Promises (Book One of The Syrenka Series) (22 page)

Another body rolled down the bank and
slammed into me before I could ask any questions. His groan was
familiar and I struggled to turn and comfort him too. Kain’s face
was still battered and bruised and his hands were tied behind his
back like Daniel. A piece of cloth had been shoved in his mouth as
a makeshift gag. We looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed
to be several minutes; hundreds of silent messages passing between
us. My heart was breaking into a million pieces. Every single
person in my life right now was in danger, and there was no one to
blame except for me.

“
Do you see that?” The man
continued speaking to Brendan. “She will never be yours completely.
Our kinds are not meant to mix.”

“
Who are you?” I snapped,
not thinking that he’d give me the courtesy of an
answer.

“
My name is Julian.” He
stepped over Brendan and walked closer to me. Bending down, he
reached out his hand. I hesitantly grabbed it as he assisted me up
off the ground. Being this close to Brendan sent shivers through my
spine. He was here physically, but mentally I knew that he was
damaged. It would have taken a lot of energy to transition,
especially if he was barely conscious. Something remarkable must
have occurred between Brendan and Julian. “Your selkie will be
fine,” he commented upon seeing me look down at my
boyfriend.

“
How did he
change?”

Julian chuckled. “I made
him.”

“
I…I don’t
understand.”

“
And you don’t need to,” he
chastised me. “He is no longer yours to worry about.” His arm
slipped around my shoulder and I did the best I could to dodge his
physical contact. Stumbling a few steps away, I turned to face
him.

“
What do you mean? I love
him! He’s with me and I’m going to worry about him until the day I
die!”

Julian waved his hand in the air.
“Yes, well, we will just have to see about that.” He walked over to
Kain and forcefully pulled him up into a sitting position. “If you
want to worry about someone, you should worry about your own
kind.”

“
Leave him alone!” I
yelled.

“
Oh don’t upset yourself,
Eviana. My job is to bring him in alive.” Julian stood and looked
around the water’s edge. “All of you.”

Confused, I followed his lead and saw
Carissa lying several feet away and the female selkie pushing
Daniel down the embankment. All of them. All of my friends had been
captured. “What do you want?”

“
My master would like to
speak with the lot of you. Apparently you have some very important
decisions to make.”

I had no idea what he was talking
about. The selkies were obviously working together for a clan or
clan leader, but what I didn’t understand was why a bunch of
teenage syrenkas were so important. Wishing I could talk to Kain
and find out more about what was really going on, I found myself
walking towards him. He was sitting on his own now, staring up at
Julian with a rage I’d never seen from him before. But the gag in
his mouth stopped him from saying whatever it was that was running
through his mind.

They moved Daniel to the water’s edge
next to Carissa. She had just started to wake up, rubbing the back
of her head and wincing with each movement. The two selkie’s
standing guard began to strip out of their clothes, apparently not
too concerned with my friends.

“
We all need to change,”
Julian said. I just stared at him. “Come on,” he demanded while
pulling Kain to his feet. “We don’t have much time.” Our remaining
captors started poking at each of us. Julian stripped out of his
jeans and picked up a seal skin lying down on the far side of the
water’s edge. I just stood there trying to figure out what was
going on. Carissa let out a shrill scream and I saw one of the
naked selkie’s trying to pull off her blouse.

“
Stop! What are you doing
to her?” I shrieked. The man just stared at me with that same
dumbfounded look that I had seen back under the bridge. Julian’s
head snapped back and forth between the two of us. He arched his
eyebrow and the corner of his mouth turned up in a
smirk.

“
Sebastian, let her change
on her own.” Julian was speaking to the other selkie, but his gaze
never left me. I watched as Sebastian walked towards a large
boulder to retrieve his skin, slip into a seal, and dive into the
water. He looked at us once, and then swam below the churning
surface and disappeared.

“
Where did he go?” I asked.
Julian began to focus his attention back on Brendan but he still
continued to sneak glances my way.

“
Under the waterfall. It’s
where we’re all going.” With a grunt, he pushed Brendan around so
that his head was facing the water. Brendan didn’t make any noises,
but he also didn’t try to move by himself. I started to walk
towards them, but Julian held up his hand to stop me. “He is coming
with us,” he said as though that would be satisfying. Julian leaned
in close to Brendan and whispered something to him for nearly
thirty seconds. I was just about to protest, when Brendan grunted
and pulled himself into the water. Julian noticed me staring at the
empty rocks where Brendan had just been and he snapped his fingers
at me. “Let’s go. All of you.”

Julian tossed his skin over his
shoulder and began picking up pieces of clothing. Shirts, pants,
and shoes were strewn all over the rocky beach like a storm has
just washed them ashore. Kain pushed up to his feet but stumbled as
though it made him dizzy. Daniel did the same and I immediately
went over to help untie my friends. I pulled the gag out of Kain’s
mouth first and watched him cough and sputter until his jaw was
moving normally again. When Julian stopped what he was doing, I
said, “They can’t change like this.” He nodded and continued
picking up the clothing of his underlings.

“
Do you know what’s
happening?” I whispered to Kain while untying his hands. A small
shake of his head was all the answer I got. While I helped Daniel,
Kain made his way towards Carissa and helped her undress. It was
such an intimate moment between the two of them that I had to turn
my head so that I didn’t react. I knew that I had ruined any chance
of Kain and me remaining friends, but I guess there was a part of
my heart that ached for him to hold some semblance of a torch for
me still. Impossible, I know. But I always wanted to be important
to him.

Daniel and I struggled to walk into
the water. Julian had collected all of our clothes and put them
into a waterproof bag. One of the selkie minions allowed him to
strap the bag to his back before diving head first into the dark
waters. My change was forced and painful, but I tried not to show
any outward signs of my discomfort. I had to remain strong for my
friends. Carissa and Kain made their way towards the waterfall,
followed by Daniel and me. The four remaining selkies, including
Julian, pulled on their skins and joined us in the water. One by
one they disappeared underneath the surface. The cold water sent
shivers through my body, but the fear of what we were going to
encounter next chilled me to the bone.

Julian snorted and nodded his head
towards the falls. I looked up at the sky and the partial moon and
wondered if this was going to be the last time that I would see it.
The rushing water was spraying us with a mist and that made me
think of Abhainn. Not only were we in trouble, but I didn’t know
what had happened to him. There was a good chance that after he’d
finally found his freedom he had been captured again, or even
worse, killed.

A sharp slap on the water forced me to
turn around. I saw the final glimpse of a mermaid tail retreating
into the water and then it was just Julian and me. I wanted to
fight him. I wanted to hurt him for what he was doing. But
something was telling me to save my strength because we hadn’t even
seen the worst of it yet. I got another snort accompanied by a
flash of sharp canines as the final warning.

Taking my time, I grabbed a long
breath and plunged into the unknowing depths below.

Seventeen

The noise from the waterfall
dissipated under the surface and after just a few feet, the pool
became clear. Leaving the churning and tumbling behind, I swam down
and down until I could see the bottom. Julian bumped up against my
side and nudged me towards the large rock wall that had created the
water fall. I was confused until I looked a little
closer.

At the base of the outcropping and
hidden deep under the rushing water was a cave. All of my friends
and the remaining selkies had disappeared, presumably into this
tunnel. I swam towards the opening, surprised to see that it was
larger than I’d originally thought. Bracing both arms against the
entrance, I tried to see through the depth of the cave. However,
beyond the first few inches, everything was dark.

I felt another shove against my back
and resisted the urge to punch Julian in the face. Instead, I
pulled myself forward feeling a bit of satisfaction when my tail
slammed against the selkie’s body.

The cave was so black that I needed to
use my hands to guide me through. Although I could hold my breath
for a long time once I transitioned, a little spark of panic
tumbled in my stomach. What if I couldn’t get air? What if I
drowned? But I quickly tried to squash those ridiculous notions.
Selkies needed to breathe too, so I doubted that they would lead us
into a trap. At least not one that was going to drown
us.

The cave seemed to go on forever. I
was twisting and turning around curves and boulders, sometimes
scraping my body against the sides. After what seemed to be several
minutes, I could see a little bit of light ahead. It was just
enough to make out the dark rocky walls interspersed with ledges
and grooves that showed the history of how this cave had been
formed. Millions of years had carved their markings and made a
lasting impression on the earth.

The deep, calm interior pool became
the welcoming center. When I surfaced, I immediately began
searching for my friends only to be disappointed when Julian
arrived and I didn’t see any of the others. He nodded towards the
far side of the pool, expecting me to follow. Instead, I took in my
surroundings. The cave ceiling was now at least a hundred feet high
and the entire opening seemed to be as vast as a house. Large flame
lanterns were hung periodically along the walls, high enough above
the water not to be a problem. They cast an eerie glow heightened
by the uneven rocky walls enclosing us. Water dripped and dropped
from the ceiling, but in the distance, I thought that I heard
voices.

Wanting to find my friends and get out
of here, I hurried to the side of the pool in time to see Julian
step from his skin and walk towards a darkened area. A large, flat
rock provided the perfect structure for a wading beach and as I
propped myself up on to it, I turned so that my back was towards
Julian. I didn’t need him observing my change, especially since I
suspected that it was going to be painful.

It was. And the more I tried to ignore
the sharp breaking and twisting of bones and muscle, the more it
hurt. But I sat there in utter silence, deciding that now was not
the time to show any more weakness. I had already made enough bad
decisions that had potentially cost my friends their lives, it was
the least I could do to try and be strong for them.

I don’t even know how long I was
sitting there before I felt like I could move again. Changing into
my other form had always been so easy and welcoming for me. Perhaps
it was because of the situation, but I also secretly wondered if
something else was happening to me. With everything else going on
right now, my capture in particular, I decided not to worry about
that at the moment.

“
Here,” Julian’s calm voice
cut into my thoughts. “You will need it.” I turned to see that he
was holding a blue silk robe in his extended hand. Briefly, I
thought that perhaps he was uncomfortable with my nudity, until I
saw that he was wearing something similar. Although his robe seemed
to be thicker and longer than mine, it was still the same royal
blue color which appeared almost black in the limited lamp
light.

I grabbed the robe but refused to
thank him for it. When I tried to tuck my legs underneath me
though, my bones protested to the sudden movement. Apparently, I
needed a little more time to recover. I was embarrassed at this and
that only made my blood boil more. It was when Julian sat down next
to me that I almost lost control. I didn’t want to be around him
and right now he knew that I couldn’t get away. I let out an
exaggerated sigh and tried to face my back towards him.

He laughed softly at my childish
behavior. “You don’t need to hate me so much, Eviana,” he
cooed.

“
What? You have kidnapped
all of us! Why wouldn’t I hate you?” I turned so that I could look
at him directly in the eye. “If you hurt Brendan, I
swear…”

“
You’ll what?” He cut me
off.

“
I’ll kill you,” I sneered.
Julian looked at me for a few moments without saying anything. I
was about to turn away when he snorted and another irritating smirk
appeared on his face.

“
And I think you would,
too.” He stared off at the distant edge of the pool where we had
entered through the underground tunnel. Pulling his knees up to his
chest, he hugged himself. It was such an odd movement for someone
of his size and age. It almost humanized him for a brief instant.
Speaking to the distance he said, “Our kinds are not supposed to be
together. It doesn’t ever work out.” He shook his head before
continuing. “You are going to have to let him go, Eviana. You do
not belong together.”