Tide - By Daniela Sacerdoti Page 0,102

his gun and fire it, once, twice.

To his dismay, the bullets lodged into the Surari’s translucent skin but didn’t reach its insides. Its skin might have looked deceivingly thin and scaly, but it was as thick as an elephant’s hide. The discovery made Mike moan in despair. All he could do was aim at their eyes, and so he did. One Merman fell, its face blown off, but before he could fire again, another Merman grabbed him with all its strength and threw Mike to the wet, blackened floor.

A Surari climbed over the table and grabbed Niall’s legs, throwing him down on the hard wooden surface. His song came to an abrupt halt as his mouth filled with blood and he fell in a sea of broken crockery and splattered food, the Merman still holding onto his legs. Niall braced himself for the bite: and it came, excruciating, as the Surari sank his teeth into his thigh.

“Niall!” As the song was interrupted, Elodie had instinctively looked at the table to check on him. She threw herself on the Surari holding Niall down and stabbed it repeatedly. She grabbed its head and placed a poisonous kiss on its lips, the Merman’s sharp teeth cutting Elodie’s mouth, and her blue lips were smeared with red.

“Are you OK?” she asked Niall when the demon had fallen, wiping her mouth and wincing in pain.

Niall nodded and spat out two teeth. Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and gasped. Winter had been holding her own in every way she could. Her arms were lined with deep cuts and her hair was dripping with Blackwater, but she didn’t seem mortally wounded. A Surari was standing in front of her, and they were looking at each other – the Merman baring its teeth, anticipating the taste of her flesh, Winter trying to stop herself from shaking, trying to stop her legs from buckling, trying to pretend she was unafraid. Suddenly, with newfound courage she leapt on the Surari, a strange sound coming from the back of her throat. It was a call the Merman recognized – a seal call.

Infuriated, it grabbed her by the shoulders and sank its teeth into her chest. Winter screamed in pain and terror, but Niall was already on the Surari, the magic song streaming from his mouth, the notes spurting into the air like blood from an open wound. Elodie was close behind.

Agonized, the Merman let Winter go, and both covered their ears, hit by the full force of the song. Elodie took her chance and, with a graceful leap, bent over the Merman, kissing it and killing it in seconds.

The sounds of battle were retreating.

Niall stopped singing and took Winter in his arms. They clung to each other, breathless, surveying the horrific scene. A Merman had just dissolved under Sarah’s touch, another one was writhing on the floor in its final moments, Sean standing over it, panting in fury. Another one lay dead, a bullet hole between its eyes. Mermen corpses lay everywhere, lapped by the mixture of blood and Blackwater on the floor. The last of the dying Surari became still, one after the other.

For a few seconds Sarah and her friends allowed themselves to breathe, looking around in the sudden calm.

Could it be?

Could they have made it? Could they have survived such a merciless attack?

And then gurgling, shuffling, and what was left of the windows shattered. Another deadly wave of Mermen erupted into the hall. Icy panic shot through Sean’s veins as only one thought filled his mind: This is the night we die.

55

One Soul

Like many before me

Beneath the waves, beneath the crosses:

I’ll never see my home again

A merman ripped Winter from Niall’s arms, ready to bite. A suffocated sound came out of Niall’s throat. He was faced with a terrible choice, with Mike on one side and Winter on the other, and him in the middle, scrambling to get the song going again, and failing.

In the terrible instant before the Surari crowded in on him, Mike saw Winter’s predicament. There was no doubt in his mind as to what to do. He pinned his eyes onto the Merman’s.

“Hey, you! Damn bastard fish! And you!” he screamed at another Merman making its way through the wrecked window. “Come and get me!”

“Mike! No!” Niall yelled, surging forward to help his friend.

But Mike’s words stopped him. “Don’t you dare, man. Go help Winter. Now!”

Niall knew his friend was right. He threw himself on the Merman that