Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,78

my legs, I sprinted toward the place that felt the safest at the moment—the lake. The closer I got, though, the farther it seemed to be. The water retreated as I approached, as if running away from me. Trudging through the wet, mushy sand, I peered into the distance.

Out there, the water rose higher and higher, pulling away from the shore. A wide swell formed across from the beach. Its mass glistened with steely grey, blending with the gloomy sky above and obstructing the pale-yellow sun rising over the horizon.

I froze in place, watching the giant wave approach. It carried Zeph on the very top of its foaming crest.

His arms spread wide, the long hair whipping in the wind behind him, he looked nothing like an ordinary man anymore.

Framed by foam and spray, he was beautifully terrifying. His power over his element was absolute. Led by his will, the massive amounts of water churned and rushed.

A small current separated from the rest. Sneaking around my feet, it licked up my legs. More water gathered around me, until the current was strong enough to lift me off the ground, gently dragging me aside.

The bracks on the shore spread out, stretching the net wider. Even from this distance, I saw how pensive their faces had become.

Nerkan limped toward the trees, the net had been torn off him. His pant leg had completely burnt off below the knee.

Trez tripped in the sand, coming to a stop in his pursuit of me and staring out into the lake.

The roar of approaching water filled the air.

I was gently raised higher as the rest of the swell crashed down, its full impact crushing the bracks under the mass of the churning water.

Instead of spreading out to flood the shore, the water turned in a giant whirlpool that churned the drowning bracks beneath it.

The black net washed up, getting caught in a tree. Red sparks sizzled and snapped all along its length. Fighting the currents, Trez swam to it, grabbing on to the net with his gloved hands.

Higher than all of us, on top of the giant, white-crested wave, Zeph flicked his wrist. Water surged toward Trez, who held on to the net, fighting the pull of the waves. The sparking from the net ignited a flame that crackled and grew, eating up the leafless tree branches. Trez shrank back from the fire, finally letting go of the net.

Caught by the current, he was then brought to Zeph.

“I did nothing,” Trez blubbered, his eyes open wide, his arms flaying in the water washing over him. “I barely even touched her...”

“And that’s what you will die for.” Zeph’s voice remained eerily calm. “For daring to touch my woman.”

The steel-grey of an ocean storm churned in the blue of his eyes. He slashed through the air with his arm, the spikes of his fin slicing through the skin on Trez’s neck and face. The fluorescent poison glistened in the wounds briefly. Then, it was flushed away by the lake water, along with the brack’s blood.

His eyes frozen open, Trez tipped backwards and sank. The current spun his dead body into the whirlpool, dragging it down to the ground, as the fire spread through the bare branches of the tree. It stood there, engulfed in flames in the middle of the raging storm.

With a wave of Zeph’s hand, the water dropped, receding back into the lake it had come from.

I was gently set onto the sand at the water’s edge, not far from Zeph. In two wide strides, he closed the distance between us. The fin on his left arm snapped close, and he drew me into a one-armed hug.

“I’m okay,” I breathed out, even as my entire body trembled.

“Are you sure?” He asked softly, briefly pressing his lips to my temple.

The bracks, scattered all over the beach, began to cough up the water they had swallowed. Staggering to their feet, they limped into the trees, toward the parking lot, one by one.

Being crushed by the tsunami and held under water didn’t kill them. Trez was the only one dead. His body remained motionless on the sand between the patches of wilted grass.

One of the bracks stepped our way from behind the trees. Even from the distance, I recognized Radax by his dark beard that covered the lower part of his face.

“Take him back to the truck,” he ordered to the only two bracks still remaining in the area.

They quickly lifted Trez’s body and rushed out of sight as Radax