Twice Upon a Time by James Riley

Author:James Riley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

CHAPTER 25

Almost faster than Jack could follow, Lian sliced a hole in the coral bars using both swords, circling them in opposite directions. As soon as the coral bars fell into the cell, the swords disappeared into sheaths on her back just as quickly. “Ready, ladies?” she asked, gesturing politely for them to exit.

First Phillip, then Jack, slowly swam out of the cell as Lian waited impatiently. As soon as Jack’s feet floated to the floor, he looked at Phillip, who nodded.

Immediately they both threw themselves at the Eye.

Just as fast, she slammed both boys into each other, then flipped around, grabbed their arms and yanked them up behind their backs.

“Well, that was impressive,” she said, pushing up hard as both Jack and Phillip groaned in pain. “Here’s the thing,” she said. “I don’t have time to beat you two up every other minute. So I’ll just say this: I can always tell my Queen I couldn’t find you, then leave you to the Sea King. And that is going to be one unhappy father when he finds out humans killed his daughter.”

“We will not help you just to save ourselves!” Phillip shouted.

“We could at least consider the idea,” Jack hissed at the prince.

Lian laughed. “If it helps, Your Princeness, you’d also be saving your darling May. Do you really want to sentence her to death, or is it better that she stay alive with a grandmother who loves her?”

“The Wicked Queen is not capable of such emotions,” Phillip said as he struggled against Lian, who barely seemed to notice.

“I’ll admit she can be a bit… heartless,” Lian said, then giggled. “Sorry, inside joke. So you’re saying you’re okay with leaving May here to be eaten by sharks, then.”

“NO!” Phillip shouted through gritted teeth. “I shall do as you say. But the moment you—”

“Sure, sure,” Lian said, then looked to Jack. “What about you, genius? You willing to throw away your life, or your princess’s, just to spite me?”

Jack just looked at her for a moment. “You do make it sound tempting, but no. You’re right. I can wait for a better time to take you down.”

Lian raised an eyebrow but nodded. “That’s close enough to a yes. Well, then, let’s get to killing mermaids! First, to the Sea Witch’s old place.”

The tunnels they found themselves swimming through dove and rose at random, sometimes spiraling around before emptying out into other passageways. Lian didn’t seem to have any problem with directions, as she never even hesitated when picking a new tunnel.

Even the tunnel that led right to a dead end.

“Whoops!” Jack said with a wide smile. “Looks like someone’s lost!”

Lian just rolled her eyes and pointed up. “Try not to be so stupid,” she said. “It’s hard, but give it a real effort. You don’t have to just think in four directions when you’re underwater.” With that, she kicked off, shooting right into what looked like the ceiling, but instead slipped into a crevice just big enough for a human or merman to slip through.

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