AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She started squirming. “Let me go—”
“Why don’t you answer this question instead?” he drawled, licking his lips; she spotted a piercing in his tongue. “Where’s my necklace?” Gods, he didn’t actually care that much about a stupid necklace, did he? Why couldn’t she have taken his watch instead?
Because it wasn’t worth as much, that was why. But as she balanced on her tiptoes, facing off with one of the deadliest people in Ker, she found herself wondering what sort of value she placed on her own life. The question was worth consideration—because Roman Devlin looked like he was about to kill her where she stood.
“I sold it,” she lied.
Those eyes immediately shifted into pits of deadly black. “You’re fucking lying.”
Shay’s stomach quaked, the blood in her head draining down to her feet with dizzying speed. It had been…a while since she had felt an emotion so strong.
That tone in his voice… Was that…fear?
“So what if I am?” she squeezed out, backpedaling.
The black in his eyes dimmed—just a bit. “Then you can consider yourself lucky enough to live another day.”
“If you let me go,” Shay began, wiggling again—and calling upon her magic as discreetly as she could, willing her eyes not to give her away by turning black, “I’ll tell you where it is, okay? But right now, we have to run—”
“I don’t run from threats, I kill them.”
“That’s great, Shadows. Kill those men for me then, will you?”
“And why should I do th—” He choked on the last word as he realized his hand was now grasping open air.
Shay’s magic had recharged, allowing her to slip away without Roman noticing. She now stood two feet behind him.
He whirled, his expression livid, the hand with the barbed-wire tattooed across his knuckles still forming a claw around open air.
“They’re your problem now,” she said with a smile as he blinked at her in disbelief. “Later, Shadows.”
She gave him a little wave, and dove into the water.
10
S. Coastal District
YVESWICH, STATE OF KER
Shay could count on one hand the things she liked about essentially being a slave to the Riptide. But being able to use the bracelet—made of enchanted ocean glass—to shift into a Selkie was a highlight she couldn’t deny.
She swam through the harbor, away from her attackers—away from Roman Devlin. She heard the splash of a body falling in, smelled blood in the water, but kept moving, twisting around marine plants and through schools of small fish.
The bracelet had transformed her legs into a long, fishlike tail, and it moved behind her with powerful strokes, propelling her through the cold, murky water. Iridescent scales dusted the backs of her hands and arms, her temples and chest. Her clothes and pack had vanished with magic, allowing her to swim freely without the hindrance of the extra weight. As she swam, she thought of a plan.
Going out to the House of Blue would have to wait. First, she would need to make sure Shadows was off her tail. She wouldn’t chance being cornered by him again. Besides that, she wouldn’t wager on surviving him for a second—make that third time. Luck had brought her this far, but she wasn’t so foolish as to think that luck wouldn’t soon run out.
She swam along the coast, toward the boundary of the South Coastal District and into the North.
Aside from the rhythmic chug of boat engines and the fascinating calls of various marine life, it was quiet under here. Peaceful. Light filtered weakly through the depths, gleaming off the fronds of tall kelp and the shiny bodies of multicolored fish. She passed a few seals who turned to look at her with curiosity, one booping her with its nose. She smiled and kept swimming.
Nugget came out to join her, easily keeping up now that they weren’t on land. It was the one place where he felt as free as Shay. They sometimes came down here at night when they wanted to get away. The ocean was Shay’s sanctuary, a place where she could pretend the rest of the world did not exist. A place where she could be alone. While many people feared the ocean, it was one of the safer places in Terra, sharks, serpents, and water monsters excluded.
Now that she’d put a safe distance between her and the bloodbath Roman had surely left in his wake, she broke the surface of the water. Pushing the wet hair out of her face, drops of rain splashing the choppy sea, she checked her surroundings to see how far she’d swum.
She was near the Squid Squad Seafood Market; she could hear traders hawking their wares and fending off food-nabbing gulls, could see families braving the cold for ice cream cones and real-fruit popsicles on the boardwalk. Deep in the North Coastal District, an ancient clocktower declared the hour, its chimes echoed by another in the south. It was almost noon.
Her aquatic form armored her against chill temperatures, the gusty wind that snatched at her dripping hair not nearly as biting as it would be if she took off the bracelet. She was already gearing herself up for that moment; it was the one thing she hated about the Shift.
