I joke with them feigning hurt, “You two are just sitting here having a grand old time while the rest of us do the dirty work.”
Ever turns to me and immediately dishes back, “Whatever, lazy boy. We were making plans and checking out major weaponry.”
My heart sinks at the mention of the weapon. I look over to Jack for verification, “So it’s real? You found it?”
He nods over to the other side of the room where a long spear is leaning against the rocks. I venture closer and notice three prongs on the upper part of it. I look back surprised and ask, “It’s a trident?”
Ever swims next to me and looks at it almost with admiration, “Yes it is, isn’t that ironic?”
She encourages excitedly, “Pick it up James.”
I reach out and grab it. As soon as my hand fits around it, a bright light shines through the room almost blinding me. I withdraw my hand immediately from shock and the light disappears.
Ever pipes up, “Isn’t it amazing? Watch, Jack go and touch it.”
Jack swims over and grasps the center of it. Nothing happens. I look from one to the other with astonishment. I was sure it didn’t exist when Jack told me about Alex’s prediction. Alex was sure once he got to know Ever and I better that we could possibly be from the tall tale told here. We have so many made up stories on land, I was sure this was just that, a made up story. Some tall tale.
I look over to Alody and she moves forward unsure and seemingly in as much shock as I am. She reaches out and grazes the pole with her fingers. Nothing happens. She finally grabs it and holds it closer, but still nothing happens. After a minute she turns to face me and tells me as tears run down her cheek, “James, you and Ever, Oh wow!”
She backs up holding the spear out to me and seems to bow her head down. I rush over and grab it out of her hand suddenly bathing us all in light again, helping her up. There is no reason she should be bowing down to me.
Her voice is so strong and sure when she tells me, looking up in awe, “It’s really true. The stories are true. I always wanted to believe. My father…he was so sure… I can’t believe it. You two are going to save us.”
I turn to my sister and tears have started streaming down her cheeks too.
I ask impatiently, “What? Why are you two crying? It glows, big deal.”
Both girls start laughing and tears come down still. Ever swims over to me and grabs the trident right next to my hand. The light brightens even more and almost blinds us all. We both take our hands away and it clatters to the ground. Ever looks up and tells me, “I believe that we were meant to come here. We are here to make a difference.”
“It appears maybe that is true. It’s still so hard to believe.”
Jack bends over and picks up the trident. He admits, “It deue.finitely is. I never believed until this moment but I think the stories are true. But I’m not sure what this thing can do or what you can do with it. Maybe we should try it out there.”
I nod and turn to the girls, “But I think you two should stay here. Just in case…”
Neither of them argue, which is a first to go down in the books.
Jack and I swim out of the crevice in the ground and around to the far side of the cave. The water is still clear and calm. No one has arrived here yet. I know it will be soon though.
He asks, “Is it going to happen?”
I answer him in the same cryptic way in case we have anyone listening, “Yes, it is.”
“Good. Now let’s see what you can do with this thing.”
He hands the trident over to me. As soon as I grab it, the light emanates through the water. I can see pairs of eyes peeking out from rocks and caves. I was hoping not to have an audience but it can’t be helped.
I aim it far out into the grasses and turn to Jack, “What do I do now?”
He shrugs his shoulders and tells me, “I have no idea. Maybe try to focus on something.”
I focus on a large rock shooting up from the sand. Instantly the light shoots from the trident and the rock explodes. It causes me to fall back a little from the power that just shot across the field.
I look over to Jack. A look of sheer shock crosses his face.
I tell him holding the trident far in front of me, “Um Jack, can you take this thing from me?”
He shakes himself awake and grabs it out of my hands.
We both turn to head back to find Ever and Alody but a group of Alody’s people are bowing down in front of us halting our progress. I look over to Jack for help but instead he hands me the trident which starts to glow, and bows himself. As if that weren’t enough more people come out of their hiding places and display the same ridiculousness.
I’m about to yell at them all that we are going to lose our element of surprise but my sister comes out with Alody close behind. Ever takes up a spot beside me and places her hand next to mine. Alody bows down next to Jack. Now I am just plain embarrassed.
Alody gets up and announces, “Finally, they are here. Now we have a fighting chance. James and Ever will lead this fight.”
When she finishes something shiny catches my eye in the water far off in the distance. I look out in that direction and realize we are no longer the only people here.
I tell everyone quickly, “Go now, Roman is coming. I’m not sure if we have the element of surprise anymore.”
Jack gets up and swims over to me whispering, “When?”
I shrug my shoulders. He turns and grabs Ever’s hand. They swim back to the crevice they were in before. If that is Roman, which I am pretty sure it is, I’m sure he has seen me by now with the glowing thing in my hand. I lean toward Alody, “Go with them.”
She frowns and pleads, “No, not without you. Come with me.”
I sigh, “Alody, he knows I’m here. You need to go and hide. Lead your people in the attack. I’m just going to cause a distraction.”
She looks unsure. Something I would never want her to have to decide, between me and her people. I tell her in the firmest voice I can muster after this realization, “Go now Alody. I am telling you to go. I will be fine.”
She turns without another word and swims to Jack and Ever. I hate having to be mean but her life depends on it.
I swim toward the growing line in the water. As they get closer the enormity of their numbers hit me. Ever was right. Roman has gathered everyone he could to defend something so wrong. I finally stop at the outer edges of the caves. Panic continues to rise as thousands upon thousands of mer-people swim closer through the water. They stop leaving about one hundred feet between us. I hover there, in the water, waiting to see what will happen. I’m hoping that Alody’s people stay hidden and are able to surprise them at least a little. The thought that there is no possibility that we can win this runs through me. Their numbers will squash us in minutes.
Roman swims out to the forefront and calls out, “James boy. I see you have a new weapon there.”
I nod, remembering the glowing stick in my hand. It gives me a small bit of hope. The glow seems to get brighter when I think about it.
Roman puts his hand up as if in surrender and announces, “I would like to come forward to ah...discuss your options.” And he gestures to the people flocking his sides and behind him.
I’m unsure what to do at this point. At what point in my seventeen years did I learn what to do when an imminent battle with thousands of mer-people, comes up? But then I feel a hand on each of my arms. Ever is to my right and Alody has come up on my left. Jack is hovering on the other side of Ever holding hands with her. Alody leans over and tells me, “Family never lets family down.”
As soon as she says that, all of her people, her family, come out of their hiding places and flock my sides and gather behind us. I feel just a tad bit stronger but not much. Their numbers still outweigh ours, one hundred to one.
Roman calls out laughing this time and gestures to our new numbers, “How about that talk boy, I still think, you might need to explore your options.”
; I glance over at Jack and he whispers, “Go, find out what he wants, Ever will hold the trident.”
I hand the trident over to Ever and swim forward. We stop about fifty feet from one another. I notice suddenly that I’m not alone and glance over to my left. Alody is hovering next to me glaring at Roman as he makes his way to us.
I whisper yell at her, “Why are you here? You need to go back. It’s not safe.”
She looks over to me nonchalantly gesturing,” You and me, we will talk, even if you are the chosen one, but right now focus James, focus.”
I smirk at her feistiness, I love that about her.
Roman stops in front of us and looks to Alody, “So this is where you ended up. I suppose I need to appeal to you as well. I will say this to both of you. The offer is only open at this moment. Should you choose to turn it down… I think…lose Iet’s just say…you don’t want to turn it down.”
He shakes his head, “This whole thing is probably my fault to begin with. I never should have sent Sara to the land. It gave my poor brother hope.”
He places his finger to his lips, “Oh yes, speaking of Sara.”
He turns back to his people and asks, “Where is my dear daughter Sara?”
Someone shoves her forward out of the crowd. She looks back angrily and swims toward us. Not one ounce of feeling exists in me, I realize. I look over to Alody who is studying my face with concern. I grab her hand and look intently letting her know she is it for me. We both look forward. As Sara nears her father she looks straight at me and I watch as her face turns from an angry grimace to the sweet Sara I thought I was in love with. Roman places his arm around her as she comes up beside him.
He calls out, “James, my boy, I understand you had a thing for my daughter here.” As he says it he pulls back on her hair causing her head to jerk back.
It has the exact effect on me that he wanted. I swim forward a foot before I stop myself. I don’t have any feelings for her; I just can’t believe he would hurt his own daughter at my expense.
He starts laughing, that same laugh I’ve heard a hundred times from Jaspen. I back up and grab Alody’s hand again.
“Ah, Alody, are you sure this one is over this girl here?” He shoves her forward and claims, “Go to them, you disgust me. You might as well be half-blooded with the way you’ve been carrying on.”
She hovers in the water between her father and Alody and I, unsure where to go. I glance down to Alody asking an unspoken question and she nods to me. I swim forward and hold my hand out to Sara. She shies away. I whisper, “It’s okay, we won’t hurt you.”
She immediately looks over to Jack and he looks away. I’m guessing he still hasn’t forgiven her. She takes my hand anyway. I take my place by Alody and send Sara back to our family.
Roman calls out angrily, “Let’s stop playing games then. James, Alody, if you surrender, we won’t hurt anyone. We will let you go back to your half-existence in the caves. Stop this nonsense. If you go through with this, all these people will lose their lives for what?” He raises his hands palms up to make his point.
I squeeze Alody’s hand. She squeezes back in support of whatever I choose. I’m about to tell him to go to hell but before I can utter a word the water behind me stirs and I hear my sister’s voice.
“Roman, you still don’t get it do you? There is no option for a half-existence. Everyone here is a full mer-person. They deserve to be here as much as you do.”
He looks down and shakes his head clucking his tongue. When he looks up again his eyes are a blazing yellow color. He grimaces and yells back angrily, “Bring my brother here. I think we need a demonstration here of what we think of half-blooded people in the sea. These two are new around here so they should see first- hand.”
Suddenly my heart is beating double time because just by the sound of his voice, I know this isn’t going to be good.
Chapter 49
Ever
I couldn’t take it anymore. My brother and Alody were fending off Roman as best as they could but I wanted to get things moving along. We’ve done nothing but wait all day. If a battle is going to happen I’d just as soon get it over with. I know I’ve done a complete turn- around. Maybe call it a little confidence from this glowing thing in my hand or just the fact that I’m over it. Roman needs to be taught a lesson.
I swim up to James’ side and call out to Roman before my brother can answer him, “Roman, you still don’t get it do you? There is no option for a half-existence. Everyone here is a full mer-person. They deserve to be here as much as you do.”
He looks angry and his eyes start to glow that yellow shade, the same as James’ so long ago. He looks scarier and my heart skips a beat.
Then he hisses back to the people behind him, “Bring my brother here. I think we need a demonstration to show what we think of half-blooded people in the sea. These two are new around here so they should see first- hand.”
Jaspen? I thought Jaspen was holed up in the city. I look back at Jack who has just come up beside me. I whisper to him, “Why is Jaspen here?”
He shakes his head and looks ahead toward Roman. My eyes meet his when I look up and he is smiling like he knows a secret I don’t.
Jaspen swims up beside him and pleads, “Roman, brother, I told you I will serve you and your cause. I’ve changed my mind and realized these people,” and he gestures to us, “they don’t know what they’re up against. They shouldn’t be here. They should go back to the land where the inferior race lives.”
I watch in disbelief that Jaspen, my grandfather, whom I don’t particularly care for, begs for his life. He changes sides like changing channels on the T.V. It still kills me to watch because Roman is so scary.
Roman swims away from him shaking his head, “Brother? Huh, we aren’t brothers. He took pity on you because he loved your mother, and that just isn’t quite enough. He was weak when he found that your real father left you on land. You never were good enough for him. Unfortunately, you followed him here instead of staying where you belong. You should have made a different choice all those years ago. He would never have given the city to you. You were never good enough, half-blood.”
He turns to face Jaspen. A look of sheer hatred crosses Jaspen’s face. He swims forward towards Roman and calls out, “I was always the rightful heir. He raiseont size="d me as his own just like you. You were always so volatile, never stable enough. Look at you…”Before he can finish, Roman takes a spear from a nearby fighter and throws it at Jaspen. It pierces him in the stomach. He falls to the sand holding it, in terrible pain.
My heart stops for a minute as a horror scene plays out in front of us. I want to go to him but before I can James swims forward a few feet but Roman looks up and glares at him shaking his head. This stops James dead in the water. Alody pulls him back to us. I can tell it is killing James not to be able to go and help Jaspen as awful as he’s been to us, he doesn’t deserve this.
Roman throws his hands up in the air, “See what you made me do…I went and killed my own brother.” He swims back over to Jaspen and removes the spear from his lifeless body.
Then he glares at us, “Let’s stop this right now. That is what will happen to each of you if you don’t surrender now. I might add, to sway your decision that we have already taken over the city. A shame that many had to die, but it is under our control right now.”
I lose every ounce of confidence I had a few minutes before. What we want to accomplish seems completely impossible now. There is no way if all the fighters in the city have already been defeated, that we will win. I swim to James and place my hand under his elbow. He leans down so that I can speak to him, never tearing his gaze away from Roman.
My voice sounds shaky to my own ears, “This is wrong. These are Alody’s people. We can’t do this to them. There is no way…”
He grabs my hand and squeezes in response. What the hell was that? Before I can plead with him anymore he calls to Roman, “We understand your point, but I’m sorry we won�
��t be able to make any deals today.”
He grabs my hand and Alody’s and swims back to the waiting Erebus pulling us behind him. I’m sure at this moment that James just wrote our death certificates. Maybe he hasn’t matured as much as I thought he had. Maybe this trident thing has gone to his head. True it is pretty powerful but it’s one weapon against thousands of people.
Once we are back with the rest of our people I look to Jack and ask, “Do you think my brother has gone off the deep end? Should I go back and take Roman’s deal?” I’m really starting to panic. If Roman attacks us right now, we’re done.
Jack places his arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer. He whispers in my ear, “Don’t worry. It will be alright. I promise.” And he kisses my forehead.
At that exact moment when his lips pull away from my head many things happen at the same time. First and foremost I hear Roman’s voice yell, “Attack.”
But right at that same moment my brother points the trident to the ground in between us and them. The stick glows brightly and shoots a bright light across the sea to the sandy bottom. The water clouds, making it impossible to see the Lior, just a hundred feet away.
James yells, “Let’s go.” And everyone disperses in all directions. Jack pulls me back toward the front of the Erebus caves. I look around as we glide through the water; all the faces seem calm and determined. I was so sure we were putting these people up to something they wouldn’t want to do. weOnce we turn the corner we are greeted with a sight I never would have imagined. For as far as the eyes can see are more people, all wearing silver armor, more than I would ever want to count. Jack approaches a very large man, reminding me of the Hulk, and shakes hands.
Jack tells him, “Amos, so glad you all could make it.”
The man smiles and replies in a deep voice, “This is a fight worth fighting, we wouldn’t miss it. Nice to see you on the right side, for once.”
He adds, “I heard some rumors spreading around about a certain weapon and some new, very important, Erebus.”
Forever Breathing (Just Breathe #3) Page 18