Part 26 (2/2)

In the meantime the yellow merrow has vanished. Kurt wrestles with a hammerhead merrow who looks like nothing but sinewy strength. Angelo runs out brandis.h.i.+ng an aluminum baseball bat. I'm ready to run to Angelo's side, but he's caught a red one with a face like something that hasn't surfaced from the depths of the sea in years. Once it's dead, it starts decomposing, but he keeps swinging.

Their rotting flesh and black blood covers the ground, sticky under our bare feet. We stand waiting as the merrows hide in the shadows again, watching us.

Maddy is pulling on my s.h.i.+rt. ”What's happening?” She cries when she realizes there's a thin line of blood on her arm. I wipe it off. It isn't hers. It's dripping from above us.

The yellow-scaled merrow wrestles with someone on the balcony. It's so dark I can't see who he's fighting, I can only hear the loud snap of a neck. The wail of triumph. The heave of the body over the merrow's head. He throws the limp body over the balcony but misses the pool by a few inches. The body rolls over once until it lies on the blue tiles, broken. Then again until it falls into the pool with a splash.

Not it. He. Until he falls.

”Tristan!” Kurt yells. The hammerhead is on Kurt's back, jaws open to bite.

I run.

I slip on the slick ground.

I keep my blade out and cut cleanly across both the hammerhead's ankles. When I right myself, I see Thalia's thin dagger pierce the creature's neck. The weight of him collapses on top of Kurt, and they topple into the pool.

Maddy screams. A blue merrow sniffs at the air around her.

It smells me.

It goes in for her.

I don't think about the fact that they're yards away, that if I miss by a few centimeters I will probably slice off my ex-girlfriend's face, which might make her like me even less. What I do know is that I can make it. I know it like I know I'm my mother's son. I throw my dagger and it pierces the merrow's spine.

The merrow stumbles once, deteriorating into mush as he does. It's like smelling a fish market and burning sulfur in chemistry cla.s.s at the same time. It's not the most opportune time to think that I'll never get the smell off me. The black blood splatters over Maddy's clothes.

I walk over and pull my dagger out of what's left of the merrow's back.

Gwen walks out of the shattered doorframe. There are black smudges on her white-blond hair. ”The human authorities are on their way. I can hear their sirens.”

In the pool, the body of the dead boy floats face down. The water is muddy with merrow chunks and blood. Kurt lies on his back with his bow clutched to his chest. Layla bends down at his side. There's a long gash on her arm. How could I have been so stupid? I get on my knees and hold Maddy's face in my hands. She rubs her cheek against my dirty palm.

”I'm sorry,” I say. ”I can say it a million times and it won't matter. But this does. I can't explain it now. I don't know if I ever could. But I need that necklace.”

She sobs once and shuts her eyes like she's still trying to shut me out.

”Or this is just going to keep happening.”

She puts her shut palm over mine and opens it slowly, a flower blooming in the dark. The Venus pearl is in her hand, glowing pink in the blinking light above us. We're both so still that the automatic motion detector light goes out.

When I take it from her, the lights come back on. I pocket it before she changes her mind.

I slink her arm around my shoulder. I press my lips on her cheek and she pulls away.

”You stink,” she says.

”Tell me something I don't know.”

Behind us, those who notice the quiet come out of their hiding places. There is so much confusion, but it's mostly a lot of screaming poolside. My insides churn when I recognize the clothes. Thalia's small, shaking frame is draped over his still body. The lights of the house come back on. The floor is littered with gla.s.s, and the stone ground is stained forever.

None of that matters. I have the pearl in my pocket, but it doesn't matter, because I let this happen. I did nothing, and now Ryan is dead. His gaping blue eyes stare at nothing. Thalia takes his hand and presses it against her wet face. She smooths his hair back. She brings her fist down on his chest. Between all the cries the only one I hear is hers.

”Stay,” she says in a whisper so small, I'm not sure she even says it at all.

Get up,” she says in my ear. ”Get up right now.”

Gwen grabs my hand and pulls on it. I can't move. I can't close my eyes. For what seems like forever, I sit in the shadows of the backyard watching as the others mourn Ryan's body. I watched it happen. I didn't know it was him. I could've done something. I should've kept my worlds separate like Kurt said. How can I protect everyone I care about? I can't. I have to go through with this. I can't keep losing.

Gwen's hand slaps across my face.

”That hurt.”

”It was supposed to.”

She stands above me, holding her hand out. I take it and don't let go as we run along the narrow path around the house and into the front yard.

”What are you doing?” She hesitates as I pick out one of the bikes parked out front. I pull out my dagger and cut the chains off.

”Just put your feet on those little metal bars and hold on to me.”

”Tristan.” She says my name nervously.

”Don't worry, hold on to me. You won't fall.”

I can hear the police cars once we've put distance between us and the music. Gwen's arms are cool against my sweaty, stinky skin. She wraps them around my neck without strangling me. I pedal. We wobble at first, but I put all of my leg muscles into it, and we glide fast, past the rows of houses with families clutching each other on their lawns because something terrible has happened in their perfect neighborhood. I pedal with the wind in my face, zooming down the Coney Island summer street.

At the entrance to the subway station, the ”e” in Coney Island flickers super fast until it just goes off completely. People stare and take pictures like it's the most wondrous thing they've ever witnessed.

A police officer with his back against the wall stands up when he sees me. I hold the bike over my shoulder so maybe he'll think I'm covered in mud. He sniffs the air, and even though I'm not standing directly in front of him, he makes a face like he wants to gag.

”Everyone is looking,” Gwen says. I would think she were used to it.

”Well, I'm covered in merrow goo and you're half naked. Of course they're looking.”

”Was that a compliment?”

”No.” I stop at the MetroCard station and feed it money.

It pops out the yellow MetroCard, and I love that Gwen, with all her smoke-bending magic, stares at it with her eyes wide open and says, ”How did you do that?”

I wiggle my dirty fingers near her face and snap them to make her jump back. ”Magic.”

She purses her lips.

We use the big entrance. Four lines leave from here, and I don't know where to go. I dangle the pearl in front of Gwen. ”If I were an oracle, where would I be?”

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