by Aspose
The sea welcomed her like a lover, surging into her dry tissues, filling her with strength and energy. The saltwater soothed her eyes, eased the brittle ache in her bones. Her skin absorbed it thirstily and her body relaxed, finally at peace.
Well, as peaceful as she could be with strangers pursuing her.
Panic fueled her strength as she dived under the waves, amazed at how well she could see and how supple her body felt. She'd never felt this strong, this whole. She felt like she could swim for miles without tiring, and suddenly felt confident that she could escape the pursuers.
Then she felt suction. Terror swamped her as she flashed back to the night before. The water man had found her, and he was going to tear her apart. She would drown, and this time she would die, because who could survive that twice?
She was sucked into a jar with a loud pop and the lid slammed closed and latched like an old-fashioned canning jar. She caught the flash of a tail as something swam by, then a merman stopped to give her a cursory glance. “Got her,” he said with satisfaction, his short emerald hair waving in the current. He wore a harness bristling with knives and pockets, and wide wristlets with metal darts. There was a dart gun holstered on his back, and he wore a metal collar sporting an octopus medallion. His scales were dark green, and he had gills at his throat.
A flurry of bubbles heralded the arrival of the men who’d chased her, now sporting gray and blue tails. They tossed a net over her jar as the leader detached a cable that anchored the jar to the sea bottom.
Alicia pressed against the glass as they towed her out to sea. It had happened so fast, it took her a minute to realize her panicked gasps were drawing in water. She took a moment to deal with that, feeling her throat for nonexistent gills. How was she breathing? She began hyperventilating, trying to suppress the panic.
The leader smirked at her. “Surge won’t be pleased to hear we have her.”
Alicia calmed enough to wonder who Surge was, but her heart still raced. She needed to escape.
“What if he doesn’t want her, Olan? He knew where she was and didn’t claim her,” one of the mer pointed out.
Olan slid a look her way. “Then I’ll give her to you and the others. He may not want her, but it will hurt his pride to have his bride used as my officers’ private whore.”
“We should take photos, sir, and post it on the mer net for maximum devastation. A sex tape with her apparent cooperation would capitalize on the scandal.”
At first Alicia was devastated at the threat of gang rape and public shame. How could they callously discuss the logistics of hurting her as if she were nothing? Slowly, rage built, grew into a pressure behind her eyes. It crawled under her skin, demanding an outlet, so she gave it one. She pushed.
The jar exploded. Razor sharp shrapnel a quarter inch thick sliced through the water, taking one man in the armpit, past the ribs and into his lung. His friend cried out and clutched his tail. Several glass pieces were imbedded in it and scaled skin flapped open. Blood stained the churning water, and Alicia was glad. She welcomed the chaos; like the fury, it fed her power.
Such power! It surged, and she spun it like a child’s toy, revolving joyfully. The water spun with her, forming a whirlpool that grew like the legendary Charybdis. Like the ancient Greek sailors, the mermen wore looks of horror as the sea bottom tore away, drawn into the watery hurricane.
“Kill her!” Olan shouted. Blood flowed like smoke around him, but his hand was steady as he aimed the dart gun.
Alicia laughed and pushed, beyond fear as the whirlpool grew to monstrous proportions, exploding above the surface in a mile high geyser. She shouted, thrilled as the sea gleefully responded. She would create a tsunami! She would claim so much land for the sea, her name would be legend. Olan was swept away as the local fish were caught in her mad whirl. It was the best drug ever invented. She would have so much fun!
A jarring impact ripped her from the eye, clamping around her waist with steel arms. Alicia gasped as her power was siphoned and the sea calmed. The stranger adjusted his grip, effortlessly subduing her.
“Party’s over, settle down,” he said sternly, grunting when she bit him. “Little sea nettle! Stop or I’ll spank you.”
She went rigid as she recognized his voice. “You!” It was the man from last night, though he didn’t look the same. His dark blue hair was military short, barely long enough wave in the current, and his body flickered with light. His skin refracted light like sunlit brook, but his arms were solid as granite. “Have you come back to finish me off?”
“Don’t be stupid,” he retorted. He held her wrists as he gave her a cursory glance. “You seem intact.”
“Intact? They were going to rape me and post it on the Internet!” she shouted. “I was killing them and you ruined it!”
His lips quirked. He was laughing at her! She kicked him in the shin with her remaining shoe. “Bastard!”
“Sorry, it was the way you said it,” he apologized. “Besides, why do you think I’m here? I was rescuing you.”
She was unimpressed. “Yeah, good job. I beat you to it.”
He shifted his grip. “Come on. You can’t stay here.”
She balked. “I’m not going anywhere with you, you monster! You tried to kill me.”
“I was restraining you.”
“Not now, before.” Her accusation was interrupted by the arrival of a pod of seals. They surveyed her cautiously, unsure if she was a threat.
“Right. Time to leave.” He towed her along, ignoring her protests and struggles until she sank her nails in his forearm, leaving bloody gouges.
He stopped and pinned her with a serial killer stare. “I’m stronger, meaner and perfectly willing to truss you up and haul you along by your hair. Behave.”
“I don’t like being dragged,” she said coldly, unable to articulate her fears. She believed he would do all of that and more.
He released her and gestured grandly for her swim on her own. “Keep up, princess.”
She grit her teeth and did.
They didn’t swim so much as create their own current; or rather, the stranger created it and Alicia surfed, struggling to keep up as the ocean passed in a blur. It felt like traveling through a watery pneumonic tube, sucked to an unknown destination.
She was exhausted when they reached his stronghold, a castle nestled in a deep trench of basalt resembling the Giant’s Causeway. The current slowed as it sucked them through the front gates and bubbled through a giant, lotus shaped stone pool, rising through one of the watery petals to deposit them gently on a stone walkway.
Alicia’s legs folded and she simply sat, taking in the place. It looked like it had recently been submerged, the walls showing remnants of barnacles, and it smelled strongly of rotting seaweed. A black throne encrusted with pearls sat on a raised dais, overlooking the throne room, and the walls were heavily carved with pitted statues, many of them plastered with starfish.
The stranger picked her up and strode down a hallway that showed more neglect the farther they went. Her eyes kept closing, but she spotted bits of coral, seaweed and more barnacles. The light came from balls of glowing lights in green, blue and pink that sprouted from the walls in regular intervals.
She found the energy to stir as he entered a stone chamber smelling of low tide and knelt to deposit her in a round pool. “No more water,” she protested as he set her on the rim.
“You’re faint and need to rest,” he said firmly. “Go to sleep.”
She tried to argue, but fell asleep before she could say a word.
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