Underwater (15 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Hayden was in a full-on sprint before any of us had a chance to process his words.

“Did he just say…” Evey’s eyes were wide.

“He said…um, Ian.” I tried to control the hysterical edge to my voice, but didn’t succeed.

Saxon looked down at me, and when I nodded, he jumped off of the dock, landing on the embankment. His strides were so fast that they barely made a sound on the rocks when he charged after Hayden.

“He’s losing his mind.” Evey was breathless as she watched Hayden run. “He’s cracked. I kept telling him to get some sleep, but he would text me clear into the night. He’s delusional, I—” She paced back and forth, her shadow crossing over me.

“Ev!” She looked down at me, blinking. “Go after him! Just go!”

She bent down, cupping me beneath my arms. “Let me help you—”

“No!” I shook her off and gestured to my chair that was parked on the boardwalk just off of the dock. “I’ll do it myself.”

She gave me a tug. “Just let me—”

“Stop fussing with me!” I swatted at her hands. “Hayden needs you now!”

She dropped her hands and took off in a run, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be right back!”

I watched her go, and as soon as she was out of sight—I didn’t like an audience when I moved myself around; it was embarrassing enough to have to shuffle along on my butt—I used my hands to maneuver my backside toward my chair. My mind scrambled from one thought to another, making me shaky even though I was used to hoisting myself around.

Oh Lord, I hoped that Isolde caught Ian before he killed himself. He’d only been altered days ago, and if he was already coming to the surface, his body wasn’t adjusted to shifting between human and Mer form yet. Ian was known for being ruthless on the football field and acting without thinking. This fact would prove to be deadly if he kept coming into the open air before his body was ready.

I groaned as I approached my chair and tugged it so that it turned around. I had to catch up with them. If they found Ian in Mer form—dead or alive—my sister was going to have a big, fat dose of terrifying reality to swallow, and I wanted to be there when she did it. If ever there was a moment for me to be the big sister, this was it.

Scrunching my eyes shut with effort, I shifted so that my back was to the chair, and I put my hands onto the thin leather seat. Two years of perpetual upper bodywork kicked into high gear as I hoisted myself upward and edged backwards into place.

You pathetic girl.

Looking down at the water, my insides glaciated, and my whole body covered itself in goose bumps of epic proportions.

Isolde
.

“Stay away from me.” My voice shook. I pulled on my pant legs, scooting my feet as far away from the edge of the dock as possible.

Isolde’s head and shoulders were visible above the surface of the water a few feet away. Her hair was slicked down against her scalp, then fanned out behind her on the waves. Her eyes bugged out as she glowered at me, and I heard her molars grinding together as she spoke telepathically.

You have no idea what kind of trouble you’re causing. He’ll be sacrificed—fed to something bigger than all of us for choosing you.

“What have I done to deserve this?” I glanced over my shoulder. Where was Saxon when I needed him? “Why do you hate me so much?”

I love him more than you ever could.
She moved closer to the end of the dock. Closer to my useless feet.
Do you understand me?

I gripped the edge of my wheelchair seat in case I needed to make a quick exit, if that were even possible. “Saxon doesn’t love you. Not in that way, he—”

Do you honestly think you’re worthy of his love?
She narrowed her eyes, and they darkened.
You’ll never deserve him. You’d rather kill him than do the right thing, you selfish little whore.

I stopped shuddering. “Whore? Now wait a sec—”

I saw the gills on either side of Isolde’s neck open and shut, making my stomach curdle.
You listen to me, human. You’ll never get away with what you’re doing. You’re condemning Saxon to death.

Now I was ticked. I leaned forward in my spot. “Why do you keep saying that? I’m not killing anyone! You’re the one who’s drowning people!”

You’re so stupid. I drown people because I have to.

My stomach knotted at the thought of Ian being drug down by her scaled hands. “You didn’t have to drown Ian. You could have decided not to!”

Isolde’s lips quaked as she snarled at me.
Do you honestly believe I had a choice?

“Saxon has a choice!” I looked over my shoulder to make sure my mom didn’t hear me. She was gone from the window now. Thank God. “He chooses not to murder people!”

Saxon chooses humans over Mer. He’s turning his back on his own species. You’re turning him against his own kind.

“We love each other.” My eyes welled, surprising me. “Look…I’m sorry that you’ve got feelings for him, but we—”

Isolde flared her nostrils, and she looked repulsed.
Shut up. This has nothing to do with my feelings for him. Do you honestly think I’m jealous of a human? A useless, broken human?

Isolde’s words hurt. I’d spent the better part of the last two years trying to convince myself that I wasn’t useless and broken, and now I was getting insulted by a chick with a
tail.
My eyes scanned the beach, hoping for a glimpse of Saxon, Hayden, or Evey…anyone. “You act jealous. You act like you love him.”

Something behind Isolde’s slate gray eyes softened, but only for a split second. Before I could even register what I’d seen, she swam even closer.
You’ll never comprehend what he’s giving up to be with you. You’re going to kill him.

“Saxon doesn’t want to be a murderer, he—”

He doesn’t have a choice! Don’t you understand that? Saxon is committing suicide by choosing not to mate!
Isolde made a sound that reverberated inside of my head. It was a cross between a growl and a sob, and it was so haunting, it sent a chill backstroking down my body.
He’s damning us all in the process! Do you understand that he’ll forfeit a place with his own kind to be with you? If the Council finds out what he’s been up to, it’s over for him.

My stomach hardened. “Then maybe you should keep your mouth shut.”

If Saxon doesn’t mate…he will die. You’ll be responsible for that. His blood will be on your hands.

“If he’s exiled, he’ll stay near water.” My words were coming out fast. I wasn’t going to let her win this argument. No chance. “Saxon can stay out of the water for hours, and he…he’s smart. He’ll move away from your clan, yes, but he’ll find somewhere else to live. Another lake, or a—”

Shut up!
Isolde screamed.
You moronic little twit. They’ll kill him. There is no exile. When a Mer shirks his responsibility, he is sacrificed.

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Council was so ruthless that it murders its own kind for not mating? What kind of backwards society did they have down there? “You’re gonna kill him for it? What is wrong with you people?”

What would you do if the entire human race would die off if you didn’t do as you were asked? Would you choose to turn your back on your own kind to chase love with someone…someone who…

When Isole’s words trailed off, her expression morphed into a soundless roar. It was like the anger inside of her was a wild animal, thrashing and clawing to get out.

“Oh, I get it.” My cheeks were scalding. “You’re gonna push the cripple subject again. How original. Maybe next you can gossip about me in the girls’ room.”

She shook her head.
You’d let him
die
for you?

“Why do you keep saying that?” I smacked my palm down on the wooden dock. “Saxon said he’d be exiled! Not that I
want
that to happen, but—”

He didn’t want you to worry about him. He was protecting you.
Isolde pulled her lips into a tight line.
He lied to you. He didn’t want you to know what he’s giving up to be with you.

“What he’s giving up?” I lamely repeated. My stomach filled with harsh realization. Saxon lied to me…and would likely be killed if he were caught walking amongst humans. “The Council will kill him if they know about me?”

Yes.
Isolde’s eyes were practically vibrating.

My heart beat fast. I couldn’t let Saxon get killed. Not for me. Not for anyone. “I’ll end it.” Tears filled my eyes and clogged my throat. “I’ll tell him to go away…and I’ll tell him it’s over, and—”

A muscle twitched in Isolde’s forehead.
You poor little girl. It’s too late.

“What?” The thought of Saxon being hurt, for my sake, shredded my heart into pieces. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes liquefied into two pools of opaque green.
They suspect it. They’re just waiting for evidence.
She paused, her tail rolling back and forth underneath us. “
It’s only a matter of time…you’ve practically already slaughtered him.

I slumped my shoulders and covered my face with my hands. “Oh…no, no, no…”

The little, shredded pieces of my heart, sank to the bottom of my stomach. Saxon was going to die. And it was all my fault. Good Lord, it was as if I had the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything I touched turned to crap. There was no way I was going to be able to live with myself if something happened to Saxon. It was bad enough that I’d ruined my parents’ marriage. And now? Now I would be responsible for killing the one person in the world I loved more than anything else.

I didn’t feel her grab my ankle. I didn’t even know I was being pulled until my chair landed on its side with a crash. My mouth opened to scream, but all that came out was a wheeze, as all of the wind rushed from my lungs. The upper thigh of my leggings tore, and my flesh cried for mercy as I was dragged across the dock toward the water. Splinters jabbed into my bare leg and hip, while I grabbed for something—anything—to grab onto.

Sucking in a jagged pull of air, I tried to yell. But only a raspy moan released before I plunged into the frigid water. My arms instinctively reached upward, fingers thwacking into the rusty metal hook on the far side of the dock where my father tied off his canoe in the summertime. Kinking my thumb and forefinger through the hook, I halted, tugging Isolde to an abrupt stop. Pain seared through my thigh as she tugged and yanked at my leg, trying to force me to let go.

Release that dock.
Her blonde hair danced wildly around her snarling face. Isolde looked as though she were walking a fine line between pissed off and downright nutso, and the nutso side was winning.

Shaking my head back and forth, I clasped my other hand over the large hook and pulled myself upward. I knew these guns would come in handy eventually. I watched as Isolde’s grip slid from my ankle, sending her deeper into the water underneath me. When my head broke through the water, I choked on a gulp of air so crisp, it chiseled through my lungs.

Her scaled hands came up to grip my thigh, but I jerked my hips to the right, and she was thrown off. I looked back at the embankment in panic. Opening my mouth to scream, lake water filled it as she dug her fingers into one of the tears in my pants and yanked me back down.

Thrashing back and forth, I pushed on her hand, ripping the leg of my pants even more. I bobbed to the surface, coughing and sputtering, then swam away from Isolde with every ounce of strength I could muster. Using the method Saxon taught me, I twisted my hips back and forth while raising my upper legs up and down. In a flash, I’d created eight feet of distance between the two of us. I broke the surface to gasp for more air, catching a glimpse of Evey’s bright red shirt in the trees near the mouth of Moon’s Bay.

“Ev! Help!” I dove down under the water and started to swim again. The hell with keeping Mer a secret; this lunatic was going to kill me. And I was not going to go down this way.

Aw, did he teach you how to swim like us?
Isolde appeared below me, her pace equal to mine.
Do you really think a gimp like you could ever get away from me?

OK, that stung. My rhythm broke, and I slowed to a stop. “Go to hell,” I sputtered down at her.

Her head slowly surfaced, her tail moving back and forth underneath her body methodically to hold her body perfectly still. Right when her face was free of the lake water, I caught sight of her eyes—all red-rimmed and rage-filled—and dropped back down under a wave.

She caught me by the chine with a webbed hand, and she lifted my face back out of the lake. When I breathed, droplets of water sprayed from my nostrils, and my heart thudded so hard in my chest that my ribs ached.

“Let…me…go!” When I tried pry her scaled fingers off my face, my mouth and nostrils slipped under. Using her other hand to grasp the hair on the top of my head, she shoved me down in the icy water, then jerked me back up. My scalp burned where her fingers fisted my hair.

I should kill you just to teach Saxon a lesson.

I swung my arms at her underneath the water. “You’ve already killed a human this week. Isn’t that enough?”

She plunged me into the water again, leaving me under for three or four seconds longer than necessary. When I came back up, I unleashed a string of obscenities at her that would have made a lesser man, er,
Mer
, blush, but she just sneered at me before plunging my head again.

You’re so pathetic. You and Saxon were doomed from the beginning.

I coughed when she lifted me back up. “That may be—”

My words were washed out by another mouthful of water when she pushed me under again.

I gasped when the cold air hit my face again. “At least I don’t have to murder someone to make them love me.”

She released my chin and cracked me across the face. Yelping, I covered the hot handprint she left behind and glowered at her.

“Luna?”

Isolde’s head jerked in the direction of the terrified scream. There, on the side of the lake, were Evey and Hayden. Her face was pure white, and his hands were in his hair as they gaped at me floating in the middle of the bay. Of course, that might not have been the most shocking sight. The fact that there was a gorgeous, green-tinged mermaid fisting my hair was pretty jarring, too.