"Yeah, but that doesn't mean if I heal this head it could live. Her body wouldn't have a heart!"
Odette shrugged. "Such magic as what you wield was the same power that Bondye used to form your kind."
"The merfolk?" I asked.
"Indeed," Odette said. "You could use this magic to give Marinette a mermaid body."
"I don't know... I mean, if we could do that, why'd we come out here to begin with?"
"I still hoped we could reach her in time, La Sirene. Besides, your magic could not form a body without the requisite element nearby."
"We could have used any water. Isn't this overkill?"
Odette shook her head. "Your people, the ancient Fomorians, were not formed from tame water. To do what I propose requires unrestrained water. Primordial water. The waters of the ocean deep."
"But I don't even know how to do something like that," I said, shaking my head. "If it doesn't work, I won't have any magic left to siphon."
Odette narrowed her eyes. "Siphon, you say?"
I nodded. "That is how I use my magic. I draw it from other sources."
"I see," Odette said. "Never mind that. If you supply the magic, Marinette will do the rest."
I sighed. The one time I'd encountered Marinette, she'd been evoked by bokors in their effort to destroy the world through the voidbringer. Having Marinette on board, without any magic left at my disposal, was something of a risk. The whole plan Marie proposed originally was to infiltrate the bokors and learn from them along with Marinette how they control zombies. It was supposed to be an undercover operation. But now, Odette knew who I was. Marinette would likely know as much, and even if she didn't, it wasn't like I could expect Odette to keep my secret. I might be, in her eyes, a Loa of a sort. She respected me. But she revered Marinette. The chances of Odette covering for me were slim to none. Besides, once my magic was unleashed, chances were better than not Marinette would figure it out anyway.
But what choice did we have? We'd come this far... and if Marinette's host died before we could find her, we'd basically be shit out of luck.
Chapter Twenty-One
I glanced back at Nico. Odette's plan wasn't one I could just agree to without at least consulting him.
"Give me a minute," I said, standing up and trying to gain my balance.
Odette grabbed my arm. "Be quick, La Sirene. I fear we might not have much time... I still have a connection to Marinette. I can sense her general direction. But it is waning. I'm not sure how much longer we have... if she dies before we..."
"I know," I said, interrupting her. "Marinette would return to Guinee."
Odette nodded.
I made my way back to Nico. Still wasn't easy. I wasn't at all graceful about it, but I managed to get there without making too much a fool of myself.
"Is everyone well?" Nico asked.
I shook my head. "Marinette's connection to her is failing... Odette doesn't think we'll make it in time."
Nico shook his head. "If we don't reach her... I don't know what else we can do."
I nodded. "Odette had an idea. I don't know if you'll like it."
"We don't have many options. What does she think we should do?"
"She wants me to use a little magic. To try and push it into that creepy head she's holding. She thinks it will give Marinette a chance to form a new host from it... but it won't be a human... she'll come to us in possession of a mermaid's body."
Nico sighed. "Well, it's an option. I mean, this is your domain. I don't know much about your magic, Joni. If you think it will work."
I shook my head. "All I know is we can't afford to let her current host die. She's the only one who might have answers about the zombie sharks."
"She isn't the only one," Nico said. "Remember, I do possess the aspect of Baron Samedi. If I called to him..."
I winced. "I'm not going to ask you to do that, Nico. Not after your history with the Baron. Not after my history dealing with him... I mean, that doesn't seem like the better of our two options."
Nico nodded. "It's your call, Joni. I'm here to help you. But I can't make this decision for you. You and I have both faced Baron Samedi before."
"I know," I said. "But Marie knew that, too. And she told us that we should seek Marinette."
"But not like this," Nico said. "She thought we should try and infiltrate the bokors."
"I know," I said, nodding. "This is my fault. If I stuck to the plan, if I didn't go to that damned plantation... if I didn't basically tell Odette everything. And if..."
"And if what?" Nico asked.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. "When Henry Campbell came to Marie's, looking for turpentine and whatever... you know to terminate his wife's pregnancy..."
"What did you do, Joni?"
I bit my lip. "Remember when Henry Campbell came into the shop? And Chad had to place an order for more supply?"
Nico nodded. "I do."
I bit the inside of my cheek. "I might have removed the order Chad wrote out from the box he left it in."
Nico stared at me with wide eyes. "You did what?"
"It was compulsive!" I said. "I knew what he was trying to do. I knew my family had killed all their girls for generations. I had a chance to stop it. At least once."
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," I said. "That is the problem. I never think through shit. I just act... something in my gut..."
"Suppose they don't abort the child," Nico said, "that is not going to prevent them from killing her after she's born. If she's a girl..."
"She will be," I said. "I know my family tree. I'm pretty sure that Henry only had one son."
"Damnit, Joni. I'm out here trying to help you. Doing a favor for Marie. And you didn't bother to mention this sooner?"
"I'm sorry, Nico, I..."
Nico shook his head. "Never mind. What's done is done. And now we have to deal with it. If Odette thinks we won't get to Marinette in time, just do what you have to do."
"Nico," I said. "I'm really sorry..."
"Please stop," Nico said, not even looking me in the eye but looking straight ahead and steering the boat. "Being sorry won't change anything."
I nodded and made my way back to Odette.
"The vampire looks angry," Odette said as I sat back down next to her.
"He is," I said. "But he also agrees this might be our best option."
Odette smiled and held out the shrunken head. It was the first time I looked at the thing up close. I just couldn't bring myself to really look at it before. I mean, it was hideous.
I inhaled, drawing in what remained of the magic I had in my medallion. A tingle spread throughout my body. That is how it always felt when I absorbed magic. The feeling intensified as the magic was amplified within me.
I placed my hands on the shrunken head... totally gross... and released all the magic I had siphoned and enhanced into it.
A blue glow enveloped the shrunken head.
"I thought you said it was only a little magic you had remaining," Odette said.
I shrugged. "Must've been more than I realized."
Odette smiled as she took the glowing head into her hands. She looked it directly in the withered sockets where eyes used to be.
"Come, Marinette," Odette said. "Reclaim this host as your own. Allow these powers to forge for you a new body."
The shrunken head opened its mouth and shrieked.
I shrieked back.
"Holy hell!" I screamed.
Then the head began to expand. Its dark hair grew from its scalp, a neck started to form at its base, and from there, shoulders, arms, and a torso. Finally, it formed a giant mer fin.
"Marinette!" Odette exclaimed. "You're here!"
The newly formed Loa looked at me and narrowed her eyes. They were dark—pure black—not bright like the eyes of most merfolk.
"You!" Marinette screamed, her voice shrill. "What are you doing here!"
"I need your help..." I said.
I flew back... into Nico's arms.
Thank God that vampires were fast and had good reflexes.
"Why would I help you, La Sirene!" Marinette screamed before kicking her tail hard and diving into the water.
"No!" I shouted, springing back to my feet and diving toward the starboard rail. I looked into the water.
It was dark.
If she was still near the surface, I couldn't see her.
She was gone.
And I didn't have any magic left to turn myself back into a mermaid. I couldn't even go after her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"Well, bite me in the butt. Ain't that my luck." I plopped down on the floor of Nico's boat—The Little Ship of Horrors.
"Do what?" Odette asked.
"Just an expression," I said. "Please don't take me literally."
"No worries, child. I have no appetite for butts."
"I've bitten butts before," Nico piped up. "Not the best place to feed from. No major arteries. But you know... I went through an experimentation phase in the sixteenth century."
I shook my head and slammed my fist into the side of the hull. "She recognized me. How the hell did she recognize me. I've only seen her once. And that was in the twenty-first century... when she possessed the former king of Fomoria... well former to me."
"This is not so surprising as you might think, La Sirene. Though I do not suspect you would know since you have yet to shed your original body to claim a host."
I snorted. "That is something I'll do? Eventually, I mean?"
"Of course, La Sirene. You are one of the Loa!"
I bit my lip. Hadn't thought of that. Not that I planned on dying anytime soon. I was sort of attached to my body. "So how is the fact she recognized me not surprising, Odette?"
"Guinee has its own sense of time," Nico piped up. "The same reason why when I went there from the twenty-first century, I somehow ended up showing up centuries earlier when I came back."
Odette cocked her head. "I was not aware of this part of your origins, Niccolo."
Nico sighed. "Long story."
"The vampire is right," Odette said, shifting her attention to me. "When a Loa dies, his or her spirit goes first to the void. From there, to Guinee. When we evoke or summon a Loa or offer it a host, we do not know when in Guinee's timeline from which the Loa will come. It seems that this manifestation of Marinette, when she took her last host, had already met you in your own day."
I nodded. "Yeah... that would certainly explain why she was angry at me. I stopped her from what she was trying to do..."
"Which was what, exactly?" Odette asked.
"Oh, you know. The usual. Summon a vast entity that is the essence of nothingness, pure non-existence, and try to swallow up Fomoria and the rest of the world."
"This is usual in your time?" Odette asked. "How can something that would destroy the world be common?"
"It isn't," I said. "I was being facetious."
"If that is the case," Nico said. "If she was summoned before by other bokors, and they intended to use her to help end the world..."
"Do you think she's up to the same shit here, in the past?" I asked. "I mean, you know what I mean... now?"
"She was not until now," Odette said. "When the bokors summon a Loa, they bind their power to their purpose."
I narrowed my eyes. "Sorry, Odette. I know you think you summoned me. But I'm not here for your bidding. I'm a free woman."
Odette smiled. "Yet, here we are, exactly where I suggested we should go."
I scratched my head. "You said she was not bound to that idea until now. What do you mean ?"
"Only that I cannot say what she intends now that she is in another host. You are no caplata, La Sirene. You did not bind her will or summon her into her mermaid body. I did not, either. I simply gave her the chance..."
I snorted. "So Marinette's a free agent, now?"
Odette cocked her head. "She is no one's agent. But I believe she is, indeed, free."
I smiled a little. "Sorry, that is what I meant. Any idea what she might be up to?"
Odette shook her head. "I cannot say."
"Do you have any way to locate her?" Nico asked.
"I do not." Odette paused a moment, stroking her chin. "But there might be a way."
"What's that?" I asked.
"The same way we were seeking her now," Odette said. "Now that she has left her former host, the body of that host now lays dead on the ship she'd sailed before."
"The ship of undead pirates?" Nico asked.
Odette nodded. "But they will be unfettered now that Marinette has assumed a new host. Retrieving her body will not be easy."
"I might be able to get a handle on them," Nico said. "I haven't used the Baron's aspect that way in ages... but I could..."
"You did not call these corpses from their watery graves, Niccolo," Odette said. "And these bodies were not raised by a Ghede Loa. I am not sure how much influence Baron Samedi's aspect can have over them."
"Doesn't need to be much," I said. "We just need to distract them enough to steal Marinette's old host."
"And then there's the matter of trying to find this ship," Nico said. "Trying to find a random ship at open sea without any bearings is about as likely as being struck by lightning."
"It would be like winning the lottery," I said, shaking my head.
Odette waved her hand through the air. "Not necessarily. Niccolo, I presume we're still on the same course as before?"
"We are."
"The ship was not moving before. I cannot say it was anchored. But if we continue this direction, eventually, we should come upon it. Or at least we'll get close."
"But this far in the ocean, there's no chance their ship is anchored," Nico said. "It will still drift. Without knowing the currents, or how the ship's sails are set..."
Odette shook her head. "It will drift, for certain. But the ship on which she sailed was not carried by the wind."
"How else could she have possibly sailed a ship without relying on the wind?" Nico asked.
Odette smiled, flashing her yellowed teeth. "By magic, of course."
I cocked my head. "What sort of magic?"
"I cannot say," Odette said. "But the ship itself was enchanted in some way."
"But Vodouisants do not use magic. Not like Druids... or witches... or..."
"Or Fomorians," I said, shaking my head. "She must've had their assistance."
"This is likely," Odette said. "And La Sirene, if such is the case..."
"Then I'll sense it," I said, nodding. "If we get close enough, if the magic is strong enough, I'll know."
Chapter Twenty-Three
We sailed through the open seas for hours. Mostly in silence. It was peaceful. Odette was curled up at the front of the boat, sleeping. I couldn't sleep. I needed to stay alert. In case I sensed the ship's magic.
If we were right, if it was Fomorian magic that had enchanted Marinette's pirate ship, it was both good news and bad news. It meant, on the one hand, I could draw on its magic. I wouldn't just be able to sense it if we got close. I could use it. On the other hand, if the Fomorians were involved, it meant Marinette probably had a relationship with King Conand long before I'd discovered he'd ever made a bargain with the bokors in my time. She'd have had to get access to Fomorian magic somewhere.
I also suspected it meant Marinette had gone to Fomoria. I couldn't say for sure, of course. And without the magic I needed to shift back into mermaid form, there was no way for me to get there. We'd still need to retrieve Marinette's former host to confirm she was, in fact, in Fomoria. And I'd need the magic from the ship to get there.
"Joni," Nico said, breaking the silence. "I don't have much time left until sunrise."
I sighed. "That sucks. What are we going to do if you aren't here to captain the boat?"
"The true winds are minimal. All you need to do is maintain
the course. At this pace, the apparent wind is strong enough that barring any change in the weather, we should be fine."
I grunted. "I don't like this. I mean, what if we come upon the ship during the day and you aren't able to help?"
"You are more than capable of handling things," Nico said. "And if not, I can show you how to adjust the sails to circle the ship until sunset. If you need me to try to use the Baron's aspect."
"I still don't like it," I said.
"At least with the aid of daylight, you'll be able to see if the ship is near."
I nodded. "I suppose that is true. I mean, at open sea, how far can someone see?"
"Usually, you should be able to see another ship from about twelve miles away."
"That is more distance than I guess I could probably sense its magic from," I said. "That might be helpful."
"Plenty of time to prepare. If you'd like to circle the ship, you can keep a good distance until sunset."
"How much time do we have before sunrise?"
Nico shrugged. "Hard to say. I'd guess an hour. Maybe two."
I sighed. "And you can teach me how to steer this boat in that much time?"
Nico nodded. "You'll be able to use the rudder to steer. Sort of like driving a car. If the gas pedal was stuck and you had to keep moving forward."
I smiled. Nico showed me how to steer the boat. It wasn't as hard as I expected. He went over how to adjust the sails if needed. It wouldn't take much. The key was making sure we retained the apparent wind. If we lost that, trying to capture enough true wind to get us moving again would be a little more challenging. But I was comfortable enough, barring that, I could handle it.
I was still holding out hope we'd come upon the ship before sunrise. But we didn't have much time left.
My hopes were dashed, rather quickly, once the sun started to peek over the eastern horizon. Nico didn't waste much time. He nodded at me, reiterated his confidence in my abilities, and disappeared through a hatch into the ship's hull.
Odette started to stir as the sun rose. She sat up and looked around. Standing up, she carefully made her way back to where I was standing.
Wyrmrider Vengeance: An Underwater Magic Urban Fantasy (The Fomorian Wyrmriders Book 2) Page 12