In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens (most motivational books txt) 📕

yelled, clutching Tal to him as the water rushed away from the shore, sand and shells and fish pummeling around them. Only Garrett’s strength kept them both standing.

As it was, Tal scrabbled to keep hold of Athlen’s limp body, but he was ripped from Tal’s sore fingers, swept away in the tumult.

“No! No! No!”

Tal wrestled out of Garrett’s arms to follow, but Garrett reeled him back.

“No. I’ll not let you drown for a dead man.”

“Let me go. Let me go. Let me—”

Tal gasped when both he and Garrett fell to ocean floor as a great pillar of surf and foam and water rose from the sea. The chaos coalesced into a figure before their eyes, and the ocean itself formed into a body. Fish swam through her torso, seaweed tumbled from her head and over her shoulders. Her eyes glittered as scales, and her mouth was red coral. Her arms were as strong as the tides. She wore driftwood around her neck and a string of shells around her waist. Pearls adorned her fingertips. She was magic incarnate, terrifying and beautiful.

Towering over them, she bent forward, examining Tal and Garrett as if they were insects.

Tal stood slowly and brushed the clinging wet sand from his hands.

“Which of you called my name?” Her voice was the song of the sea, the gentle lapping of water against the hull of a ship, the scream of a waterspout, and the crash of the waves all in one.

Tal’s hair stood on end, and he curled his toes in his soggy boots. “I did.”

“You are made of fire. Have you called to fight me? Finish what your grandsire began?”

“No!” Tal held out his hands. “No. I’m not him. I didn’t call you to fight. I came to bargain.”

She pursed the coral of her lips. “And you are?”

“I’m called Tal.”

“That’s not your true name. You are wise not to share it. What do you desire?”

“Athlen.”

She smiled, but it wasn’t kind. It was shrewd and full of shark’s teeth. She scooped a handful of water from beside her and held it close to her mouth, Athlen’s body floating in her palm. She blew a breeze, and the water glowed as if the sun had dipped below the surface and lit the blue from within.

Athlen’s body shuddered and his clothes shredded as his legs fused into his long red-and-gold tail.

“He owes me a debt, beloved. Are you here to pay it?”

Garrett wrapped his hand around Tal’s forearm in a vise grip. Tal ignored him, dared not take his eyes from Athlen, buoyed in the pool of light and magic.

“Only if you can save him.”

She tilted her head and regarded Athlen. “You wish to renegotiate the terms of his bargain?”

“Yes.”

She tapped her lips. “And what are you willing to give?”

“I… I’d give anything I could. But he… he doesn’t want that.”

Her lip curled. “You are magic, like me.” She set Athlen onto a plateau of surf and spread her fingers. “But I gave up my mortal self to hide in the sea, to hide from the fire that awaited me on land. I’ve lived as magic for longer than you have been alive. It is a piece of me, and I will not give it away freely.”

“I understand,” Tal said. “What are the terms of the bargain?”

“A life for a life, beloved. Your blood for his legs.”

Tal swallowed. “I don’t—”

“Hurry. I can save someone who still lives. I cannot resurrect the dead.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, tears leaking from the corners, Tal took a shuddering breath. “No. He… he wouldn’t want to be without me on land. He told me. He doesn’t want to be alone, and I won’t doom him to that.”

“Oh, beloved,” she said, tone sad and kind.

Tal felt the sweep of cool water over his cheeks, wiping his tears away. Tentatively he opened his eyes, then flinched back when he found she’d moved closer. Her face was inches from his, small fish swimming behind her eyes, then down the tunnel of her neck, her expression sorrowful.

“You love him.”

“I do.”

“Enough to let him go?”

Tal wiped his sleeve over his cheeks. “If I must. Yes.”

“I am sorry, beloved. A life for a life. Blood for blood. That is the cost of my magic.”

Tal fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. His heart broke anew. A fresh wave of tears streamed down his cheeks. Garrett wrapped his arms around Tal and held him close as he cried.

“Good-bye, little fire. You are a better human than most.” She caressed his hair, then turned away.

“Wait! Morwen! Wait!”

A yell from the beach, followed by the rapid squelch of someone running toward them, pierced through the sounds of Tal’s grief.

He twisted around. Poppy broke through the substantial crowd that had gathered and ran toward them, full tilt, her curly hair blowing behind her. Shouts from guards followed her, demanded she stop, but the guards didn’t dare broach the shoreline. Poppy had no such fear, and upon reaching them, she fell to her knees and clasped her hands in front of her.

“Morwen! Queen of the sea! I wish to bargain.”

“Poppy—”

“And what do you want, child?”

“Take me with you.”

Morwen’s mouth ticked up and her eyes widened. “What?”

“I pledge my life in servitude to you. I always believed in the merfolk and in you. I am the last of my crew. There is nothing left for me on land. I want to live with you in the sea.”

Tal whipped his head around to stare at her. He broke from Garrett’s grip. “Poppy, you’d really pledge your life?”

“Yes. My life is the sea.”

“A life for a life!” Tal pointed at Morwen. “You said a life for a life. A life. And I’ll give you my blood.” Tal grabbed the shark’s tooth and snapped the cord from around his neck. He plunged the tip into the crook of his arm.

“Tally! What are you doing?” Garrett yelled.

Tal grunted with pain, wrenching the tooth free. Blood ran freely down his arm. “Take it! Save him!”

Morwen scowled. “Your