Scales and Legends

  “Father, we need you to stay here and make sure this goes okay. If Whitney loses too much blood, you need to put her in the spring water with me,” Sam told his father. The old man seemed to debate and realized Sam was right. From inside the bubble, Sam couldn’t transfer her into the water with him if it went bad. Sam might not have wanted Whitney to do what she planned, but he wasn’t going to let her possibly get hurt further, either.

  “Are we ready now?” Jax asked, locking eyes with Sam.

  Sam nodded to him as the king stayed in his spot. Jax turned back to Whitney, and she nodded, too, squeezing Jade’s hand before anything started.

  “Look at me,” Jade said as she stood over her friend’s head.

  Whitney gazed up into the hunter’s eyes. She could see in the depths of them that her friend had endured and knew about pain.

  “Can’t be much worse than shaving with a dull razor, right?” Whitney joked. She didn’t know what else to do. The pain she couldn’t inflict on herself was coming as soon as Jax began.

  Jade grimaced at the badly timed joke. “Focus just on me.”

  Whitney did just that as her fin felt like it was being burned. Grimacing and closing her eyes made it feel worse. More was coming off her. Whitney gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. She was sure with just one scream Sam would call the whole thing off. She needed to be strong. Looking back at Jade’s eyes seemed to help. There was strength and compassion there waiting for her as more pain ripped through her. For what seemed like an eternity, Whitney stared at her friend—a siren and a hunter. An impossible match for a friendship. As she felt the last of her scales on the front of her fin be ripped away, Jade held her place over her with her eyes never leaving hers.

  Jade was a friend for life. It seemed unimaginable, yet it worked. They had completely different upbringings, and came from completely different worlds, but there was something they shared. It was like Whitney found someone who was facing the same odds she was always facing—survive or be dead. And her friend was surviving and helping her survive.

  “Can we get some of that healing water on her before I get the other side?” Jax asked, finally breaking Whitney’s concentration from Jade.

  Whitney felt the cold, soothing water rest on her fin. It still burned, but it wasn’t as bad as it was when he had started. Actually, as he took more scales, it was like her tail had gone completely numb. If she didn’t know better, she would have assumed shock. Then again, maybe it was.

  Jax finally finished and stood up. He nodded to Jade, and Jade, in turn, nodded to Whitney. The torture session was done for the moment. Whitney took a deep breath to try to calm her beating heart. It was done for now.

  Finally letting go of Jade’s hands, Whitney pulled her arms from the chains and sat up to see the damage. Her beautiful tail was ragged with scales. Only a few had grown back, and bits remained of others. Another one popped through the surface of her tail skin and began to grow. Amazingly, growing scales actually hurt, too. Here she thought the only painful part of the process was getting the scales off.

  ‘It will hurt less as more come back,’ Sam explained.

  Whitney nodded to him and finally saw that inside his bowl a few of his own blue scales were floating around. As her scales were ripped off, so were his. She felt more than a little guilty for that. She never in her life wanted to cause him pain, but she had.

  ‘Never,’ Sam scolded her. ‘I had you burned alive. Don’t feel guilty about a few scales coming off. I barely felt it.’

  “How long before she’s back to normal?” Jade asked, turning to the siren king. She knew who he was.

  The king shrugged. “We punish with burning coals, so I’m not sure how long it will take.”

  Jade nodded and looked at her brother.

  Jax held up the bucket the green had collected the scales into. “Will this be enough?” Jax asked, holding it up for Whitney to see inside.

  The bucket was more than half full. She wasn’t really sure if it would be enough. It wasn’t like she had time to count it, or even count how many people she might need to change. She was more than ready to turn over and have him skin off the back side of her tail even knowing how bad it would hurt. She was willing to do whatever it took to save the siren and her new Oceanids.

  “It has to be enough because I won’t let her do that again,” Sam said from his bowl.

  Jax got the hint and nodded to the slightly angry siren.

  Now Whitney just had to wait for her scales to grow back. The growing back part was slower than scraping them off. They were coming along great, and one by one it was looking closer to normal. Feeling each one poke through was quite itchy, and she kept her hands away from her fin in case it hurt to touch. As red and raw as it was, it looked likely that it would.

  “So what do you do from here?” Jade asked, distracting her from watching the scales grow back and wincing as new ones poked through her delicate skin.

  “We turn all the good guys into Oceanids, and I send them home. Well, I will give them the option to leave and hope they will just go home. I really don’t know what they will do.” Whitney had a lot of hopes, and she crossed her fingers that this would work.

  The king waved his hand at Sam, and he was out of the water. Immediately transforming, he hurried over to Whitney’s side. Gingerly, he touched her fin. It didn’t hurt as much as she expected it to. Sam scooped her into his arms.

  “We are heading home until you’re fully healed. You can transform everyone later. Now you need to rest.” Sam wasn’t taking no for an answer, and Whitney didn’t have much fight left in her. She needed to change the people soon and let them know they didn’t have to fight, but she did need rest.

  Jax and Jade turned to follow, but Sam stopped and motioned for them walk in front of him. Jax raised an eyebrow at Whitney, but she had no clue what it was about. Sam wasn’t going to stab him in the back or anything, and she got the feeling from him he was protecting the hunters, not getting ready to get revenge on them. He turned back to his father.

  “Rommy is here as an ally. You need to leave your differences alone and let her help us. She’s worth at least half a dozen trained siren in this fight. You take her out, and we might lose because of it, so leave her alone.”

  Sam’s argument must have been good enough because the old king didn’t get mad or respond at all. Sam nodded to Jax and Jade to keep walking, and Whitney laid her head on Sam’s shoulder. He was correct, but she didn’t want to tell him so that he could gloat. She was tired. Soon enough she found her eyes drooping and they weren’t even back home yet. She didn’t care. She was in Sam’s arms and safe. The hard part was done—at least the painful part was done—and it was time to sleep.

  Whitney woke in Sam’s arms. She could hear the people in the house, but their bedroom was empty aside from them. It was nice, safe, and warm, and she almost didn’t want to open her eyes to admit she was really awake. It would have been easier to just stay in her safe place and pretend the siren island wasn’t going to be attacked. Sam’s other arm snaked around her and pulled her closer. He knew she was awake and yet didn’t say anything. He was pretty comfy in her safe place also.

  A crash outside the bedroom made her lift up her head. Sam gently patted her back down to his chest.

  “It seems that the great hunter Rommy doesn’t do well with cooking and is a bit frustrated,” Sam said, explaining the noise. He wasn’t worried in the least.

  Whitney kind of wanted to go peek and see what was going on. It was bound to be fun to watch, but then again, she wasn’t sure she wanted to see an angry hunter. It was a hard choice.

  “How do you feel?” Sam asked, running a hand down her head and tangling his fingers in her blonde curls.

  “Better,” Whitney replied. And she did feel better, but was still tired. It took a lot more energy to regrow her scales than she expected. “What did your dad think of your new tail?”

  The old king never said anything out loud, but she was s
ure he scolded him mentally. Sam was still connected to his father, even if Whitney wasn’t, and he hadn’t told his father about the new Oceanid scales he was sporting now.

  “He says he hates it, but I can tell he’s jealous. He never told us anything growing up, but he knows a lot of legends about Oceanids. He seemed to think you bring good luck and is jealous that I will have good luck now, too.”

  “Does he think what we’ve been through is good luck?” There had been more pain and heartbreak in the past few months since she had joined the siren than she had all year living in Florida.

  Sam shrugged. “It’s kind of been good luck since the get go when you really think of it. There were many times that Tim could have killed you; that the other mer could have kidnapped you; that others could have found out about you changing into a siren or about our bond. Yet it never happened. While I fully admit it hasn’t been easy, we’ve had our share of good luck. And that kind of makes me look forward to this war. I have the only Oceanid in existence on my side. I’d say that might just push things in my favor.”

  Whitney sat up and stretched as there was another crash in the house. She didn’t jump this time. It sounded like pots hitting the floor or maybe the wall. There was some cursing that went with it.

  “Sorry they had to stay here,” Whitney told Sam. He was one for privacy.

  He just shrugged. “They’re here to help, so I can’t complain. At least I bear your Oceanid mark, and they haven’t tried to kill me. Yet …” Sam held up his right arm. Her pink circle was there on his arm, too, but she was sure she had never put a scale on him.

  “How?”

  “I think the mate bond makes me one automatically. As soon as you changed, I felt it. Then the first time I turned into a siren, I saw my tail had changed. We’re together in this; so if you’re an Oceanid, then I’m one, too.”

  Whitney smiled as he reached for her hand to pull her back to the bed. She resisted, though she would much rather spend all day in bed with him anytime. They still had one more step to go to finish making her Oceanids.

  “What do we need to do now?” Sam was already on the same page. He knew she wasn’t going to stop until she finished what she needed to do.

  “Tell your father to order all the siren into the water, just at the edge should be fine as long as their arm is under the water, and I’ll contact the Selkie to do the same,” Whitney explained some of it.

  Sam nodded as he stood up and pulled board shorts on.

  ‘Mace?’ Whitney tried reaching out to the Selkie king. If you could have the mark passed from a mate, then he was now an Oceanid, too.

  Sam held out his hand, and they began walking down to the nearest shore with the bucket of her scales in his other hand. They had snuck out the back door of his place to avoid the cursing hunter who was still trying to cook.

  ‘Whitney?’ the Selkie king replied back. ‘How the heck are you in my head?’

  ‘The same way you are now probably sporting some cool purple marks on your body.’

  ‘Shoot. I didn’t notice,’ Mace replied.

  Whitney could see through his eyes that he had more markings on him than his daughter did. How he couldn’t notice was beyond her.

  ‘Can you get all your Selkie into the water? I want to turn them before the fighting starts so that the hunters on the island don’t attack any of you if you make it to shore.’

  ‘You’re around here somewhere, and I didn’t notice you?”

  ‘No. I’m still on the island. I plan to dump some into the water, and they should make their way to you. I think—’

  ‘You’re going to send scales to us where we’re hiding?’

  ‘I have no idea how, but it’ll work. I know it will. Just get in the water.’ She didn’t have time to explain it or how she knew. It was like a deep feeling of what to do without actually being told—like intuition.

  Sam stopped at the water’s edge. Men, women—old and young—and children were all standing in the water. Sam saw each face turn to them as they drew near and he was beginning to feel what his father felt being king. Every face gazed back with hopeful, trusting eyes. Not a single siren worried or questioned what they were doing. Sam was going to be their leader eventually, and they were already ready to follow him. He was beginning to feel the power of what it meant to be king. It was overwhelming and awe-inspiring at the same time.

  “Should I say something?” Whitney whispered to him. She wasn’t as comfortable with the stares they were getting. Sam squeezed her hand.

  “For those of you gathered here in the lagoon,” Sam started; he didn’t let go of her hand as he talked, but Whitney was glad he didn’t expect her to say anything, “we’ve been given a great gift by the ocean gods. As it turns out, my mate, Whitney, isn’t a siren after all. She’s an Oceanid. This alone will bring us luck in the coming battle, but even more than that. Whitney went before the night human council and brought us clemency. We are allowed to go ashore and will no longer be hunted. To be part of the group that’s now safe, we need to do one more thing. We need to make you all into Oceanids, too.”

  Faces around the water were filled with awe and happiness. No one had ever thought they would be allowed on shore. Most of them had grown up on the island, as had their parents before them and their parents before them. Going back to land had never been an option because of the hunters. And now it was. Whitney got the distinct feeling that many of the mer wanted to be able to be on land, but even more so they wanted to exist in a world where they didn’t fear their every move. She completely understood that after only living as a siren for months, not years as everyone around her had.

  “Would you like to do the honors?” Sam asked, holding the bucket up for Whitney.

  “I suppose since I’m the lucky one after all.” She winked at him as she accepted the bucket.

  Whitney wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but she was sure all she had to do was pour her scales into the water. Without any more fanfare, she did just that. At first, they floated on top of the water, leaving a big pink circle, but soon enough they began to swirl and moved under the surface. On their own, they moved away, not following any current pattern or even being pulled by the waves that hit the shore softly. From there she couldn’t see them anymore, but she felt them as they moved. One by one, her scales attached to people. Each new person was added to her new mer world, and she felt each one of them. Flashes of memories and feelings hit her each time a new person joined her.

  The siren in the waters around the island were all marked, and the scales spread out farther. They found their way to the Selkie and began to mark them. It was amazing to feel each person as they were added into her new clan. As if the scales knew exactly what she wanted, they continued to move and mark people as she knew they would. Once the Selkie were marked, there were still more scales left. There were really going to be enough to do what she wanted. The last of the scales scattered in the water and sought out the good mer lurking around the island among the ones that wanted to kill off the siren. She felt as each new kind of mer was added to her group. As she suspected, there were good mer in each clan. They had more allies than they could have ever imagined.

  Without wasting any time, it was time to give them their out. Speaking mentally to her new clan, she gave them the message she had been waiting to share.

  ‘If you look down and see a pink mark on your right arm, you have been deemed good enough to join the Oceanid race. My name is Whitney, and I’ve been given the gift of being an Oceanid. On behalf of the mer, I went before the night human council, and they gave a pardon to the siren I protect, and any person I’d given that mark to. With that mark, you are now free to go to land and even collect blood from night human blood banks. As long as you are deemed good by not harming other mer or killing day humans, you’ll be free from the hunters. I’m asking any person that wants to join this new mer world to not fight against the siren. This is an island filled with Oceanids, and if you do raise arms against u
s, you lose your chance at freedom on land forever.’

  That was it. Now it was up to them. She hoped what she said would be enough to sway them as it had the Selkie, and a small part of her knew it would be. The majority of the mer that her scales found would be returning home. She could live with that. Some would stay to fight out of what they thought was honor. She couldn’t save everyone, and they all had a choice. It was theirs to make, and it was her job to give them the option their clans weren’t offering them. Now it was time to prepare for war, because it was coming. Soon.

  CHAPTER 10

  More people arrived to help. Sam had no clue who all the exotic animals were, but they came with Whitney’s witch friend, so he at least knew they were skinwalker night humans. He wasn’t a fan of fighting alongside lions, tigers, and bears, but at this point, he couldn’t be picky. They’d take any ally they could get. Whitney had explained that they were still human, even if they looked exactly like their animal counterpart to the point he thought maybe he could have seen one or more in the zoo the last time he went as a kid.

  “Are you sure Marl is enough to send with the women and children? We could always ask a few younger ones to go with,” Sam asked his father, trying to stay on task instead of wondering about all their new visitors.

  They had already boarded up the schoolhouse, and that was going to be their safe house for those who weren’t involved in the fighting. The mates to all the males had to stay out of the battle because if they did join, then killing one person could kill two. And for the most part, the females didn’t want to join the main battle. They were mostly occupied with protecting the young and the old and using the healing water to keep their other half alive.

  Marl was one of the oldest siren that had been advising Sam’s father for years. He wasn’t in the shape to fight, but offered to help the women and children stay safe. The women might have to protect him if it came to it, and Sam didn’t agree with his father’s choice to not send at least a small group of siren to keep the safe house safe.