Greylin squeezed my shoulder.“Yes. Moheetla lavished many offerings upon us this day.”
I could feel the eyes of the others on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look around. I didn’t want to know if they were looking at me in friendship or fear.
I felt a squeeze on my shoulder and looked over.
Therin offered me a small smile.“You felt them, did you not?”
“Felt who?”
“Your ancestors.”
I had. Guiding me as I hunted the White Spirit. Reminding me of the countless times that came before. The endless hunts for Moheetla since the dawn of time. Pleasure coursed through me. I couldn’t wait to do it again.
“Yeah.”I couldn’t help but grin back.“I did.”
Therin beamed at me.
Syleen broke through our mini-reunion.“It is time.”
Everyone, save Wrell and me, lifted themselves off the sand. I watched as they swam to a few of the shark carcasses, then lowered and placed their palms on the sharks’ bodies.
Syleen’s hypnotic tone flowed through the currents between us.“From the sacrifice of many lives, an offering is made to nourish the souls of others. We partake of your Spirit with humility and thankfulness. Until the day it is our sacrifice that you require, may our existence bring you honor.”
With that, each mer slipped their fingers into the various wounds on the sharks’ bodies and began to tear. None of them used their blades or spears, but each made the task look effortless.
Syleen was the first to complete extracting her portion. She returned to where Wrell and I waited. While she didn’t look like she was hoping to be best friends, her hatred of me seemed to have dissipated, at least for the moment.
“You claimed your share of the White Spirit’s offering today, it is only right that you partake of the sacrifice.”She glanced down at Wrell, then looked back up to me, her eyes softer than before.“Moheetla chose to use you as the instrument of Wrell’s salvation. It should be you that provides him with his portion of the sacrifice.”
With her finally looking at me with something besides disdain, I didn’t want to take the chance of asking any clarifying questions. I looked back and forth between her, Wrell, and the chunk of shark flesh in hand. Meaning dawned on me. For an instant, I felt revulsion at the thought of reaching into a shark and yanking out part of it. An image of my fist firing through the shark’s skull flashed through my mind, and I realized how ridiculous it would be if I wasn’t able to finish this ritual.
I swam to the nearest cadaver, the same Syleen had used, and knelt beside the beast. It was huge, twice my size. Its cavernous eyes seemed to stare into mine. Superstitiously, I searched its clouded gaze, seeking condemnation or acceptance, I’m not sure. Whatever I sought, the shark offered nothing. I started to slip my fingers into a large gap behind its gills when I realized the obvious. I was looking into the animal’s eyes. This shark had been killed by a spear, not by my hands. Regardless of what the shark may or may not have felt, taking from this one seemed wrong somehow.
Glancing around, I spotted a body several yards away that was missing its head and had blackened flesh around the cavernous wound. Abandoning Syleen’s kill, I made my way over to one burned by a demon.
There were no incisions to begin to rip from, so I grasped the edge of the burned flesh. Even using both hands, it was nearly impossible to rip. Like trying to tear apart a steak that had been forgotten on the grill for too long. After I twisted it back and forth, the flesh cracked and ripped nearly a foot down the length of the tail. I traced the tear with my fingertips until I found cold, pliable flesh. I was able to remove two large portions with relative ease, at least compared to the more burnt portions.
By the time I returned, the rest of the mers had gathered by Wrell’s side. Glancing at them, I realized we’d not fared as well as I’d first thought. Nothing life threatening, but a few of them had large portions of their fins missing, or at least jagged rips that fluttered like torn flags in the current. I saw a few arms that were scraped up with long, jagged teeth marks, similar to my own right forearm. Everyone’s bodies were already showing dark splotches as their skin began to bruise.
They all held their piece of flesh in their hands, obviously waiting for me. I quickly closed the gap between us and took my place among them. With a telling look from Greylin, I handed one of the portions to Wrell, who seemed to be more alert and in more pain.
“With humility, we take of your body and your spirit.”Syleen lifted the hunk of meat to her lips and took a bite, ripping her head to the side to get the flesh to tear, reminding me all too much of the shark she devoured.
The other mers followed suit. Even Wrell was able to raise the meat to his mouth and bite through. I’d like to say I was filled with wonder and spiritual reckoning at such a sacred event, but as soon as the meat touched my tongue, my stomach cramped in anticipation. I closed my eyes and let my teeth sink deep and lost myself in the reunion with food. I barely let myself chew before I forced the huge chunk down my throat.
Opening my eyes in preparation for the second bite, I saw the others releasing their meat and letting it drift down to the ocean floor. I stared at them in amazement. It was crazy enough that we’d come out here to hunt sharks. Now we weren’t going to eat them? Lelas’s voice clanged through my mind, how one of the reasons she hated the hunt was that it wasn’t even for food. Another thought shoved through my mind, and I felt my heart clench as well as my stomach.
“We’re not going to eat until we return home, are we?”
I hadn’t addressed the question to anyone in particular, but it was Wrell my eyes landed on. He shook his head with a small wince.
I let the meat fall to the sand. I almost kicked the tiny little fish that swarmed over to feast on it, but I refrained. If Wrell could do it with how he was feeling, so could I. But still, another week without food?“God damn it.”
Sixteen
SONIA LIU
Shewas used to men staring at her. Hell, she was used to women staring at her. While she hadn’t ever given in to the advances of women, except for when they were putting on a show for a man, she’d enjoyed the attention. It was such a rush of power to be able to stop a man in his tracks when she walked by, to be able to make him stop midsentence as he spoke to his wife, and feel his eyes follow her through a crowd. Power to be able to make a man beg for a kiss, for a date, for a fuck. Power to be able to have him pledge to give anything if she’d only consent to being his. Sonia hadn’t been one of those gorgeous women who relied only on her looks and sexuality to get ahead. Neither had she been one who resented when a man didn’t appreciate her for her mind. She’d known she was gorgeous, and she didn’t need anyone to confirm it, but she enjoyed its rewards. Likewise, she’d known she was fairly brilliant, and everything came easily to her. She didn’t need anyone to confirm that either.
