Page 52 of Emerge

Jax, Blake, and Morgan surrounded us with their own tridents. I wanted to feel relieved, but my worry just increased.

While the tritons were distracted, I dropped down from in the middle of them and took off. The loud booming hadn't happened again. That meant they had been stopped or had achieved their goal.

I didn't look back, even though I heard my name being called. I was faster than I had thought and was able to stay ahead of the eight tritons racing after me. I just hoped the ones that wanted me dead didn't throw their tridents at me.

I couldn't see anything with all the movement below. There were so many tritons fighting that it was hard to see who or what they were fighting.

I curved my trajectory and spotted Olivia flailing her tentacles and sending tritons flying through the water left and right. A few of her tentacles were stuck to the ocean floor with tridents.

"Is that a fucking kraken?" Jax was behind me and Olivia turned her face toward us. "Is that... Olivia?" Jax's voice cracked, and with a burst of speed, he passed me and headed for his sister.

A man shaped like water knocked me to the side and I dropped the knife with the force of the hit. I righted myself and dashed after it, grabbing it just as I took another hit. I slashed with my knife, but whatever was fighting against us had no corporeal form.

"What the hell are these things?" Morgan was knocked into me and we tumbled toward the seafloor together. "Damn that hurt!"

"It's like what had ahold of me during the homecoming dance!" I grunted as I hit the ground. "We need to stop him!"

Part of me did want to free the sirens, but it seemed like a bad idea to just let them all out without knowing what the consequences would be.

"You're going to get yourself-" Morgan didn't get to finish his sentence because a tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him away.

Olivia was free from the ground now, thanks to Jax more than likely, but she now had him, Blake, Morgan, and a few other tritons wrapped up. She was larger than before, with tentacles that were thicker and longer.

It would have been badass if she wasn't being controlled by Dylan.

I didn't know what to do. I wasn't a soldier and I wasn't keen on using my knife on Olivia. She was an innocent wrapped up in Dylan's sick games.

My anger surged inside me and I let out a yell as I swam forward, into the flurry of tritons and water monsters fighting against each other. I spotted my mom standing near a hole in the ground. She was protected by something that didn't allow anything to get through.

"Mom!" I swam to her and ran face first into something springy that sent me back a few feet. "Mom! We have to get out of here!"

I stabbed my knife into what could only be described as a bubble and it popped. She wasn't moving an inch, and I stopped in front of her. Her eyes met mine, and before I could stop her, she grabbed the knife from me and swam down into the hole.

"Fuck!" I looked around, hoping someone would have an answer for what I should do. The answer never came.

I swam down the hole, not caring that I was making an idiotic decision. My mind screamed at me to turn back, but my body wouldn't allow me to.

The tunnel went on for what felt like five hundred feet and then opened into an empty cavern where my mom and Dylan were in a scuffle. The trident fell from Dylan's grip and I dove for it, grabbing it just before he was able to.

There was an immediate calming sensation that spread through my body and I felt like I held all the power in the world. Dylan let out a shriek that made my ears feel like they were going to explode and came for me.

My mom was under him and grabbed his tail, pulling him to a halt and slashing at his tail with the knife. He let out another shriek and I swung the trident at him. I was stronger than I thought, but he grabbed onto it and pulled me to him.

"You'll pay for that." He slammed his head forward, hitting mine with such force that I let go and floated to the ground in a wave of dizziness. The weird buoyancy of my new body kept me down.

Were there two of him now? No, there were definitely four of him.

He spun around and pointed the trident at my mom, sending a flash of something at her and hitting her in the stomach. She screeched and the knife dropped.

I rubbed my head, my hand coming away red with my blood. I was dizzy, but I had to get the knife. I scooted along the floor, rocks biting into my tail.

I needed to snap out of it so I could float again. I should have practiced swimming with my new body more.

"Where are they?" Dylan's voice was so loud the cavern shook, sending small pieces of rock falling.

My mom was holding her stomach and gritted her teeth. "Where you can't find them and use them against their will!"

He sent another flash at her and she flew back into a wall. My head was throbbing and my vision still swimming, but I could see the glint of the knife not far from my reach. With one more flick of my tail, my fingers wrapped around the hilt.

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