Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,65

been a year old when Lukiyo had been taken.

It was all a mind-body connection.

Meg was calling the sea creatures to her, subconsciously, and she used to have it under control…

“Is that when the squids started attacking?” Dannika prodded gently. “Three years ago?”

“Huh? Oh, no. It was…gosh, when Tulu was a baby.” Meg scratched at the sparkly plankton sticking to her cheek. “I used to hang out in the coral shallows while waiting for Itime to get back from a hunt. Old Lieutenant Figuara didn’t care when the warriors went out. He wanted the babies taken care of, so he always busied himself in another part of the island when he saw the warriors preparing to ‘sneak’ out.”

The plankton built up on her sparkling fingers like paint splatter under a black light.

“This one time, a big old tiger shark dove through the lattice. It grabbed Tulu right in front of me and shook him, and I—well, I screamed, you know, like you wouldn’t believe—and the shark let him go. Tulu fell like he was dead. Oh, God. He was hurt so bad.”

Meg shuddered.

“The shark veered back to get him again, and…and I don’t know, but suddenly, these clouds of squids surged up from seemingly everywhere. They flooded the reef, hiding us. I couldn’t even to swim to the shore in case the shark saw us. They can cut you down in knee-high water, did you know that? I just held Tulu in my arms, and I prayed and prayed and prayed.”

Her fingers glowed with the memory, even brighter than the plankton, shining with power.

And then Meg lowered her fingers and shrugged. “My little boy opened his eyes. He was fine. All that praying, and…totally fine. Even the scars healed. He barely had a scratch.” She lifted an index finger. “But the squids. The squids never went away.”

“They protected you.” Well, this was a news story for the night. Chalk one up for mermaid queens. “That’s amazing. Do you think they’re still trying to protect you?”

“Well, I don’t know. I’m not being attacked by tiger sharks anymore. I don’t even go in the shallows without a warrior.”

“Why not?”

“The shark moved so fast and I was so helpless.” Meg twitched, obviously still reliving it. “I never want to feel that way again.”

“But it sounds like you are feeling that way. You feel panic every time you go in the water.”

“Not that I can go in the water.”

“Ciran said affinity to sea creatures is a queen power, and yours is especially strong. You’re calling them to you.”

“I don’t know how.” Meg flicked her fingers. The plankton latched on, increasing her glitter. “Sticky little buggers. Oh, look at this, guys. I have a sparkle trail. Gosh, they’re aggressive today.”

“Because you’re feeling upset, probably.”

“Gee, reliving the worst day of my life, when I couldn’t do anything but cower and cry, is upsetting? Ha ha, I wonder why.”

This wasn’t getting anywhere.

“Okay, let’s reframe this.” Dannika mentally reviewed her checklist for reframing trauma. She was no licensed psychologist, and had no claims to be, but she’d had a lot of practice trying to help frustrated would-be daters get out of their own way. “You know, since your power is healing, maybe you really saved Tulu’s life that day.”

Meg flubbed her lips. Little bubbles emerged. “God, I wish.”

“But you did wish, didn’t you? You wished it so hard. And your power is healing.”

“Yeah, but…”

“You summoned the animals to hide you. We all know you did that. But your actual power is healing, which you did when you held baby Tulu in your arms and prayed. And he did get better. He came back to life. And now, even years later, these same animals want to help you because they know you channel the healing energy of the Life Tree.”

Meg’s gaze rose to fix on Dannika with new intensity. She stopped trying to brush the plankton away, and after a moment, the sparkles drifted off on their own, without her even trying.

“You did something very important that day,” Dannika emphasized. “You weren’t helpless. You saved your son’s life.”

Meg studied her fingertips with new eyes. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes.”

Meg looked at Angie, who shrugged as if it were possible, and then at Bex, who nodded like the answer was obvious.

“Okay. Say I did save Tulu.” Meg suddenly stopped and swallowed hard. Her eyes reddened, and she scrubbed her cheeks. “Ah, it was a traumatic time. Um, say that I did save him. Say I’m summoning the squidocalypse to this very