Beyond The Depths

Chapter 11

Mom was a blur of purple-and-grey as she launched herself at Aunt Naia. Even from where I was floating a few feet away, I could all but feel the anger radiating from her body. I swallowed hard, bracing myself for the cacophony of voices to begin shouting, sobbing, pleading. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to burst from my chest.

I suddenly cried out, clutching my head as the voices rose in volume, getting louder and louder until they blocked all outside noise. "You took my son from me!" "Mama, where are you? I'm scared!" "Please. Let my daughter go. She's just a child."

I was gasping for water, half-sobbing. Quicker than I could react, the pendant was suddenly ripped off my neck. Dad floated in front of me, his eyes blazing with anger. "Don't touch my daughter," he growled.

Aunt Naia finally untangled herself from her sister. A gash across her cheek leaked blood and her right eye was blackened. Mom was hardly better off; she was clutching her shoulder, bruises peppering her face. I watched as Mom's breathing slowly returned to normal, all the anger drain from her body.

Anger still raged in Aunt Naia's eyes, but she seemed to have calmed down as well. Her breathing steadied as she swept her eyes over all of us. "You really want me to say it? Fine: I was jealous. You don't know what it was like to live in your and Meri's shadows when we were growing up. Everywhere I went, at least one mermaid swam up to me, gushing about what a perfect waitress Nerissa was. Or how Meribella's sign language classes were a blessing in disguise."

She spat out the last word as if it tasted bad. "Sure, I played the part of the loving, supportive sister when we were growing up, but as soon as I could, I didn't hesitate to leave. Not long after that, I met Brandon. You know the rest."

Mom's whole body shook with anger as she swam up to her sister. "I loved you!" Her voice broke as she screamed the words. You didn't just betray us; you broke my heart. And for what? More power? Her hands were trembling so violently it took her several tries to form the words. Tears glistened in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

Aunt Naia scoffed. "Easy for you to say. You have everything: a supportive husband who loves you for who you are, a kingdom who worships you. What do you have to complain about?"

Mom recoiled, as if the words had physically struck her. Another twinge of pain jolted through my collarbone and I bit my tongue to stifle the groan that escaped. Exhaustion was slowly creeping up on me; I wasn't sure how much longer I could do this.

You have no idea what I've sacrificed for you—for our family. Her eyes took on a far-away look and I knew, without her saying anything, that she was thinking about Rosewood Manor, the trauma that she'd endured there.

A flash of gold-and-crimson, then Kai was suddenly beside me. I saw the unspoken words in his eyes, felt the barely-restrained anger rippling off him. Dad swam up behind his sister-in-law, pulling a length of seaweed out of the seafloor.

His face was blank, but his eyes blazed with anger as he spoke. "Naia Demetra Monroe, Brandon James Monroe, you have been found guilty of the murders of Queen Irvetta and King Marlin of Nepptheas."

Using the seaweed as a makeshift rope, Dad bound each of their hands. Kai trembled beside me; I squeezed his hand, the motion snapping him out of the haze of anger that had settled over him. His eyes locked on mine, apology shining in them.

The swim home was silent and tense. All of us were on edge, expecting trouble at every turn. Mom and Dad went straight to the infirmary, the former barely able to stay upright. Kai and I took Aunt Naia and Uncle Brandon to the dungeons.

As soon as they were each in a cell, far away from the other, I felt as if I could breathe for the first time in weeks. I uttered a strangled cry when my collarbone suddenly erupted in pain. Kai's eyes snapped to mine, worry shining in them. I let out a tight breath through clenched teeth.

"I'm okay," I gasped out. The pain returned with a vengeance, sharp and hot. The floor looked so inviting, it was all I could do not to sink down and sleep for a week.

"Come on," Kai murmured. "Let's go back to our suite." Every stroke seemed to take an eternity; I was barely able to hold my head up when we arrived at the door to our suite. A mermaid with strawberry-blonde hair was waiting for us, worry etched on her face.

Kai murmured something to Nadia, but I couldn't make out the words. A strangled cry escaped my lips, eyes welling with tears as the emotions of the past hour came rushing back.
Anger at Aunt Naia and Uncle Brandon for forcing Mom to revisit her past; gut-wrenching fear when I'd heard the tsunami of voices from the Lost Soul Pendant; and, perhaps the most shocking of them all, sadness.

My heart broke clean in half for Mom, the trauma she'd had to endure at such a young age. But Mom wasn't the only reason for the sadness inside me. No; another mermaid's face entered my mind—a mermaid who'd betrayed her only surviving family and sacrificed everything for power.

Aunt Naia had said it herself—that we didn't know what it was like to live in her sisters' shadows when they were growing up. All that hatred, resentment, and anger festering deep inside her had finally come to the surface.

Kai slid into bed beside me, startling me out of my thoughts. He laced his fingers through mine, squeezing my hand gently. My eyes were brimming with tears, the heartbreak clear on my face. Seeing that concern in his eyes, such a stark contrast to the anger that had been in them only hours before, made me break down all over again.

"I'm right here," Kai murmured, his free hand stroking my curls. "I'm not going anywhere."

Leftover adrenaline buzzed through my body, leaving me jittery and shaky. But exhaustion quickly took over, the shock of earlier hitting me with the force of a dozen rogue waves. I fell asleep with tear-stained cheeks and a heavy heart.

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