Almost two days passed before we were able to leave the room again. There were chaperoned bathroom breaks and three meals a day, but we’d been trapped. To make things worse, Julian never came by to give me an update on Brendan, and Kain and Carissa’s relationship seemed to be growing every day. If it wasn’t for Daniel, I think I would’ve lost my mind several times over.
I felt so alone right now. And not knowing what kind of damage I’d inflicted on my relationship with Brendan was killing me. My power had overtaken him. He always took care of me and I loved that about him. But now it seemed like the tables had turned and I wasn’t so sure he’d be a willing participant.
I silently cried myself to sleep every night. I missed my home and my family, and I wished more than ever I could go back and think things through a little bit more. What if I would have married Kain and taken him up on his offer to allow me to continue seeing Brendan? I still didn’t know how that would have actually worked out, but I was pretty sure none of us would be here right now if I’d just been unselfish and made the right decision for once in my life.
When we were ushered to the great ballroom again, I was surprised to see that most of the humans were gone and more merfolk were in attendance. A part of me smiled at knowing Lucian had removed them from my presence. I’d been able to break his control over them. Even though he had just tested me, I imagined he was still hesitant to give me that opportunity again.
The only downside was that we were counting on having their help to assist us in our escape. In one of the few conversations I had with my friends in our holding cell, I revealed that I’d taken over the minds of several selkies and most of the humans. I even went as far as telling them I appeared to have limited control of my newly discovered power. Their reactions were mixed; from shocked to inspired. Kain’s blank expressions left him somewhere in the middle. But regardless, we came up with a plan.
Now that most of our strategy had failed to show up, I rapidly tried to count the remaining possibilities without being noticed. Nearly twenty mermaids, several of them clan leaders, now flanked the three thrones. This was not only disturbing because of the number, but also because I was disappointed to see so many following Lucian’s insane platform. There were ten selkies present and one of them was Brendan. He made very little eye contact with me when we arrived. I noticed Julian standing by his side, offering a hand on his shoulder. Perhaps there was more going on here and Brendan was just playing a role. Maybe he really did want to be by my side.
It was the only shred of hope I could grasp onto.
After a day in captivity, they finally gave us back our clothes. Freshly cleaned and pressed, not a stain on them. Whatever. It was better than the silken robes. The sound of our shoes clicking along the stones echoed throughout the cavern. The noise was ominous, like a ticking clock counting down to our big demise. The silence when we stopped felt even worse. I searched the thrones for Lucian, but he wasn’t here yet.
A door slammed along the side wall, sending pulses of sound in chaotic waves around the room. Master Sutherland waltzed in like a king with several more mermaids following closely behind. They appeared to be escorting someone, but the way they surrounded each other made it hard to see exactly what was going on.
“Eviana, such a pleasure,” Lucian said grandly. “I apologize for the delay, but I had to get a few things in order before continuing our discussions.”
“I thought we were finished talking,” I said.
Lucian walked up to his throne and made another elaborate show of sitting down. Today he wore black leather pants and a blood red silk shirt. His golden hair hung loose around his shoulders so he could artfully brush it out of his face when he needed something to do. Finally in his seat, he crossed his legs and propped an elbow up on the arm of the throne.
“Oh no. We still have so much more to discuss. In fact, I’m surprised that you haven’t asked for me after your little display of power the other day.”
I looked behind me at my friends and then to the side of the room at Brendan. They all knew what happened, but a part of me still cringed at my sudden abilities. Seeing my discomfort, Lucian laughed.
“Let me guess, they don’t want to be around you anymore. Is that correct?”
“No,” I pouted.
“Well then, why the gloomy face?” He leaned forward in his chair. “You’re about to become the most powerful leader amongst the non-followers. They’ll all have to obey you.”
I looked up at him in confusion and then back at my friends to see that they, too, had no idea what he was talking about.
The shuffling of feet from the doorway area where their leader had emerged drew my attention to the side. The mound of people surrounding someone began to drag their prisoner to the center of the floor and directly in front of me. They dropped their baggage like a piece of trash and quickly moved away to the side of my friends and me. Stunned, I looked down at the battered mermaid before me and nearly lost all control.
My mother’s tiny frame was broken and bruised. Her normally beautiful thick dark hair hung in mats and dripped with dirt and something else. As I looked more closely, I could see the cuts on her head, leading me to believe that I was seeing blood mixed in amongst the dirt. Her left arm appeared to be broken and one of her ankles was swollen bad enough that I doubted she could put any weight on it. The long purple sundress had rips and tears throughout, hidden only slightly by the patches of mud and blood. I couldn’t make my legs move fast enough.
“Mom!”
Bending my knees, I slid down next to her side while trying not to touch her and cause more distress. She turned her head up slightly, but it was enough for us to see each other. Tears stained her face and that fierce spark that made her who she was seemed to be gone. Her dark eyes were now just that - dark and empty. I rubbed my hand lightly along her cheek.
“No, mom. What did they do to you?”
“Eviana…” she whispered, but I couldn’t make out much more of the words. “…missed…father…worried…gone.”
I leaned closer so that we could have our own private conversation. “I’m here now, mom. Don’t worry about me. You and dad don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
Her face blurred because of the tears filling my eyes. I didn’t even try to wipe them away since I knew the flow wouldn’t stop. My mother tried to position herself so she could see more of me. Her face was ripe with pain, but not as a reflection of the physical kind. This pain went much deeper than that.
“No…your father…gone.” She shook her head but I still didn’t understand. “Killed,” she breathed.
“What?” My hand stopped soothing her and I jerked my head toward Lucian. “Where is my father?” I demanded, trying to sound stronger than I felt right now.
Lucian raised an eyebrow then pushed to his feet. “He wouldn’t let your mother go without a fight.”
“Where. Is. He?” I ordered between clenched teeth.
“In California.”
“Alive?”
“Not anymore.”
In my mind, I watched myself leap over my mother and wrap my hands around Lucian’s neck, squeezing so that he couldn’t speak ever again. I beat him until I couldn’t move, taking out all of my pain on the man that killed my father. But what I did instead was much more mature than I would have ever anticipated. Lucian wanted something and if it would get my mother and my friends out of here alive, than I needed to bargain with him. There was a reason that my mother wasn’t dead yet.
Standing to face my adversary, I heard Daniel and Carissa crying behind me. But I didn’t look at them. I would grieve for my father later. “What do you want?” I asked softly.
“I want your clan to join me. The Dumahls and the Matthews will secure enough of a force to make the Council finally listen. They’ll have to reinstate The Legacy.”
I shook my head. “You still don’t get it, do you? I’m not a part of my clan anymore. I have no authority! I don’t even exist in their eyes!”
/>
“You’ve only been shunned by your leader. Once she’s gone the problem is solved.” Panic seared through me. What was he going to do?
“I…I can’t take leadership from her. It doesn’t work that way. She was chosen.”
Lucian snapped his fingers and someone instantly grabbed my arms and pinned them behind me. I struggled to break free, but their grip was too strong. My friends were soon contained by another group of selkies as well. There was nothing we could do now except watch what was coming.
Lucian sauntered over to my mother who had pulled herself up to her knees to face her enemy. She turned sideways and it allowed me to see that she was clearly being as defiant as she could in this position. Her chin jutted forward and her shoulders pulled back, taking one last stance. When Lucian reached her, he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear in a very personal gesture. She allowed it, but I saw her swallow hard.
“Such a waste, Marguerite. Such a waste. You should have accepted my offer.” He continued to caress her cheek like a lost lover.
“She will never join you,” she said.
“We’ll see,” he replied just before reaching out with inhuman speed and snapping her neck.
“Mom!” I screamed.
The bile in my stomach rose up into my throat. At that moment, it seemed as if I’d entered a dream. Everything moved in slow motion. I nearly ripped my arms out of their sockets from pulling so hard against my captor while the nauseating crunch of my mother’s bones echoed throughout the cavern. Her lifeless body slumped to the floor for the last time. Lucian followed her down to the ground but I didn’t know why. A moment later, he stood, holding her shield in his hand.
He started to walk toward me but I continued to struggle. I didn’t want this. My mother was the leader, not me. I was a selfish runaway child who didn’t have the knowledge to lead my clan. I could never be like her. And the only two people who could have prepared me for this were now dead.
“Stay away from me!”
“Eviana, it is time for you to make a choice. Lead your clan and his and do what’s right.” Lucian nodded behind me at Kain, implying we came as two for the price of one. “This shield is meant for you. Wear it and own it.” His hand shot out and the broach flew through the air in my direction. There was nowhere for me to go.
When the shield landed against my chest, I slammed back against the selkie holding me. The golden double wave that represented our clan began to glow. Air pulled from my lungs and every part of my body tingled. The hair around my face began to fly around in a silent breeze like the naiad’s watery tendrils in the mountain lake. Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on that power. The shield had chosen me and I’d contemplate the reasons why later. For now, I had to tap into this source and use it to get us out of here. Vaguely, in the background, I heard Lucian cheering.
“Do you see that?” he asked the crowd. “This was her destiny. It’s just marvelous.” His sing-song voice almost made me break my concentration. But the magic coursing through me right now reminded me to focus.
“Kain?” I whispered.
“I’m here,” he said right next to me, apparently not being assessed as a threat any longer.
“It’s time.”
With that, I threw out my hands and opened my eyes, staring at Lucian. The pounding of my heart was almost as loud as the sharp gasps and exclamations from the merfolk watching me pull every selkie and every human nearby under my command. Doors opened and closed throughout the room as more and more humans emerged. Their blank faces looked similar, and as they got within a few feet of me, every single one dropped to the ground on their knees. In just a couple of minutes, I was surrounded by three dozen people.
Lucian’s expression grew weary. He’d suspected that I could do this, but still wasn’t sure if I was on his side or not. “How impressive, Eviana.” His voice held a slight shake. “This is why I need you.”
“You don’t get to make that choice,” I said.
A bit of his arrogance appeared again. “You can’t control me too.”
“I don’t need to control you,” I said.
With a mental shout to those surrounding me, I commanded them to attack Lucian and his allies. I sent in the humans first. Not because they were cannon fodder, but because I wanted the selkies with me. For some twisted reason, I trusted Julian to get us out of here.
The ensuing sounds of hand to hand combat filled the room over, as the resonance reverberated off the walls. With another mental push, I pulled all of the selkies into a circular formation around us. Brendan limped up along the side of them but didn’t try to come any closer. I swallowed a ball of regret knowing we’d talk about this later.
“We have to get out of here!” I demanded. “You five lead the way, the rest follow behind.”
We started to move back to the tunnel that should take us to the underwater cave. Julian was at the head of the group, not once hesitating over his orders. I looked back at my mother’s body lying on the cave floor. I wanted so badly to take her with us, but knew it could potentially mean the difference between life and death. Not only had I turned Lucian down, but I captured his army. He wouldn’t let that slide this time.
“Eviana!” Lucian yelled at me while single handedly fighting off four different humans. “You have made a huge mistake! This is not over!”
I shuddered at his threat knowing full well that he planned on coming after us again. I didn’t think the humans could kill him and I also didn’t know how long my hold over them would last once I was gone. In fact, I could already feel him pushing against my mind in an attempt to win back control of his subjects.
We ran toward the tunnel faster than I’d ever run before. Brendan was directly in front of me now, and I noticed that he tripped and stumbled much more often than the rest of us. He still wasn’t healed completely but my command of his mind had overpowered his body’s resistance to its injuries.
When we got to the pool, I immediately told everyone to change. The swim was too long for human lungs. Julian ran into a side cavern and before I could call him back, he came out with his arms full of seal skins. It was weird, but at this moment weird would work. Daniel, Carissa, Kain, and I began to strip off our clothes. My three friends dove into the water together in order to encourage their transition. The ten or so selkies that were still by our side also slipped into their skins and plunged into the pool. Julian and I were the last two on shore.
“Your hold is slipping,” he warned.
“I know. I can feel it.” Lucian’s presence in my mind seemed to suffocate me, and one by one, I felt my control drop away from individual humans. It was like someone cut the cord from my power to theirs. “How long do we have?” I asked Julian.
“A few minutes at most.” He put his arm around my waist and pulled me toward the end of the rock outcropping. “We have to go now.”
I didn’t even get a chance to agree. He pushed me into the water and nearly landed on top of me a few seconds later in seal form. Even though scared, my bones fused with an ease more akin to how the selkies change. I never had a transition happen so smoothly and when I was admiring my new painless tail, I also noticed something golden reflecting on my waist. The clan shield had made its way to me again. I’d forgotten about that when I’d thrown off all of my clothes, but just like Kain had mentioned a while ago, it seemed to want to be attached.
Julian grunted at me under the water. When I grabbed one last breath, I noticed a few humans emerge from the darkness. Lucian had control of them now and we’d definitely overstayed our welcome. I dove down to the opening of our escape route with Julian right behind me. Waiting there was my selkie; my Brendan. I smiled for the first time in several days at the sight of him. He blew a few bubbles in my direction before disappearing head first into the tunnel.
The three of us moved so quickly that the sediment from the bottom of the cave created mini vortexes and virtually erased any visibility. The tunnel seemed to go on forever and for a brief m
oment I wondered if we’d escaped into the right one. Lucian and his group had made the underwater labyrinth suitable for their own needs, so who was to say there weren’t multiple entrances and exits.
That thought had me pushing Brendan both mentally and physically to move faster. Until we were free of this area, we weren’t safe. Just a few moments later, we arrived at the opening. Brendan and Julian shot to the surface, but something in the distance distracted me. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed as though the water shimmered and the spot was moving closer.
Curiosity got the best of me and I used a few powerful kicks to get a better look. The quivering particles reached out toward me and wrapped around my back. It reminded me of a couple of octopi arms and they seemed to be just as strong. They pulled me to the far side of the pool where the river became shallower and the rocks created a dam to hold back the waterfall’s flow.
Struggling to break free of this thing, I was able to breach the surface and call for help. I didn’t know who would hear me, but someone had to be nearby. Once I filled my lungs, I looked back underneath the surface to see a pair of watery human arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Following the arms, I searched for a face and screamed when one appeared just a few inches from mine.