Page 81 of Mermaid's Heart (Dark Sea Academy 2)

Chapter 23

Tiberias stops and pulls away his trident before striking Halen. She and Bash are tied together, back to back.

I’m frozen in disbelief as I stare at the scene before me. My dad had Halen and Bash this whole time? He’s the one behind their disappearances?

Confusion melts way and turns into anger. My dad is using the people I care about most to protect himself! All of this was planned out, and he knew where they were the entire time I spent with him earlier.

And he doesn’t care about how any of this affects me. Just like he sent my mom to the surface after announcing his heartless engagement. Flaunting his indiscretions in front of us.

I clench my fists. They warm and glow green.

My father is the epitome of evil. He has no soul. That’s the only way to explain his actions. All he cares about is power. Not his family, and certainly not the people he ruled for such a short time.

He won’t ever rule over them again. Not if I have anything to say about it.

Tiberias orders my dad to remove Bash and Halen from the mat. His hands and trident glow bright green like I’ve never seen.

My dad moves closer to his captives, keeping them between him and his brother. “You’ll have to go through them before you get me.”

Lightning shoots out from my hands. I jump up and struggle with the strings on the back of my dress, before shimmying out of it and racing to the mat without a weapon. All I can think about is protecting them at any cost. They don’t deserve to be in the middle of this.

I yank on their rope and pull them away from my dad.

He turns to me, fury in his eyes. “How dare you!”

“How dare you!” I reach for the knot to untie it, but my dad aims his trident at me, his nostrils flaring.

Tiberias smashes into him, and they both sail across the mat, their weapons clanging together.

I work on the knot. “I’ve been looking all over for you two!”

“Your dad’s been torturing us.” Halen’s voice wobbles.

Fury rages through me. My hands grow brighter green and some of the lightning goes directly into the knot. It bursts into pieces, and the rope falls from them. They pull apart.

I clench my fists, growing a green electric ball between my palms. “Go over there. I’m going to deal with my dad! He’ll pay for this!”

Bash kisses my cheek before putting an arm around Halen and helping her to the sidelines.

My uncle and dad are racing from one end of the mat to the other, battling it out and neither appearing to have the upper hand. I glance over at Halen and Bash. She’s crying and Bash is comforting her. That’s when I notice the welts on them.

How dare he kidnap and torture them? I race for the battling brothers and shove my uncle out of the way. I must’ve caught him off-guard because he flies back past the mat. I glare at my father. “I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done!”

He opens his mouth to say something, but I throw my electric ball at him. It strikes him in the chest, and he sails backward.

“No magic allowed!” calls the announcer.

Like I care.

I look over at my bruised friend and boyfriend, more anger building. My hands glow again and this time, a green ball forms even quicker.

Tiberias races over. “Don’t! I can’t let you have this on your conscious.”

“Out of my way.” I race past him and throw my new ball at my dad. He snaps back and cries out, dropping his trident.

“Drake!” Middlebrooks cries.

My uncle blocks me. “This will change you. Let me do this.”

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