The Syrenka Series: Arise Part 8

"I 'ave my ways," he said with a wink and I had to grin. Abhainn did have his ways and they always seemed to work.

"Is anyone else with you?"

He shook his head and looked around the room. "No. Not yet. But they are close."

"Who is?"

"Yer rescue team, my lady." My rescue team? I found myself immediately thinking about Kain. Did he come for me too? But before I could ask, Abhainn cut off my thoughts. "I must go now. Too many eyes and ears."

"Abhainn, no! Wait! You can't leave me here."

He smiled at me with his mouthful of pointy teeth. "I am not going anywhere, la.s.sie. Just be patient and try to stay calm."

"But who..." I started to ask until he tipped his hat to me and exploded into a million tiny water droplets. I watched as they gathered themselves and rushed up the faucet back the way I a.s.sumed he got into the building in the first place.

I fell back onto the toilet, my legs shaking and my heart pounding in my chest. Maybe I wouldn't need my plans after all. Maybe Abhainn and the rest of my rescue team could get me out of here for good. I needed to tell Graham right away.

But I didn't move. Did I want to leave this place? Yes. Did I want to learn more about my mother and her powers and how I fit into this story? Absolutely. One path would send me home yet have me looking over my shoulder every waking minute. The other option required me to stay until I learned what I needed to so that I could end this once and for all.

I didn't know what to do, and once again I feared that I would make the wrong choice.

Ten.

Kain "Why does it have to be Mexico?" Daniel whined.

"What's wrong with Mexico?" I asked, curious as to why this would be an issue for him. It wasn't like he was going on the rescue mission.

"Too many bad memories," Daniel said and shook his head. He physically shuttered as he looked off in the distance, remembering something I didn't want to know about. "Is he sure that she's there?"

"Abhainn is good at this. He left this morning to check it out for himself." I expected to get word any time now on whether or not he'd located Eviana. Isabel had enough information from other ratchets and sprites who were apparently loyal to her. They reported a gathering of water creatures around a tiny island off the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. It sounded like the perfect hideout for Lucian and an even better place to hold a clan leader captive.

"I still want to go with you," Daniel said while handing me a knife.

I was in the process of packing the weapons bag although I hoped that it wouldn't come to actually having to use them. "I know, but..." I winced when I reached a little too far. I really needed to get in the water and heal. It had been long enough.

"But what? You're injured. Palmer still has a concussion, and who wants to trust the selkies after what happened?"

"They were under Lucian's control," I reminded him.

"Exactly. What's stopping them from losing it again? If he catches you guys, you will never get out of there alive."

He was right. I knew with the utmost certainty that we had one chance of getting Eviana. If we were caught, we were dead. I tried to hide my fear. It wasn't that I was afraid of dying for her. I was more afraid of what Lucian would do to her in retaliation. Or to our people.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, I need you to stay here and look after Marisol."

Daniel rolled his eyes and slumped down into a chair near the kitchen table. I continued packing until the silence got the best of him. "Fine."

"Fine, what?" I asked.

"Fine. I will stay here and babysit while you go and play knight in shining armor." He crossed his arms and sighed dramatically. I had to laugh.

"You're doing the right thing," I said.

"Yeah, whatever."

I finished packing up the duffle bag full of knifes, hand grenades, and a couple of j.a.panese short swords. It was Julian's weapon of choice, but I preferred to stick with my natural abilities. I'd been practicing my compulsion and my water control seemed to improve every day. It was like a switch had been turned on and I suddenly knew exactly how to manipulate the element with very little effort. The compulsion I would save for a few choice selkies if needed.

As if listening to my internal thoughts, Brendan appeared on the beachside deck and knocked on the door frame. Neither of us acknowledged his presence, so he walked inside and sat down next to Daniel.

"I need to talk to Marisol," Daniel said and quickly jumped out of his chair then disappeared around the corner. I would thank him for that later.

"Do you need any help?" Brendan asked.

"Nope."

After a full minute of silence, he spoke again. "Abhainn will find her, right?"

I stopped filling the snack bag I was working on and took a deep breath. Do I respond or do I stay silent? I decided to listen to my heart. "Do you really care?"

As though I stabbed a sword through him too, Brendan recoiled in shock. "Of course I care! I love her more than anything in this world!"

"If you truly did love her, you would have left a long time ago." My voice wavered with anger and a thousand other emotions. Apparently we were going to have this discussion and I wasn't fully prepared to filter my words.

Brendan jumped to his feet and leaned across the table toward me. "You would have loved that, wouldn't you? Having her to yourself. Going through with a marriage she never wanted. It would have been perfect for you if I would have stayed in Washington, right?"

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth. "She would have had a chance to choose me."

"She always had that chance. I never stopped her." He moved around the edge of the table so that we were looking at each other eye to eye. I could see the lines around his face and the grey tone of his skin. He looked like h.e.l.l and I smiled. "What's so funny?" he snapped.

Ignoring his question, I stared into his eyes. "She doesn't want you now."

He sucked in air then turned away from me. "But I need to help her."

"No, you don't. We have this under control."

"Lucian will have an army of selkies. You need us. Plus, I have to do this." His tone softened and I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"She won't want to see you," I said, confident in my words.

He sighed. "I fear that you may be right. But I can't live with myself for hurting her. I need to make amends."

I had to laugh. "Make amends for using her and then leaving her? You have some nerve." I moved back toward the table and finished shoving protein bars and trail mix into the bag with a little too much force. "For the life of me, I never knew what was so special about you." I probably should have stayed quiet, but at this moment I didn't really care.

"You can't help who you love," Brendan whispered.

"True. But you can control the way you treat them," I spat back. Did he really expect me to understand what he did?

"I can't help the way I feel. It's like there's something pulling me away from her, but yet there is a part of me that can't let go." He walked back to me and sat at the table. I stopped packing and looked down at him. Taking a deep breath, I tried to rein in my anger.

"I've heard others talk about the call. They say it's unlike anything they've felt before. Like nothing else matters except for finding a mate."

Brendan laughed, but it wasn't pleasant. "Yeah, nothing like having an outside force steer you toward the first female who shows the slightest bit of interest in you. Or not. Sometimes I find myself wanting to be near married ladies or older women, like my seal has a mind of its own when it's seeking a mate. I think I spend more time fighting the call than anything else." He leaned forward and rubbed his hands over his head.

I was uncomfortable this entire conversation, but I needed to know more. "Have you succ.u.mbed?"

Brendan's head snapped up and he looked angry. "What? Are you asking me if I impregnated some unsuspecting human?" I didn't reply and he glared at me. "No! No, I couldn't do that to her!"

"Who? Eviana?"

"Yes, Eviana you a.s.s! I told you I still love her and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

"But you left," I said. "After you spent the night with her." I couldn't help but let the venom slide into my words. Not only did the thought of the two of them together make me angry, but seeing her so upset the next day solidified how much I disliked the selkie. I always have and I probably always will.

Brendan had the decency to look ashamed. "I never want to be with anyone else."

I knew that this moment was a turning point for us. The subject was uncomfortable, the emotions were raw. He didn't need to tell me all of this, and yet, here he was having a conversation I'm sure he dreaded just as much as me. Thankfully, we were saved.

"Have you heard from him yet?" Troy asked and sauntered into the kitchen, conveniently blocking my view of the selkie. I watched as Brendan looked up at our lead protector and then out the window. Our conversation was officially over and hopefully we wouldn't have to speak this much ever again.

"Not yet. But I'm ready." I gestured toward the bags on the table and watched as Troy dug through each one. If it weren't for his military background, I may have been offended. Troy like to triple check every preparation. It was one of the qualities that made him so valuable.

I grabbed a gla.s.s from the cabinet and turned on the faucet. Nothing came out. Lifting the handle up and down a few times, I glanced at Troy and was just about to ask him if the water had been turned off when I heard a noise. It sounded like a m.u.f.fled curse. I looked back at the faucet and watched as a tiny sprite dropped into my gla.s.s.

"Abhainn?" I asked, holding the gla.s.s up to the light to get a better look.

"Put me down," he said softly in his tiny form. I set the gla.s.s in the sink and Abhainn grew a few more inches. By the time he stepped over the edge of the gla.s.s, he stood about a foot high and stared at me from the kitchen sink with his hands on his hips.

"See something ye like, lad?" he asked with a slight att.i.tude.

"Good to see you too," I said, trying to lighten the mood. Apparently Abhainn didn't like being smaller than the rest of us.

He looked past me toward Brendan. "Ah, the selkie returns again. So how long are ye going to stay fer this time?"

Brendan huffed and walked over to stand behind Troy. I saw Abhainn crack a smile.

"So did you find her?" I asked.

"Aye, she is there." I let out the breath I'd been holding and looked at Troy. He, too, seemed relieved. I didn't care what Brendan felt. "But it's not going to be easy. I had to hide amongst a school of fish to get away from that compound."

"Compound?" Troy asked.

"Aye, he has the whole island to himself. That alone is not bad, but it's the hordes of ratchets and selkies guarding the place that'll be the problem."

"I told you," Brendan said and it took every part of my control not to punch him.

"Is he coming with us?" Abhainn asked.

"Unfortunately," I replied and Troy snickered. It was probably immature, but I didn't really care anymore. We had a mission to accomplish. "So how do we get there?"

"Ye will need to fly into Cancun and we can boat from there. But once we get within a few miles, I think our best strategy is to go in underwater."

"Do we have enough help?" Troy asked.

"Aye, I believe so if we take him," he nodded in Brendan's direction, "and Isabel. She may be able to acquire some of the ratchets and he can serve as bait."

Brendan rolled his eyes while I thought about him being torn apart by the other selkies. A tiny part of me felt ashamed for enjoying that vision, so I pushed it down and out of the way. "I can use the water to help capture the sprites and Troy, Julian, and Brendan can take care of the selkies."

Abhainn winced. "Be careful which sprites ye control there, lad. Wouldn't want ye accidentally drownin' me."

"I won't. I've been practicing." I felt like a first year student, needing to prove myself to Abhainn who had taught us so much.

"I know. Just giving ye a hard time." He leaned out to look around me and at Brendan. "And I know that ye won't screw up."

"What?"

Abhainn tapped his head. "Mind reading. It's a lovely thing." Brendan returned to his seat at the table and didn't say another word. My guess was that he didn't want Abhainn reading any more of his thoughts.

"So when do we go?" I asked.

Abhainn shook his head and began to climb out of the sink. "I need an hour. But ye can get on the plane now if ye want."

"An hour? Why?" Troy asked, but I feared I already knew the answer to that.

"I just travelled thousands of miles underground. I need to eat." Abhainn fell to the floor and grumbled another curse that I fortunately couldn't understand through his thick accent.

"Are you feeding here?" I thought about all of the humans nearby and then about one selkie in close proximity.

Abhainn's laughed filled the room despite his tiny size. "No, lad. I will not eat one of those ghastly dogs." He looked up at Brendan. "Even though that would solve quite a number of problems."

"Very funny," Brendan said, but I saw him glance nervously at the deadly sprite.

"Please be discrete," I begged. It wouldn't be prudent to have humans disappearing right now.

"Always am," he replied with a mouthful of intimidating teeth. Pushing past me, he walked toward the front of the house and looked expectantly at Troy. Getting the hint, Troy stepped over him and opened the door just wide enough for the sprite to fit through. He tipped a tiny aqueous hat in my direction and then dove off the front porch and disappeared into the ground. It was the closest source of water and he'd used the underground system to move around Eviana's property before.

I didn't know who he was going to eat, and I did my best not to think too much about it. We needed Abhainn at his full strength, so I refused to let my personal feelings interfere with what needed to be done.

And speaking of personal feelings, Julian had joined Brendan at the table by the time I turned around. I hadn't even heard the other selkie come into the kitchen. Julian wasn't one of my favorite people at the moment, considering he'd asked Brendan to come back here. He knew this and addressed his comment to Troy.

"I have a jet waiting at the airport. It's at our disposal whenever you are ready." Where did Julian get a jet? The selkie sure did have a lot of friends who seemed to always do him favors.

"We leave in fifteen minutes," Troy said and then turned to me. "Please collect all of the bags while I get Palmer. He's not totally recovered, but he wouldn't be happy if I made him stay here."