“No. But, since your friends have been going out of their way to tiptoe around the topic, I just followed their lead. We’re on the eve of the final team event. I need to be sure you’re okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You know, it is what it is.” I had to keep wiping sweat from my face. My body was dangerously overheated. God, I hope I don’t faint because, the way we’re positioned, I’d face-plant in Jex’s lap. I could never live that down.
“I am sorry.”
“No you’re not,” I said, laughing for the first time in weeks.
“Yeah, you’re right, I’m not.”
“I haven’t cried.”
“Over the breakup, you mean?”
Nodding, I said, “Is there something wrong with me? I hurt. I feel it. Sometimes, I even feel the sobs welling up. But, it never comes out.”
Jex wiped away a bead of sweat running down the side of my face. “You’re too hot.” With a swirl of his finger, a golden bucket of ice and gray cloth appeared at his side. He placed a few ice cubes in the cloth and gently wiped it along my face. “Crying isn’t a simple emotion—it has purpose. It comes from the soul.”
“Maybe I’ve had enough crying in my life.”
“Tears are a way of saying goodbye, of releasing. They free you. Too many humans see crying as a sign of weakness, so they fight the urge, not realizing they’re opening the soul to evils just waiting for a way in. When it’s ready, you will cry. Don’t fight it.”
“Well, it may not happen for a while,” I said, as he added more ice to the cloth. “I’m too irked about—”
“The fire match?”
“The prom.” Shoot me.
“Prom, eh? Left you without a date, did he?” said Jex. “As always, scale-y has the timing of a tick.”
“I don’t even know why I’m thinking about it. It’s not like I care that much. Guess I sort of craved the idea of one classic high school moment from start to finish, like you see in movies and stuff—no monsters, no worries, no memories of needles or institution hell.” I shrugged my shoulders, a sudden flush of foolishness making me laugh at myself. “Stupid, really. I’m being completely shallow, huh?”
Jex paused, staring hard into my eyes. “Not stupid. Not shallow. So, are you still going, then? To the prom?”
“For my mom’s sake, yeah. She didn’t think high school, much less prom, was possible, given my whole institution stint. It would make her happy to see me go to the prom, date or no date.”
“How’s she handling demon-Troy?”
“Not well. Even though she’s sad about how things have ended up, Mom’s found some peace in our breakup. Of course, she’d never admit it. Anyway, Gully, Polly, and Maile are dateless. On the bright side, a certain wizard wonder boy made the stag tag pretty epic, so…”
Jex grinned. “He made a lot of things epic, even glasses. Can never tease the four-eyed bunch again. Know how challenging that is for the likes of me?”
“That explains why you haven’t been all over Maile’s stylish spectacles.”
“It’s been like holding hot coals to my nether region,” he said, playfully gritting his teeth.
Crying might be a release, but so was laughing, and it felt fantastic. Standing and stretching, I said, “I should get home. Thanks for the ice…and the laughs.” I lightly punched him in the wing, and…he flipped me onto my back, once again pinning me to the ground. “Son of a bitch!”
“Just testing the stop, drop, and roll on you.”
“Cute.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. Can never be off-guard, Savior.”
“One of these days, I totally vow to be on top of you,” I growled.
“An angel can hope,” he said, helping me up.
I tripped over my own feet and fell against him; our mouths were barely an inch apart. “I’d better get some sleep.”
“Right, yeah,” he said, studying my face.
The heat coming off of him was exhilarating, and though my body awakened, my heart felt nothing but sorrow and longing for the one who was no longer mine. “I’m going now.”
“Going now would be in everyone’s best interest.”
“Yep. Night. See ya tomorrow at the stadium.”
“Sweet dreams, Savior.”
Damn.
*****
Stadium, final team match, fire element.
“Should’ve known they’d turn up the creepy for the final team match,” I said.
“This is more than creepy,” said Jex. “Bad inklings are tickling my feathers.”
Lava rocks replaced both team benches, and the stadium was in the shape of a towering volcano, crackling flames circling the upper rim. Fans, judges, the band, and Kori sat in frozen, glowing lava seats carved into the walls of the volcano. The judge’s section shifted, parting from the volcano like an old drawer.
“Personally, I find the setting sensuously serene,” said Polly, eyeing Jex.
Kori, in an extremely low-cut orange gown, stepped up to a flaming red and yellow microphone. “It’s time for the final team match of the Overfalls, and y’all better listen up, because the rules are about to change. In this challenge, teammates will be allowed to work together. Teammates will need to help each other in order to get past…the other team.”
“Oh, you’re kidding,” I whispered, staring over at Airianna, who had her worry-brows in full effect. Troy stared at the sky, then at our bench, but his eyes weren’t on me. Meikle patted her bag, to which Troy acknowledged with a quick nod. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Meikle lied. “Don’t worry about it.”
Right, because not worrying was such an easy thing for me.
“Both teams will battle each other to save an innocent hostage. Madame Helena,” said Kori, offering the stage to the Head Hoodooess.
“Jex, what are they up to?” I asked.
“Haven’t a bloody clue, Savior.” He sounded concerned, and that unnerved me. “Just make sure you all coordinate your powers. They’ll be stronger together.”
Madame Helena rose from her seat, rounded the judge’s table, and smiled like a crocodile at the crowd. Raising her hands, she spoke in an odd language, ending with the words, “Hostages be held.”
Jex made a strange grunting sound; before anyone knew what was happening, both Jex and Margaretta spun through the air in opposite directions; their bodies crashed against the stadium with a disturbing thump. Bands of lava wrapped around their wrists and ankles, holding them high above the ground; their screams were those of profound agony. I stood up, as did my team, ready to save our coach.
“Not yet, Marina,” said Madame Helena. “Your coaches can withstand the pain…for a time. Team Merpeople, take your place in front of Jex—make it impossible for the Normals to get their coach back. Normals, try to block Katrina Zale and her merps. Bodily injury is permitted. Anything short of death is a go. Watch for weapons along the way; they may help in your rescue mission.”
“Huddle up,” I said. “Focus first on taking down our enemies—Katrina, Muriel—”
“Irving,” Polly added.
“Shut up, Polly, I swear,” said Ophelia, her voice shaking.
“Just create paths,” I said, frowning. “Gully, stay behind us—you’ll see a path to Jex open up before we do—tell us where it is by calling the names of merps we need to take out. Go easy on those we love, whether we agree with those choices or not. Got it Polls?” Polly rolled her eyes, but agreed. “Three of us need to stay midfield to guard our end. The rest of us will get Jex.”
“Marina, you need to help Jex. I’m best at blocking,” said Trey. “Think Polls would be a great distraction, and Gully would be my early warning system, letting me know which paths they might take.”
“Sounds good. Meeks and Ophelia can help me save Jex. Okay. Let’s do this. Oh, and one more thing…Katrina’s mine.”
We stood before Margaretta, her body twitching from the pain, and faced our opponents poised beneath Jex at the opposite end of the
field. In mere seconds, friends would fight friends, loves would fight loves, and the conscience would fight the memories of today forevermore.
Though I lined up opposite Katrina, the wimpy little bitch switched places with Troy at the last minute. Even from this far away, Troy and I locked eyes in sad resignation.
“The first team to free their coach wins the match! Ready? Three, two…FIGHT!” screamed Madame Helena.
We started running towards each other; cannons manned by demons fired large orange fireballs at us.
“POLLS! CATCH THE FIRE! MAKE WEAPONS!” I shouted, barely dodging one of the blasts.
Polly masterfully caught several of the blazing beasts and turned them into a powerful fireball launcher; wasting no time, Polly aimed the launcher at the demons, sending them heading for cover or turning them into ash with each successful strike.
“Gully! Stay behind us!” I screamed.
Nearing the midway point, Katrina, Muriel, and Irving created six massive silver snow orbs.
“We’ll be sleeping beauties if those hit us!” Encapsulating two with a gel shield and aiming them out of the stadium, I shouted, “Ophelia, freeze the rest!”
Ophelia stopped them in their blazing tracks.
“I’ll finish these,” shouted Trey. Morphing into a hurricane-strength gust of wind, Trey sent the orbs soaring over the top of the stadium. He landed in human form, right in step with us, laughing.
Muriel managed to scoot by Polly, who was manically taking out demon after demon with her fireball launcher; I quickly deflected Muriel’s progress with a shield, knocking her clear off her feet.
As our teams were about to clash, solar flares shot out from the sides of the field; there was no time to react. Before I knew what had happened, I was rolling on the ground beneath the deadly flares, entangled in someone’s arms. When the sizzling sound of the flames disappeared, I opened my eyes to find Troy above me, his left hand beneath my head, gently protecting my neck. Amazing, how a feeling so wonderful can be so painful.
“KATRINA! IRVING!” screamed Gully, surveying the field, her attention now focused on the leftmost side.
“MARINA!” Meikle, busy blocking Muriel and Benji, pointed to Katrina, who was already heading for Margaretta.
“Want a hand?” asked Troy, smirking.
“Do it,” I said. With one fantastic swing, Troy hurled me across the field. I landed like a panther right in front of Katrina, her shocked face making this all the more pleasurable. Pointing to my red hair, I snarled, “Red means stop.” POW! BOOM! I slammed her in the gut with two gel shields.
“Marina, go! Now!” shouted Gully. Her hair was soaked with blood.
I took off, flying past Trey, who just stopped Airianna’s progress by tossing her backwards (making sure he created a cloud to catch her); Meikle soon joined me, her arms covered in cuts; I started to call for Ophelia when Irving lassoed her legs with a spiked chain; he started swinging her around and around and was dangerously close to bashing her skull against a lava rock. I hastily blew up the rock, cut the chain, and had a gel shield scoop her up and carry her past the battle line. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Troy approaching Margaretta, and Katrina was nearly done peeling free from the gel shields.
Once Meikle, Ophelia, and I got to the base of the wall, Jex cried out, “M-move!”
“Geez, be all demand-y, why don’t you?” I grumbled.
“Christ, Savior! D-don’t mean hurry-move…I mean MOVE!”
An area of wall beneath Jex slid open; leaping out of the dark was a three-headed creature with the tail of a snake, the midsection of a goat that closely resembled an undead dragon, and the front of a lioness, its eyes dripping blood.
“Oh suck.”
“What the hell is that?!” screamed Ophelia.
“Chimera,” said Meikle. “What? I read more than spell books.” Just then, the lion swung its monstrous claw, knocking Meikle sideways.
“MEEKS!”
“Bitch clawed my bag!” Though her bag took the brunt of the Chimera’s strike, it didn’t seem to tear. Dodging the snapping snake-tail, Meikle screamed, “FREEZE IT!”
Ophelia tried, but to no avail. “It won’t freeze! Blow it up!”
Just as I tried to blast the thing, the snake spit slime all over its body. Every time I tried blowing it up, nothing happened. “That slime made it immune to the boom.” And the gel shield was completely useless—it either melted on contact or exploded with a single stare from the lion’s bloody eyes. “We need a—holy crap!” I yelled, dodging a crazy, wavy flame erupting from the mouths of all three heads. “Fire! It breathes fire!”
“Buy me time while I think of a spell!” Meikle stood back, occasionally tossing a tripping curse towards the lion’s paws, while Ophelia and I ran around like jackasses, trying to avoid being bitten, sprayed with venom, clawed, or burned.
“OH!” Ophelia soared backwards; the goat kicked her hard in the stomach. Now, it was just me and the Chimera.
“Any day, Meeks!” I screamed, leaping over the swinging snake’s head, barely escaping the goat’s kicks, and rolling beneath bursts of fire, some of which scorched my arms and neck.
“Almost got it!”
Suddenly, something flew over our heads, crashed to the ground in front of us, and rolled right up to the feet of the Chimera.
“Oh God.” It was Airianna. “AIRI!” She was unconscious. The lion roared and lowered its jaws towards Airianna. “NO!” Knowing neither of my powers would protect her, I ran for her—sliding beneath the rapidly descending jaws, I shoved Airianna out of the way—the next sensation I felt was that of teeth piercing my waist and stomach. The pain was immeasurable.
“MARINA!” shouted Ophelia, running for the beast and kicking the lion in the jaws, dislodging two of its fangs.
“Got it! Marina, Ophelia, use your powers when I say fire!” shouted Meikle.
Just before she started her spell, I spotted a small piece of parchment clipped to the lion’s left paw. I removed the paper and found a frantically scribbled note: Rewind & scroll down to the path once traveled.
“To force my course upon the mane, may fire be your pain; hear my plea, let our powers be stronger than thee.”
And with the word ‘fire,’ Meikle’s spell forced the Chimera to breathe flames; Ophelia quickly froze the blazes; gathering as much energy as possible, I hit the frozen fires protruding from the creature’s open mouths with my blasting power—the fire exploded, causing the three-headed beast to burst into a cloud of black soot.
“We did it!” shouted Ophelia.
“H-have to get Jex,” I said, scraping myself along the ground, trying to stay conscious. “Ophelia, check on Airi.”
“Marina, stay still,” said Meikle. She scooped up a handful of the black soot, formerly known as the Chimera, and sprinkled it on my gushing bite.
“SON OF A—” It burned like freaking hell! Just as quickly, however, the wound closed up and stopped hurting.
“Uh, son of a what, now?” said Meikle, smirking and holding a hand to her ear.
“We’ll talk about your genius later. For now, I’ve got to get Jex,” I said, feeling totally energized.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Katrina, Troy, and Irving still fighting their Chimera, while Gully continued shouting paths for Trey and Polly to block, keeping Benji and Muriel clear of Margaretta. Not certain whether Savior speed works when climbing, I carefully, albeit slowly, started my way up the volcanic-like wall.
“Aw, Savior, you’re k-killin’ me,” said Jex, breathing heavily. “For the sake of all God’s unholy creatures, turn on the bloody speed!”
Okay, so Savior speed works when climbing. How the hell was I supposed to know? “Close your eyes,” I said, once I reached him. Once I blasted his lava restraints, Jex soared off the wall. Unfortunately, his wing knocked me clean off.
“Savior, Savior,” said Jex, swooping underneath me. “Always making me hold you.”
“You complaining about ho
w I saved you?”
“Trust me, Savior, I’ve got no complaints…about anything,” he said, landing gently as a large conch blew in the distance.
“NORMALS WIN!” shouted Kori.
Shockingly, the crowd actually erupted in applause. Sneaking a glance at Queen Zale in the royal box, I smiled—her furious eyes surveying the fans said everything I needed to know, for the Normals not only won the match, we won the crowd, including Merpeople.
“Nice kick to the beastie, Ophelia. Welcome to the party, little ninja,” said Jex, patting Ophelia on the back.
“Thanks,” she said, just before her eyes glazed over and she passed out.
“Wake her up, Meeks,” said Jex, laughing.
“Now that your coach is free and safe…team Merpeople, you did a nice job,” said Kori. “You were just a little late in defeating the Chimera. I think we can all agree both teams have shown tremendous strength, talent, and courage through these most challenging matches. But what I love to see is the mutual admiration contestants have for one another. I saw Prince Troy protect Marina from the flames; Trey cushion Airianna’s fall with a handmade cloud—by the way, Airi, we’re glad you’re okay after Irving’s silver snow bomb misfire; and we saw Marina spare Airianna from a vicious Chimera bite, taking the painful attack for herself. It’s this kind of camaraderie that honors Poseidon’s vision for the Overfalls, and one we should all celebrate.” Kori’s words brought the crowd to their feet.
“Never thought the fans would ever celebrate us,” I said.
“Never thought Kori was so articulate,” said Jex. “Of course, her words were limited to ‘yes’ and ‘Oh Poseidon’ during our encounter.”
“And now for the final team results.” Kori retrieved the envelope from a scowling Mr. Smarmy. “Team Normals…you have just increased your lead to twenty-three points!”
Our hoots and hollers were surprisingly on par with that of the crowd. I’d be lying if I didn’t say the cheers felt awfully good.
“Okay, okay, y’all calm down! We have another announcement…Madame Helena.” Kori bowed to the crowd and handed the microphone to Madame Helena.
OVERFALLS (The Merworld Water Wars, Book 2) Page 34
