Finally, a solitary shark appeared. Diminutive and weak-looking. No possible way Zef would fail in defending himself against such an adversary.
The small creature twisted gracefully around the thrust of Zef’s blade and darted with preternatural speed toward the merman’s throat.
Within moments, clouds of dark-crimson blood obscured our view of the shark’s next strike.
Epilogue
FINN DE MORISCO
The sunsetwas a dark violet, only thin slivers of gold cutting through the edges. Far off in the distance from the cliff, out over the sea, lightning flashed, ominous clouds billowing into a storm.
I felt my lips curve in a smile. Caitlin wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The idea of rainbows, white fluffy clouds, and birds singing would have just pissed her off.
Realizing my focus had drifted again, I brought my gaze back to the willow tree, its long, leafy branches swaying in the warm breeze. I heard the crowd chanting, the singsong quality matching the haze I didn’t seem able to bring myself out from under.
I settled on the five white Japanese irises that still blossomed by the root of the tree. It almost seemed wrong that they were still there. Brett was gone again, back into the ocean. Even our final good-bye was blurred in my memory. The journey was done. The mers were free. Cynthia was free. It was over. Why should the irises remain?
Brett was gone.
Caitlin was gone.
The singing stopped abruptly, and I felt a hand warm against my lower back. I looked to the right and found Schwint smiling at me tenderly. Beyond him, Dad stood holding Saul in one arm, his other wrapped tightly around Mom, whose silent tears hadn’t stopped flowing since we’d arrived home. Beside them, Christina, Ricky, and Peter stood nestled close to Mom and Dad. Closing the line of family was Allison, tears streaming down her delicate face. Caitlin would have liked that too. Loved it, actually. She’d never stopped hoping she and Allison would reunite.
Somehow, I felt removed from them. They had a different grief than mine. They hadn’t been there. They hadn’t seen her die, hadn’t held her in their arms.
A finger stroked the back of my other hand, then pulled away. Without looking, even if I hadn’t known she was there, I would have recognized Cynthia. Her power was a palpable force.
Mission accomplished. Cynthia, the gentle one of the de Morisco children, was home. The sister I loved the most was beside me. Yet she was as far away as Caitlin. She was no longer the same witch she’d been before her capture.
I glanced back toward the rest of my family. They hadn’t been there. Though they hurt, they hadn’t seen it happen, hadn’t witnessed the loss of Caitlin and of Cynthia.
“Get ready, my love.”
Schwint’s whisper brought my attention back to him, and he gestured with his yellow eyes for me to look above us. He’d been there. He knew. He understood.
Looking up, I saw the silver disc of Caitlin’s ashes whirling above us. I hadn’t even noticed the nymphs’ arrival or heard them usher Caitlin’s soul back to the creator.
The silver specks descended around us, and I breathed deep, pulling her essence into me.
Silver.
Caitlin’s ashes were silver.
Her greatest power had been love. She never would have guessed. It didn’t surprise me at all.
