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  “Do you see anything?” one man asked.

  “No, I don’ think she’s there,” another rough voice said.

  “We’d be able to see her from here, wouldn’t we?”

  “She’s not here. Let’s get outta here and look somewheres else. I don’t want no mermaid puttin’ me in a trance.”

  She? Rifter knew the answer now. He knew why they were here and why they had been on the beach before. There was only one thing that these men would be searching for so diligently other than him, and it was no woman.

  The pirates were stirring because they were looking for the ship. The Desdemona. Why would they be looking for it here? Hadn’t his enemy sailed away in it?

  If he was back, I’d know. Rifter was sure of that, and he would not back down from it. There must have been another reason.

  Rifter had just determined to get closer – to do away with the men as they stood on the deck – but turned when he heard a violent splash in the lagoon. If he hadn’t seen anything, he likely would not have given it much attention, but there was an ounce of white in the water, a wilting flower that disappeared beneath the surface. He knew what it was.

  Wren!

  Had she fallen in? He’d told her to stay in the cave!

  This is what you said should happen, isn’t it. You wanted to protect her. Was that a good reason for her to have misfortune? Had he made this happen because it was what he wanted?

  He didn’t think on it much more than that. Rifter dove directly into the water, plunging down, hoping that he could find her.

  2

  There wasn’t much breath in her lungs as Wren sank beneath the water. The immediate rush of the cold liquid had woken her from her trance, and now she struggled to get away, but the mermaid held onto her wrist tightly, pulling her into the depths.

  Wren tried not to let her precious air escape her, but she was aware of the tiny bubbles that slipped past her lips as she panicked. She should have been paying better attention. She should have stayed in place like Rifter had told her to. It was too late now.

  Would he notice that she was gone before she ran out of air? He was so close, and yet perhaps he wouldn’t know to save her. She opened her eyes, watching the dreams float past her in their protective sheaths, wondering if any of them were hers.

  Other mermaids began to gather, watching the spectacle – laughing at her. They found it amusing that she would die without air. How could they have been so malicious?

  Above her, the water was disturbed by a thunderous roar. The surface of the lagoon had been broken by something large, and when Wren looked up, she could see it moving toward her.

  The mermaids released her. They scattered, darting away, and then something took hold of her and pulled her upward toward the surface.

  When she broke free, it was not a moment too soon. She gasped, welcoming air into her lungs as if she would never get any more. She was hardly aware that they were flying – that Rifter had burst up out of the water and was carrying her away from the lagoon. He landed somewhere within the sanctity of the trees beyond, far from the water and back where the woods was glowing with the fairy lights. She had no time to look around, coughing as she was. She gulped until the air was rolling easily in and out of her lungs.

  “Are you alright?” Wren fought the hair from her face and glanced up to see him looking her over, testing her for damage. She wondered if what she saw on his face was real concern, for she’d half-expected him to mock her. She’d been foolish, after all.

  “I think so,” she gasped, but quickly remembered the severity of the situation. “They tried to drown me! I thought you said they would swim away if I was close!”

  “They always avoid the boys,” he said, shrugging. “I guess I didn’t know how they’d react to a girl. Somehow that keeps surprising me.”

  Rifter ran a hand over his hair, flicking the water out of it. She couldn’t do anything but accept his words and be thankful that he had found her in time. Live another day. That’s what matters. He had said that to her before.

  “So what was out there?” she asked, wiping the dampness from her eyelashes.

  Or do I want to know?

  “It was nothing,” he said after a pause. “I was wrong.”

  Wren didn’t believe him, but she closed her eyes on the conversation, focusing on her breathing. This hadn’t been his fault. He’d tried to warn her about the song, after all, but she had come out of the cave anyway. She had no right to blame him for it.

  “You look pretty this way,” he said abruptly, and her eyes opened.

  “I – what way?”

  “Well…” He looked over her unabashedly before finding her eyes again, but didn’t feel the need to explain. She blushed furiously, feeling the heat of her own body countering the cold chill on her skin.

  Her curls were in tangles and her gown was soaked, clinging to her form. She felt immediately ashamed that he might see through it. She tugged at it anxiously, trying to shield herself somehow, even though it was likely hopeless.

  “You don’t have to be ashamed,” he told her, but that couldn’t erase it, and the way he spoke about it so easily made it worse. “You’re beautiful. Surely you know that.”

  Beautiful? Perhaps he wasn’t as clueless about girls as she’d thought. He touched her arm and she flinched, but she didn’t flee. Part of her wanted to slink away in humiliation, but the other part was caught on his eyes again.

  Rifter guided her closer, his hand on her waist. Did she feel so comfortable in his presence? She was certainly nervous at her core, her hands trembling as she touched his arms, but he focused on her eyes as he drew his face closer to hers. He put his hand against her neck, slipping his fingers into her wet hair, and when he kissed her, she felt her heart swell.

  His lips were warm and damp against hers. Just to feel him so close sent shivers throughout her, but they were not from the cold. She was hesitant at first, but soon found herself leaning in against him, enjoying the way his fingers felt against the back of her neck, carefully holding her in.

  She marveled at how long she had gone without even entertaining thoughts of romance, and now that she was being kissed, she felt that someone should have told her what she had been missing.

  It was her first kiss; she was certain that it was not his. How many girls have you stolen kisses from? She felt a notion of jealousy to think of him kissing another – perhaps a mermaid, or a girl in her bedroom who wasn’t even aware of it while she slept – but she pushed that away. This one was hers and it didn’t belong to anyone else. She accepted it as a gift.

  He broke away to look at her, perhaps to see how she was receiving this affection, and she was sure that her eyes were filled with all the stars of the universe.

  Rifter leaned in to kiss her again, parting his lips against her open mouth, and she gave herself up to it. In that moment, during that kiss, Wren knew that she was his. She belonged here because he was here, and that was the end of it.

  He kissed her until he was satisfied enough to break away, though deep inside she felt she wanted more, but there would be time for so many more kisses.

  He gazed into her eyes again, and she wondered if he knew what she did – that she loved him in the purest, simplest way, which was meant to be coveted. If he did know, what would he have done with that knowledge? It was out of her hands now. She was at his mercy.

  Rifter smiled at her and kissed her lightly once more, keeping his face close to hers when he spoke.

  “I guess that since your brothers are here, that means you’re staying,” he said, letting his nose brush against hers.

  He knows that isn’t the reason anymore, she thought.

  “Say you’ll stay,” he entreated. “I want you to.”

  She only nodded. Her words – and her breath – were gone for the moment. Rifter smiled, happy with this confession.

  “Then I think it’s time you took the Vow.”

  3

  Henry did not know if he
trusted Rifter with his sister, but he had his own problems at the moment, the first of which was dealing with the boys who had shanghaied him. They had left the twins behind and that meant only four were with him now, but that was still more than his army of one. On top of that, they had weapons and he could only assume that they knew how to use them.

  Maybe he couldn’t hope to fight them off, but he was not going to plead with them. He wasn’t so afraid that he couldn’t use his tongue as a weapon.

  “Where are you taking me?” he demanded to know.

  “Where are we taking him, Nix?” Finn asked. “To the beach?”

  The tall one called Nix was out in front, leading them. Henry couldn’t see his face when he answered.

  “I was thinking of something different for this one.”

  “Interesting,” Sly said. “What’d you have in mind?”

  Nix turned his face back to them, wearing an impish grin.

  “The pit.” They were all momentarily stunned, and Henry wished he knew what their secret was.

  “The pit? Are you sure?” Finn asked, but he seemed excited by that.

  “I don’t know,” the largest boy, Toss, said uncertainly. For being the enforcer among them, Henry thought it was unusual that he was the most timid. “Rifter won’t like it if we let him die."

  Die?

  “Rifter hasn’t forgotten the true spirit of the test,” Nix told them confidently. “He gave his consent. We’ll see what this one is capable of – and we’ll have a little fun.”

  It didn’t sound like fun to Henry.

  “I’m not playing any of your games, assholes,” he told them as fiercely as he could manage, but they didn’t seem convinced.

  “Oh, you’ll play,” Finn assured him.

  “You have some blood to make up for,” Nix said.

  Toss pushed him forward when he began to slack in his pace. They led Henry through the dark woods, and this was how he viewed it for the first time. Rifter hadn’t done much to show him around after he’d woken up, and Henry couldn’t say where he was or which direction they had come from.

  The Pack took him to a spot where the ground sloped downward and a muddy bank gave way to a long trench that was several feet below.

  “This is the pit,” Nix said forebodingly.

  “Many a good man has lost his life here,” Finn said, but then rethought it. “Well, many a pirate and Tribal.”

  It didn’t look like much, even though it was darker than the rest of the forest. As Henry looked down into it, he felt a chill crawl over him.

  “What’s down there?” Henry wanted to know.

  Nix smiled at him nastily. “You’re gonna find out. All you have to do is travel through and come out the other side.”

  “And watch out for snipes,” Sly said so close to Henry’s ear that he jumped. Finn howled ominously and they all laughed.

  “I’m not going down there,” Henry protested. He tried to back up but they wouldn’t allow it. They took hold of him and shoved him down the bank.

  Henry slid through the mud, tumbling, unable to get control. He got up as quickly as he could when he was able, throwing himself back on the slope in an attempt to climb out, but he couldn’t get his footing. After a couple of tries, he was tired and yet still stuck. He couldn’t get out.

  Nix tossed the bronze sword down after him. “Better get moving.”

  “See you on the other side – if you make it,” Finn jeered, and they all snickered as Henry took up the sword and stomped away from them. It wasn’t until after he’d taken a few steps that the thing he really should have been concerned with hit him.

  What’s a snipe?

  He stood there a moment, listening to the wind that rushed through the tunnel, whistling eerily. That meant that it couldn’t be very far to the end of it, right? There didn’t seem to be anything moving in the darkness ahead of him. Was it safe?

  It was a trick. They were just trying to scare him. Well, it wasn’t going to work.

  Henry lifted his foot and stepped boldly forward. He wasn’t going to let them frighten him – no, he wasn't going to let them laugh. That was all they wanted, after all. A good laugh.

  The ground was soft beneath his feet, but he moved onward. A rustle in the leaves above made him duck in surprise, but when he lifted his eyes, he heard them snickering. The boys were darting around overhead, following his progress, but he could not see them. Were they watching him now? He wasn't going to give them a show.

  He went along a little farther and then glanced behind him, observing how far he had come. He guessed he was about halfway by now.

  This isn't so bad, Henry thought. Not much more.

  He was feeling so confident in the fact that he wasn't going to allow them to scare him, that his grip had even loosened on the sword. He could see a bit of moonlight through the brush at the end of the tunnel. He was getting closer.

  He quickened his step, hurrying along. He had ignored all the signs – the burrows that branched off from the tunnel, the claw marks along the walls, the footprints in the dirt. He was almost at the end when he heard the snarling growl emitting from the shadows, and when the creature jumped out at him, he was not ready.

  Adrenaline kicked in, and he just managed to get out of the way as the beast rushed out, covered in fur and mud.

  Shit!

  Henry fell backward, scrambling to get some distance from the thing. He couldn't see it very well, but it was fast. Considering that he had been taken completely off guard, he was lucky that he had at least managed to hold onto the sword.

  From his spot on the ground, Henry could at least tell that the creature was covered in bristly brown fur. He could see its eyes shining faintly, but more than that, he could hear its teeth gnashing, seeking him out.

  Henry had made it out of many a tough spot in his life. He’d run from men before, even a dog or two, but never anything like this. This was a monster, and he had been taught that monsters didn’t exist.

  The jaws snapped at him as thick claws scratched at the dirt, moving closer. Henry pulled back his feet one after the other as he shoved himself backward, but also to keep the creature from snapping his leg in half. The beast was gaining ground. It might have gotten him if not for an arrow that shot through the air, penetrating the creature’s flesh in the left shoulder.

  The beast roared and turned toward its wound, clenching the arrow in its flesh and ripping it free. In that moment, Henry had enough time to glance above, and he saw a group of shadows standing there. The boys were keeping watch. They were not going to let him die.

  Still…

  Henry took the opportunity to get to his feet. He was angry, perhaps angrier than he had been in his life. They had put him down here to fight? They wanted him to kill this beast? Fine then. That was what he would do.

  The arrow hadn’t done much to the creature other than distract it, but in that time, Henry became determined. He clenched the sword a little tighter in his fist and narrowed his eyes, ready to unleash all of his aggression that had been pent-up for so long. He was ready.

  The creature remembered him and turned its head, recognizing him as an intruder in its den – and potential prey – but Henry had already raised the sword well before it snapped at him again. He slashed it through its mouth, cutting its jaws.

  The rat-beast hissed and spat blood, but Henry was not done with it. He couldn’t wait for the monster to act on the pain that it felt. He was much smaller than it was. He was angry – so angry! He had to kill it now!

  Roaring for the rage he felt inside, Henry raised the sword and sliced down. His art was without finesse, but he did well to draw more blood. He slashed away at the creature, releasing all the frustration that had ever been inside him, especially of late.

  He would have to admit that something primal took over him in that moment. He felt what the very first men must have discovered when they founded a new world, but it never occurred to Henry to doubt that he had that inside him. He’d a
lways known that he could take care of himself. He hadn’t lived a day beyond his parents’ guardianship without relying on instincts.

  When the beast was finally lying dead on the ground in front of him, he knew he was not done. Those others above were not his friends, and he knew he needed more than the bronze sword to defend himself. They might take that away from him, but perhaps if he had a weapon that the rest of them didn’t know about, he could stand against them.

  Working quickly, Henry moved toward the dead beast’s maw and showed no hesitation near its open mouth. He took hold of one of the large fangs inside and began to jar it back and forth, loosening it in the socket. He used the sword to slice away at the gums and finally the tooth was in hand. It was long and sharp, and would work as a small dagger that he could hide away in case he needed its help later.

  “You’d better come on,” he heard a voice say, sounding hollow in the underground. When he looked up, he could not see any of them. “They live in groups, you know.”

  Was that some unspoken law? All terrible creatures lived in groups. There couldn’t be only one. There had to be a pack.

  Just like them.

  He tucked the fang away in the side of his pants and dashed to the end of the tunnel where he could see the light. He thought he heard more disturbances in the earth around him, but he wondered if it was only his imagination because they had planted that seed in his head.

  Henry climbed up the far bank, grunting and angry, his heart pounding. He saw the ones who had left him to the mercy of the creature below. He focused on them, holding the sword tightly in his hand, determined that they would not take it away from him.

  I’m going to get them for this!

  Henry emerged from the pit as a newling, fully charged by his anger. He moved toward them with the sword in hand, ready to cut each and every one of them for putting him down there, but he was met with a reaction he hadn’t expected.

  As he seethed, they were cheering for him.

  “Great job, mate!”