Leviathan's Rise Read online

  The trap had sprung around us, making Mara the liar I knew she was. It hadn’t just been the smell from the street that scented the tiny apartment. I hadn’t listened to my instincts. Now a witch had Lev trapped in her magic, and I was doomed to watch another friend die before my eyes.

  It seemed an eternity had passed before she lifted her hands. Light and magic and spells winked out. Mara was once more a plain, middle-aged woman. When her eyes fell on me, she stiffened. She knew what was coming, and she backed away from me. Woman or not, I would defend my friend from her. Her eyes widened.

  I launched myself at her. She tried to scramble away, but I was too quick and landed on top of her. I grasped her shoulders and shook them. Her head whipped forward and back. “Tell me what you did.”

  “I h-h-healed him,” she bit out. “He needed me. You have no idea how much I need him. Alive.”

  Something in her response drove me, and I slammed her against the floor. She whimpered and her face twisted. She led us into a trap, a place where she could kill us both.

  “Undo what you did to Lev,” I demanded.

  A vice latched onto my leg and yanked me away from a panting Mara. Her eyes squeezed closed, and she moved to her side as I was dragged from her, kicking and yelling.

  “That’s enough, Jason.”

  “Get off me, Lev,” I bellowed, trying to scramble across the floor. I would rip the witch limb from limb. My eyes widened, and I spun toward the voice I didn’t think I would ever hear again. “Lev?” I expected a smile or a twinkle in his eye. Instead, his face was granite, and his upper lip curled.

  “That. Is. Enough. Jason,” he repeated, crossing the floor to help Mara to her feet.

  Mara took Lev’s offered hand. Once on her feet, she smiled, then laid her hands over his cheeks. Tenderly, she pulled his face down to her and pressed her lips to his cheeks. First one and then the other.

  Lev wrapped his arms around her, crushing her against him. “Thank you,” he said.

  “What are you doing?” I couldn’t believe what was going on. “She tried to eat you.”

  Lev stood, drawing himself straight, taller than I remembered. “My heart stopped, Jason. She restarted it.” He stretched one way and then another. “Actually, I might feel better than I have in the last fifty years.”

  Mara grinned at Lev’s compliment.

  “This is ridiculous,” I sputtered. “She isn’t what she seems. She wants to devour you.” Surely he had to understand that his girlfriend only meant to harm him.

  “She isn’t what she seems,” Lev said. “We can all agree on that.”

  Mara studied her toes.

  “When my heart couldn’t take the strain, she rescued me from hell’s teeth by restarting my heart. For that, I am grateful.” He turned toward me. “I expected you to have similar feelings.”

  “Well…” I stroked my beard and then crossed my arms. “Thank you.”

  “We only have pieces of the puzzle before us.” The hardness in Lev’s face softened when he glanced at her.

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “What do we do now?”

  “Mara came because of the shifter. For years, I’ve hunted for a clue like this.” He stepped closer to Mara. “I saw much of her history play through my mind while she was healing me.”

  Mara flinched and glanced up. “You did?”

  “Indeed.”

  I didn’t miss the panic that flared in her eyes. She hid more than either of us knew.

  We needed to be cautious. I couldn’t risk losing anyone else. Almost losing Arún had been enough of a scare.

  I straightened my cassock and resisted the urge to count the buttons to make sure they were all still there after the scuffle. I crossed my arms, images of Arún’s death at the hands of the peacock shifter still fresh in my mind. For a moment, Mara’s healing appeared the same.

  My suspicion of Mara had nothing to do with Woe or what had happened to Arún. Lev had been the anchor of the Athenaeum for as long as I had been the List Keeper. I intended to keep him safe. Even if it meant from himself.

  “How did you get the toy in the first place?” At the very least, Mara owed us an explanation.

  She frowned. “I found it in an antique shop in New Berm.”

  Lev leaned forward. “Did the shop owner know anything about it?”

  “No.”

  “Why did you purchase it?”

  “It reminded me of a white whale that I met in the waters near my home. He came by every few days to frolic in the currents with the mermaids. We all looked forward to his visits.”

  Lev startled. “A white whale? How long ago?”

  “Fifty years maybe.”

  Lev turned to me, his eyebrows drawn together. “I thought I was the only white whale.”

  I shrugged. “Apparently not.”

  “Did he shift?” Lev asked.

  Mara moved to the window. “I never saw it.”

  “Alright then… You implied you have no magic.” I tapped my chin. “That’s a lie.”

  She nodded.

  “You can spin spells and shift from legs to fin.”

  She nodded again.

  “Your apartment smells of it, but why don’t you smell like magic?”

  She didn’t answer.

  When I’d asked about the strong scent in her apartment, she’d implied that she had no magic. Maybe not directly, but it had been what she wanted us to believe.

  Lev’s mouth twitched. To Mara, he said, “I learned much about you while wrapped inside your spell, but would you like to share with Jason?”

  His tone made it clear that he would if she didn’t.

  “You did?” Her eyes widened at his words, and I detected a hint of panic.

  I stepped forward. “Remember. Honesty is the best policy.”

  Mara moved to a seat positioned at a small table. “I understand you want to protect your people,” she said. “Believe me when I say that I want nothing more from my life than to keep those I love safe.”

  Mara lifted a hand and a dolphin formed above her fingers. The figure swam over her hand and then disappeared. “For many months, I’ve been searching for others of my kind. A new Mer-queen rules our underwater world, and she’s recalled all those who were banished under the old regime. I came to New Haven City as part of that search.”

  I leaned against the wall behind me. It sounded far-fetched, and I couldn’t move past the half-truth she’d allowed us to believe concerning her abilities. Even under the guise of “coming clean,” we couldn’t trust her.

  “There’s more,” Lev said behind me. “Go on, Mara.”

  I glanced over my shoulder in time to see her swallow.

  “Not long ago, while searching for banished Mer on the East Coast, I was kidnapped and thrown into a van. When I woke up, I had been deposited in the middle of New Haven City Park. At first, I couldn’t summon any magic or remember much of anything. We are alike in this.” She gestured between herself and Lev. “It’s hard to put a life back together from the bits I have left, but, over time, chunks of my memory have been coming back.”

  “When did you meet the shifter?” I didn’t have time to watch a second-chance mush playout on the dilapidated couch while stuck in the middle of a neighborhood that wanted nothing to do with me.

  “I wandered around the park, waiting for someone to find me. The shifter was the first attacker I couldn’t escape. When she went rummaging inside my mind, I was as surprised by the memories as she.” Mara met my gaze without flinching, and her eyes clearer than they’d been since I met her. “When she saw the little whale toy and everything that went along with it, she let me go.”

  I tugged on my beard. “But how does that help us?”

  “It gives us a starting point,” Lev interjected.

  “But leaves us with as many questions,” I countered.

  “We have to start in the park. Begin by talking to her,” Lev said.

  “True.” Mara nodded. She stood, smoothing her
hand over her braid. “The shifter repaired as many memories as she could, but some of my memories were buried too deep in the binding of a spell for her to untangle them.”

  “Then we must locate the shifter.” Lev stood, too. “Perhaps she can help us find more about where you and this toy,” he held up the carved figure, ”came from.” He offered a wan smile.

  “That’s impossible.” I paced from one end of the room to the other. “The shifter doesn’t want to be found.”

  “By you,” Mara said.

  “What would you suggest?” I crossed my arms.

  “It’ll be easier than you think. Once she explained where your church was and how to get there, she told me to say that she was sorry that she couldn’t fix all of my memories, but that she could help you find the ones you needed.”

  Perfect. That meant the shifter had the pieces to the puzzle, the pieces I needed. It was time to go bird hunting. “I suppose I don’t have any choice in the matter?”

  Lev tucked the carved whale into a hidden pocket. Then, he tapped the red badge around his neck. “I could have them arrest you.”

  I didn’t dignify his words with a response.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Mara added. “She calls herself Jane Jones.”

  14

  On the Way Out

  Mara

  I tricked two well-trained paranormal experts, and it shouldn’t have been that easy.

  We exited onto the street and turned toward the portal we’d come in through.

  Healing Lev had subdued the flame of Jason’s ire, but he stepped out in front and marched off toward the Reality Jumpers without a backward glance.

  As I watched Jason go, I sighed and turned to Lev. “Back to the real world then?”

  Lev pushed the brim of his fedora back and nodded. His expression remained soft as he considered me. Then he smiled, and his eyes twinkled in the way I knew that they would. Wishes for could-have-beens took root.

  The breath caught in my throat, and my heart twisted. Bile churned in my stomach.

  I would be responsible for the doom of at least two good men, more if what I believed about Shannah’s captor was true.

  I wasn’t a Siren, and I couldn’t do that. Not to Lev. Not even to cranky Jason.

  Lev set a quick pace, and we hurried after Jason.

  They should have been able to see through the shifter story. Lev, too. Didn’t they know that hiders were the best kind of liars? They shouldn’t trust me. It would have made my choice simpler. If they had refused, I could have given up.

  The sun slanted through the rainbow leaves of the Mire trees that lined the avenue. Time had passed, but the light never reflected how much. Jason complained of smell, but the spicy scents made me wish my sister had come with me to explore the new-to-us world. Maybe I could have earned Lev’s respect if I had met him as me…

  Rather than a minion in some devious plot to take over the world.

  I chewed on my bottom lip. Ahead, the reservoir shimmered in the sunlight. If I could run away, then I maybe I could save my sister on my own. Our deaths would be our own. I only needed to shift.

  The anklet turned warm against my skin and vibrated. If I could push through the block, maybe I could get free. Collateral damage would be limited to two mermaid sisters. No other needed to die. If I couldn’t find a way out, then I would make one.

  I increased my pace. Lev kept up.

  The ruse had been too easy. I expected it to be harder to get the two of them to follow me. I would give it away any moment. Only love for my sister and fear for her safety kept me from confessing everything. I kept my eyes on the street in front of me.

  Though, I hadn’t expected to want to earn Lev’s respect the minute I met him and wanted to reward him with kisses the moment he had diffused the situation between Jason and Trylon.

  My heartbeat hadn’t slowed down since she deposited me in the park to wait for the shifter.

  If I didn’t get Jason and Lev back to New Haven City, the Boss would hurt my sister even more. But if I did get them back, I had no idea how to warn them about the Boss. Two more lives would be at risk.

  I had one more chance to try to do the best that I could.

  Around the next corner, the reservoir—the overflow from the canal—shimmered in the sunlight. The canal stretched three miles from the beach into the heart of Unseen Street, ending in the geyser fountain. It sprayed water hundreds of feet. Each burst launched liquid straight up through the fountain apparatus and into the air with each ocean swell. Thanks to spells and glamours placed every twenty feet, few mortals stumbled upon it, but mermaids knew of it. The geyser had become a watery highway into New Haven City.

  Every parched cell in my body strained toward the water. My eyes swam in dry sockets, and my skin flaked off with every move. It had been too long between immersions.

  I dashed away.

  “Mara,” Lev bellowed. “Come back here.”

  Jason spun toward us and broke into a run. He yelled, “This doesn’t look good for you, Mara.”

  I don’t care.

  If I made it into the water before the Boss realized what had happened, before the anklet tattled on me, maybe I could overcome the dampener. If I could figure out how the anklet worked. If I could summon my tail, perhaps I could draw magic enough to best the Boss and free my sister. I didn’t want to draw these men to their doom.

  A scowling Jason appeared at my side, easily matching my pace, stride for stride. Faster than mortals run. He made no sound but kept up, and pedestrians moved aside.

  I stopped at the edge of the geyser-fountain, placed my hands on the railing, and waited for the next burst. I would be swept along in the current of the outgoing swell.

  Jason came to a halt beside me, his chest heaving.

  “All I need is one good surge, Jason, and I can throw myself into the reservoir overflow. I won’t be your problem anymore.”

  Jason’s scowl deepened. “Why would you want to do that?”

  “The water is my home, and my family is out there.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was as much as I could give him.

  His scowl darkened. “You promised Lev.”

  “I shouldn’t have promised him anything. You know that.”

  “I know that, but you can’t just disappear on him now. You’re the reason he came out of his cave.”

  Cave. Shannah. I had to save Shannah. “But this is what you want.”

  He grimaced. “Touché.”

  Jason glanced over his shoulder and waved at Lev. Lev waved back and continued toward us. “Get it over with before he gets here.”

  I gripped the top rail so tightly that my knuckles turned white. The ground beneath my feet rumbled, and my body tingled. A swell approached. The power in the waves set my skin tingling.

  The anklet buzzed.

  I tried to swing a leg over the railing, but Jason caught my upper arm.

  “Why are you doing that?” He enunciated each word.

  “To be free,” I said.

  Abruptly, he released me and stepped back. He crossed his arms.

  When I scowled at him, he said, “I’d like to see what you intend.”

  The geyser shot into the air, splashing over into the basin that surrounded it. Mentally, I reached for the energy in the molecules of the rushing waters. The anklet buzzed and heated until it burned my leg, but I kept on.

  I pictured Shannah and threw myself at the block between my skill and the power that fed it.

  Reach.

  Draw it in.

  Legs to tail. Legs to tail.

  That would be my best chance. Perhaps I could summon magic from the excited molecules surrounding me. Might be a longshot, but it’s the one I had.

  The vibration drew closer, and I tried to shift.

  I leaned up on my toes and lifted my arms.

  Water rushing over my skin, but…

  Nothing happened, but the anklet seared my lower leg. Pain shot up my calf, inner thigh, and abdomen,
until it exploded in my brain. My knees buckled, and I gasped. “Ow.”

  Jason crossed his arms. “What is it?”

  Two legs trapped me, anchoring me to the land, to the job I’d been given.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  Lev took a seat on the bench behind us. “You two run faster than the wind.”

  “Good genes,” Jason said. He leaned close to my ear, and I flinched. “You might have pulled the wool over his eyes,” he jabbed a thumb toward Lev, “but I’m smarter than that.”

  I shook my head and moved away from the edge. Jason had no idea how closely his words mirrored Lev’s.

  Lev hid his suspicions and accusations better, and his eyes sparkled when he smiled.

  I had to see my job through to the end. “To the park?” I asked Jason.

  The muscles worked in his jaw. “Indeed.”

  His cassock flared when he spun around to resume his march toward the exit. He didn’t wait on either of us, and Lev took his time leaving.

  Seated, Lev studied us, the fountain, and the sky while he puffed on his pipe, a cloud of smoke swirling around his head.

  “Peculiar,” he said, finally.

  I couldn’t tell if he meant the situation, the water… or me.

  15

  Requests

  Lev

  Mara’s hair hid her face as she watched Jason stalk away. “Don’t you want to go after him?”

  Standing beside the bench now, I doused my cigar in a puddle and dropped it in a trash receptacle. “Not particularly.”

  “You should.”

  I shrugged. “Why? He knows the way out, and he’s old enough to take care of himself.”

  “What about Trylon?”

  Gulls flew overhead, and I thought of Anne… and my last day in New Berm.

  I started toward the exit. “They worked it out when we came in. Everybody bluffed, and nobody lost face. It made for a convincing act earlier, didn’t it?”

  She sighed. “Why aren’t you suspicious of me anymore?”

  I touched her elbow. “I still am.”