The Merworld Water Wars - Finned Part 33

"I should stay near the doorway to keep an eye on the hallway."

After hearing Mrs. Waterberry agree with Airianna's suggestion, I nodded and made my way to the porthole. All of Katrina's lame Halloween decorations were gone. Ironically, the room was scarier now. Facing the sheer black curtains, I silently wished I didn't have to confront the ghostly faces on my own for a second time. Working to own my breath and maintain a calm mind, I slowly parted the curtains. As before, the same faces swirled in and out of view, only this time there were two new faces...faces I knew very well.

"No. NO! Polly! Trey! G.o.d, no!" I shouted, touching the gla.s.s.

"Marina! Focus!" said Mrs. Waterberry.

"Marina? Are you okay?" cried Airianna.

I could hear their voices, but I couldn't answer; my mind drowned within the depths of the porthole as a blur of visions overtook me: a baby seal...Trey's house...books stuffed with pictures and papers hiding under some floorboards...Meikle, sitting in a hospital bed holding a near empty hourgla.s.s...me, walking down the pier with two figures...Troy screaming my name...a red flower with six petals and six red stones at each point...

"Marina! Get the stone!" screamed a chorus of voices, and not just those of Airianna, Mrs. Waterberry, and Bobby.

Like a cry in the distance, Trey's voice brought me back. Whipping out the mermaid hammer, I prepared to smash the frame and grab the stone, but the hammer had other ideas. The ends of the hammer's head sprang to life, forming two claws that slipped and twisted around the stone. It delicately removed the gem without a scratch to the frame. The hammer placed the stone in my hand and returned to its original shape.

The stone felt hot, almost unbearably so. Placing it in my bag, I spun around to face the porthole once more.

"The guards are coming! You two need to get out of there!" said Bobby, his voice shrilly.

"Do you have the stone?" asked Mrs. Waterberry.

"Yes," I said firmly. "Just one more thing."

"What?" asked Mrs. Waterberry, panicked.

"This," I said, smashing the gla.s.s with the hammer.

Bloodcurdling cries came from all over the room.

"Marina! We need to get out of here!" shouted Airianna.

"There's another door back here! Come on!" I hollered, opening the back exit. "Run!"

Running as fast as we could, Airianna and I fled down the hall, trying to get back to the trapdoor. "We can't get back out that way," I whispered, peering around the corner, towards the trapdoor. "It's covered."

"And so are you," said a Ravenflame guard from behind us.

I looked at Airianna, subtly gesturing the outermost pocket of my bag. "Looks like you got us," I sighed, facing him, while Airianna discreetly searched my bag for the soar-spheres.

"I've got them down here!" he yelled.

"Not for long," sang Airianna, throwing a soar-sphere at his feet.

Pouf! A sparkling purple cloud engulfed him. "Come visit us again, your majesty. Maybe bring some cookies next time," said the guard, waving at the wall.

We sprinted for the front door, only to find a flood of guards and Kyle Zale bursting through.

"Terrace!" I screamed, dragging Airianna by the arm.

Deadly purple trident beams barely missed our heads, blasting the walls and toppling sculptures around us.

"Don't kill them!" bellowed Kyle.

Once we reached the terrace, Airianna tried to radio for help. "Mrs. Waterberry! We need help! Mrs. Waterberry? They're not working! We must have pa.s.sed the two-hour mark! Now what?"

"Jump," I said.

"What?"

"You can swim your way out of here. Go," I said, looking down at the sea.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"They're getting closer. Airi, please, GO!"

Wearing a terribly guilty expression, Airianna jumped into the water; I watched as she safely disappeared beneath the surface.

I quickly shoved two Hazyfy cookies in my mouth and hoped.

"Well, well, we meet again," said Kyle, whipping me around. "How nice."

"Forgive me if I don't share your enthusiasm."

His eyes narrowing, he asked, "Who was that with you?"

"A ghost."

"Don't lie to me, Normal. Who were you with?"

"A girl."

"Her name?"

"Well, she goes by many. She has a first name, last, middle, nicknames...for instance, your name is Kyle, but I call you jacka-"

"First name," Kyle said through gritted teeth.

"Now, would that be her full first, shortened first..."

"STOP PLAYING GAMES! ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"Ooh! This is new!" I said, my feet gently lifting off the ground.

"What's she doing?" Kyle asked one of the guards. "Grab her!"

Kyle and two guards lunged forward and grabbed my ankles. I tried kicking them off, but they were too strong. The kicking would only delay the inevitable; I had to come up with something. While trying to think, an oddly unnerving buzzing sound from somewhere in the distance grew closer.

"What's that?" yelled one of the guards, pointing to the sky behind me.

An enormous cloud of tiny orange lights barreled through the sky. Like a blur of fireworks, the ma.s.s of flickering lights darted past me, split in every direction, and attacked the Ravenflames.

"I return the favor, you see," whispered a voice in my ear.

"Maryweather!" I gasped when I saw the tiny pixie flit in front of my nose.

"My family," she said, gesturing the tiny b.a.l.l.s of light. "We're stronger than we appear."

When I looked closer, I could just make out hundreds of tiny pixies forcefully attacking Kyle and his guards with their hands, legs, and little wands.

"Marleigh! This one!" shouted Maryweather, pointing at Kyle, who still had a firm hold of my ankle.

After taking a shot from Marleigh's feet to both of his eyes, Kyle released me, and I floated to the heavens.

"Oh, whoa! Super fun...but what now?"

"Me."

"Manakel," I said, facing the remarkably handsome angel. "d.a.m.n glad to see ya."

"d.a.m.n glad to see you, Cherry Blossom," he said, winding his arm around my waist. Pulling me against him, he whispered, "Shall we Peter out of here, Wendy?"

"Peter me up! Uh, didn't mean that how it sounded."

"Ya wowser."

"Ya...huh?"

"Killjoy."

"That's me, softly killing your joy," I said as we soared in the direction of Hambury House.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

2+2 = 4 Watery Graves.

Flying. Coolest thing ever. With me tucked safely beneath him, Manakel gracefully guided my body higher into the sky, but all too soon we began our descent. The bright coral roof of Hambury House grew larger and larger.

"Going through in three, two-" said Manakel, tightening his grip.

"One," I supplied, squeezing my eyes shut. I'm such a wimp.

Only when I felt the familiar creaky hardwoods of the study under my feet did I open my eyes. As soon as my eyes cracked open, a flash of face and a swirl of blond hair darted by, and I found myself in a crushing embrace.

"Oh! Marina! I was so worried! I hated leaving you there!"

"Airi...can't b-breathe," I wheezed.

"Oh, sorry! I'm just so glad to see you alive and all!" she said, keeping a firm hold of my arm.

"All alive. I'm not going anywhere."

Doctor Tenly rushed over, leaving something blue and boiling on the desk. "Have you got the stone?"

"Good to see you, too," I said flatly, before giggling idiotically.

Doctor Tenly eyed me, his eyebrows raised. "Ah, pleasantries. Glad to see you. You look lovely. Have you lost weight? Can I offer you a drink? How about some freshly baked cookies?" he said in a high-pitched voice. "Are we good?"

"Point taken-no time for fluff. I have the stone," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Excellent! In your bag?"

"Well, that depends on your meaning of bag. Some people consider pockets to be personal mini-bags." I started laughing again, only this time I sounded like a drunken hyena. When Airianna finally let go of my arm, I floated towards the ceiling. "Weeeee! So. Much. Fun." Manakel eased me back down.

"Oh! She ate the Hazyfy cookies! That's why she's dancing around your questions," said Airianna.

Doctor Tenly immediately twisted to grab something from his hidden cabinets. "It would explain her erratic behavior."

"And the flying," said Manakel.

"Last ditch effort on my part. I shoved them in my mouth after Airi jumped." And so begins a phase of uncontrollable hiccups. Super.

"But, floating is a rare side effect, along with incoherent babbling," said Bobby, yanking up his heavy man-belt. "How did you know you would float?"

"I didn't. HICCUP. I figured a mercookie would react differently in a human, so-HICCUP-since I already have the babbling gene, I played the odds and hoped it would turn me into a floatation device. HICCUP. Worked like a charm, apart from the stupid laughing...and hiccups," I said, sitting on the couch while Manakel and Airianna held me in place.

"That's utterly brilliant." Bobby stared at me with wide eyes.

"Very clever, indeed, Marina," said Doctor Tenly, handing me a gla.s.s. "But I need both the intended and unintended effects to wear off if I'm going to get straight, uninterrupted answers from you. I have no patience for hiccups. Complete waste of human energy."

"What's in the gla.s.s?" Bobby asked. "A tonic? Stiff drink?"

"Root beer," I said, taking a sip.

"Little known cure-all for mystical disturbances," said Doctor Tenly, patting my head. "Now, is the stone in your bag? Not the pocket-mini-bags, mind you."

"Huh? Ooh, headache. Um, it's just here," I said, pulling the stone from my bag.

Yanking on a pair of gaudy blue gloves, Doctor Tenly carefully retrieved the stone from my shaky hands and carried it to his desk.

"Nice gloves. Very sparkly," I groaned, clutching my head.