Page 86

“Raphael, it’s too dangerous to have people holding up this net, and it wouldn’t stop those fish.”

“So, this has been tried?” I tilted my head to show I was annoyed with his pessimism.

Revel raked his long hair back and looked toward Lyric for support. My good friend just shrugged. “I don’t think anyone has tried it,” she said. “At least, not that I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s still too dangerous. You’re asking two people to volunteer to die in an attempt to net fish that have enough teeth and jaw power to eat a person in seconds.”

“Yes, but they leave the bones behind, which leads me to believe that they prefer soft tissue.” I rubbed my hand along the rough, thick rope on the net. “These ropes are not soft tissue. Besides, a million fish caught up against one big obstacle—they’re more likely to start eating each other out of fear than attempt to chew through the net.”

Revel looked impressed. “You’ve really been giving this some thought.”

We put the heavy net down on the ground. A musty smell wafted up from it. “Those fucking fish took Raina. Now I’m going to destroy them once and for all.”

Lyric clapped. “Bravo. My bestie is a badass. What else do we need to do? Revel is right. People will die if they hold the net.”

“That’s where the old pulleys and ropes come in handy.” A pile of old, salty, rusted pulleys sat in the back corner of the shed. Nearby were coils of rope, neatly piled as if just waiting for a purpose. And now they had one, an important one. “Pick out two of your least corroded and best working pulleys, and we’ll need long ropes, the longest you’ve got.” I was rather enjoying my new take-charge attitude. Maybe it had been in me all along, but I couldn’t set it free in a world where I didn’t belong. Something told me if I was ever unlucky enough (or maybe lucky enough, considering my future here) to be back in the human world, I would ferret out Linda and Kylie, chew them up and spit them out. Verbally, of course. I would love to pay them back for all the unnecessary anguish they caused me. I only wished they’d remember what happened the day that the trio came to life. I would have loved for them to be freaked out about it, knowing that they harassed and bullied someone who had awesome, out-of-this-world friends. For those few seconds in the office, I was the cool kid at school, and it felt pretty damn good.

Revel took his task seriously. He combed through the pulleys and selected two that he considered to be still up to the job of being a pulley. A few minutes later he looked a bit like a Viking cowboy with two coils of rope around his arm. He carried them out to a wheelbarrow and dropped them in along with the net and pulleys.

“Anything else, master?” he asked wryly.

“Nope. I think we’ve got everything we need. Follow me.” My project could end up being a total failure, but it was nice having something to occupy my time. Otherwise, I surely would have been sitting in Raina’s cottage, trading off between sobbing and sipping hot tea. In between pangs of heartache over Raina, I had equally painful ones thinking about how I had Mom back for such a short time and how my stupid, messed-up destiny had made her a fugitive wanted for the crime of saving her child from certain death.

We reached the town. It was still early enough that sellers were just setting up their carts and wares. Whenever Revel and I were together, we always garnered an inordinate amount of attention, although I was fairly certain he grabbed attention with or without me.

Spotting my target, I picked up my pace. Lyric skipped along next to me to keep up. “Where are we going?” she asked.

I pointed ahead to the first tower at the far edge of town. It was the first tower the tide passed when it came barreling into town, and it would be the last one it slipped by on its retreat. There was an identical tower across the gulley.

Revel caught up to us with his wheelbarrow of supplies. He stared up at the tower I’d stopped under and then grinned at me. “I think I’ve figured out your plan.”

“And? What do you think of it?” I asked.

“You astound me more every day. I’ll start dragging the pulley and rope up.” He glanced at the gulley and back at the tower. “I’d say the second platform should be just right.”

“Oh, I get it,” Lyric said and then shook her head. “Nope, not really. Just don’t want to seem like a dunderhead.”

“You’re not. Revel is going to attach the pulley to the second platform railing. Then we’ll drop a rope over it and tie one end to the tower, the other end to the top corner of the net. We’ll do the same on the opposite side⁠—”

She squealed. “And when the tide comes in, we lift the net across the gulley and stop the fish from getting in. Brilliant.”

“Yes, but we’re not going to raise the net until after the fish come in.”

Lyric bit her lip in thought. “So we’re not stopping them?” She turned to me with a comprehending grin. “We’re going to get rid of those pesky fish once and for all.”

I nodded. “Right. I’m an animal lover, but I, for one, can’t wait to see those vicious fish squirm and writhe as they gulp for air.”

“Besides, they aren’t really animals,” Lyric said. “They’re just a school of spell-created, monstrous fish conjured up by a dying sorceress’s evil magic.”

Her words took the wind out of my sail. “I hadn’t thought of that. Do you think they’ll be able to survive being caught in a net and forced out of the water?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. I’ve seen a few of them get left behind when the tide leaves, and they usually flop around for a while until someone stabs them. Maybe we can stab them all?”

“A million of them?”

Revel whistled, carrying our attention up to the second platform. He’d hung the pulley and tied off the end of the rope. The loose end hung down to the ground. “Is this what you had in mind?”

I gave him the thumbs up. “Perfect.” I was now less confident in my plan. I hadn’t considered the magical element. In my defense, it was my first time trying to solve a problem that was caused by a powerful sorceress.