Star Blessed

MERIBELLA

"Please, please be okay," she begged, falling to her knees besides the still form of her friend.

Bile rose in the back of her throat when she saw the jagged gash across the witch's throat, but after examining the wound, she saw that it wasn't deep enough to have been a killing blow. Tears blurring her vision, she ran her hands over Thorne looking for other injuries.

"Meribella," Caspian said, appearing at the top of the steps. "Is she alive?"

"I c-can't tell. She's-oh gods- she's been stabbed in her side." The selkie squeezed his large frame into the stairwell and scooped the woman up, her body limp in his arms. "We shouldn't move her! What if we do more damage?"

He didn't answer, laying her across the couch and pressing his fingers to the side of the wound on her neck. He went slack and turned to look at her, his face a picture of defeat. Losing her balance, she fell into the wall and slid down until she was on the floor. Shaking her head back and forth, she wailed, "No, no, no. You're wrong. You're wrong."

"We can't do anymore damage to a dead woman, Meribella. I'm sorry."

Wiping her cheeks, mixing blood with the tears, she rose to her feet and pushed him out of the way. Cradling Thorne in her arms, she rocked, trying to make her mind comprehend what Caspian was saying when she still seemed so warm and alive.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All my fault."

All of the happiness swelling within her earlier had fled, leaving an emptiness behind that consumed her. She closed her eyes and envisioned this new space within her. Just a barren place with a sickly, green sky and a land of dry sand where nothing beautiful and good could blossom. On the horizon, wall clouds hung low and black, lightning flickering deep within their bowels.

"Meribella, there's something we could try." Caspian's voice was muffled, as though he were speaking to her above water. It buzzed in her ears like a gnat, and she tried to banish it. It offered hope and had no place in this world. "Meribella, take her to the water."

She didn't pay attention until he pulled her from her embrace. "Give her back to me!" she shouted. "Please, it's my fault. I have to make her understand I didn't mean for this to happen. She promised me she was strong enough to protect them."

He squatted in front of her, his face kind as restricted her grasping hands. "She's not been gone long, Meribella. Listen closely. If her spirit still lingers, you can save her."

Her body went rigid, and the flow of tears dried. "What do I do?"

"We have to get you in the water."

"What- why? I don't understand how that will do anything," she protested, but still her feet moved to follow him out onto the deck. The flood of sunlight on Thorne only highlighted the damage she'd taken, the bruises large and numerous on her dark skin. The silk nighty she'd been wearing was torn and scarlet soaked, no trace of its original color visible.

Caspian didn't respond to her question with words but jumped over the railing into the ocean. Gripping the bar in her hand, she waited anxiously for him to emerge with the witch still in his arms. Though she'd yet to see him in seal form, she couldn't imagine he could be anymore graceful amongst the waves than he was now, treading water with ease as he kept Thorne afloat.

"Come on," he urged.

Without any further hesitation, she dove over the side, the salt water electrifying her cells as soon as her head passed the surface. The ocean always welcomed her, a lost daughter, home, but this time she could not luxuriate in the feeling, she could not admire the way her skin blazed like starlight.