02 The Moon And The Tide - Marina's Tales (47 page)

Her skin was almost translucent, contrasting
with her jet black hair and making her look even more ghostly. Her
anguished eyes met mine, the very picture of brutalized childish
innocence, “
I want to go home,
” she whispered.

“
We’re here to help you,
” I told her,
shocked to see that she was strapped to the bed with the same
plastic zip ties I had just used to bind the guards. She was hooked
up to some clear tubes attached to a plastic valve that was stuck
in the back of her hand and taped down. The tubes led to a bag of
fluid hanging from a tall metal stand that steadily dripped
something down into her.

She looked at Lorelei and her eyes flew open
in shocked recognition, “
Sister!
I heard you! I thought
it was a dream
.”

Lorelei embraced her, sobbing, while I rushed
over to the tools, looking through them for something to cut her
free with. I saw another bag of zip ties packed with a small pair
of scissors. I grabbed the bag and rushed back to cut away at the
plastic ties, wincing when I saw the places where they had cut into
her skin. When I looked at her red and raw wrists a surge of
vengeful anger as powerful as the sea passed through me. I could
feel my heart growing harder.

“
We have to hurry,
” I said, my voice
shaking. I had no idea how long we had before the guards would be
missed. When I pulled the sheet back to free her legs the gentle
swelling of her stomach under her hospital gown told me that she
was a few months pregnant. I looked back into her tortured eyes and
suddenly felt much older than my seventeen years.

I freed her legs and swung them off the side,
helping her to sit up. She looked at me like a trusting child, wide
eyed and silent. I was pretty sure she was too weak to stand and a
fresh blast of rage pierced me. I would have to carry her, and I
took her hand to inspect the catheter inserted in the back of it,
trying to figure out how to remove it without hurting her. I must
not have heard the door over Lorelei’s sobbing.

“Surprise Marina!” a voice rang out, “You
really are a special girl, aren’t you?”

I spun around to see Peter standing in the
doorway pointing a gun at us. His face was flushed and he looked
disheveled, his shirt still bearing a greasy stain from where I had
hurled the goose liver at him. I stood between him and the two
mermaids.

“Can you imagine my surprise when I saw you
on the surveillance camera?” he waved the gun to a spot on the
ceiling.

I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender,
trying to bargain, “If you let them go, I’ll stay with you.”

He laughed, making an ugly shrill sound, “I
believe I’ve seriously underestimated you. I can’t imagine what
you’ve done with my guards.”

I hated him with a fierce murderous
blackness.

“I could kill you.” I said out loud what I’d
been thinking more and more.

“But I’m the one with the gun,” he smiled
coldly as he fired a shot into the ceiling. He laughed again,
waving the weapon with bravado as he stood weaving a little bit.
The girls squealed with fear as the sound reverberated throughout
the room. I turned to see them clinging to each other on the
bed.

“You’re drunk,” I sneered, my eyes darting
around for something to throw at him.

“True,” he said, firing another shot into the
ceiling for emphasis. I wondered how many bullets were in the gun.
It looked like a big gun.

“Let them go,” I said, “and we can talk.”

He laughed at me, “I think I’ve figured it
out... You’re some sort of missing link– a throwback... an atavism!
You know, legend has it that shape shifters always choose the sea.
You see my dear, you must be more mermaid than human in order to
have acquired their powers of transformation. Ancient genes must
have reappeared… or recombined. Did it ever occur to you to enter
the ocean and join your friends?”

“Did it ever occur to you that you are the
scum of the earth?” I said as my anger rose again.

He fired another shot into the ceiling. This
time I didn’t flinch. The girls quietly sobbed behind me.

“You won’t shoot us,” I said, “and risk
killing the baby.”

He smiled, an evil grimace, “Try me,” he
said. OK, I thought, here goes nothing.

“Oh that’s right,” I said, rolling my eyes
mockingly, “It couldn’t possibly be yours… You’re not...
capable
...” I spat out the last word with a malicious
smile.

His eyes shot open with blind rage and he
advanced on me, infuriated. He stumbled, dropping the gun as he
fought to maintain his balance. It skittered across the floor and
landed several yards away. Lunging for it simultaneously, we both
threw ourselves onto the hard cement, straining to reach the
weapon. I got there first.

I snatched the gun and rolled away from him,
scrambling to my feet. I looked down on him, laid out on the floor,
red faced and gasping like a fish out of water. He reminded me of
Lorelei when she was forced to transform, and the thought made me
want to hurt him even more. I remembered his ugly laughter as he
watched her writhe in agony. Our eyes met as he looked at me in
amazement.

I was being presented with a choice.

I knew what I wanted to do with icy cold
certainty. I wanted to kill him. I pointed the gun at his now ashen
face, my hands shaking with rage. I looked into his eyes and felt
neither pity nor remorse, only a sharp desire to extinguish the
spark of life I saw in them.

“Marina!” I looked up from Peter’s white face
to see Ethan standing in the doorway with Boris. Evie was between
them, along with a couple of other men I vaguely recognized as
maintenance workers from our San Francisco building. I blinked,
confused by the thick fog of anger, and Peter lifted his head to
look at them.

“Help me, she’s crazy!” he said, cringing
away from me, arms raised defensively.

I turned my attention back to Peter, “I’m
going to kill him,” I announced coldly.

“Sweetheart,” Evie said calmly, barging in
past the men, “Give me the gun.”

“No Aunt Evie. He deserves it.”

“I’m sure he does,” she said calmly, “But
let’s allow fate to handle that, shall we?”

My eyes darted to the door and locked onto
Ethan’s. He stood frozen in the doorway, blue eyes wide with shock.
A tiny bit of the rage I felt subsided and I turned to Evie,
meeting her eyes and calming down another small degree.

I heaved a deep breath, and fought to
suppress a smile, “You and your damned fate,” I said, lowering the
gun and slowly handing it to her with shaking hands.

“That’s a lovely Fortuny gown Marina,” she
replied, as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred. I
looked down and grimaced. I wanted out of it.

Boris lifted Peter to his feet and held him
immobile as Evie expertly removed the ammunition clip from the
gun.

“Ethan,” I exhaled as he rushed to me. I
embraced him tightly, still shaking. I never thought I could feel
so relieved, but I couldn’t afford to fall apart just yet.

“Are you alright?” he asked, drawing back and
looking into my eyes searchingly.

I pulled my gaze away, “I have to take care
of them...”

We all turned to look at the two fragile
creatures cowering on the hospital bed, and I knew that Ethan must
recognize Lorelei.

“They need to get back into the sea right
away.”

The girls saw us all looking at them and
began to quiver and moan with fresh fear. I rushed to their side to
calm them, “
Don’t be afraid, they’re here to help us.
” They
tried to hide behind me as I spoke, casting fearful glances over my
shoulders at Boris and Ethan. The other men took up positions in
the hallway. “
It’s all over now,
” I told them, “
These are
the good people. They’ll help us get you home.
”

I looked over to Boris. He held a dazed
looking Peter immobilized, arms twisted behind his back. I tossed
him the bag of plastic ties, “Can you put these on him, really
tight?” I asked, holding up Nerissa’s raw wrist in outrage.

“Da,” said Boris, jerking Peter’s arms
together.

I hesitated, and walked over to Peter, rage
boiling up inside me again, “You’re lucky they came,” I said
through gritted teeth. I started to walk away, but spun back around
and slapped his face as hard as I could. He looked away, his jaw
clenched. “Get him out of my sight,” I hissed through my teeth.

I turned back to see Ethan and Evie, both
watching me in alarm.

“I owed him one,” I said, chin up defiantly,
keeping hold of my anger, feeding off the strength of it.

“Marina...” Evie started, stopping when she
looked into my eyes.

Boris dragged Peter out into the hallway,
lifting him off his feet by the collar.

Lorelei and Nerissa started whimpering and I
turned my attention towards them.

“
Don’t leave us alone!
” cried Lorelei.
I went over to her side and she latched onto my arm like I was her
only lifeline.

“
These are my friends... my family,
” I
said, “
We’re all going to help you
.”

“My God,” said Evie as she looked over at the
frightened girls, “They’re...”

“Yes,” I said, meeting her eyes, “This is
Lorelei, and this is Nerissa. Now how do we get this thing out of
her hand?” The girls looked at Evie, awestruck, as she calmly went
to work removing the tube and catheter from the back of Nerissa’s
slender hand. How did she always know how to do everything?

Evie looked up at me as if she could read my
mind, “I trained as a surgical nurse... in the war,” she said. I
didn’t even think to ask which one. I wondered again how old she
really was.

I turned to Ethan, “How did you find me?”

He looked at me and the girls who were
staring with innocent fascination as Evie sat murmuring soothing
words to them. He seemed shocked, and at a loss for words.

“There was a surveillance camera on the
parking lot at the harbor... we saw the van...”

“How far are we from the sea?” I asked.

Ethan looked puzzled, “Marina, this is a
beach house.”

I explained that Lorelei and I had been held
in the room across the hall, and had just broken out and come over
to rescue Nerissa. He asked where the two big guards were and I
pointed to the room across the hall.

“I locked them in over there,” I said.

Boris was back at the door after depositing
Peter somewhere, scanning the room with his eagle eye. I could see
his weapon harness strapped onto his massive chest and I knew there
was nothing more to fear. He looked like he could take on an army
single-handedly.

“Are zere any others?” Boris asked, eyes
darting around.

I told him about the guards locked in the
other room and the old butler I had seen upstairs. I patted
Lorelei’s arm reassuringly. She was clinging to me like a
limpit.

“Will you help me get them back to the
water?” I asked Ethan. He looked at the girls and nodded.

Evie finished with Nerissa’s hand and began
inspecting the wounds on her wrists and ankles. She looked up at me
with shocked eyes.

“Can you stay with them for a few minutes?” I
asked Evie, “I’m going to go fetch my wetsuit. Ethan and I are
taking them back.”

She agreed with a grave nod, pain in her
light blue eyes.

I addressed the mermaids solemnly,
“
Lorelei, this is Evie, she’s going to stay with you while I go
to get my wetsuit
.” They looked at Evie and back at me. “
I’m
going to take you back home very soon.
” I grabbed the keys.

“
Marina?
” asked Lorelei, reluctantly
loosening her grip on my arm, “
Is she a sister too?
”

“
Yes,
” I smiled at Evie, “
She
is
.”

“
But why is she so... old?
” she
asked.

Evie sure wouldn’t like hearing
that
I
thought, addressing Lorelei, “
Because we don’t last forever on
land...”
I had to peel her fingers off my arm,
“Now, I’ll be
right back.
”

I crossed over the hall and unlocked the door
with Ethan by my side. Boris went in ahead of us and stopped to
stare at the two bound men in shock. Curly had recovered from the
boink to his head and was conscious, lying under the sink with a
dazed look on his face. The one tied to the ladder looked up and
groaned when he saw me.

Boris looked back at me with a proud grin,
“Vell done Marina... Bravo!”

I shook my head, realizing how it looked,
“Lorelei helped...” I said.

Ethan turned to me in astonishment,
“Whoa.”

I shrugged, “I got lucky,” I said as I raced
over to retrieve my wetsuit, looking up to see him watching me in
stunned silence.

“Let’s go!” I exclaimed, as I hurried out of
the room.

As we walked out I could hear Boris starting
to interrogate the guards in several languages until they hit on
one they could all speak. Their excited voices echoed off the bare
walls and I wondered what they were telling him.

I rushed back across the hall to the girls.
Evie was sitting between them on the bed, arms draped around them.
They had their heads resting on her shoulders, big liquid eyes
looking at her trustingly.

“
It’s time to go home,
” I said to
Lorelei. She jumped up and clung to me.

I went over to Nerissa, “
It’s time to go
home... Can you walk?
”

She looked at me eagerly and reached out for
me, “
I want to go! Don’t leave me!
” she tried to stand but
her knees buckled, and I had to lunge forward to catch her, holding
her up with my arms around her waist.

“
Will you let him carry you?
” I asked,
looking into her eyes and nodding towards Ethan. She looked scared,
but gave her consent.