Scales and Legends

  CHAPTER 6

  Sam stood on the shore, watching for any non-siren getting past the barrier. Nothing was happening. It was all intact. He could see the shimmer of the magical barrier, but it wasn’t going to hold. They were up to something, and he wanted more than anything to go find out what. But he had promised Whitney he’d stay back from the fighting for now. If he got killed, it would kill her, too, and all chance of asylum for the siren would be gone. He wanted to protect and save everyone, and right now the best way to do that was to stay back and let someone else investigate.

  Nic dove into the water near him and gave him a wave as he took off to see what was going on. Sam wanted to be there beside his brother, but a promise was a promise.

  Whitney had now been checking in with him almost every hour. He was delighted to find that the bond went two ways and he could talk to her when he needed to also. It was hard to hold back, though. He knew she was busy gathering hunters and making plans. Otherwise, he would be talking to her as he waited.

  Sam was excited to begin a new life where they weren’t hunted. It actually seemed too good to be true, and he hadn’t yet told his father about it. What difference would it make if they died before it came to pass? For now, he wanted everyone to focus on their jobs. Everyone between the ages of sixteen and fifty were training to fight. The mothers and the children were busy fortifying the safe points in town and prepping everything for evacuation if it became an option. They were going to be ready.

  Something was happening in the water. Sam wasn’t close enough to see, but something was going on. He waited on the pier and was going to decide what to do when his brother, Ken, came barreling down and jumped in before Sam could ask. That wasn’t a good sign. Ken was good with thinking and problem solving, not fighting. If he was going in the water, then something was really wrong. Without hesitating, Sam jumped in after Ken. He wasn’t going to let his one logical brother get hurt before the war even started. They needed his smarts if they were going to stand any chance.

  Underwater, Sam easily caught up to his brother. Ken didn’t look back at him as he raced off to a specific spot. Ken suddenly came to a halt. Sam stopped beside his brother and glanced around. There had to be a reason why he stopped. Ken didn’t do anything without a reason. What was his brother up to?

  Nic hadn’t been the nicest brother to Sam, but none of them had. Sam was the youngest, and while he didn’t notice, his father favored him. Sam believed that being sent to another ocean for his coming of age journey was because his father didn’t want him, but it turned out to be the opposite. His father had enough faith in him getting home on his own. His father was proud of him, and to be able to have a son who had accomplished that made him prouder, even if he never showed that to Sam. Sam understood why his brothers, including Nic, had treated him badly for most of his life, but that didn’t mean they weren’t his brothers. And now even more so, he trusted them, especially Nic, who had trained Whitney to fight and take care of herself to the point that Sam didn’t really need to worry about her on land.

  As Sam saw what they stopped for, his heart sank. At the bottom of the ocean, Nic was clamped in a mer trap that was similar to what people used to hunt animals on land. His whole lower half was chomped through with the large metal teeth. The outside mer couldn’t physically pass the border, but they found a way to start the fight without doing that. Sam moved to swim down and try to help Nic, but Nic shook his head. Reaching out, Ken grabbed Sam before he could move forward.

  Ken seemed to have a silent conversation with Nic before nodding and pulling Sam back to the pier. Sam could have fought Ken, but it seemed that Ken knew more about what was going on. Once he had the details, he’d be back. He gave one last look at Nic and Nic gave him a salute. Sam had to hope that wouldn’t be the last time he saw his brother alive. Siren could live indefinitely underwater, but he wasn’t sure Nic would live without the blood that was slowly leaking from him.

  Even if they weren’t ready, the war was starting. Sam needed to be prepared to lose more people, but losing Nic would be hard. He’d discovered he liked his brothers after all.

  Whitney felt Sam’s pain across the bond and wanted to ask what was going on, but she couldn’t. She was busy with her own problems. When Sam had taken her to the island near the mer, he had used a specific boat company. Now that company was nowhere to be found. Even after searching the Internet she still didn’t have any clues. And since she had been asleep when Sam moved her onto the boat, she wasn’t sure what city the port they came out of was even in.

  Currently, Whitney was on her third city, and they were driving through searching for the boat company. She had been a little too focused on Sam the only time she rode on the boat to completely recall the name of the company, which probably would have made things easier. At least she could remember the logo, even if she forgot the writing on it. Now she just needed to find that logo.

  “So you’re really not mad at me for everything?” Whitney asked for the tenth time. When Jade had left town, Sam had wiped her memories from being kidnapped and then the fight between the mer clans.

  “I don’t remember being kidnapped by a mermaid, so I don’t hold a grudge against them. Nope, not mad at all. It seemed like something I don’t need to remember, or it wasn’t that fun anyway. Now if you took away going to Sam’s concert, that I would have been mad about.” Jade winked at Whitney. Her hair was currently a deep blue-green color that almost matched her name. “Do you remember that cute bouncer?” Yes, he was hard to forget, particularly since he’d had arms the size of Whitney’s thighs and scared the crap out of her when he scowled at someone. He wasn’t Whitney’s type, but he seemed to be Jade’s. “I got his number, and he told me to call anytime I was back in the area.” Jade winked at Whitney, who just shook her head. Jade’s concern about dating a guy was strange considering they were looking to go into a life-threatening fight soon enough.

  “I’m still sorry about the whole wiping your memories thing. I didn’t want to take away any memories from you, but Sam said your mother wouldn’t have given up since she saw his father.”

  “Yeah, they have some feud going back a couple decades. I never knew it was Sam’s dad she was mad at. We knew there was this guy she was set on killing, and that’s why she volunteered for every case with a possible mermaid, but I have no idea what it’s about. She never told us why she hates the mer in particular, but then again she doesn’t tell us much anyways.” Jade brushed her short hair with her fingers.

  “I asked Sam, and he has no clue beyond your mother taking a child from his father’s best friend, causing his friend to disappear from grief. Nothing more than that, and I’ve never seen his father ever once mention your mother in the past months I’ve been on the island. It’s like they have their own little world where they hate each other, but when they aren’t there, it doesn’t exist.” Whitney pulled into yet another marina.

  “Man, you have to tell me all about facing the night human council. That’s some serious business. Did you know they deal out punishment instantly? Like no last call to tell your loved ones good-bye? And they think hunters have no soul. At least we understand being human and saying good-bye.”

  Whitney didn’t know that and was thankful she didn’t. While she didn’t expect they would keep her alive for being an outlawed night human, she did think it was going to include some sort of prison sentence and a farewell phone call at least.

  “What if they change their minds? What can you do if you’ve already killed someone?”

  At this Jade laughed. “A night human changing its mind? Impossible! If you ask any night human out there, they will explain to you they are perfect and don’t make any mistakes.” Jade stepped out of the car with Whitney and finally noticed her friend had not replied. “Shoot. I’m sorry about that. It’s going to take a long time to get used to you being a night human. You just seem no different than before.”

  Whitney shrugged. “I’m not different because the whol
e time you knew me I was a night human. Sam had changed me before you moved to town. But the thing is, if you asked my friend Cassie, I’ve never changed even from skinwalker to human to mer. I’m still me.”

  “Which is a testament to how strong of a person you are,” Jade added with a meek smile. “Not everyone can become hungry for blood, and remain so innocent and nice.”

  Whitney smiled before realizing she hadn’t fed in a long time, and yet she still wasn’t hungry. Maybe this was something new with being an Oceanid, whatever that was. She had to hope that was the case and it would stay that way because she didn’t have time to get hungry. She still didn’t have any more details, but she was anxious to get back and ask Ken all he knew on the subject of Oceanids. Of everyone, she knew he would be the most interested from all his book reading.

  “You’ve never met the skinwalkers I’m guessing. There isn’t blood hunger, and they’re all normal people. I think because you were raised as a hunter, all the night humans you ever met are the bad ones. There are actually a lot of good ones, and my mer clan is going to be all good. I promise you that. The only time you’ll be coming to see me is to take a vacation on my awesome tropical mer island.”

  Jade held up her hand to give her a high five.

  “And I can’t wait. My mother is pushing me to do the final tests to be a full-fledged hunter, but it’s stressful. Once I am, though, Jax can be my apprentice instead of Mom’s, and we can leave on our own.”

  Whitney’s eyes went big. Her friend was just graduating from high school, and here she was talking about going off on her own. That sounded scary. Whitney was on her own, but not really. She had Sam, and even now wanted to check in on him. Something was going on at the island, but there was nothing she could do to help until she could get closer.

  “And your mom’s good with that?”

  Rommy seemed to have control issues, and Whitney was happy to be off searching marinas with just Jade. She wasn’t sure she could survive another car ride with the lady. Heck, on their way back to the coast, she had driven the van to follow the hunter group and lost her on more than one occasion because of Rommy’s fast driving. It was a good thing they had gotten directions before leaving.

  Whitney and Jade walked down the wooden walkway to the pier. It was yet another stop, and she was hopeful they would find what they were looking for.

  “I think she’s excited. She spent most of my childhood complaining that we weighed her down and she was missing her prime hunting time.” Whitney’s face dropped. “But it’s okay. Really,” Jade tried to reassure her. “All the hunters are like that. They complain about their kids to their kids, but they do love us. But they love the hunt just as much. I really don’t get it yet, but my mom keeps telling me I will.” Jade shrugged. “Yes, hunting is exciting. I mean, it is life and death after all. But it isn’t better than life. I like going to school and hanging out with Jax. I wish I could go to college, but it isn’t in the cards for me.”

  Whitney paused as Jade stopped to stare at the sign. This was it. She remembered it perfectly, the round logo with a V right in the middle of it. Whitney had found their boat. Now she needed to find someone on it.

  “This is it,” Whitney said as Jade stopped beside her and looked at the sign. “I’m going to go onboard and see if anyone is around.”

  Jade nodded. “I’ll call my mother and get the crew ready.”

  Whitney nodded back to her. Jade stepped a few feet away to make the call and Whitney walked over to the boat. There was a small shack next to the boat that listed the trips it went on. She wasn’t sure which destination they needed and each day of the week went to different places. As she stared at the sign, someone came up and stood beside her. Turning and expecting to find Jade, she was surprised at the young man beside her.

  “Looking for a trip?” he asked, eyeing her over like he knew her secret.

  “Yes. I’ve been on this boat once before, though I’m just not completely sure where I want to go,” Whitney replied, thinking she should contact Sam as that would be the easiest.

  Jade walked up to them and pulled back her sleeve. The large tattoo on her forearm was completely visible.

  “We’re looking to go to the island you drop off night humans on,” Jade told the man boldly. Whitney’s eyes shot open. Night humans were supposed to stay secret to the general public, and Jade was being more than forward.

  The guy didn’t flinch and just nodded.

  “How many will I be transporting, hunter?” he asked. Okay, obviously the guy was in the loop, but how Jade knew was beyond Whitney. Now she just had more questions for her friend.

  “We have eight night humans and eight hunters, and we would like to leave as soon as we can,” Jade replied, not even blinking while looking at the man. Her tone was more serious than it had been all afternoon.

  He nodded to her and then walked back to the shack, pulling the door shut before going down the walkway to the waiting boat. “I should be able to get my crew here within the hour,” he called over his shoulder, not turning around.

  Jade nodded to the man’s back.

  “Let’s go back to the car to get my stuff and wait for everyone. They should be here as soon as my mom stops to get more weapons. To say she’s excited is an understatement, I hope you know.” Only a hunter would be happy to go off to the middle of a night human war excited. Six more hunters wasn’t exactly the backup army Whitney thought would help, but by having Rommy there counted as having a dozen hunters. Whitney was ready to take her chances with those numbers.

  Eight hunters and eight untrained teenage siren. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was better than what she had started with. She was going to get back to the island to wait now, and she was excited to be close to Sam. Things on the island were getting worse, and something more had happened. She didn’t need to be able to see things with her own eyes to know that it was bad and they needed to start working on their latest plan. As much as the siren had feared the hunters for decades, Whitney was glad to have them beside her. Rommy had a plan to start trimming the mer down before the real war began, and it actually sounded like something they could do as they waited.

  Smiling, Whitney watched her friend pull out bags of weapons. Weeks ago she was happy to have visited Jade’s house and come out alive because she feared the hunters, and now she was standing beside them getting ready to go into battle. Her decision to face the night human council had changed everything. Whitney hoped she could keep making the right choices like that, and was beginning to think maybe her Oceanid blood was lucky after all. It would be perfect if her luck continued until after the battle, and she was able to give the siren a new life in the night human world instead of outside it.

  The boat ride was much longer than Whitney remembered, but then again, she had been asleep for part of it the first time. Actually, she didn’t know how long she had been asleep. There was the small detail of how spending time with Sam made time fly by. Example being that the past couple months were really nothing more than a blur now. She wanted to remember every moment, but time went so fast.

  Jade had explained that the captain of the boat was what they called a nur, or a night human sympathizer. There was a whole group of day humans that were into helping out night humans for their blood. The way Jade explained it, they were mostly junkies for the fix of the power night human blood gave them, but some, like the captain, found night humans to be the best allies—which explained her initial hostile behavior toward him. Either way, the tattoo on his neck told Jade who he was and that she could be direct with him. One more thing Whitney needed to learn about.

  As the large sightseeing boat anchored at the island, Whitney and the other mer had to hide in the hulls of the rowboats as the hunters made their way to the shore. They weren’t sure if the mer were watching the island or not, but it was best to keep the siren hidden.

  Whitney lay on a tarp while Jax was rowing the first boat to shore.

  “So were they mad when
you told them?” Whitney asked. It was the first time she’d been alone with him since they met up the day before.

  Jax laughed. “Mad? My sister and mother getting mad? No, never. They don’t ever get mad.” He laughed again, but Whitney didn’t. She was worried that they would take out their anger on him since he seemed to be immune to the siren. He grinned down at her. “Okay, fine. Yes, they were mad, but nothing more than normal. They walk around mad. Yesterday, before you called, Jade was mad that the mac and cheese in the house wasn’t the white kind, and she was going to have to eat yellow fake cheese. Come on. What don’t they get mad about?”

  “I mean more than normal,” Whitney clarified.

  “No. They both figured something happened when we met up with the mer, and their minds had been messed with, but I was right that once they had a body, they’d ease up a bit. It’s all about the kill with them. Oh well. I would have been mad if I were them, but what can you do?”

  Jax kept rowing. It wasn’t far from the anchored boat to the shore, but Jax was taking his time to see the scenery. He was taking Whitney to the island first so that they could scope out the place before anyone else came ashore.

  “Jade said you’re going to be her apprentice now,” Whitney continued, trying to keep the conversation going. What she really wanted was to be was sitting up with Jax and keeping a lookout for mer, but that wasn’t an option with her hair back to being blond. They easily could be looking for her, too.

  Jax shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Still not fair that you can’t be a hunter also,” Whitney added. Full hunter status was only given to females. Jax was only allowed to apprentice, which did stink. He was a really good shot, and from the stories Jade told, he was as good as she was at hand-to-hand combat. But he didn’t have the extra hunter skills and strength to make it easier.

  “My mother would tell you life isn’t fair, but I get the feeling you already know that.”