Descending (The Rising Series) (22 page)

Gretchen cracked a smile. “Thank
you, Aunt Sara.”

Sara giggled and shook her head. “Please don’t call me that. Coming from you, it makes me feel like an old woman.”

“Sure thing, Auntie Sara.”

“Oh
.” Sara gave a tortured moan and a half smile. “That sounds even worse.”

Gretchen smiled back and put her arm around Sara’s shoulders. “I
wish we’d known about each other from the start.”

“Me too.”
They leaned against one another for a few minutes, comforted by each other’s presence.

Sara shrugged away from Gretchen
. “Well, I think it’s time we invite Xanthus and Kyros back. We have to figure out what to do about this killer.”

Kyros stepped through the door and searched
Gretchen’s face. She gave him a reassuring smile. Xanthus followed and looked Gretchen up and down. He looked stunned that he hadn’t figured out what she was from the start.

“
So,” Sara said, “someone is out to kill Gretchen?”

“
Um, yeah,” Gretchen answered. “That would be my birth mother.”

“
What? Why would any mother want to kill her own daughter?”

“If she’s found, she’s dead.”
Gretchen shrugged, acting as if the fact her own mother was trying to kill her was no big deal. Deep down, it was a very big deal. But she couldn’t change who her birth mother was. She just had to deal with it, no matter how much it sucked.

“
She’s been around since Poseidon made his decree,” Kyros said. “Her death is long overdue.”

Gretchen nodded.
“She was trying to cover her tracks.”

“…by kill
ing you?” Sara gasped out the question.

“
Yeah.”

“I’m
so sorry,” Sara’s eyes showed the depth of her sympathy. Gretchen’s own heart lightened with the fact that she was not alone. Sara would always be by her side. She glanced over at Kyros. The depth of his sympathy and regret were apparent on his face. It looked like she had his undying support also.

“
So, what’s happened so far?” Sara asked.

“Well,
after the shooting, Drakōn went looking for the killer. He came back and told Kyros he’d caught the killer and needed Kyros to come with him. When Kyros came back, he tried to kill me.”

“You what?” Sara turned
to Kyros.

He
frowned. “I did all I could to resist.”

“And he did
,” Gretchen rushed to defend him. “He stabbed himself in the leg instead of stabbing me.”

“Drakōn
has yet to return,” Kyros said. “My guess is, when he sees I didn’t succeed, he’ll try to kill both of us.”

“Oh boy
,” Sara said. “How do we stop him?”

“You don’t.” Xanthus
said, looking from Sara to Gretchen. “Either of you. This is our fight. Dagonians are charged with eliminating the mermaids, and Drakōn is our responsibility.”

“You
do
know that since he’s been compelled,” Gretchen said, “he’ll not stop until my birth mom releases him, or he’s been compelled to stop. And the only ones capable of compelling are Sara and me. And since it’s
my
mother who is at the root of all this trouble,
I’m
the one who should do it.”

“I don’t think you know how dangerous Drakōn is,” Xanthus said. “He can be vicious
and heartless. When it comes to criminals, he has no mercy.”

“That doesn’t change a thing,” Gretchen said. “
You still won’t be able to stop him without me.”

“Killing him would stop him,” Kyros said.

“No!” Gretchen turned to Kyros. “You are not killing him. He’s an innocent man.”

“You don’t know him like I do,” Kyros said. “He’s far from innocent.”

“You could say that about me too.”

Kyros stepped toward her, towering above. “No
, I could not. Compared to Drakōn, you, Gretchen, are an angel.”

Gretchen looked up defiantly. “I’m still going.”

“No. You’re not,” Kyros said.

“Did you just tell me I
can’t
go?” Gretchen asked.

“Did I not speak clearly?”
Kyros asked.

“Kyros,” Sara said. “I understand
that you’re worried about her, but you have to understand—”

“
She’s not going.”

“I can go anyplace I please
,” Gretchen said. “I don’t need, nor will I
ever
ask your permission.”

“In this case you do
,” Xanthus said. “This is now an official Dagonian hunt. Only soldiers are allowed to participate.”

“Xanthus dear,” Sara said. “You can’t be serious.”

“Sara, you need to understand, we’ve been trained for this.”

“I’ve had training of my own
,” Gretchen said to Xanthus. “You could make me a soldier.”

“You’re a
woman,” Kyros said, his expression incredulous.

“Oh?” She turned a glaring eye at him. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Xanthus wouldn’t do anything so ridiculous,” Kyros said.

“Kyros is right
,” Xanthus said. “Neither of you know Drakōn the way we do. He’s lethal. You stand no chance against him. He’ll kill you before you even know he’s there, much less before you get a chance to sing to him.”

“We’ve wasted enough time arguing
,” Kyros said. “Xanthus and I have planning to do.”

Gretchen narrowed her eyes, fuming.
Oh, so that’s how they are going to play it?
Well, she could show these Dagonians a thing or two. She knew she’d sworn to never use compulsion again, but desperate times… Darn it. Xanthus couldn’t be compelled, could he?

No, but
Kyros could. All she needed to do was get him alone. “Kyros, can I speak to you please?”

He didn’t even look at her. “No.”

Her jaw dropped. She was about to spit out an angry retort, but snapped her mouth shut. Raising her temper would not help her cause. “Please, Kyros. I just need a moment.”

“Gretchen. You are not getting me alone. I know how your mind works. You just keep your siren’s song to yourself.”

“I would never…”

He turned to her and smiled. “Oh yes you would.”

She stood, fuming, as he turned his back to her. How dare he dismiss her like that? She was about to delve into a debate when she noticed his phone sitting on the table near the door. “Fine, you two do your planning. Sara and I have important things to do too. You know, like painting our nails, doing each other’s hair, watching chick flicks, boy talk…” Gretchen tugged Sara to the door and discretely snatched Kyros’s phone.

Xanthus and Kyros were deep in conversation, but Kyros managed to grunt a response to her.

As soon as they were outside, Sara spoke. “We’re going to do all those things out here?”

“Of course we are,” Gretchen responded sarcastically.

“Right. So what’s the plan?”

Gretchen simply raised Kyros’s phone.

Sara’s eyes widened. “Listen. I don’t know if I completely disagree with them. This sounds dangerous. And I know nothing about fighting, stealth, or killing mermaids.”

“You have your
voice, don’t you?”

“Yes, but it’s not nearly as powerful as this mother of yours. Mine only lasts a couple of minutes after I stop singing.”

Gretchen was taken aback. “Really?”

Sara’s face flushed red. “Yeah. I guess I’m not that great a mermaid, huh?”

“I don’t know about that. How did you know I was going to get shot?”

“I… don’t know. I just knew.”

“Precognition is a pretty good gift if you ask me. It saved my life.”

“Precognition? I don’t see the future I just…”

“…know when bad things are going to happen?” Gretchen said.

“I wouldn’t go so far as that. I just… sense things.”

“Right. Precognition.”

Sara shrugged. “
What are we going to do?”

“Call Drakōn.”

“Can you sing to him over the phone?”

“I wish. No, it has to be in person. But we can find out where he is.”

“You aren’t going to meet him alone, are you?”

“I just need to be within hearing distance.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Look, I’ll just hide out
someplace secluded and call him to meet me there. Then I’ll start singing. I’ll sing all night if I have to. That way, he can’t catch me by surprise.”

“Sounds
foolproof.”

“Exactly.”

“But from what I’m hearing, Drakōn is no fool. What if he has ear plugs?”

“I’ll have to go in armed.”

Sara frowned.

“I’ll admit. It’s not without risk, but I have to try. Drakōn didn’t ask to be compelled
any more than Kyros did. I can’t just let him die. Once I have him out from under my mom’s spell, he can help Xanthus find her.”

Sara nodded. “
It sounds like a good plan. I am worried though. How dangerous is your birth mom?”

“Her only power is what she exerts through her compulsion. Personally, she’s a weakling.”

“Okay. I just, I’d be crushed if anything happened to you.”

“
I’ll be fine,” Gretchen said, but her eyes betrayed her, showing a hint of fear.

“
You’d better be,” Sara said, pulling her into a crushing hug.

Kyros stood and watched Xanthus pace the floor.

“We’ve got to figure out how to get Drakōn to lead us back to the mermaid,” Xanthus said.

“That may be harder than it seems,” Kyros said. “I have no recollection of ever seeing Aella.”

Xanthus gasped. “Aella?”

“I know. I could scarcely believe it myself.”

“But I thought she was dead.”

“I guess the reports were wrong.”

“Is Gretchen sure
—”

“O
f who her own mother is? Of course she is.”

“It’s just. Hades, she’s the worst of them all.”

“Nobody knows that more than Gretchen. You might be interested to know Gretchen is not the first of Aella’s children to be born.”

“
There are more of them?”

“Not anymore. She’
s killed them. Slaughtered them while they were still young.”

Xanthus blew out a breath. “Just when you think you’ve seen the worst of evil.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so how do we
proceed?”

“W
e should simply kill Drakōn,” Kyros said. “He’s too dangerous to toy with.”

“Killing him will not help us find her.”

“Forget Drakōn; we can pull the knowledge out of
my
brain. It has to be there, hidden somewhere. Gretchen should be the one to do it. Her compulsion is as powerful as her mother’s.”

“Do you think she’ll cooperate?”

“If we approach it right.”

“Like we approached her this morning?”

Kyros shook his head. “I know. I admit I was over the line. But by the gods, just the thought of her in Drakōn’s hands…”

“
Have you admitted it?”

“Admitted what?”

“That you love her?”

Kyros frowned. “Yes, but I’m not happy about it.”

Xanthus smiled. “She’s a handful, that’s for sure.”

“More so than Sara
.”

Xanthus’s smile widened. “Sara’s plenty enough for me to handle. Good luck with Gretchen.
Have you asked to marry her?”

Kyros’s eyes widened. “Asked?”

“Yes. It’s customary for human men to ask their woman to marry them.”