Chapter 74 Wicked
720words
Ember.
I gritted my teeth and lifted myself high enough to climb in between the two front seats.
There was a blue glow around her, and her chest rose and fell in frantic breaths. I reached for her, but electricity jolted me when my fingers contacted the aura.
I cried out, tearing my hand away.
Kayn had put some barrier around his sister to protect her because I couldn't imagine what other explanation there had to be.
That was unless mermaids had some automatic defence mechanism when they fell unconscious.
I noted to ask Kayn about this if we made it out of here alive.
I scanned the interior of the wreckage for anything that could pose as a weapon. I resorted by scooping up a large, lightning-bolt-shaped glass shard and crawled backward.
An earthy smell of decomposing leaves and burning rubber cut the air when I shoved open the door. My eyes stung from the heavy cloud of smoke, and an arctic breeze bit my skin.
The road was thick with dead leaves. Pine needles spruced in clumps of moss, a few patches stirred by the accident.
"Carly, no," Kayn shouted as I crawled out onto the pavement. I couldn't see where Graves was, but Kayn struggled to get up from the ground, pinned down and fighting an invisible entity.
I was halfway out of the car when I spotted a shadow beside me on the pavement.
Graves stood on top of the car—right above me.
I reversed backward, but the effort was too late. A tentacle hurtled down and wrapped itself around my waist.
It hauled me up into the air. A raw cry of pain exploded from my lips before I fell into a fit of whimpers. The pain was excruciating.
"I'm so going...to hurt you." Kayn staggered onto his feet.
My stomach twisted at the sight of him. This was Kayn, the guy who could take on anything. The unstoppable force. He looked like he was five seconds away from fainting.
Graves chuckled as he dragged me toward him. "Good luck with that, aye."
Tentacles toughen around my body, holding me standing up beside Graves. He peered at me, a mock grin on his lips. "Ah, finally, I've got you where I want you."
I struggled against the tight grip. "What do you want from me?"
He gave me a once-over. "Oh, you are my ticket to freedom, girl. Nothing personal."
"Nothing personal, my ass," I snarled. "This feels incredibly personal!"
I turned my hand, holding up the glass shard, and pushed it into the flesh of one tentacle wrapped around me. As it cut through the rubbery tissue, I could feel it slice the skin of the palm of my hand.
I bit down on a scream, ignoring the pain, and focused on inflicting as much damage as possible.
The injured tentacle retracted. Graves growled, "Not this again. You know there's no way you can outfight this, girl. Make it easy for both of us, and stop your nonsense."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," I snapped. "Let me go!"
He threw his head back and laughed. "My dear girlie, whenever in the history of girls like you asking 'let me go,' where you let go? Can you think of one instance? No? Didn't think so."
I ground my teeth together and slammed my foot down on a tentacle, digging my heel into it as hard as I could.
It jerked out from underneath me, almost hitting Kayn against the head as he crept around the back of the car toward us.
"I can see you," Graves sang, sending down one of his tentacles and hitting Kayn onto the pavement. There was a sickening crack. "Now, stay down."
"Kayn?" Panic swelled inside my chest.
"He's taking a little nap," Graves shrugged, jumping off from the car beside Kayn's lifeless body.
No matter what I did, how much I fought, the tentacles were too strong, keeping me caged in beside Graves. He scooped up Kayn in another set of tentacles. He turned, grinning at me. "Let's go, then."
"Wha—" My question got interrupted by my scream as Graves ran toward the cliff with us in tow and jumped.
