The Children Of Maddeline

Thirty-Four

Jadzia

I breathed in the salty sea air and groaned quietly. My body felt like it was on fire, my stomach was empty but it felt like it had been twisted around one too many times. My face was numb and my hands were stiff, I slowly opened my yellow eyes.

I was staring up at a dark grey, cloudy sky. I could feel the water underneath me moving and the low murmur of voices around me. I tried to sit up, to look around and scream for my mother. But several strong hands pushed me back down and a gust of scents wafted up my nose.

Morgan, he was holding my hand tightly. Seth, he was smiling down at me. Caesar, swallowing down tears. Tianna and Macenna, smiling brightly and stroking my hair. Then there was Mum and Gray, standing close to each other by my side.

"What's going on?" I hoarsely whispered.

Morgan squeezed my hand and I looked over to him, "The war is won, we are sailing back to America on a mermaid-powered ship." He winked at me, I frowned in confusion.

Mum scoffed, I looked over at her, "What your brother means to say is: I killed Delton and after that we found several large warships within one of his warehouses but we couldn't get them working so the mermaids are pushing the ships for us."

I nodded and closed my eyes, squeezing Morgan's hand. I remembered then that I had something to ask mum. I opened my eyes and sat up on my elbows.

"Weren't you going to go see your parents again, mum?" She swallowed and Gray rubbed her arm.

"I did, but I watched from afar as they congratulated their son on his new position as Alpha." A tear trickled down her cheek, "It is clear that they don't want me back, they replaced me as soon as I was taken and I do not wish to create trouble in their life by reappearing."

I changed the subject in a hurry, "How long was I out? How long have we been at sea?"

My mother seemed grateful that we were no longer talking about her, "You were in a coma for two months, and this is our second day on this boat."

I gulped, thinking about my three children waiting at me back home. I was lying on a pile of blankets on the deck, shoved into a corner and covered with mum's long coat. The hull was full and so was every other space aboard the warship, so the only place they could put me was on the deck.

The days passed in blurs, the mermaids constantly swapped positions with their friends to keep the ship moving. But it wasn't long before the ship chugged up the coast of Florida in the dead of night; wolves jumped off and ran into the darkness before we moved forward and more pack members jumped off.

I was anxious to get home to my babies.