The Faerie Curses

Chapter Twenty-Four: Song Spell

Who will you choose to kill?

I was aware of the hundreds of eyes piercing into me, and the rhythmic beating of dozens of anticipating mermaid tails. Excited whisperings rose and fell through the underwater cavern, echoing into the branching tunnels.

The trident grasped in my hand suddenly grew much heavier as the weight of the test crushed down on me. Diandre and Glen met my gaze from the floor of bones, the horror in their eyes mirroring my own.

Kill. The word rotted away in my mouth.

I found that my teeth were knashing together, grinding against each other in my raw anger. So this was The Protector's test. I whirled around to face the throne of glittering green jewels.

"You broke your promise," I snarled at The Protector. "You said that if I passed, my friends and I would be set free!"

Light giggles rose and floated from the onlooking crowd and into my ears. The Protector surveyed me from her seat on her throne, her expression almost one of pity.

"I did no such thing, faerie." She replied, twirling a coil of her brown hair around her finger. "Although I must point out that you didn't specify that all your friends must be released."

I felt as if I had been punched in the gut. The Protector had completely fooled me. I had done exactly what she had wanted; played right into her hands.

"That was a dirty trick." I growled, dropping the trident to the ground. It fell on top of an eerie skull that cracked and shattered.

The Protector let out a small chuckle. "It seems as if we will find out who you love more, after all." Her eyes slid down to Glen and Diandre. "Who will you choose to save? Your handsome best friend who is willing to lay down his life for your forgiveness, or the charming prince who masks his deeper feelings with arrogance?"

"At least she called me charming." Glen muttered.

Diandre rolled his eyes, but I could tell that he was trying to find a way out of this. His fingers trembled ever so slightly, giving away his nerves. Finally, he looked up at me and spoke.

"Pick up the trident, Marissa."

His voice was soft, broken.

I shook my head.

"No, I'm not going to do it." I replied. "There's no way that I'm going to kill either of you."

The Protector made a noise of disappointment in the back of her throat.

"How boring," she mused. "Well then, sisters, kill them all."

The mermaids drifted closer, closing in with eyes that flickered with blood lust.

"Come on, partner, there's no point!" Glen exclaimed, his shackles rattling. "If we all die, it'll be the end. The sprites will have won before their attack has even started." His forceful words caused the mermaids to freeze their advances. "That's why...you have to do this." Glen's face was clouded with turmoil, but he brushed it away. "You need to kill me, Marissa. It's the best strategy. Diandre is valuable, and he can help you at the festival." He swallowed before continuing. "He can sneak into the sprites' ranks unnoticed and kill The Master. A prince can't do that, can he?"

He flashed me a sad smile, and my entire soul felt as if it were being slowly stretched and torn apart.

"Glen-" I whispered, but Diandre cut me off.

"Come on prince, you can't be serious." He said to Glen. "You're an heir to a throne. You have a kingdom to protect." He heaved a deep sigh. "And as much as I hate to admit it, you're an extremely powerful caster. Stronger than me." Diandre wouldn't meet my gaze, and instead his eyes locked on the floor of bones beneath him. "Besides, I'm just a nobody after all. If I die, you won't lose anything important." Despite his calm expression, his gray eyes flashed like a bleak shower of rain.