Revel (25 page)
“Shut up, Ed,” said Gran, who’d now joined the circle. She stood behind me and put her big hands on my shoulders.
“This is
not
the way Revel is supposed to go,” said Zuzu
miserably. Her makeup was smeared and her pine wreath was dangling from the side of her head. She put her head on Reilly’s shoulder.
“There will be war between us,” Mikos said. As if to echo his intent, the waves behind him began to surge higher, crashing on the sand with such pounding force that the sand trembled and shifted under my feet.
This galvanized the crowd, and people began backing away, surging up the dunes. They ran, sinking into steep shelves of sand and fumbling through the thickets of sea grass and briars. Whatever punishment the First Ones were planning, nobody wanted to be here to see it.
Mayor Ed wasn’t going to be left behind, and I saw him pushing people out of his way. Soon everyone had gone, leaving only my friends and Gran and me to face the First Ones.
“Put your hands
down
, Mikos!” Jax shouted to his brother. “You know as well as I that this is for the Council to decide.”
“Maybe,” said Mikos with a snarl. “That doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun in the meantime.”
“Stop it!” I shouted. “Mayor Barney was right. I’m not one of you. I tried to go along, to fit in. I wanted you to accept me.”
Sean spoke up. “Don’t say that, Delia. We do accept you. You belong here with us.”
Be quiet. Go along. Fit in
.
How I wanted to, but I just couldn’t.
“No, Sean, listen to me. This is my fault,” I went on,
“all of it. Maybe I never should have come here. But it’s too late now.”
I took a deep breath.
“My father was a First One,” I said in a loud, clear voice. “And so am I.”
J
ax’s breath seemed to come in labored gasps as his eyes traveled slowly down my body. His eyes flared in the firelight and he muttered something under his breath that might have been a prayer or a curse.
“No,” said Sean. He stared at me, then turned his face away. As if I’d struck him.
“Yes,” I said, feeling weary.
Zuzu lowered the hand she’d clapped to her mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Things have been happening to me,” I said, to no one in particular. I guess they all had a right to know my change of status.
Yeah, to amphibian
.
“Ever since I first touched the water here, I’ve been
changing. My eyesight, my breathing, are better. My swimming. I’m turning into something else.”
“You’re Aitros,” said Jax. There was something triumphant in his expression. “You were born of Revel, Delia. It’s only because you’ve been kept from these waters that your true nature hasn’t emerged.”
My true nature? The thought scared me. I remembered Ben Deare’s words, the portent he’d read in the bones about a monster. Hadn’t Zuzu said that sometimes the children of First Ones came out … wrong?
Monster
. Maybe that was what I was.
As if he could read my thoughts, Jax interrupted them. “You’re one of us,” he said, stepping closer. “Father Poseidon. I should have known. And there is something else—”
“One of us?” interrupted Mikos. His eyes roamed over me with contempt. “Hardly.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not one of you either. Any of you.” I glanced toward Sean. He said nothing, only stared at the sand. “I don’t know what I am.” With shaking fingers I tried to put my dress back in order. Behind me, Gran came to my rescue and helped, knotting the torn portion together.
“As far as I’m concerned, this changes nothing,” said Mikos. “Perhaps she is the dried-up spawn of some distant Revel. It’s for the Council to decide her fate. But I
will
have retribution.” He strode to the water and dove in like a spear, followed by the other First Ones.
It felt like every bit of strength had drained out of me now. I was so tired. “What do you think they’ll do?” I asked Jax.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Mikos values his pride more than almost anything. But the Council will judge fairly. No one can call you a Lander anymore. So how can you be subject to the same rules as a Lander?”
“So,” said Zuzu, looking around at the shambles of the celebration. The beach was nearly deserted and scattered with overturned tables, discarded plates and cups. “That’s it? It’s over?” She looked lost.
“Yeah,” said Reilly. “It’s over. C’mon, princess, why don’t we help Sean get back home. Here’s your tiara.” He held out the circlet of pine that had fallen from her hair.
Zuzu took the small wreath, looked at it for a moment, then shrugged and tossed it into the sand. “I’m kind of glad.” Then she tucked herself under Sean’s shoulder, supporting him. “Revel kind of sucked, didn’t it?”
“Totally sucked,” agreed Reilly. “But your dress is great.”
“Wait for me,” I said, moving to take Sean’s other side.
“No,” said Sean, finally lifting his head to look me in the eyes. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough for tonight?” He nodded to Jax. “Looks like you’re on their side now.”
His face stopped me more than his words. There was a coldness, a wariness there that I’d never seen before. Like I was his enemy and he’d just discovered it.
“C’mon, Sean,” said Reilly. He braced Sean’s arm on the opposite side of Zuzu.
“Well,” Zuzu said. “I’ll say one thing for you, Delia. You know how to clear out a party.”
The three of them made their way across the sand without another word. Perfect. It wasn’t enough that I was changing into some kind of a freak. The only friends I had were turning their backs on me.
Gran still stood behind me and now reached a hand out to pat my shoulder. “C’mon. We’ll go home now.”
Jax turned sharply to the water. “What was that?”
I listened and thought I could hear a faint hissing. I followed the line of his gaze. A tiny yellow light bobbed in the water. I stared as it came closer.
“What is it?” I asked. It looked like some leftover part of the Revel celebration. A floating candle, maybe.
I heard Jax’s shout at the same instant I saw a dark form lurch out of the water.
“Icer!”
T
he creature stood on hind legs, dragging a short, thick tail on the sand behind it.
The Icer was enormous, maybe eight feet high, with a head like some grotesque deep-sea fish. A protuberant lower jaw jutted forward with curved fangs that interlaced the set from above. Warty growths on pendulous stalks protruded from its head, and on one of these a tentacle-like blob of tissue glowed bright yellow.
That was the light I’d seen in the water. A lure.
I let out a faint cry of disgust. At the sound the Icer’s head twisted in my direction. Flat, milky eyes stared at me. It charged.
Long arms reached out with claws swiping the air like scythes. I staggered backward and crashed into Gran. With
one strong movement she grabbed my shoulders and flung me aside just as the Icer reached us.
I fell to the sand hearing Gran cry out from deep in her throat. I looked up and saw the thing on top of my grandmother. It was worrying at her head with a horrible digging, pecking movement. It was feeding on her.
Jax pulled the Icer off Gran and smashed a fist into the creature’s head. The impact made a wet, explosive thud and the Icer spun away with a sibilant hiss. It turned back, jaws gaping, and sank its teeth into Jax’s shoulder.
Jax grimaced and fell to one knee before the Icer wrenched upward, pulling him off the ground.
I ran to my grandmother’s still form.
“Oh my God!”
Her right eye was a pulpy mess and her face was covered in blood. But she was still breathing. Her limbs trembled. “Get away,” she croaked, the words bubbling through the blood seeping into her mouth.
A few feet away the Icer still held Jax in its jaws. It shook him, then dropped him and lurched toward us again.
Kneeling next to Gran, I watched it shamble closer. I was frozen in place, fascinated by the horror of it. The thing was a walking nightmare. Its gray skin had an almost gelatinous, transparent quality. Blood vessels were visible, coursing and pulsing beneath its surface. It wasn’t moving as fast as before.
“Delia!” shouted Jax. “It can’t see much. Get up. Quietly. Don’t make a sound. Go close to the fire! The light and the heat will repel it.”
At the sound of Jax’s voice, the thing wheeled around and lurched toward him again.
“C’mon, Gran,” I said. “We have to get up. C’mon,” I said. But she lay limp, barely breathing. She couldn’t move. And it was coming back.
“It smells the blood!” Jax shouted.
The Icer was closer now, moving more purposefully toward us. My chest contracted with fear as I tried to think. I wasn’t going to let that thing near Gran again. I wiped my hand against her cheek and it came away wet and red. I stood up and took a step to the side.
“Hey!”
The warty head with its expressionless eyes turned toward me.
“Yeah. Over here!”
I plunged farther away from Gran, into the water, shouting as loudly as I could. Jax yelled something at me but I couldn’t hear him.
“Hey, you! Over here. Come and get me!” I screamed, and splashed and waved my blood-scented hand until I saw the thing veer away from Gran and come at me.
The water washed over me and I took comfort in the dark embrace. I ducked down deep, my frenzy overtaking logic. As if I could hide from it here.
This is a sea creature, Delia
. I kicked back hard, swimming away as it surged toward me. Filmy eyes with a central dark circle of black loomed closer. The mouth gaped, forming a ring of glistening teeth. The yellow glow of the luminescent tentacle lit the inside of its
mouth. The red, rugated gullet contracted obscenely, as if it was already anticipating the food to come.
As I saw the horror that was going to end me, a single coherent thought shot through my mind. It was clear and as brilliantly intense as a laser.
Hate
.
My hate for this creature was pure. There was no fear. It had attacked Gran. I wished it dead.
I inhaled deep, through my mouth.
“Die!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The Icer’s head exploded in a burst of yellow gore.
T
he Icer’s body had only an oozing stump of neck left between its hulking shoulders. It pulsed blood as it sank into the water, leaving only a trail of yellow, glowing bubbles behind.
What just happened?
The water was quiet. My frantic breaths grated the air. I spun, looking for whatever had killed the Icer. It looked like a gunshot had taken its head off. Had Jax done it somehow? Had Sean come back to the beach?
Jax waded into the water. Blood streamed from the gash in his shoulder. He stared at the gruesome remains of the Icer that floated past him on the waves.
“Did you do that?” I panted. “How? Never mind. I need to get Gran out of here. Get help. Her face, Jax. I think it’s her
eye. It nearly killed her!” I practically bounded through the water toward the shore.
Jax put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “You’re safe.”
“I know. I’m okay. But Gran …” I shifted away, impatient, trying to move past him.