Saving Her Destiny (9 page)

He yanked off his breather and took in a breath of crisp, clean air, and for a moment let the sunshine bathe him in its warmth.

Sunlight invigorated him. Warmed him to the core—he hadn't realized how cold he'd been in the waters until the rays of light hit him in earnest.

But because Mother Nature was a bitch, a gust of wind slammed into him, chilling him again.

He stumbled and took a few steps around. “Okay, I gotta get on with this.” In his mind's eye, he could see Cara. And he hoped she wasn't suffering.

If his idea worked, he should be able to enchant something that belonged to Cara, and it would lead him straight to her when he went back down.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out her little red bracelet and held it up. It shimmered and shined in the sunlight, bright fire-engine red. He materialized his wand and waved the green sparkles over her bracelet.

“Find her. Find Cara.”

The little bracelet twitched in his hand, but before it could take off, he clenched it in his fist. He popped his breather back into his mouth and waved his wand to return him to the Merrow Kingdom.

At least that spell worked
, Duncan mused as the magic wrapped around him. In a blink, he was back underwater, just outside the royal palace.

As soon as he appeared, three Brothers charged forward, all surrounding him with spears drawn.

“Wait, wait…”
Duncan said, holding up a hand.

“Who are you?”

“Where are you from?” They jabbed at him with their spears.

“I'm Duncan Molar, with the FID. I'm here to find Cara, the missing banshee!”

His words must have given them pause, because one hesitated.

“I've been working with Keefe and Kealan,”
Duncan said. Cara's little bracelet jerked in his hand.

One of the merrow glanced at the others. “Wait,” he said.

“He's fine,” came Kealan's voice.

Keefe was right behind him. “That was fast.”

The two princes pushed between the other merrow, and the guards put down their spears. Keefe glanced at the guards and they began to back off.

“Did you get it made?” Kealan asked.

Duncan held up his hand and the bracelet twitched again. It had turned a muddy brown color, with his green magic enchanting it.

“So do it.”

“Find Cara,”
Duncan said as he let go of the bracelet.

The little bracelet darted through the water, made it about five yards, and slammed into the outer wall of the Merrow Kingdom. From there, it sank to the sea floor, sparking and sputtering just like Duncan's magic had earlier.

“That worked well,” Kealan said.

“Shut up,”
Duncan said. He swam over to the wall and put his hand on it.
“What's on the other side here?”

“Nothing,” Keefe said. He grabbed Duncan's arm, and they swam to the top of the wall and down the other side.

Duncan cursed when he saw the other side of the wall, because Keefe was absolutely right. There was nothing there.

Just the sea floor.

“Perfect,”
Duncan thought.
“That was a waste of magic.”

Kealan appeared behind him, the bracelet in his hand. “Here, you might need this. Rather, Cara will when we find her.”

Duncan's shoulders slumped, what hope he had disappearing as he took the little red bracelet. He glanced at the meter on his arm.

Orange red.

Less than two hours.

“Do you really think we will?”

Neither brother said anything.

Chapter Eight

“Evacuation?” the Merrow King bellowed.

“It is the only way to be sure,”
Duncan said. He knew this wasn't going to go well, but what other option did they have?

The meter moved faster and faster toward the point of no return. He'd discussed this particular course of action with the princes while en route to the king's chambers, and they both agreed that this might be the best way to save the kingdom.

Considering the magic he'd tried to use wouldn't lead him to Cara like he wanted, what other choice did they have? Something bad was coming, and Cara was at the heart of it. He knew the king wouldn't like the idea of evacuating, but until either they found Cara or her scream erupted, it was the only way to secure the merrow people.

The Merrow Kingdom was at risk.

“We cannot be sure we can find her in time,” Kealan told the king.

“The damage could be extensive,” Keefe replied.

“We have teams looking for her now, yes?” the king asked. He rose from the dais-like chair he'd been resting on, and his tail flicked as he headed toward a long window.

Just barely, Duncan could make out the inner circles, where the magical dome sheltered the central buildings.

Duncan nodded.
“If she was merely injured, or even distracted, we would have found her hours ago.”
The image came to mind of her, bound and gagged in the cave.
“Someone has purposely taken her, Your Majesty. The little we have discovered so far shows nefarious intent.”

“Who could do this?” the king asked. “Why?”

“We don't know for certain,” Kealan said. “Only that it is coming, and time is running short.”

“You have an idea?” the king asked.

Duncan nodded.
“We have a possible suspect, Your Majesty. However, we need to secure the kingdom and you, of course
.
”

“You are FID. You should be able to find her.”

“Without magic, my abilities are limited,
” Duncan said.

“So use your magic,” the king said, picking up his small triton.

Duncan blinked.
“My magic won't work here. We've tried—”

The king swirled his triton. “Magic,” he murmured. “It always comes back to the magic.” The lights began to flicker as a wave passed over the throne room, like being splashed with hot water.

Duncan shook his head.
“What was that?”

The king swam closer to Duncan. “You should be able to use your magic now. Find my cousin, fairy. Get her to safety.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,”
Duncan said.

The king looked to Keefe and Kealan. “Evacuate the Nursery. Get the children to safety on Avalon. That is our priority.” He looked to Duncan. “The royal family shall take shelter here.”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I believe you would be safer topside as well,”
Duncan replied.
“This could be as much a threat to you specifically as the kingdom as a whole.”

This time the king swam closer. “The royal family will not abandon the kingdom.”

Duncan wanted to object, if only because of what the princes had told him about Norton and his known agenda.
“Your Majesty, I feel that—”

“We will be secure here,” the king said. “Now go, find my cousin's child.”

Duncan nodded.
“I will find her.”

“See that you do, boy. I don't want to see my kingdom destroyed.”

Neither do I,
Duncan thought.

Chapter Nine

At least I know where I'm at
, Cara thought.

The building Norton had moved her to was an ante-building of the Royal palace—if anything in the kingdom could be considered an anti-anything. The whole place connected like a ring, and she was on one edge. She'd managed to peek a little through a hole in the tapestry thing he'd wrapped her in when he'd transported her.

Yet she still wasn't sure why he'd brought her here. What purpose did it serve?

If she released her scream now, here, she'd likely damage the palace. Part of the reason she stayed away from the main structure was because of the force of the screams.

Unless he
wanted
to damage the palace.

Again, the whys taunted her.

She struggled against the wrappings he'd covered her with. From somewhere, he'd gotten a SCUBA mask and plastered it on her face.

At least he didn't want her drowning.

That was a plus, right?

As a banshee, she had a finite amount of magic naturally instilled in her. When a cry came, because she had to release it underwater, she could stay under for a little bit of time. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had—whether it was a few hours or a full day, she'd never tested it. Her cousins, Keefe and Kealan, had always thought she could last a few days, but she'd never been brave enough to try. Not that she had that long before this cry erupted. The pain was so strong she could only guess she had a couple of hours at the most before it came out.

As she listened to the soft swooping sound of the scuba mask, she was sort of glad she had the coverings that Norton had left.

The cold depth was starting to seep inside.

And the longer she stayed, the colder she got. Even with the wetsuit, she still felt the cold deep in her bones.

She shivered. Her arms were starting to go numb. This couldn't last much longer, because the scream was coming. It burned in her gut.

Her shivers were a small reprieve from the pain of the scream, which was so powerful it dug under her skin. Tears welled in her eyes.

Calm.

Calm.

I can fight this.

And a rush of pain as the scream demanded release hit her hard. She bobbed against the rock flooring inside the tiny storage room—at least that was what she thought the room was for. There were containers scattered about, but nothing else to hint the purpose of the stone structure.

Unfortunately, Norton had tied her in a way that even if she tried to swim, she couldn't. Her legs and arms were bound, making her trussed like a rodeo animal.

Though he wasn't in the room, she could hear the timbre of Norton's voice outside the door. His and someone else's, but she couldn't make out who he was speaking with.

He might have been talking to himself. She wasn't sure.

She wouldn't put anything past him at this point.

Focus.
She made herself try to hear what he was saying. As close as he was, had they been in air, she would have been able to hear everything. Underwater, though, sound was so distorted.

The only gear she had from her dive was her earpiece, but it must have slipped out some.

Norton and his mystery guest.

“Evacuating the kingdom… Very little time… All will be lost…”

The door opened fully, and Norton came back in. She saw no signs of anyone with him. Maybe he really had been talking to himself.

Great. Now adding “crazy” to her cousin's résumé. As brash as she wanted to be, the situation still terrified her.

Because meticulous, methodical kidnapping—there was a purpose. She'd read true crime novels before. But crazy, well, that was a whole other thing. Crazy couldn't be predicted, or likely prevented.

As he crossed to her, for a second, he looked sympathetic, like he might care about her.

“Are you feeling well?” he asked.

“Die, you jerk,”
Cara thought back.

He raised his eyebrow. “Tsk tsk, such harsh words. Don't you understand what I'm doing? They always said you were smart. Pity they were wrong.”

“Nope, not as smart as you, Norton. So let me go.”

“I'm making everything right for us,” Norton said as he swam around. “Bringing back the balance that was lost because of our stupid grandmother.”

“By making me explode?”

“Exactly,” Norton said, his face contorting into a cold mask. It didn't truly shift like a shapeshifter, but his eyes darkened, like a serial killer who'd just revealed his plan. “Even with all my preparation to get you down here, I could never deliver the amount of necessary damage that
you
will to complete my plan.” He swished his tail.

He did want her to die. To explode.

“Why kill me? What did I ever do to you?”

He tipped his head to the side. “There are always casualties when rebuilding an empire.” He swam a little closer. “I have it planned to the moment. It is a fitting irony that you, a by-product of Grandmother's rejection of her crown, help to restore it, by killing the entire royal family.”

He reached down and stroked her head.

She would have bitten him if she could. The best she had was to pull away from him.

“I can't kill them… I like my family, Norton. Even you, sometimes. Let me go, please?”

He shook his head. “You don't understand. You're not supposed to like our position as the cast off family line. You're supposed to be furious at our lot.”

Cara remembered one of the things Norton had been muttering.
“But they're evacuating the kingdom. They won't be here when this comes out.”

“Wrong again,” Norton said, shaking his head. “Like a sea captain, the royal family, by law, will never evacuate their home. They'll take shelter here, in the kingdom, but they'll never leave. That's the beauty of it.”

“Where?”
Cara asked, but she had a pretty good idea she knew the answer.

“Why, in the building right next to this one. Your scream will kill the entire royal family instantly. Thereby making myself the king of the merrow.”

“Will there even be any merrow left?”

“Plenty to do my bidding.”

“And that's all this is about—doing your bidding, isn't it, Norton?”

He darted forward and grabbed her hair.

Cara winced. Probably would have screamed had she a voice.

“Don't you get it? It's time, stupid girl. It's time for us to stop hiding in the shadows and reveal ourselves to the world.”

“What world, Norton?”

“The human world,” Norton said. “We will rule them, dominate them. I have foreseen it!”

Cara tried to wiggle away.
“You really think you'll rule all the humans in the world? There's at least a hundred of them—maybe even a thousand of them—to every merrow. You will never survive
.
And since when could you see the future?”

Norton was not a psychic—deranged, maybe—but not psychic.

“Maybe for merrow, but not all mythicals. How many races live on Avalon, Cara? At least a dozen. And it's only a small part of the whole mythical community. If we combined our strengths, we would be able to dominate the humans in a matter of days.”

Okay, so Cara needed to file away—if she got out of this—that her cousin was absolutely out of his flipping mind. Mythicals? Ruling the humans?

He'd lost all sense. It was a childish fantasy. One she assumed many mythicals entertained once or twice, but dismissed as a natural part of age and maturity. To cling to it was like an adult human hanging on to the fantasy of Santa Claus.

“I don't think the humans will fall back that easily,”
Cara replied. There were big reasons—huge reasons—why the humans didn't know anything about this side of the world. Beyond the obvious, of course—that it would freak them out.

Some would accept them, probably even worship mythical beings walking the world.

But others wouldn't.

It was only a matter of time.

Hadn't he ever seen
True Blood
?

Norton's face twisted into a wicked grin. “Too bad you won't be alive to see me prove you wrong. I am right. I've spent years on land—human land—studying them. Working with other mythicals and formulating a plan. I have allies. They will help me.”

“What, you got a vampire sidekick?”

“Many,” he said with that horrible grin. “Regardless, it is time for me to depart. I cannot stay with you in these last moments, my dear. Speedy death.”

“Norton!”

He swam for the door and pulled it shut as she screamed. At least, as she tried to.

“Norton! Norton, get back here you slimy worm! Get back here!”

Panic hit her hard.

Now, she truly was screwed.