FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) (27 page)

For someone who had just succeeded in stabbing her enemy, Katrina looked oddly unsatisfied. “What, not dying quick enough for you?”

“Impossible. You’re supposed to lose it,” she whispered.

“Maybe, but, then again, I’m not you.”

Katrina and her eel quickly disappeared.

Strangely, I couldn’t feel any pain. My insides felt loose, detached in a way. I just floated, watching the blood gush from my open stomach. For a moment, I didn’t feel like myself; I felt distant, almost empty. The thought of death didn’t alarm me. I truly had no feeling for anything.

Then I heard his voice in the distance, and my feelings returned. I cared. I wanted to live.

“Dolphs, to Marina!” screamed Troy.

The dolphins arrived just in time to block me from a horrifyingly large group of bull sharks.

“T-ree,” I muttered when Treeva appeared by my side.

“It’ll be okay. I’ve got you now,” she said, holding me in her arms.

My head felt like a two million pound whale. No longer able to hold it up, I let my head hang and rest against Treeva’s shoulder. When I did, I saw something moving beneath the protective circle of dolphins—something with jaws the size of the Grand Canyon and teeth as sharp as Poseidon’s trident.

I tugged on Treeva’s arm with what little strength I had. “You’re gonna need a bigger fin.”

Treeva glanced down, horrified. “Son of a bitch!”

Just before the colossal beast closed on us, Troy descended, shoving the mighty shark off course.

“I love my brother,” whispered Treeva.

“I—lo…too,” I moaned before passing out.

*****

“You stubborn ass! We need to get her to him fast, Troy, and Manakel can get her there the quickest.” Treeva’s voice sounded very far away.

“I’m sure he’s handier than a mini-trident, but I’m not letting her go alone with this down comforter.” Troy sounded stern and perturbed.

“So I can go back to my cloud, then? I have a deliciously shimmering treat waiting for me,” said Manakel.

“Move, cherub, and I’ll kill you,” said Treeva.

“What part of ‘I’m already dead’ is unclear?”

“Then I’ll pluck your feathers one by one.”

“Promise?” said Manakel.

“T-roy?”

“Marina! Can you hear me?” Troy asked anxiously, stroking my hair.

“She’s had her gut sliced like a naughty shark, Fishy. Her ears haven’t been lobbed,” said Manakel.

“Can hear you…all of you, even the frisky, feathered maybe-foe,” I said before coughing up my tonsils. The pain in my stomach shot straight through to my spine. Clutching the wet sand beneath my hands, I screamed in agony.

“I resent the implication that I have some shiny skinned Sheila all buttered up on my cloud. Not that it’s any of your business, but my treat is a 1930 Storm Breweries bottle of fine hurricane rain.”

“Just shut up,” said Troy angrily. “What happened, Marina? Who did this to you?”

Unfortunately, the only answers I could give were earsplitting screams.

“Bloody drungo. Making her talk speeds up the ‘Oh My God she might effing die’ mentality,” said Manakel.

“Troy! Just let him take her to Hambury House! Trust me!” Treeva pleaded.

“Fine. But if anything happens—”

“Nothing will…with me,” said Manakel, taking me into his arms.

I felt a brief breeze, but little else as my eyes closed once again.

*****

“Marina,” said a man’s voice. “Marina, I need you to look at me.”

Struggling, I willed my eyes to open and found a familiar face: it was the man I saw in the study the night Manakel rescued me from a wall-smash death. But there was something else about him…

“Principal Jeepers?”

“By day, yeah. Can keep an eye on my enemies that way…at least as much as they’ll let me. They pretty much think I’m unstable and only in the job because of some grand-merman clause, which, of course, I crafted. Fools. Now, where was I? Ah, yes…by day, I’m the principal, by night…I’m Dracula,” he said, smiling. “Only kidding. He’s a popinjay. Anyway, you can call me Doctor David Tenly, or just David, Tenly, Doctor David, or even Doctor. Now, what color eyes do I have?”

Despite the slightly manic look in his eyes, Doctor Tenly defined handsome. How I could recognize this factoid at
this
moment befuddled me.

“B-brown.”

“Well, they’re actually chocolate brown with a sprinkling of gold flecks, but I’ll give you brown,” he said airily.

Clearly, he was either insane or a big time Rhett. “H-how can you look so y-young? You’re ancient. Got a portrait in the attic?”

“Eh, let’s save the story of good genes and my minor tweaking of genetic molecules for another day, shall we? Right now, I need to know what caused this really disgusting slash,” said Doctor Tenly, gently brushing his fingers over my wound; I unleashed a God-awful scream when he did.

“What do you think, Doc?” asked Manakel.

“I’m not sure,” he said, tasting my blood on his fingers.

Definitely insane. If I hadn’t been in so much pain, I would have hurled. “It’s like
Close Encounters of the Cuckoo Kind
.”

“I do have a thing for mashed potatoes,” said Doctor Tenly, knocking on my head.

“I’m not a knock-knock joke!” I screamed.

“Doctor! What’s wrong with her?” Troy rushed in, kneeling by my side.

“Well, for starters, she’s been stabbed,” said Manakel.

“David, is it our Massive Fear?” Treeva asked, touching his arm.

“Can’t be sure just yet. It’s not a typical wound…that much is certain. No trident or shark caused this. By the way, what color would you say my eyes are, Tree?”

“Chocolate brown with a sprinkling of gold flecks,” said Treeva, biting her lip.

“See, that’s what I thought, but
she
just called them plain old brown. I don’t want boring brown eyes.”

“Can we focus on Marina, here?” Troy asked testily.

“Ah, yes, of course. Marina, I need you to focus for a moment. This is very important, now. Can you tell me…the color of my hair?”

“Are you sure you’re a doctor?” Troy asked.

“Uh, Ravenflame…black with r-red streaks,” I croaked.

“Look again, Marina,” said Treeva.

Looking again, I saw an odd shift in his hair. “It’s brown, uh, chocolate brown?”

“Well, I prefer mud brown…little earthier, you know,” he said, running a hand through his plentiful head of hair before slapping my forehead.

“Is he normal?” Troy asked, peeved.

“Am I a Normal? Nah, but I love Normals. They do the craziest things. What was it I saw one of the relatives do recently…hmm…anyway, uh, where was I?”

“You-were-going-to-help-Marina,” Troy said through gritted teeth.

“Quite like him,” said Manakel, pointing to Doctor Tenly.

“Ah, yes! Marina! Now, can you tell me who did this to you?”

“Katrina Zale.” I could feel Troy’s body stiffen like a robot. “She s-stabbed me.”

“That much is obvious. Let’s not go for the pink manatee in the room, and try to solve something a little less apparent. Did you see what she stabbed you with?” asked Doctor Tenly, removing from his green jacket what looked like a curly flashlight. He shined it on my abdomen, moving the light around in tight circles.

“A necklace with a red stone. She always wears it.”

“Stone as in a gem?” he asked.

“Yes,” I groaned.

“I see. Now, are we talking Dorothy’s ruby-red-shoes red or fiery-orange-eyeball red?” he asked, taking a piece of gum from his mouth and sticking it to the wall.

“You are so strange,” I wheezed. “For all I know, I could be in some parallel universe to Oz or on the brink of having my finger bitten off by some deranged former hobbit. Who the hell cares about the shade of red?”

Doctor Tenly, pausing to remove another piece of gum from his mouth, whispered, “She’s getting testy.”

“Do you blame her?” yelled Troy. “And could you stop putting barely chewed gum on the wall!”

“Oh, not to worry. I have plenty. NOW! Color, Marina! What is the color?”

“I don’t have to answer you! Who the hell
are
you? I’m a reader! Three shuffles and your life is mine,” I said in a vicious, non-me tone. “I’m the Siren Savior, you sick son-of-a—”

“Yes, yes, but you won’t be much of a savior if dead, will you? Now, WHAT IS THE COLOR?!” Doctor Tenly roared, barely an inch from my face.

“DON’T YELL AT HER!” Troy shouted.

“I have to yell at her, Troy.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re losing her. I’m trying to keep her here. MARINA! THE COLOR!”

“RUBY R-RED!” A ripping sound came from somewhere inside of me and I started sobbing.

“Can’t you give her something for the pain?” Troy begged.

“N-not pain,” I said, gasping through sobs. “P-pulling…empty.”

A look of horror washed over Treeva’s face as Doctor Tenly stood above me, running his hands through his hair.

“Marina, what do your insides feel like?” Doctor Tenly quietly asked.

On any other day, this would have been a bizarre question. Today, however, it made perfect sense. “Loose. Disconnected.”

“David?” asked Treeva.

“Yes, it is.”

“What? WHAT IS?” asked Troy.

“They’re trying to rip out her soul,” said Manakel.

“Katrina, indeed, tried to tear Marina’s soul from her body tonight. She either wanted to kill her soul…or capture it,” said Doctor Tenly, swiftly moving across the room to dig in a large purple case.

“You mean Katrina tried to kill her,” said Troy.

“The soul is what moves to the afterlife. Kill the soul, kill the true being. Killing the body is like destroying a shell. The real life is what’s housed within. Now, capturing is a whole other thing. Capture the soul, control the body,” said Manakel.

“Her soul must be very strong. She should have lost it by now,” said Doctor Tenly. “Out, all of you. I need to heal her wounds and give her soul a chance to reconnect. Treeva, will you assist me?”

“Of course,” she said, taking my hand. “You won’t feel anything, sweetheart. You won’t remember any of what the doctor does tonight.”

“I-I can hardly feel anything now,” I said.

“We must work fast. Marina, you will feel a slight tingle, and then you will be asleep,” said Doctor Tenly.

I didn’t feel a tingle. I didn’t feel anything.

*****

“I cannot believe you’re dating him, Tree. When you said you liked older men, I didn’t think you meant the walking decrepit.”

“Stay out of it, baby brother. My life, not yours. Besides, dating a much older man has its benefits. He’s a great—”

“Stop! Really, Tree?! That’s disgusting! I don’t want to hear that!”

“I was going to say a great gentleman, but now that you mention it…”

“Ugh, Tree, shut it!”

“Then keep your mind out of the gutter and out of my business!”

“Like that’ll happen,” I said, rubbing my eyes.

“There’s our gal! How are you feeling?” Treeva asked, hugging my shoulders.

“Super, hold the duper. How long have I been asleep?”

“Almost twenty-four hours,” said Troy, sitting beside me on the couch.

“Ah, how’s the patient?” Doctor Tenly sauntered in carrying a small bottle of bright pink liquid.

“I feel better. I
feel
, anyway.”

“You have a very strong soul, Marina,” he said, handing me the bottle. “To ward off infection. Take one sip daily for the next week. It might give you gas or the burps. You’ll be sore for a bit, but there’s no scarring or any other visible injury. You can leave today, but only on the condition that you return here next month. There are some things we need to talk about.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Oh, and could you bring me some chocolate peanut butter bars and peanut butter cookies?”

“Uh, sure, yeah.”

“Fintastic!”

“You must be happy to get home!” said Treeva.

I could barely muster a smile. Although I felt many different emotions, my mind and heart couldn’t seem to settle on one, and happiness was certainly the least likely candidate. I felt lost inside myself.

Later that afternoon, Troy drove me home and walked me to the front door. I didn’t say a word to him the entire trip.

“Marina?” he said. “Are we okay?”

I just nodded and went inside.

“Sweetheart! Oh, I’m so glad you’re home! How was your trip?”

The mom hug felt good, apart from the whole squeezing-my-stab-wound thing.

Wincing, I said, “Lots of bubbly fun…not the alcohol kind. Glad to be back.” With that, I went into my room and sat on my bed, not bothering to unpack.

As afternoon moved to evening, I still hadn’t budged since arriving home. I just sat on my bed and watched the sea. The sea—so beautiful, so full of life, yet so full of hate…and humans have no idea.

“Marina, did something happen between you and Troy? Did he hurt you?” asked my mom. Her voice didn’t startle me; I knew she had been watching me for a while.

I shook my head.

“You would tell me, wouldn’t you?”

I nodded.

She left my room, probably more bewildered than before. I wished I could better reassure her, but the sea had me hypnotized; I couldn’t force my eyes away from the black mass that overshadowed moonlight’s glow. The sound of waves crashing along the shoreline sent shivers down my spine as maddening images of murderous sharks, crafty eels, vile Katrina, evil Kyle, marvelous mermobiles, spunky Treeva, flirty Tank, powerful tridents, Mist’s Toy Emporium, and Troy…especially Troy…blended and swirled in my mind; the wondrous mixed seamlessly with the horrifying as though they were one and the same.

I could hear the sea calling to me with each ripple.

Marina Valentine will belong to me
.

Be quiet! Please. STOP!

Insignificant one—The Scrawny Savior—you shall not defeat me. Come to me…surrender to me…drown beneath me.

“NO!”

Running away from my window, I stormed into the bathroom, sat in the shower, and let cold water crash down on me. I hugged my knees, silently hoping the freezing water would shatter those visions out of my memory.

“Marina! Marina! Let me in!” My mom shouted through the door, but I couldn’t answer.