‘It’s nothing personal,’ she says as she closes the door. A sound of tinkering and a definitive thud confirms that she’s locked it from the outside. Darkness falls around me. I stiffen. Not again.
‘Marina!’
She opens a latch in the door, a small window with bars fixed across. She moves herself in close, her voice low.
‘This is the only opportunity I have to get back at that bastard. There’s no way he’d leave you here forever. Not when you look so much like her. No, I know him. I know him well. This is temporary; he’s going to come back for you at some point. Things didn’t go according to his plan. I wasn’t supposed to be the one to find you.’
‘What are you talking about? He’s not coming back for me – I’m pretty sure he hates me. He wants me dead. Just open the door!’
‘When he finds out things went awry, he’ll come back to find you. And when he does… I’ll be waiting.’
‘Marina, let me out,’ I shout but my voice rings out into the empty darkness. She’s gone. I attempt to bang against the door but the water mutes the impact and instead lands as a soft thud. I scream, frustrated, cursing profanities at the demons who betrayed me, and then at myself for letting them.
11
William
‘It’s time to go.’
The boy doesn’t respond, instead continuing to peer over the edge of the pond. He watches and waits hoping for a glimpse of Siara, distraught. What he doesn’t understand is that no news is good news. At least, I’d like to think so. There’s no way of knowing whether she went where I intended for her to go. If she hasn’t, I’m sure Heret-Kau will be delighted to inform me, along with the harsh repercussions of causing the human’s demise.
‘Xander,’ I say again, my voice low with warning, ‘we’re going.’
He rises slowly, reluctantly moving away from the edge with a deeply troubled expression.
‘Do you think Attie has her now?’ he whimpers, looking over to me. ‘She must, right? Since she’s is gone from the pond?’ I remain silent. The boy sniffles, raising a sleeve to wipe snot from his nose. I sigh, irritated. Xander doesn’t notice, swallowed in his own thoughts. He begins to whine again. ‘What if she died? What if she drowned? It would be our–’
‘If she drowned, you would be able to see her bloated human corpse floating in the pond.’
Xander flinches. When the image passes, he shoots me a disgusted scowl. ‘You didn’t have to say it like that.’
Maybe not but it has the desired effect. Shuffling next to me, Xander lets go of his attachment to the pond, finally looking ahead of him. We retrace our steps back to the cottage in silence. A seemingly longer journey than it had felt on the way here.
Walking up the front porch steps, an annoyance tugs at my thoughts. When Xander had gone through that portal just days ago, he instantaneously disappeared through it. Siara, on the other hand, took a while to pass through, as if something was willing her to stay. I wave away the thought; what’s done is done. I stomp down the niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m sure everything went fine. That’s one problem solved. One human I don’t have to worry about anymore. Now things can go back to normal.
Xander opens the door and sequentially lets out a sudden gasp. Standing in the hallway is Heret-Kau. A godly fury encompasses her features. The niggling feeling inside turns to stone, as my stomach drops. Her golden snake eyes beam into mine, staring down at me, the object of her wrath. The Goddess’ appearance is more ghastly than usual, with reopened wounds trailing the lining of the dress stitched into her skin. Surrounding them, murky liquid dries patchily on her dark skin.
‘No,’ Xander cries, thinking the worst and with good reason this time. The plan failed. What went wrong? The problem is now I’m in trouble with Heret-Kau and there’s no way to prove I didn’t intend for Siara to die. I think back to the last, and only, time I was reprimanded by the Goddess. To this day, I can’t truly remember the events of what happened but I know it was enough for me to never touch, let alone go near, a human soul again.
‘You,’ she says, striding up to me, her heels bellowing through the now lifeless house. ‘Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through because of you?’
I pause, looking down at her torn flesh. For an omnipotent being, she’s looking quite mortal.
‘I have some idea,’ I say, my eyes returning to face her. ‘Although I don’t know why.’
Heret-Kau scoffs. Xander sniffles quietly, wiping the tears running down his cheeks.
‘Punishment from my superiors,’ she says, as if I’d know what that means. ‘For interfering,’ she continues, spelling it out for me. The chimes on her ornament ring loudly, expressing her scathing fury.
‘The girl…’
‘She’s alive. No thanks to you,’ Heret-Kau snaps.
Xander looks up from his hands. ‘Siara’s okay?’
The child tugs on the purple fabric covering the Goddess. She winces slightly as it pulls at her wounds. Xander doesn’t seem to notice.
She pats his head softly, although hiding a clenched jaw. ‘Yes, my child. Please don’t tug on my dress.’
Heret-Kau has always had a soft spot for Xander, which I assume is part of the reason his protection was a clause in my disciplinary action. It’s quite surreal to think about. Xander has hung around for so long now that I often forget that his presence is not voluntary.
‘Your friend is fine.’ She sighs. ‘For now.’ Her glare resumes on me. ‘I had to give her gills.’
Xander jumps giddily. ‘Master, that means that the plan worked!’ I glare down at him in a desperate attempt to silence him but it doesn’t work. He thinks I’m just not listening. ‘Did you hear? She’s okay!’
Heret-Kau’s eyes narrow and move slowly from me to the small child in front of her. Her expression turns facetiously sweet.
‘Did it now?’ she coos, a lick of poison coating her words. ‘You two must’ve had such a brilliant plan. Xander, dear, do you mind telling me what it was? I’m simply dying to know.’
I try to catch Xander’s eye, though my efforts go unnoticed.
‘Well, Master said it wasn’t efficient to have Siara with us all the time while looking for Charlotte because of her portal sickness and how she’s a weak human and also how everything is trying to kill her. So we sent her through the portal to go stay with Attie. Do you know Attie? She’s really nice. I met her the other day.’
My body becomes still. Heret-Kau gives a side glance in my direction but I avert my gaze. ‘Did you, now?’
Xander nods enthusiastically. Preemptively, I bring forward my defence.
‘She wasn’t safe here. I sent her to stay with the water Goddess–’
