Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,74
the shark was close, and it sure as hell kept coming. I pictured the Thunderbird and threw up a new wall, giving it everything I had.
When the fire shark crashed into it, it rocked my head back like a sock on the jaw. But it also knocked the creature out, and it drifted toward the bottom. Blood floated up from its jaws. We were deep enough that it looked brown.
A’marie and I hugged for about a second. Until we each felt how much it hurt.
Her skin was red and blistered, like from the world’s worst sunburn. Mine was the same, with what looked like third-degree burns on my hands. I also had my own blood floating up from the cuts that had opened in my physical body when the shark bit the ghostly one.
“Paging Dr. Red,” I said.
I had to give props to Timon’s teaching. Red filled me up instantly, although the pain of my injuries dulled the feeling of joyful vitality a little. Or maybe it was the fact that I’d already burned through a lot of magic.
Fortunately, I still had some left. I took A’marie’s hand in both of mine and sent power pulsing into her in time with my heartbeat. In some places, the angry redness simply faded. In others, blisters flaked away and uncovered healthy new skin beneath.
I gave myself the same treatment. It killed most of the pain and stopped the bleeding. I shrunk Red back down till he blended in with rest of me.
A’marie looked me over. “Are you all right now?” she asked.
“Yes, except that this water is still too hot. Let’s move.”
As we did, she asked, “Do you think we killed the shark?”
“I hope not. Murk might not like it if we did.”
She grunted, and then giggled.
“What?”
“We were in hot water.”
I snorted. “Is that the kind of joke that Old People think is funny?”
“You have no sense of humor. That was hilarious.” And I guessed she thought so, because she kept chortling off and on, right until the moment when the sight of Murk’s den knocked it out of her.
I was just as amazed as she was. Mel Fisher spent years and tons of investor money looking for wreck sites in the waters off Florida. Would-be Mel Fishers still do it today. Yet here, within spitting distance of the Tampa shore, were several old barnacle-covered ships heaped like firewood or a kid’s blocks. Two were Spanish galleons, and, for all I knew, full of gold doubloons. That would fit with a wannabe lord’s pride and sense of style.
“Hey, Murk!” I yelled. “Are you in there?”
He was. He flowed out from under the pile like an ordinary octopus coming out of a hole in the rocks. I caught myself holding my breath, because, even though he was fast, it took a while for all of him to slide into view. I’d imagined him as a dinosaur-sized animal, but I’m not sure even dinosaurs really grew that big. His tentacles were like rubber telephone poles. His black, glaring eyes were the size of truck tires.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m sorry, but we had to beat up on the hammerhead to get to you. I hope it’ll be okay. This is A’marie, and I’m Billy.”
“I know who you are,” the kraken said. Before, his laughter had reminded me of a muted trombone. Now his voice was like a foghorn. “Timon’s new champion.”
“Kinda sorta,” I said. “That’s what we’re here to talk to you about.”
“You shouldn’t have invaded my privacy.” The giant tentacles reached for A’marie and me. She let out a yelp.
I felt like yelping, too. But I was also irritated, and that helped me find the mojo to make a wall big and strong enough to bump the lead tentacles back.
“Screw you, too,” I said. “In the first place, you Old People are way too grabby. In the second, what’s the big deal about your privacy? It’s not like you’re a hermit. You talk to people. Hell, you mentioned talking to the Twin Helens, whoever they are, when I saw you before.”
“I communicate with whom I choose, in the manner I prefer.”
“Well, aren’t you special. So how about choosing us, in the manner of here and now? You might like what you hear.”
“But I know I can solve my problems by eating you.”
“Maybe yes, maybe no. Either way, I’ll still be just as tasty in ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Please,” said A’marie to Murk. “I brought him to you because everyone says you’re wise and honorable.”