“What do you mean, I killed
her? I haven’t been here since I blew up
her house.” That last part probably
didn’t go far in proving my innocence.
Kai bangs a heavy fist on the
table between us. “You came as you did
before with your wild magic and you destroyed most of our homes!” I did notice there are significantly fewer
houses in the Merpeople city. I thought
they were downsizing. “You made our
Queen bow before you, promised her mercy, but you lied. You took her head, damn you!” Kai is looming over us now and I rapidly pull
magic. He’s a big guy, even by Merpeople
standards. He’s also one hundred percent
muscle so I’m going to stay out of his reach.
“Kai, sit down.” Arie’s voice is low and calm as she places a
firm hand on her husband’s arm. “We need
to get to the bottom of this.”
I wonder if Isla knew she was
sending me here to stand trial for murder.
I am going to assume she did not.
“I was in the Cowan realm when you claim this happened. I was checking on the Witches.” I have said this too many times to count now.
“We have learned of your Angel
heritage. You have the ability to move
in and out of Angel time. You could have
jumped time lines and no one would be the wiser.” Arie gives Kallen a pointed look. She seems to believe he had nothing to do
with the crime. Lucky him.
“My wife did not kill your
Queen,” Kallen growls.
“Why do you expect us to
believe you when more than a hundred Merpeople watched you take her head?” Kai
demands.
I get queasy every time
someone refers to how the Queen died.
“If I killed her, why did I come here today to help you find her
killer?”
“You are arrogant and
powerful. Perhaps you came to kill more Merpeople.” Arie’s voice is even but I see a little bit
of fear in the back of her eyes.
I shake my head. “You know, Kallen killed a rabbit once for us
to eat and I was so disgusted by it still having a head when he began preparing
it for cooking I could barely eat.
Beheading is definitely not how I would kill someone.”
“How, then, would you kill
someone?” Arie asks.
My denials keep pushing me
into a corner. I need to work on
that. “I wouldn’t.”
Kai is ready to swim across
the table and throttle me. Only the fact
I have enough magic to supposedly kill the Queen is holding him back. Its hold is slipping. Being the head of the Queen’s security, I can
understand why he’s upset. Whoever
killed her did it right in front of him and he couldn’t do a thing to stop
it. I doubt the next Queen will hire him
as a body guard. The Merpeople are a
matriarchal society, so it will be another Queen who sits the throne.
“There are spells which can
change one’s appearance temporarily,” Kallen says. “If you saw Xandra as you claim, you were
being duped. We should concentrate on
finding the one who wore a magical disguise and murdered your Queen. You will not find that person in this room.”
There are only four people in
this room, the two Merpeople, Kallen and myself. And three humongous attack octopi. I doubt the octopi turned on their
Queen. Even if they could perform magic,
they were her beloved pets. Arie and
Kai? My gut is telling me they did not
kill their Queen, either. Their grief is
too palpable. Kallen certainly didn’t do
it. That leaves me. Nope, won’t find the killer in this room.
“Why would I come back here if
I killed her?” I ask yet again.
Arie shifts slightly with
unease. “We did not expect you to honor
our request. We were simply trying to
determine where the Fairies stood. We
wanted to know if they would harbor you, or declare you an outcast. If the former, it would mean war between our
realms. If the latter, we hoped for a
joint effort to hunt you down and make you pay for your crime.” Despite the situation, I respect Arie’s
candor and courage. If she truly
believes me to be guilty, those were very brave words to utter.
“This is not a situation with
only two possibilities,” Kallen says.
“You neglected to consider the third option. The one where Xandra did not kill your
Queen.”
If Kai gets any angrier, his
body is going to combust. Pieces of
Merman will explode all over us. “Kai, I
did not kill your Queen. I am here to
help you discover who did. Can you at
least try to believe that?”
His gnashing teeth and snarl
tell me he’s not trying very hard. “You
ask me to doubt my own eyes?” he demands.
If we weren’t underwater, there would be spittle flying from his foaming
mouth when he speaks. I don’t even want
to consider the fact I’m swimming in it.
I only have one answer for
him. “Yes.”
I am so glad I have
magic. Otherwise, Kallen and I would be
octopi delicacies. The wall of magic I
throw up prevents this. “I guess you still
don’t believe me,” I sigh, watching the octopi bang against my wall.
Arie considers me for a long
time. Finally, she says, “Kai, call off
the creatures.” Her husband glowers in
her direction, but he does as his wife tells him. To me, she says, “When you were here the
first time, you were bitten by a textile cone snail and were on the brink of
death. Your husband and I had to become
quite insistent in encouraging you to use your magic to heal yourself as you
did not want to break the rules of the competition.”
“You should have let her die,”
Kai grumbles.
Is it just me or does everyone
have a horde of people wanting them dead?
I think it’s just me. “No magic
was supposed to be used. It felt like
cheating.”
Arie nods once. “So you said at the time. Because of this, I am willing to give you the
benefit of the doubt. For the moment,”
she stresses.
“What does that mean?” Kallen
asks at the same time Kai bellows, “What?!”
Ignoring her husband, Arie
says, “If we have the full cooperation of the Fairy realm, and you assist in
our search for the one who murdered our Queen, we will consider the option your
husband put forth as true unless there is evidence to the contrary. If this is the case, we expect the Fairy
realm to hand you over to be tried by Merpeople laws for the murder of our
Queen.”
Kai has so many veins bulging
on his forehead and arms, it’s hard to say which is going to rupture
first. If they all go at once, we may
drown in his blood. I doubt my
underwater breathing spell takes into consideration any liquid other than sea
water. “You do not have the right to
make that decision,” he growls to Arie.
Arie eyes him coolly. “I am acting sovereign until a new Queen is
elected, so I have every right.”
She didn’t tell us this when
we arrived. “The Queen didn’t have
children?” I ask.
“She had six children,” Arie
says. “Two of her daughters are
considered possibilities, but there are several others qualified for the
position. It is up to the people to
decide who will rule.”
A democratically elected
Queen, I like the idea of that. “Are you
one of the candidates?” I ask her.
Her cheeks flush
slightly. “I am.” I bet she wins. Unless the Merpeople decide she is crazy for
giving me a chance to prove I’m innocent.
It hits me how great of a risk she is taking. This one decision may be
enough for her to be disqualified.
“Can we see where the incident
occurred?” Kallen asks. “I would like to
determine if there is any magical residue left.
We may be able to identify the type of being whom committed the crime.”
“Of course,” Arie says. After a brief glance at her husband, she
says, “I will escort you.”
Good thing because I don’t
believe Kai is in an escorting kind of mood.
He seems to be in more of a kill the Fairies kind of mood. Regardless, he does not attempt to discourage
Arie anymore. He even sends the octopi
off so I can drop my wall of magic.
“It’s about time the wankers
believe you,” a voice near my feet says.
“I was ready to tear off all their faces, octopi and Merpeople.”
“That would have been
difficult to do while you were sleeping,” I mumble to Taz.
“Pardon?” Arie says.
Though I got strange looks for
bringing a Tasmanian devil with me, I haven’t explained that Taz is my Familiar. Or that I can understand his growls. Confessing to being the owner of something
created from black magic doesn’t seem wise at the moment. “Sorry, I was just mumbling to myself,” I say.
Not entirely convinced, Arie
stares at me for another long moment before giving a barely perceptible
shrug. She begins to swim away. Wordlessly, we all follow after her. Kallen makes certain Kai goes first, not
wanting him at our back.
I remember the Queen’s home
all too well. The shell of a house Arie
leads us into barely resembles the house in my memory. We were in an adjacent building so we do not
pass many Merpeople on our way. Thank
goodness, I’ve already faced one angry mob here, I really don’t want history to
repeat itself.
Where we enter is not the same
open space at the top of the Queen’s home we were in before. The primary reason for this is because that
room no longer exists. The house is about
half the size it once was. Arie brings
us to a smaller room at the bottom. The
walls and roof look as if they will crumble if the slightest wave pushes
against them. I am not convinced it’s
safe to go in. From the expression on
Kallen’s face, he isn’t either.
Arie stops and turns to
us. “It is here you, or the other you,
killed our Queen.” Good to know there’s
still a healthy amount of her that believes I’m guilty.
Merpeople houses do not have
glass in their windows. They prefer to
be able to swim freely through them.
Theft must not be an issue here. But
this room doesn’t have windows. This
room is dark with kelp covering its walls, making it seem as if the walls are
moving when the kelp shifts with the current we are sending through the water. Creepy.
“How could this room hold a
hundred Merpeople?” Kallen asks. “It is
barely large enough to fit us.” He has a
point. Is that unease I see on Arie’s
face?
“Only the Queen and her killer
were in this room,” Arie says. Her eyes
meet mine. “A hundred Merpeople watched
the Queen be dragged into this room and only one came out. The Queen did not.”
“So, no one saw the Xandra
lookalike actually kill the Queen?” Kallen asks, steel lacing his words.
“No,” Kai growls. “Perhaps it was not the Xandra lookalike as
you call her. Perhaps it was the little
beast. The one who now accompanies your wife.”
Taz? “The killer had a Tasmanian devil with her?”
“Pretty sure I’d remember
gnawing off a Mermaid’s head,” Taz says defensively. “If I was going to gnaw off any part of her,
I would go for her tail. It would be
tastier.”
I would respond, but I have no
intention of telling the Merpeople what he just said. They would be even more horrified than I am
at the moment. Instead, I attempt to
inconspicuously kick him. Even in the
water, he is too fast for me. Kallen
gives me a questioning look which I ignore.
“When is the last time this
room was used?” Kallen asks, turning to take in the meager stores of food. Various edible plants and a few fish in a
cage are the only objects occupying this space.
“Three months, maybe longer,”
Arie says.
I can’t decipher the
expression on Kallen’s face. “Can you
feel magic?” I ask him.
“The only magic performed in
this room was yours,” Taz says.
I stare down at the devil in
shock. “What?”
“Has the saltwater made you
deaf? I will say it louder and
slower. Only. Your.
Magic…” I attempt to kick him
again but he scoots to the other side of Kallen.
I have the impression Kallen
knows what Taz told me. With the
slightest movement of his head, he discourages me from saying it out loud. Yes, because I’m going to help the Merpeople
build a case against me. I hate it when
he acts like I’m an idiot.
“You did not answer her
question,” Arie says.
Kallen does another slow turn
around the room. Is he stalling for
time? Finally, he says, “The magic used
was very strong. It is like no other
I’ve felt. Magic this powerful could
easily work a convincing disguise spell.”
I notice Kallen’s
intentionally vague description of the magic in this room could describe my
magic. I personally can’t sense any
magic here. Is it because I can’t sense
my own magic? But why would my magic be
here if I wasn’t.
“Can you be more specific?”
Kai growls.
Kallen shakes his head. “Too much time has passed, the water has
washed away too much.” The lies are
rolling of his tongue now. The fact he
has to lie at all is frightening.
“Is the wanker’s magic sensor
on the fritz?” Taz asks. I ignore
him. My familiar is obviously not as
loyal as my husband. “Hey, this smells
like my pee!” he shouts from the corner near the fish cage. I think he was looking for a snack.
“What?” I say again.
“Get the stupidity out of your
ears and pay attention,” he snipes. I
thought familiars were supposed to serve their masters, not insult them. Apparently, I was wrong. “This is
my pee!” he exclaims.
“What is the beast doing?” Kai
asks.
I glance at him and then back
at Taz who is now burying his face in the sand of the ocean floor near the fish
cage. “Um, looking for food,” I say,
distracted by Taz’s words and actions.
“Are the passages of your
realm guarded?” Kallen asks, shifting the conversation.
“Aye,” Kai says. “Most have been sealed. We do not believe the killer,” he looks at me in disgust, “came through a known
passage. She appeared many leagues from
the closest one.”
“She could have swam here,” I
say, stating what I believe to be the obvious.
“Those who witnessed her coming
say the sea opened for her,” Kai says.
“What do you mean?” Kallen
asks.
Arie’s face twists in
irritation. “You cannot believe every
fanciful tale,” Arie says to her husband.
In response to Kallen’s question, she says, “The witnesses claim it was
as if a passage was made from sea to sea, a window opened and she swam through
it. It closed after her.”
She peeled back the edges of
the realms and crossed from one to the other.
Just like I do. Since our Mermaid
escort did not stay to see how we left this realm last time, they don’t know
this. The Mermaid in question saw us
arrive by falling from the sky because of a stone from an Angel. When we arrived today, I chose a location an
hour’s swim from the Merpeople city to avoid them seeing my ability to peel the
edges of realms. I’m really glad I
did. This is getting eerier by the minute. Who else can travel between realms like I
can?
The same question is in
Kallen’s eyes. “Where did the killer go
after leaving here?”
Kai’s face turns red. “We do not know.”
“How did she get past you?”
Kallen pushes.
“Her magic, it was…” Kai
hesitates, trying to hide the shame on his face. “It was too powerful to penetrate with our
weapons.”
Too strong to penetrate? Dammit, the killer created a wall of magic
like I do when I am trying to protect myself.
Did I say eerie? It is downright
terrifying now. Everything they say
points to my guilt.
“What efforts, besides
contacting the Fae, have been made to find the guilty party?” Kallen asks. He directs his question to Arie, the one less
likely to erupt in anger at his questions.
Her eyes downcast, she says,
“We do not know what else to do. We
thought we knew the identity of the killer.
Now that this may not be the case, what is there to do? The killer is no longer in this realm,
therefore, we do not know where to look for her.”
So, they haven’t done anything
except blame me. With ample reason it
seems. My eyes drift to Taz again. He’s still digging in the sand, mumbling
something about fecal matter. At least,
deciphering his colorful language, it’s what he means. All the evidence points to Taz being here
when the Queen was murdered, as well. I
unconsciously bite my lower lip. I
probably look guilty as hell at the moment.
Seeing this, Kallen comes to
my side and takes my hand in his. He
gives it a small squeeze. A warning that
I need to school my face. “What would you
like us to do?” he asks.
Arie sighs. “I fear there is nothing which can be done. You are no more able to track the killer than
we are.” She really, really wanted me to
be the killer. It gave her hope that she
would be able to avenge her Queen’s death.
Personally, I’m still working under the assumption that it wasn’t me.
“We may be able to do
more. We will discuss the matter with
our King and determine a course of action.
The Fae will do everything possible to help you.”
A distinct snort comes from
Kai. His wife gives him a stern look
before saying to us, “We appreciate any assistance you can lend us.” Her head bows slightly. “Thank you.”
“Taz,” I call to the mumbling
devil. “Time to go.” I try not to sound too eager. I fail.
But if I stay here any longer, I may start to believe Taz and I were
here. Beheading a Queen.
“Are you willing to let us
leave without incident?” Kallen asks.
The tone of his voice implies we are ready to fight our way out of this
realm if necessary.
Kai’s answer is written all
over his body from his pinched, scowling face down to his twitching tail
fin. He wants to put up a fight. Arie, on the other hand, has a defeated air
about her. She knows she can’t hold us
here against our will. If I am the
killer, it has been proven the Merpeople are powerless to stop me from doing
anything. If I am not the killer and she
attempts to hold us here, it is tantamount to declaring war against the Fae
realm. “You will meet no resistance in
your departure,” she says, hating every word as they fall from her mouth.