Battlefield

Chapter 11

The feeling of blood trickling through my fingers—Naia's and my own—was almost overshadowed by the horror and shock coursing through me as I saw the light leave my sister's eyes. Over and over, again and again, that scenario played in my nightmares. Every time, I would jerk awake, biting back tears. And every time, my shoulder throbbed, as if in answer.

I finally got out of bed early the next morning, while everyone else was still sleeping and recovering. Jay didn't flinch as I quietly got dressed and left the room. I reached for the locket hanging around my neck, opening it with trembling fingers. The smiles on our faces... the pure, undiluted joy in our eyes... A stifled sob slipped out of my mouth as I closed the locket, letting it slip from my fingers.

Naia's face was frozen into my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her smiling, laughing. The scenario always played out one of two ways: Naia laughing and smiling, or Naia's body being carried away while Meri and I watched in horror and sadness. Even though I knew I should hate her for everything she'd done and everyone she'd hurt, part of my heart still hurt when I thought about her.

A hand on my shoulder had me whirling around, reaching for the dagger at my hip. My heart skipped a beat as I saw Jay in front of me. Exhaustion still weighed heavily on him, but not as much as yesterday. He smiled sadly at me. How are you? He signed.

I blew out a breath, considering my answer.  Tears were in my eyes before I had even raised my hands. I did this. There it was. The truth I'd never exposed, not even to Jay.

He frowned, putting a hand on my arm. How could you possibly be to blame? You had no way of knowing Barracuda and Naia would do something like this. None of us did. I understood the rest of his unspoken words, though: some part of me still felt responsible.

I knew his words were supposed to be comforting, but they just produced a fresh wave of tears instead. I should've realized it, though. After... I swallowed hard. Tiger Shark, I should've known that Naia would be seeking revenge.

I rubbed my eyes as I rose, swimming into our bedroom. A small box wrapped in sea-foam green tissue was sitting on our bed. Grabbing it, I swam back to the kitchen. I wasn't an artist in any sense of the word, but I managed to create a beautiful replica of a perle using broken sea glass and shells. I had planned to travel to Nepptheas anyway, to see how everything was going, but now I had a real plan.

The hardest part was going to be finding them. Jay raised his eyebrows as I swam back into the kitchen. What's that? He signed.

I smiled. I'm heading to Nepptheas. Want to join me?

He nodded, grabbing my hand. We swam out of the house, surprised to see mermaids and mermen out and about. Several of them bowed as they saw us. We smiled politely at them as we swam away.

It took us most of the day to swim from Aegrem to Nepptheas, having to stop several times to rest and eat. My heart dropped into my stomach as we arrived, the sheer number of rebuilt houses taking my breath away. We swam slowly through the devastation, stopping every now and then to speak to mermaids and mermen. I had almost given up hope when I spotted a red-haired mermaid, her three small children on her tail.

Her brown eyes widened as she saw me. The older merboy, Drew, raced over to me, stopping inches from me and bowing. I smiled at him, quickly handing Carla my notepad. She scribbled a message before handing it back to me. I didn't think we'd ever see you again. How are you?

Emotion swirled in my throat, but I pushed it down and nodded, quickly pulling the box out of my bag and handing it to Carla. Ella's eyes widened as she glanced from the box to Carla, excitement in her gaze. Carla laughed, nodding. Ella tore off the wrapping, squealing as the glint of the sea glass caught her eye.

Carla gasped as she saw the perle, no bigger than the locket around my neck. Faye and Drew swam to her, both of them oohing and aahing at the colours. She turned to me, tears in her eyes as she wrote something on the notepad. Jay squeezed my hand. How... how can we ever repay you?

My own eyes had filled with tears by then. I quickly shook my head. I don't want you to. This is a gift, from me to you. When you rebuild your home, you have a new decoration.

The tears were flowing down her cheeks as she bowed her head in thanks, swimming back to her children. By the time we started swimming back home, dusk had fallen. Jay squeezed my hand before signing. That was a very nice thing you did for them. They won't forget it. Especially the children.

I smiled, nodding. I just wish I could've done more.

He gently kissed me on the cheek. You saved Drew, Faye, and Ella from having to grow up in fear. You saved countless children from it.

I mulled over his words as we arrived home. Meri had dinner on the table, but it was ash in my mouth. The vision I'd seen a year ago popped into my head, along with the fear and dread that accompanied it. What would've happened if I'd somehow been able to prevent us from meeting Tiger Shark? Would I have met David? Or Jay?

Those questions swirled around in my head as I dozed on and off, finally falling asleep around midnight.

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