We were completely and utterly surrounded. Supernaturals and humans alike, all still controlled by Shira, were slowly closing in on us from, quite literally, everywhere. I had to hand it to Shira. She really knew how to choose "above all, end all" battle spots. Being at the bottom of the small canyon, we had no place to run or hide—we were deader than a turkey on Thanksgiving. Actually, a lobster in a boiling pot of water would probably be a better analogy for our situation. Tommy, Bella, Jet and I were the lobsters, while all of Shira's minions were the hot water rushing in on us. Thankfully there was no lid on our pot so escape was still an option. Not a very feasible one, but one all the same.
The only way we were going to get out of this alive was if we fought, and we had to fight hard given the number of people we would have to get through to escape. But we couldn't do that. Not against these people who were only attacking us because Shira was forcing them to. Not against our friends. Not against my family. They were being made to hurt us, but we couldn't hurt them. Nor did we want to. Nor did we want to die. That much I was sure of. So, all we had to do was fight about three dozen people without harming them. No big deal.
But I couldn't do anything if my hands were still tied behind my back. Thankfully, Shira had forgotten to instruct the person holding me before to grab me again, so, taking my chance, I ducked away from her and ran over to where Tommy, Bella and Jet were. Jet was already busy ripping Tommy's ties away and I turned so Bella could undo mine.
"What are we going to do?" she asked me as the rope fell away from my hands.
"For now?" I shrugged. "Stay alive." It was the best (and only) answer I could give her.
"I could try to isolate the siren's water in some of their brains and destroy it," she pursed her lips, looking up, "but there are so many of them. And I need to concentrate."
"Don't worry about fixing them right now, Bella," I said, "if you think you can do it and not get killed, then do it, but otherwise just focus on getting out of here alive."
She nodded.
"Incoming," Jet said.
I looked to my left. Sure enough, some people had already made it to the bottom of the canyon and were making their way towards us—my father and Cole at the front of the herd.
"Here too," Tommy said.
I turned around to see that more people had made it down and were walking towards Tommy and the rest of us. We were going to have to fight the enemy (who was comprised of mostly our friends and neighbors) from all sides. I put my back to my friends, as they did the same to me—all of us preparing to face the oncoming attack. I felt my body form sway as Tommy's glamour spell fell away and I was me again.
Jet took my hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. I looked up at him and smiled. He was so beautiful. I loved absolutely everything about him. We had to make it out of this. There was no ifs, ands or buts about it. What had to. Because, I couldn't lose him. He was right—we were meant to be together. So we were going to make it out of this—together.
"You ready?" he asked me, dazzling green eyes staring down into my soul—a soul that I was sure matched his.
As long as he was by my side, I was ready for anything. And, at the moment, anything seemed to mean the impossible. "Yes," I answered truthfully—no internal Marina lie detector going off there—squeezing his hand back. He let go of my hand and together we shifted into our wolf forms, running forward to greet out attackers.
The first three people I met had no supernatural powers (from what I could tell). They lunged at me, but I easily dodged them just as more came charging towards me. I tried to dodge them too, but one person managed to grab hold of my leg. I immediately stopped running once I realized this—not wanting to drag the poor man through the dirt and scar his back. Unfortunately, that wasn't the smartest idea on my part because as soon as I stopped he grabbed my other leg, pulling me to the ground. I felt two more people pile on top of, pinning me down. I let out my most ferocious growl, trying to intimidate them, but the people on top of me didn't release their grips. I snapped my jaw in their directions but they didn't even flinch—it was like the siren had gotten rid of all their self-preservation. They didn't care that they were fighting a wolf with razor sharp teeth and claws. I tucked my feet under my body, readying my muscles. I counted to three in my head and then, using all the force I could muster with three people on top of me, I pushed upward—scattering my captors across the floor. I ran away from them, searching for Jet, Tommy, and Bella.
I immediately spotted Jet—he had taken to knocking his attackers down by ramming them behind the knees—a technique that seemed to be quite effective. Tommy was knocking back at least five at a time using some sort of spell that looked like it sent an invisible gust of wind at them. Despite the chaos, I couldn't help but smile to myself. No good at spells? Hmph. Tommy looked like he was a pretty darn good sorcerer to me. I turned and saw Bella, still in the middle of the canyon. A woman was on the ground a few feet away from her, staring out at the scene around her with nothing but fear and confusion. Bella's hand was raised in the direction of her oncoming attacker. Her hand flipped 180 degrees and the man dropped to the ground, clutching his ears. When he looked up again and saw the battle, his expression matched the other woman's. Yes! I thought. Bella was returning the people under Shira's control to normal. Maybe we could actually win this.
I looked up and ducked just in time to avoid Skye's blade-like talons as she swooped down towards me. I then deftly avoided more people as they ran at me, knocking a few to the ground just as I had seen Jet do.
"Marina!" My ears snapped in Bella's direction as her scream echoed across the confines of the canyon. Having noticed Bella's success in restoring the minds of her minions, Shira had attacked Bella herself, wrapping one arm under Bella's shoulder and the other around her neck. Shira was dragging her towards the stream. If she got Bella there then we wouldn't stand a chance because once Bella got wet there would be no way she could get out of this canyon. But that wasn't the only reason why I was so afraid. Shira had the real Bella now—the only person who could fix the controlled people—and, this time, I could tell from the look in Shira's eye that she wanted to kill Bella too.
I started to run towards Shira and Bella, but quickly stopped short, my path blocked by both a mountain lion and a tiger—my dad and Cole. No. I had to get to Bella. But I couldn't hurt my dad and brother. Cole crouched down. I readied myself—I knew what was coming next. Sure enough, two seconds later, Cole had pounced, sailing through the air in my direction. I was about to dash under him when a blur of black collided with my brother's giant tiger form, causing him to collapse on the ground.
Jet shook his head and stood up. Walking over to me, he shifted back into human form. What was he doing? Being in human form in this situation made him extremely vulnerable.
"Marina, go," he instructed, "Go save Bella. I'll take care of them." My father let out a roar.
I shifted back too, despite the risk. "I can't leave you with them, Jet. They'll tear you to shreds."
He smiled that cocky smile I loved. "I'm stronger than you think."
I took a step towards him. "Jet, I—" I started but my words got lost when he cupped my cheek with his warm hand.
"I love you, Marina," Jet whispered, but even with the chaos surrounding us, his words had never been clearer. My heart swelled to the size of a hot air balloon.
Jet just told me he loved me. Sure when we first kissed he had said he was "in love" with me but that wasn't the same. Telling me he loved me was totally different, and even more incredible. He loved me. My longtime best friend turned boyfriend loved me. Even with this battle, the siren, and the possibility of being killed hanging over our heads, I somehow knew everything would be okay, all because Jet loved me and…I loved him.
I opened my mouth to tell him that I loved him too, but my dad roared again and began advancing on us. Cole had also recovered from Jet's hit and was walking towards us. Jet gave me a quick kiss and when we broke apart he said, "Go. Bella needs you." I nodded and he then shifted back into his wolf form, growling at my dad and Cole. I raced off to help Bella, shifting midstride and leaving people sprawled on the ground in my wake.
"Marina!" Bella called again, struggling against Shira's harsh grip. When I got close enough I lunged at the siren. She fell to the floor, losing her grasp on Bella—who tumbled into the stream—when we collided.
"You little pest," Shira snarled at me, standing up, "When are you going to learn that you can't beat me?"
I just growled in response and started snapping in her direction. I would never kill anyone but that didn't mean I couldn't hurt her. After all she did—to me, to my family, to my friends, to my town—she deserved it. I snapped at her again, actually clipping her ankle this time. But I didn't feel flesh beneath my teeth. I bite her again and again. Her skin turned to water every time I bit her. I looked to Bella, who had managed to pull herself out of the water, to see if she had noticed—she did. I snapped at again and again—biting her all over as fast as I could.
"Keep going, Marina!" Bella urged, her voice full of excitement. My teeth clamped down over and over again, until I saw that the siren had abandoned her human form all together. I smiled to myself. Shira realized too late what she had done. Her eyes opened wide in shock as her entire body hardened to form the same glasslike substance that her hands were. Shira had been wrong—we could beat her—and we had.
I turned to see Bella's hand raised—her palm already to the sky. I swiveled my head around in the direction of the rest of the battle. All over the canyon people had dropped to their knees, holding their heads in their hands. Every person who looked up had a confused expression on their face. Every person except for four.
On the other side of the canyon my dad, brother, sister and mom (who I hadn't even realized was here) were huddled around something, and all had worried expressions on their faces. But there was no flash of white in their eyes—they were themselves again.
I shifted back. "You okay?" I asked Bella.
"Yeah," she said as her legs reappeared, "go."
I raced across the canyon to my family. Finally, they were safe and they were back, and I couldn't wait to have their arms around me. But I slowed when I realized that it wasn't a something they were standing around but a someone. My heart immediately filled with dread as I remembered how I had left Jet to face two giant ferocious cats alone. No no no no no. He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. I loved him.
I walked up to them slowly, Cole and Skye stepping back a bit to let me into their tight-knit circle, and lying in the middle of that circle was Jet. There was a gash in his chest, that was still oozing a bit of blood even though he had already shifted back to his human form, and his leg was bent at a very unnatural angle. I knew Cole had been lying about broken bones healing when you shift. But it didn't matter because Jet was alive.
Kneeling down beside him I took his hand. "Jet?" I asked hesitantly.
His eyelids opened, revealing those majestic green eyes. "Marina?" He face contorted against the pain.
"I'm here." I squeezed his hand and I could feel him relax under my grip. Tears were slowly dripping down my cheeks. "Oh, Jet," I said, "I'm so sorry. I never should have left you."
"You had to," he whispered, "is Bella okay?"
I nodded. "Yes. And the siren is gone too. Everyone is back to normal."
"Good," he sighed, "Now we can focus."
"Focus? Focus on what?" I asked.
He smiled despite the pain. "Focus on us, of course."
I laughed.
"I love you, Marina."
There, he said it again. And now I had the chance to say it back. I reached my hand up and held it against the side of his face, staring into his eyes. "I love you too, Jet."
