by Tiana Warner
My assailant stopped abruptly, her eyes focused on something to her right. A loose dagger lay there, glistening in the sunlight. Pointed, double-edged. For stabbing, but not for mermaids.
She glanced back at me, something forming behind her bared teeth and narrowed eyes.
“No!” I kicked harder than ever, screaming for help.
The mermaid seized the dagger in her webbed fist, and no matter how much I thrashed, I couldn’t break loose. Holding me in place with one hand, she drew the other back, aligning the blade with my stomach. I gave one more, desperate twist as the dagger came down full-force. The blade missed my stomach—and drove deep into my thigh.
I could count each millisecond as I watched the blade disappear into my skin, as I watched it open a gash all the way down like a gutted fish. At first I felt nothing. Then the pain exploded in my thigh as though she’d buried a grenade beneath the skin. My brain disconnected from my body; I could only hear myself scream, and watch the blood cascade from my leg.
Black splotches erupted in my vision. I thought I might throw up, only my stomach was too tight to heave.
The mermaid raised her arm, aiming again for her original target. I told myself to twist away, to protect my soft stomach, but my muscles were paralyzed.
Then she flinched, as though a bolt had nearly hit her. Whatever it was, it reminded her to keep moving. She turned and hauled me between the railings, keeping a hold on the dagger.
My vision was still spotted, my brain unable to think, but my body was desperate for survival. I found myself clinging to the railing in a last attempt at keeping myself aboard the Bloodhound.
I cried out again for help, but the sound came as a sob, barely audible, stifled by the pain of the gaping hole in my leg.
Nobody came to my rescue. I heard the scuffling sounds of fighting, but my vision was too blotchy to make out whether the blood-covered bodies were people or mermaids. Maybe, at last, we were so outnumbered we could no longer put up a fight against this wasps’ nest of sea demons.
Something told me I was going to die at the hands of this mermaid. I, a warrior of Eriana Kwai, had always been destined to meet the end of my life out here. Death might even be welcome—it would ease the blinding pain shooting through every nerve in my body, and the exhaustion begging me to close my eyes and never wake up.
What would this mermaid do after pulling me into the water? Would she wait until I died to start feasting on my body, or would she tear into my flesh while I was still alive?
My strength was laughable next to hers. My attempts to stop her must have felt like a bump in the deck. But I still gripped the railing with white knuckles until she wrenched my fingers away, leaving me clawing at the edge of the deck.
We couldn’t go down now. Not when we were so close to home. Not when we’d put a bigger dent than ever in Adaro’s army. Not when, finally, I understood what we needed to do to gain back our freedom.
Only I understood too late. I’d always been right to trust Lysi. Trusting her—working with her to take down Adaro—might have been the only way my people could find peace.
The cloudy sky blurred, and I only saw the dark outline of the Bloodhound’s railing against it—and my pale, wet hand slipping away.
“Meela!” Annith’s panicked voice cut through the wind tunnel that’d closed around my ears.
Two hands closed around my wrists. Annith was screaming. Her blood-splattered face appeared through the spots in my vision. The collar of her jacket was mangled. Her hands were void of weapons.
Her fingers locked tight around mine, and I clutched their humanly warmth.
“Hold onto me, Meela!”
I closed my fingers with new determination, focusing on Annith’s hazel eyes with numb shock. The spots in my vision seemed to recede, like my body was giving me every remaining bit of strength, knowing that to pass out would be the end.
“Annith . . .” I tried to speak, but choked on the words.
“I’ve got you. Don’t let go. Help, someone!”
She turned her head to scream at the deck behind her. If someone could just lean over with a crossbow and shoot the mermaid . . .
“Annith,” I said. “I’m not ready.”
We were both sliding now; Annith’s arms hung over the edge, one on either side of a railing. It would have been a good anchor, if only this mermaid wasn’t capable of putting a dent in the railing with her fist if she wanted to.
I knew she had to let go. She wouldn’t be able to hold on, or she’d get dragged in with me.
The demon beneath me made a funny cackling sound, like she found our struggle entertaining.
Our slippery hands were prying apart. I heard Annith’s panicked breathing as we stared desperately at each other, and it felt unmistakably like we were sharing a silent goodbye.
Something hard pressed into my hand, digging through the skin and muscle, pushing at the bone.
Annith’s ring. The ring promising her a lifetime of happiness when she got home.
Comprehension dawned on me like a bucket of seawater. I understood why Kade had let go.
I couldn’t drag Annith in the water with me. She’d tried to save me, but the effort was futile—and this was my death, not hers. My time might have come, but Annith still had a future to live out. I had to let go.
The muscles in my fingers relaxed.
Annith screamed, and her fingers closed tighter around mine. “No!”
But we were falling, and Annith needed to stay alive. I opened my hands, and I let her go, ready to be engulfed by the sea.
Something rammed hard into Annith. It pulled her backwards onto the deck with such speed, I barely had time to process her disappearance. I slipped into the frigid water, but the burning cold only lasted a moment, because something dove over my head and threw me upwards, and the stony fingers no longer clasped my legs.
I tumbled over the railing and onto the deck, retching as the gaping flesh on my leg pulled more painfully than ever.
Beside me, two mermaids slammed into each other. A red-eyed, seaweed-skinned Lysi grabbed my assailant by the throat and pushed her away with enough strength to send the mermaid toppling onto her back. She righted herself quickly, screeching. They charged each other with a sound like two rams colliding, each looking like she was attempting to snap the other’s neck. Lysi pushed the other mermaid back so hard she skidded halfway across the bloody deck.
Again the mermaid charged Lysi, and again they slammed into each other with a resounding crack. But once more, they gripped each other’s throats for only a moment before Lysi threw her back.
The other mermaid collapsed on the deck with a roar of frustration. She tried once more, but her attack was feeble—and at last she cowered. She bared her pointed teeth and made a low hissing sound at Lysi, all the while slinking back towards the railing.
My breathing came out in sobs. I thought I might throw up, or pass out.
Lysi shuffled backwards to where I lay, and bent over me protectively until the other mermaid disappeared over the side of the ship. Then she looked down at me, her chest heaving. Her skin faded back to normal, though her eyes and teeth remained predatory.
She studied my bloody, twisted leg, then scanned the rest of my body before ending on my face.
“Did she break your leg?” she said quietly, still panting.
I gaped at her, unable to form words.
Around us, the ship had fallen silent. A moment passed when Lysi and I stared at each other, and I saw comprehension dawn on her face as my heartbeat ground to a halt. Everyone had seen. Everyone—mermaids and humans—they all knew.
I felt dozens of shocked gazes as the surrounding warriors tried to comprehend what had just happened. We were traitors, both of us. There was no way to try and make excuses now.
At once, three mermaids lunged at us and grabbed Lysi by the arms, hauling her backwards. They dragged her across the deck, shrieking and struggling, leaving me screaming for them to stop.
They disap
peared into the water. I knew screaming after her was only digging me deeper into this rut—but too much damage had already been done. I found myself gasping, trying desperately not to vomit as I stared at the place where they’d disappeared.
A high-pitched cackle sounded behind me, and the rest of the mermaids vanished.
Annith bent over me in the next second.
“Your leg,” she said.
I didn’t look down at it. I couldn’t.
“It hurts,” I said.
“I know.”
She yelled for a tourniquet. Even the thought of a tourniquet made me dizzy. I might have fainted, because next I found myself being carried into the hull by several pairs of hands.
What happened to Lysi? What were the other mermaids doing to her? I choked back an onset of tears that had nothing to do with my leg.
“Give her this.”
Someone forced a bitter powder into my mouth and told me to swallow.
That was when my stomach began to heave. The last thing I remembered was leaning over to vomit. Everything went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Brig
I awoke more than once to a searing pain in my thigh, like someone had lit my bones on fire. Each time, I slammed a hand onto the upturned trunk beside my bed, groped for something to ease the pain, and washed down some powder with dirty water before blacking out again.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed before I came fully awake. I stared at the bunk above mine, trying to envision the stabbing pains in my leg dissolving into thin air—something my mother used to tell me when I was a kid and scratched my knees playing Demon Tag.
The trick didn’t work in the slightest on a laceration this big.
Light shone dimly through the window by my head, so I knew it was daytime. The stench of tar met my nose, along with a strange odour that reminded me of having the flu. The room was quiet, apart from my laboured breaths.
Then, a whisper: “Quick, she’s waking up. Get her legs.”
“Linoya?” My voice sounded like a toad.
I was met with silence, at first.
“Linoya’s dead,” said the voice. “So is Zarra.”
Texas’ face appeared in front of mine. She crossed her arms and glared down at me. “Yet, the traitor lives.”
I tried to sit up, sending a wave of pain into my leg that made me gasp. Blondie and Nora stood at my feet, hands outstretched to grab my legs.
“Looks like Nora wasn’t just trying to—what did you say? Prove some pathetic loyalty?” said Texas.
I spluttered, trying to think of a defence.
Footsteps thundered down the stairs, and Annith appeared beside the girls, frantic.
“Wait,” I said. “Nora?”
Nora squared her shoulders. “I was the one who saw you with that blonde rat. I knew it was just a matter of time before you slipped up and proved it to everyone.”
“I thought . . .” I said, looking past them to Annith.
Annith’s eyes brimmed with tears.
“You thought what?” said Texas. “You’d be able to weasel out of this?”
She nodded to Nora and Blondie.
I raised my fists. “Stay away from me. Anyone steps nearer and I’m not afraid to clobber them.”
She laughed coldly. “I bet you aren’t.”
“Stay back!” My voice broke with panic.
Texas, Nora, and Blondie jumped on me at once, and I swung my fists without restraint. I made contact with a couple of skulls, but in no time they were carrying me up the stairs, Texas and Nora at my arms and Blondie at my legs. Annith shrieked behind them, but whatever fight she put up had no effect.
Stabbing pains shot up my leg and spots bloomed in my vision with each step they took. Any struggling brought me closer to heaving, but I thrashed anyway.
“Listen to me!” I yelled, abandoning pretence. “We’re not going to fix anything with the Massacres. We need to work with the mermaids if we want freedom.”
“Maybe you’d rather go live with the demons,” said Texas. “We’ll happily toss you in. Just say the word.”
“No, Texas!” A rare note of fury shot through Annith’s voice.
“Relax, bucktooth. We’ll just put her in the brig with Dani.”
I screamed, pulling harder against them and kicking my good leg, which connected with Blondie’s shin.
“You can’t put me in there! She’ll kill me!”
“That’s not our problem. We’ve only got one brig, and you’re both a danger to the rest of us.”
I caught a fleeting glimpse of the girls standing guard in the circle as we passed them. Blacktail stepped uncertainly towards us, before a still-screaming Annith blocked my view.
We thumped clumsily down the stairs, and by then my struggling became nothing more than feeble, exhausted writhing.
“Hold her legs still, you idiot!” shouted Texas.
Blondie made a pathetic whimpering sound. “She keeps kicking me!”
“Maybe I should help her with the legs,” said Nora, grunting as I swung my hand up and cuffed her in the face.
“Leave it,” said Texas. “She’s only got one good leg anyw—”
I twisted my body and sent her tripping down the next step; her shoulder and the side of her face stopped her from falling when they smacked into the wall.
“Stop being so weak, Nora!” she shouted. “Hold her up properly!”
“It’s not my fault, Blondie keeps pulling!”
The three of them bickered the whole way down, and I did everything I could to keep smashing them into the walls.
As we reached the bottom step, Dani stood up from her bed. Dishevelled as ever, her hair a pillow of frizz rather than its usual silky mane, she sauntered to the front of her enclosure with a nasty gleam in her eye.
“Nora, don’t let go,” said Texas. “Blondie, drop her legs and open the door.”
“I can’t without her kicking me!”
“Shut up and do it!”
Dani licked her cracked lips, her malicious eyes still fixed on me.
“Would you look what the hounds dragged in,” she said, and the words came out in such a low purr, I wasn’t sure anyone but me heard them over the yelling.
I kicked out as Blondie let me go, confirming her fear as I cracked her hard in the shin. She squealed like a pig.
“Ready, Nora?” said Texas.
“Wait, I—”
Annith jumped in front of us, blocking Dani’s glare. She slammed her back against the bars and roared more loudly than I thought was possible from her soft-spoken mouth.
“Texas, no!”
Everyone shut up and gawked at her. Her eyes were wide and manic, her hair stuck to her clammy face, and her nostrils flared. I’d never in my life seen Annith look this deranged.
“You are not putting Meela in the brig with Dani,” she said through gritted teeth. “Given the way Meela and Dani feel about each other, and what we all know Dani is capable of, I don’t think I need to elaborate.”
Dani chuckled darkly. “Oh, she’ll be—”
“Shut up, Dani!” yelled Annith, and to my surprise, Dani shut up.
Annith paused to take a few breaths. Nobody spoke.
“We’ll compromise,” she said, stepping closer to us. “I know you’re too thick-skulled to leave Meela in her bed—even if that’s where she should be, given her state.”
“So leave her down here, just not with Dani,” said Blacktail. Her boots clicked down the stairs behind us. Her eyes flicked to me briefly, and they were full of confusion and some kind of mixture of distrust and pity. “Doesn’t matter what she did—you’re not stuffing her in with someone who . . .”
She clenched her jaw, seemingly unable to finish the sentence. She stepped between the brig and me, next to Annith. Neither of them would meet my eye.
I kept my mouth shut, feeling like anything I said would only make this worse for myself.
Texas towered over Annith and Blacktai
l, looking like she was nowhere near backing down. “If we don’t lock her up, she’s going to keep sneaking around and making plans with her demon friend. So move aside, or you’ll both be next.”
“She’s not going anywhere if you leave her out of the brig!” said Annith. “She can’t even get up the stairs on her own.”
“You’re outnumbered,” said Nora, but her voice wavered.
Annith pointed at the stairs. “Go up and ask the other girls for their opinions! I bet none of them want Meela shoved in the brig with that mental-case, either.”
“Ouch,” said Dani. “That’s no way to speak to your—”
“I said shut up!”
Texas, Nora, and Blondie exchanged a glance. They loosened their grip on me and I slid to the floor, which turned out to be ankle-deep in water. Murky with tar, it sloshed across the hull as the ship bobbed through the waves.
For a moment, I thought they were giving up, but then Texas brought a fist back and swung hard at Annith’s face. I shouted, but Annith was quick. She ducked under Texas’ arm and ran into her stomach like a charging bull; Texas grunted at the impact, then they both splashed into the greasy water.
“Stuff her in,” shouted Texas between punches.
Annith screamed, punching Texas everywhere she could, but Texas had both height and width on Annith and soon Annith was pinned down in the water. It splashed over her face and she coughed as some of it swelled into her mouth.
I was shocked into silence, having never seen Annith like this. Then reality hit me and I pulled myself through the sludge, screaming at Texas to get off her.
Nora and Blondie picked me up by the arms and dragged me backwards. I roared, thrashing against them with everything I had.
“Get off! She could drown! Blacktail, help her!”
Blacktail had been standing back, seeming uncertain, but when she saw Texas’ full weight on Annith’s tiny body, something snapped, and she jumped on Texas’ back.
Nora and Blondie still hauled me backwards. I glanced over my shoulder. They’d opened the door to the brig.
“No!” I yelled. “Dani’s going to esc—”
Dani was already lunging for freedom. Where she planned on going, I had no idea—but we couldn’t let her loose on the ship with access to crossbows and daggers.
