Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XLIII: Something Dangerous (Part Three)

Ch. 43: Something Dangerous (Part Three)

When the candles went out, the only light in the room was the narrow slice coming from outside. It was the burning-hot, red emergency lights from the corridors, and it shouldn't be enough for the human eye to see so well—but Mara wasn't human anymore.

She stared at her reflection in the mermaid's blade. The shortsword was made of a dark, shimmering metal that hummed with the sound of the ocean, filling her ears as if forcing her head underwater. As a Zombie, though, a blade couldn't hurt Mara—or so she thought—so, against the mermaid's command, she stood and turned around to look at the stranger.

It was the first time Mara had seen a redhead in her life. Even under the emergency lights, the mermaid's rust-colored, wavy hair was a couple of shades too light to be mistaken for brown, and it reached her sharp, tan, naked hipbones with a washed-down and opaque color. The metal of her armor, which covered her face, chest, and legs, was as dark and beautiful as the blade at Mara's neck.

This mermaid was nothing like Uah. She was short for a mermaid—maybe a little taller than Tai—and leaner in muscles and shoulders and years. Mara smelled her youth, heard her racing heartbeat, sensed her inexperience, and tasted her fear. And there was...something else, too, but she couldn't quite grasp it. Something soft. Something familiar.

She was easy to classify, though. The mermaid was weak.

In the next moment, it was all gone. The scent, the sound, the something.

"Brother told us about you," the mermaid said. "You're a flesh eater. And I won't let you keep peeking where you're not invited."

"Brother, huh?" Mara tilted her head. "I thought you'd be taller. And older. Uah said you were the acting queen."

"Uah!" The mermaid scoffed. "That is a nickname for Brother's friends and family. I do not give you permission to call him that."

"Well, Your Majesty—"

"I'm not Iara," the mermaid interrupted.

"Whoever you are," Mara continued, her voice a cold monotone, "your brother gave me all the permission I needed, right after he drowned me. That must count for something."

"That's...." She furrowed her eyebrows. In her confusion, the mermaid lowered her shortsword a few centimeters. "Brother would never hurt you unprovoked."

Mara used the distraction to latch a hand around her wrist. The mermaid's eyes widened, and she struggled to keep the weapon in place, but Mara's strength was enough to twist her hand until the blade fell, free from her grasp.

"You can get the hell out of here and ask Uah yourself." Mara shrugged. "This is your last chance to leave this place alive—there's something here I need to check, and I don't have time to play with you."

"Play with me? The audacity," she growled. The mermaid didn't take her eyes off Mara as she crouched to retrieve her weapon.

Mara stood still as the mermaid raised her blade again, leveling it with Mara's eyes.

"I won't let your disrespect go unpunished, flesh eater. You'll address my brother as Uauiarará of the Third Atoll, Prince of Manaus, leader of the Toothless—even if I have to beat it out of you. And then, we're gonna talk."

Mara scoffed and balled her hands. Without another word, the mermaid attacked. Mara easily dodged her first blow, pushing her away with a hard shove and unsheathing her own weapon. Mara's red blade, Jano's gift for her, thrummed with power; the gem nested at its base glimmered in the dark. A memory brushed at her thoughts—the gems Mara had seen among Mom's belongings looked similar.