Polly raised her hand. “Can someone kindly give the drunkard a breath mint?”
“Sorry,” said Maile, taking a stick of gum from Gully.
“You’ll have to stick that on Doctor Tenly’s wall when we get home,” said Gully. “Don’t forget!”
“Jesus, he’s got y’all doing the chew and stick shtick?” I asked.
“All the time,” said Gully. “It’s fun! I’ve made two smiley faces with my gum wads.”
“It’s grotesque,” Ophelia groaned.
“He never asks me to do the gum thing,” said Trey. “Weird, right?”
“Weirder than keeping a wall of gooey gum wads?” I said. “Consider yourself lucky. He has been on my ass about finishing the pack he gave me for my birthday.”
“Right, then, can we focus, here, yeah? Let’s get started…finally.” Jex stood beside the wall of water. “As our final preparation, I want each of you to take a few minutes and stare into the water.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Well, no,” groaned our coach. “I want you to see what it shows you, read its message.”
“Huh?” I said.
“Mother of God. It’s like I have to explain everything to them,” he muttered under his breath. “You know how they say if a human listens to any body of water on the planet, he or she will hear a message?” asked Jex.
“Yeah,” I said. “Saw it in a movie.”
Jex grimaced. “Of course you did. Well, same deal, only I want you to see the message. It could give us some inside information on this upcoming match,” said Jex.
“Gotcha,” I said. “Okay, guys, let’s watch the water and feel like tools.”
We all stared into the wall. At first, the whole process seemed pretty pointless…until I saw Fairla, clear as day.
“Fairla!” I yelped.
“Uh, I see those creature things, the undine,” said Meikle. “They have their fight faces on. Ha. Should be a fun smack-down…with me doing the smacking.”
“I feel nauseous,” said Ophelia.
“What did you see,” I asked.
“Nothing. All it did was make my head spin,” she said.
“Yeah, I saw something gold and shiny, but I have no idea what it was,” added Trey.
Gully giggled. “Ooh, squid! Aren’t they cute…uh, but completely punch-able.”
Polly put her hands on her hips, stomped, and said, “Why the hell am I looking at flying sand? Why do I always get the boring crap?”
“Not boring, Polly—informative. All right. From what you all saw, I’m guessing there will be a mix of weather, creature, and sand obstacles, as well as a trip to Fairla, all of which involve something glittery,” said Jex.
“Wait,” I said, “Fairla is hidden to the human eye. If the first match involves us getting to Fairla, how will we find it?”
“That’s where you and Maile come in,” said Jex. “Marina, I need you to take Maile’s hand. Maile, take Polly’s hand. Polly, you join hands with Meeks, and so on down the line. Now, then, Marina…look into the water. See Fairla exactly as you did the first time Troy removed the veil from your eyes. Maile, project Marina’s vision into the water wall.”
“I’m not sure if I—” started Maile.
“I’m sure, Maile,” said Jex.
Focusing all of my energy on the water, I envisioned Fairla in all its welcoming warmth. Soon, Maile took my vision and projected it with her eyes into the water wall for my teammates. They all gasped.
“Wickedly awesome,” said Meikle.
“Damn,” said Trey.
“Now why couldn’t we have been prisoners there? So much better than Zale-land and all its gloom and doom,” Ophelia griped.
“Pretty!” Gully sighed.
“Not shabby,” said Polly. “I would live there. Now.”
“Release hands,” Jex ordered. We did as he said. “You all now have a mental image of Fairla. Because Troy unveiled Marina’s eyes, she was able to unveil all of you, with Maile’s help. You’ll have no trouble seeing the Fairhair kingdom. Stick that up your beak, Helena.”
“Go Jex!” I said.
“I hate that butt-ugly broad,” he said.
“So, um, are we done?” I was awfully eager to get to my merman. I needed tonight with him. Hell, I just needed him.
“Almost, Savior. We have two more issues. The first would be uniforms. Our first three choices were nixed by the big beaked broad on behalf of Neva, their selected uniform designer,” said Jex, rubbing his eyebrows, waiting for the fallout.
“WHAT?” screeched Polly. “We have NO uniforms?”
“She gave me this list to choose from,” said Jex, handing me a red order form with uniform options.
“Mud brown burlap, yellow terrycloth, garbage green plastic? What an absolute ass,” I said, tossing the order form to the ground.
“What do we do?” asked Ophelia.
“I say we design our own uniforms,” I said.
“No time,” said Jex.“Maile isn't fast enough.”
“I could do it,” said Maile. “I make my own clothes.”
“No offense, but I don’t prefer looking like a futuristic space alien stripper,” said Polly.
Maile’s cheeks burned red.
“Maile, if you think you can make our uniforms by the first match, then I’m all for it,” I said.
“I can help her,” said Meikle. “With a little magical interference, speed won’t be an issue.”
“All we need now is a look,” said Gully.
“It needs to speak to who we are as humans. You know, human wear,” I said. “I vote jeans.”
“Black,” said Meikle. “No pink.”
“Uh, I want pink,” said Polly. “There must be pink.”
“I’m not wearing pink,” said Trey. “Cool with everything else. Not pink.”
“Gully, Ophelia, do you have any requests?” asked Maile.
“Sequins,” said Gully. “I love sequins.”
“Of course she does,” said Polly, miming a gag.
“I like lavender,” said Ophelia. “And pockets.”
“You do know the purple family is the color of the Zale clan, right?” Polly sneered.
“Doesn’t mean they’ve cornered the market on purple,” said Ophelia.
“Ophelia’s right, Polls. They haven’t cornered the market on purple. On being vile creatures, yes; on a specific color cluster, no,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll get to work,” said Maile, diligently taking notes.
“Great. That takes care of issue one. Issue two is a bit more problematic. We need a mascot,” said Jex. “It has to define the human race and be readily accessible, meaning the Imperia members must be able to get one without great difficulty, objection, and without drawing too much attention to what’s going on down here.”
“In other words, something that’s not newsworthy,” I said.
“Precisely,” said Jex.
“Dog,” said Trey. “Easy.”
“Dog is good,” I said. “Maybe something fierce, like a Doberman or Great Dane.”
“Got it,” said Jex. “Any objections to a Doberman or Great Dane?” When nobody took issue with either suggestion, Jex finished filling out a small yellow form. “That was easier than I thought.”
“Can we go now, huh?” I asked, perhaps a bit too eagerly.
“What is up with you, Savior?”
“Just…have plans,” I said, scraping my sneaker around on the ground.
With a knowing look, Jex placed the yellow form inside his robes. “I see. Well, I do have one more insignificant task for you.”
“What?” As soon as I asked, I found myself on my back, slammed to the ground. “There’s a fricking stick stabbing me in my butt, you jackass.”
Jex, perched on top of me, smiled like the world’s greatest game-player. “Once again, your mind is too easily distracted by your heart and, dare I say, hormones.”
“We had finished with training and were chewing o
n outfits and dogs. My mind didn’t have to be focused any longer,” I growled, shoving him off.
“Oh, my dear Savior, your mind must always be ready. You have a long way to go, don’t you?” he said smugly. “What to do?”
Fuming, I snapped, “What to do? Right now? My boyfriend.” I stormed out of Knotty Nook Woods, pissed that Jex would question my concentration and abilities, and essentially suggest I’m a far howl from being ready to take down the Zales. Of course, he would be right, and that irked me even more, so I decided to try and super speed myself up a little; it may have been the best idea I’ve had in a long while. My body, heart, soul, and mind were in complete synchronicity as I ran—or flew—for our cave. The sensation was like moving along a zip line with no wires.
I didn’t want to think. I needed not to think. My mind had to sleep, but my body was wide awake…and wanted to play. Tonight was about escaping one truth and living inside another reality shaded by a heavy blanket of fantasy. The cave called me…he called me. I was almost to the cave, almost to his touch. No more did I have to worry about contacting the water, for my super speed came with super agility. Of course, it could have been the power of the hormones; I’m fairly certain they’re akin to demons. This should concern me. However, at this point, I couldn’t care less.
“Troy.” His bare chest shimmered in the radiance of the pāua shells.
“Ready to roll, Savior?” he teased.
“Are you ready to roll, merman?”
“Oh…yeah. Come on. Bring it on me,” he said huskily.
I smirked, raised an eyebrow, and flipped high in the air, landing like a cat behind him. He spun around, scooped me up, and turned me over. Grazing my lips along his, I slipped from his grasp, twisted his arms around his back, and shoved his chest against the cold cave. Pressing my chest into his back, I stood on my tiptoes and blew in his ear. Hey, I saw it done in a movie. Movies are a great source for the flirtation-flawed.
Troy laughed sexily. “You’re getting good at this.” In a flash, he pushed me back, zipped behind me, caught me in his arms, and had my back against the cave, all before I realized he escaped my hold. “But I’m better.”
“More experienced, maybe,” I whispered. He ran his fingers down my neck and along my collarbone. I bit my lip, allowing the goose bumps to cover my body…and then I knocked his right knee out from under him. With ease, I twirled him around and slammed him against the cave. “But I’ll get there.” His broad shoulder struck one of the pāua shells, knocking it loose. I caught it in a blink.
Taking the shell from my hands and putting it back in place, Troy said, “You really should be more careful, my little Rubylocks.” His hands roamed about my waist, tickled my stomach, and finally settled on my hips. “Nearly breaking a shell is grounds for punishment.”
“Punish me, then…if you can.”
I zoomed all about the cave, stopping only to taunt my merman with a look, kiss, touch, or whisper. Our game of catch and release continued until he upended me with a gentler version of the good old pin-down technique, only this time I was on my back in the plush grass, the scent of lilacs covering us like a silky sheet.
“Guess you got me,” I said.
“Guess I did,” he said softly.
“Where’s my punishment?”
Smiling, he said, “Right here.” He leaned in and kissed me deeply, provocatively. Reaching into some raw corner of my soul, I returned his kiss with unfiltered fervor.
We stopped to gaze at each other for a minute. How can the corners of his mouth look so damn sexy? I mean, really? The corners of my mouth probably have drool. God, if they do, I hope he can’t see it. Gross. Talk about kill the moment…can you say KABOOM? Given his adoring eyes and little kisses his lips left along my face, jaw, and neck, I’m guessing the groove was still very much on.
“Wanna go home?” I purred.
“No dinner?” he asked, still covering my face with deliciously soft kisses.
“Not hungry…for food.”
“Should I make the lame dessert joke, here?” he asked with his sexy little mouth-corners turning up.
“Please don’t.”
“Okay. Won’t.”
Sighing heavily, I said, “Truck?”
“Now.”
“Fast.”
And so, a super speedy Savior and her uber-swift merman practically flew to the truck and took off for his house. On the way, something kind of hilarious dawned on me: my powers work like finely woven silk when I’m horny. I definitely will not be sharing this newfound knowledge with Doctor Tenly. So, what does this mean? I can control my powers when I’m hormonally out of control? Unreal. Only me.
Once in his driveway, we jumped out of the truck, wrapped ourselves around each other, and crashed through his door. We stumbled to his bedroom, our hands enjoying their explorations; he gently laid me down on his bed and crawled on top of me. We’ve made out before, of course, but tonight felt different; I couldn’t describe how, exactly, but the feelings, the touching, the kissing…fell into an exotic, intoxicating wilderness. After being so controlled by our schedules, we were like two animals escaping their cages for a night—the spinning out of control felt fan-frigging-tastic.
A faint groan infiltrated my thoughts. “Wait. What?” I asked.
“What-what?” he moaned.
“Did you just…oh…say something?” I asked with difficulty as he tenderly kissed my neck, touching his tongue to my earlobe.
“No,” he breathed.
After a few more hormonally satisfying Troy-tongue-travels, I heard a cry in the distance. “Did you hear that?”
“No. What did you hear?” he asked, propped on his elbows above me.
“It sounded like my name,” I said.
“HELP…ME…PLEASE!”
“I heard that!” said Troy, jumping off the bed and running to his window, with me close behind.
“MAR…INA!”
“LOOK!” I shouted. “There’s someone on the beach!”
Troy and I turned on the super speed and rushed to the helpless figure in the sand. As we got closer, my throat constricted. Airianna, her hair matted and tangled with sand, was trying to claw herself out of the water, but her strength waned.
“Get her fin out of the water!” screamed Troy. “Hurry!” He proceeded to construct his biggest stalking blocker to date.
“Airi! Oh, God, hold on! Grab my neck,” I said, struggling to pull her out of the water. “Damn powers! Kick in!” Troy hurried over and helped me get her the rest of the way out. But once she was completely out of the water, her fin didn’t transform into legs. “Troy, she’s not changing.”
“It hurts, Marina! It hurts!” she screamed.
“What hurts, Airi? What happened?”
“Dad…found out about me…and Trey,” she said, sobbing. “H-he c-cursed me…he renounced me.”
“God Almighty,” I said, holding her head in my lap. She released another painful cry, and it shot through my heart like a sword. “What’s hurting her?!”
Troy’s face twisted with rage. “Tharnossa. She’s burning beneath her fin.”
“What?! What’s Tharnossa?” I asked.
“Don’t say that name again. Three spoken times on sand’s softness, and he’ll appear. JEX!” yelled Troy.
Jex was to us in an instant. “I know,” he said. “I’ll get Doctor Tenly.”
“And Trey,” I said. Jex nodded and took off.
“We need to get her inside and under the water,” said Troy.
“My house,” I said. “Mom should be home. She can help.”
Troy quickly gazed beyond his barrier. “They’re coming for her. We have to go…now.”
Following his gaze, I saw no less than eight large rippling waves; riding them were yellow, glowing, deformed creatures with hooks for hands, eyes on their chests, and joker-like grins with rows of teeth as big as butcher knives.
“GO!” I screamed, holding her fin, while Troy had her arms. None of my Sa
vior powers were working, not speed, not strength, nothing; I was holding him back. The creatures were already to the barrier, banging their hooked hands against it. “Will it hold them?”
“Not for long,” said Troy.
When we got to my window, I screamed for my mom. “MOM! MOM! HELP!”
I heard her footsteps rushing down the small hall. “Oh my God, Airi! What happened?”
“No time,” I said. “Mom, run the shower and help Troy saturate her fin with water.”
“Marina! You can’t face them alone!” cried Troy.
“I can’t let them get past that barrier,” I said, grabbing the double-ended trident I won when I was named team captain. Hopping out of the window, I was sickened to see the barrier beginning to crack under the pressure of their hooks stabbing into it. “Come on, you little bastards.”
Finally, the barrier crumbled, and a dozen sharp-toothed monsters rushed towards me. Taking a deep breath, I ran for them; I couldn’t let them reach my home. Charging for the middle of the mob, I dodged their swinging hooks, stabbing one end of my trident into the vicious creature on my right, while catching another with the left end; as they screamed to their deaths, they burst into sand and fell to the ground. I kept dodging, rolling, jumping, punching, kicking, and stabbing until there were only three remaining. Throwing my bloody elbow into the head of one, successfully breaking its neck, I simultaneously twirled my trident to stab another brute coming at me, but it hooked my weapon, sending it flying from my hands. While I fought it, kicking and jabbing, its last remaining buddy hopped on my back, wrapped a leg around my neck, and bent it backwards. With my neck near the point of snapping, I looked up and saw a hooked hand descending towards my throat.
With barely an inch before it struck, I heard the creature scream and combust. I turned around and found Troy holding my trident.
“Sorry it took me so long. Shall you, or should I?” he asked, nodding at the last lingering creature that looked as though it was about to pee itself.
“Oh, let me,” I said. He tossed my trident to me, and I spun it in my hands and skewered the beastie into nothingness. Watching it explode into sand, I said, “They turn into sand when they die? Didn’t expect that.”
“Now you know where a lot of the sand comes from,” said Troy.
OVERFALLS (The Merworld Water Wars, Book 2) Page 20