Scales and Legends

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “And Whitney has proven what she can do,” Mace finally told the shocked crowd. “While no one has seen an Oceanid in over a hundred years, I don’t doubt what she is. Each and every one of you needs to take time and think of your choice. Will you join with her to save the siren and earn your own freedom, or will we wait out the war as we previously voted? Take thirty minutes to go home and discuss this with your family, then meet back here for the vote.”

  People all around them nodded before disappearing more quietly and quickly than they had arrived. Soon the place was empty except for the small girl and her mom who also remained behind.

  “No matter what they decide, I’ll be beside you in your fight,” Mace told her once the room was empty. “You have given my daughter something I could never give her. She can grow up without the fear of being hunted. I owe you everything.”

  Whitney smiled faintly and nodded. One person wasn’t going to make a difference, but she appreciated that he believed in her. If only he came back with her, it was going to be a suicide mission. Transforming again, Whitney took a second scale and offered it to his wife. The daughter shouldn’t have to face her life alone.

  Mace understood and took the scale to press into his wife’s arm. They would both be free no matter what happened when the Selkie returned.

  Whitney smiled while the lady was shocked into her new role. She had tears pouring down her face as she couldn’t say a word. It didn’t take anything more than that for Whitney to realize this was her purpose in the mer world. They had broken down into clans that hated each other. It was time to bring them back together. She could do that. She would do that, if she made it out of the war alive.

  “Thank you,” the little girl said as her mother was still in shock that she was now free to live in the human world. “Purple is my favorite color.” She gave Whitney her biggest grin. The child had no idea what the change meant, but was still thanking her.

  Whitney didn’t need thanks. She needed to win the war and save the mer that deserved to be free.

  There was little time left. She understood the whole waiting around to decide what the Selkie were doing, but she was needed back at the island. They needed to plan more. Sitting and waiting really wasn’t the best option.

  “I need to leave,” Whitney said. She hated to leave before they had decided, but she had spent too much time sitting already.

  Mace nodded. At least he understood the urgency.

  “Once you decide what to do, have your wife contact me. Like the bond between the clans and their leader, I’m bound to the Oceanids. All she has to do is call to me, and I can hear her.”

  Mace nodded again. “Thank you.”

  Whitney shook his outstretched hand before making her way out of the building and back to the ocean. As she reached the edge of the ice, she took off the coat and boots she had borrowed and left them folded up on the ice before she dove into the sea in her mer form. There might have been people on the side watching, but she didn’t notice or turn back. She had a job to do, and it was time to get the war over. She had another task to accomplish, the real reason why she was in the mer world.

  CHAPTER 8

  Sam was shocked that Whitney had done it. He had his doubts as he sent her off to ask them, but the Selkie were now going to help. The Selkie were fierce fighters and were more than enough to keep the battle even-sided. He just didn’t think they would join after the last battle. The new Selkie leader had owed Sam a favor and was obligated to come, but now he was actually coming on his own terms. Even better, all the Selkie fighters were coming. Sam shouldn’t have doubted her. If anyone could convince someone to do something, it was Whitney.

  Sam wanted to take time to relax and celebrate Whitney’s achievement, but now he was busy with his brother, Ken, who had come up with a way to detect the traps and was currently testing it out. Once he was certain it would work, Sam planned to go get Nic. His other older brother wasn’t going to survive much longer with the blood he was losing, and with everything coming they needed to get him soon. Sam trusted Ken would figure it out perfectly.

  “How much longer?” Sam asked as Ken surfaced with a face full of navy blue ink. Ken’s plan used the ink from squids and something else Sam didn’t understand, and didn’t care to understand. Ken was certain he could figure it out, and that was enough.

  “I don’t know,” Ken replied, wiping the ink off his face but leaving a smear in its wake.

  Sam huffed a little but didn’t yell at his brother. At least Ken was doing something. Their father had written Nic off as another dead son already. Sam wasn’t sure how the old man could be so callous. He didn’t seem to care when any of his other sons died, and now it was the same for Nic. He had sons to spare, but that shouldn’t matter. They were his children. The man had to be soulless. And that made Sam worry just a tad.

  Whitney had explained that becoming an Oceanid meant you had to be “good” as she put it. What he figured it meant was that you had to have a soul, and if his father didn’t, he was sure his mother would be trapped by the man, being the last of the siren. Sam still wasn’t at the point of caring for the old man, but he did care what happened to his mother.

  “I need to make some adjustments and try it again,” Ken told him.

  Reaching down, Sam handed him another squid. “We need him back,” he emphasized.

  Nic was in charge of the guards. It wasn’t just that Sam wanted him back; they had to have him back. Nic knew more about the protection of the island than anyone besides Sam. Sam didn’t want to lead the battle again the mer alone. He needed Nic beside him.

  ‘And what about me?’ Whitney asked in his mind.

  Sam smiled. She had been eavesdropping again. He found now that she was an Oceanid, it seemed to come more natural for her to tap into his mind. And it seemed she created a stronger barrier than he did as he had tried on several attempts to see how it was going with the Selkie, and he failed each time. He knew her song was stronger than his, but now everything seemed to be growing stronger for her. A little unfair, but so far his ego was able to handle it.

  ‘I want you somewhere safe,’ Sam replied. And that was the truth. He wanted her nowhere near the battle that was coming. He wanted her locked away in a safe box where he didn’t have to worry about her getting hurt.

  ‘And I want you safe, too, you know.’

  Sam chuckled. Oh, he knew that. He had a feeling all her looking into his mind was to make sure he was staying safe. While he had been tempted more than once to just charge the waiting mer to go and find her, he had more control than that. At least that was what he was telling himself over and over again. So far that had worked.

  ‘I think the safest place for us both is to be together,’ Whitney added.

  How could he deny that? He was going stir-crazy with worry about her and having nowhere to go since he was stuck on the island. A steel box to keep her safe was still ideal, but second was having her beside him where he could at least see what sort of trouble she was getting into.

  ‘Trouble?’ she asked innocently.

  ‘Yes, because you haven’t made my heart skip a beat at least twice a day now since you left me,’ Sam replied. And that was an understatement. It was more like he was worrying constantly about her. She was running into trouble every time Sam talked to her.

  ‘Ha, ha, ha,’ she replied, though she had to know it was true. Their connection was much stronger now, and he knew she was fake laughing. There was very little he didn’t feel from her; it had to be the same way for her. ‘I’m almost back to the island, and then I have a plan. I’ll see you soon,’ she told him.

  Sam wanted to pry deeper into her plan, but she was too good at keeping it all locked away. He was going to have to wait until she checked in with him again. And that was fine. He had his own stuff to deal with … mainly getting Nic out of the sea and healing him. They needed him back in action, and hopefully, Ken was going to get it right this time so Sam could go save their brother. With Whitn
ey busy, she was unlikely to know what he was up to and stop him before he could do it. Ken would make it as safe as possible, but there was always the chance Sam might get hurt. He was more than happy to leave that conversation until later.

  Whitney made it back to the island in time to see them hauling away their latest kill. The fire was still roaring even though it was morning and the sun was warm enough to not need a fire for heat. Whitney climbed up onto the shore and made her way into the trees. Most of the siren were behind the fire, tucked away by the river, sleeping.

  “Good trip?” Jade asked as she walked up to Whitney while wiping her hands on her bloodstained pants.

  “Yes, and here, too, I see?”

  “Mom keeps count, but I think we’ve taken care of probably one hundred or so mer.”

  Whitney calculated that out in her head. Being able to talk to the Selkie on her swim back gave her more details. Mace told her there were over fifteen hundred fighting mer in the waters with at least a thousand more as back-up waiting to be sent. Even killing one hundred at a time, it was going to take them weeks to get rid of all the mer. They didn’t have the supplies or the energy to fight for weeks. In reality, everyone needed to be on the island getting ready for the big battle that was coming. Whitney had a plan to do just that.

  “Do you still have my phone?” Whitney asked. She had left it behind on the island because she wasn’t sure where she was going to end up. Why carry a phone with her to worry about if she was going to be countries away from her cell coverage anyway?

  “Yes, but no phones work this far out in the ocean,” Jade replied, digging in her pocket and handing it over.

  “No phones that aren’t magically enhanced by a witch,” Whitney replied with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

  “You know a witch?” Jade asked in awe.

  Whitney nodded.

  “So unfair. You could have told me that before. Witches come in handy when you fight certain night humans. You have to hook me up,” Jade added as Whitney turned on her phone.

  There was still plenty of battery left, and she was glad to find that without having to go back to shore to charge it. She was going to have to thank Cassie yet again for putting the spell on her phone, but she was planning to do that in person. Whitney dialed her friend’s number and waited as it rang.

  “Cas?” Whitney asked as someone picked up on the other end of the line.

  “Whit?” a male voice asked in return.

  Whitney’s eyes bugged at the voice. It had been months since she had talked to her other best friend.

  “Owen?” she squealed, making Jade jump. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed to Jade as the other hunters turned to them and gave them questioning looks. Whitney knew how much Jade hated being the center of attention.

  “Fine, fine, fine,” Owen said on the other end of the line. “I just wanted to say hi and how cool it is that she’s a night human again.” Obviously, he wasn’t talking to Whitney.

  Owen, Cassie, and Whitney were best friends until she moved away. They hung out all the time and did almost everything together. Owen was like the older brother she always wanted, and he loved her like his own little sister. It had been just as hard on him as it had been on Cassie since Whitney had moved away. Probably harder for him because Cassie at least had her mate, Nate, to turn to now. Owen lost both his friends in one night, and he wasn’t mated yet.

  “Her Highness declares I must hand over the phone to her before she goes all evil witch on me and turns me into a toad,” Owen joked.

  Whitney smiled. It was great to hear his voice and fairytale references again. The boy was one odd combination of good looks and a weird sense of humor that kept most people away. This was probably why he ended up with Cassie and Whitney, the two outcasts in their last school.

  “It was great to hear your voice,” Whitney quickly said, since she knew Cassie wasn’t going to be patient and turning him into a toad probably wasn’t just a threat. Cassie could do much more than just turn someone into a frog on command.

  “You, too. You have to come visit soon. It’s boring here without you.”

  “Boring?” Cassie exclaimed from behind him. “I’ll make sure to tell Michelle you called her boring.” The phone dropped with a clank.

  “You wouldn’t,” Owen replied, now farther away from the phone.

  “Thanks for my phone back,” she yelled, probably because Owen was running away from her. “Hey, Whitney. How’s the whole war thing going?”

  “I need another favor,” Whitney told her, getting right to the point. “I have to get everyone back to the island. Well, technically I need to get back to the island, but I figured it would be best if I brought everyone with me. If I send you a picture of a tree, can you come and transport us? I know how to get us to the island without having a picture.” That was their last hang-up about going directly to the island before.

  Jade now stared at Whitney. She didn’t appear eager to go to the siren island. Regular humans were far from welcome in any night human home, let alone hunters. Whitney grinned back at her.

  “Yes. Send it over, and I’ll be right there,” Cassie replied before hanging up.

  That was the first step. Get everyone to the island and rested, because they were going to need to be full of energy when the battle really started.

  “Hey, I survived going over to your house with your mother around, you should be fine coming to my island.” Whitney winked at her. “I will promise I won’t snack on you, but I can’t say the same for all the guys back there. Mister Bouncer Guy might have some competition to catch you.”

  Jade tried not to smile at Whitney’s joking. It was true. Whitney had been to the hunter house when she was an illegal night human, and she was very lucky they didn’t know and kill her on the spot. It wasn’t quite the same to bring the hunters to the island now, but they needed to be back there to help with their planning. The Selkie were coming from the water, and Whitney wanted the hunters on land to protect the Selkie from the hunters. They wouldn’t know how to tell the difference if they came across one otherwise.

  “If I leave you here it’s going to take a few weeks of killing like you’ve done all night to get rid of the mer. We don’t have enough supplies here on the island, nor do we have the time. And probably after a while, someone will catch on. We need to get back to the siren island to help out and make a plan to win this thing.”

  “It went that well?” Jax asked as he came up to them.

  Whitney took a picture of the tree next to them. She sent the message to Cassie before looking up at Jax.

  “It seems that I offer something better than the other clans can. Glad to know my pink fin is good for something other than attracting attention from the siren for not being blue or green.” Whitney had explained some of the siren world to her friends, and she made sure to put in there the whole hierarchy crap she had been dealing with.

  Cassie stepped out of the tree beside them. Of course, her bodyguard cat was with her.

  “So move everyone to the island?” Cassie asked, holding her hand out for another picture.

  “First, just me. I want to be sure no one attacks without thinking if I bring a bunch of hunters on the island,” Whitney explained, not handing her the phone. “And I don’t have a picture from the island. Technology doesn’t work there.”

  Cassie gave her a confused look, obviously wondering how she was supposed to get them to the island since her magic didn’t include walking on water.

  “Yeah, I know … confusing,” Whitney quickly added. “On my swim back here I got thinking about how you can only go to places you’ve seen before. That made me wonder how to get back to the island since I don’t have any photos of the place. As I thought more about how you just pull through a tree, I began to realize the whole reason you can do that is because you’re a night human. Since that’s the case, then I should be able to just share a memory with you with a blood connection.”

  The simplicity of it dawned on Cassie’s face,
and she laughed.

  “You know, I have to make things so complicated, I never thought of that,” Cassie admitted.

  Whitney nodded. It had taken hours of swimming in the ocean alone for Whitney to think of it, so she didn’t blame her. She didn’t completely see Cassie as a night human anyways, and she doubted she ever would. Cassie had been a day human her whole life and was raised as a day human. There was just too much day human in her.

  Whitney held out her hand and took the knife Jade offered her. Slicing her fingertip, she handed the blade to Cassie, who did the same. As they pressed their fingers together, Whitney felt the instant connection. Even if she wasn’t holding her hand, she would know this was her friend’s presence. Everything about it said Cassie.

  ‘Here’s the tree near my home,’ Whitney explained, thinking of the great big tropical tree that had the best-smelling flowers on it. Cassie took a moment and let go of her hand.

  “Well that was strange,” Cassie commented.

  Strange?

  “It was like your whole world was pink-tinted, and here I just thought you liked the color pink. I think you might actually be the color pink.”

  Whitney stuck her tongue out at Cassie as Jax and Jade laughed. Everyone knew her love of the color pink, but they still found the need to tease her about it.

  “Well, bestie, let’s get you back on your island where you can introduce me to your hunky mate. I think I caught a glimpse of him in your mind, but I have to see for myself to be sure.”

  Whitney turned back to her two hunter friends.

  “Can you keep everyone safe as they sleep?”

  “Got it, boss,” Jax teased as Jade nodded.

  “Time to go home,” Cassie said to her as she waited by the tree with her hand outstretched for Whitney.

  Strangely, it was going to work. All it took was having a few free hours to think, and Whitney had found a way back to the island and Sam. He was going to be surprised. Cassie wiggled her eyebrows as she waited. She had her own mate, so it didn’t bother Whitney at all that she called him hunky. Actually, all his screaming fans at his rock concerts thought the same thing, and that didn’t bother her either because hunky Sam was hers.