by Emma Slate
Off in the distance, I caught moonbeams caressing a silver-scaled tail resting against a gray and black rock.
I headed for the cluster of stones, wondering what my conversation with Hunter would bring.
Chapter 37
I hauled my exhausted body up onto a boulder. My breathing was rapid and shallow as I gripped my loose braid and wrung it out. Droplets of water prickled the surface of the calm ocean.
Back to where you came from, I thought.
I glanced out the corner of my eye, not quite ready to face Hunter.
His head was cocked to the side, like he was waiting for me to speak first.
The night air was warm, and I instantly wished for my boots to be gone, along with my spider suit. No sooner had the thought formed than it was brought to fruition.
My suit and boots were replaced by a comfortable, dry swimsuit. Black webbing, crisscrossed with straps that revealed slivers of skin.
I snorted in wry humor.
“Something funny?” Hunter asked. His voice was the same but not. It was more fluid. It sounded like a gentle ripple.
He was really part of the ocean now.
“I asked my spiders for something more comfortable to wear. And they created this.” I gestured down my body. “It seems they have a good sense of fashion.”
I threw Hunter a smile, but it fell away when he didn’t smile back.
We used to smile so easily at one another.
We’d shared so much, once. But now…
I waited for the guilt. I waited for the feelings of love to come rushing back. But neither came.
“We’re both different now,” he said, addressing what I was feeling. “Neither of us are what we once were.”
“Why did you save me?” I asked bluntly.
His mouth fluttered like it wanted to smile. Hunter’s blue eyes were bright, almost glowing in the moonlights. His blond hair was now silver and reached his shoulders, his skin cast in a silver hue, too.
My eyes traveled to his powerful tail. His fins looked delicate—until he flexed. Silver scales glistened from the movement.
“I saved you to fulfill my part of the prophecy,” he explained.
“That damn prophecy,” I muttered. “Does anyone know the prophecy in its entirety? Or are we all doomed to trying to fit little puzzle pieces together as we find them?”
“You are different.”
“You just said so. Did you not really believe it?”
He swallowed, finally looking like the Hunter I remembered. Hunter the human. Not Hunter the merrow whose eyes had become ancient. It wasn’t only his body that had changed.
“Did you save me only because of the prophecy?” I asked.
“I loved you,” he said, not answering my question. “I love another, now.”
“You do?”
“You love another too. You chose him. My choice was taken away from me, just like your choice was taken away from you. And yet…you still chose him.”
There was no aching regret in his voice.
“Thane”—I tripped over his name—“told me your memories were stolen from you.”
“Some were. I have no recollection of my parents, of the life I was born to. But you, Poppy. I remember you. And I grieved for the love we had. But it was ephemeral. It was mortal.”
“It never stood a chance.” I paused. “We didn’t either.”
He shook his head.
“What’s she like? Your new love?”
“Kind. Eternally kind.”
My gaze dropped to my lap. I stretched my toes, enjoying the freedom of them. My hair was now dry, my skin caked with salt.
“Where are we?”
“The Sea of Illumination.”
I raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I will take you to the mage—the one who binds Purgatory, the one who binds Thane to his domain. I will take you to the mage, and just maybe, you can save us all.” He peered at me, his blue eyes knowing and full of understanding. “How does it feel having that responsibility thrust upon your shoulders?”
“Am I looking a little stooped?”
He blinked.
“That was a joke.”
Hunter smiled. It looked wrong on his face.
“I’m sorry, Hunter.”
“For? Even now you say the words, but you don’t really mean them. You say them thinking you’re supposed to say them. This was always bigger than us.”
He dove off the rock and slid into the water, seamless, like he truly belonged there—like he’d always belonged there. His head popped up. “We should go. It will take a long time to get where we’re going. The water will be dark, and there will be creatures we should not wake.”
Scooting down the rock, I swallowed my fear. I wished Thane was with me. He brought me courage. I thought of him again. I sent him a wave of love and hoped he felt it.
Hunter’s glittering blue eyes watched me as I splashed into the water.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Am I allowed to say no?”
His lip curled into a semblance of a smile. “Of course. But we have to do this anyway.”
Chapter 38
The water was cold, and I instantly wished I had my temperature-controlled suit back. My spiders obliged.
As soon as I was submerged underwater, Hunter swam toward me and created another air bubble, allowing me to breathe.
With a powerful kick of his tail, he dove.
I looked up to the sky. The moons looked like watercolor reflections. I reached up, wishing to touch them, wanting to hold onto the light.
Hunter treaded water below me, waiting..
I swam after him and tried not to think about the unknown. Where was the mage held? Why hadn’t I thought to ask? Did any of it truly matter?
Down and down we went, only this time, there was no beauty waiting for us, no bright and colorful schools of fish, no curious anemones, no warm air currents.
As we swam deeper, rocks like the ones we’d been sitting on started to appear. Igneous boulder formations emerged in the near distance. Creatures with many eyes and mouths, tentacles and tails, watched us from behind curtains of algae. They were hideous and belonged underneath the sea, out of sight.
Hunter hung back and took my hand, linking us together. Maybe there was safety in numbers. I felt his tail brush my legs every now and again. I squeezed his fingers in solidarity.
The water turned from dark green to gray, but the moonlight still managed to penetrate miles below the surface.
I was curious about the merrow. How did they live? Were there such things as underwater cities? Hopefully, I’d get the chance to ask.
Hunter’s free hand pointed. Down below, I saw a giant skeleton that once belonged to a great monster of the sea. As we paddled toward it, a huge fish the size of a hammerhead shark lazily swam toward us. It looked like a goldfish with glistening gold scales. Large but harmless.
Hunter dropped my hand and darted in front of me. He treaded water, his body alert.
I focused on Hunter’s back. He’d been an athlete when he was human, lean yet muscular. He’d been beautiful to me then. He was striking now, his shoulders broader, his muscles even more defined.
Life underwater had honed him.
The goldfish floated in place, its fins gliding through the sea.
I frowned, wondering why Hunter had moved in front of me.
The goldfish opened its mouth to reveal two rows of sharp, jagged teeth. It snapped its jaws forward with the clear intention of swallowing Hunter whole. But Hunter whipped his tail, catching the goldfish on the side of its head.
Amber-colored eyes flashed with rage, yet it didn’t pose to strike again. It wanted an easy meal, but Hunter had no intention of letting the fish get its way.
They stared at one another until the fish decided to give up. It turned and swam off, no doubt in search of docile prey.
I let out a breath of air I hadn’t been aware I’d been holding. Hunte
r looked back over his shoulder at me. His blue eyes were ringed with silver. He grasped my hand again and kicked off toward the sea monster skeleton.
It looked like a giant squid, one that ancient mariners prayed wouldn’t demolish their ship.
A sea witch’s lair?
I shook my head in wry amusement. Maybe Lewis Carroll hadn’t been the only one to get his ideas from this place.
We swam through the beak of the giant squid skeleton. Shadows fell on us. Moonlight did not penetrate this deep, but somehow I still saw everything clearly. We floated through what had once been the abdomen. In the near distance, there was a wall made of water. It rippled and flowed, but it held its formation.
Hunter looked at me, pointed, and mouthed mage.
The mage lay in wait behind the water wall. Hunter took my hand, and we kicked forward again. My heart went wild in my chest, but I pushed on with determination and drive.
I had to do this.
There was no getting out of it or thrusting it off onto someone else. Thane had been petrified; Hunter had been turned into a merrow. How many more losses would I have to bear if I didn’t succeed?
I’d come so far.
It was time to finish this.
Chapter 39
We grazed the water wall with our outstretched fingers. There was the sound of something fissuring, and then Hunter and I were on the other side. We’d been pulled through, and now we were in a white sterile room, completely devoid of water.
Hunter was on the ground, his eyes closed. I dropped to my knees and pressed my head to his chest. He was breathing—just unconscious.
I frowned, wondering why I was awake.
The water barrier was still intact, waving and flowing, but it blocked my sight of the other side. I saw nothing but opaque ripples. If I’d woken up in this place, I would never have thought the water partition separated me from a vast sea.
My gaze wandered around the white room. It reminded me of a lab. An emaciated, naked man, his arms and legs held captive by neon blue beams of light, was in the center of the room. His bald head hung forward, and I couldn’t see if he was breathing. But of course he was still alive, otherwise the wards on Purgatory would’ve been broken.
I took a step forward and then was blasted back. I crashed against a wall and then sank to the ground. My tailbone radiated pain, and my left wrist throbbed. I healed almost immediately and stood up.
The nearly dead mage wasn’t just held captive by the blue beams of energy around his wrists and ankles. I could now faintly detect the outline of a force field, a bubble that surrounded him and had kept me out.
I’d need powerful magic to set him free.
I called to my army asking for their aid. I opened my mouth, and they sprang forth. Hundreds of spiders landed on the clear, spherical shield. The protective globe tried to dislodge my warriors, but they were clever beasts. They rammed their steel-armored legs into the force field. One spider might not have done much, but with the aid of hundreds and their armored legs, the force field rippled, clearly on the fritz, and then shattered like glass.
The neon blue beams which held the mage flickered and then snuffed out. The mage collapsed to the ground. I watched his nearly translucent skin flush to rose, his gaunt frame transform into a lean build, taut with muscle, and his bald head sprout a thick crown of dark curls.
He placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. He lifted his head.
I trembled at his power, but I did nothing to shield myself from it, not even when I felt tendrils of magic snake out to curl around me. They tasted and tested me, and apparently whatever they learned deemed me fit, because the mage retracted his magical sensors.
“Um, maybe you should put on a robe?” I suggested, lifting my eyebrow.
He cocked his head to one side, his mouth quivering with amusement. “My nudity causes you discomfort, lady?”
“Lady? Why are you calling me lady?”
“You are Thane’s lady, are you not?”
“I’m Poppy. And I belong to myself.”
His mouth widened into a smile. “We all belong to someone.”
“Who do you belong to?” I demanded.
His smile remained.
“Poppy?” Hunter croaked.
I instantly turned and gasped. When he’d fallen unconscious, he’d been fit and robust. Now, his skin was losing its silver glow, and his chest looked like it was caving in. His tail was dry and cracked, his eyes bleak with pain.
“What did you do to him?” I demanded of the mage, rushing to Hunter’s side.
“I need energy to restore myself.” The mage shrugged. “So I’m taking it from a nearby, available source. Besides, why do you care?”
“Why do I care?” I asked in confusion. “For the same reason I care about what happens to the world if Lucifer and Xan succeed.”
“So this merrow means nothing to you?” He cocked his head to the side to study me. “Ah, he means something to you still. Even with half your heart? The nonhuman part of your heart?”
How did he know?
“Stop using his energy. You’re restored enough.”
“Do you know how many years I’ve been down here? Used as a magic conduit for my warding powers? I’ve been here longer than Thane was imprisoned. Left with just enough magic not to die.”
I gritted my teeth as I felt Hunter’s hand go limp in my grasp. “Enough.”
“I still need energy.”
“Then take it from me,” I said.
“Poppy, no,” Hunter gasped.
I looked down at him. “I couldn’t save you on the beach. I couldn’t choose you. Let me do this. I’m immortal. I’ll regenerate.”
“You don’t know that.”
I didn’t, but I couldn’t let Hunter suffer. He had been a friend, a partner, a true confidant. Just when I thought I had mourned the loss of him, dormant emotion welled up, surprising me yet again.
Finally, Hunter nodded and closed his eyes.
I turned to the mage. “Take what you need from me.”
The mage’s smile was slow and terrifying. “I’ve already taken everything I need.”
Chapter 40
I felt tendrils of magic swirl around me. The air crackled with energy, and my hair sprang from the sides of my head. Sweat broke out along my brow and upper lip.
The mage’s magic tentacles reached into my chest and pulled out a golden orb of light. It looked like a miniature sun with flickering rays.
There was a tiny red mark among the gold.
“That is your merrow,” the mage said. His voiced sounded like it came from all sides. It boomed with authority and power. “The red spot mars your immortal heart.”
“How?” I gasped. “My human heart was removed, thus removing Hunter from my heart.” I winced, hoping Hunter had passed out again, and he wasn’t hearing how I spoke of him.
“Your immortal heart has grown again. It regenerates. But your merrow wasn’t only lodged in your human heart, but your immortal heart too.”
“But I didn’t feel him after my heart was removed,” I protested.
“In a few days, you would’ve felt the red spot grow more prevalent until it had once again taken over half your heart. Only this time, it would’ve been your immortal heart.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you would’ve been divided, forever.”
The golden orb flared and then snuffed out. Once again I could see the mage, the room, Hunter on the ground. His eyes were watching me.
“That’s why you remember me.”
He nodded, his eyes solemn. “You torture me, Poppy. Your love for me is torture.”
I felt my heart convulse and rearrange, like a key fitting perfectly into a lock and the lid of a box snapping open. Out came my feelings, my love for him, the guilt I’d felt when I’d left him.
My tears fell down my cheeks and dribbled onto his body when I crouched down next to him. Hunter gritted his teeth as steam rose fro
m his skin. My tears caused him pain. Literally.
“The battle between Heaven and Hell has begun,” the mage announced. “The gates of Heaven have been rammed open. Lucifer’s soldiers are wreaking havoc.”
“I’m too late,” I said, desolation encompassing me.
“No. It’s not too late. You will be able to stop the war, but only if you and Thane are reunited.”
“Thane is petrified. And probably at the bottom of the ocean.”
“I can restore him.” He paused. “For a price.”
Thane’s words came back to me—a warning. “Of course there’s a price.” My expression was flat. “Well?”
But the mage wasn’t the one who answered. “A life for a life,” Hunter said.
I looked at him, my cheeks stained with sadness. But Hunter didn’t look desolate. He looked at peace.
“Please, Poppy,” he begged. “Let me make this final sacrifice.”
“How can I let you do that?” I whispered.
“How can you not?” His smile was calm. “I am a Hunter, first and forever. I serve Thane. I serve you. Let me help save the world, even if I’ll never get to enjoy it.”
In that moment, I found strength I didn’t know I possessed, and my heart no longer felt like it was made of golden light but of stone. I laced my fingers with his. “Are you sure?”
He nodded and then looked at the mage. “I’m ready to die.”
The mage let out a chuckle, shattering the tranquility and dark resolution. “I can’t take your life, merrow. She has to do it.”
I closed my eyes to keep from passing out.
“Poppy,” Hunter said, his voice soft. “Look at me.”
“No.” I shook my head, wanting to bury my hands in my face and sob for yet another impossible choice I was forced to make.
“Poppy,” he pleaded.
He gently tugged on my wrist. My hands fell from my face. His eyes, once so bright and full of life, were now dim. Like he was already halfway gone.
A knife appeared over my shoulder. The mage held an opal white, pearlescent blade that shimmered with magic.
