I'm not a victim. I'm the villain. The bad guy that killed millions. Controlled and manipulated thousands. I stained my own hands with blood of innocents. I may have become one of Morgiana's puppets... but that doesn't give me a pass.
Even if she sa...
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Bubbles cling to our bodies at the sudden environment change, most raising to the surface. Cressa-la's eyes widen and she begins to swim to the surface, when I grab her ankle and pull her down, grabbing her angry attention. With a smirk, I point to the back of my neck.
'Calm down. We have gills, remember?'
She frowns, but slowly, she begins to breathe, doubt in her eyes as I pull her slowly down to eye-level. The way her pupils pierce through me tells me I've upset her.
'I told—'
She hacks, not used to talking beneath the waves. I grin.
'Move your voice to the back of your throat. It'll sound weird at first, so there's no need for alarm.'
I hear her make a disapproving sound in the back of her throat, glaring right at me. I can't help but grin, water surrounding us. She'd have run out of air before she reached the surface if she didn't have gills. We're deep in the water, near Sivoli. Sivoli is the third largest clan beneath the water, and coincidentally belongs to Tamir's bloodline, although he has no idea in this timeline.
'I told you I wasn't going to touch the water again,' Cressa-la says slowly, figuring out how to move her mouth so the words come out clearly.
'Yeah, well, you needed to cheer up,' I respond, closing my eyes as I push away from her slightly. I feel myself begin to sink downward as bubbles explode from my legs, scales replacing skin and fabric. Before I know it, my blue tail is reaching below me and pumping gently to keep me at the same level. Cressa-la watches silently, scrutinizing me as I keep pace with her as she sinks to the ground below. Her feet touch the sand, disturbing it, and she crosses her arms.
'Take me back,' she demands, to which I smile and shake my head, chuckling.
'I thought you were curious.'
'Not that curious,' she says, punctuating the sentence with a cough. 'Take me home. I have stuff I need to do.'
'Like what?' I ask, coming close to her face. 'Hunt? All you're gonna catch is squirrels.'
'Yeah? Well it just so happens that Lily-flor likes eating squirrel.'
I roll my eyes as my tail kicks up sand from beneath me.
'Well she's the only one on the island,' I say, crossing my arms as I peer down at her, a whole head higher because of my tail. 'So. Do you want one?'
'Want one?' She echoes. 'A squirrel?'
'No,' I laugh. 'A tail.'
Her attention darts down and I fan out my fin as if to show off, feeling a bit weird under her gaze. For a moment, it looks as if she's going to say yes, but she ends up shaking her head, taking a step back.
'No, I'm okay. I just want to go home.'
'It's not hard,' I press. 'You just have to think about it.'
