TWELVE
He wasn’t alert enough yet to realize he could not breathe underwater. When the air gave out and he tried to inhale, he struggled and had to return to the surface. He was fighting against the bindings, fighting against her, and growing more agitated by the moment. The water was murky from his flailing, and the combined blood flow from his wrists and her fingers.
Before her eyes, it wasn’t just his agitation that was growing, it was him. She had loosened the bindings, but could barely discern any difference as his size swelled. She knew what he was, but seeing him change was something completely different. As quickly as she worked and made any difference, his increasing size consumed the space. The tighter the bindings got, the brighter the red haze lit. She could only assume it was from his eyes. She didn’t know what more to expect. Did they explode? Did they become something else? What did they do?
She knew that they had a reputation for extreme violence and blind rage once changed. She did not want to be remotely close if he hit that. Uncertain what else to try, she defaulted to the only thing in her arsenal that she had. The problem was, as she determined her course of action, her mind went blank. The only song that jumped to mind was going to be awkward, and she was spacing out some of those lyrics too. Humming first, she began full out singing when his erratic movements slowed. ‘If you want to be with me, there is a price to pay. I’m a genie in a bottle, you’ve got to rub me the right way…’
The last cogent thought that Addian had was that if the bindings got any tighter, pieces of him would be gone. Everything after that was a blur, until he heard music. At first, the sound was distorted, but once he shifted to berserker, everything was usually distorted. Little by little, the sound became clearer. It was definitely music, but what wasn’t immediately clear was why there were lyrics. He could not discern the source. Who was singing?
In his mind, he knew the events from before, what had led up to him being where he was. He knew also where he was. What he couldn’t do was pinpoint the source of the music, or the singer now. By the second verse of Genie in a bottle, he was coherent, and at the same time, truly confused.
With his regaining awareness, he realized that someone was working below the surface. He stopped struggling. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself below the surface to investigate. It went against his every instinct. He nearly drowned himself all over again when he saw, and recognized, Fynn. But, he saw more than Fynn. He saw her tail.
Just as he knew that he would be freed, he snared her wrist, pulling her torso above the water forcefully. He was speechless for a moment. Stunned, he wasn’t speechless for long. “What are you doing?”
Her eye roll could have moved mountains. “What do you think I’m doing? I’m trying to save your life. Though, after you stood me up, I’m not sure that I should.”
“I’ll explain that later. I mean, what are you doing here? Did you follow me?”
“Can we talk about that later? I’m almost done and you can get out of here then.”
“Only if you’re coming with me.” He nailed her with a hard stare. Thankfully, the glow was banked.
“Seriously? We can’t do that in the morning?”
“No. I think we have quite a bit to discuss, and besides, we are supposed to be out right now anyway. I don’t suppose you have your cell phone with you?”
“Why?”
“I need to call Omen. He needs to be warned. Matisse is making his play. We need to get ahead of him before we can’t.”
Fynn groaned, kicking her tail violently. “It’s in my bag. You’re welcome to use it.”
“Thanks. Then we can talk about the tail.” He added with a smirk.
“Oh really? We will? Will that be before, or after we talk about why you are bleeding in my swimming hole?” She retorted caustically.
“That too.”