Underwater (25 page)

I started to cry. “Don’t get out. Please…”

Don’t listen to her. She’s gonna get you killed.
Bascom leaned into the car a few inches, filling the cab with the scent of lake.

Darrow sneered into the window on our other side.
She already has.

My breath hitched in the back of my throat, and I covered my mouth with a shaking hand.

Saxon gulped audibly.
I know that you’ve been sent here to do a job. I know what you’re expected to do. But if you let me go—let
us
go—I swear to you that we’ll be gone from Pend Orielle by nightfall. And I’ll never come back. They’ll never know you didn’t kill me.

Bascom bared his teeth at us and growled. He reminded me of a wild animal.
You’re asking us to betray the Council? This just gets better and better. Sacrificing you will feel very gratifying. A Mer who turned on his own kind.

I turned toward him. “Saxon never turned against your clan! He—”

Silence!
Darrow gave Hayden’s old Honda a shove, rocking it back and forth.

I felt sick to my stomach. Where were all of those prom chaperones now? Inside drinking the spiked punch while we got assaulted by a pack of mythological beings in the parking lot?

Don’t even speak, human.
Bascom said the word
human
as though it tasted bad, and I shivered. These dudes looked as if they wanted to kill us both for fun.

Don’t talk to her like that. Your vendetta is against me, not Luna.

Darrow shoved the car again.
She knows too much.

“We’ll never tell a soul about your clan.” My voice was shaking. Tears started rolling down my face and dripping onto my dress. “We swear to you…you’ll never hear from us again. Please…just let us go.”

The Mere Monstrom demands a sacrifice tonight.
Darrow pointed a thick, waterlogged finger at Saxon.
And your betrayal to this clan won’t ever be forgotten. The Council doesn’t tolerate this behavior. They never have, and they never will.

Saxon was silent for a beat. I could almost hear the base inside the dance again, but my heart was beating so wildly in my chest, it filled my ears. Finally, he spoke.
We don’t have to act like savages. We can coexist with humans and search for a cure. Our females could carry on our posterity again someday, eliminating the need to beguile humans. It can be done. I know it can. I’ve researched, and—

Your so-called research is dangerous and reckless.
Darrow punctuated his sentence by pulling his fist back, then driving it through the window with an ear-piercing smash.

I screamed, releasing Saxon’s arm to cover my face from the shards. It was just enough time for him to grab Saxon and drag him out of the car like a ragdoll. Reaching for Saxon’s leg, I scraped at the fabric of his slacks and flopped onto my stomach on the seat. “No! You can’t do this! No!”

Stay there, Luna!
Saxon’s voice yelled in my head.
Just stay there! Don’t make them angry!

Bascom grabbed my skirt and drug me back to the center of the seat.
Don’t make a scene, human. If your people come out of that building, I’ll snap your neck, and the neck of anyone who spots us. Do you understand?

A vision of my sister in her red dress flashed in my mind, and I pressed my face down on the fabric, stifling my cries. I couldn’t risk having anyone else hurt. The thought of these goons touching Evey made my blood run cold. “Saxon.” I whimpered, my voice muffled by the dirty old Honda’s seat.

Darrow laughed manically.
Your little human mate doesn’t know when to shut up, does she? She’s almost as stupid as she looks.

Saxon strained to break free, his shoes shuffling on the cement.
Watch your mouth or I’ll—

Or you’ll what?
He yanked Saxon’s arms upwards, making him cry out in pain.
We’ve been ordered to bring you back to Cape Horn for the sacrifice. Every word you say solidifies what was already known about you. You’ve betrayed your own kind and deserve to be punished. Tonight when the moon is high, you’ll meet your fate.

“Stop!” My head shot up off of the seat. Saxon’s face was contorted into a grimace, making my heart seize. Every time they put their hands on him, my insides ached. The helplessness was agonizing. “Stop hurting him! Please!”

Bascom drug his hand through his hair, sending icy droplets all over the inside of Hayden’s car.
Garak, Oded!
The other two Council members I’d not yet seen stepped forward. One was shirtless and dripping lake water onto the pavement, and the other popped his knuckles as though he’d been waiting all day to participate. Standing upright, Bascom tapped on the roof of the car, making me jump.
Take the traitor to the Cape. Darrow and I will stay behind to do the cleanup work here.

Saxon widened his eyes in horror.
Cleanup work? You said she wouldn’t be hurt.

The Council member who’d been hanging around at the back of the car approached Saxon and drove his fist into his stomach.
We said she’d live. Not that she wouldn’t be hurt.
He bent down and leered into the car at me.
A nice head injury will wipe her memory clean. And if not, she’ll be banged up so good, people will think she’s crazy when she talks about our kind. And if not…we’ll have to come back and finish the job. It’s called damage control.

Again, Saxon started thrashing.
Stay away from her! You heard her. She said she wouldn’t tell anybody. I’ll go! I won’t fight you anymore if you don’t hurt her!

Garak and Oded grabbed Saxon’s arms, yanking him in opposite directions until his arms popped. Oded used his spare hand to punch Saxon’s jaw with a sickening crack. He writhed in pain, dropping to his knees and hanging limply in their grip.
Luna
. His voice was weak, and he didn’t open his eyes.
Just let me go…do as they say, and they’ll leave.

Not before a head injury wipes out everything she knows about Mer.
Darrow smiled down at me, his grin sinister.
Can’t have the little freak spilling all of our secrets, now can we?

I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Saxon was going to be sacrificed to the Mere Monstrom, and I was going to have my head bashed in. This situation defied all reality. Adrenaline and fear chugged through my veins, making it impossible to hold still in my seat. I had to do something. Escape, scream, beg for mercy…I didn’t know what. No matter what I did, the wrath of the Council would come down on me…and everyone inside the prom.

Leave her alone…she won’t tell. We can trust her.
Saxon’s voice was, and it made my heart pull in my chest.

Too late, lover boy.
Bascom cackled.
You should have known we would be forced to take drastic measures. You’re lucky the Council hasn’t ordered her to die.

It can still be arranged.
Oded grinned. They all laughed like as though it were hysterical, and my stomach cartwheeled. I’d faced death before, but this was the first time facing it at the hands of someone so inherently evil.

Saxon’s eyes bore into mine from his spot where he dangled a foot above the ground.
I’m so sorry, Luna. I never meant to cause this…

I looked at him through blurred eyes, still shaking. My mouth opened, then closed again. There were no words.

Get him out of here. Now.
Bascom flared his nostrils at me.
Say goodbye, human.

A sob escaped. “I love you.”

I love you, too, Luna. I always will.
Saxon was dragged away from the car, kicking and thrashing. I turned in my seat, cries shaking my body as I tried to catch a glimpse of him before they disappeared into the brush. His dark suit was a stark contrast to the thick white arms of the Mer binding him, but the forest swallowed them quickly, and I was left in Hayden’s Honda alone before I knew it.

“Oh no, no, no…” I wept, crumpling in my seat, and using my purse to cover my face. It was over. Saxon was gone. And now I was going to get my skull smashed in. Sadness rushed over me, crushing my chest and pinching my heart between the splintered bones.

Come here, human.
Darrow’s singsong tone dripped with hatred as he reached into the backseat for me.

High-pitched laughter rang out, and his head swiveled over to the hotel entrance. A couple wearing matching pink dress and cummerbund ensembles approached their car with arms around each other. They looked as though they were headed for some make-out time, and the Council members surrounding me stiffened. Bascom bent down and pointed at me. His teeth were clenched, and when his voice reverberated in my head, it was low and ferocious.

Don’t you move. If you do, we’ll see you and hunt you and all of your little friends down. Do you understand me?

I nodded obediently as the sound of the happy couple approaching their car twenty feet away filled the air. Each of the Council members backed away from Hayden’s Honda, silently ducking into the thick brush that surrounded the parking lot. I was frozen in place. I couldn’t run, obviously. And getting my chair out of the car, and then
me
into the chair, was entirely too conspicuous. The Council members would punish me, as well as the lovers in the black station wagon down the row, within seconds. I buried my face in my purse again, and my forehead clunked into the familiar shape of my cell phone.

Through all of my tears, an opportunity blossomed. I’d never been a quitter before today, and I wasn’t about to start now. Anger filled my chest, shoving all sadness to the side. They were gonna kill Saxon? They were gonna smash my head in to make me forget? Oh. Hell. No. Not if I could help it.

Glancing out the windows that faced the tree line, I could see the pale color of the Council member’s worn clothing through the brush. I was going to have to be discreet. Very discreet. Letting my hands drop, I started to unzip my purse and tugged my cell free from the fabric, all while staring despondently through the windshield. If I got caught, I was likely going to die right here in the parking lot at the prom. But at least I would go down fighting, instead of weeping in a car like some pathetic chick in the movies.

I heard the sound of car doors shutting, followed by muffled laughter a few cars down. My throat pounded against my chest wall as I buried the phone in the folds of my skirt, glancing down just long enough to wipe my eyes on the back of my palm—and make sure that the text messages were open on the screen. There was a rustle in the bushes next to me, and a glimmer of muscular white flesh flashed in my peripheral vision. My eyes locked on a chip in the windshield, and I continued to sniffle and hiccup. I didn’t dare look down again as my fingers typed out a text message to Evey.

Council is here. They took Saxon. Walk to car like nothing is wrong. You’re being watched…we have to get the hell out of here ASAP.

I brought my hand up and swiped it underneath my nose, shaking my head and hamming up my fake tears just enough to look like a pathetic little girl. Which is what the Councilmen already thought I was. No use letting them know I’d outsmarted them. Yet.

When my hand flopped back down I added a nice shake of my shoulders for good measure…and pressed send.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Where are you?” I mumbled to myself, scanning the parking lot for Evey and Hayden.

Three more students had gathered on the far side of the parking lot to sneak a smoke, and the Councilmen in the brush were getting more pissed by the millisecond. I could tell by the way Bascom was pacing, just beyond the fern. I could actually hear Darrow cracking the knuckles on his beefy hands.

My heart pounded so hard in my chest, I bounced in my seat. Where in the world was my sister and Hayden? Of all the nights for her to put her purse down and forget about her cell. If I got my skull cracked at the hands of a ticked-off Mer while Evey and Hayden did the Dougie…

Worse yet, if Saxon died being sacrificed to the Mere Monstrom…

I fingered my cell phone amongst the folds of my skirt and glanced at the brush. Bascom was watching me like a hawk, a venom-filled glare plastered all over his pale face. A shiver or panic rippled through me, and my fingers retracted from the phone. “Come on, come on,” I whispered.

The sound of feet crossing the parking lot sent a wave of terror down my back, and I turned in my seat in time to spot Evey and Hayden approaching the car. Both were staring down at the pavement, their eyes wide and scared, and their hands were clasped together tightly. Their shoes crackled on the broken glass as they passed.

“My window…” Hayden’s eyes flicked toward the woods, and he grit his teeth together.

There was a shift in the woods next to the car, and every hair on the back of my neck stood upright. Hayden pulled open Evey’s door, and she dropped into her seat stiffly. “Where are they?” She demanded, turning around to face me.

“Shhhhh!” I hissed through clenched teeth. My eyes rolled from Evey’s face to the woods, then back again. “They’re out there.”

Hayden opened the driver’s-side door and climbed in. “What’s going on? Where did they take Saxon?”

Evey and I both drowned out his words with a low “Shhhh!”

“Hayden, start the car.” I spoke through a locked jaw.

He fumbled in his pocket. “I can see one of them…by the tree.”

Evey looked out the window and whimpered. “Where are the keys, Hay?”

“They took Saxon to Cape Horn.” I talked as quietly as I could. I could scarcely hear my voice over the sound of my heart beating.

“We can be there in twenty minutes.” He switched pockets. “How many Mer are in the brush?”

“Two.” I released a shuddering breath. “Hayden, we have to split.
Now
.”

There was an eerie crack and a shuffle as Darrow broke his way through the brush, taking several twigs off of a tree as he emerged. His lips pulled back into a silent snarl as he watched us.

Gasping, I pushed on the button to lock my windows furiously, but nothing happened. “Hayden! Lock the doors, now.”

“The doors won’t lock until the engine is on.” Hayden dug into his pocket even deeper.

A couple of juniors I recognized wandered into the parking lot, then proceeded to sit on the hood of the car right next to Hayden’s to share a kiss. My heart twisted. I already missed Saxon so much it ached in my core. But I was also relieved to be surrounded by horny teenagers, because it kept the vengeful Mer at bay.

Evey’s hand clasped Hayden’s arm. “We need to get out of here—”

Hayden yanked the keys out of his pocket and dropped them with a clink onto the floor. “Dammit!”

Through the corner of my eye, I saw Bascom join Darrow on the edge of the brush. Their eyes were locked in a silent warning aimed directly at me, and it chilled me right down into my bones. “Hayden, they’re not gonna stay in the brush forever. Get the damn car started,” I growled.

Evey pressed the button under her window, her voice becoming shrill. “Can we at least lock the doors? Please?”

Scooping the keys off of the floor, Hayden jammed them into the ignition and pumped the gas pedal. “My car is old…they don’t work until the car is running.”

Bascom nudged Darrow with an elbow, and the two Council members stepped completely out of the foliage. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, pushing all fear aside. I didn’t even bother to be discreet or quiet when I grabbed the back of Hayden’s seat and shook it. “Go now!”

Darrow glanced at the nearby kids and took a threatening step toward the car.

“Hayden!” Evey started to cry.

He turned the keys and the engine choked. Bascom strode toward the car, his steps wide.

“Lock the doors, Hayden!” I screamed, horror rattling my insides.

Ev started to rock in her seat. “He’s coming!”

Hayden turned the keys again. The Honda’s engine cleared its throat, but didn’t come to life. “Son of a—”

“Hayden, lock the doors now!” My scream was so loud it made the kids stop kissing to stare at us. “Get away from here! Get back inside!” I ordered them through the broken window. “Go!”

They hustled off, casting curious glances over their shoulders, just as Hayden released a string of expletives and punched the dashboard. Darrow crossed the parking lot in a matter of five, maybe six, strides. Ten feet…five feet…three feet. His fists went up above his head, arms extended.

You worthless little humans…I’ll tear you all apart and leave your bodies to warn the rest of your kind!

Bang!
Two domes of metal and fabric concaved into the cab right above mine and Hayden’s heads. Covering our heads, Evey and I crouched down in our seats.

We were going to die. In a 1995 Honda. On prom night.

Hayden pumped the gas pedal again, and with one more turn of the key, the engine turned over and roared to life. “Yes!” He slammed the car into gear, flooring it.

Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
The doors locked, and we sped away from Oded in a cloud of burnt rubber and flying rocks.

We squealed out of the lot. The moment our car bounced onto the highway, Bascom and Darrow dove back into the woods. I watched through the rear window as the hotel and the curious stares of prom-goers faded in the distance. The only sound in the car was the three of us panting and the chug of the engine. When I turned back around in my seat, Hayden was staring dead ahead, wild eyed, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. Evey sat up and buckled her seatbelt in silence.

“Seatbelts,” she reminded us in a shaky voice.

Hayden grabbed his belt and buckled it obediently. Fumbling for my belt, I peered out the broken window up at the sky. “We have to hurry. They’re going to sacrifice him to the Mere Monstrom when the moon is high.”

Hayden gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. “How do you know?”

I shot him a look in the rear view mirror. “I was there when they told him what was coming and then dragged him into the woods.”

He pressed his lips together. “Right. Got it.”

Evey leaned forward and peered out the windshield. “What do you think you’re going to do?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged one shoulder and blinked back tears. Fear rippled through me so violently, I practically bounced across the backseat. “But I have to try something…anything.”

“What’s going to happen to everyone at the prom?” Evey breathed, her fingers pressing against her lips. “What if they hurt more people?”

Tucking my tangled hair behind my ears, I shook my head. “That would be conspicuous. They’re probably going to wait for me back at Moon’s Bay.”

The gravity of the situation thickened the air in the car. We’d escaped harm by seconds. A
fraction
of a second. Hayden shook his head. “We’ll go to Cape Horn. We’ve got to find Saxon.”

I thought for a moment, my eyes locked on the domes that’d been punched into the top of Hayden’s car. We weren’t dealing with normal bullies here. The Council members were as big as Saxon, but twice as strong. “We have to go home first,” I announced suddenly.

“What?” Evey cried at the same time Hayden snapped, “Are you crazy?”

I closed my eyes, willing them to stay dry. I’d cried enough for one night. It was time to put my big girl pants on and save Saxon. “Just take me there. Those two Mer are on foot, and we’re in a car. I’d say we’ve got a head start. And I’ve got a plan. We can go over Crowley’s Pass and be there in ten minutes.”

“Crowley’s Pass is the opposite direction of Cape Horn,” Hayden retorted.

I chewed my lip. “I know. But we need a gun.”

He didn’t ask questions. He simply put on the blinker and turned onto the old gravel road cutting through the woods to Moon’s Bay.

“Why would they take Saxon to Cape Horn?” Evey asked as we bounced along the dark road. “I mean, why not just go down to the beach nearby and take Saxon out right there?” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Sorry.”

“Because Cape Horn is where the Mere Monstrom lives.”

“Oh…great,” she said weakly.

I fixed my eyes on the dark trees outside my window. “Hayden, can you go any faster?”

* * *

The white farmhouse was lit up, and the sound of my parents arguing—again—was coasting through the open windows. We parked along the road at the end of the driveway, and I waited as Evey and Hayden snuck into the small storage shed where my father kept his lawnmower, tools, and his hunting rifle
.

He’d promised my mother countless times that he would lock up his gun and that the bullets would be stored separately. But, much like his promises to fix the dock and boathouse, he’d gotten too preoccupied to follow through. So after he’d used the rifle to chase away some raccoons in February, the gun and ammo were thrown in the shed and forgotten. Until now.

Every sound I heard made me jump in my seat while I waited in the car. I hated sitting on my butt while Ev and Hayden snuck into the shed unnoticed. I wanted to be doing something, anything, to help Saxon. It was dark now. And the moon was growing rounder by the second.

I heard the lake’s waves lapping the dock beyond the house and felt a pang in my heart. Would there ever be a time in mine and Saxon’s relationship when it wasn’t riddled with worries and fear? When we weren’t trying fight off a vengeful beast of some kind? The pang turned into a crushing sensation, and I rubbed at my chest. Would I even get there in time? And if I did, would they even be above the surface? Or deep below, beyond my reach?

A breeze rustled the trees, and I heard a twig snap in the darkness. If an angry Mer caught me alone, I was as good as dead. The passenger’s-side door popped open, and I yelped.

“Relax, it’s me.” Evey climbed into the car. “Mom and Dad didn’t even hear.”

Hayden climbed into the driver’s seat and handed the gun to my sister. “The safety’s on, but point it toward the floor just to be safe.”

“Mom and Dad are too busy yelling at each other to notice their teenage daughter and her boyfriend stealing a freaking weapon.” Evey cast me a look that clearly said,
Shut up or else,
so I added, “Can we get going? Like, now-ish?”

Hayden put the car into gear. “It takes forty minutes to drive around the lake to Cape Horn.”

Our eyes met again in the rear view mirror. “Then you’d better drive fast.”

Hitting the gas, we sped off. The headlights cast a dim beam on the road as we curved around the bend, Hayden’s fists clenching the steering wheel. Evey glanced back at me as we coiled between the trees and offered me a feeble smile. “It will be OK…it’s…gotta be.”

A streak of white darted out in front of the car, and I grabbed the back of Ev’s seat. “Look out!”

It hit the car—or, the car hit
it
—before Hayden had time to slam on the brakes.

“It’s a person!” Evey gasped as the car turned sideways on the cracked pavement, and we skidded to a halt. We sat there for a second, maybe two, the three of us gaping with open mouths out the windshield. The person in question was sprawled across the hood, groaning, stark naked, and holding his right arm.

My eyes focused in on his neck, when I saw that there were three lines underneath his ear that were opening and closing frantically.

“Ian!” I belted out. “It’s Ian!”

Ian rolled onto his side, pressing his obviously dislocated elbow close to his bare chest. His white-blond hair was wet and standing straight up off of the side of his head. When he opened his mouth to speak, he choked and gagged.

“Hayden?”