I belatedly turned to Nestor and caught the cruel smile curling up his face. I was the only one still holding his ropes.
“Lysi,” I said, voice hollow and distant. “Get away—”
Something whooshed through the water behind me, and Lysi’s screams were cut short.
My body went numb.
I met Lysi’s gaze—those vibrant, unimaginably beautiful sapphire eyes. Their precise shape and colour had never left my memory as long as I’d known her. They were the first thing I’d fallen in love with, all those years ago on the beach. They were the first thing to appear in my mind whenever I thought of her, and the shade of blue that had haunted my dreams over the years we spent apart.
Those eyes were wide with fear.
Her mouth was open. Those soft lips, and those teeth like pearls—her smile had been the second thing I’d fallen in love with. Back on the Bloodhound, floating in the middle of violent waves and wind, that was the smile that gave me hope. Those were the lips I thought I’d never be able to kiss.
A bubble escaped those lips as Lysi gave a soft, “Oh.”
She looked down at her chest. Something protruded from it—right over her heart.
Her heart: the part of her I’d fallen so deeply, so permanently in love with.
I wanted to scream, but no sound would come.
Her eyes rolled back. For a moment, she just hung in place.
“Lysi!”
The entire world ground to a stop. This wasn’t happening. It had to be a nightmare. The world could not dispose of something so pure.
I started forwards, but something closed tight around my arm. I spun around, fists swinging—
“You make it so simple, Meela.”
I froze. A small sound caught in my throat, like a gasp for air that didn’t exist.
I had to be imagining that face. He couldn’t be here. I hadn’t felt the serpent. We were supposed to be hunting him, not the other way around.
But there he was, reptilian face close to mine, a snarl revealing his pointed teeth. That black crown topped his head, seeming to grow from matted hair that was just as dark, and framed his face like a lion’s mane.
A roar burst from deep in my chest, so loud and furious I wasn’t sure it even came from me. Nothing seemed connected. My senses, my body, the screams coming from my mouth, all of it was a part of something scattered, a universe I was not a part of.
My reactions were too slow. Adaro’s arm came up, a stone mace in his hand.
He swung it at my head. My teeth cut into my lip as I threw one last punch.
There was a sickening crack as the mace hit my skull.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - Ben
Sworn Oath
“We’re calling it sonic charges.”
Reeves stuffed his hands in his pockets, hoping the plan wasn’t as ominous as it sounded. Miller’s voice was muffled by the activity in the warehouse, full of gear, artillery, parts, and a dozen trainees. A high, rhythmic whirr sounded somewhere near the amphibian plane as the mechanics worked.
“You know how those environmentalist types have been saying ship noise is harmful to marine animals and all that crap?”
“Yeah,” said Reeves, frowning.
“Well, this gave us an idea for two potential paths to victory. First, we can take out the merman and all the other sea demons with a high-powered blast of sound. Burst their eardrums, drive them insane, whatever it is the noise does. Second, maybe that serpent’s indestructible, but that’s not to say we can’t incapacitate it. You get a high-intensity, low-frequency noise, and even a blue whale would rather beach itself than endure it.”
