by Tracy Deebs
Page 65
I glanced at Kona, saw him taking aim at Sabyn. Mark was doing the same thing, though he had no powers. But his gun was in his hand and leveled straight at Sabyn’s chest.
When their attack came, it wasn’t from the front like we expected. It was from the water itself, a burning, poisonous acid destroying the bodies of those around us and creeping inexorably closer to us with every push and pull of the ocean’s current.
As one, we tried to move backward, but Tiamat had cast some spell that had us totally surrounded by the hideous stuff. And at a respectful distance behind the acid were the bunyip and shark-men. They hadn’t been fleeing, just getting out of the strike zone.
I tried not to focus on it, tried not to think about what I was seeing. Or about how that acid would begin eating away at our flesh the second it came into contact with us. But it was easier said than done.
Still, I had to act now. Anything else would result in certain death, especially since Tiamat and Sabyn were waiting to tear our burning, disintegrating carcasses limb from limb. I racked my brain, tried to figure out what to do. I’d already used every weapon I had against the two of them in previous battles and had failed every time. What did I have left to try? What could I do that—
Suddenly, it came to me. I knew it was a long shot—both of them had strong mental and physical shields—but it was the only idea I had. The only thing that might not just injure Tiamat, not just imprison her, but annihilate her from the depths of the ocean once and for all.
Quickly, carefully, I tried to gather as much energy as I could. But pulling it from the water was difficult—it was so polluted with blood and acid that there was almost nothing left for me to reach for. But Tiamat was shifting, the bloodlust in her eyes growing sharper, and I knew we were out of time.
Desperate but determined, I did the unforgivable. I thrust every ounce of power I had into Kona and Zarek, Mahina and even Mark, raking psychic claws through their bodies as I harvested all the strength and energy I could garner from them. I wasn’t gentle and I wasn’t easy—I could hear them screaming on a psychic plane—and it made me sick. But I didn’t relent. I kept going, kept gathering everything I could from them.
When I was done, when there was nothing left to take, I turned on Tiamat. And using everything that I had inside me and everything I had taken from them, I launched a telekinetic attack straight at Tiamat.
I arrowed straight through her shields, grabbed on to a corner of her mind, and raked talons of power and desperation straight through her brain. She screamed, her hands coming up to clutch at her head. I didn’t relent. I couldn’t. This was the only chance I had to keep Kona and Mark, Zarek and Mahina, alive.
It was over in seconds, but it was the most horrific thing I had ever done. I shredded her brain until it looked more like confetti than a functioning organ. That one aborted scream—and a final blast of power that shot harmlessly by me—was all she got out before she died.
I glanced behind me to make sure Sabyn was the last threat, and that’s when I saw him. Zarek. He was lying on the ocean floor, hands clutching his stomach as he bled out into the water. That last blast of energy Tiamat had gotten out hadn’t been so harmless after all.
Kona! I screamed. Help him!
It’s too late. Zarek’s words were soft, disjointed, and I could tell it took every ounce of effort he had to force them out.
No! Kona and I raced toward him, but even before I got there, I knew he was right. His head was resting on the ground, his eyes closed, and his hands had fallen to the ocean floor beside him. Zarek was dead.
Nausea gripped me, followed by a hatred so black I could feel it in the depths of my soul. This man had saved my life more than once, had saved Kona’s, had even traveled thousands of miles to save my baby brother. And now he was dead because Tiamat, even in death, had to destroy everything she could.
Enraged, in pain, I turned on Sabyn. He’d been trying to slink away in the confusion of Zarek’s final moments, but there was no way I was letting him escape. Not after everything he’d done to me and those I cared about. When he realized I was once again locked on to him, his eyes grew wide in horror. He threw a hand out to ward me off, but I wasn’t who he had to worry about. The poison had dissipated with Tiamat’s death and Mark and Kona had broken free. The bunyip and shark-men scattered, just like they always did, which left Sabyn totally at the mercy of my boyfriend and my ex.
They slammed into Sabyn like a runaway freight train, began beating him within an inch of his life—and were taking great pleasure in it, from what I could see. I started to stop them, but a hand from Kona and a look from Mark’s suddenly cold brown eyes froze me in place. This was payback, pure and simple, for what he’d done to me. In this they were in perfect accord, and I knew there was nothing I could say to dissuade them.
They didn’t stop until he was a bloody, battered mess on the ocean floor. It didn’t take long—not with both Mark and Kona in towering rages. And without Tiamat’s strength to bolster him, Sabyn was a broken man.
When they were done, he was still breathing—barely—but he wouldn’t be a threat to another creature, ever. I started up to get Mahina out of her cage, but Kona beat me to it. I watched as he gently helped her out. She threw her arms around his neck, pissed and terrified and elated all at the same time. He looked surprised, then hugged her back as tightly as she was hugging him.
I swam to Mark, who was standing over Sabyn’s prone body, still seething. I’m sorry, I told him awkwardly. The psychic attack I’d launched at him had seemingly opened up a pathway of communication between us. I hadn’t planned on that happening, but I was glad it was there. Or I would be, if he could forgive me. About what I did to you—
He grabbed me with one bruised hand, pulled me flush against him. You saved me. You saved all of us. Never apologize for that.
I couldn’t help it. The full extent of the prophecy, and my power, had finally been revealed to me and it nearly swallowed me whole. Nearly destroyed everyone around me. I had done it for what I’d thought was a good reason, but it could so easily have gone wrong. So easily have gone bad. Like my mother when she’d murdered those innocent people, when she’d allowed Hailana to control her and use her as an assassin, I was shocked at how easily I could have been tempted to let my power take over my judgment. My sense of right and wrong.
I never wanted that to happen to me. Never wanted to be so full of power that I was intoxicated with it. These last few minutes had been close, and while it was amazing and invigorating and trippier than I could ever hope to disguise, it had also been terrifying. I never wanted to feel so power bloated again.
Mahina and Kona joined us, and for long seconds we just floated there, staring down at Sabyn. He was on the ground and he wasn’t moving at all.
Is he dead? Mahina finally asked.
Not yet, Kona answered grimly.
Good. She pulled back her foot and kicked him squarely in the ribs.
We watched as a few of Kona’s guards came out of hiding to take Sabyn away to the dungeon—karma really was a bitch—and Kona’s people slowly started pouring into the streets. They surrounded him, everyone wanting to thank him or touch him or apologize. As they did, four selkies took Zarek’s body away.
Mark and I stepped back to let him have his moment with his people. And took a moment of our own.
