Chapter 21 – Arthur
ARTHUR
There’s so much blood and so many wounds. I’m trying to help Steven, but I don’t have a clue how to. Max has created a place to rest for the night. He’s built a fire, and caught fish that he grills over the fire. I’ve bound all Steven’s wounds, and yet, it isn’t enough. We know it’s not.
I just keep staring, feeling useless. Max just races around, as if keeping himself busy will keep Steven alive.
Nothing we do can save him. I feel it in the pit of my gut.
“Fuck,” I mutter and rise, feeling agitated.
Stripping off my clothes, I toss them onto the shore and walk out into the ocean. I try to wash Steven’s blood from my body. I try to clear my head before I completely lose my mind.
And then, there beneath the waters, I see them. Little fish with lights on their bodies seem to come from every direction. They fill the water around me, creating a stunning glow.
Breath held in wonder, I reach out. They allow me to run my fingers along their soft bodies. Like cats. For a minute none of it makes sense, and then I remember my power, control over the mindless sea creatures. Is that what this is?
Closing my eyes, I’m shocked at what happens. Inside of me, I suddenly sense the oceans spreading across the world, covering nearly every surface of our world. And within them, I sense billions of little lives. They move about their business, strangely innocent, content in their lives.
I stumble a little on the sand as the waves pull at me. My eyes open, and I continue to stare out at the water. This power? I like it.
And then I hurl straight into the water.
“Fuck!” I grip my head as pain tears through it.
“What is it?” Max comes to stand on the shore not far from me. “Are you okay?”
I’m breathing hard as the pain slowly subsides. “I don’t know…”
Suddenly, we hear Steven. He’s shouting words that make no sense.
I wipe my mouth and dive beneath the waters, trying to calm myself. When I surface again, Max is at Steven’s side. I hurry toward them and kneel down.
Steven is tossing his head from side to side. His face is pale and sweat rolls down his face.
“Nuh, no, na,” he mutters, sounds that make no sense.
“What do we do?” Max asks, his voice shaking.
“Wait for Sirena,” is all I can say.
And then I feel something. A change in the air. Power. Magic.
I look to Max. His eyes are wide.
“You feel that?” I ask.
He nods.
The moon seems to grow brighter. Our gazes slowly move up, and sure enough, the moon seems to be growing brighter… bigger. Closer?
“What was Steven’s power again?”
Max answers without hesitation. “Power over the stars and planets.”
“This isn’t good, right? Screwing with this stuff can cause… issues?”
“Yeah.” His expression is troubled. “Especially with the waves.” He shudders. “Actually, he’s causing a lot of problems with the waves. Fucking shit!”
“What?” My heart’s racing.
“Massive waves are growing, racing for land. It’s going to… it’s going to kill a lot of people. It’s going to cause a lot of destruction. I can feel them in my mind, growing, becoming more and more powerful.”
I stand. “You can control the waves, right? You can stop it?”
He looks pale. “I don’t know.”
Suddenly, a massive creature comes into view.
My glowing fish move as it heads straight toward us.
But this being, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.
It has one massive neck and head, but also strange arms that seem to move like tentacles in the breeze.
It has the almost translucent quality of a jellyfish, only with a little more substance.
Whatever the hell it is, I doubt it’s good. And I doubt we’re going to like whatever it has planned for us.
Heart in my throat, I scramble for where my clothes and weapons are tossed on the shore. Gripping the hilt of my sword, I pull it free.
This is just what we need. Another fight.
And then I spot Sirena on its back. And she’s… smiling a big, happy smile.
Relief makes my tense muscles relax ever so slightly. Is this the creature she sought out to help Steven? Why the hell can’t she have any furry, cute little sea animals?
Like mine. I think with a smile.
When she reaches the shore, she slides from the beast’s back and into the water. Her tail vanishes and she walks out of the water, heading right for us.
“Is that the beast that can save Steven?” Max asks.
Her smile falters. “She’s a creature that can help him, yes.” Kneeling at his side, she looks between him and the moon. “We need to get him into the water. Near my creature. She can help heal him.”
“There’s another problem,” Max says. “The waves—“
“He’s affected them,” she says.“That’s okay. You can fix it before too much damage is done.”
Max shakes his head. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”
She gazes up at him, and her sweet expression takes my breath away. “Yes, you can. I know you can. Just go into the water. Think of the waves, reassure them, like a living creature, and tell them to calm.”
“I—“
“Trust me, Max, you can do this. I know you can.”
He draws himself up taller and begins to undress.
Then she turns to me. “Help me get him in the water, and leave your sword. My creature frightens easily. You’ll need to move slowly and calmly.”
“I can do that.”
Steven tosses and thrashes in my arms as I pick him up and carry him into the water. Each step I take I feel more and more nervous. The massive white creature looks terrifying with its huge teeth and creepy tentacles moving about it.
Sirena leads me to stand just in front of it. Then she takes Steven from my arms and presents him to the creature. Very slowly, its tentacles move toward my wounded Brother.
I shudder when the tentacles lock onto him. The sucking sound sends a chill down my spine.
When all four of its tentacles are on him, the creature begins to tremble.
It opens its mouth and a strange sound comes out.
It reminds me of the song of a whale, beautiful and powerful, full of an emotion that calls to my soul.
The creature begins to glow with different colored lights underneath its surface. It’s like an alien, a beautiful alien.
Then I feel an echo that travels through me. My glowing fish glow brighter, swimming around the creature as it sings its sad song.
I’m overwhelmed. Emotions I never imagined claw deeply inside me. And I feel something… a connection to the ocean. Not just through my powers, but through my soul. It’s a mysterious, but beautiful, part of our world, one I never truly respected or understood until now.
My gaze moves to Steven. I can’t see most of his wounds, but he doesn’t look any different to me. What if this doesn’t work? My stomach clenches, and I look to Max.
He’s standing in the water, his arms spread out, his eyes closed. Will he be able to stop the waves in time? Can he save lives with a power he has yet to understand?
This mission of ours… it seemed so simple when it began. But now? Now it feels like something else, like an awakening.
And then the creature’s singing stops. My fish continue their strange dance around the towering creature. But it draws its tentacles back from Steven. Sirena is there, catching him in her arms.
She stares down at him with tenderness, then back at her creature. “Thank you,” she whispers.
The creature uses one tentacle to stroke her face in a gentle way, and then it slips beneath the water and its lights dull. Within seconds, its disappeared.
Sirena slowly removes Steven’s bandages. Underneath them, his skin is smooth.
She turns back to me with a smile. “He’s going to be okay.”
I move closer, and I’m shocked when Steven’s eyes open.
“What?” He blinks. “What happened?”
She leans down and kisses him lightly on his forehead. “You saved me.”
For a minute I can’t stop staring at them. She’s holding him so gently, so lovingly, and he seems so content in her arms.
Is this love? This connection we feel to her?
Because if it’s not, then I don’t know what love is. This bond… I don’t just like how it makes me feel. I like the impact it has on my Brothers.
Except Clark. But I had no doubt that he could come around to her too.
We weren’t going to get a female gargoyle. Being celibate was pointless. If our people couldn’t accept Sirena, maybe we didn’t need them either.
Even though it’d be hard to walk away from everyone and everything we loved. It’d be worth it for her.
Steven struggles to sit up, and I move to him and help. It takes him a minute to steady himself. And when I look at him, he’s got bright red marks where the creature latched onto him. But it’s clear every one of his wounds are gone.
“That was… weird,” he says.
I laugh. “You have no idea.”
We go to Max. His eyes are open, but as we draw closer, we see they’re silver and spinning slowly. I freeze, staring. He radiates power, just the way Steven did. And I can feel it, flowing through him, and flowing into the water.
I swear I can even see the bright blue glow radiating out from him and into every drop of water. At last he drops his hands, and the silver fades from his eyes. He’s breathing hard as he turns to us.
“I stopped the waves.”
Sirena smiles. “I knew you could do it!”
He turns and hurls into the water.
I wince, remembering that same feeling.
Sirena’s at his side in a moment, rubbing his back. Her happiness has faded and concern fills her face. Again, I think of how nice having her around is, how wonderful it is to have a gentle touch when we need it.
“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me,” he mumbles.
“It’s the powers,” she tells him.
“So that’s just what happens when we use it?” I ask.
She looks up at me and shakes her head. “I—I didn’t want to scare you guys.”
I stiffen. “What?”
She hesitates before she lets out a rushed breath.
“You’re semi-immortals. Meaning, it’s possible to kill you.
You can be beheaded. You can be killed by a powerful god’s powers.
You’re simply… not as strong as a god or goddess.
You know that. With me, no one can kill me.
If I’m beheaded, it’ll hurt. I’ll feel the mind-numbing pain of it all, and I’ll wake up in the Underworld.
It’ll take time to regain my body for this plane and to resurface, but I won’t ever die permanently.
But that kind of power… only a god can contain it.
The four of you have the power of gods, but you aren’t meant to.
If we can’t remove it from you soon, it’ll kill you. ”
My breath rushes out of me. “So we really need to find that friend of yours.”
She nods. “But we have time, so don’t worry too much.”
All of us take a minute in the water to wash ourselves, and then we return to shore to eat our very cold meal of overcooked fish. It’s strange. The more we eat, the better all of us seem to feel. Even Steven seems like his old self, only better.
He snorts as I tell him about how he was healed. We laugh as I talk about my cool little fish. And Max insists my powers are far better than his.
All in all, it’s a nice night. If only Clark was here.
We finish our meal and clean up, throwing more driftwood on the fire. And then we lie down beneath the stars on our little tarp with our little blankets.
This time, all of us are naked. Our wet clothes are spread out on rocks near us. As strange as I thought it’d be, it’s actually kind of nice, almost relaxing.
“I’d like to have sex tonight.”
Every muscle in my body tenses, and I sit up. Sirena’s staring up at the sky, her tone casual, but my heart’s suddenly racing.
Max clears his throat. “With who?”
“Well, all of you. Would that be okay?”
My treacherous cock hardens. I meet Steven’s and Max’s gazes, and I know we’re all thinking the same thing. Is there any reason not to?
A thought rings through my mind. Not a single one.