Page 58 of Bright Soul

With the supernaturals we’d rescued resting in individual containment rooms and the sun setting by the time our group returned to the safety of the hospital, there was little to do but rest and wait for the next day.

Which started before five in the morning, practically a crime. Madigan flipped on the overhead light in my coven’s shared room in the hospital and rapped her knuckles on her crystal-covered shoulder. “Up, all of you! We have a visitor,” she announced.

We were having another odd slumber party crammed together in one room overnight. Well, most of us were. Phaeron had never settled, and Geo had remained in gargoyle form, going down to fight any creatures that sniffed around the grounds overnight.

“Mom,” Roe groaned, covering her eyes with a forearm.

“A merman is asking for Willow,” Madigan said.

That had the redhead’s attention. Several of us moved quicker with the news and stole glances at our quiet friend.She seemed just as confused as I felt, though hope sparkled in her eyes as she murmured, “Maybe he will teach me something about how to control my magic.”

“Do you know who he might be?” I asked her.

She replied with an exaggerated shrug. Oh joy…another surprise.

“We don’t allhave to see who it is,” she protested a little belatedly when the rest of our coven was already heading downstairs.

“The sun’s not even up, and he was important enough to wake all of us,” Ben said, shrugging as he fell into step with Willow and me. “We’ll all want to see what’s up.”

Madigan waited in front of the door to the boardroom we kept using for group meetings. “This concerns a matter of your identity. I’d be honored to sit beside you while you hear what this man has to say,” she said to Willow.

“Um, of course. Everyone’s welcome to be here if they want to be,” she answered. She looked completely blindsided when she walked in first and the merman bowed to her from where he stood at the back of the room.

“Oh, um, hello,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Hey, it’s that guy.” Ben elbowed Willow, gesturing to the aquatic familiar she had bobbing over her shoulder in its own personal bubble of water. It was a cuttlefish, apparently, so skilled in changing its coloring on command that I’d never gotten a good look at it.

“You know him?” I whispered to Ben. We all filed in and had seats around the table, a full coven—plus Áine and Madigan—show of support for whatever this man wanted from Willow.

“He was at the familiar fair. You know, the one where she got a dude’s number?” he whispered back.

Oh, yeah.Willow had blushed over the news of snagging a “totally cute” merman’s number at the event. He was in his landform, wearing a damp wetsuit molded to his broad shoulders and carved muscles. Cerulean fish scales sparkled on his cheeks and forehead where skin met short navy-blue hair. Fins flapped in place of human ears.

There was a trident propped against the back wall. Unlike the delicate silver one Willow carried, this one was solid, built for skewering with a head marked by a few swirling runes. Mer magic.

Willow looked ready to crawl under the conference table. “Zander, what’s going on?” she asked.

“I know this is going to sound unusual, especially with an audience,” the merman said slowly. “Laiken, the Coral King, has sent me to find you, Willow. We strongly suspect you are his daughter.”

Her mouth popped open. “What?” she gasped.

“Whoa there. On what evidence?” Madigan interjected.

He brushed a hand through his hair. “Okay, yeah, you all might be a little suspicious, and that’s normal. The supernatural world watched the broadcast of the fight that led to most of the Crown Coven dying. At this point, every pixel has been scrubbed for information. The merfolk took an interest in you, Willow, and your sudden surge of power. By the abyss, even the gray color your scales manifested in the recording seems to suggest they belong to the royal line.”

“Oh no,” she whispered.

“It didn’t take much digging to find your name and other important information. Your age and status as a half-mer is what really tipped off some of us that know the king. He tried to hide you from his enemies, but if we’ve found you, they have as well. For your safety, you need to come with me,” he said.

She looked down at her hands. I thought she was ducking her head from the attention on her, but then she lifted her arm. Pinkish scales covered the back of it, along with a shimmery finof the same color. “Does this match?” she asked. The moment her focus broke so she could speak, her mer side smoothed back into creamy, human skin.

“Coral red. Royal blood runs true through your veins…princess,” Zander said, bowing to her again.

“Congratulations, Willow,” I said, the first to break the silence that followed, where most of us gaped between the two of them.

“Wait, no. This is crazy,” she said, interrupting the belated chorus of congratulations that followed mine. Her palms hit the table. “For those of you who don’t know, King Laiken is a demigod merman who rules from…well, all you need to know is that his territory encompasses the Coral Sea and a chunk of the Pacific. He doesn’t havekids.”

“That have survived to adulthood,” Zander appended. “Whatever you’ve heard in school, the reality is far more gruesome. All of your half-siblings have been murdered, and you will be next without protection.”

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