Page 46 of Surfaces
Sard Gorgono!
Another flash of anger slid through me, along with a sliver of strange delight that tumbled and twisted with it until I couldn’t quite tell which was which.
Was I excited to prove myself? Test myself? Where did that random emotion come from? Was there some secret part of me that was aching for destruction? It felt like there was. And I didn’t know what to think about that. It didn’t correspond to my definition of self.
But that definition had been solidified when I was a human.
Now, I was anything but that.
I glanced at the ship, no longer seeing it as an entertainment but an obstacle.
What could I do to affect the ship and not the people?
Was there a way that I could freeze and crack the planks without hurting the sirens performing?
Could I somehow sever the net with ice? Mayi had used ice spears and daggers against me, and I knew that it was one of her favorite weapons. But what if I hurt someone? All I’d ever done was practice making a sarding ball of ice!
Indecision swam through my ribs like a swarming school of fish and made my torso feel too crowded, ready to burst.
I couldn’t find a safe solution with logic, I just kept imagining disasters play out. The ship exploding into fragments and a sharp wooden shard piercing a child. Creating a whirlpool that then ravaged half the town. What if my power burst out too strong and fierce?
Could I just swim over and rescue each child in my arms? But that was me thinking as a human.
These people didn’t want a human queen.
They wanted a sea sprite.
Should I embrace my darker instincts?
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, searching for the song inside me, deciding I should find my magic first and see if the song itself led me in any particular direction.
Last time, I’d gotten caught up in the tune, perhaps I should do so again and just see if instinct could guide me. Just a little. A bit. I wouldn’t let it drag me too far in the wrong direction.
I listened.
I didn’t hear the sea’s song.
I searched again.
Silence.
I panicked when I couldn’t find my magic—the crowd was too loud, the need of the moment was too much to find that tiny strand of music that I’d only ever acknowledged once.
But then a strong hand threaded fingers through my own and my eyes shot open.
I turned and was startled to see Watkins, of all people, floating beside me. The shark shifter gave me one long look before he turned down to the crowd below. His white shock of hair fell across his eyes as he stared down before he bellowed, “What’s wrong with you people! Those are your children under attack! You can’t wait for a queen or a mayor or an army! Otherwise, you yourselves are no better than these children, calling out for someone else to save them!”
His words caused a tense moment of frozen silence as the crowd exchanged looks, wondering what they should do—follow the plan of their mayor, a known entity, or a stranger, a shark shifter whose name they probably didn’t even know, who held hands with a queen they’d never met.
That moment of silence was what I needed to find the song inside. It surged up into me—a precious vocal run that started deep and rose through an entire octave as if it was surfacing through the waves, utterly gorgeous.
It brought me relief because I knew I could do something with my magic. But what exactly was best?
As I searched for the answer to that question, trying to let the song tell me what to do, I glanced over at the shark shifter holding my hand. His handsome features were inscrutable as his eyes turned from the crowd beneath our floating feet back to me.
Is Watkins actually helping me or undermining me?
Should I move forward and destroy the ship with my clumsy magic or should I wait to see what the crowd would do?
