“Mother thinks we should have killed you years ago.”
“Child murder isn’t generally smiled upon, Thalia. No matter how rich you are.”
“You never really were a child though, were you? You always knew you would win the Trials.”
That made me angry. How dare she? I was just a little girl who had lost her father. And I’d never known anything! I’d dreamed, yes, but dreams were all I had!
“I was a child. I was a lonely, frightened child.”
“Oh, boo-hoo. You never lacked for anything. You always knew you were better than everyone else.”
I was almost too angry to speak. Thankfully, Dane did it for me.
“Get out of here, Thalia, or I’ll report you. The Med tent is off limits, as you well know.”
She glared at him.
“Who do you think you are, anyway? If you want to go slumming, that’s fine with me—”
She was cut off with a flash of light from his hand. He’d magicked her into silence, I realized. Her eyes were wide with fright and something else.
Recognition.
She rasped out a few words, her fingers dragging at her throat.
“I know who you are! I know!”
A heavy hand came down on her shoulder.
“And if you tell anyone, your life will be forfeit.”
Thalia turned to see Annaruth behind her. She sputtered a few times as Annaruth tightened her grip. But when the High Priestess lifted her eyes to me, her gaze was soft.
“I’ll see you out, and then we can discuss what your punishment should be.” She gave me an arch look. “As for you, you need to stop waking up. I’m going to have to double the spell I’m using.”
She lifted her hand and I sank into myself.
When I woke, all I could remember was that Dane had been there with me all night. But it was little more than the fragments of a mostly forgotten dream.
Chapter 21
“Are you sure you are okay?”
I nodded, back in my tent for the first time since the scavenger hunt. I was wearing my tunic, but Annaruth had made a few magical adjustments in addition to repairing it. It was still the same soft, old, familiar fabric. But if you touched it with any force, it stiffened into a hard shell.
My tunic was now armor.
I still planned to wear the pieces Dane had given me. They made me feel safe and protected. We were preparing ourselves now. I’d slept most of the past few days.
“What did I miss?”
“Well, Beazil went crazy when you didn’t come back. Annaruth had to come and show him a vision of you. He was about to tear the tent down.”
I swam over to scratch Beazil’s cheek and just below the jaw, right where he liked it. I pressed a kiss to his scratchy skin.
“You are a true friend, Beaz.”
I swore I heard him softly harrumph.
I tossed him a crab leg as I swam back to my side of the tent. Dane had brought over a small feast early that morning. I was so hungry, I could have probably eaten all of it. But of course, I would never keep it all for myself, even if it was tempting.
“Is he ready?”
Starla jerked her head toward Beazil.
“What?”
“This is it. The final battle. And familiars have to fight.”
My heart sank. This is what I’d feared all along. If only he were pocket-sized and I could keep him safe. But he was a huge target. I looked across the tent at the lazily munching shark.
“Does he know?”
She nodded.
“He’s playing it cool.”
I exhaled sharply. I swam over to Beazil. He looked into my eyes. I looked into his.
“I wish you didn’t have to do this, big guy.”
He lowered his head and I rubbed it.
“They’re going to come after you. You have to fight.”
His nose poked my belly. I felt tears welling up. If anything happened to him, I didn’t know if I could survive it.
“I love you, Beazil.”
He nuzzled me again, and I hugged him for the longest time. Finally, I swam away. I was still hungry, and I hadn’t finished putting my armor on. I felt a bit better after Starla filled me in on some of the rules. Apparently, our weapons would be magicked to freeze our opponents with contact, not to kill. But we could still be maimed.
And there was a chance that people might smuggle in a non-Magic weapon, hoping to eliminate some of the competition.
Either way, it was going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight. Alliances were apparently forming all over the place, with Rip and his friends asking Dane and the two of us to team up again.
This time, I was one hundred percent on board with that.
I still didn’t trust Jaynelle or Juno, but they had found two tokens for our team. Rip and Starla had found the other while I was at the surface.
Thankfully for me, Dane had ignored my wishes and followed me to the surface, though at a distance. Plus, he hadn’t been able to keep up.
I smiled to myself. We were quite a team. We each brought something different to the task at hand. We had a chance to make it through unscathed.
Dread was pounding in my veins. For all of my practice and bravado in the tent, now that the moment was at hand, I was a bundle of nerves. It’s not that I wouldn’t defend myself. I had done it already and I would again. I just wasn’t crazy about violence for the sake of violence. I didn’t want to fight strangers, especially young Mers. And some of the competitors really were far too young. I was not among the oldest myself, not by a long shot. But being only fourteen or fifteen in Mer years like Starla . . . well, it didn’t seem right.
Today would be a blood bath, even with the Magical weapons.
I started dressing and looked at my hands, holding the chest plate Dane had given me tightly. The freckles stood out starkly against my pale skin. Yes, I was even pastier than usual. And it wasn’t due to my injuries. I was more or less healed, with a few scars to show for my adventure. Annaruth had told me she could take care of them for me, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to let them go.
Maybe after the Trials were over, if the offer still stood.
If I was even still alive.
I closed my eyes and put my helmet into place. I looked on as Starla finished attaching her small sword to her golden shell belt. She still wore the token from the scavenger hunt. We all did. I suspected they were spelled to stay attached to our flesh until the end of the Trials or longer. I didn’t mind so much. I hadn’t seen my head piece or the pearl necklace at my throat, but the bracelet was beautiful. It might even help keep my wrist steady if I had to use my daggers in close combat.
When I had to use my daggers.
From what I could tell, the pearl necklace was unspeakably lovely, and oddly enough, the same color and tone as the pearl I had given Starla the first time we met. Pink pearls were quite rare. Annaruth had kindly transformed the smaller pearl into a matching necklace with gold links, which now rested around Starla’s throat.
On our team, only Dane had not won a token himself. I offered to give him one of mine, but he said it was impossible and it wasn’t right. He said I had earned them. I wasn’t so sure I believed that. He’d saved me and protected Starla. He had more than earned his share of the loot.
I’d give him the crown, I decided. As soon as the Trials were over. And he’d take it, whether he wanted to or not. Why should I get all the loot? Especially not when he’d stopped searching for tokens to save my life.
We heard a warning horn blow. It was time. The final Trial would begin soon.
“Well, I guess we’d better go.”
Starla nodded. I gave her a quick hug, then fixed her and Beazil with a hard look.
“Don’t get killed.”
“You too.”
I nodded solemnly. We swam out to meet our fate.
It was anarchy. Terrifying, loud, and chaotic. From the moment the horn blew, the arena was filled with clashing metal and screams of pain. I saw a Mer near me get hit almost immediately. He floated there, frozen in place, his face a grimace of pain.