Always Remembered (13 page)

“No.” Kieran gestured to me. “We came to
ensure you had everything you needed for the journey.”

“You? Son of the Alkana clan, and you, human
daughter of David?” Drust snorted his disgust, and I fought the
urge to slap the ugly smirk from his face. “What can you offer
us?”

“Are those the weapons you’re taking?” I
asked, pleased that my voice stayed calm. My hands shook with
anger, so I clasped them behind my back. Each man held a small
dagger, no more than four inches long. “Are you planning to give
the Blue Men paper cuts?”

“Insolent brat,” Drust spat and flexed his
muscles. “We are the weapons.”

I almost rolled my eyes when he confirmed
what a meathead he was. Judoc had the decency to look unsure and a
little embarrassed at the antics of his companion.

Should we show them?
Kieran’s voice
slid through my mind. I loved his confidence in me. He didn’t see
me as just a girl; he saw me as his equal.

Please,
I said. Together, we conjured
swords at the same time. The guards dropped their sorry excuses for
weapons. Shock clear on their faces, they raised their hands in
surrender.

“You lasted two seconds,” Kieran said dryly.
“And we are not your enemy. So let’s try this again. Do you want
our help?”

Drust eyed the swords with suspicion, maybe
even fear. “Where did you get those?”

“Meara found them.” Kieran’s voice rang with
pride, although I recalled that his first reaction was anger when I
depleted my energy to bring them to the island.

Three pairs of eyes focused on me. I
shrugged. “They were hidden in castles on the mainland. No one was
using them, so I figured there was no harm in taking them.”

“Can you teach us?” Judoc asked, looking at
me specifically.

“Of course,” I said.

None of my dad’s guard had attended any of
our training sessions. At the time, I assumed it meant they were
already well trained. Now, I knew that it was pride that kept them
away. As much as I wanted to go and rescue my dad myself, I
couldn’t refuse to train these two and risk their lives, even if
they were arrogant and rude.

Kieran and I each conjured an additional
sword from our supply. He paired off with Judoc, a closer height
match, and I with Drust. Drust was several inches taller than I was
and about fifty pounds heavier, but I made up for the size
difference with speed. We spent the remainder of the evening
showing the guards how to use the weapons, both offensively and
defensively. The moon was high when our session finished. Kieran
and I could still best them, but they made remarkable progress in
mere hours.

“Will you leave in the morning?” Kieran
asked.

Drust shook his head, and Judoc said, “We’ll
leave now under the cover of night.”

“You must contact my dad when you get to the
isle,” I said. “That was his specific order.”

“We will.” Drust bowed and took my hand,
kissing the top of it. His earlier attitude was gone. “My
apologies, Meara. You honor your father and the clan.”

Judoc bowed as well, and then shook both of
our hands. “Thank you both for sharing your knowledge. We cannot
repay you.”

“You can,” I said. “Bring them and yourselves
back safely.”

“We will do our best.”

With curt nods, they turned and strode away
from us. I prayed they would find success, though I had my
doubts.

Evan
hummed as he dressed. Ken would be knocking at his door soon. Evan
wanted to be ready. He was nervous about trying to trick the leader
of the Blue Men, but he was experiencing some level of giddy
excitement. If it worked, Evan could slow Ken’s efforts. With any
luck, he could be stopped, which would be tricky to do without Ken
becoming aware of his motives.

Once again wishing he had a hot cup of
coffee, Evan decided to convince Deanna to go back to the mall with
him that evening if she wasn’t working. He needed to learn her work
schedule.

Should he feel guilty for what happened
between them last night? At first, he thought so, but he found that
he couldn’t muster up the emotion. His body was relaxed and his
heart full. Deanna made him feel alive. They parted ways a few
hours ago, and he couldn’t wait to see her again. He hadn’t felt
that way with Meara in a long time. Most of last summer, he was
tense and angry. Whether it was Ken’s influence or not, the
distance in their relationship seemed real to Evan. Meara felt it,
too. Otherwise, she would’ve fought him more when he broke up with
her. She took the news almost too easily, like her heart reached
the same conclusion. No, he didn’t feel guilty. If anything, he was
sad. What they had together was great while it lasted.

Evan opened the door to Ken’s raised
hand.

“You’re up!” Surprise was clear in Ken’s
voice.

“I’m ready to go.” With a wide smile, Evan
crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe.

Ken’s surprise gave way to suspicion. “That’s
a change from yesterday.”

“I do have an ulterior motive,” Evan said,
knowing that his choice of words would intrigue Ken.

“Oh?” Ken chuckled, but the sound was
menacing. “Let’s hear it.”

“I want you to pay me for the use of my
power. I can’t live here on my good looks alone, and I’m quite fond
of coffee.”

Ken’s laugh was more genuine this time. “You
found the mall then.”

“I did,” Evan said. “And I’ve got a bit of a
caffeine addiction.”

Scratching his chin, Ken considered Evan’s
request. Finally, he said, “Fair enough. I will pay you, so long as
you cooperate.”

“Cooperation’s my middle name.” Evan stuck
out his hand. “Deal?”

Ken gave him a searching look, then,
apparently satisfied, he shook Evan’s hand. “Deal.”

Evan paid closer attention this time as they
swam to the mantle plume. He knew they were getting close when the
water took on the putrid taste of death and decay. Shortly after he
began to taste it, Evan noticed the destruction. The half-rotted
skeletons of decomposing fish that couldn’t swim away fast enough.
Further along, he noticed greyish-black slime that might have once
been an anemone. The water was murky, black, and thick with loss,
only Evan’s sharp, supernatural sight allowed him to navigate
through the sludge. To a human, it might’ve appeared to be a
man-made disaster like an oil spill. As one of the Blue Men, Evan
was immune to Ken’s magic and could see the mantle plume’s
destruction for what it was—evil. Ken might be able to accept
murder as a means to his goals, but Evan never would. Killing was
immoral. Flora or fauna, innocents shouldn
’
t have to die for one man
’
s
mission.

“How much farther until the fault reaches the
Selkies’ island?” Evan asked. The deep crack in the ocean floor
stretched beyond his sight. Billows of steam rose from the fissure
where the hot lava, glowing red, met the cold ocean water.

“I don’t know exactly,” Ken admitted after a
moment’s silence. “I’ve never been there, but I know the general
vicinity.”

“Wouldn’t it be helpful to find it first?”
Evan hoped Ken might bite at this idea. If they swam close enough,
Evan might be able to warn Meara if their psychic connection still
worked. He couldn’t reach her from Belle Trésor. Perhaps the Siren
settlement was too far away or warded against that kind of
magic.

“It would make sense, if we could find the
island. The Selkies have encased it in their magic. We’ve yet to
discover it.” Ken sounded bitter. “I’ve been searching for several
decades.”

“It’s warded against our magic?” That
surprised Evan. Ken made it sound like the Selkies didn’t stand a
chance against the Blue Men. Maybe the Selkies were stronger than
Ken thought. For Meara’s sake, Evan hoped so.

“I will find their island using the mantle
plume,” Ken said. “Magic cannot stop a force of nature. When we’ve
properly fed it, the plume will destroy them.”

“How?” Evan asked. Ken explained the day
before, but Evan didn’t fully understand. To be honest, he had only
half listened. At the time, he was more worried about losing his
power or dying at Ken’s hands. Now, Evan focused on Ken’s
response.

“It’s simple really. The mantle plume is an
underwater volcano. Our power feeds that volcano, increasing the
friction, which generates more heat and melts the rock beneath the
ocean’s surface. We’re also growing the fault and moving the hot
magma closer to the Selkies
’
island.”

“Because you know the general vicinity where
the island exists?”

“Exactly!” Ken’s voice rose in excitement.
“The destruction will have massive reach. They will burn in fire
and ash. When the eruption is complete, their home, their people,
will exist no more.” His sharp teeth gleamed in the water, and his
gaze drilled into Evan. His eyes, Evan noted, were those of a
madman. “This event will make Pompeii look like child’s play.”

Evan’s blood froze as dread settled in his
stomach. How was he—a human-turned-supernatural being—in any way
equipped to stop this? This was something that Ken must have
plotted for centuries before finally executing on the idea.

Finally, they arrived at the spot where they
were the day before. Evan recognized a small rock formation nearby.
Ken immediately crouched down and placed his hands in the thick,
gray silt. The ground began to glow a soft blue.

“Join me.”

It was a command, not a request. Evan dropped
beside Ken. This was it. The true test of whether his practice with
Deanna would pay off. He placed his hands over Ken’s and felt the
immediate tug on his energy. He let Ken siphon some, although he
limited the flow to a trickle.

Entering Ken’s mind was easy, because the man
was so focused on his task. Once Evan knew that he was in, he began
to feed Ken a vision—Evan’s power flowed into Ken’s and, together,
they grew the plume, stretching the destructive fissure another
twenty yards. In reality, Evan used his power against Ken and
siphoned some of Ken’s energy for his purposes. While Ken saw the
plume expand, Evan knew that it really receded a foot. Not much,
but with practice, Evan was confident he could do more.

By the end of the day, Ken’s brow was pale
and his breathing was gurgled and uneven. He clasped Evan’s arm,
straightened slowly, and smiled. “Well done, my boy. We made good
progress today.”

As a last move before he got out of Ken’s
head, Evan made Ken see that Evan was as dirty and tired as he was.
It would not be good for Ken to notice how unaffected he really
was.

“I agree, sir.” Giddy with his success, Evan
struggled to keep his voice calm. He couldn’t wait to tell Deanna.
“We’ll return tomorrow?”

Ken agreed, and they swam out of the muck and
grime, back to the jeweled beauty of the Siren lair. It was a small
victory, but a win all the same. Evan held his own against Ken
today without him knowing. Evan felt something flutter in his
chest. That flutter was hope.

All
around me, I watched Selkies play in the surf. It was nice to see
them lighthearted and having fun, especially after I worried that
they wouldn’t go in the water. When Kieran and I first told them
our theory that we needed the seawater to recharge before we began
working magic, they refused to transform or leave the safety of
land. I knew they were hesitant to disobey their leader, even if it
meant they were following the orders of his daughter.

To encourage them, I said, “It’s okay.
Yesterday afternoon, my dad contacted me this way. That’s how we
learned where he is and where to send Drust and Judoc. We are water
creatures. We need to be in the water.”

When they still didn’t move, Kieran and I
went in first. Wading into the cool water, I fought the urge to
change. The frothy waves caressed my calves. I went deeper until
the water was chest-high. The current rocked me back and forth, a
gentle lulling. Kieran stood next to me, motioning to the others to
join us. One by one, they came until we were surrounded by our
people, their faces cheerful and relaxed.