Part 28 (1/2)

As she says it, my dagger heats in my hand. I turn around when I hear Gwen gasping for air. All the light fairies scuttle behind leaves and boulders, so the light is stretched out too far and the shadows grow longer.

I don't need light to see who followed us here. Elias's hand holds her at the neck. Her pale fingers hold his wrist. Her eyes are open like small bursts of lighting.

”Don't you touch her,” I say.

”I already am.” Elias's voice is a growl. ”She's mine to do with as I please.”

He steps forth, still dripping water. He's in the same clothes I last saw him in, but the chain mail around his waist looks more rusted, his skin more green than tan.

”This isn't very champion-like.”

He still isn't looking at me. The skin around his eyes is breaking apart. The smell of rotting fish is heavy in the air, and this time I have to do something. Gwen kicks at the air as he raises her up with one arm.

Behind me, the oracle in her red shroud is waddling away to safety. I don't really blame her. I just wish my body didn't feel so frozen.

”Especially when she'd prefer a champion like me, right?” I say. The effect is instant. His face shoots sideways at me. ”At least I don't stink.”

He turns back to Gwen slowly.

I keep going, ”You didn't really think she'd sit around waiting for you. She needs a real merman, not a fake king who lost to a human girl.”

He tosses Gwen to the side, and I fight the impulse to run to her and make sure she's okay, because she isn't moving.

Elias charges at me, all arms and bare chest, a blurred shadow.

”A little help, ladies,” I mumble. One of the light fairies flies around us. She pulls at his ears and kicks him, which is like getting smacked around by a Barbie doll, really. All I need is for her to stay close enough that I can see him.

I grab his arms, dropping my dagger, and hold them above my head. He has no weapons, just brute strength. With my knee I get him right in the gut. He tenses up and clutches his stomach. He grabs at his throat, his chest, and heaves for air. I roll over him and start punching him in the face.

I've only ever seen guys get into fights at school, in the park, in the middle of the street. I used to wonder what made the guy winning look so vicious. Now, with Elias's face b.l.o.o.d.y and tender under my fists, I don't feel any pity for him. I think of how he let everyone think he was dead, how he hurt Gwen. And in this moment, I swear to myself that I will never hurt a girl again.

Elias stops moving. I can feel his body go limp under me.

I can't breathe.

I roll over.

Fall into the pond. The water is shallow enough that it doesn't cover my face. The cool of the water is the best feeling against my skin. A fairy floats above my face and lands right on my nose on her little toes. Her body is a slick Thumbelina version of a perfect woman, and her hair lights up at the very tips. Huh. So it's her hair that's the light, not her wings. She flies to my chest and lies there, right over my heart, which feels like it's going to tunnel right out.

I notice Gwen standing over me. The little fairy gasps and runs away, taking the light with her. Gwen puts her head on my chest where the fairy just did, like she's listening for my heartbeat or just looking for a pillow. I rake my shaking fingers through her hair.

”Ouch,” she says when I hit a tangle.

”Sorry.”

”It's okay. You saved me.”

I guess I did. She sits up and stares at her ex-fiance. I wonder what she's thinking. Is she even a little bit sad? Is she going to hate me tomorrow?

The oracle isn't coming out of her hiding spot behind a small boulder.

”It's okay,” I call out to her. ”He's not getting up anytime soon.”

But he does, because the next thing I feel when I sit up is arms bending me in a headlock. Motherf- And the voice that screeches in my ear doesn't belong to Elias anymore. It's the one I've dreamt of for days. It comes in heaves, a deep sc.r.a.ping thing. Something inside him gasping for air. Then I realize that the gasping sound is coming from me. I can't breathe.

Closer is the only word I can make out.

Then Elias goes stiff. He falls on top of me, and I have to push with everything I have to roll him off my back. He lands sideways with my dagger in his back. Smoke fumes around the golden hilt.

”Any further and you would've scratched me,” I say, crawling over to Gwen, who is holding her hands out like she's waiting for rain. Her palms are raw and red, black in places where fire has burned her.

”Did the dagger do that?”

She nods once, wincing in pain. She dips her hands in the pond and shuts her eyes. The water running over her hands glows. When she pulls them out, the skin is starting to grow back, but it isn't healed completely. ”It isn't meant to be touched by anyone but your family line.”

”Duh, Triton's blade.”

”Triton's blade, indeed.” The little voice comes out from its hiding place.

”Thanks for the help, lady.”

”Don't you get smart with me.” She wags a finger in my face. ”I haven't lived as long as I have by fighting battles.” The oracle is pulling on a small wooden box with gold handles on either side. From here it looks just like a treasure chest I had when I was in my pirate phase. I used to keep baseball cards and food and a plastic sword in it. This one is solid wood. There isn't a lock that I can see.

”This,” she says, ”opens to my touch.” She grazes her fingers along the lid, like tickling the back of a cat. The lid pops open.

Part of me is expecting smoke and sparklers. Something a little more dramatic than this. Except it really is amazing on its own. It's the bottom of the trident scepter. A piece of long, pointed gla.s.s that glows when I hold my hand closer to it. I grab the gold handle of the chest, and the lid swings closed. It's much heavier than it looks.

”Solid quartz,” she says, ”from the depths of the earth.”

It's the same feeling I get when I hold the dagger. Like it belongs to me. I can feel a current, something more ancient than my blade, older than the ground we stand on and the trees that surround us. Still, it doesn't look like it could do much damage.

”It has power on its own,” says the oracle. ”But it is still incomplete.”

”I thought you could only read the bones of the sea,” I say.

She chuckles. ”Your emotions are plain on your face. You must work on that. Some of us play poker on the nights of the quarter moons. You should come. Learn something.”

”I think I will.”

She runs her fingers on the chest again, and this time it doesn't open. ”You won this with your strength. A king must be strong.” She holds the Venus pearl toward me. ”You won this with your heart.”

”But-you've been missing it for years.”

She nods and the soft folds of her face upturn into a big smile, until even her eyes are smiling slits. ”Some things have so much more power when given willingly.”

I hold out my palm and she lets the pearl drop into my hand.

A gagging noise comes from Elias. And this time it's because he's breaking apart. Poof, into nothing.