Chapter 42
Reed
Lirin charges into the cave, and Deux shoots out, leaving a black slime trail in the water that I don’t want to touch.
Canto goes one way, confidently watching.
I swallow convulsively, feeling the scarring on my throat. He placed his hands on us and poured fire down our throats. He burnt my song out of me.
I’d been the first up, and I’d screamed, unable to fight his command, unable to free myself.
I learned what it was to really hate in that moment. Now, I’m to show him how much.
Long talons grow out of my fingers, and I let my mind choose a nightmare shape.
Something that reflects the rage I feel.
I will not be at the mercy of another. Not again.
The first time, they made us dogs and gave us songs.
Then he stole our songs and turned us into rabid beasts attacking our own bonds.
I don’t want music. I want to sleep in the dark, I want to be the silent hunter.
She darts in, shining and shimmering like light that I don’t think she ever knew she was. She calms the rage in me without trying.
She came for me.
No one has ever…no one has ever tried to save me.
He hurt her. He almost killed her.
Deux turns, his form spreading out, a sickly version of himself. He bares his teeth and pulls out a knife.
I flick my tail and rush to meet him.
We collide, and he’s thrown backwards. I bare my teeth, furious again at the last three weeks. His deception. That fucking fine print. How he tortured and tormented Mei for years.
He hurt her.
He hurt us.
He’s not going to live another day.
He crouches, staring up at me, his eyes darting around as Ronit’s glowing lights appear to be everywhere, confusing him as they refract through the water.
I lash out and hit him with my tail, which has several inches of thick poison-filled barbs that sink into his flesh.
He howls and lashes out with fire, but the oceans turns back on him, and he frantically forces it to sputter and extinguish.
I swim away into the dark, coming around behind him. He might be an expert hunter, but no one is more capable than us down here.
She came for me.
He imprisoned me.
Never again.
I don’t know if I’m sane.
I don’t feel that way anymore. I’ve fallen into a darkness, and I don’t know if I can come out again.
Something slams into me and wraps around me. I struggle, baring my teeth, my head tilted back in a roar.
The grip tightens on me, and then I’m crying, sobbing as I hold her to me, because I would recognise her anywhere. In any form.
She is mine, part of me. My saviour, the hope I didn’t have.
Home is where she is, be it in this ocean or another, on land, in this world or the next. She is my peace.
“Reed. Come away. You can’t do this. Let the others take care of it for you.”
I open my mouth to protest, but she’s right.
“Okay, I’m okay.” And I am. I’ll hold on, for her. I won’t fall into the dark.
Deux shrieks and charges us.
I spin us around and out of the way, lashing out at him, sending him slamming into the bedrock. He lays there for a second, then gets up, tilts his head back, and laughs.
My skin crawls, and the ocean seems too dark and too big. If we lose him, we could spend the rest of our lives hunting him.
Mei squeezes my hands in reassurance. “We’re taking care of this today. Don’t worry.”
My resolve settles. “Okay.”