Salt & Venom (Blood, Bloom, & Water Book 2)

by Amy McNulty

  “Ivy, just calm down,” said Ember. “Just say you surrender and we’ll let you go.”

  “No!” I shouted, and I brought my foot down hard on hers. She let out a yelp and dropped my hand.

  “Ember, wait,” said Dean. “Stay in the chain. I can’t hold it much longer—”

  Ember went still mid-movement, her face contorted with pain. I didn’t wait to be marveled by her joining the stillness around us. I kicked Dean’s shin. He didn’t flinch, so I yanked on my arm and kicked harder, higher up, wishing I still had my boots on.

  “What do you have in that bag?” asked Dean and I realized with a start that the top of the bag had become unlatched, that the orb was rolling out.

  I summoned the cold to my freed right hand, fighting through the sizzling of Ember’s lingering heat on my skin.

  Dean’s face contorted. “Calm down or you’re just going to make this harder—”

  I shot the ice at him and he dodged, but it still skirted his shoulder. He dropped my wrist and the world came to life.

  The echoing sounds of the games in the arcade were the first things to assault my senses, though I had to shake my head to snap it back to reality, like my brain was still caught in whatever that unnatural stillness had been.

  The vampire power. The explanation for their apparent speed.

  “No!” snarled Ember again and she grabbed my wrist, then the world went still and heavy—but just for a fraction of a moment, like it was all an illusion. Ember’s face was screwed up in concentration, but it was clear her power was still new to her. Her lips peeled back to reveal a set of fangs elongating from her incisors.

  “Get off!” I yanked away, darting past Dean as he lunged for me, bolting for the dark arcade.

  I looked over my shoulder to see if my merfolk were too far behind—they were across the way still back at the golf course, a crowd of people forming between them and me as the curious went to take a look at the go-kart crash. Not to mention the sunglasses-wearing driver who still stalked toward them as if he hadn’t just put a hole in the fence around the go-kart track.

  As my head whipped around, a shiver ran down my spine. Atop a vintage restored car in the lot nearby sat the redheaded woman, whom I realized was Union High’s new “principal.” I wondered how the bloodsuckers had woven their way into positions at the school like that. But flashbacks of those memories I’d stolen—of the redhaired woman demanding the room’s attention, like a court enraptured with their queen—shot through me, lending some weight to her power. She was a woman who got what she wanted. To an unnatural degree.

  And right now, she wanted me.

  “Rain!” said Dean, but I didn’t hear more aside from the curse escaping his lips as I slipped inside the darkness.

  I repositioned the backpack in front of me, clutching the orb tightly as I wove around blasting arcade machines and families playing Skee-Ball.

  “…crash at the go-kart track,” said a guy holding a basketball and tossing it in his hands. He flung it and scored a point by getting it through the basket.

  “Anyone hurt?” asked the woman next to him.

  “I don’t know. Ambulances are probably on their way.”

  As if in answer to his statement, the faint sound of sirens punctuated the noise of the arcade.

  Grinding to a halt, I checked left and right. What was the plan? Rain pounded overhead, a slight tinny sound to the water droplets as they hit the roof. The doors had been propped open, the light even from an overcast day pouring in, making those brighter areas by the door less hospitable to a vampire afraid of the light. Then again, with their sunglasses, it seemed to make little difference to them.

  But if it was raining, the arcade was the only form of shelter.

  Dean and Ember appeared in one door, the slight, almost-imperceptible tinge of smoke sizzling off Dean’s form. In the other appeared yet another vampire I recognized from the pool and back at that empty house.

  Principal Horne was nowhere to be seen.

  And to my left, deep within the darkness of the arcade, I caught sight of three sets of blue, glowing eyes.

  Think. I bounced in place. Find Dad and Autumn. Get out of here. Pray Calder and the others make it here before the vampires get hold of me again.

  Picking up my feet, I started moving, my mind racing through the types of games Autumn liked when she went to these things, but I was drawing a blank. The raucous rumble of thunder overhead raised my shackles on end, my mind filling with the desire to just crawl between a nearby Skee-Ball machine and a wall to hide.

  I didn’t know how good a look Dean had gotten at the orb, but it would do little good to let them know I had it when I had no backup and nowhere to run—they’d just gleefully grab both me and it at once and thwart the merfolk plan entirely.

  I should have never agreed to bring it along.

  The top of the mini backpack was still undone. I scrambled to shut it when I noticed something off. Red, blue… green.

  I took the orb out of the bag. The caked-on mud had scuffed off in one small section, the green glow coming from there.

  Not caring about Orin’s request or anything, really, I used my nail to scrape more of the dirt away.

  The final third of the orb was glowing green.

  What did that mean?

  A cackle of laughter made my skin crawl and I realized the arcade was filling up with even more people seeking refuge from the rain. Beyond the gathering people, red and white lights lit up the parking lot and I finally, finally saw Calder and Bay push through the crowd.

  But there were too many people between them and me.

  “Ivy,” said a familiar voice.

  I turned to find my dad clutching the rails of an old Dance Dance Revolution game, Autumn’s flying feet hitting the colored arrows in tune to a semi-familiar beat.

  “Dad!” I shoved the orb back down into the bag and made my way to his side. Looking over my shoulder, I pinched his sleeve. “We need to go.”

  “There’s a bad storm right now,” he said. “We should wait it out. Besides, your sister is still playing her jumping game.”

  “Dance game,” corrected Autumn between heavy breaths. Her feet were flying.

  “It’s important,” I said. “There’s been an accident at the go-karts and if we don’t go now, we might be blocked in by emergency vehicles.”

  “Is that what all the ruckus was about?” Dad grimaced. “Hope no one was hurt.”

  Oh, if only the driver actually was. That’d be one less bloodsucker to fight.

  There were too many people here, though. Too many people. Surely, they wouldn’t do anything. But we needed to go. Now. While it was still raining.

  I couldn’t just go with Calder and leave Dad and Autumn here with the vampires.

  “If you need to go somewhere, why don’t you ask Orin to give you a lift?” asked Dad. He frowned after he said it, like the words out of his mouth were only now just catching up with his brain.

  I whipped around. Of course he’d be here. He’d probably helped the vampires out somehow, had known this was going to happen.

  I spotted him a few arcade cabinets away, engrossed in some fighting game. He screamed in delight and pumped his fist in the air, never once turning my way.

  Very observant, observer.

  “Dad, please,” I said.

  Dad shook his head. “Well, we need to find Ember first.”

  Drat. I’d almost forgotten that.

  “She… ran into her boyfriend,” I said by way of explanation. “I’m sure he’ll take her home.”

  Dad scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I can’t exactly take off without checking with her to be sure, can I?”

  I was bouncing on my heels now. The song in Autumn’s game ended and she stopped moving, so I used the opportunity to grab her by the wrist and yank her away.

  “Hey!” she shouted. “I still have some more time left.”

  “We have to go,” I said sternly.

&nbs
p; She yanked back and Dad moved to step in. “What’s gotten into you, honey?” he asked.

  As Autumn pulled away, she hit the backpack dangling at my front and I realized I still hadn’t tightened the top flap. The orb was exposed, glowing in three colors, most of the green muted by the caked-on dirt.

  “What’s that?” asked Autumn, peering inside. She cocked her head. “Why do you have that…?”

  I ripped it back from her.

  “Mr. Sheppard,” said a deep voice, a scratchy sound almost out of tune.

  Dean laid a hand on Dad’s shoulder, his sunglasses in his pocket and his bright blue eyes trained on me under his gray fedora hat. “So nice to see you.” The slightest cloak of smoke still sizzled off his skin, but it seemed to be dying off, his jaw clenching tighter as I took him in.

  Dad jumped. “Scared me there, son. Ah. I see Ivy was right.” He smiled as Ember peered around Dean’s side to give him an obviously-fake smile. I glanced around. Blue eyes glared at me from every corner—between other people milling about, between arcade cabinets. The only different set was the green eyes trained on me now. Orin had finished his game and was leaning against the cabinet, his arms crossed, one ankle in front of his other shin.

  I took Autumn’s hand and backed up against the railings of the dance game. My merfolk were harder to spot, but with an audible gasp of breath, they pulled up behind Ember and Dean, the lot of them soaked, but all the better for it.

  Still, my gaze darted left and right. So many people. And my family.

  I shook my head slightly toward Calder, then dropped Autumn’s hand to take the orb out and hold it above me with both palms. “Stop,” I warned. “Or I can end all of this right now. Take you back to where you started, no progress made.”

  Dean and Ember exchanged a look and her mouth puckered into a little ‘o.’ She didn’t seem to know what I could do with this.

  Calder’s face blanched—as if my threat had scared him, when it had been meant to scare the vampires. But the others beside him—Bay, Llyr, Cascade, and Laguna—also seemed on edge, their eyes focused on the orb with bated breath.

  One champion could drop out and this war might never end.

  The merfolk seemed actually terrified I might do it.

  “Ivy, what are you talking about and what is that toy…?” Dad. Let him think I was roleplaying. Whatever.

  Dean held up the hand he’d had on Dad’s shoulder. “Go,” he said, then he nodded to the vampires on either side of me.

  “Dean, what are you doing?” hissed Ember. “We’re so close. We can do this, we—”

  He shook his head and laid a gentle finger on her lips. His eyes roved from one corner of the arcade to the next, perhaps giving them a signal.

  “Go,” he said again, his bright, bright blue eyes falling on me. “But should you do what you threaten, there will be nothing to hold us back right now… Nothing.”

  I didn’t have time to argue about that or wonder if he’d really follow through on his threat. Orin was right there, but if I dropped out of the war, would his status as observer still keep them from harming innocents?

  I wasn’t waiting around to find out.

  “Dad, let’s go,” I said, shoving the orb under my arm and taking his hand in mine.

  “I’m not finished,” whined Autumn. I nudged her forward, glancing over my shoulder as we made our way to the doors and the sheet of rain outside.

  I had a feeling Ember and Dean were thinking the same thing as my sister.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Okay, you’re going to have to explain what sort of nonsense that was—holy cow!” Dad flinched as a big flash of lightning tore across the distant sky, surging into a riotous growl of thunder. He grabbed hold of Autumn’s arm to keep her from heading out into the parking lot as we lurked under the overhang. “We’re waiting this out.”

  Calder appeared behind us and I jumped as his hand slid gently onto my elbow. The other four formed a line at our backs, their own backs turned to us as they readied themselves should any of those bright blue eyes come closer.

  “We need to go,” whispered Calder.

  I took in the state of the parking lot. Every once in a while, a family would burst out from the mini golf area or the go-kart area to run to their cars or to the relative shelter of the arcade, laughing and pinching at their clothes as they pushed past us to go inside. The red and white lights of an ambulance, a firetruck, and a police car congregated near the go-karts, their sirens silent. The police officer was taking notes speaking to someone in an employee uniform as they huddled under the very small overhang at the go-kart entrance. The employee pointed our way as the firefighters took a look at the hole in the fence, another police officer setting up yellow caution tape.

  And then there was that vintage car parked on one side of the ambulance—trapped until the emergency vehicles went on their way.

  A woman with a scarf over part of her head, a fluff of red bangs popping out like a beacon over her sunglasses, watched us from the front driver’s seat.

  I nodded and handed the backpack with the orb to Calder. We needed to go before the rain let up and the vampires’ vehicles were no longer trapped.

  “Dad,” I said, my voice lowered, “it’s a mess here. Why don’t you take Autumn out for dinner? I’ll get a ride home with Calder.”

  Dad bounced in place as he took in the strapping, tanned athlete. “Hello! Did everyone invite their boyfriends?” He gazed around me. “I have to make sure Ember wants to get a ride with hers.”

  “She does,” I said, looping my arm through his. “She told me. Back there? It’s kind of like a scavenger hunt we’re all playing.”

  “A what…?” asked Dad, but he flinched as we stepped out into the rain. “C’mon, sport,” he said to Autumn, who squealed in delight as they both ran to his car. I followed behind, trying in vain to shield my eyes with my arm, my sweater going heavy and sticking to my skin.

  Autumn scrambled into the backseat and I lingered at the driver’s side door as Dad slipped in.

  “You’re going to catch your death of cold,” Dad said. “Hurry up and get into that beach bum’s car.”

  “Dad,” I said, blinking rapidly as the droplets stuck to my eyelashes.

  “See you, honey,” he said, then his gaze went kind of blank again. No time for that.

  “Don’t tell Noelle or Ember where you’re going if they call and ask,” I spat out.

  “Huh?” asked Dad, snapped back to the present. “Does this have to do with your scavenger hunt?”

  “Yeah. You don’t want to be responsible for me losing, do you? Just have a nice, quiet dinner with Autumn and then go straight home.”

  “Yes, Mother.” Dad gave me a sideways glance and then started up the car. It was unlikely he’d actually follow my advice. “Now get someplace dry,” he ordered as another grumble of thunder sounded out. I stepped back so he could shut the door.

  I waited until his car had pulled out and maneuvered around the emergency vehicles to exit the parking lot. Staring at the vintage vehicle still trapped behind the ambulance—a car brought here by their own machinations—I grinned.

  “Come on!” said Bay as he appeared beside me with Llyr in tow. They took position on either side of me as we made our way to where Calder’s and Cascade’s cars were parked.

  The rain made their hair stick to their skin like paste, their clothes darkening as the fabrics clung to their muscles. The set of Bay’s jaw as he took inventory of our surroundings made me wonder if they were struggling to keep their legs intact.

  With a little tingle in my toes, I realized I might be, too.

  Calder had the passenger door of his car open as wide as it would go without hitting Cascade’s car beside his. “Let’s go!”

  I slid into the seat. The backpack with the orb brushed against my feet. I dug into it to make sure it was still there. As Calder made his way into the driver’s side seat, I took it out of the bag, holding it on my lap, my fi
ngers tracing the green portion and its faint glow.

  Bay and Llyr jumped out of the way and into Cascade’s vehicle as Calder started up the truck and put it in reverse. His arm shot out to the back of my seat as he looked over his shoulder and guided us out of the spot. “Well, now they know we have the orb,” he said, shifting back around and putting the truck in drive.

  His tires squealed as we took off, kicking up water from the puddle that had accumulated at the end of the lot. I stared into the sideview mirror. Cascade’s car trailed behind us. In her bright red top, Ember was unmistakable as she darted out from the arcade to the middle of the lot, standing there, staring out at us. No vampires flocked to her, the water probably deterring them.

  It would have been the perfect opportunity to snatch her as she’d tried to snatch me.

  But before I could say more, the sight of Ember and the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles behind her grew smaller and smaller as we turned and made our way down the highway that would take us back to town.

  “So what the heck happened?” asked Calder.

  I snapped back to my surroundings, staring at the orb. Digging a nail into the dirt beside the glowing green portion of the orb, I started scratching at it. “It was a trap.”

  “Well, we figured it would be. That’s why we all went.” Calder sniffed, running a palm over his face and pulling it away, dripping with moisture. “But I mean, how did Ember and that bloodsucker get you away from the golf course so quickly?”

  “Oh. Right.” The more mud I scratched away, the more brightly the green shone.

  What did that mean? And why had Orin clearly tried to hide it from me?

  “They have some kind of time freezing power,” I said, my heart only half in this conversation as I stared into the orb’s light.

  “What?” Calder slammed on the brakes and my seatbelt dug into my shoulder. I glanced up, my heart pounding, and realized at least that we’d come to a stoplight.

  “I take it you didn’t know,” I said. “Or you would have warned me.”