“Go!” With one quick look to her, Kallias did, diving back into the water with force and strength that she didn’t even know he had.
Mr. Wilson lay over her, her on her stomach, him on his, lying against her back. His arms created a tent over her head, and they watched. The second Kallias was gone Runington’s attention was directed toward the sea. He searched feverishly, his eyes wild like a man possessed. That—that look, that greed, that desire—that was what she had always feared when she thought of what might happen should humans find Kallias. He was playing it out like her worst nightmare come to life.
“We have to stop him,” she said. “Do you have a second gun? Where is it?”
“Somewhere in the water, I guess. It’s not on me now.”
“Well, we have to do something!”
But what was there to do when the boat was some seventy feet away with a gun-wielding maniac?
“He’d have to reload soon,” Mr. Wilson said, only to go, “Oh,”as Mr. Runington bent down, not to reload but to pick up another gun and shoot immediately again. “My God, did he plan for a war?”
“What can we do?” she cried.
“I don’t know.”
And so she helplessly watched as her mind raced. She could not let him touch her Kallias. But how? She’d never make it back to the lighthouse in time! And she especially couldn’t get there easily from this cove. How would she get over the rocks?
Mr. Runington was still scanning the water for Kallias, but she couldn’t see where her husband was any more than Runington could and it terrified her. With the way he was searching, she was sure he had another bullet at least, maybe more, and knowing Kallias, he would never truly leave. Was she really about to become a wife and a widow in one day?
CHAPTER 91
Mr. Wilson’s protection seemed to turn into a hug. “It’ll be okay, Daria,” he murmured, his lips on her hair.
But how,howcould it ever possibly be okay if Kallias perished? She would never be okay again.
“I have to do something,” she said, pushing to stand, but Mr. Wilson held her down.
“And get shot? Have faith in your husband, Daria. I do.”
She wasn’t sure she did, not because of anything that Kallias had ever done but because she had never truly had to rely on anyone before, not since she was a small infant with her father. But from the moment she could remember, from five or older, she had mostly been alone and taking care of herself—the daughter of a father far too busy. Even with the shipping company, with her devices to purify sea water and her fishing, she chose not to trust their shipments. They were ever faithful, but trust was far better left to oneself.
“Let me help,” she almost begged. “I’ll go up over the rocks and get my gun. There won’t be much danger.”
“There will be some.”
“His aim is not that good.”
“And yours is?”
“Just let me go.”
But it didn’t matter because with a violent hit from below, the boat and Mr. Runington were tipped. He staggered back as the boat lurched, and backing up, he threw off the tilt even more with his weight. The little boat nearly went on its side, and it catapulted him out, landing him in the water.
It was all Kallias needed. There was a froth of white in thewater, like when a shark thrashed a fish. There was a gunshot. And then there was nothing. Nothing. Nothing. No sound but the waves. No witnesses but the lighthouse. Nothing.
Far too much nothing.
CHAPTER 92
“Let me go,” she said, jumping up. And this time, he let her.
Even standing, she could see nothing move. It was just the peaceful sea, as unbothered and indifferent as any other day.
“Where is he? Where is he?” she said, leaping from rock to rock, trying to get higher to see.
Mr. Wilson was far too tired to follow. “He’ll be fine. No one could beat a mermaid underwater.”
