Fathom

by Ashley L. Knight

“He died an agonizingly slow death.”

  Wonderful. Not.“What are we going to do?” I cried. “How did he do this? When?”

  All of us were filled with questions and Tammer did his best to explain what little he knew. Limus always had an interest in the crueler powers and it was rumored he took it upon himself to learn about them at an early age, dabbling in it, as it were, and often inflicted his newly learned powers onto unwilling subjects.

  Tammer recalled a time when he watched Limus cruelly shock a homeless man with his power and then inflict The Shadow. It slowly overtook his entire body while he screamed in agony. By the time it was over, the man was an unrecognizable corpse.

  Limus learned to fine tune The Shadow so it would work much slower, sometimes taking months to complete its task. By the time he had mastered the particularly cruel power, Limus had learned several others.

  “He most likely mingled it with his born power when he subjected Thayde to The Judgment,” Tammer continued. “I find it inconceivable that he would do it to Thayde.”

  “How do we stop this?” I asked in absolute horror.

  “I don’t know.”

  I slumped next to Thayde taking his hand in mine. It sounded ridiculous but the reality was that it was very real, and if we didn’t find out how to get rid of it, Thayde would die.

  “Why does this always happen to you?” I nudged him in the shoulder.

  “Because he’s your protector,” Mom answered.

  “What, so he has to take every punishment, every attack that would have been for me? That’s hardly fair!”

  “No, it’s not fair, but it’s what’s happening right now.” Tammer fell into a chair near the end of the bed. “I’d say we have a few weeks before it finishes what it’s supposed to do.”

  “A few weeks?” I gasped, looking at Thayde. He hadn’t moved. He was staring at the ground as if in a trance. I squeezed his hand and he looked at me.

  “I’m going to have to find my father,” he said.

  “No, there has to be another way,” I argued. “What if he kills you on the spot? Besides, there’s no way to find him. No one but Troen knows what happened to him.”

  “I agree with Morgan,” Tammer continued. “If he is capable of doing this to you, he’s capable of doing anything. You two are interwoven now. You corded and each of you is starting to feel what the other is feeling. By the time The Shadow grows to its killing state, there’s a good chance that if Thayde dies, Morgan will too.” There was silence - complete silence and nobody moved.

  “All this just to get to me?” I asked.

  “I think I know what he’s doing.” Thayde said quietly. “This must have been his plan all along. His family has been trying to create The Link for centuries by matching only pure blooded merpeople together. They’ve even gone as far as to ask for help from the evil side. Nothing they could do would create The Link; they just made very powerful merpeople. Maybe he realized there was no way to do it and he used his darker powers to try to find The Link before they were handed over the additional powers. That would make sense. That’s why he wanted Elan to keep her first born away from Vero – he was waiting until the time that Morgan would come into her powers – when she was at her weakest state – to try to kill her. The only way he can kill her now is through me.”

  The look he gave me was agonizing. He seemed resigned to the fact that we were both going to die.

  “I don’t believe this,” I stammered. “I will find a way to stop this.”

  “I agree,” Tammer sat forward. “I’ve sent word out to all of Aletheia’s friends in hopes that someone will tell her we need her. I’m praying she’ll agree to come. She may have an idea of how to help you get rid of The Shadow.”

  “In the meantime, what do we do?” I pressed. “If Limus is still out to get me, don’t you think the first place he’ll look is Vero Beach?”

  “Yes,” Tammer nodded, staring off into the distance. “I think he’ll know to look in New York as well. Thayde’s lived here for four years. I think we need to stay away from the ocean at all cost. But you need to be near water so you can phase properly.”

  “Idaho,” I said simply.

  “Don’t you think he’ll automatically look where you used to live?” Thayde asked.

  “No, he’ll think Morgan will stay near the ocean water. It’s important for us to have salt water but we can manage for quite a while with pure water. It’s a good idea.”

  “Wait,” I backtracked. “What about school?”

  “I think this is a bit more important right now, Morgan. You can always go back to school.” Mom sounded irritated.

  Thayde stood and walked to one of the windows looking out to the city. He leaned against the sill and stared at the view.

  “We’re going to beat this and when we do, we’ll live for hundreds of years. We have a lot of time to get our degrees. I don’t want to die. I want to live all those years with Morgan. I’ll be damned if I’m going to take this lying down. My father,” he paused, rephrasing. “Limus has been planning this since I was a boy and he knew that I’d fall in love with The Link. I wish I had realized this sooner.” He crossed his arms. “I’m going to have to find Limus and put an end to this. If I kill him, then maybe it will kill The Shadow. As for Herra and Akin, I’ll have to deal with them after I kill Limus.”

  “No!” I cried. “You can’t do that! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I want Limus to keep coming after us, but you can’t go! He’s stronger than you and I don’t want you to take the chance of dying!”

  “Morgan, I’m a lot stronger than you think I am.” Thayde looked through me, his jaw set.

  “He endured some of the most dangerous powers we have during The Judgment and lived through it. He did it without protecting himself. Thayde is incredibly strong.” Mom sounded as if she were trying to reassure herself.

  “No.” I was not going to let Thayde do this. “I can’t allow this. No, you have to stay with me.”

  Thayde was irritated. “It’s something that has to be done, whether you agree with it or not.” I couldn’t believe that Thayde wasn’t on my side. I just glared at him. “When I’ve taken care of it, I’ll come back for you.”

  “I can’t be without you,” I felt like I was losing control again. This couldn’t be the only way! Being without him was not an option. My heart was being slowly crushed between a vice.

  “We’ll just have to endure it for a few days.” Thayde muttered, clearly not liking it any more than I did, but I was angered that he was still not backing me up.

  “A few days?” I nearly laughed as I walked toward him. “A few days? You don’t know the first place to look for him. Do you have any idea what this is going to do to us?” His eyes dropped to the floor and he nodded. “Why? Why would you do this to us?”

  “Because if I don’t we’ll both die.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. My heart was beating so quickly, I wanted to puke. I began to walk around him and he reached for my arm.

  “Morgan,” he started but I interrupted him.

  “Thayde, we both know it’s impossible for us to be away from each other for more than a few days. It’s going to take weeks for you to find him, if you do find him, and what do you think will happen then? That you’ll just waltz in there and take care of him and come home? He’ll kill you, Thayde! I can’t live with that. What if you kill him and it doesn’t get rid of The Shadow? What then?”

  I wrenched my arm from his gentle grip and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door. This couldn’t happen. Thayde was away from me for only two days and it had put me into a coma. Of course, I had thought he didn’t want me anymore, but if he was gone for more than a week, I was terrified of the result. If I died, he’d die. This was the stupidest thing we could possibly do.

  I turned the faucet on full blast and the huge bathtub began to fill. I sat on the edge of the tub as I phased. Sliding into the bath, I lay on the bottom while the water slowly covered my ears and m
ade its way over my face. I lay there until the water was an inch away from spilling over the edges before I turned the faucet off and pulled myself into a ball.

  There was nothing more I could do. Thayde had made up his mind and I was going to be without him again. A hand touched my arm and I looked through the water into Mom’s face. When I pulled myself to a sitting position, she threw her arms around me.

  “Honey, I don’t know what else we can do,” she said, rubbing my back.

  “He can’t leave, Mom. Limus will kill him!”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “Why is he doing this? He’s not thinking straight. He’s going into this without even thinking it through.”

  “I can’t answer that.”

  I pulled away from her and wiped the tears away. “I’m The Link. I’m the one who can do anything, right? Can’t I just will this stupid Shadow out of him?”

  “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

  “What good is it to be The Link if I can’t do anything with these powers?”

  “Once Aletheia starts to teach you, you’ll feel differently.”

  “What if she doesn’t come?”

  “Then we’ll have to try to find Troen to teach you.”

  “We can’t let him go!” I whimpered.

  “I don’t see any way to stop him,” she answered.

  “I’ve seen him dead in my dreams! I know how this is going to turn out.” I felt as if my insides were breaking apart, crumbling like clay crushed between strong hands.

  “Dreams don’t determine the future, sweetheart,” she said, but I waved her off.

  “My dreams aren’t normal dreams.” I’d known since The Blessing that my life would change drastically. For some reason, I thought things would get better, not worse. I wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of it all.

  “I need to be alone, Mom. I’m sorry. Can you please leave me?” I sank beneath the water and curled up again.

  The only way I’d be able to stop Thayde from leaving would be to stun him, or freeze him, make him sleep, perhaps? None of my ideas sounded remotely practical and besides, I didn’t know how. What if I hurt him?

  I lay in the middle of the ginormous bath, the water growing colder. Scenarios plagued my mind while I searched for an answer. I didn’t know how long I stayed in my safe cocoon, but it felt like hours.

  Eventually, I was brought to my senses by a tapping. Thayde looked down through the water at me but I didn’t move. He beckoned with his forefinger and I looked through him, as he had done earlier. I wasn’t leaving the water. It was then that he simply reached into the bath, put his arms under me, and lifted me out. Darn his strength!

  “Thayde, stop!” I protested, my fins dragging on the floor as he walked to the other side of the room and sat down on a bench. Pulling a towel from the rack, he held me on his lap like a child and covered me up.

  I buried my face into the towel. “Why are you doing this?”

  His hands were gentle as he pulled the towel from my face and made me look into his eyes.

  “I’m doing it for us. I’m doing it because it’s the only way I can think to stop him.”

  “You’re going to die. I’ve seen it.”

  “I promise I won’t die.” He wrapped his strong arms around me.

  His comment made me sick to my stomach and oddly enough, I began to laugh.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Remember saying that to me a few months ago?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Morgan, it’s the only way.”

  “Fine,” I quickly agreed, “then I’m going with you.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “You can’t stop me from going!” If I went with him, I could protect him. “I can help you, I can protect you.”

  “You have to stay with Elan and Naira.” Carefully, he pulled a clump of wet hair away from my cheek and tucked it behind my ear.

  “Why?”

  Thayde’s lip twitched. “Because Tammer won’t be able to take care of them. He’s going with me.”

  “What?”

  “Ezen is too. Aletheia will meet you in Idaho. There, she’ll help you learn to control your powers. Once we’ve taken care of the problem, we’ll meet you there and figure out our next step.”

  It had all been planned during the few hours I had lain in the bathtub. Some Link I was – I had no clue what they were planning and I had been overruled.

  “When are you leaving?” I dreaded the answer.

  “Tomorrow morning.” Thayde gauged my reaction. “Tammer wanted to leave tonight, but I convinced him to stay one more night.”

  “Don’t leave me,” I begged and he didn’t answer. I rested my head against his neck and just cried. When I couldn’t cry anymore, I phased back into my legs, covering myself with the towel, and he carried me back to our empty bedroom and laid me on the bed. For a while he stroked my hair.

  “Will you marry me?” He asked out of the blue.

  “We’re already engaged,” I whispered.

  “Will you marry me? Today?”

  “What? How?”

  “Let’s go to the courthouse and get married.” His somber face changed as he smiled.

  “You’re serious?” I sat upright.

  “Yes.”

  “What about my parents?”

  “They can come.”

  “But my mom, she wants a big wedding,”

  Thayde’s look made me realize why he was suggesting such a short and un-intimate ceremony instead of a grandiose wedding.

  “I’ve dreamed of marrying you my whole life, Morgan. If I’m going to spend my last days tracking Limus, I want to at least know that we were married.”

  I nodded. “Let’s go right now.”

  “Tiesa,” he called and she entered the room. The look on her face was controlled frenzy.

  “Let’s do this,” she said.

  “Tiesa’s going to help you find a dress. Ezen and I will buy the rings and we’ll meet you at the courthouse in three hours.”

  For a brief moment he held my gaze before pulling me into his arms.

  “Ready?” Ezen popped his head in the door. “Let’s get going.”

  A moment later, they were gone.

  “Right,” Tiesa said, throwing a pair of jeans and a tee shirt at me. “Put this on. We’re going shopping!”

  Dressing as quickly as I could, I grabbed a hair clip and pulled my hair into a bun.

  “What are we going to tell my parents?” I asked, scarcely believing what we were about to do.

  “They are spending the time together as well. We’ve said we’re each going on separate dates before they leave.” She chucked my purse at me and pulled hers around her shoulder.

  “Ready?” Not really, but I nodded.

  A black limousine took us directly to a Vera Wang bridal studio. Once inside, we were surrounded in yards of billowing white material and rows of beautifully designed wedding gowns. A beautiful woman dressed in a black Donna Karen wrap dress and red high heels approached us.

  “Which one of you is the bride?” She asked in a kind voice. Tiesa pointed to me. “When’s the date?”

  “Today,”

  Her brown eyes widened and she hesitated for a brief moment. “Do you know what you’d like?”

  “Something elegant,” Tiesa said.

  “Something practical,” I added, looking around at the gorgeous but very impractical dresses.

  “And white,” Tiesa finished.

  “Yes, I’m sure we can help you.” The saleslady smiled, motioning us to follow her. We walked to the back wall where a few white suits hung.

  “This is practical,” she said when she noticed my look of horror. “Do you have a more precise idea of what you’d like?”

  “A dress,” I said in a slow, monotonous voice as I thought out loud. “Long, slim, with spaghetti straps.”

  She nodded. “Chiffon. Follow me.”

  The moment she brought the dress out, I knew it
was perfect. It was exactly as I had described. She slipped it over my head and it hugged my body, falling about my legs gracefully, reminding me of the way our fins moved in the currents.

  Tiesa clapped her hands. “That’s it! That’s the dress!”

  “Are you planning on wearing your hair up or down?” Sales Lady asked, hovering around me.

  “Probably down?” I didn’t know.

  “Why don’t you try this?” She suggested, reaching to the glass shelving and bringing down a delicate crown. Placing it on my head, it settled around the top of my forehead, dipping slightly. My reflection in the full length mirror was lovely. I had changed so much since leaving Idaho that fateful month of August last year. My dad would hardly have recognized me today. The thought made me sad.

  I noticed Tiesa admiring me. “What about you?” I asked.

  “What about me?”

  “You’re my maid of honor, right?”

  “I’m a witness, Morgan. If you want a maid of honor, you’re going to have to have a proper wedding when the guys return.”

  “I still think you should get a dress.” I chewed my lip. “Why don’t you go and pick one?”

  “Seriously?” She looked about to explode from happiness.

  “Sure!”

  “What color?”

  “Any color.”

  She ended up picking a pretty pink dress that reminded me of the color of my lilies. The skirt ended just above her knees and when she twirled about in the mirrors, I couldn’t help but laugh. I don’t think she could have been any happier.

  “Let’s get you some shoes to match,” Sales Lady said and disappeared.

  “Thank you for the dress, Morgan.” Tiesa said. “When we’re finished and go on our dates, I’d like to wear it out. Do you mind?”

  “Of course I don’t!” I struggled from inside the dress as I tried to pull it over my head. Getting into it was much easier than getting out. When I finished, Tiesa had already changed.

  Sales Lady took the dress from me and carefully slid it into its bag. “If you need a place to get your hair and makeup finished, I can get you an appointment within the hour.”

  I nodded. “Thank you very much for your help.”

  “You hungry?” Tiesa asked.

  “Starved.”