Atlantis: The King's Return

Atlantis: The King's Return | 4

They, too, were peeling. It wasn't scales, though. Chunks of skin looked like they'd been ripped off and then left there, not completely stripped away. Her stomach lurched at the sight of open flesh and exposed muscle, her shaking hand covering her mouth. God, how much must that hurt...

He must have noticed her reaction because he immediately straightened, even though the tightening of his lips showed how much it hurt him to do so.

"Oh my...God. Are you alright?" she asked thinly, taking a step forward. Suddenly, the TV show was taking a turn for the worst. What kind of show would air so much gore and blood? She hesitantly stepped forward, even as he moved back as much as he could.

Trying to get away from her?

"I'm fine, just...stay away from me." The guy stared at her, an odd light showing in his eyes. She froze. So fake mer-guy was hostile? Mari bit her lip, watching him.

The ball of light shot forward, flittering around in front of her. She jerked back, shocked.

"Akrina, leave it," he commanded with what strength he had. She could hear in his voice how weak he was, and her heart clenched for him. The orb moved back to his shoulder, then he trained his eyes on her.

She met his stare, at a complete and utter loss for words. He obviously wasn't going to help her. She suspected that he couldn't.

"How did you get here?" he demanded, his tail flexing behind him, drawing her attention.

"I... I don't know. How did you get here?" At her question, the orb began to jump around. He touched it and the thing calmed.

"I'm asking the questions here, mortal. Answer me honestly. How did you get here?" The sudden strength took her back. His shoulders, despite the obvious pain, straightened with authority and he stared at her as if he were her superior.

She frowned. "Mortal? Okay—I already said I don't know how I got here. Now answer me a question, yeah? Where are the cameras." If he could point them out to her, she'd believe she wasn't going insane. First she was dead, now she was on a TV show—and seeing the state of his well being, she was beginning to doubt that either of those were the answer to her situation.

"I don't know what a camera is," he said indifferently. "You must know how you came upon me. Did she bring you here?"

"'She'?" Mari mimicked, growing more confused with each word. He didn't know what a friggin' camera was? Mari closed her eyes, taking a calming breath. "I don't know who 'she' is, but the last thing I remember before waking up on that shore over there was my cruise sinking."

He digested the information with a calculating look in his eye, then adjusted himself. Even from where she stood a couple feet away from him, she heard the soft gasp of pain come from him when his back collided with the cave wall.

Her heart went out to him.

Why? she asked herself. Why did she care at all? This guy was an actor, he'd been trained for this type of thing. He couldn't be in any real pain, because that would mean she was either dead and this was real, or this was... just real.

It couldn't be though.

Guys with tails, glowing balls of light, and underwater caves were not real, never had been. In the stories her mother used to read her, they were, but here? Hell no.

"Okay, seriously, this is getting old. Just take off the damn tail and help me get out of here. Neither of us need this, okay? I have an ex-boyfriend to kill and I can't waste all of my time answering stupid questions."