“All this just to get to me?” I asked.
“I think I know what he’s doing.” Thayde said quietly. “This must have been his plan all along. His family has been trying to create The Link for centuries by matching only pure blooded merpeople together. They’ve even gone as far as to ask for help from the evil side. Nothing they could do would create The Link; they just made very powerful merpeople. Maybe he realized there was no way to do it and he used his darker powers to try to find The Link before they were handed over the additional powers. That would make sense. That’s why he wanted Elan to keep her first born away from Vero – he was waiting until the time that Morgan would come into her powers – when she was at her weakest state – to try to kill her. The only way he can kill her now is through me.”
The look he gave me was agonizing. He seemed resigned to the fact that we were both going to die.
“I don’t believe this,” I stammered. “I will find a way to stop this.”
“I agree,” Tammer sat forward. “I’ve sent word out to all of Aletheia’s friends in hopes that someone will tell her we need her. I’m praying she’ll agree to come. She may have an idea of how to help you get rid of The Shadow.”
“In the meantime, what do we do?” I pressed. “If Limus is still out to get me, don’t you think the first place he’ll look is Vero Beach?”
“Yes,” Tammer nodded, staring off into the distance. “I think he’ll know to look in New York as well. Thayde’s lived here for four years. I think we need to stay away from the ocean at all cost. But you need to be near water so you can phase properly.”
“Idaho,” I said simply.
“Don’t you think he’ll automatically look where you used to live?” Thayde asked.
“No, he’ll think Morgan will stay near the ocean water. It’s important for us to have salt water but we can manage for quite a while with pure water. It’s a good idea.”
“Wait,” I backtracked. “What about school?”
“I think this is a bit more important right now, Morgan. You can always go back to school.” Mom sounded irritated.
Thayde stood and walked to one of the windows looking out to the city. He leaned against the sill and stared at the view.
“We’re going to beat this and when we do, we’ll live for hundreds of years. We have a lot of time to get our degrees. I don’t want to die. I want to live all those years with Morgan. I’ll be damned if I’m going to take this lying down. My father,” he paused, rephrasing. “Limus has been planning this since I was a boy and he knew that I’d fall in love with The Link. I wish I had realized this sooner.” He crossed his arms. “I’m going to have to find Limus and put an end to this. If I kill him, then maybe it will kill The Shadow. As for Herra and Akin, I’ll have to deal with them after I kill Limus.”
“No!” I cried. “You can’t do that! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I want Limus to keep coming after us, but you can’t go! He’s stronger than you and I don’t want you to take the chance of dying!”
“Morgan, I’m a lot stronger than you think I am.” Thayde looked through me, his jaw set.
“He endured some of the most dangerous powers we have during The Judgment and lived through it. He did it without protecting himself. Thayde is incredibly strong.” Mom sounded as if she were trying to reassure herself.
“No.” I was not going to let Thayde do this. “I can’t allow this. No, you have to stay with me.”
Thayde was irritated. “It’s something that has to be done, whether you agree with it or not.” I couldn’t believe that Thayde wasn’t on my side. I just glared at him. “When I’ve taken care of it, I’ll come back for you.”
“I can’t be without you,” I felt like I was losing control again. This couldn’t be the only way! Being without him was not an option. My heart was being slowly crushed between a vice.
“We’ll just have to endure it for a few days.” Thayde muttered, clearly not liking it any more than I did, but I was angered that he was still not backing me up.
“A few days?” I nearly laughed as I walked toward him. “A few days? You don’t know the first place to look for him. Do you have any idea what this is going to do to us?” His eyes dropped to the floor and he nodded. “Why? Why would you do this to us?”
“Because if I don’t we’ll both die.”
I shook my head in disbelief. My heart was beating so quickly, I wanted to puke. I began to walk around him and he reached for my arm.