A Short Ride to Shore

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Why should I even bother with you, Jotun? Her voice purred in my head. You don’t taste nearly as good as human does.

            If you don’t get away from him I’m going to crush you with about a thousand pounds of water from all sides. That is, if I don’t choose to rip the water out of your actual body.

            She flinched. It was barely perceptible, but my threat had worked. At least for now.

            Then the nasty smile was back. You haven’t even given us any reason to believe you have control over it at all. All you’ve done is drift around and whine so far.

            My fingers curled into fists, and I struggled to keep myself from bringing the water crashing down on either side of her, trapping her in a vice grip of crushing liquid. I didn’t know how effective a weapon water could be. At the very least, I could use it to push her away from us. This I did, reaching out, probing the limits of my power, creating my own current that sent her back a few feet, well out of arms reach of Eli.

            Tilla looked shocked.

            The dophins were still swimming, and we were coming nearer to the surface now, almost there, the light was impossibly bright, and I found myself squinting. Apparently I had become accustomed to the darkness.

            When I turned back, realizing that I’d taken my eyes off Tilla for a second longer than was wise, it was to see her shooting up through the water, arms outstretched, reaching for Eli. Eli gave as strangled cry, kicking his legs, trying to keep his feet out of her grasp.

            I nearly let go of Rykin’s fin and launched myself at her, but I forced myself to hang on and rely on the water around me, shoving the mermaid back, using the force of the water to push her down as much as I could. Tilla shrieked, her face set in a mask of anger. She was cursing in my head in a language I didn’t recognize, vowing to rip me to shreds.

            Angry, I shoved harder, forcing her deeper and deeper, until something shot up out of the darkness, a pale hand attached to a slender arm, and yanked Tilla down. Her scream cut off seconds later, and I grimaced. Her sister had found her again. Who knew what would happen next, but somehow I doubted that mermaid had an aversion to killing one another, even blood relatives.

            At least that took care of Tilla.

           

            Breaking the surface of the water was both exhilarating and painful. Eli and I both gasped in relief. He ripped his mask off and let it hang around his neck by the narrow white cord it was attached to and gasped in a huge gulp of fresh air. I did the same, more out of relief than necessity, letting the cool, salty air sooth my lungs and calm my nerves. Jotun were not made for the bottom of the sea.

            The spray splashed my face as I relaxed my body and allowed the dolphin to tow me along behind it. Rykin and Penny chittered merrily back and forth to one another, apparently also relieved to be rid of the mermaid. Did mermaids eat dolphins? Somehow I wouldn’t put it past them to try.

            The thought made me nervous. What else lay beneath the surface of the ocean? I’d felt other things, huge things. Were there sharks in here? I felt drained from all the water manipulation I’d just done, and I honestly wasn’t sure I would fare well against a shark right now. All I wanted to do was roll into bed and sleep for a century.

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