift crown. “Pick it up and give it to me. Let’s put an end to all of this craziness.”
A rush of cool water hit them as Amber tried to stand, but fell down.
“No,” she said as she reapplied pressure to her belly wound.
“No?”
Amber smiled, her teeth stained with bright-red blood. “You’ll help me either way.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you made me!” Amber shouted, pushing to her feet and leaning against the wall. “I am you, and you will not let me die. You love yourself too much.”
“I—”
Amber cut Sabrina short, using Sabrina’s own voice. “And you—you don’t want to be queen anymore anyway. You don’t even want to be you anymore…do you?”
“I…”
Aftermath
Jackson awoke gasping for air. He coughed and choked and spit out more water than he could imagine possible. It seemed like it took him ten minutes before he could catch his breath and when he did, his lungs felt like they filled with artic air.
“What happened?” he asked as his eyes searched the dark room. “Where am I?”
“Back in our hotel,” a soothing voice answered.
“Our hotel?” he repeated. “Natalia?”
“Yes, darling.”
“Pollution? The wave?”
“Gone. The fairy sacrificed us to the ocean. But luck was on our side.”
“Luck?” He didn’t feel lucky. He felt cold and sick.
“I held on to you when the wave struck us.” She sat on the bed next to him. “You could say I latched my teeth into you.”
“You bit me?” he said as he reached up to his neck, finding no wound.
“I did not want to lose you…and I didn’t.” Natalia smirked. “The water tossed us around like dolls. We should have been lost at sea, but somehow our bodies were lodged into that old lifeguard tower.”
“The lifeguard tower, on the beach, where—”
“Yes, the very one,” she laughed. “It’s funny. After all those years, I actually saved someone. I saved you.”
Three Burning Red Runaway Brides Page 31
