‘Why stay here? There are surely nicer places for a God then this world.’
Atargatis tilts her head, confused. ‘Whatever do you mean? These are my people. Is this not where I belong?’
‘Your people? But you seem to fear them.’
The Goddess says nothing.
‘No,’ I murmur, piecing the puzzle together. ‘They fear you.’
‘Mortals are the same no matter the century. They fear power because it makes them feel weak. So they seek it out, hoping that it will make them strong.’ She makes a knowing look down at my ice spear. ‘Just as you do.’ Another look, this time directed to the cracked castle walls around us. ‘And the many before you.’
Atargatis lifts her head. ‘Here they come.’
I wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t mentioned it. This whole time I had been listening for footsteps, such an unconscious habit now that I hadn’t even thought to question it. Nonetheless, I feel their presence. Dark and disturbing, a similar presence to the ruin surrounding us. I raise my spear beside me at the ready.
‘I will locate the human,’ Atargatis says, putting her arms across her body. Her scales shimmer, refracting the light around her until she is no longer visible. Gone without a trace.
A loud slam erupts a few doors down as a figure bursts dramatically into the corridor. We lock eyes in a moment of disbelief. The moment is so disarming that I barely notice that I’ve dropped my spear. Marina fumes with hatred. I have no doubt at all that I am the cause for that fury. Her young face contorts, turning the familiar face I knew into something dark and sinister. Her human features have slowly faded over time, replaced now with fish-like features and an eel-like tail. Guilt floods the pit of my stomach, my mouth moving unconsciously. ‘Marina.’
She falters. Her eyes flash for a moment with familiar recognition and old affection before blind hatred resurfaces. A menacing smile erupts from the corners of her mouth, showcasing the horrifying pointed teeth that inhabit her grin. She chuckles quietly. A laugh I’d never heard before. The guilt in me churns.
‘Hello, brother.’ She sneers, her words twisting out in bitter distaste. ‘Long time, no see.’ Her last words drag as if to make sure I understand the reference.
Her wild rage has calmed into a more controlled, silent fury. Marina slithers her way closer, watching me carefully. There’s no way she doesn’t know what I’m capable of so instead, she circles me, waiting for an opportunity. Her red eyes linger over the spear, sizing it up and making sure to keep a fair distance from its blade.
‘You came prepared, I see. Are you here to kill your little sister?’ she says, pausing for a few moments in the quest for dramatic flair. ‘Again?’
I roll my eyes, succumbing to the nostalgic pull of our previous sibling relationship. I should have seen that coming; her tendency to twist the truth is one thing that hasn’t changed. Knowing what will irritate her the most, I stare back, not so much as a twitch from my impenetrable mask. Ever since she was young, she had always relished in the controversy of the things she said. The more heightened the outrage, the more satisfying the result. One time in particular comes to mind: at a family dinner, Marina descended down the stairs in our elder brother’s clothes. Her hair was tucked neatly under my missing hat, and a fake stubble was drawn badly on her chin. Everyone’s mouths fell slightly ajar. The sight of the unflattering trousers, with its counterpart waistcoat nearly gave our dear grandfather a stroke and subsequently for a few weeks after, he couldn’t look her in the eye without turning red faced in anger.
Us children, on the other hand, found it hard to contain our amusement – Mark a lot more than the rest of us. His wide-eyed grin spread goofily across his face. Mark was always encouraging her with her pranks, much to our mother’s dismay, whose head had rested defeated in her hands at the dinner table. The only one unphased was my father, giving out a small but deep bellied chuckle; we all knew the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. They were both as eccentric as each other.
The tail slaps hard against my ribs, flinging me against the castle wall with a dull thud. A shudder runs through the hall, small fragments of debris float down to the ground around me. That’s on me. I stopped paying attention. ‘Not bad, Mar. You’ve been practising,’ I chide, staggering back to my feet.
‘Shut up. Don’t call me that.’ She spits but I see the hurt flash in her mind. And it’s my fault. She’s like this because of me.
‘Marina, just give me back the girl,’ I say. Fury blazes in her eyes.
‘After what you did? How dare you ask anything of me. For all you know, I could have killed her already,’ she says, tangling her long caramel hair around her webbed fingers. Electricity pulses through her tail in anticipation of conflict.
‘We both know you wouldn’t do that.’
Her loud laugh echoes through the water. ‘Do we? Do we both know that? You have no idea what I would and wouldn’t do. Not anymore.’
I lower my spear, angling its point to face her as a warning. Her red eyes glare at its sharpened point. I refuse to look away. ‘I wasn’t asking.’
She scoffs, showing her serrated teeth. ‘You won’t hurt me. You can’t.’
I raise an eyebrow at her arrogance. ‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe we don’t know each other so well after all.’
She releases a humoured chuff but her confidence falters. ‘I know something you don’t. Something about your human and something about Charlotte.’ Her eyes narrow, noticing my slight hesitation; she was always able to read my subtlest expressions. But in this case, I let her.
Marina charges but it’s futile. The electricity gathers in her webbed hand and when she faces it forward, lines of lightning immediately strike. I’m slower in the water, weighed down by the weight of my clothes, but not so slow that I can’t dodge the attack I goaded her into. Moving forward, I grab her arm. Ice spreads across her limb. Instead of standing down, she sneers a broken smile. She leans in close.
‘I can smell it on her, you know. At first, I thought it was just the mortal smell of humans but now I know better.’
‘I don’t care about your riddles, Mari–’
‘Death. The human has the smell of death. You’re going to kill her. Not today and maybe not tomorrow. But one day.’
I lose focus. Marina whips her tail fiercely, breaking herself away from my grip and sending my spear soaring through the water against the stone wall, breaking it in two. Irritation flares and I can’t help but grit my teeth. How could I have let her get under my skin? Marina charges once more. This time I let her get close. Too close. Close enough that she reaches out her claws, and close enough for me to grab her wrist and freeze the water around her, trapping her inside an ice shell of her own figure. Stunned but still alive, her frozen body drifts down to the sea floor like a frosted-glass statue.
I let out a small frustrated sigh.
‘This is why you never had any friends,’ I mutter, picking up her frozen body and carrying it under my shoulder nonchalantly. ‘You were always such a liar.’
Walking through the door to the storeroom, I see Atargatis leaning over Siara’s body on the cold ground. A small white glow swirls from the celestial being’s hands placed gently on her neck. The Goddess speaks without looking over.
‘Calm down, she’s fine,’ Atargatis says softly. ‘She just needs some rest.’
I look away. I never said that I was worried. Laying Marina down on the floor next to me, my body releases tension that I must’ve been holding onto during my fight with a long sigh. The Goddess peers over at my frozen sister. ‘A creative solution to an old problem.’ A joke, I presume. I’m not quite sure. When I don’t answer, she continues, ‘How did you know what room we were in? The residents here cannot speak in a way you would understand.’
I don’t answer, walking over.
‘Surely you didn’t search every single room–’
‘Does it matter?’ I snap. She looks away, amused.
‘I guess not. I’ll wait for you in the kelp forest. It’s not safe to keep the human here.’
