“Can’t you knock them out again?” I asked, peering from behind his shoulder.
“No. I can only do it once each battle,” he said, quickly raising his hands to shield himself from a smattering of ink.
The mermaid I had watched begin to move just seconds before suddenly arched backward in pain. Her bones began to break and seconds later, she disintegrated before my eyes.
“It’s Herra!” Thayde yelled. "Herra did that.” He twisted in the water looking for his sister. "She'll crush you!"
If only I could form a barrier around the ones I loved, I’d be able to protect them from any attack that occurred. I found myself wishing for any powers I could muster and that one seemed to form first.
“Stay behind me!” Thayde shouted and instantly his upper torso went rigid as Herra’s pain began to target him.
I focused as deeply as I could on forming a barrier, and seconds later, the golden orb was circling us and Thayde relaxed. Opening my eyes, I saw him turn and look at me in wonder and amazement. In the distance, Herra’s anger was mixed with surprise. She seemed to try harder to break through my barrier, but I hardly felt the strength in her power. It wasn’t too hard at all, and a few seconds later, she gave up and turned away.
“There’s only one way that you could have done that,” Thayde said, but I didn’t answer. A few yards away, Limus was engaged in a fierce battle with Tammer. Lightning struck through the water and Limus shielded himself with the equally brilliant lightning from his own hands.
Merpeople I knew and those I didn’t were fighting all around me and I felt helpless. When was it going to end? How was it going to end? With everyone dead? What more could I do? There had to be something. If only I had a power to stop everyone, to take away all their powers at once, that seemed to be the only way.
Tammer was taking a terrible beating by Limus and he seemed to falter. I had to help. As I swam over the top of Thayde, I heard him call out, but I didn’t turn. Instead, I dashed toward Limus, hand outstretched. Praying I’d be able to do it, I focused on disarming Limus and a pink jolt of electricity flew from my palm, encasing him. He stopped fighting as soon as he realized he wasn’t able to use his powers. Turning to face me, he dropped his arms and glared.
“You again, Halfling,” he snarled. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“No,” I said. “Is that all you’ve got?”
He lunged toward me but couldn’t touch me through the pink orb that held him. When he realized this, he sneered.
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” I followed the direction he was pointing, and froze. Why is it that when something awful happens, time always slows down? Mom’s warning echoed in my head: history will repeat itself.
Thayde was grappling with an enormous merman, holding onto his hands, trying to keep the man’s rigid fingers away from his torso. Now and then, small sparks like those from a welder flew from the tips of his fingers. This had to be Lot Abiseth.
Behind them swam a severely burned Akin – his arm raised with my dive knife in hand. He was going to bury the knife into Thayde’s back. Seeing what was about to happen, Tammer threw himself in front of Akin, the knife burying itself into his chest.
“No!” I screamed. Tammer cried out in agony and the water around him turned red. He started to sink. I released Limus and dove toward him as fast as I could. Grabbing at his hand, I held on tight and dragged him upward. Above me, I could see Limus making his way for us. I knew he was going to kill us. The look in his eye was almost manic.
It was then that a deep, deafening noise interrupted everything. It sounded like a bass sweep from a sub-woofer. Red light lit up the entire area, bursting the bubble and disabling everyone. The fighting had stopped, as all were forced to cover their ears. At the edge of the battle, arms outstretched, was Sam.
No one moved. Straightening, I looked about. Everyone looked at Sam and didn’t utter a word.
“Thayde!” I called out, not able to hold Tammer anymore. Thayde pulled Tammer out of my arms and I tried to steady myself.
“He’s dying, Morgan.” Thayde’s voice was desperate. The knife handle stuck out of Tammer’s chest and he’d turned a pale shade of gray.
“What do we do?” I started to panic. “Mom’s at home. I don’t have her powers.”
“Let me see him.” Sam appeared next to me and placed his hands on Tammer. “He’s strong.”
He took the knife handle into his hand and quickly pulled it out. Tammer didn’t move. Sam covered the wound with his hands. A deep red light spread over Tammer’s chest and when Sam moved his hands away, there was nothing left but a deep, red scar.