by JE Hunter
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Nessa. Wake up. Nessa!”
I opened my eyes. My heart was fluttering, panicked. I looked around, the blackness moved from my vision. My thoughts and memories became clear as the pain in my arm burned. “What's going on? Where's Shia?” I demanded the answers from Caesar and Colleen who were standing over me, pale, worried.
“We heard screaming. We came as quickly as we could. We haven't seen Shia. What happened?” Caesar asked. Colleen waited silently to my right.
“How long?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head.
“It took us about ten minutes to find you, maybe a bit more.”
“No. That's too long. They could be anywhere.” I tried to get up but Caesar pushed me back down.
“What happened?” His eyes were narrowed, intense.
“We were attacked,” I said, the minute an ear-splitting wail reached our ears. It was coming from the beach. I glanced around again, this time looking specifically for the boat I’d seen through the trees; it was gone. “It was the hunter. He’s a kurage. He…he was like a jellyfish. He had these arms. They touched me. It was so painful.” I searched the woods from my place on the damp ground, looking for any sign of Shia or the kurage. There was nothing. “We have to hurry.”
“The kurage?” Colleen asked, her large eyes moving from me to Caesar, challenging him. “We already talked about this, the invisible jellyfish is just a myth, a tale invented to scare little kids. And the boundary would–”
“No. It’s broken. He’s here. I know you don’t believe me. But he has Shia and we have to save her! He could kill her with his tentacles, Colleen. He shouldn’t even be on this island!”
“Okay,” Caesar said, placing a calming arm around my shoulders. “We’ll take you back to the beach. Obviously something’s going on: Shia’s missing and the other merfolk are upset.” Caesar looked in the direction of the wail that was still streaming through the trees. He lifted me up, slipping an arm under my shoulders for support. “Colleen, can you grab her other side please?”
“Got it.” Colleen's tiny frame slipped easily under my arm.
My sketchbook and backpack were forgotten as we rushed down to the beach, the wail guiding us. Our feet flew over the dirt, tree roots, and twigs that lay in our way. We moved through the forest as fast as we could, keeping our eyes fixed ahead, looking for signs of Shia as the wailing grew louder.
When we broke through the last of the trees and onto the beach, I saw that the wailing was coming from five people—not just one. All of the first year merfolk students were huddled together, worried, drawn expressions on their faces and tears in their eyes. I didn't need a psychic connection with them to know they were in pain. The rest of the students had returned to the beach and were looking around, some panicked and some...dumbfounded.
Caesar had a tight, pained looked on his face. His grey eyes moved across the beach as Joanna ran up to the merfolk, trying desperately to calm them down.
I rushed up to her. “It's Shia, we were attacked. Someone attacked us and Shia's gone. It was the hunter. I…I think he’s a kurage.” I held out my arms, which were now displaying bright red welts that were growing darker every minute.
“Yes. Shia. She's gone.” Nor—one of the first year mermen, the one I always thought of as the leader—bent over, crumpling to the sand, holding his head. “We can't feel her. We can't hear her. We felt pain. So much pain, then...nothing.” Nor turned his dark eyes on me, looking up from where he lay on the beach. “You were with her! What did you do to her?”
I flinched in the heat of his anger. “Nothing. We were attacked—both of us—by the hunter. I recognized him. I’m telling you, he was human, but...not human. He had jellyfish arms. Long tentacles. He stung me. He had a boat! He’s a kurage; he has to be.”
“You lie! The invisible jellyfish is just a story, Telmath told us of it to scare us.” Nor tried to lunge at me but Zeke, who stood beside him, grabbed him with one arm, stopping him.
“It wasn't Nessa, look at her arms, she's hurt too!” Caesar defended me.
“It was a kurage,” said a deep, gravelly voice. I turned my head, rubbing my sore arms gently, trying to dispel the burning, tingling sensation. Telmath moved closer, and Paket followed him, nodding. “Back in Japan, the kurage is spoke of as a legend, yes, but there are old women who insist the kurage exists. Even my own grandmother swore she saw one once, and my grandmother is not the kind of woman who tells lies, even in humour.”
Joanna inclined her head to Telmath, studying him with the calm eyes of a school teacher. “What else do you know about the kurage? Could it break through our barrier? If it’s the same hunter that tried to take Nessa last weekend, why would he leave her and take Shia instead?”
Telmath shrugged. “These questions are beyond my answers.” His short, green tentacle hair slithered on top of his head. “A kurage is cursed by the sea, but he is still Neptunian. He could break through the barrier if he had help. As for kidnapping Shia instead of Nessa, my guess is that he values the immortality which eating mermaid flesh can provide. Kidnapping a sea-witch would not have given him the same gift.”
I didn’t think it was possible to feel worse, but I did.
Joanna’s eyes narrowed. “You really believe the hunter could be a kurage, and that he had help?”
“The vodiani believe everything is possible. But if you are looking for proof, then we must first find the missing mermaid.”
“Joanna.” Caesar stepped up beside me, as did Markus. “I can read the ocean, if he took Shia in a boat like Nessa believes, then the sound of the motor could have been blocked by the mermaid's wailing. But if you let me listen to the sea, I'll know if he's out there,” Caesar nodded at the open water, “Or still on this island.”
Joanna looked from one pirate to the other, as she did I saw a light bloom in her eyes, a spark of hope. “Do it.”
Markus nodded, as did Caesar as he let go of my hand, walking to the shoreline. The pirates knelt down in a few inches of water, oblivious to the cold waves splashing up, soaking their jeans. Markus and Caesar locked eyes; each was crouched over the water, and each reached out with one hand and let their fingertips touch the ocean. Their expressions went blank. I watched them, curious to see Caesar use his magic, wondering if I could use my magic to help as well. A few seconds later, the pirates abruptly stood and made their way back to us, grim expressions on their faces.
“There’s someone within the boundaries that doesn’t belong here. But they’re leaving. Quickly.” Markus’ face was white.
Joanna pulled in a sharp breath. “We need to stop them.”
“Then we must go. Now!” Nor charged at the water. “Which direction?” he demanded of Caesar.
“Wait.” Joanna reached out, stopping him. “We must be prepared. If he took Shia, he’ll have defenses, weapons. There will be others.”
Nor tried to shake Joanna off, his face red with rage. “She's our princess, no harm shall befall her!” Everyone stopped cold at this revelation. Shia was a princess?
“Princess?” Joanna was just as puzzled as the rest of us. The merfolk nodded. Joanna bit her lip in thought, then nodded once, firmly. “Colleen, Kyle, I need you two to shift and swim back to the main island as quickly as possible. Get Shannon and all of the Tiderunners; we’ll need their help. There are strangers in our waters and we can’t let them get away. This will be dangerous. I won’t force anyone to come who doesn’t want to.”
I stepped forward. “I’m going with you.”
Caesar and the other pirates moved forward, forming a line next to me. “We’re going as well.”
“There's no way you're stopping us.” Nor moved forward with his kin, speaking on their behalf.
“I'm definitely helping,” Kyle said.
The chorus of agreement sounded out; no one was staying behind. Shia was our friend. We wouldn’t let her be taken.
Colleen was down to her bright red undershirt and matching underwear be
fore she paused. “What do we tell them?”
Joanna turned to her. “To bring everyone and everything they have. The rest of us are going to try and stop the hunter before he reaches the boundary. Go!”
Everyone rushed for the boat and the water. I jumped into the York's boat after Amynta. She turned to me, her blue eyes steady and determined. The pirates jumped in after us. The shapeshifters waded into the water, some of them already transformed.
Caesar addressed them. “The kidnapper’s due west of here, in a small boat moving fast but still within the boundary. I also sensed a bigger boat outside the boundary; that’ll be his support.”
Nor nodded. “We'll find the boat and report back to the sea-witch; she'll be able to hear us if she's listening.” The merfolk dove into the water, disappearing.
“I can hear merfolk?” I muttered to no one in particular.
Caesar looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “If they want you to hear them.”
Markus fired up the engine and we sped toward the boundary of our land-marine refuge, with no idea of what—or who—was waiting for us. I could only hope I was ready.