So what was he doing now?
A quick memory of him baring his sharp, pointed teeth flitted through her mind as she ran down the beach toward them.
Annalise was out of the water, two human legs dangling in the air as he held her easily around the neck.
“Stop!” Nerida shouted as she neared them. The man turned, startled, dropping Annalise the few inches it took her feet to touch the ground. Her fingers still clawed at his hands, but now she began kicking at him, and one slender foot found the side of Black Caesar’s knee. The man buckled and his grip loosened. In an instant, the mermaid leapt back into the sea. Safe. She popped her head out of the water and watched Nerida, but didn’t make any move to come back and offer assistance.
Nerida was so intent on watching Annalise as she rushed down the beach, she didn’t notice a branch and went sprawling, end over end, landing right at the man’s feet.
As he was still bent over, rubbing his knee and cursing, she got a great view of the sharp teeth she’d been thinking of earlier. A second later, she had taken Annalise’s place as the man lifted her up in the air by her neck.
He hissed and gave her a quick shake. “Lose one pretty one and find another at my feet. Thank me lucky stars, I will. And here I’d been thinkin’ this cursed island had naught but children and Indians to occupy my time. Lucky for me that one was sitting in the surf, watching the flying boy,” he said with a quick nod of his head toward the ocean where Annalise vanished, “but you, at least ye already came with legs and I didn’t have to watch scales and a fish tail leave.”
He brought her closer to his face, leering at her. Then, he stopped, frowning. “Ye look a mite familiar…”
“I…should…” Nerida managed between gasps of air.
Recognition lit in his eyes and a dark, guttural sound came from his lips that sounded something like a growl. “Ye be the one who took me off the Roger—the one who tried to enchant me.”
“Y-yes,” she said. He loosened his grip just enough that she managed to snag one deep breath, her toes barely touching the ground. “And I should have left you on that ship.”
“But ye didn’t,” he said with a dark smile, “and now here we be. I did warn ye ‘twould be unfortunate should ye find me…”
I wish I could throw you in the sea, Nerida thought angrily as his fingers tightened up even more. Her vision was starting to double from the lack of air, but she was still coherent enough to feel his free hand grope her bare chest. Fury roiled through her. I’d love to see you breathe water.
All at once she fell in a heap onto the sand and heard a startled yelp. Her vision clearing, she looked up to see the tide had come in and a huge wave shaped like a hand had reached out and snatched up the man, dangling him upside down over the water. An instant later, it hurtled him out into the sea. A strangled cry echoed in the air just before the splash.
Nerida struggled to her feet and stumbled a few steps forward. She looked out at the place where she had thrown Black Caesar and felt her mouth drop open in surprise.
Then she realized she wasn’t alone.
Her people had arrived. Dozens of heads popped out of the water looking at her with a look of complete horror. She looked from one familiar face to the next, and the next—and every expression matched the one before it.
They were frightened. As her eyes met theirs, a few of them ducked back below the surface. Some seemed too afraid to move.
There’s nothing to fear now. I’ve gotten rid of him. We’re safe now. Those were the words she wanted to say to them, but they never left her lips. Because just as she opened her mouth to speak, she looked down and saw the shell necklace around her neck, sparkling like silver—and farther down, she spotted the black scales on her feet as the tide washed over them.
She was in the water.
YOU ARE AS cursed as I. The captain’s voice echoed in her head, bringing on her tears as she fled back to her isle.
Cursed was right.
Anger roiled through her, sending magic to sizzle along her skin. If she was cursed, she would make certain everyone feared her. They’d leave her alone. No one would dare to come to this place.
She stood up and turned around to gaze at her isle. This was the one thing she would claim.
I will make it as dark as I, she thought, watching the land and the sea around it transform. This is my home now.
10
Revelation
BREATHLESS, BRIDGETTE PLOPPED down on a leaf not much wider than she, and took in her surroundings. While the topside of the isle looked less than hospitable, the mermaid had done a fine job of making the sea beneath look like a thing made of nightmares. Inches from where she sat, tall, winding patches of grass reached up from the ocean bottom, skeletons of tiny creatures wrapped tight in its leaves. Her gaze landed on one rather large plant that sported the illusion of a dead mermaid, trapped within its winding vines, slowly disintegrating into foam.
She arched an eyebrow at this. It seemed the mermaid’s primary intent was to scare away those of her own kind. Something must have happened that Bridgette knew nothing about.
She sighed. She hadn’t meant to take so long to come and check on her, but things had needed tending to when Thespa died. The water sprites hadn’t expected their queen to give her life for another. Such a thing had never been done before. Sprites weren’t known to be selfless creatures, so Thespa’s sacrifice had taken some getting used to. Once that had been accepted, Bridgette had to be recognized as the new queen—no small feat in itself, as many wished to take Thespa’s place.
It had all eventually worked out, though. It had just taken a bit of time—and a jolt of power from the one Thespa had saved. Once the other water sprites realized it would be the duty of the new queen to check in on Nerida, every single one of them had gladly dumped the job back in Bridgette’s lap. While enchanting her isle might have been aimed to keep her own kind away, the sea witch had managed to spark fear in more than one water sprite who had happened to go past her new abode.
As the sea king had held power in his trident, this new ruler held as much power by simply wishing things to be true—and this particular wish, it seemed, was to ensure her a safe place where no other would dare intrude.
Bridgette glanced at the yawning, dark mouth of the cavern a short distance away. More tall grass and seaweed grew around it, and as she watched the leaves and vines turned to the thick, round bodies of sea serpents that twisted and curled, fangs bared.
She sighed and hopped up from her perch, noticing the ocean floor near the entrance was littered with what looked like the bones of humans, as if they had been eaten by whatever lived in that dark cavern, their remains discarded in a haphazard pile at the door.
Small puffs of silver dust colored the water as she shook her head. She had waited much, much too long to check on the former mermaid. Without waiting for more time to pass, Bridgette went to the cavern’s opening. The one inside hadn’t truly wanted to hurt anyone, only frighten them away. Nerida held enough power to change the isle completely and had she wanted to, she could have had real serpents guarding her entrance instead of the translucent mirages of the ones striking at Bridgette now.
As soon as she made it inside, the atmosphere changed. It became lighter and was almost welcoming, as if the one who had created the scary exterior would grant an audience to those brave enough to enter.
The cavern narrowed a bit before spilling out into a large room and there, sitting in the center of it on a large rock, was the one Thespa had saved. Her face held such an expression of sadness that Bridgette’s heart went out to her. She sat with her human legs folded beneath her, her two large black wings curled around her body as if they were trying to protect her from everything in the world.
Bridgette cleared her throat and waited before she went any farther. The girl’s head snapped up and a dark look passed over her eyes. Obviously, she didn’t want any visitors.
“I’ve come to help,” Bridgette told her with a
nod, white tendrils of hair bobbing in the current. Ignoring the girl’s expression, Bridgette zipped over to a small rock beside of her and shooed one of the stingrays away. “Off with you, now. I won’t be keeping her for long. There are things she needs to know and I promise to take care of her.”
As if they understood, not one, but both of the rays swam off. Bridgette watched as they moved a good distance away.
“Now then,” she said, settling herself on the rock. She patted her dress around her so it would lay flat and folded her hands in her lap. “That’s much better. I can talk much easier without them swinging their tails at me. I don’t think they’d try anything, but one can never be too safe where dolphins are concerned. Terribly playful at times, you know. It wouldn’t do for them to forget they’ve changed to something a bit more lethal.”
“Who are you?” The dark wings were drawing around the sea witch tighter, as if what she really wished was for the water sprite to go and leave her be.
“My name is Bridgette. I am queen of the water sprites now—and I’ve come to answer every question you have. I do apologize for taking so long to get here.”
There were questions. Many of them. Bridgette could seem them piling up behind her eyes. The sad look had left; for that, the water sprite was beyond grateful. Pixies were more empathetic than water sprites, and Bridgette just didn’t know if she could handle tears or what she was supposed to do, if they were to come.
But the mermaid didn’t seem on the verge of crying, instead she sat still, chewing her bottom lip, as if she was searching for the right question to ask first.
Finally, she seemed to come to a decision and her dark eyes locked on Bridgette’s blue ones. The water sprite expected many questions, but the one the mermaid asked caught her completely off-guard.
“Why did Thespa let him do this to me?”
Bridgette took a deep breath and began. There was only one way to tell her everything, and that was to start at the beginning and tell each and every secret—even those that Thespa hadn’t wanted anyone to hear. Hopefully, the girl before her would understand the power she’d been given. Then, hopefully she would accept who she was.
NERIDA’S HEAD FAIRLY swam with information by the time the water sprite left.
“So Thespa made me a water sprite of sorts. Cassius didn’t do this to me,” she told one of her stingrays that came to settle next to her once Bridgette left the cavern. Something about that knowledge made her even sadder than she’d been before. To hear it told from someone who knew what they were talking about made it final. She really wasn’t a mermaid anymore—and she never would be again. The transformation was irreversible, Bridgette told her. There was nothing to do but make the best of it.
The stingray nudged her as if it knew all too well of being stuck in a form that you hadn’t agreed upon.
On the other side of things, she had found out that her magic was stronger than all of the other sprites. Thespa had given her every bit of power she’d had left in hopes that she’d be able to keep them alive, but she’d done it in a very unusual way.
“The only way the sprites will stay alive is if my people believe in me,” Nerida whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. Magic is only real when someone believes. Your people didn’t believe in us, Bridgette’s words replayed in her head, but they will believe in you. That particular bit of information hadn’t been easy to take. Nerida patted the head of the other stingray as it came to rest on her lap.
Begrudgingly, she remembered the faces of the pirates, and then those of her people when they’d seen her. Their fear made her stronger. She’d never felt more alive than in those moments when she felt their panic.
At least Cassius is gone now. Callie will keep the merpeople safe. She sighed. Her sister would be the one she would miss the most. But she couldn’t go back. That look of fear had been on Callie’s face, too.
“But I’m still me,” Nerida told the stingrays, forcing herself to sound optimistic. “Only a bit different.”
Ye haven’t got darkness in ye. This time, Boggs voice echoed in her head and she found herself smiling.
The thought of the round pirate had her hopping up from her perch, dislodging stingrays, and zipping through the sea toward the surface. A visit with the one who hadn’t been afraid of her was what she needed now—a friend who hadn’t feared her outward appearance.
As she neared the ship, she noticed a smaller, dark shadow and heard the faint splashes of oars.
The pirates are going to hunt on the island, she thought, as the boat passed over her. After watching the direction it was heading in for a moment, she paused, and while the voices from above said that they were indeed going to hunt, it was certainly not for food.
Nerida followed along in the boat’s shadow as it headed toward the mouth of a cave. She heard a bigger splash and turned, looking up to see that another boat had been lowered into the water. The voices coming from this one were familiar. Both the captain and Boggs were aboard this one.
Deciding to follow the second boat, she stopped and waited for it to catch up, then went along in its shadow.
The tide is rising, she realized as she swam below them into the cave. “Cap’n Hook, are ye sure this be the only way?” she heard Boggs say. He sounded worried.
“Yes,” came the cold voice of Hook. “There hasn’t been any other way of catching him now, has there?”
Boggs sighed. “No, Cap’n.”
“Then we wait. He’ll show up for her, I’m certain.”
“But the girl—”
“She’ll be fine.”
“But the tide—”
“You’re worry is misplaced, Boggs. The tide has quite a way to rise before it harms anyone.”
“Aye.” Boggs sounded resigned.
Hook is wrong, Nerida thought, leaving the boat’s shadow. The tide had risen a great deal just in the time she’d been there listening to them talk. Their conversation reminded her of another cavern, not unlike this one, where the tide had risen and she’d fought to bring him out of it.
She crept forward, staying a safe distance below so they wouldn’t notice her, and went in search of the other boat.
The first boat had been much smaller than the one holding Boggs and the captain and it had made it a good deal farther inside the cave, so far that it was hidden from view amongst the large stones jutting up from the ocean bottom.
Once she was certain she wouldn’t be seen, she rose to the surface so that she could get a better look at the two men in the boat. One of them was checking the ropes that bound a young Indian girl to a narrow rock. Nerida’s heart dropped when she realized it was the same girl she had seen with Peter. Boggs had told his captain what she had said and now the girl was being used as bait.
“That should hold ye,” the pirate informed the young Tiger Lily with a wide, leering grin. The girl gave him a dark look, but didn’t bother to answer.
“That be all we have to do, Murphy. Hurry and get to paddling. I don’t like the feel o’ this place,” the other said nervously, smacking his own oars against the surface of the water. “I heard O’Malley tellin’ some o’ the other lads these caves be haunted with bad spirits. Cursed, he says they are.”
That seemed to give the man named Murphy a sudden burst of energy, and soon the two were splashing, dodging their boat around the rocks in an effort to leave.
“Murphy, let the girl go,” the distinctive voice of the captain came loudly enough that Nerida jumped. She turned, expecting to see the second boat a short distance away.
“But I thought we was supposed to leave her here!” Murphy whined.
“Dare you disobey my orders?” came the dark, threatening answer. The sound echoed, sounding strange in the water around her.
“N-no, Cap’n,” the two said in unison, scrambling back to where the girl was tied, looking every bit as puzzled as Nerida felt.
Nerida found a large boulder near the wall and hid behind it, before slowly coming out of the water
to take a better look around. Something strange was happening here.
A bit of movement caught her eye a short distance away. There, behind another boulder, hid Peter. He saw her watching him and grinned widely, before peering around the side of his hiding place.
The instant the girl’s bonds were freed, she slipped into the water, her dark head disappearing under the surface.
At least I don’t have to save her too, Nerida thought, watching the girl swim toward the mouth of the cave, only to be stopped by Peter as she passed his rock.
Soft splashes came from the vicinity of the captain’s boat, and Nerida turned to see Boggs and the captain had rowed farther inside. They couldn’t come any closer due to the rocks.
“Murphy, Calloway, have you finished tying her up?” Hook asked.
“Tying her up?” Murphy said, astonished, “Why, ye just told me to turn her loose!”
“I did no such thing,” the captain’s voice sounded cold. Lethal. Dark.
As if he wished to see exactly what his men were up to, he stood up in his boat, shrugged out of his red coat, then dove into the water.
Peter, seeing the captain swim toward his men, decided to have a bit more fun at their expense. “Lads,” he said in a loud voice that sounded very much like Hook’s. “You’ve done a fine job. Once we make it back to the ship, I shall treat you to the best rum there be aboard.”
The two pirates looked even more perplexed than before, but their expressions soon turned to fear when their captain’s hook sank into the top edge of the wooden boat and he pulled himself out the water and up into their boat before the Peter spoke the last two words.
Seeing his game was up, the boy gave a triumphant crow, then grinned once more at Nerida, scooped the girl up, and flew up into the air.
The Untold Stories of Neverland: The Complete Box Set Page 35