The Twice Lost by Sarah Porter Read Free Book Online

mouthpiece.
    The mermaid screamed again, and Luce heard a smack.
    “Shut up and answer our questions like a good tail, and
maybe
we’ll let you swim out of here, okay? But we can’t hear you. You’ll have to write with this. Know how to write?”
    The scream had faded to a rhythmic wheeze. At least, Luce thought, they probably weren’t hurting her now, but they’d be ready to shoot her at any second. If Luce rushed in to rescue her she’d probably only guarantee the girl’s death. If she did nothing, though . . .
    “I . . . Look, I
can
write, okay? Just stop . . .”
    Luce could taste the seeping blood. She could see red corruption staining the water in long slow curls.
    “Stupid tail. Remember we can’t
hear
you. Look. We’re looking for one of you in particular.
This
one. You know this one? She was heading this way.”
    What was the man
talking
about? One in particular? Why? Luce froze, her bewilderment darkening into dread.
    “A . . . What? A
photo?
But that looks like . . .” the mermaid began. Her voice was piercing, startled.
    Another
smack.
“What did I tell you about writing?”
    There were a few seconds of near silence: just a faint moaning and the surge of the sea around Luce’s ears.
    “You haven’t seen her? You
sure
about that? She’s called Luce. The one we’re looking for. You know Luce?”
    There was another silence, this time broken by a few rough sobs. Luce had the feeling the girl had noticed the face of a murdered friend among the dead.
    Had the mermaids in that cave died because these men were hunting for
her?
But why would they care about her at all? She’d thrown their boat into a cliff when those soldiers fired at her back in Alaska, of course, but . . .
    How did they know her name?
    “What do you mean, you’ve only heard about her? She got away from us up north, killed a few of our guys, and now she’s causing us
more
trouble. We’re not too happy about that, all right? If you help us find her . . .”
    Another silence. Luce’s dread thickened, knotted like slimy ropes. Was there any chance they’d let the girl go? It didn’t seem likely. Luce started to slide into the bloody water oozing from the cave. She turned a corner and saw a crowd of black legs on a stone floor. Men stood chest-deep in crimson water.
    She had one advantage, Luce realized. Only one. The same protective helmets that blocked out the mermaids’ songs . . .
    “Is that a fact? You won’t help us catch
Queen
Luce? Well, then . . .”
    Luce’s song was already rising, calling the water. The soldiers couldn’t hear it, of course. They didn’t notice anything as the first note soared up around them. But a few seconds later they
could
feel their legs suddenly yanked out from under them by currents like twisting snakes. Luce’s song split into several violent notes all curling in different directions, and soldiers in slick rubber suits shot through the black air, waving in space, and bashed into the walls. Coils of blood-bright water chased them, gripped them, threw them again. Their bodies collided with the corpses of the mermaids they’d killed, already back in human form. Most of the soldiers had dropped their guns, but a few still held on. Luce couldn’t stop singing then, not while they might still shoot, and in desperation she hurled her voice up the scale.
    Even as they swung, shouting through the cave’s darkness, one of them had seen her. His gun was up, and he was trying to aim. Luce focused on the water gripping him until he was buffeted face-first again the ceiling. The heavy gun finally flung free, whipping into a girl’s severed arm before it tumbled down into the water.
    The
living
mermaid had to be here somewhere, spinning through this chaos of crimson water and electric screams and black thrashing limbs . . .
    Luce didn’t mean to kill the soldiers, just stun or hurt them enough that she and the other mermaid—
there
she was, clinging to a rock in the corner,