by Michelle Fox
"I think we should move." I nodded to the left corner of the compound where the building we'd entered when we first arrived stood. "Let's head that way. Maybe if we can get inside, we'll be safe."
"He uses that building for meetings," she said, her tail rippling as she propelled herself across the grass. "It should be empty."
Just as she finished speaking, there was a groan as the earth rent itself apart right in the spot we'd been standing. I began to run before I even saw the second worm, catching Siya's elbow as I went and dragging her with me. Looking over my shoulder, I bit back a scream as the second worm streamed out of the ground in a series of what seemed like unending loops.
Bigger than the first worm, it moved faster too. Zeroing in on us as we ran, it zoomed in our direction. Palm tree trunks cracked in half as its body rammed into them and its movement ate up grass, ripping it up by the root and leaving nothing but sandy dirt behind.
"I'm not sure we're going to make it," I panted to Siya as I tried to double our speed.
"Sing to it," she panted back.
Nodding. I let her go and dove to the left, moving away from her. The worm couldn't chase both of us, so splitting up seemed to be a good idea. Plus, if my song didn't work, I was pretty sure the worm would find me by my singing and toss me down its throat. There was no point in making Siya a victim, too.
I ducked behind a large bush dotted with massive red flowers and let my song fly free. I filled it with as much volume and magic as I could. I'd never tried to song cast anything as large as the worms before. It might not even work. But I had to try, and I'd better make it happen because now a third worm had joined the other two and all three of them had their heads turned in my direction.
Throwing note after note at them, I edged away from the bush, frantically looking for a safe place to hide. As big as those worms were, though, I would have to be invisible to get away from them. Even if I made it inside a building, I wasn't so sure they wouldn't come exploding through the floor anyway.
Siya kept shimmying away, moving faster than I would have expected. She aimed for the building, sticking to our original plan. It was up to me to keep the worms too busy to notice. The most powerful emotion in the world was love, so I sang to their hearts...if they had them.
People would go to war for love. They would hate others because of who they loved. They tore apart the world for love. If I could make these worms fall in love with the right thing, they wouldn't care about me or Siya anymore.
For several long seconds, I didn't think it would work. The worms moved toward me in unison, and I thought I'd failed. But then they paused and reared back. Their mouths opened and the windy howl I'd heard at the appearance of the first worm filled the air. They were listening, I could tell that much, but where should they focus their love?
The palm trees, I decided after a second of deliberation. Let them tie themselves in knots around the trunks. So that's what I sang to them. First, they were still, then they swayed in time with my song and finally the worms headed for the trees. Their deep howl gave way to cooing chirps as they threaded themselves through the palm trees.
They ran out of trees pretty quick and resorted to threading around, through and over each other, trying to claim as many trees as they could for themselves. The chirps gave way to howling, and they started to slam into each other's heads, fighting for the trees.
I backed away slowly, not wanting to catch their attention. When I'd put some distance between us, I turned and ran.
Within seconds I caught up to Siya. Legs definitely held the advantage on land. Underwater, though, a tail did better than any pair of legs.
"Hurry," I said, urging her on with a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm doing my best. Maybe if I had some of those..." She looked my legs up and down.
"Sorry. I-I didn't think to bring some for you." Shame filled me. I hadn't planned my rescue attempt well. I was a fool. Remembering Niall, though, I brightened. As fools went, I had some luck with me. If only it would show up. Squinting, I studied the sky as we ran, looking for the shape of a dragon.
There'd been one earlier. Where had it gone?
I let out a loud 'whoop' when Alec's copper dragon swooped toward us. Sara leaned down and waved at us as he whooshed overhead. Even the worms noticed, pausing in their fight over the palm trees to look up. One spewed the yellow liquid at him, and I held my breath until Alec dodged it. After seeing what the stuff had done to the plants and trees, I knew how dangerous it was.
"Dragons?" Siya asked.
"It's a long story," I said. "Come on we're almost to the..." I trailed off realizing I didn't know what to call it. House didn't work and my language skills didn't give me anything I recognized.
"We just call it the house by the gate," Siya said. "We name all the buildings after their location or by what they have. I was in the pool house. The giants lived in the giant house."
"He had a house for giants?"
"Well, it's not a true house. More just a roof and tent canvas. They always complained about how small and hot it was. I think he tried to shrink them a bit, but it didn't work."
"Shrink them with what?"
"Pixie. Everything he did, he took something from us and tried to mix it with someone else."
"What did he do when the shifter left?"
"He told me he would get another one to mate with me. And he kept trying to steal my magic. He wanted to sing like us and breathe underwater."
"Did it work?"
She shook her head and pointed to her tail, showing me bald spots. "He took a lot of scales, but nothing ever happened. I think because I don't have my tongue. If I can't sing, how can he take my songs?"
"I don't think magic is in our bodies," I said. "It's in our spirits. I bet you can still sing."
Siya shot me a skeptical look, but didn't say anything.
Just as we reached the door to the house by the gate, a roar sounded behind us. My sister and I turned in unison to see what it was. Had another beast in this forsaken misery of a menagerie come to attack us? Thankfully, no new nasty waited for us. It was Alec, throwing streams of fire at the worms.
Black smoke poured off their bodies as the dragon's flame ate at their flesh. They reared up, howling and spitting fluid, but the fire moved faster than they could react—partly because Alec kept lobbing more and more fire at them.
The worms fell to the ground with a thud that shook the earth all the way to where we stood. Their red skin had turned black with ash and split with an audible crack as it gave way. Wet innards spilled out, flooding the lawn by their bodies. A stench worse than any dead fish soured the air.
Covering my mouth and nose with a hand, I opened the door into the house, a low, squat building covered in white stucco. Air conditioning hummed as it sent cool air to greet us. For the first time, I felt the heat of the desert. The pixies and worms had kept me from noticing.
"Sit down." I gestured to the sofa that sat against the wall.
"What are we going to do?"
"Wait for the dragons. Then kill the sheik."
Chapter Ten
"I don't think so." The sheik strolled into the room from the far recesses of the building, a large gun in his hand. He aimed it at Siya and pulled the trigger. The world moved slower than I had ever seen it before, but my brain raced, fast as a hurricane.
"No!" I knew I screamed the word, but all I could hear was the loud sound the gun made as it launched death at my sister.
Siya cowered on the couch, not even trying to save herself. Anger flooded me. I'd worked so hard to rescue her, risked so much, gone through danger and she was just giving up? No. I couldn't accept that.
Flexing my legs, I jumped, praying they had the same strength as my tail and would propel me across the room. My feet left the ground, and my body flew toward the couch. I landed just in front of Siya, and without even thinking, threw my body over hers.
Slipping my arms around Siya, I rolled us both to the floor just in ti
me. The bullet buried itself in the wall above us, releasing a cloud of dust as it burrowed into the building.
The sheik came to stand over me, his gun pointed at my head. "Normally I prefer to keep my specimens alive, but autopsies are also useful. I haven't allowed myself dead bodies in a while. It's just a question of what I want to ruin. Your brain or," he moved the gun so it pointed at my chest, "your heart? Which one is less valuable? Which one will tell me why you have legs and she does not?"
"Siya," I sang to my sister in our native language. "Your tail. The couch. Now."
She nodded that she understood me, and while she moved her tail fins into position, I tried to keep the sheik busy.
"There are more of us than there are of you," I said. Then I started a war song, one that would twist his guts into knots and force blood into his brain until it burst.
But I'd forgotten how much the sheik knew about my kind. He dropped to his knees and covered my mouth with his hand. "We'll have none of that." Pushing the gun against my jaw, he said," One more note and I pull the trigger."
My song died on my lips and I bit him instead.
He hissed in pain and snatched back his hand. Blood dripped from where my teeth had punctured his skin. With the taste of him soiling my tongue, I threw my song at him, too angry to make it coherent. Dark, angry notes flew out of me like a storm made of the kind of darkness shadows feared. This human had hurt my sister and dared to threaten me. He would die for that.
The sheik grunted as my magic sought to tear him apart. Staggering, he collapsed to his knees. Fear shined in his eyes, a light that couldn't be trusted. I worked to get my feet under me so I could hit him with more than my song. I wanted to crunch my fists against his bones and feel them crumble under my knuckles.
As I stood up and gained my balance—I still had trouble coordinating my legs—the sheik raised the gun. At first, I didn't worry about him shooting me. My song was tearing him apart, and he lost as much ground as he gained every time he tried to stand up. Keeping the weapon trained on me was nearly impossible.
But he took a shot before I could reach him and take the gun away. The bullet shrieked into the room, it's voice silenced only when it plunged into my thigh. I screamed as pain burst in my leg.
As a child, I'd been grabbed by a great squid. The suckers had locked on me like barnacles, and the squid wouldn't let go, no matter how my father and mother beat it with their tails. Eventually my parents cut the tentacles to free me, but even then, breaking the seal on the suckers had hurt like nothing I'd ever felt—until now.
I dropped to one knee, silenced by the pain and unable to breathe because of it.
"Mila," my sister called out behind me, her garbled voice full of worry.
Wincing, I forced my hand to move and cover the wound, applying pressure. "I'll be fine." I ground out the words.
"No. You won't. I had hoped I could handle you with your tongue, but I can see now that was wishful thinking." The sheik advanced on me. He looked pale, and sweat poured down his face. My magic had made its mark on him. "Normally I would have the staff put you down, but this time I will do it myself."
Two things happened at once. As the sheik's finger pressed on the trigger, Siya shouted 'No!' and heaved the couch into the air with her tail. It sailed over my head and slammed into the sheik who staggered back and then fell. He lost hold of his gun. It slid across the tiled floor, coming to a stop at my feet.
We all froze for a moment, everyone's minds working to adjust to everything that had just changed. Then, pain screaming through my thigh, I bent down and picked up the gun. The sheik groaned from underneath the couch, but didn't move.
Dragging my injured leg behind me, I went and lifted the couch with one hand. It was small and the ocean had made me strong. The sheik's glazed eyes met mine although I didn't think he really saw me. No matter. He knew who was taking his life.
With clumsy movements, I kneeled beside him and pushed his gun into the side of his head. I could have sung him to death and that certainly held some attraction, but it would take time. Human guns were so much faster.
I pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed loud as thunder and blood sprayed out of the other side of the sheik's head. He'd been mid-breath when I shot him and his body finished exhaling and then went still. The man who'd sent the slavers after my sister was dead.
Throwing back my head, I sang a scale of triumph. Our enemy had been defeated. Then my own wound caught up to me and I found myself falling to the ground, which even though I was halfway there already, suddenly looked so very far away.
***
Sweet, cool air fanned over my face, and I drank it in, relishing its fresh scent.
"Lass?" Someone shook me as a familiar burr sent a shiver up my spine.
I opened my eyes and found a hazel gaze waiting for me. "Alec."
"Are you all right, lass?"
I pushed myself up onto an elbow. "What happened?" I gasped as pain exploded through my leg. Shoving my hand into the wound, using pressure to chase the pain away, I said, "Never mind. I remember."
"You're bleeding. Take it easy. We'll find you a doctor." This came from Sara whose worried face peered at me over Alec's wide shoulders.
I shook my head. "No. No two legs."
"The bullet's in your leg. Maybe even in your bone," Sara said. "We have to get it out."
"I know." I pointed to Alec. "You take it out."
Alec raised both his hands and eased his large frame back. "Lass, I ken fire, not the way of bullets."
"I'll heal. Just do it." I looked around the room. Someone had righted the couch and put me on it. The sheik's body had disappeared and Alec leaned against the wall, a series of small wounds on his arms oozing blood. Fatigue lined his face and made his eyes heavy, although I didn't care about that. I was looking for something else. "Where's Siya?"
"Siya?" Sara asked.
I frowned. "My sister. She was here. Where did she go?"
"You were alone when we found you," Sara said.
"Did you hear me?" I pointed to the ear piece.
"Something went wrong with the equipment. There was a lot of interference," Sara said. "We didn't get much of anything."
"We heard snippets of your voice and nothing from Niall," Alec said.
The door opened and we all tensed wondering who it was. Alec widened his legs and curled his hands into fists.
Siya called out to me. "Mila? Are you awake? I'm back."
Relief flooded me. I hadn't lost my sister yet again."Where did you go?" I asked.
"I went to get help."
"All I need is a sharp knife and a song," I said. "I've pulled fishing hooks out of my tail more times than I can count. This isn't any different."
The thump-thump-fwap of Siya's tail hitting the tile sounded as she made her way down the short hallway at the entrance and into the room. The furrow across her brow melted with relief when she saw that I was awake. A small being trailed behind her, walking with a limp. A red cap sat on its head and a loose shirt hung over its thin body. The shirt reached down to its knees and the legs underneath were bare. Whorls spun in their dusky skin, like knots in trees. For a second time, I had no word for whatever this being was.
"This is Kollox," Siya said. "He's a healer."
Kollox swept off his red hat and bowed. "Pleased to be of service to you."
Alec and Sara looked at me confused, which was how I realized he wasn't speaking English.
"Meet Kollox. My sister says he's a healer of some kind. He says Hi," I said, deciding his greeting didn't need more detailed translation than that.
"What is he?" Sara asked.
"A gnome," Siya said. "He helped me with my tongue when I first came here. My wound became infected."
I translated what she'd said for everyone. Then, to Siya I said, "What does he know of bullets?"
She shrugged. "He's better than any two leg. I know that much."
Kollox came over to me and swatted my hand away from my
wound. With long, bony fingers he prodded the bullet entrance, ignoring my gasps of pain. His dark eyes met mine. "You sing, yes?" He chirped his question in his native tongue.
It took a moment for my ear to translate his words and I nodded once I understood his question.
"So sing away the pain."
"It works better when someone else does it," I said, pointing to my sister with my chin. "I was hoping she would sing for me." I squared my shoulders and steeled myself, knowing she wouldn't like that.
"No." My sister backed up until she was pressed against the wall. "I can't."
"You haven't tried, " I said, responding in English. "Or would you rather let me die?"
"You won't die," Kollox said in his chirping gnome language. "But it's better if you don't feel the pain. It slows healing."
"Can we all just speak one language?" asked Sara. "Things are confusing enough."
Kollox frowned at her over his shoulder. "I not speak your words good."
"I can translate," I said. "And my sister is doing the best she can."
Sara gave an exasperated sigh. "Okay. Fine. So what's happening?"
"The gnome is going to dig the bullet out of my skin, same as I would, but he doesn't care about how much it hurts," I said.
"I'm faster than you, though," he said with a baleful glare.
Ignoring him, I focused on my sister. "Please? Will you at least try? So I can heal and we can get out of here? Don't you want to go home?" The gnome unhelpfully poked at my wound again, squeezing a strangled yelp from me.
My sister's eyes widened. "Who will want me like this?" She whispered the question and gestured to her mouth. "I can't mate with anyone. Kark—"
"I don't care about Kark," I said, interrupting here. "I want you. Look, I can't promise things will go back to how they were, but I can bring you home, and I will kill the slavers. After that, if Kark doesn't want us and if the Northern mer won't accept you, then we'll form our own tribe. I'll make our own happy ending if I have to." I glanced down at my wound, watching as scarlet blood seeped up from the ragged bullet entrance and dripped down my leg. "Help me heal so I can help you. It's always been the two of us, Siya. Please don't give up on that. Not yet."
