“That’s not mine!” Hitter shouted in a tiny voice.
“It’s definitely not ours, princess.”
“Come on, don’t yell at her. Leave it on the table. She can grab it later if she wants.”
Her? She? Hitter was about to dispute this, but then she saw she wore a plaid jumper and white blouse like Danielle had worn. With tears in her eyes she bolted away from the table, into the bathroom.
She had to get on her toes to confirm the awful truth. She was a little girl, only eight years old. In the jumper and with long brown hair spilling down to her waist she looked just like Danielle. “No,” Hitter said. “That can’t be!”
She felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to see a young woman who looked like she could be Hitter’s older sister. She was dressed strangely in a black catsuit with a black mask over much of her face. The woman bent down to look Hitter in the eye. “It’s all right, honey. You need to embrace your femininity.”
“No! I don’t wanna!”
Hitter ran again. She had to throw herself against the back door at full speed for it to open. She ran down an alley. She kept running until she ended up beneath a bridge. This was familiar ground; it was where she and Danielle had stayed after they ran away from home. It was in this alley where Danielle had died.
They had huddled together in a cardboard box that night. Sometime during the night Danielle wandered away, probably to pee. Hitter had awoke to her scream. She caught a glimpse of the four men as they fled, Danielle’s corpse left prone on the ground where they had killed her. They had been younger then, but their faces were forever etched in Hitter’s memory. She had sworn revenge on them.
But how could she do that now? Even as she contemplated this, she noted how loose the jumper and blouse had become on her. It was soon replaced by a set of pink overalls and a pink T-shirt. She was only five years old now. What was happening to her?
A hand tousled her hair. She looked up to see the young woman in the catsuit again. “It’s all right, honey. You need to embrace your femininity.”
“No!” Hitter ran again. She didn’t get far before she tripped. She hit the ground hard, pain bringing tears to her eyes. She pushed herself up to her feet to find herself clad in a pink dress. She was only three years old, almost a baby. Tears came to her eyes when she saw her skinned knees.
A pair of hands seized her. She found herself facing not the young woman in the catsuit, but a girl with her face painted like a mime’s. The mime flashed a smile of crooked yellow teeth. “Do you have a boo-boo, sweetheart?”
Hitter nodded. The mime bent her head to kiss each of Hitter’s knees. “There you go. All better now.”
The red marks had in fact disappeared. Hitter sniffled. “Tank you.”
“It’s all right. Mama’s here now.”
Hitter leaned her head on Mama’s shoulder and fell asleep.
***
As she circled over the island, Melanie could see where Robin had to be: the Finger Island Funland. That sounded like Clownface. From the smoke rising from areas of the park and the people running around, it was clear Clownface had turned the Funland into her playground.
Melanie set down outside the gates to avoid hitting anyone. She checked her belt to make sure she had her Taser and shurikens. She wished she had more firepower right now. She would have to hope for the best.
The front gates were wide open. Melanie stepped over a turnstile to let herself inside. She saw a trio of empty school buses parked nearby. Did that mean she had schoolchildren in here? Or they might have been young women turned into little girls by the alien weapon, like Robin.
She heard music up ahead. With a shuriken at the ready, she approached a carousel that spun so fast smoke came from its motor. On some of the animals she saw bodies stained with blood. Melanie had to let the carousel go by three times to make sure Robin wasn’t on there.
She pressed ahead, until she saw a cluster of girls she had seen from the air. It became clear they weren’t fighting—they were playing. They squealed and shouted as they raced around in what seemed like a chaotic game of tag. Most of them looked in their teens, far too old for this kind of game, or to have their faces painted in a variety of childish styles.
Then she noted another girl sitting beneath a tree, sucking her thumb. She wore a short pink dress and a bow in her hair. Her face had a cloud and rainbow painted on it. Despite all this, Melanie recognized her. She hurried over to kneel down beside the girl. “Diane?”
Diane squealed and then rolled over to ball up on the ground. “Go away!”
“Diane, what’s going on?”
“Go away!”
It was clear then what had happened: Diane had received a dose of clown juice. Apparently she believed herself to be a small child now. Melanie ran a hand through the girl’s long hair. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” she cooed. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Diane continued to tremble on the ground. “Diane, stop this. You’re not a baby. You’re a big girl.”
“I want Mama!” Diane shouted.
Melanie could imagine who Diane believed to be her mother. In which case, she was already too deep in the grip of the clown juice to be talked out of it. She needed a dose of the antidote, but Melanie didn’t have any with her.
“Mewanie!” Robin shouted.
Melanie looked up to see little Robin in the arms of a female mime. The mime had to be Clownface. Melanie put a hand on a pouch to retrieve a shuriken. She slipped this into her hand, not that she could use it with Robin so close to Clownface.
“Looks like you already found your other little friend,” Clownface said.
“What do you want with them?”
“Me? Nothing. I’m helping them embrace the fun in life.”
“Why don’t you put Robin down so we can talk about this?”
“I don’t think so. You don’t want that, do you, sweetheart?”
“No,” Robin said dutifully.
“You’re not going to get away with this. We’ve already blanketed most of the city with antidote. It won’t be long until the rest of the team brings some of it here.”
“The more the merrier,” Clownface said.
“Whatever you’re planning, it’s not going to work. Put Robin down before anyone gets hurt.”
Clownface ran a hand through Robin’s hair. “Robin, sweetie, why don’t you show Melanie your new toy?”
“OK.” Robin reached into the folds of her dress to take out what looked like a pink hairdryer. Melanie tried to dive away from it, but she was too late.
A beam of pink light hit her square in the chest. When she landed, she rolled onto her knees as pain washed through her. Every part of her body blazed with agony for what seemed like an eternity.
When the pain subsided, Melanie opened her eyes but couldn’t see anything. Her mask had sagged to cover her eyes. She furiously batted it away until it dangled around her neck. Then she could see that the outfit her mother had claimed was too tight before was now many sizes too big. When she stood up, much of the material in the catsuit pooled at her feet. “Oh no,” she squeaked.
“Looks like we cut you down to size,” Clownface said.
“This isn’t over!” Melanie shouted. She fumbled around with the sleeve of her catsuit to free the shuriken. Before she could, Clownface lifted her up by the scruff of the costume. Melanie dangled in the air, kicking futilely at the air. “Lemme go!”
“Ms. Cash, I have another one for you,” Clownface said. She passed Melanie over to a gorgeous blond woman, who took her in both hands.
“Lemme go!” Melanie shouted again.
“Oh, don’t worry, honey, we’re going to make you pretty.”
“No! Put me down!” She looked over at Diane, who had gone back to sucking her thumb. “Diane, help me!” The girl looked away, pretending to ignore her.
“You shouldn’t make such a fuss,” Ms. Cash said as she carried Melanie away. “You can’t run around like this, can you?�
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“Put me down!” Melanie shouted again. She continued to thrash impotently in the woman’s grasp.
“Hush. It’ll all be over soon.”
Melanie finally gave up struggling. She decided to conserve her energy and wait for her chance to escape. If she could get back to the jetcopter, she could call for help. Or at least she could warn Tonya and Garlak that Clownface had the miniaturized version of the alien weapon Stanford had designed and given to Carrie Dalton.
Ms. Cash carried Melanie into what had been a dressing room for the performers at the amusement park. She dropped Melanie down hard on one chair. In the mirror Melanie could see her tiny, pudgy face dotted with freckles and framed by long dark blond hair. “Such a pretty little girl,” Ms. Cash said as she began to wrestle Melanie out of the catsuit.
“Clownface is going to hurt those girls. We have to stop her.”
“Miss Clownface won’t hurt anyone. She’s helping us have fun.”
“What about those dead girls on the carousel?”
“That was their own fault. They should have been more careful.”
“That gas of hers has caused panic all over the city.”
“It’s not nice to make up such stories, young lady.”
“I’m not making up stories!”
“Hush,” Ms. Cash snapped again. “You behave or I’ll give you a spanking.”
Melanie could see this wouldn’t get her anywhere. Cash was under Clownface’s control too. She had to bide her time and wait for the others to get here.
The door opened. Clownface appeared, carrying a girl in each hand by the ear. One was skinny in an oversized purple T-shirt while the other was chubby and wearing only a cheetah-print bikini top with a lot of jewelry dangling from her neck. “Oh no,” Melanie said.
Chapter 24
Elise grabbed the fat nanny by the front of her gray dress. “How dare you! You were supposed to watch her!”
“I’m sorry, Queen Neptune. I don’t know how she managed to get out of the suite—”
“Find her or it’s your head!” Elise shoved the woman away. At times like this she wished they weren’t underwater so the incompetent fool might actually slam against something.
As Ursula went out, a guard swam inside. He saluted her and said, “Your Highness, we’re under attack.”
“By who?”
“There’s a submarine from the surface outside the city. General Kod has sent a company out to intercept it.”
Elise shook her head. Spears and harpoons wouldn’t do any good against a submarine. “I’ll take care of it,” she said.
She hated to leave Ariel gods only knew where during an attack, but she didn’t have a choice. Only her trident could stop the submarine before it leveled all of Pacifica. As the queen she had to put the safety of all her subjects before herself—or her daughter.
The palace rocked as Elise made her way to the nearest window. Now being underwater was a good thing, as it was easy for her to swim out the window. There were no fires, but she could see extensive damage to the palace and parts of the city. Her fists clenched; whoever had dared to attack Pacifica would soon regret it.
She saw the submarine floating not far from the city. It wasn’t of a conventional naval design. She knew who it belonged to because she had swam next to it a few times in the last fifteen years. That bitch Midnight Spectre had finally decided to escalate their disagreements into a full-fledged war.
Elise took the seashell from her belt. A moment later it expanded into the royal trident, the weapon only one of noble blood could wield. The trident glowed bright yellow in her hands. She held it in front of her as she climbed towards the sub.
As she did, she saw the submarine was already under attack. It wasn’t one of Kod’s troops; it was a young woman in a gray dress. She clutched a rock in her hand, which she used to bang on the sub’s hull, not that it would do any good.
“What are you doing here?” Elise shouted.
Killer Whale looked up at her. “I’m trying to stop this traitor.”
“With a rock?”
“Perhaps you’d like to loan me the trident?”
“Not happening.”
“Then at least use it to tear this thing open so I can rip the bitch out of it.”
“You read my mind.” Elise let out a war cry as she stabbed the trident into the hull. The prongs of the trident shredded the metal of the submarine like paper. She worked the trident around until she opened up a hole big enough to fit through.
Killer Whale slid in behind her, still armed with her rock. “She’ll be in the front.”
“I know.” Elise spun around. “Why do you care?”
“She betrayed me. She betrayed all of us. She needs to pay.”
“Fine. Just stay out of my way. And don’t try to grab the trident unless you want it run through you.”
“Whatever you say, sister.”
Elise crept forward, keeping an eye out for any booby-traps. The deck behind them was filling up with water; if they waited long enough the sub would sink to the bottom on its own. Elise didn’t want to wait that long.
There was a sealed hatch at the front compartment. Elise grinned slightly as she drove the trident into it. Soon she’d have that bitch in her grasp—
A blast threw her backwards, into Killer Whale. They tumbled into the water pouring onto the deck. Elise screamed a curse in Pacifican as she watched the escape pod rocket away from the submarine. She hurried into the now-empty compartment. She swam up towards the escape pod. Now that it was in the ocean, the rocket engine burned out. A propeller engine kicked in behind it.
Elise roared at challenge at Midnight Spectre, but it wouldn’t do any good. She forced herself to calm down. She closed her eyes and then reached out to the nearest sea creatures. There was a school of mahi-mahi nearby. Elise charged them with following the escape pod to its destination. She would follow after them to settle the score.
A hand touched her shoulder. Elise spun around, the trident at the ready. “Sister, please, put the trident away.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t be a fool. Whether you like it or not, right now we are allies against a common foe.”
“I don’t need you.”
“Is that so? Tell me: where is your daughter?”
Elise’s eyes narrowed. She tightened her grip on the trident. “What did you do to her?”
“I took her to safety when the attack began.”
“You? Why?”
“She was at my cell. Whether you choose to believe it or not, I didn’t want anything to happen to her. She may be soft and spoiled, but she is of the royal blood.”
“What did you do with her?”
“I’ll tell you if you allow me to go with you to hunt Midnight Spectre down.”
“Why? So you can escape at the first opportunity?”
“I want to make sure she pays for her crimes. Afterward, if you wish to return me to the dungeons I will obey.”
Elise studied her sister, the face so much like her own had been. There was something different about her, a sincerity and humility never present before. Had becoming a woman changed her? With a sigh, Elise said, “Very well. You may accompany me. Now, where is she?”
“I took her to her old home.”
“You took her there? Why?”
“It seemed the safest place for her, a place no one would find her until I could retrieve her. If you don’t mind, I would like to go with you. I promised her I would come back. I don’t want the child to think of me as a liar.”
Elise stared at her sister again. Now she began to understand. Becoming a woman had not changed Killer Whale—it was love. Little Ariel had done what Elise or her parents never could; she had actually made Killer Whale think of someone besides herself. “You can go with me if you’d like. Just don’t try anything.”
“I won’t.”
They didn’t say anything during the few minutes it took them to swim ou
t to the old house. Elise hoped this wasn’t all some elaborate trap, that she wouldn’t find her daughter strung up or otherwise mutilated. If so, Killer Whale’s survival could be timed in seconds.
She finally saw the old coral hut up ahead. It looked a little different than since she had been forced to abandon the place. She really should have sent a crew out here to maintain it, but she had been so busy with raising Ariel and managing Pacifica that she never thought of it. Or perhaps she simply didn’t want to dwell on what this old hut represented—the loss of her husband and the life they would have shared with Ariel.
Elise paused in the doorway. “Ariel?” she called out. There was no answer. Elise spun around to face Killer Whale. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing, I swear. The child is probably hiding.” Killer Whale brushed past Elise to call out, “Ariel, it’s Aunt Whale. I have returned, like I promised.”
There was still no answer. Elise drove Killer Whale back against a wall. She held up the trident so the prongs brushed against Killer Whale’s jaw. “Don’t even think about moving. If anything’s happened to her, I will feed you to the sharks right here and now.”
Elise turned away. She reached out with her senses, but there were no sea creatures she could communicate with in the house. “Ariel?” she called out again as she swam down the hallway from the living room.
Her heart beat faster when she saw Ariel lying motionless in her old crib. Then she heard her daughter whimper slightly. She was alive! Elise shrank the trident back into its seashell form to attach to her hip. This freed up both of her hands to pull Ariel from the crib.
Her daughter’s eyes opened. She took her thumb from her mouth to shout, “Mama! You’re here!”
“That’s right, baby. I’m here. You’re safe now.”
“Did you hurt Aunt Whale?”
“No, baby. Your aunt is here too. She told me what happened.” Elise forced herself to glare at her daughter. “I told you not to go to the dungeon by yourself, didn’t I? You disobeyed me.”
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