Surrendering (Swans Landing) (24 page)

“You can’t change form,” I repeated, my voice growing louder, confident that I knew the secret Domnall had been hiding. “You’re not fully finfolk. Your family mixed with the humans that were brought to Hether Blether, didn’t they?”

Domnall’s face turned red and he lunged toward us, letting out a guttural scream.

Just before he reached us, another body crashed into him, pushing Domnall deeper into the water. The two figures emerged, splashing and struggling in the knee deep water. Lake’s long hair whipped at his face as he fought against Domnall.

“Go!” he shouted at us before swinging at Domnall again.

Mara grabbed my hand and we crashed through the water toward the shore, where the rest of the humans and finfolk that had been under Domnall’s spell were regaining consciousness.

* * *

“What the hell is going on?” Mr. Connors grabbed my arm as Mara and I crashed onto the beach. “What have you done, boy?”

“We’ve saved your life,” Mara snapped. She shoved Mr. Connors back, forcing him to let go of me. “Now are you going to help us save this island or not?”

Mr. Connors looked back and forth between us, his lips curled in disgust. A scream echoed across the beach and his head whipped in that direction. “Lizzie!” he called, before taking off down the beach.

Lake and Domnall still struggled out in the water. Lake couldn’t fight him on his own. If Domnall got the chance to sing again, he’d easily overpower Lake.

“Stay here,” I told Mara.

She shook her head. “No way.”

I gritted my teeth, then dashed into the surf, sending up splashes of water around me as I made my way back to Lake and Domnall. The finfolk king had gotten the upper hand and as I drew closer, I could hear him singing. Lake sat in the surf, the water crashing around his head. He had the glazed expression again and he lifted one hand to touch at something only he could see.

I leaped at Domnall, spinning him around. His song ended abruptly as we fell into the water again.

Domnall raised up on his knees, his hands pushing me underwater. I looked up at him through the rippling surface, his hair wet strings that dripped down his shoulders and his face contorted into a snarl. He seemed to remember that I wasn’t like him. The water couldn’t drown me.

He snatched me up by the collar, his hands moving to my neck.

“The laws of the finfolk do not protect you here,” he told me. His thumbs dug into my windpipe, crushing against the thin bones in my neck. I scratched at his hands, but his grip was strong. “I can kill you if I choose.”

Lake crashed into Domnall again and all three of us tumbled into the water. Domnall came up, sputtering and coughing, shaking the water from his eyes.

“Get out of here,” Lake told me.

But the change was taking over him. His body shuddered and he cried out, bending over at the waist as his legs began to morph into a tail, ripping through the fabric of his jeans. I could feel my own change aching deep inside, and I tried to force it back, hoping for just a few more minutes.

Lake disappeared under the water, leaving me alone with Domnall.

“Enough of these games,” Domnall said. He reached into a pocket of his robe and pulled out a long metal object. Mr. Connors’s handgun.

I swallowed, my eyes locked on the gun.

“Pathetic human weaponry,” Domnall said, wrinkling his nose at the wet gun. “Crude, but effective enough, I suppose. I am certain I can figure out how it works.”

He aimed the barrel at my chest, a smile curling the corners of his lips.

“No!”

A crack echoed across the water just as the dark shape of a figure leaped in front of me, pushing me back. I stumbled and fell into the surf, immersed completely in the water that bubbled in my ears and crashed over my head. I couldn’t hold it back now. My body rocked with tendrils of pain as the change took over. I scrambled to unbutton my soaked jeans and tried to pull them off before my legs fused together. I tumbled backward, twisting in the relentless crashing waves that battered me back and forth.

When it was done and the pain subsided, I pushed myself toward the surface, blinking away the salt in my eyes, scanning the water around me.

Domnall stood in the surf, his wet robe twisted around his knees, the gun still gripped in one hand. He had a fiendish look, like a dog who’d had a taste of blood. He aimed the gun at me again, his teeth bared.

But before he could pull the trigger, a figure rose from the water behind him, golden scales flashing in the faint sunlight. Lake grabbed Domnall around the waist and pulled him into the water. Domnall’s arms flailed, the gun soaring from his hand and landing in the crashing waves. Domnall and Lake disappeared below the surface.

“Josh!”

Mara stood only a few feet away, struggling with something in the water as she made her way back to the shore. I dove and swam toward her, resurfacing just behind her.

When I saw what Mara was pulling to shore, iciness spread through my body.

My mother lay limp in the water, her eyes fluttering and her face way too pale. A dark stain blossomed on the front of her shirt, turning the water around her red.

Mara and I pulled her to shore, getting her away from the rolling waves. The beach was quiet as people gathered around us, solemn faces looking down at my mom where she lay on the sand.

“Mom?” I asked, panting heavily. “Mom, talk to me. Open your eyes.”

Her eyes fluttered a little and she let out a soft moan.

I looked up at the watching crowd. “We need a doctor!” I shouted at them. “Someone help!” But there was no hospital in Swans Landing. The closest one was a three hour ferry ride away.

Dr. Hansen knelt next to me, placing her fingertips on Mom’s throat. Her mouth set in a grim line as she looked at me, the unspoken words evident in her eyes.

I spotted Artair in the group and pointed at him. “This is your fault. Do something!”

He came toward me, kneeling at my side. “What would you have me do?”

Tears burned my eyes and I blinked them back. “Sing. Heal her!”

Artair shook his head. “It does not work for humans.”

“You have to try,” I grunted at him.

“I am sorry,” Artair said, lowering his head.

I choked on the lump in my throat. I bent over my mom, smoothing her hair back from her face. If he wouldn’t try, I would. I began to hum the first notes of the song, stumbling over the sounds as I fought back sobs.

Mom opened her eyes, her gaze flitting back and forth until she focused on my face for just a moment. She smiled and reached up a hand toward me. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Her eyes closed slowly, fluttering for a moment, and then her hand fell back in the sand, unmoving.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Mara’s arms wrapped around me and I buried my face in her shoulder. She hugged me close, not saying anything, just sitting there with me. I couldn’t look at my mom. She almost looked like she was sleeping, but I knew she would never wake up.

The numbness that had taken hold of me was now replaced by fury that sparked inside my gut. I wanted someone to blame, someone to lash out at.

I lifted my head and met Artair’s gaze. He still knelt next to me, his mouth set in a straight line.

“Are you happy now?” I asked him. I slipped from Mara’s embrace and stood, glaring down at the finfolk guard. “See what you did? Is this what you wanted, to come here and kill us?”

Artair didn’t even look at me. “I never wanted anyone to be hurt,” he said softly.

I laughed. “Well, that went according to plan, didn’t it?” I had the urge to kick him, punch him, beat him until he could feel what I felt. I wanted him to hurt, to know what it was like to lose someone you couldn’t save.

“I did not wish to come here,” Artair said. “I was only following the orders of my king.”

“Your king is dead,” Lake said, stepping into the circle. His pants hung in tattered rags around his waist and he dripped water onto the sand. His face was scratched with deep lines, like he had been clawed. The left sleeve of his shirt gaped open and he pressed his hand to a gushing wound, red streams falling between his fingers.

Mara leaped to her feet, gasping. “What happened?”

Lake shrugged as he looked down at his arm. “Shark,” he said simply. His eyes met Artair’s. “Your king couldn’t change. I took him out farther into the water to get him away from Josh. I expected him to swim and follow me back to shore. By the time I realized he wasn’t changing, he had already gone below the surface and out of sight.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “The shark attacked me first. When I fought it off, it went after Domnall.”

Artair and the other finfolk guards bowed their heads, all silent.

“So he wasn’t finfolk after all?” Sailor asked.

“He was finfolk,” Artair said. “But some of our people mixed with the humans that once lived among us in Hether Blether. Some finfolk still carry the human genes. Domnall was one of the unlucky ones, without the ability to change.”

My gaze flickered to Callum, who still lay on the sand, his face bloodied and bruised. His eyes were closed, his breathing ragged. “Does Callum know?”

Artair shook his head. “Domnall was careful to keep everyone from knowing. Only I knew the truth. And our queen knew. She loved him despite his disability.”

I ignored the comment about human genes being a disability. “What did he want with Finfolkaheem?” I asked. “Why did he come here?”

“He wanted the finfolk to do to him what they did for you,” Artair said. “He wanted to be remade fully finfolk.”

Silence fell over the beach. I turned my head, trying to keep from looking at the body of my mom still in the sand in front of me. Fury bubbled through me, but I felt tired, too exhausted to let it all out.

“What do we do now?” Dylan asked. He glared at Artair. “What do we do with them?”

“I say we do to them what they did to Silvia,” Mr. Connors growled. He grinned cruelly as he looked at the finfolk guard. Some people agreed with his statement, nodding and clapping.

Mr. Moody scratched his chin. “Ain’t none of you as affected by what happened as that boy there,” he said, nodding at me. “So I say we let him decide. He’s earned it, by my reckoning.”

I looked at Artair, who gazed back at me without flinching. His face was lined and I could see the fatigue and sadness in his eyes. He would take whatever punishment I gave him, I knew.

But I just wanted the island back and I wanted everything to end.

“Heal Callum and Lake,” I told him. “Then leave our island. Don’t ever come back.”

Artair inclined his head once. He motioned to the other guards and they followed him across the beach to where Callum lay. Everyone watched in silence as the guards carried Callum to the water. Lake followed behind until they were far enough offshore that we wouldn’t hear them sing.

They did for Callum and Lake what couldn’t be done for my mom. I stood on the shore, watching as the two men slipped below the water. They had done so much for me, this was just the smallest way I could repay them.

“Why are you doing this, boy?” Mr. Connors asked, his beady eyes flashing. “They killed your mama. These people killed both of your parents.”

I shook my head. “My mom told me what happened the night my dad died and the finfolk didn’t have anything to do with it. It was, as they’ve always said, an accident.” There was no need to tell everyone what my mom had done. I wanted to let her memory rest in peace. “Only one finfolk killed my mother, and he’s now dead too. We can’t keep blaming each other. Don’t you see that’s what’s caused all of our problems? We’re
all
Swansers here. This island belongs to all of us.” My shoulders dropped as energy drained out of me. “It’s time to move on.”

Mara gave me an encouraging smile as she stepped to my side, slipping her arm through mine. Sailor pushed past Mr. Connors and stepped up to my other side, entwining her fingers in mine. Dylan did the same with her other hand.

Elizabeth looked at her dad, biting her lip. Then she dashed across the sand to Dylan’s side, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Mr. Moody hobbled across the sand. His eyes shone with unshed tears as he placed a hand on Sailor’s shoulder, his beard curling as he smiled.

Others came too, finfolk and human. We formed a long line at the water’s edge, watching the finfolk in the water.

* * *

Sailor threw her arms around Callum when he swam close to the shore. His face was red where the bruises had once been, but he seemed okay and he was awake again.

“Are you okay?” Sailor asked, checking him over.

He nodded. “I’m fine.”

Sailor handed him the prosthetic she had found lying on the beach and Callum strapped it to his leg.

He looked back at the finfolk, who swam in the water behind him. Artair was the only one who made his way toward the shore, shedding his finfolk form as he rose from the water.