Page 155 of Lifebound

“The poisonous plants. There,” said Rune, nodding to the other side of the pool across from the boxes against the rocks. The weeds indeed grew on the mossy surface of the rocks, but it wasn’t just moss like I’d thought. There was something else among the weeds, like algae, or maybe this was an altogether different moss from the one that grew on Earth. Either way, those plants grew on them, and they glowed and looked so beautiful it was hard to imagine they were actually poisonous.

“That’s not it,” I told Rune. Because those plants would have to be ingested to work, and I highly doubted I could convince these mermaids to eat it—unless I laced my skin with it and told them to take a bite. Which I wasnotgoing to do.

Rune said something else, but I didn’t hear it. All I heard was the beating of my heart that shook me to my core, and the sound of water dripping everywhere, and the sound of those mermaids giggling with one another. My eyes scanned the entire cavern once more—there had to be a way out. We could come out the same way we came in.

“Nilah.”

I looked down at Rune who was looking at the pool, at the fourth mermaid that had popped out of the surface, this one with hair an auburn red and eyes as blue as mine.

“We don’t have much time,” Rune whispered. “What are you thinking?”

As much as I wanted to keep looking at the mermaids—Rune told me that that was part of their magic, too, keeping your senses on them so they could better distract you—I didn’t. I looked back at the other end of the pool where they swam.

“WWBD,” I said absentmindedly.

He looked at me, still trying to pull himself up by pushing against the edge of the pool, but the water wouldn’t let him move at all.

“What?”

“What would Betty do,” I whispered.

“Betty? YourfriendBetty?”

Aw, he remembered!

I nodded. “And the answer is always toraise hell.”

Rune looked so perfectly confused. He had no clue what the hell I was talking about, and that was okay.

“I’m going to try something, Rune. It might not work. There’s a good chance that I made it up the first few times, but it’s the best chance we got.”

He shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

I looked down at him one last time and the urge to kiss him was so strong that I did it. I leaned in and kissed him on the forehead quickly, then stood up. “I hope for both our sakes that it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll see you in heaven, Mr. Moody.”

“Nilah, what are you doing?!” he called, but I continued to walk ahead, and strangely I was calm. Maybe because I knew that this either worked or didn’t, and if I wasn’t free at the end, I’d be dead. It would be over for real. I didn’t allow myself to think about home or my family or Rune—anything at all. I just hid my hands behind my back and moved closer to the mermaids.

God help me, I’m really doing this…

“You know, we have stories about you back in Nerith,” I said, while Rune called for me to get back, to get behind him, but I didn’t even turn my head.

“The Little Mermaid is actually one of my favorite stories, and her name is Ariel and she has a green fishtail and red hair—like yours,” I told the auburn-haired one.

They looked at one another and smiled, swam a little closer.

“Do tell us more, mortal,” one of the others said.

“What is it like in Nerith? What are the mermaids like there? How powerful are they?”

“How beautiful?”

“Very,” I said and closed my eyes, fisted my hands and called for some part of me, some kind of a warmth that I had only felt a handful of times and I still didn’t know how to remember it correctly. It had been there every time I was especially terrified or out of control after my nightmares. It had been there a couple of days ago when I was in that forest, watching Rune about to get killed by the incubi.

Well, now the mermaids were going to do the same. They were going to kill him and eat me if I didn’t do something about it.

“They’re very, very beautiful…”

The mermaids were intrigued. They continued to ask me questions, all at the same time.

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