Page 65 of Oceansong
It wasn’t much, but she would take anything in a feeble attempt to defend herself. A miniscule chance of survival was better than none.
She didn’t know whether it was better to die by drowning, or die by Cyrus’ hand. Or tail, whichever he chose to end her with.
“Stop, please.” She hugged the stalactite in front of her, like a seahorse clinging to a stone for dear life. Her words still came out clear enough. “I’m not going to hurt anyone! I just want to leave and go back to the surface.”
Cyrus looked her in the eye, and shook his head with a look of contempt. “I don’t believe you. How are you able to speak?” His eyes narrowed. “You have our magic?”
“I–I–” Angie didn’t know what to say. Her mind raced in so many directions that she couldn’t keep track of her thoughts.
He swam underneath her feet, quick as a marlin, and grabbed them, pulling her out of safety.
“Cyrus!” She thrashed her feet, the force mitigated by the swirling waves, and she found herself losing control of her legs.
Cyrus’ hand closed around her neck. He darted forward, slamming her back into a rock wall. “How do you know my name? How long have you been spying on us,human?”
Angie winced as the rocky nodules drove into her spine, causing an explosion of agony. Sharp pain followed from her skin dragging upward against the roughshod wall as Cyrus forced her to meet him at eye level.
“I’m not a spy.” Her voice came out strangled as he tightened his grip. The muscles in his neck popped, the heat of his glare searing an Alaska-sized hole through her.
She kicked again, tried to pry his fingers off her neck, to no avail.
This was going to be the end of her.
Angie was going to haunt Kaden in her afterlife until she reincarnated for leaving her to die at Cyrus’ hands, and there would be no trench deep enough for him to escape from her.
Bright spots flashed into her vision, and her head pounded.
Cyrus released her, and she gasped, racing for another air bubble before figuring out why. She breathed in one some feet away from her, and turned her head, making herself as small as possible in the cavern’s corner.
Kaden had Cyrus’s shoulders gripped in his hands, and moving like a torpedo, pinned Cyrus onto a jagged piece of wall. Starfish and large barnacles dislodged from the rock and drifted around them like floating debris,until they were swept away by the currents. “Brother! What are you doing? She’s harmless!”
“Landwalkers are far from harmless.” Cyrus retaliated by raising his tail and pushing it against Kaden, forcing Kaden to loosen his grasp. Cyrus then wrapped his arms around Kaden’s shoulders from behind, his tail rising to curl around his younger brother’s, placing him in a chokehold.
Angie had to help him somehow. She would deal with why he left her alone, later. For now, she had to do something. She breathed in another air bubble, this one holding a handful of nori, and it scattered around her, floating out of her sight. A quick scan around the space revealed two more air bubbles in her immediate vicinity. One small and one larger the size of her closed fist. She made a mental note of them for when she would need air again.
After kicking off from the rock wall, she swam for Kaden and Cyrus.
Before she reached them, Kaden grabbed Cyrus’ elbows, giving a hard upward push. He escaped Cyrus’ chokehold.
“Kaden, what in the gaping trenches are you doing?” Cyrus’ voice came out as a low, slightly muffled growl, the currents carrying his words to Angie’s ears.
The brothers darted around, over, and under each other, each trying to grab and maintain their hold on the other. By grabbing Cyrus’ wrists and locking them behind his back, Kaden ended their skirmish.
Angie gasped for air again, and she turned, sucking in a large air bubble floating by her right temple. That would buy her some time.
Kaden wrapped his tail around Cyrus, effectively immobilizing him, both their gills flaring. For a moment they floated in stillness, like a statue of two mer entwined in a deadly embrace. Passing currents brushed through their thick hair like a soft breeze, lifting strands from their heads.
Cyrus’ lips tightened into a line, exasperation twisting his features. “Let me go. Now.”
“If you promise to stay your hand, brother,” Kaden replied. “And keep your silence about her.”
Cyrus’ shoulders tensed and drew forward, and Angie kicked backward, prepared to swim for her life again in case he broke from Kaden’s clutches.
“Why would I do that? You’re putting us all in danger,” Cyrus spat.
Angie hadn’t been counting the minutes that had passed, but her lungs were protesting for air again. She had one hope left, the small air bubble, and she swam for it.
Behind her, Kaden spoke again, his voice harried.
