Nevermor (36 page)

Above her, the
water was disturbed by a thunderous roar.  The surface of the lagoon had been
broken by something large, and when Wren looked up, she could see it moving
toward her.

The mermaids
released her.  They scattered, darting away, and then something took hold of
her and pulled her upward toward the surface.

When she broke
free, it was not a moment too soon.  She gasped, welcoming air into her lungs
as if she would never get any more.  She was hardly aware that they were flying
– that Rifter had burst up out of the water and was carrying her away from the
lagoon.  He landed somewhere within the sanctity of the trees beyond, far from
the water and back where the woods was glowing with the fairy lights.  She had
no time to look around, coughing as she was.  She gulped until the air was
rolling easily in and out of her lungs.

“Are you
alright?”  Wren fought the hair from her face and glanced up to see him looking
her over, testing her for damage.  She wondered if what she saw on his face was
real concern, for she’d half-expected him to mock her.  She’d been foolish,
after all.

“I think so,”
she gasped, but quickly remembered the severity of the situation.  “They tried
to drown me!  I thought you said they would swim away if I was close!”

“They always
avoid the boys,” he said, shrugging.  “I guess I didn’t know how they’d react
to a girl.  Somehow that keeps surprising me.”

Rifter ran a
hand over his hair, flicking the water out of it.  She couldn’t do anything but
accept his words and be thankful that he had found her in time. 
Live
another day.  That’s what matters.
 He had said that to her before.

“So what was out
there?” she asked, wiping the dampness from her eyelashes.

Or do I want to
know?

“It was
nothing,” he said after a pause.  “I was wrong.”

Wren didn’t
believe him, but she closed her eyes on the conversation, focusing on her
breathing.  This hadn’t been his fault.  He’d tried to warn her about the song,
after all, but she had come out of the cave anyway.  She had no right to blame
him for it.

“You look pretty
this way,” he said abruptly, and her eyes opened.

“I – what way?”

“Well…” He
looked over her unabashedly before finding her eyes again, but didn’t feel the
need to explain.  She blushed furiously, feeling the heat of her own body
countering the cold chill on her skin.

Her curls were
in tangles and her gown was soaked, clinging to her form.  She felt immediately
ashamed that he might see through it.  She tugged at it anxiously, trying to
shield herself somehow, even though it was likely hopeless.

“You don’t have
to be ashamed,” he told her, but that couldn’t erase it, and the way he spoke
about it so easily made it worse.  “You’re beautiful.  Surely you know that.”

Beautiful?
  Perhaps he
wasn’t as clueless about girls as she’d thought.  He touched her arm and she
flinched, but she didn’t flee.  Part of her wanted to slink away in
humiliation, but the other part was caught on his eyes again.

Rifter guided
her closer, his hand on her waist.  Did she feel so comfortable in his
presence?  She was certainly nervous at her core, her hands trembling as she
touched his arms, but he focused on her eyes as he drew his face closer to
hers.  He put his hand against her neck, slipping his fingers into her wet
hair, and when he kissed her, she felt her heart swell.

His lips were
warm and damp against hers.  Just to feel him so close sent shivers throughout
her, but they were not from the cold.  She was hesitant at first, but soon
found herself leaning in against him, enjoying the way his fingers felt against
the back of her neck, carefully holding her in.

She marveled at
how long she had gone without even entertaining thoughts of romance, and now
that she was being kissed, she felt that someone should have told her what she
had been missing.

It was her first
kiss; she was certain that it was not his. 
How many girls have you stolen
kisses from?
  She felt a notion of jealousy to think of him kissing another
– perhaps a mermaid, or a girl in her bedroom who wasn’t even aware of it while
she slept – but she pushed that away.  This one was hers and it didn’t belong
to anyone else.  She accepted it as a gift.

He broke away to
look at her, perhaps to see how she was receiving this affection, and she was
sure that her eyes were filled with all the stars of the universe.

Rifter leaned in
to kiss her again, parting his lips against her open mouth, and she gave
herself up to it.  In that moment, during that kiss, Wren knew that she was
his.  She belonged here because he was here, and that was the end of it.

He kissed her
until he was satisfied enough to break away, though deep inside she felt she
wanted more, but there would be time for so many more kisses.

He gazed into
her eyes again, and she wondered if he knew what she did – that she loved him
in the purest, simplest way, which was meant to be coveted.  If he did know,
what would he have done with that knowledge?  It was out of her hands now.  She
was at his mercy.

Rifter smiled at
her and kissed her lightly once more, keeping his face close to hers when he
spoke.

“I guess that
since your brothers are here, that means you’re staying,” he said, letting his
nose brush against hers.

He knows that
isn’t the reason anymore,
she thought.

“Say you’ll
stay,” he entreated.  “I want you to.”

She only
nodded.  Her words – and her breath – were gone for the moment.  Rifter smiled,
happy with this confession.

“Then I think
it’s time you took the Vow.”

3

Henry did not
know if he trusted Rifter with his sister, but he had his own problems at the
moment, the first of which was dealing with the boys who had shanghaied him. 
They had left the twins behind and that meant only four were with him now, but
that was still more than his army of one.  On top of that, they had weapons and
he could only assume that they knew how to use them.

Maybe he
couldn’t hope to fight them off, but he was not going to plead with them.  He
wasn’t so afraid that he couldn’t use his tongue as a weapon.

 “Where are you
taking me?” he demanded to know.

“Where
are
we taking him, Nix?” Finn asked.  “To the beach?”

The tall one
called Nix was out in front, leading them.  Henry couldn’t see his face when he
answered.

“I was thinking
of something different for this one.”

“Interesting,”
Sly said.  “What’d you have in mind?”

Nix turned his
face back to them, wearing an impish grin.

“
The pit
.” 
They were all momentarily stunned, and Henry wished he knew what their secret
was.

“The pit?  Are
you sure?” Finn asked, but he seemed excited by that.

“I don’t know,”
the largest boy, Toss, said uncertainly.  For being the enforcer among them,
Henry thought it was unusual that he was the most timid.  “Rifter won’t like it
if we let him die."

Die?

“Rifter hasn’t
forgotten the true spirit of the test,” Nix told them confidently.  “He gave
his consent.  We’ll see what this one is capable of – and we’ll have a little
fun.”

It didn’t sound
like fun to Henry.

“I’m not playing
any of your games, assholes,” he told them as fiercely as he could manage, but
they didn’t seem convinced.

“Oh, you’ll
play,” Finn assured him.

“You have some
blood to make up for,” Nix said.

Toss pushed him
forward when he began to slack in his pace.  They led Henry through the dark
woods, and this was how he viewed it for the first time.  Rifter hadn’t done
much to show him around after he’d woken up, and Henry couldn’t say where he
was or which direction they had come from.

The Pack took
him to a spot where the ground sloped downward and a muddy bank gave way to a long
trench that was several feet below.

“This is the
pit,” Nix said forebodingly.

“Many a good man
has lost his life here,” Finn said, but then rethought it.  “Well, many a
pirate and Tribal.”

It didn’t look
like much, even though it was darker
than the rest of
the forest.  As Henry looked down into it, he felt a chill crawl over him.

“What’s down
there?” Henry wanted to know.

Nix smiled at
him nastily.  “You’re gonna find out.  All you have to do is travel through and
come out the other side.”

“And watch out
for
snipes
,” Sly said so close to Henry’s ear that he jumped.  Finn
howled ominously and they all laughed.

“I’m not going
down there,” Henry protested.  He tried to back up but they wouldn’t allow it. 
They took hold of him and shoved him down the bank.

Henry slid
through the mud, tumbling, unable to get control.  He got up as quickly as he
could when he was able, throwing himself back on the slope in an attempt to
climb out, but he couldn’t get his footing.  After a couple of tries, he was
tired and yet still stuck.  He couldn’t get out.

Nix tossed the
bronze sword down after him.  “Better get moving.”

“See you on the
other side – if you make it,” Finn jeered, and they all snickered as Henry took
up the sword and stomped away from them.  It wasn’t until after he’d taken a
few steps that the thing he really should have been concerned with hit him.

What’s a snipe?

He stood there a
moment, listening to the wind that rushed through the tunnel, whistling
eerily.  That meant that it couldn’t be very far to the end of it, right? 
There didn’t seem to be anything moving in the darkness ahead of him.  Was it
safe?

It was a trick. 
They were just trying to scare him.  Well, it wasn’t going to work.

Henry lifted his foot and stepped boldly forward. 
He wasn’t going
to let them frighten him – no, he
wasn't going to let
them laugh.  That was all they wanted, after all.  A good
laugh.

The ground was soft beneath his feet, but he moved onward.  A
rustle in the leaves above made him duck in surprise, but when he lifted his
eyes, he heard them snickering.  The boys were darting around overhead,
following his progress, but he could not see them.  Were they watching him
now?  He wasn't going to give them a show.

He went along a little farther and then glanced behind him,
observing how far he had come.  He guessed he was about halfway by now.

This isn't so bad,
Henry thought. 
Not much
more.

He
was feeling so confident in the fact that he wasn't going to allow them to
scare him, that his grip had even loosened on the sword.  He could see a bit of
moonlight through the brush at the end of the tunnel.  He was getting closer.

He quickened his step, hurrying along.  He had ignored all the
signs – the burrows that branched off from the tunnel, the claw marks along the
walls, the footprints in the dirt.
  He was almost at the end when he heard
the snarling growl emitting from the shadows,
and
when the creature jumped out at him, he was not ready.

Adrenaline kicked in, and he just managed to get out of the way as
the beast rushed out, covered in fur and mud.

Shit!

Henry fell backward, scrambling to get some distance from the
thing.  He couldn't see it very well, but it was fast.  Considering that he had
been taken completely off guard, he was lucky that he had at least managed to
hold onto the sword.

From his spot on the ground, Henry could at least tell that the
creature was covered in bristly brown fur.
 
He could see
its eyes shining faintly, but more than that, he could hear its teeth gnashing,
seeking him out.

Henry had made it out of many a tough spot in his life.  He’d run
from men before, even a dog or two, but never anything like this.  This was a
monster, and he had been taught that monsters didn’t exist.

 The jaws snapped at him as thick claws scratched at the dirt,
moving closer.  Henry pulled back his feet one after the other as he shoved
himself backward, but also to keep the creature from snapping his leg in half. 
The beast was gaining ground.  It might have gotten him if not for an arrow
that shot through the air, penetrating the creature’s flesh in the left
shoulder.

The beast roared and turned toward its wound, clenching the arrow
in its flesh and ripping it free.  In that moment, Henry had enough time to
glance above, and he saw a group of shadows standing there.  The boys were
keeping watch.  They were not going to let him die.

Still…

Henry took the opportunity to get to his feet.  He was angry,
perhaps angrier than he had been in his life.  They had put him down here to
fight?  They wanted him to kill this beast? 
Fine then.
 That was what
he would do.