Page 61 of Blood of the Sirens
I banged the hunk against the wall.
CRACK.
It broke in half, falling to the sand. Peeking out from the opening was a simple, white necklace made of delicate sanddollars. Gently I picked it up in my fingers, marveling at the untouched white of the shell.
Funny how people went nuts over these things, when all sand dollars were just exoskeletons bleached white by the sun.
But they were delicate, and the fact that one had lain here protected for all this time meant something. Was I the first of my kind to touch it since its last owner?
I’d just about decided to see what other treasure lay nearby when I scented blood in the water. I turned and high-tailed it out to open water.
“Merrick! Oh my god!”
The necklace sunk to the sand, forgotten.
Merrick swam toward me at an odd angle, trying desperately to stay in a straight line but failing. Dark blue blood trailed behind him from his face and chest, and his gills fluttered and danced as they worked much too hard to pull oxygen into his body. His movements reminded me of catching a fish who swallowed a hook too deep, and watching it twitch and die on the surface after you tried to throw it back.
Fear seized me in a chokehold.
“Who did this? Was it the other guys? Was it because of me?”
His eyes rolled back in his head as I caught him, steadying him against me as his lips moved, but no words came out.
“What? What is it?”
His eyes met mine, full of regret. “Swim.”
My gaze lifted behind him, a dark shadow filling the void as a bunch of mers followed his blood trail like a shark seeking its next meal.
Rage flooded my veins, burning out my fear as I let the indignation rise. These weren’t the same mers who had attacked me on the boat, but it might as well have been. How dare these guys think they can just have me and fuck them forattacking Merrick. I’d slit my own wrists before I willingly went with any of them. I didn’t care if their whole fucking species died forever.
They advanced on us, and I screamed my fury and anger at them. A harsh, shrieking sound erupted from my throat, vibrating my entire body as I shook with the force of it. Merrick passed out immediately in my arms, and the advancing horde of mers jerked back like I’d simultaneously slapped them all. I pushed harder and screamed louder. Their hands went to their ears as they bent over in obvious pain.
Good.
I wanted them to feel itallfor daring to interrupt my life and claiming it as their own.
Carefully, I set Merrick down on the sandy bottom and advanced toward the mermen, taking a large breath and screaming again.
They scattered like frightened minnows, still clutching their heads.
I sank back down to the ocean floor beside Merrick, feeling empty and hollow. My anger had burned its way through my body and now nothing was left but sorrow and fear. Merrick needed help, but he’d already used his jelly stuff on me. I had no idea what to do and then the choice was taken from me.
I smelled him before I saw him approach.
My mouth opened to scream again, but I slammed it shut when I recognized the sea witch’s little zombie mer. Calypso’s zombie mer.
He stared at me with those cold, black eyes, detached from everything around him.
“You! Take me back to her. I need help. Merrick needs help.”
He blinked once, then shot forward. I moved protectively in front of Merrick, but the odd mer simply pushed me asideand gathered Merrick in his arms as though he wasn’t nearly the same size he was.
I supposed underwater things weren’t as heavy.
He swam off.
“Wait!” I called after him, that same warble of distress bleeding through my voice. Merrick had called it a distress call earlier.
