Whatever the man desired, I could not fathom; however, I knew this would not end well.
I lunged at Salla and knocked her from his grasp. I pushed her away and told her to run as I moved to block the man from getting near her. The man came at me with his blade, but he was human, weaker and slower. I grabbed his wrist, turned his weapon toward his throat, and slit it. I paused only for a moment as I watched the blood pour from his wounds into the mud. He then mumbled words I did not understand, though I imagined he cursed me. To death. To suffer.
I ran in the direction where Salla had disappeared. She’d run through a stand of large pointed trees toward the center of the island, where a great mountain stood. How did I know this? A trail of blood.
My thoughts filled with panic as I ran as fast as I could with my new clumsy legs, wondering how the man had managed to cut her so badly. It was my fault. I had not been quick enough to free her.
I found Salla face down inside a giant cave that had more of that glowing green water. It illuminated the space with odd-looking lights that danced off the wet stone walls.
“No! No, no, no…” I turned Salla over and found a look of pain in her eyes.
“It hurts, Ari. It hurts.” She held her hands over her wound, begging me to make it stop. Her cries were torture to my soul. There was nothing I could do for her. Nothing. The hole was too deep.
I took her to the pool and told her I loved her. The moment she understood what I meant to do, she began to fight and claw and scream. I held her under, knowing that this death for her would be far more merciful than bleeding to death from a painful wound to the stomach.
It shattered every part of my soul to end her suffering. I felt my heart fill with rage and anguish. I did not want to lose her. I screamed and wailed as she fought. Finally, her body ceased moving.
Broken, I pulled myself from the pool and dragged Salla out. That was when I realized her wound had healed.
The water was magic. Yet it had not occurred to me that it could repair flesh and bone.
I’d killed Salla. She could’ve lived if not for me.
I cried for many hours, mourning her loss, before I decided my life was no longer worth living. I decided to return to the hunter and get his blade.
“Ari? Ari? Where are you?”
“Salla?” I stood and turned, trying to see her with my eyes. But Salla’s body still lay on the floor of the cave.
“Ari? I cannot feel my body. What happened? Why did you hurt me?” I felt her angry soul in the air all around me.
“I tried to help you. I could not let you suffer.”
“You took my life. You, my mate.” She sobbed with such agony, I was lost for words. My attempt to release her from her pain had only made her suffer more.
What had I done?
The next few hours I stayed in that cave, once again praying to our gods for help. I watched her body grow colder and colder. I could feel her anger and pain all around me. She had died at my hands and could not understand why.
“I think I can hear the others,” Salla said. “I feel them near. They are looking for us.”
Salla still felt the connection to our tribe, just as I still felt the connection to her in my aching heart. “I will go find them.”
“No! You cannot leave me. The humans will return. They will hurt me. I can feel two of those men getting closer. Oh, gods…” She began to sob. “They are going to kill me.”
That was the moment I understood Salla’s soul was trapped somewhere between this world and her nightmares and pain. “I will find the others quickly and return to you.”
“They will make you leave this place. They will want to run from the humans, too.” Her voice was frantic.
“I will not leave. I promise.” I planned to find the humans and kill them. Then I would find our tribe and elders and discuss what to do.
“None of you will leave, Ari. None of you will leave.”
“Salla—”
“No! I can see into your heart. You cannot leave me here all alone.”
I had no intention of leaving her, but as much as I pleaded, she would not listen.
“I will kill them all, Ari. I will cook your brothers right in the ocean if anyone tries to leave.” To prove her point, she made the ground shake and the water in the pool began to glow brighter, bubbling with heat.
I now understood that the magic in the water had only transformed Salla into something greater. I had no doubt she would harm our people.
When I eventually found our group on the other side of the island, Salla forced me to tell them lies so they would not leave. I told them how the island had spoken to me, that it was sacred and the creator of life in the world—a god that needed our help and protection. I showed them how the water was magic and gave us back our legs and made us stronger.
I hoped that over time, we would find a way to leave this place. But as I sit here looking out across the ocean, my body growing weaker and older, my last breath drawing closer, I know Salla will never release her hold on us, even though so few remain. Many have died attempting to flee. But Salla knows everything. She uses her connection with us to go inside our hearts. She whispers her evil thoughts into our souls. She says she will never let me go. Even in the afterlife I question if she will release my spirit or if I, too, will become a part of this place, where Salla’s pain and rage touches every leaf, every rock, and every tree.
Those who remain without legs have lost their beautiful colors, their magic gone, their skin unable to stand the sunlight. Those who had children have now lost them, all killed by Salla as punishment for our disobedience.
Soon this record is all that will be left of our people. We have decided to stop eating, stop drinking the healing water that gave us legs, to embrace death rather than live as captives on this island.
May the gods have mercy on our souls.
~~~
Roen scratched his short beard, trying to take in the astonishing yet tragic story. “Foking hell,” he whispered.
He knew from the other texts and folklore what happened next in the history of his people, or what was believed, anyway. Afraid to be left alone, the island eventually compromised with their people, promising them freedom. Someday.
But so much of their folklore was shrouded in lies meant to keep their people from leaving.
Nevertheless, the story was amazing. The island and whatever supernatural properties it held were there long before Salla and Ari ever arrived. At least, that was what it seemed from the story. Of course, it was all told through the eyes of a merman who’d lived thousands of years ago. But could the island simply be some sort of natural anomaly, one that absorbed the sorts of energies that simply could not be seen with the naked eye?
Roen’s thoughts stirred inside his head. If Liv really were speaking through Dana, it meant…well, she wasn’t dead. She was trapped on that island.
But if Liv was trapped there, then who was inside her body?
Salla…
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sometime early in the morning, Liv felt a familiar energy approaching the island, but it wasn’t until she picked up the vibrations in the air that she realized who it was.
Roen. He’s coming back. Was Crazy Dirt with him? Liv didn’t sense the malevolent presence.
And when the airplane landed and Roen took his first step on the soil, she could practically taste him—his strength, his love, his passionate soul. Her entire being swooned with joy. She only wished she had the ability to speak to him. Her guess was that Crazy Dirt had had many, many centuries to practice the skill of getting inside people’s heads. Liv could barely get Dana to listen while Dana was asleep.
Roen then met with Lyle and a few of the other mermen. She could feel his soul was uneasy.
Can’t say I fucking blame you. So many bad things had happened to him here. But then something unexpected occurred. Roen walked into the Great Hall alone, lay down on the floor, and began speaking to her. “Liv, I know you’re here.
Talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
“Roen?”
“Holy foke. I knew it.”
~~~
The moment the airplane doors opened, Roen knew Liv was here. “What the foke happened to this place?” he mumbled to himself, unable to believe that this was the same island.
Lyle and Dana were waiting for him at the end of the long dirt runway. The grins on their suntanned faces resembled those of a happy couple on a honeymoon. All right. Now I’ve seen everything.
Roen’s eyes took in the surroundings. Exotic flowers of yellows, purples, and reds bloomed in patches mixed with green grass. This looked just like the dream he’d had.
This can’t be.
The trees were again healthy, and he could hear birds chirping away. He looked up at the vivid blue sky and drew a breath of sweet, warm ocean air.
The scent of Liv was everywhere.
He looked at Lyle and Dana, unable to form words.
“It’s quite a shock, isn’t it?” Lyle said. Even Lyle looked like he’d had new life breathed into him.
“I can’t foking believe it. And do you smell that?” Roen asked Dana.
“Smell what?” Dana said.
“That sweetness. It smells like Liv,” he replied.
“I don’t smell anything, but it has changed a lot since you left,” Dana said.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with me.” It was the evil soul who hitchhiked inside Liv’s body to get off of the island.
“I need a moment alone,” Roen said. “I’ll be in the Great Hall.”
“We’ll be in your house,” Lyle said. “When you’re ready, there is much to discuss.”
Roen gave a nod and watched the two of them head into the forest, holding hands. He never dreamed he’d see his brother displaying affection to a woman.
He shook his head and made his way to the enormous cavern inside the mountain. Half of his heart prayed he was wrong about Liv being trapped here, and the other half prayed he was right. If Liv’s spirit was trapped in this place, he wouldn’t know how to free her. And if she wasn’t here, then all would be lost. That woman who looked like Liv, possibly carrying his child, may have killed the love of his life.
He entered the Great Hall and couldn’t believe his eyes. White light reflected from the water that sheeted down the walls and flowed into the pool toward the back of the giant cavern. The energy almost felt like a drug. Euphoric. The room even smelled like fragrant lilacs.
He lay down on his back over the shockingly warm stone floor and took a breath, trying to relax and take it all in. He felt the energy swirling all around him. She was here. He could feel her.
Roen then took a deep breath and opened his heart. “Liv, I know you’re here. Talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
“Roen?”
“Holy foke. I knew it.” Her voice echoed inside his head, and he jumped up off the floor.
“Oh my God, Roen. You found me. I can’t believe you found me.” The sound of Liv’s joyful sobs saturated his heart.
He spent the next hour talking to Liv, pacing circles inside the cavern. She told him everything about the deal she’d made with the island to save them all. She told him how “Crazy Dirt” tore out Liv’s heart and how Liv became anchored to the island.
He then told her about the text he’d read and how a violent tragedy took Salla’s life.
“So the island is Salla. It explains why she’s so crazy and paranoid,” Liv said. “Her story is like one of those movies about those poltergeists whose souls stay trapped in their violent deaths.”
“Only this isn’t a horror film. This is real,” Roen pointed out.
“Still just as scary,” Liv said. “What am I going to do, Roen? I can’t stay here like this forever, and I can’t go steal someone else’s body. I’m not like her.”
“We need to set her soul free. We need to push her out of your body.”
“But then what, Roen? My heart is…well…it’s part of this place now. And I don’t know how to do what she did and just make one or pull myself out of here or whatever.”
He had not told Liv the other part of the latest chapter, but he knew he had to. “Liv? There’s something else I need to share with you.”
“Oh boy. From the tone of your voice, I’m biting my nails. If I had nails. Which I don’t. This is so damned awful.”
“She’s pregnant. Or your body is pregnant.”
“What?” she barked. “No. No, no, no. She can’t do that.”
“I think she has.”
“Why the hell did you fuck her, Roen?” Liv yelled.
“I’m sorry, but we both know I thought I was sleeping with you.”
“Jesus Christ. She’ll kill our baby.”
“We don’t know that, Liv.”
“Oh. So you think she’s going to be a loving mother who takes care of the baby after she almost wiped out your kind and killed all of the children as revenge when the first lucky settlers tried to leave?”
“No.”
“She’s probably going to suck the soul right out of the tiny thing or tear out its heart and get inside it.”
“Who knows what she plans to do.”
“Roen, this has to end. After the baby is born, you have to kill her. You have to end her.”
“If I destroy your body, we lose all hope of getting you back, and what’s not to say that her soul won’t come right back here. As for the baby, if she truly is pregnant, then I fear what her evil soul is doing to it. I think we need to act now.”
“I wish I could get closer and feel her. Then I might know what’s going on. But she’s too far away. She’s just a faint noise like anybody else.”
“You feel others?”
“I feel everyone, Roen. It’s like a low vibration in the air. But I feel the ocean, I feel the trees and the birds and fish. It’s really goddamned freaky.”
So the island truly was connected to the rest of the world. He wondered about the other stories of the island being the spark of life.
“Can you communicate with anyone?” Roen asked.
“No. I’m not like Salla. I haven’t had the time to practice being a giant asshole like she has. But I think it explains how she was able to get to me and Dana when we were back in Wrangell. Or why those pirates and Dr. Fuller dreamed of this place. I think it takes a lot of energy to reach out like that, but I’m sure it can be done if you have enough practice. And a giant stick of vengeance up your ass.”
Roen laughed. Even now, in the face of such a colossal cluster foke, Liv was still Liv. “If it makes you feel any better, she’s really bad in bed. I was beginning to dread having sex. Like sleeping with a cold fish.”
“Whoa. Stop right there, merman. I don’t want to know.”
“Understood.” But he felt guilty as hell.
A few long moments of silence passed, and then he heard Liv sigh.
“Liv, you need to know that no matter what happens, I will never abandon you. I will stay here with you until my last breath.”
“You’re not saying that because you’re afraid I’ll turn all psycho-Salla, are you?”
He smiled. “No. I’m saying it because you need to know that my heart belongs to you. No matter what.”
“Thank you, Roen. But if there’s a baby, it can’t grow up here. It needs to be somewhere happy and beautiful. This shithole is no home for a child.”
“I might have agreed with you three weeks ago, but now…”
“What? No. You are leaving here. You should set up camp somewhere else with the rest of your people. When they decide to leave.”
Did she not know? “I think they’d be opposed to that, Liv. The island is changed.”
“Changed how?”
He told her all about the flowers and the trees. He told her how good it felt to be here. “I think it’s you, Liv.”
“If only I had hands, I’d so be writing up my doctoral dissertation on this place. But, Roen, the reality is that Salla sai
d she chose me because I was the only one strong enough to pull this off. But I think she’s wrong, Roen. I feel like every day that passes I feel weaker and more hopeless. It’s only a question of time before I end up like Salla. Batshit crazy.”
“Then we will have to find a way to fix this, Liv.” Though he had no clue how.
“The only thing you need to worry about is protecting that baby and killing that fucking bitch. That’s it.”
“We lose nothing by trying, Liv.”
“Yes. We do. If she suspects anything, she’ll use that baby as leverage against you. That is what she does, Roen. She uses those we love against us. She always has, and she always will. It’s probably the only reason she wanted a baby in the first place. She’s always five hundred steps ahead and she had to know you’d catch on sooner or later.”
Liv had a point. “I am going to gather everyone together to discuss what to do.”
“You can discuss all you like, Roen, but this decision is mine. And I’m not afraid to die. Especially if it will end Salla once and for all. Let the baby be born far away from this place and destroy my body. With luck, she’ll be too far away to come back here.”
That was taking a huge risk on a huge assumption, and not that he didn’t understand Liv’s point, but she couldn’t understand what it would do to him if she died. And growing up without a mother…well, he wanted better for his child. They had to try to undo this.
“We have to attempt to bring you back, Liv. We have to try to release Salla’s soul. Please. If not for me, then for that baby. Our baby.”
Liv remained silent for several long moments. “Okay. We’ll try.”
Roen wanted so badly to hold her in his arms and kiss her. He loved her brave heart. He loved how selfless and strong she was. How could he have been fooled by that bitch parading around in Liv’s skin?
Liv was special and she was strong. And like her, he would not go down without a fight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE