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His eyes snapped to mine in surprise. “I don’t want to sleep in the enemy’s prison. It’s too dangerous. Someone’s got to watch out for the both of us.”
I sighed, swimming closer to him. I put my hand over his eyes, drawing out the pain from his arm. “Go to sleep. I’ll stay awake.”
He opened his mouth, probably to protest, but I pushed him toward the bench. “Go. I can do this.”
I shooed at him again, and he flashed me a grateful look before settling down on the bench. He put his hands behind his head and promptly fell asleep. It was quiet in the tomb, except for a faint song floating through the water. Probably the sea witch trying to lure more merpeople here. The thought was an unfortunate reminder that I would be her next meal if we didn’t escape, and quickly.
I pursed my lips and examined the room we were in. The prison had nothing in it, save for a few short strands of seaweed floating out of the ground. Kaga was already asleep, the gentle rise and fall of his chest confirming it after I watched him for a few seconds. His face was relaxed, not a single worry etched into it. A complete contrast to the fear on it earlier. My heart jumped as I realized he must really trust me to relax so much in a prison. I needed to get us out of here, one way or another.
“Squiggles,” I said in a whisper, indicating the shelves lining the wall above the cauldron. “Can you see what all those jars say?”
Squiggles shuddered again and I unstuck his tentacles, holding him in my hand and bringing him close to my face. “Listen, Squiggles. You know I’d never ask you to do something you’re uncomfortable with, but we’re in danger here. If that witch eats me, you’re on your own. Forever. We need to get out of here before it’s too late.”
Squiggles blinked a few times, then his shuddering stopped. He straightened up. “I can do it, Allura.”
“I know you can. If she comes back, hide.”
Slowly, he moved off my hands and out of the prison. He almost made it to the shelf when a dark ink spread over the room. My heart thumped wildly, and I hoped Squiggles would hide before the witch found him.
The witch muttered to herself, but I still couldn’t see a thing. Suddenly, I had an idea. I opened my mouth, letting out a lullaby I’d sing to Squiggles when he was scared. My voice carried across the ink.
I continued to sing, and when I got to the third verse, small tentacles squeezed in my hand. My tense muscles relaxed, and I put Squiggles on my shoulder under my hair. The witch hadn’t seen him yet, and I wanted to keep it that way.
The ink remained, and I continued singing when a strong hand grasp my arm.
Chapter 12
Itried to shrug the hand off, but it just traveled to down my arm to my hand. A slight tingle traveled up my arm as Kaga’s strong hand grasped mine. Did he feel it, too? His lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “What’s going on?”
He squeezed my hand, whether to comfort me or himself I didn’t know. “I’m not sure,” I said.
A delicious smell floated through the water and my shoulders drooped. “She’s cooking.”
“Us?”
I didn’t answer, unsure of what to say. As far as I knew, the witch didn’t eat humans. But I could be wrong. We sat there for what seemed like hours, surrounded by the inky darkness, waiting to find out if we were her meal or not.
Other smells filled the cave, stranger ones now. There was no telling what the witch was up to, but clearly she didn’t want us to see. I heard other voices, but I couldn’t tell where they came from or what they said. It was too muffled.
Kaga came closer to me, his body touching mine along our sides. I could feel the warm skin of his arm against me. I gritted my teeth, but not from hating it. The exact opposite. I brushed my hair to the side with my free hand, twisting it before letting it go. My cheeks warmed, and I hoped it’d stop before the darkness disappeared and Kaga saw. I didn’t want him getting any ideas.
Finally, the inky darkness dissipated, leaving us alone in the room. I sighed in relief when the sea witch wasn’t in any corner of her workroom. I let go of Kaga’s hand, sliding a few inches away from him. He stared at me with a sly smile.
My heart drummed at the look in his eyes. I’d had some fun here and there with other mermen. This…want… was something I’d never experienced, though. But I couldn’t think of it right now. We had to get out of here.
Singing came from far away in the cave. Perfect, she wouldn’t hear us. Ignoring him, I took out Squiggles. “It’s now or never,” I said, pushing him out between the prison bars. We didn’t know when the sea witch would stop singing and hear us. He squeaked, but swam toward the shelves anyway.
One by one, he read off the ingredients on the jars. The sea witch had an impressive collection of ingredients. Not only did she have the regular ones found in the sea, like pearl dust, but ones only from the human realm. “Squiggles, bring me the lavender and acid.”
Squiggles grabbed both vials, rushing back to me faster than I’d ever seen him move. I took the vials and unstopped the lavender. Tilting out some of the powder into my hand, I brushed it over Kaga’s arms. “Stand up,” I said.
He obeyed quickly, and I rubbed the powder into his chest, taking my time to move across the hard muscles. “Like what you see?” he said, his voice husky.
“Not in the least,” I snapped. I drew my hand away and quickly rubbed the powder on my own exposed skin. I muttered a protection spell. The spell was very limited; it only protected against harmful changes in the water, but it was exactly what we needed right now.
Next, I swam right up to the prison door. “I need you to draw the water away from the hinges.” Kaga obeyed.
I unstopped the vial and quickly poured its contents onto the hinges where the door met the cavern wall. The acid sizzled as it made contact, but some leaked away, making its way toward me. I blew on the water, ensuring the chemicals floated back onto the hinges.
