Shadow's Dangers (37 page)

“
Anne?
” Henri said incredulously.

“
Henri.
”

This time it wasn't just a voice. The woman of the drawing was there and clinging to the boat. Henri didn’t have the frightened expression on his face, unlike the frozen scene that I had previously seen. He looked stunned.

“
Lord! Anne! What are you doing here? Come on board!
”

He tried to grab the hands of Anne, but she dropped her grip on the boat and went out of his reach.

“
What...
”

“
There's a storm coming. You must leave now, Henri. Otherwise, you will be trapped here and you will die.
”

He stared at her as if she had grown two heads before laughing gently.

“
Come on, look at that sky! There's no storm in sight. But you need to board if you don't want...
”

“
Henri! Listen to me, good God! You'll die if you don't go away now!
”

He shook his head, not believing her words.

“
No, I...
” he began, but stopped when he saw Anne hold the edge with one hand and pull the boat with the strength of one arm, going in and out of the water at regular intervals.

At that moment, my eyes grew wide again when I saw Anne's body. She had blue-green scales covering her skin, constantly changing in color and allowing her to blend into her environment as she progressed. Her body was covered with them from the top of her bust--with the exception of arms, hands, shoulders and head--to the tail of a shark she had instead of feet. How could I not have seen this before. Anne was an
Enimae
with the appearance of a kind of siren.

“
Lord!
” Henri cried when he saw what I had noticed.

It took him a moment to react but when he did, he tried to move her away from the boat.

“
Henri!
” she cried desperately, clinging to his hands that tried to get rid of hers. “
I beg you, Henri! Don't be afraid! I look different, but it's me, Anne!
”

“
You're a demon! Leave me alone! Go back where you came from, creature of the devil!
”

While he repeated it again and again and looked completely insane, he managed to get rid of Anne.

“
Henri! It’s me! Stop it! I just want to help you!
”

She insisted and tried to grab his face to make him look at her, but at the sight of her scales, he reached the point of no return.

“
Don't touch me!
” he yelled while sending her a slap that made her fall and dive underwater.

Her head rose to the surface, but this time, her expression was a mixture of intense sadness, tenderness and a touch of fear. She clung to the boat and tried again to approach. Everything happened very quickly, then. Henri grabbed one of his oars and tried to hit Anne whom he took for a monster. He missed her once, then repeated a second time, but it was the third that was right on because he made her fall backwards again. When Anne came to the surface, she returned to the boat, wanting desperately to reason with him, but Henri was completely mad. Before she could reach him, he tried to move her away again and the most terrible scenarios happened: he hit her with the end of the oar with such force that it crossed through the chest of the
Enimae
and came out her back. A gasp of horror escaped me while Henri stood there stupidly, watching the stream of blood that flowed from the wound. Being incapable of reacting, Anne just stared at him with incomprehension. As if returning to reason, Henri pulled the oar out with a jerk, which resulted in making a red river flow from Anne's chest. Noting that the water turned red around her, I knew that the poor
Enimae
wouldn't last much longer. Henri remained motionless, sitting in his boat, his empty eyes on Anne's body.

“Hen... ri...”
she managed to say.
“Go... aw... away..
.”

These were her last words. Final words she had addressed to the man she loved in order to save him despite what he had just done. But because he had refused to see that behind the different appearance was the one he loved, he had killed her. The sadness of this story won me over, squeezing my heart. I ached for her. And I even felt bad for him when the Enimae changed back to a complete human form and her naked body floated to the surface. His awareness was such that it fell on him like a lead weight.

“
Anne?
” he whispered before leaning in the water and grabbing her arm.

With difficulty, he managed to put her on board. The horror gradually settled on his face and he let out a strangled sound, halfway between a sob and cry of despair. He was clinging desperately to her inert body. He had killed the woman he loved and had just realized it.

“
Oh no... Oh Lord, no... Oh Lord...
”

The tears began to flow down his cheeks as he swung back and forth endlessly, Anne's head between his hands, his forehead against hers.

“The mermaid and the fisherman...”

I started and dropped the book. I looked up towards the door, where Garreth was, almost hidden in the shadows. My heart raced in my chest, both because of the joy of seeing him again after almost two weeks without him and also because of the anger caused by his disappearance.

Clearly, he no longer wished to drive me away to protect me from the eventuality of his death. It was easy to guess that Leighton had lectured him after passing by here. I should rejoice in this change of attitude, but I was really tired. He didn't care about me when there was an important decision to make and only Leighton managed to influence him. What was my purpose in this relationship? My idea of our relationship was obviously quite different from his. If he wanted someone who shut up and followed without question, he hadn't chosen the right person.

“What are you doing here?” I finally asked him in a tone devoid of emotion.

His eyebrows furrowed briefly, but his famous mask of impassivity framed his face.

“Through the tragic stories in this book, we learn that we should never trust a human. We learn we can't trust, because sooner or later, our true nature eventually leads them to reject us or worse, kill us or cause us to kill them.”

“Too bad we don't teach humans to be wary of you,” I replied with a certain dryness in my voice. “It would save some of us from being taken for puppets.”

In the darkness, I noticed that his eyes widened. I was pushing him away, but it was necessary. From what Leighton told me, I was convinced that she wouldn't let him die. Even if he was convicted, I had come to the conclusion that with the help of Leighton, I'd make sure to find members of their community, explain everything and if necessary, negotiate with them so they let him live in exchange for my help in their war. Leighton and I would be able to keep him alive. So since I was going to make sure he’d survive, he had better change his attitude towards me in the future.

“Deliah, I...”

He couldn't go any further, my gasp interrupting him abruptly. I clapped my hands over my wet face, wondering how water...salty water at that...could have splashed on me in the middle of my room. Hearing Garreth's laughter, I glared at him as I never had to anyone before. His laughter grew, and with it, so did my annoyance.

“I'm glad the situation is funny to you,” I said harshly.

I hated when I was angry because I didn’t act like myself. Especially when I was in front of Garreth. It reminded me of our first times together, which didn't please me at all. The only positive was that finally, he stopped laughing. He approached the bed, suddenly deadly serious, looking at me without any emotion.

“Oh, you've finished laughing?” I threw at him, sarcastic and for a second, I wanted to be able to recover my composure, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came. “Maybe you'll be able to tell me what just happened?”

He sat beside me and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I held my breath involuntarily but I didn't pull back when his hand touched my cheek gently. At that moment, I realized how much I missed him, how I was afraid for him and was happy to have him close.

“Leighton didn't warn you?” he asked, his tone almost sweet. It called forth in me a sense of guilt and my nervousness then melted like snow in the sun. “This book was created for new
Enimae
of our community. The
Enimae
who brought together all these stories, which in the past were transmitted orally, have done something to the book, so that when the reader isn't attentive, the book does the necessary thing to bring their attention back to the stories. In this case, you just have been splashed by the lovely Anne. Usually, she's very nice, but when you don't listen to her story, she tends to react badly.”

I remembered the enigmatic warning of Leighton before she left. I suppressed all rational thoughts that told me a book couldn't produce water.
Nothing is logical in the Enimae world,
I reminded myself. As if to make sure of the reality of this moment, I cast a glance to the pages of the book. Anne had become a mermaid again. She was in the water and held the boat while looking at me with a raised eyebrow and her eyes flashing with anger.
Looking at you? She can't look at you! This is an image, Deliah!
Yet, as grotesque as it might seem, she and Henri, looking surprised, were staring right at me. I closed the book abruptly. I could have sworn Anne had an indignant expression on her face and had sent me an obscene gesture before the book closed on her. I forced myself to get back to reality, but Garreth confirmed my worst fears with the amused expression he was trying to hide when I turned back to him. What I thought I saw had indeed taken place here.

Belatedly, I realized the meaning of something he had said.

“Wait, you said ‘new
Enimae.’
You meant...children?” I asked him.

Frowning because of the misunderstanding, he nodded nonetheless.

“Leighton gave me a book for children. I think I should feel offended.”

Finally understanding what bothered me, Garreth hardly refrained himself from laughing.

“She doesn't think maliciously, Deliah,” he explained after regaining his composure. “It's with this book that we’re taught to never interfere or reveal our capabilities to humans. She probably thought it would help you to understand why they must never know about us, why we need to stop the insurgents. If your world knew, it would be war. Humans would be afraid of what we are, what we are capable of. There would be many dead. My people would probably win, but at what cost? Thousands and thousands of deaths, human or
Enimae
? Maybe even millions?”

He paused. I wanted to tell him he didn't have to explain it to me, Leighton having already told me why she gave me the book, but I couldn't bring myself to do it when his eyes closed and the muscles of his jaw twitched. Eyelids still closed, he continued.

“I won't let that happen. Never. It's not in that world that I want Leighton and you to live.”

If there was a bit of resentment in me towards him, it disappeared after these words. One day I will make him understand he could not manage both our lives, but right now, I didn't care anymore.

“I won't let that happen, either,” I declared to him in a whisper.

His eyes opened suddenly and stared at me with such intensity that I began to feel uncomfortable.

“Even if you don't know what I have to do or even what I'm able to do, I know one thing: I want to find a way to put an end to this war without having to kill any rebel.”

He gently pulled me to him and rested his forehead against mine.

“We will discover what you're capable of together and what you have do to stop them,” he assured me, his mouth near mine, his eyes riveted to mine.

His lips touched mine, his despair palpable. I felt in his kiss that he was certain he would die soon, even if he said we would fight together. His depression was contagious and I began to doubt he would survive. One of my hands grabbed his neck while the other clung to the collar of his sweater as if to prevent him from slipping from my fingers and disappearing forever.

“I'm sorry,” he told me between kisses, his voice filled with vulnerability and uncertainty. “I shouldn't have...I didn't want to hurt you. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I tried to spare you pain in case...just in case...”

“I know,” I interrupted, whispering.

I began to kiss him with more fervor, wishing fiercely to go back in time and make up for all the hours we lost. His pessimism was spreading like a cancer in me and I doubted more and more that I would have the power to save him and avoid the terrible fate that seemed to await him. He was an important
Enimae
and a powerful fighter, not the type to be easily defeated. And yet, he feared the future, so how could I delude myself to believe that I was able to change something in his destiny?

17

Trouble on the Horizon

Forcing myself to remain silent as a tomb, I listened to Hayden’s complaints for at least ten minutes. My nerves were really put to the test while my best friend turned round and round, continuously complaining about Spencer. She was a real fury and no word succeeded in appeasing her. For the first time since I knew her, I couldn't stand her attitude, finding it unjustified.

“Calm down,” I sighed, tired.

She whirled around, her brown eyes on me, her face extremely tense.

“You ask me to calm down, Del? Are you kidding me or what? He had the nerve to tell me that he didn't know where his mind was, that I hadn't done anything wrong, but he needed to take a break. What a bastard!”

“Hayden!” I exclaimed, annoyed and outraged by the way she spoke about Spencer.

He wasn't a saint and perhaps he had played with her at the beginning to make me jealous. However, I was sure he cared about her. Maybe not as a boyfriend, but at least as a friend. In fact, it was probably why he had put their couple status on hold to be sure of the nature of his feelings for her. I couldn't listen to her insulting Spencer when he finally tried to make things right--even if she didn't realize it.