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“You have enough power to feed me for a few days,” she said gleefully. Her smile widened, covering her face, her red-stained teeth glaring in the dim light. “I’ll keep you here until my last meal runs out.”
My stomach turned, knowing what her last meal would have been. Once, a long time ago, before even my mother was a babe, the sea witch developed a taste for merpeople power. In secret, she fed on merpeople, using the human threat as a cover. It was decades until she was discovered.
Around the time my father and mother assumed the throne, her thirst grew and would not be controlled. She drained villages of mermaids and mermen, turning them into husks of themselves. I remember the day the guards brought her in, chains keeping her bound. I was only five, but I could still smell the blood of the merpeople that covered her hands. Her melodious voice screamed curses. Both smell and sound floated to the nursery I slept in. I came down just in time to see her dragged away.
She was banished to the north sea, where most merpeople avoided because of the frigid waters.
“You’re not supposed to be this far down.”
She reared back, as if hit. Her smile turned into a laugh. “Oh?”
“You were banished to the north.”
She swam around me, and I followed her, never letting my back to her.
“Was I, now?”
I didn’t answer, keeping my eyes trained on her. In a flash, she was right in my face, sneering at me. “I don’t let little brats like you tell me what to do.”
She grabbed me by the neck, and I clawed at her face, trying to scratch my way free. Blood floated away from her face. She shoved me in with Kaga, yanking her hand back. “I’ll get you for that, mermaid,” she said.
I grinned when I saw the red marks on her skin. “If you say so, you ugly old hag.”
She screeched, flipping her tail. Then darkness separated us.
Now that she was gone, I dared to talk to Kaga. He sat on a bench carved into the wall. “Are you okay?”
He coughed, trying to clear his throat, nodding. “Yes,” he said with a croak. “Who was that?”
“The sea witch,” I said with a grimace. “We have to get out of here before she kills us.”
Chapter 11
Kaga balked. “Kills us?”
I hesitated for a moment. “Well, more like me. Who knows what she’ll do with you, since you’re a human? As for me? She’ll drain me of my powers until I die.”
Kaga’s eyes widened in horror. “Why?”
“Why do you think she looks like that?” I said with a snort. “It’s not natural. Let me tell you that much.”
Kaga’s face darkened, and he looked at the cage. “I have water magic. Maybe it can do something.”
He swam up to the prison bars, concentrating. A thin line of water formed the shape of a key, then slid into the lock. It turned, but nothing happened. Kaga tried again, but this time, a little jolt of electricity surrounded him.
A laugh came through the cavern. “Do you think it would be that easy, little human?”
“Damn sea witch,” I muttered. Why would she think about defending human magic? What was she doing down here? “Squiggles, can you escape?”
He shook so hard it alarmed me. Immediately, I patted him on the head. “Don’t worry about it. You can stay here with me.”
His shivering stopped, and I relaxed. “We might as well sleep.”
Kaga froze in place. “You’re just going to sleep? What if she comes back here?”
“Then I’m sure she’ll wake me,” I said, raising an eyebrow at him. Obviously. Ignoring his protests, I swam to the bench and leaned against the wall. I closed my eyes and slipped into sleep. I’d need the energy, after all, if I was going to think of a way out of this.
Sometime later, I awoke to see Kaga pinching himself on his arm. The skin up and down was already speckled with bruises. “What in the abyss are you doing?”
