Promises (Book One of The Syrenka Series) (19 page)

“
Where are you from?” I
asked.

He stood and straightened out a jacket
that was barely visible in the outline of his aqueous body. “I come
from the Old World, but I was captured in a Canadian lake nearly
twenty years ago. This pond,” he said as he acknowledged the small
watery prison, “is not enough space for me. I am dying and my
master refuses to release me.”

I looked across the top of the car
towards my two companions. After what we’d seen today, I knew that
I would never forgive myself for not helping all of these water
creatures that Jeremiah was keeping captive. And from the identical
looks on Kain and Carissa’s faces, I guessed that they felt the
same. Without speaking a word, I nodded to them and walked back
towards the Scottish sprite.

“
How would we get you out
of here?” I asked.

Abhainn’s eyes suddenly glowed a
sparkling silver and his grin stretched from ear to ear. In it, I
could see hundreds of pointy teeth, but I tried not to flinch for
fear of being rude. “Do ye ‘ave a bottle?” I ran back over to the
car and opened the back door. I remembered seeing a few discarded
water bottles in the back seat so I quickly grabbed one and
approached the sprite.

“
What do I need to
do?”

“
Nothin’ lassie. Just put
it in the water ‘n I will climb in.” I looked at the bottle and
then at the sprite, and then back at the bottle again. How would he
possibly fit inside? Instead of voicing my question, I did as he
said and pushed the bottle under the water. Bubbles instantly
filled up the space followed by millions of water particles.
Abhainn disappeared beneath the surface and for a few moments, I
wondered if this would work. Then I felt a rush of energy push its
way into the bottle and my hand warmed as the water heated up
inside. I had captured Abhainn. Briefly, I wondered how Jeremiah
had done this so long ago since this only worked because Abhainn
was agreeable. I couldn’t imagine what it would take to imprison an
unwilling sprite.

I pulled the bottle from the water
just as Kain told me to hurry up. Twisting on the lid nice and
tight, I jogged back over to the car being careful not to shake the
contents too much. Once I slid into the back seat, I held the
bottle up in front of me; searching for Abhainn. We were back on
the road heading to my hotel when a tiny face suddenly appeared
pressed against the side of the clear plastic. I almost screamed
and dropped my new friend, but recovered quickly enough to avoid
disaster. Abhainn had shrunk to just a few inches large and I
marveled over his ability. He smiled at me and offered a wave with
his tiny hand before disappearing again.

“
Is he in there?” Carissa
asked as she turned around in her seat to face me. I handed her the
bottle.

“
Yes.”

“
I can’t believe you stole
Jeremiah’s sprite,” Kain said with bemusement.

“
What was I supposed to do?
Let him stay there trapped under Jeremiah’s commands and in his
little fountain.” I took the bottle back from Carissa and looked
out the window. “It’s just not right.”

“
No one’s arguing with
you,” Kain replied.

“
So what’s going to happen
now? Can Jeremiah summon him back?” I asked as a knot grew in my
stomach. What if he came after us?

“
I doubt that,” Kain
assured me. “He will be mad but he’ll probably just go out and
collect another. It seems to be his thing.”

“
And this is what the
Sutherland’s want? The freedom to control humans, shifters, and
other water creatures?”

“
It looks that way,” Kain
sighed.

“
So what exactly is The
Legacy?” Carissa asked and I was thankful that I didn’t have to be
the one to do it and expose even more of my ignorance to my
friends.

Kain was quiet for a little while but
finally began to tell us what we were up against. “It’s considered
to be our birthright. We have had a special relationship with
humans since the beginning of time, and usually we are able to
coexist without any problems. But ever since they first came to be,
we have had a distinct power over a human’s mind. Legend says that
it was a gift from Poseidon himself. It allowed for our existence
without being discovered and as a result we were worshipped as
gods.

As we became more powerful through our
control of humans, the shifters and the water fairies saw the
importance of siding with us. It was a relationship that
strengthened when we discovered that we had the ability to call
them to us on demand. For years, the shifters and water sprites
fought for power and the right not to be controlled, and ultimately
our Council declared a truce and promised that no mermaid would
ever be permitted to take away their self control in exchange for
their silence and their limited interactions with
humans.”

“
So that’s why we are all
taught that water sprites are extinct?” I interrupted.

“
That and because there are
so few left. The selkies are allowed to breed as necessary with the
humans, but they are expected to maintain a solitary life away from
their human mates so that their secret can be maintained. Once the
child is born, it is taken away from its human parent to be raised
by the selkie one.”

I thought about Brendan and his
relationship with his dad. That is exactly what had happened to
him, and once Brendan was old enough to be on his own, his father
pushed him away. “So now there are merfolk who…what? Who want to
control all humans like their personal puppets? I don’t really
understand what that would accomplish.”

“
It’s not just about
controlling their minds. They want to control the power. It would
be easy enough for a mermaid to ask a billionaire to donate all of
their money to a false charity. Or command the president of a
country to approve policies beneficial to the needs of each clan.
It’s simply too much control for any one family to have. This has
happened before in our history, and wars have been fought with
their human soldier puppets over land and money and power. With the
world in the position it is in today, another war like that would
be the end of us all.”

“
How many clans are
involved?” Carissa asked and I was surprised that she didn’t know
more considering her family had already been dealing with a direct
casualty.

“
I’m not sure. We think
that there are at least three right now and they are all on the
east coast. But for some reason their plight is gaining notoriety
and there are numerous clans who are contemplating joining them.
There is so much unrest in the human world right now that some of
the clans feel like our involvement is inevitable and maybe even
necessary.”

“
And they think that war
amongst our own is the way to achieve this?” I asked in disbelief.
“Killing mermaids and controlling lesser species is not the way to
fix this.”

“
And what exactly would you
do?” Kain asked critically as he looked at me through the rearview
mirror.

“
Well…I’d certainly squash
the Sutherlands first. Take off the head and the rest will follow,
right?”

“
And what happens when they
send an army of selkies and water sprites after you and your
family?” he countered.

“
Then we use our abilities
to take back control and set them free!” I yelled. A smile curved
along the corners of Kain’s mouth and that made me nearly jump into
the front seat to slap it away. “What?” I demanded.

“
You are just like your
mother.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
Your mother? You know, the
leader of your clan, the one who gave birth to you, the one you ran
away from? Your mother wants to do the exact same thing.” He was
shaking his head in either disbelief or frustration. “She wants to
fight back too.”

“
Well of course she does!
Who wouldn’t?” When he didn’t say anything, I finally understood.
“You don’t, do you?”

Carissa glared at him and I could
almost see him throw up the walls around his emotions. “No, I
don’t.”

“
How can you say that? They
are
killing
us.
How many will have to die?” Carissa was nearly hysterical and I
certainly didn’t envy Kain at the moment. He sighed again as though
he’d had this argument a thousand times.

“
No more should die, but
going after them directly will only start the war that they want!
There has to be a better way.”

“
Like what? Talking to
them?” she screamed.

“
Yes, exactly. We should
all approach the Council and let them handle it from now on.” His
voice was soft but something about it seemed unsure.

“
The Council is well aware
of the situation and they have not done anything to stop this. My
uncle was a very powerful figure amongst our kind both here and in
Japan and even after his death, the Council continues to be blind.
They are choosing not to help just like we should be choosing to
fight back!”

Kain couldn’t argue with her anymore
and I was in complete agreement. Our families needed to do
something before this situation got out of control, which
considering what we knew already and what we’d seen Jeremiah do,
was getting close. We were almost back to the hotel and before we
made the final few turns, I tried to ease the tension with a change
in subject.

“
I’m going after the
selkies in Baltimore.” If I had really thought it through, I would
have realized this may not have been the best thing to say. Both
Carissa and Kain proceeded to yell at me and tell me how it would
be a suicide mission and that I needed to find another solution.
But there wasn’t anything else for me to do. Brendan was dying and
the only way to save him was to recover his skin. I sat there, in
the backseat covered with pillows and magazines and pretended to
listen to their concerns. One thing was for sure, my friends were
back. They may not have wanted to admit it, but they still cared
about me and the warmth of that acknowledgment helped to give me
the courage I knew I would need to save Brendan.

By the time we arrived, both Carissa
and Kain made me promise not to do anything stupid right away, so I
did just to get them off my back. Daniel was waiting next to the
door with a smile on his face although it didn’t quite reach his
eyes.

I gave him a quick hug and tried to
walk inside. He stepped in front of me and put his hand on the door
knob. “Daniel, let me in,” I demanded.

“
You need to know something
first,” he said without looking me in the eyes. My stomach
plummeted to the ground and nausea swept through me like a freight
train.

“
What happened to him?” I
whispered although I could barely hear the words myself.

“
Nothing, Eviana. He’s just
really sick.”

“
But he was doing better
this morning! He even got out of bed to say goodbye,” I
challenged.

“
I think that’s part of the
reason why he’s not doing well. It drained him pretty bad and after
you left, he fell asleep for several hours.”

I pushed past Daniel briefly realizing
that I would have to apologize later, but right now only one man
mattered to me. Brendan was lying on the bed, crumpled in a heap on
one side. The fresh bandages indicated that he had bled through the
other ones and my suspicions were confirmed when I glanced at the
small hotel trash can near the side of the bed. I reached forward
to touch his head and nearly gasped at the sight of his skin. He
was pale and dehydrated and I would say that his color was
bordering on green. I’d only ever seen one person look this bad
before and he had died at Cotillion.

Falling to my knees beside the bed, I
decided that I would drive to Baltimore tonight. I didn’t know
exactly how I was going to find them, but I would just have to
figure it out. Brendan didn’t have much time left.

“
Eviana?” Kain called from
the doorway. “We’re going to get a room here for tonight. Do you
want me to bring you something to eat?”

I cleared my throat and wiped the
tears away from my eyes before standing to greet him at the door.
“No, I’m okay. I don’t want to go anywhere right now.”

Kain nodded and left the room, closing
the door behind him. I had a few hours before dusk and even less
time to come up with a plan. My hand suddenly became very warm and
I looked down to see the water bottle still in my grip. Abhainn.
Maybe he would be able to help me find the selkies.

I set the bottle down on the table and
ran to the bathroom to begin filling up the sink. I didn’t know
much about water sprites since we’d been told that they had
disappeared many years ago. Now I had one in an old water bottle
that I was getting ready to release into my home. I briefly thought
about whether or not I could play mind control games with him if
necessary, but quickly discarded that idea and vowed to never think
of it again.

When the water was done filling up, I
grab Abhainn’s plastic home and poured the contents into the sink.
I didn’t really know what to expect so I just stood there and
waited. Right before I decided that I had killed him, his tiny form
grew from the white porcelain sink into a foot high
sprite.