“What?” Carissa, Jeremiah, and I asked in unison.
It was hard to comprehend exactly what Kain meant, especially considering that what he was saying sounded completely outrageous. There hadn’t been a war amongst the merfolk in over a thousand years, and even then, that uprising had been squashed relatively quickly and quietly. I couldn’t remember what it had been about exactly, but whatever it was, the Council had resolved the matter.
Ignoring Carissa and I, Kain took a step closer to his distant relative and addressed him directly. “The Sutherland clan has declared war on those who will not side with their views to follow The Legacy.”
Jeremiah relaxed his shoulders slightly and shrugged. “Oh, they’ve been threatening to do that for years. I’m sure this is just another political ploy and scare tactic.” The gorgeous merman touched each of the girls one at a time on the shoulder and they promptly returned to their positions along the wall. He really didn’t seem too concerned with Kain’s declaration.
“They’ve already attacked us both here and at home.”
My head whipped over to look at Kain as I stepped up beside him. “They’ve been to our home? What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?” I was frantic and paranoid that something terrible had happened to our families since I’d been gone.
“It’s not your home anymore, Eviana,” Kain snapped at me.
It felt like a slap in the face made worse because there was an audience watching our every move. I knew that I left my home behind but it didn’t mean that I’d stopped caring for everyone there. If something bad had happened, I needed to know.
“Ah,” cooed Jeremiah. “So you’re the runaway bride.”
He looked me up and down, assessing every part of my body which was easy to do since I jumped to attention when he recognized me. In the distant corner, I heard the selkie shift on his chair again as though this news was important to him too. Jeremiah slowly shook his head from side to side and made a sucking sound with his mouth.
“You shouldn’t have let her get away from you, Kain. She would have been perfect.”
I expected Kain to set him straight, and when he didn’t, I nearly jumped in to explain that it wasn’t Kain’s fault. However, he spoke up before I had a chance.
“Jeremiah, they’ve killed two leaders and are using selkies to do their dirty work. Eviana was attacked just up the coast the other night by three of them. Do you know anything about this?” His brutal tone made it clear this wasn’t a question; this was an accusation.
“Don’t you dare!” Jeremiah’s tail transformed back into legs and he pushed himself up so that he stood eye to eye with his clan leader. “Are you questioning my loyalty, Kain?”
“Do I have a reason to?”
Jeremiah threw his head back and laughed. “Of course you do! Our family shunned me from their world because I refused to stop using my gifts. In fact, following The Legacy wouldn’t be such a bad idea.” He ran his hands through his hair and smiled. “We are a superior race and we’d have continued to rule had the Council not decided to ban the practice of Legacy. Look around this room! Humans and shifters and water sprites are at our mercy. We can control them, so why should we not?”
Kain quickly grabbed Jeremiah by the shoulders and pulled him close enough for a kiss. Through clenched teeth and a shaky voice, Kain ask him the most important question yet. “Are you involved with this, Jeremiah?”
The room fell silent with not even a breath being shared amongst each other. We all knew that Jeremiah’s answer could change the course of action for the rest of the meeting and right now, Kain seemed determined to do whatever he could to protect his people. Seemingly unaffected by Kain’s outburst, Jeremiah looked at his cousin’s hands on his arms and then arched an eyebrow in his direction. Kain interpreted the meaning and stepped away slightly.
“No. I am not involved in this war.”
Jeremiah held out his arms to the side and another female servant rushed over to wrap a sarong around his waist. The dark red material contrasted greatly with the nude color wraps everyone else in the room wore. Looking around for the first time, I really noticed that all of Jeremiah’s guests or servants were wearing what looked like ancient Greek clothing. The women wore dresses that seemed to wrap around only the modest parts of their body, exposing the skin on their stomach, arms, and legs. The men had on togas, again draped distinctly to show copious amounts of bare skin without compromising their dignity. Jeremiah had created his own little empire here.
“Please, come with me,” he continued and waved us over to the corner of the swimming pool area where a simple wooden table and chairs hid. Jeremiah took the end seat at the head of the table, while the three of us gathered along the side. Once again, the awaiting servants hurried to our sides carrying trays of fruit and drinks for all of us. He never said a word to them, and that continued to bother me as I tried to figure out how it was possible. “Cousin, tell me what you know.”
“We think the Sutherland clan has formed a sort of coalition with a few other families both here and in Europe. They want to step out of the shadows and claim their birthright as the ruler of humans and they’re willing to take their war public. The Council has been working diligently for the past few months to negotiate terms with the clans and to keep the casualties out of the media spotlight.”
I just sat and stared at my childhood friend. I had no idea this was going on around me and although I was angry at myself for being so ignorant, I was also angry at Kain and my mother for not enlightening me. Perhaps if I would’ve known the gravity of the situation, I would’ve made a different choice for my future. Perhaps.
“You said that two leaders have been killed. Who were they?” Jeremiah asked.
“One was from a Washington clan, Master Harrison. And the other…”
“Was my uncle,” Carissa interrupted. “Ren Kiyomizu. He was killed in his mountain home in the Catskills two weeks ago. It’s been ruled a natural death, but there were signs water sprites had been involved.”
Jeremiah’s eyebrows arched higher than I would have thought possible. “Water sprites, huh?” He rubbed his chin in a way that made me think he once maintained a beard. “You’re Carissa Nakamo?”
She nodded her head and smiled slightly.
“I have seen your work. Very impressive. We should talk more about your future.” Kain cleared his throat to remind Jeremiah that there were more pressing issues right now. “Yes cousin, later. I know.” He turned to look directly at me. “Tell me about the attack.”
Considering I hadn’t spoken more than a few words since we arrived, I looked at Kain to see what he thought. He gave me a small and almost invisible head bob encouraging me to tell my story. So I spent the next few minutes enlightening Jeremiah and the servants all about the attack on Brendan and me and how that led up to our visit today.
“They stole his skin?” a deep voice from the far side of the room questioned. As one, we turned to see the mysterious speaker and I was surprised to find that the selkie from the corner stool had started moving closer toward us.
“Malcolm…” Jeremiah warned and the man stopped dead in his tracks.
Kain looked at the merman, “Who is he?”
“He’s a selkie,” I replied, never letting my eyes fall from the shifter. I felt Kain and Carissa’s stare boring into my skin, but I could discuss that with them another time. “Why would they take Brendan’s skin?” I continued.
Malcolm shook his head and let his gaze drop to the floor. “I-I don’t know. If the mermaid clans are controlling selkies, I’d think they would have captured your friend to use him in their army instead. But taking the skin only means they ensure he’ll have a slow and painful death.” He shuddered with those words. “It’s just cruel.”
“Unless they’re using it as bait to bring you to them,” Jeremiah added.
“What would they possibly want with me? I have no power and no authority over anyone.”
Jeremiah’s eyebrows lifted again with
my comment but he quickly continued with his thought. “But you are the key to the Matthew and Dumahl clans. If they can’t get their hands on Kain or your mother, you’d be the next best thing.”
“But I’ve been shunned! Our clans couldn’t care less if something happened to me.”
“Well, obviously that isn’t true, Eviana,” he said while acknowledging Kain and Carissa’s presence.
Was he right? Even though I’d received nothing but a cold shoulder from Kain, he was jeopardizing a lot to come here and help me. Carissa may have had a more personal reason, but she was still risking banishment as well.
“Malcolm, come!” Jeremiah demanded, pulling me from my thoughts.
As though he lost all ability to think for himself, Malcolm walked closer to the table and knelt down next to Jeremiah’s legs. The merman began stroking Malcolm’s short hair like one would pet a dog. “Tell me selkie, have you felt their call?”
“Yes,” he replied robotically.
“When?”
“Almost every night, master. It is not strong enough to obey, but it is strong.”
“Why is he calling you master?” I asked, standing now to get a better view of this display. I was also quite uncomfortable and didn’t care that Kain was commanding me with his eyes to sit down and shut up.
“Because he’s mine,” Jeremiah replied as though the answer was obvious. “They all are.” He looked around the room and I followed his head as each and every servant stared back. “Do you not control your selkie?”
“No!” I gasped. “Why would I do that?”
“Why not?” he asked in return.
“Because it’s wrong! Besides, I can’t do that. I’m not a leader.”
Jeremiah’s wicked laugh echoed through the atrium. “A leader? You don’t have to be a leader to control those that belong to us. Who told you such fairy tales?”
I didn’t answer. Brendan had told me about the stories of merfolk controlling his kind. He was also the one who said that I couldn’t do that to him now.
Malcolm sat still next to Jeremiah looking up at the merman like a begging dog. It broke my heart to see this happening in front of me. I would never do that to Brendan; it just wasn’t fair.
“Are you controlling the humans too?” I asked in a whisper.
“Of course,” he scoffed like it was the most idiotic question ever asked. “Humans are the easiest. We’ve been in control of their minds for thousands of years. Don’t you recall your ancient Greek history? Poseidon and Amphitrite? They were some of the first merfolk to interact with the humans and shape their culture. ‘Gods of the Sea’ they used to call us. Humans sacrificed each other and their beloved belongings to beg for calm seas and victories in battle. They are so susceptible to superstitions and legends.” He laughed and shook his head again. “It’s actually quite sad to see how weak minded they are. It really would be a better world if we were allowed to practice The Legacy,” he said in a wistful tone.
“Humans are not here to serve us!” yelled Kain.
“No?” Jeremiah snapped. “Then why can I do this?”
In an instant, every single human servant stood and briskly walked over to the edge of the pool. As one, they jumped in and disappeared underneath the surface. The stillness was startling after the echoes of the splashes disappeared into the walls. The music beat rhythmically in the background and we all sat in stunned silence for a full minute. None of the humans came back up for a breath of air.
“What are you doing?” Kain asked in desperation.
“Proving my point, cousin. If humans weren’t around to serve us, I wouldn’t be able to enter their mind and tell them to sit on the bottom of this pool until I commanded differently. They will stay there until their lungs give out and they take that last deadly, gasping breath. And they will do that simply because I told them to.”
“Stop this!” I cried.
Carissa and I rushed over to the edge of the pool only to see twenty bodies sitting on the bottom of their deadly liquid crypt. A few of them began to twitch and release bubbles from their mouths. They were running out of air yet Jeremiah was willing to let them die to prove a point.
“We get it okay? Humans are weak and feeble. Now please release them!” I screamed at Jeremiah.
“Not just yet,” he murmured.
More bodies began to jerk and shudder under the water. Carissa reached down toward one particularly young female who sat directly below us, but before her hand got to the water’s surface, another one reached up and grabbed her. She let out a scream as a clawed liquid hand with long, bony fingers wrapped around her wrist and held her arm in place.
“What is that?” she cried out.
Shaking her arm back and forth, she tried to dislodge the fingers. When she lifted her hand up, an arm, shoulder and then head appeared at the surface as though she pulled this creature from the depths of its lair. Its hand was large but the rest of the body was only three feet long. The water sprite smiled and a mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth filled its malevolent grin. He snapped at Carissa, causing her to scream again.
I heard several noises at the surface of the water like dolphins breaking through for a quick breath, and when I surveyed the pool, I saw at least a dozen water sprites smiling back at us. Each one had an oval shaped head, long pointed ears, and sharp teeth peeking out from underneath their lips. But they couldn’t distract me from the real horror. Every human under the water was now struggling. A few of them had stopped moving and I feared the worst.
“Please…” I whispered through the tears in my eyes.
As if on command, the water sprites dove under the surface and began to toss the humans one by one up on the side of the pool. Some of them hit the edge hard enough to make a sickening crunch and I wondered if the sprites were causing even more damage. Coughing and sputtering noises consumed the room while the servants began to expel the water from their lungs and breathe in the oxygen they so desperately needed.
“What have you done?” Kain gasped as he watched the water sprites play with shoes and pieces of clothing stolen from the helpless humans.
“Who them?” Jeremiah asked innocently as he watched the faerie-like creatures play while he continued to pet Malcolm who hadn’t moved from his position. “Why, I own them too. I captured two of them in a bog several years ago and they’ve bred like bunnies ever since. As you can see, I now have a little family that continues to grow each year. In fact, we’re expecting a new arrival in a few weeks.”
“This is why they shunned you,” I guessed while helping Carissa to her feet. We walked over to Kain who stood on the opposite side of the table as Jeremiah. We’d overstayed our welcome and I saw that we were all ready to go.
“For this and other things,” Jeremiah replied lightly. “As I said, what’s the point of being a merman if we don’t use our gifts? You have them too, you know.” He waved his hand at each of us. “All of you do. You should try it. It’s addicting,” he hissed. My body ran cold and Carissa grabbed my hand in hers.
“Are you going to help us?” Kain said stoically.
Jeremiah sighed and turned his attention to the selkie at his feet. “Malcolm,” he started like someone would speak to a child, “do you know where they may have taken the skin?”
Malcolm stirred and tilted his head like he was trying to concentrate. “Maybe,” he whispered. “There’s been a rumor that a large group of selkies have been seen just outside the city. Perhaps this is the army controlled by the Sutherland leader?”
“What city?” I asked.
“Malcolm, what city?” Jeremiah repeated since he seemed to be the only one Malcolm could listen to.
“Baltimore.”
“Thank you, shifter.”
Jeremiah pushed against the selkie to stand up and Malcolm fell back against the floor. The action was so condescending that I almost couldn’t stop myself from running over to Malcolm to see if he was all right. But I held my ground for fear of making the situa
tion any worse for Jeremiah’s slaves. “If you would like the assistance of my selkie, you may take him.”
I looked at Kain who seemed to be contemplating the same scenarios. If we took him then he could get away from here, but Jeremiah would probably only force him back and punish him. Or worse, the Sutherland clan may call to him and he would be compelled to kill us. I looked over at Malcolm who stared intently at me. There was a special place in my heart for selkies and this broke that place into pieces.
“No thank you,” Kain finally answered. He lifted his head and straightened his shoulders. “We will see ourselves out.”
Not only did we want to walk out on our own free will, but all of his human servants were still lying around the edge of the pool recovering from their near drowning episode. We turned and began to move to the arched exit that would get us away from this place.
“Don’t be strangers,” Jeremiah called after us, making no attempt to stop our hasty retreat.
We’d gathered the information we needed and Jeremiah succeeded in scaring all of us with his sideshow acts. No one said a word. Only the sound of our shoes clicking against the wood floors echoed through the empty house. I kept feeling that something was watching us around every doorway and behind us in the hall, but I refused to turn around. I didn’t really want to know what was there. I’d seen enough horror for one day.