Chapter 27

Thank God Lauren was able to reopen the port door in the desert or none of them would have made it out alive. Next time they'd have to think these things through better. If they kept this behavior up, none of them would reach legal drinking age.

One by one they went through the door with Lauren at the rear. There was a bit of an argument between Quinn and Zach over who would go second to last, but Zach won by the simple logic that he could fly and if something happened he would have a greater chance of getting her out of the desert. Quinn didn't remotely look like he liked the idea, but he had to concede his point.

Once they were reunited, Xan called back the creepy old dude, after Zach insisted that they should stay together at least until they were all certain that Liam's gang was gone. Even Xander came with them, which made for a very cramped awkwardly quiet ride, but this time it wasn't caused by a mordant magical butler. this time it was because they all knew without a shadow of a doubt that they had just had their asses handed to them – Liam had waved a few fingers and they were powerless.

But they were not powerless they had just taken down a ten foot DEATHWORM. Yet Liam kept doling out asskickings to them like they were candy. Poor Lauren looked heartbroken. She spent the entire ride staring at her folded hands in her lap, Quinn and Zach sat on either side of her trying to console her, but she was frankly just that -- inconsolable.

Lauren looked up then and met Megan's eyes, and when she spoke she sounded as defeated as they felt, "I'm sorry guys I couldn't break that spell. I'm going to start looking tomorrow for the counter-spell and if I can't find it I'll devise a protective charm to ward against it, I promise." Lauren looked straight at her making Megan cheeks burn with shame at the memory of the kiss that wasn't.

Which reminded her, "And we need to keep what happened in the desert to ourselves, Cameron doesn't need to know what Liam did to me." Megan took a moment to make eye contact with each person in the vehicle, they nodded in agreement; she even looked into the Domovoi eyes in the rearview mirror for good measure. Surprisingly, he nodded silently to her like he understood and agreed to do the same.

Xander dropped them off one at a time, but Megan refused to be driven home. She intended to stay with Cam tonight and every night until she found a solution, because if she didn't . . . well if she didn't, she didn't want to think about that -- Too bad so sad if her step-monster didn't like it.

It looked like Lauren was going to have a few visitors at least for the foreseeable future. Megan would have to tell Cameron's father about the deathworm and the addiction, but not tonight, tonight she was exhausted and she wanted nothing more than to rest in Cameron's arms.

When they pulled to the curb in front of Lauren's house, only Xander, Lauren and Megan remained in the back of the vehicle; they were the last to be dropped off. The domovoi came around the vehicle to open the door closest to the curb and her and Megan got out, but when Megan looked up she saw the front door wide open. Her heart leapt into her throat when she recalled she'd watched lauren lock it herself earlier.

When she went to run in thinking only for Cam, Lauren grabbed her saying, "Wait it might be Liam's crew."

That didn't deter her that only spurred her on. With everything he'd said about him earlier she wouldn't put it past the crazoid to do something to him. With that thought she tore out of Lauren's arms taking giant leaps with her crutches and eating up the distance as fast as he stupid legs would allow.

When she entered the house she tore up the stairs to where Cam was being kept to see that the guest room door was wide open with no sign of his father or Cam, but there was writing on the wall.

Meet me at the beach if you ever want to see your Selkie again.

~ Maris ~

Megan turned on her heel to leave, but Lauren was standing directly behind her in the doorway.

She threw up her hands to either side of the frame and said," Don't do it, Xan's making calls right now and if you promise not to do anything stupid, I can port and pick up people. It might take a half an hour or more for everyone to get here, but then we can all help." Lauren pleaded. Her eyes begged her friend to be reasonable, but all reason had fled the building. That bitch was going to burn for this. Megan seethed.

Lauren seeing that her friend was about to explode instructed, "Just breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth like Helsing taught us. Don't panic we've got this. We can get him back unharmed."

When Megan heard the word harmed, never mind the prefix 'un', she lost it and growled out, "Move it or lose it Lauren. I don't want to hurt you."

"But Megan you're a mermaid I'm a magic wielder there's nothing you can . . ."

Megan grabbed Lauren by the front of her shirt like she had been taught in Tae Kwon do and pivoted her body with her still in her grasp. She was lightning fast with years of practice and to Lauren's credit, she might have been able to fire off a spell, but she was too shocked that Megan would ever manhandle her.

She thrust her away and swung the door shut before Lauren could even utter a word. The outside bolt only took a second to engage, and she was down the stairs like a shot. She could hear Lauren muttering spells from the other side. And Megan's face split into a wicked smile. Malcolm must have had the door spelled not to open by use of magic as an added precaution. Megan sent a prayer of thanks out to the universe for the natural paranoia of the magical race.

When she got to the front lawn she saw that the limo was gone. Xander was probably already gone to pick everyone back up again, which was no matter for her, she whistled then and waited only a few minutes before she saw Midnight her beautiful Kelpie race around the corner. As he galloped toward her she raced to meet him and not even waiting until he stopped she vaulted on to his back and commanded him psychically 'to the beach' and they were off. He tore down the middle of the street at top speed parting her long red hair and making it fly out behind her in the inky black of midnight.

Normally it would take quite awhile to get to the Sea Cliff district of SF from Inner Richmond especially by seahorse, but her kelpie had a neat little trick that enabled him to come to her from anywhere. Her father had spelled him to come to her from any water source nearest her –be it puddle, river or stream. They could travel in that way jumping from one water source to another. She would have to hold on tight though. If she lost her grip and was thrown lord knew what the consequences would be. She knew she didn't want to find out. So she put her crutches in the holster on her back and wrapped her arms around Midnight's sleek neck and spurred him on with her heels. From that moment on it was just a matter of the life and death struggle to suck back enough air between water sources.

After a few very panicked minutes they emerged on Sea Cliff drive. She could hear the crashing waves in the distance and she prayed she wasn't too late. Would the witch exact her revenge on her father by killing Cam or was he just a pawn? Those were the questions that had played through her head on the way and without a definitive answer she was going crazy with fear.

Midnight, her big beautiful Kelpie had felt her anxiety and had raced as fast he could to her destination and there it was. It was within eyesight now and as she scanned the shore for Cam frantically, she kicked her heels into the seahorse's flanks to spur him on.

There was a wooden fence set up at hip level to keep motorized traffic out at the entrance of the beach, but Midnight cleared it easily and as she sailed over it she heard a familiar laugh -- a triumphant cackle more like. Maris stood on the beach the breeze playing though her gorgeous green hair – not a dye job Megan suspected.

Megan sucked in a breath as she approached she was magnificently beautiful with stunning features. She had expected to see an old hag, not this: everything about her spelled legendary magical being from her shimmering green eyes, to her iridescent milk and honey skin, to her statuesque form, right down to her tapered fingers. Her father had not been wrong about her beauty, and if not for the menacing power that wafted off of her, she would have agreed, but the hatred that she had harbored for such a long time had infused her, which had turned her into a grotesque broken doll, not on the outside, no, but on the inside, and Megan knew without a shadow of a doubt that even an unenlightened could feel it emanating from her.

Midnight came up short sensing her menace for himself, rearing onto his hind legs, and whinnying in protest. Megan dismounted instead of spurring him on, she could understand his reluctance she could feel it too. Every part of her being was telling her to run, go, get the fuck away before she was torn to shreds. Megan ate up the distance anyway looking here, there, and everywhere for Cam, but if he was here on the beach, he was being hidden by magic.

When she came up to the Sea Witch she sighed with delight and graced her with an incandescent smile. Wow she really was the most amazing creature Meg had ever seen.

ENOUGH! Megan bellowed!

The witched just laughed. "Very well I see we are dispensing with the niceties," she simpered.

"Where is Cam?" Megan demanded.

"Oh he is enjoying the wonders of the sea my dear."

Megan's stomach felt like it dropped to her feet. She felt light headed and began to sway despite her firm stance in the sand. She looked with disgust at the hag -- tears forming on her lashes.

But the Sea witch let out a wicked laugh before she announced in her cultured British accent, "Relax my dead he is alive," and then she raised her hand toward the sea.

Out of the water rose a tormented Cameron. He floated above the surface in a giant misshaped air bubble. It must have been torture for him to be so close to the water and yet not to get relief. When Megan looked into his anguished eyes it was confirmed. She promised herself then that she'd make the Sea Witch pay, not only for killing her mother, but for hurting the sweetest guy she'd ever met.

The Sea witch cackled then as if she had read her mind.

"I see you have a penchant for vengeance as well. It's a pity you're the traitor's daughter and a halfblood, she said halfblood like she had shit in her mouth, we might have been friends otherwise.

"I doubt it. I don't hang with skanks!" Megan bit out.

Her stunning face transformed in anger, her fake smile turned into a sneer and in the blink of an eye a giant wave surged up and drenched Megan over her head.

Meg was nearly driven to her knees, but the added support of her crutches kept her upright. When the deluge stopped, she sputtered and wiped the strands of hair that coursed over her face away nonchalantly, and said matter-of-factly, "That the best you got, "before she started chuckling?

The witch growled and began to radiate rage, but Megan would not give her the satisfaction of her fear. She wouldn't cower.

When the witch reached her hand out for Cam menacingly, Megan's heart skipped a beat, but she forced a confident smirk on her face anyway, and said, "I know you're not going to kill him. He's your insurance policy. You want to get back at my dad by killing me. You have no interest in hurting him; you just want to see me dead like my mother. You want to hurt my father, but I've got to warn you my dad doesn't give a shit about me, he hasn't in a long, long time -- ever since my mother's death actually."

"Is that so dear?" The witch chortled.

"Yeah that's so, and killing my mother backfired," Meg added. "You turned him into an unfeeling shell. If I died today, he would probably just send the money for a pauper's funeral and be done with it, so you might as well let us go."

"Really?" The witch grinned.

"Yeah, you already killed him. He died inside when you killed my Mom."

"Children," the witch sneered, "they never appreciate a parent's love, and I should know about disloyal children, I had one of my own you know, but he is dead to me now."

She looked at Cam then for some reason before she continued, "I'll let you in on a little secret my dear, just between you and me." The hag leaned in conspiratorially then like they were gossiping like neighbors instead of mortal enemies.

"Every year I imbued the curse on the same day it was enacted to make it stronger so that you couldn't resist it and every year your father fought back. Finding new and ingenious ways to counter it and strengthen his wards. He never should have been able to defy me, yet here you are years later still breathing, does that sound like an uncaring father to you?"

Megan was dumbstruck. She had no clue what to say. She knew she must look like an idiot just standing there her mouth agape, but what could she say?

"Y-y-you're wrong," Megan sputtered, "He went away and he never came back. He's never given me anything, not his time, his love, nothing." She was yelling now.

"How delightfully tragic!" the witch said as she feigned a sad face, "has it never occurred to you my child that your father went away to protect you. I'm sure he thought if he acted like he didn't care about you that I would lose interest in exacting my revenge by killing the only thing left in the world he loved."

The witch sighed contentedly at her pain and added, "But I'm not so easily deterred." And she reached out to caress her face.

Megan jumped back in outrage. "Don't you dare touch me, you fucking bitch. You ruined my family, my life, you took my mother from me, now you're threatening the only person who truly loves me."

Megan was heartbroken there was no getting out of this. It was either walk into the sea or watch the witch kill Cam. She had no doubt that the sick bitch would do it too, but how could she trust her to keep her end of the bargain. Suddenly, the earlier events of this evening gave her an idea.

"Okay,' Megan blurted out, " I'll walk into the sea on one condition that you keep the bargain you made the first time we spoke to cure Cam, but I trust you about as far as I can throw you, so I insist that we make a trust-me-knot pact with the terms of the agreement. I trust you know what a trust-me-know pact is."

"Child please," the ancient Sea Witch rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Meg demanded, "Go get yourself a Hale Witch to perform the ceremony, but I demand one more thing. I demand 24 hours to say my goodbyes and settle my affairs."

The witch's eyes became as hungry as a shark's and a gleeful look radiate from her face as she said eagerly, "Agreed, but I keep the boy until then."

That left Megan just 24 hours to come up with a loophole before the sea or the pact killed her.

****************** THANKS FOR READING********************

I hope you all liked this chapter --Special thanks to delanciematthews and for all the hard work on the new banners for Enlightened and Addicted. I think this person did an outstanding job. This wattpadian has got some real talent, so if you're looking for a cover or banner check this person out.

Well what do you think guys?

Do you think Megan and the gang will come up with a plan in just 24 hours?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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