“So you chose death.” Teachie’s voice was laced with violence as his eyes swept the two of them.
“Daniel, no,” Edward cried, pounding on the dome that held us, trying to get Daniel’s attention, but no one looked our way. The shield made us invisible.
Evelyn threw back her shoulders, her spangled dress catching the light as she walked to stand beside the Captain, and Daniel followed. Teachie’s large, ringed fingers twitched over the knife in his belt, eyes flashing as he surveyed the three of them.
“No!” I joined Edward, hammering on the magic shield. “No, you can’t do this.”
Neither Evelyn, Daniel, nor the Captain looked our way, but the Captain said to no one in particular, “The rest of the prophecy must be found. Find it, and end this.”
“There is no second half to the prophecy—we make our own fate.” Teachie bared his teeth. With that, he pulled the blade from his belt and slit Daniel’s throat.
“No,” Edward breathed, softer this time. His hand pressed against the magic shield as he slid to the floor, shoulders shaking.
I rushed to his side as Skye let out a choked sob.
Daniel’s body crumpled, and then, like Donahue’s had done, dissolved into its surroundings. Edward let out a strangled sob, and I gripped his arm in reassurance.
Teachie turned to Evelyn next. Her shoulders were trembling, and her breasts heaved beneath her embellished bodice, but she kept her neck straight, holding Teachie’s gaze as he approached and placed his knife to her neck.
The Captain’s gray hair was disheveled, his chest heaving as he looked at Evelyn. Fear flickered in his amber eye.
He’s exhausted from holding our shield.
“I’ll find you in another life,” Evelyn whispered, and she linked her fingers with his as Teachie’s blade slid across the flesh of her throat.
She crumpled and fell, choking and coughing as her skin split and then knitted itself back together. She didn’t die.
“Well, well, well...” Teachie threw back his head and laughed, glancing between Evelyn and the Captain. “We’ll have some fun with this one instead.” He grabbed Evelyn by the arm and threw her into Rackham, who held her against him, slicking his silver-stained tongue up her bare shoulder in a way that made me want to be sick.
“Do not touch her,” the Captain growled, and light exploded from him.
Furniture shattered in every direction, but though our shield trembled, it held.
All around Teachie and Rackham, Drowned men writhed and shrieked as their bodies were flung into the air, twisting into glittering, tortured orbs that floated through the tavern door, bound for the Garden. Only Teachie, Rackham, some of their cohort, and a scattering of Drowned remained standing when the carnage cleared.
“She will pay for that.” Rackham tore at Evelyn’s bodice, exposing her breast just as she snatched the knife from his belt and drove it into her own throat.
This time, she dissolved into her surroundings like Daniel, tiny bubbles swirling upward, dancing around the Captain as they sang their song of release. The blade clattered to the floor.
Teachie reached for the Captain, the whites of his eyes now pure silver, but he paused as a looming presence filled the doorway and a new Drowned entered the room.
My blood chilled, and Skye gave a little gasp at my side as the man stepped from the shadows into the light. Like the other Drowned who had been using the Mer blood, he had deteriorated. All his hair had come away, and silver stained his skin, but whereas the others remained distinctly human, this man was part beast. Scales crept up the back of his neck, spreading across his face, and crowning his bald head. Worst of all, one of his arms was a writhing tentacle.
“The Fisherman,” Edward hissed.
“What?” A shudder worked its way down my spine as I watched the man’s face twist into a wicked smile.
“I’ve heard tales of the Drowned man with a beast’s body who overthrew Port Royal’s Protector and claimed the title for himself. He despises the Mer. They call him the Fisherman for the sheer number he’s slaughtered. No surprise he’s working for Manannán now.”
The Fisherman’s gaze swept the bar, and for a moment, I thought he might see us, but the Captain grunted, emitting more magic, and our shield strengthened. The newcomer stepped forward, and my stomach hollowed as he wound his tentacled, squid-like arm around the Captain’s neck.
I pummeled the shimmering veil before us, tears blurring my vision. My pulse stuttered as I remembered I had magic—magic that could rival the Captain’s. I reached clumsily for the silver orb of power within me, thrusting it into my palms and channeling it into the walls that held us. Electricity crackled as it collided with the shield, which wavered but held.
The Captain grunted in the Fisherman’s grip, and my stomach sank. Holding the protective bubble was already draining him, and my power pressing against it only made it worse. I pulled back my palms, and my magic extinguished.
The Captain struggled, clawing at the slimy tentacle around his neck, but he was spent, drained from protecting us.
Skye shrieked, and Edward let out a garbled sob. We pounded against the dome again, but still it held firm.
