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Elisa coughed, her feet still touching the water. I tucked shadows tighter around us. They wouldn’t protect from the merfolks’ sense of smell, however. Neia bowed over Elisa, garbling sobs as she pulled her into her arms, and Elisa mumbled weakly, “I’m okay. It’s okay.” We really needed to move, as much of an insensitive asshole as it made me feel to think it. I licked salt off my lips and pulled the shadows back.
Lira, Luz, and Orman stared at us.
Neia kissed Elisa who patted her shoulder.
The ocean rippled among the choppy waves. Dozens of scaled faces peeked above the water, rage in their navy eyes.
“Oh, fuck.” Everyone shifted in the direction I looked. “We have to go.”
Neia helped Elisa to her feet.
I jumped back to Lira’s stone and grabbed her hand. “Run.” I expected her to pull away from me, but instead she tightened her grip so her fingers curled around mine. I really shouldn’t have had the mental capacity to think about how right her hand felt against mine, how the chaos of the world seemed to cease when our palms met.
The merfolk dashed after us, and I gripped my other hand tighter around my knife as I yanked Lira forward to leap us across to another stepping stone. Lira swiped hair out of her eyes and kept pace beside me.
Neia and Elisa tumbled behind us, the latter still coughing. Orman jerked his crossbow off his back and fired an arrow at one of the creatures. The merfolks’ scream shivered across me.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Our feet slammed against the dry stones, water from the dashing merfolk splashed our faces, and more of the creatures arrived. I hated releasing Lira, wished to beg her to forgive me and let me hold her again. But I let her go, directed her behind me, and raised my blade.
I had four more on my belt, another at my ankle, and a couple others in my pack—wherever the fuck that had ended up. As a dozen bulbous eyes rose around the stone we stood on, the number seemed grossly inadequate. One dashed towards Luz, her teeth bared.
I threw a knife into her shoulder. She yowled and magic glittered over her eyes, turning them a navy like a storm at sea. I wrapped my wards around me but suddenly remembered Lira didn’t know about wards—how to use them, how to protect herself.
A breath rushed out of me like a punch in the gut.
These creatures could hurt Lira.
Orman shot more arrows, Luz threw a blade, and Neia fought like she’d pay them back for every ounce of terror Elisa had felt. The iridescent skin of the merfolk shimmered like the waves which seemed to pick up, slamming against me anytime I leaned outside the circle of protection the stones provided.
A merfolk jumped onto the stone, the shimmering fish-like tail of his bottom half glistening, and clawed his fingers into my pants. I jerked away, avoiding a slice into my calf before kicking him back into the water. I turned back towards the group. “We’re never going to overpower them out here.”
The merfolk called on their magic and waves rose dozens of feet as dark clouds swirled in the sky. Everyone stared at me with different levels of fear widening their eyes. Except for Orman who stayed focused as he shot one arrow after another.
He’d run out soon.
“Everyone go,” I shouted. “I’ll use my magic.”
Lira grabbed my hand again, the soft touch of her fingers soothing me like aloe on a burn. “I can use mine too.”
I stared at her for so long that another merfolk nearly reached us before Orman slammed an arrow in his shoulder. “Good,” I said.
She nodded and her eyes lit up. They didn’t darken in color like most beings’ did with magic. Instead, her eyes lightened, turning silver. She parted her lips and the silky, caress of her voice overpowered the howls and haunting cries of the merfolk.
They all grew silent as they watched her with uncertainty perhaps or awe.
Lira called to the wind, which slowed, but then her voice skipped over a note, and she whimpered and slumped like she might fall. I snatched her into my arms. “Lira?”
She touched her temple and trembled.
Another merfolk grabbed my ankle and jerked me down. I gripped Lira tight so she landed against my chest. My head hit the rock with a crack and the clouds doubled in the sky. Lira sat up, her brows pulled together even as the sheen of dizziness hadn’t left her eyes yet. Lira hadn’t gotten hurt. That’s what mattered. The fall had knocked the breath from me, and I struggled to orient myself. The merfolk reached his waterlogged fingers under the cuff of my pants. I gagged and attempted weakly to kick him away.
Someone yelled, and Neia dashed over to us, stabbing the merfolk’s arm. He screamed, his eyes lit up, and water rose around him.
Neia.
