Perilous Waters by Diana Paz

Angie in frustration and watched Brian. Her heart beat as though it would explode. “We need to get out of here. Brian needs healing and we have no way to help him unless we can use Restore.”
    Angie’s fingers began the twitchy, tappy thing they did whenever she was worried.
    The nymph stepped forward, her voice echoing like a song.
    Angie’s face fell. “I can’t understand you. I’m sorry.”
    The nymph’s lips formed a soft, disappointed pout. She spun around and pointed to Brian, kneeling beside him and motioning toward the dark, vine-like marks beneath his skin.
    “Scylla venom?” Angie asked. At the nymph’s emphatic nodding, Angie added. “Our magic can’t help him, even if we were to try.”
    The nymph sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple.
    “Venom,” Julia cried. “He isn’t… he won’t…” she couldn’t bring herself to say the words lodged in her chest.
    “Their venom doesn’t kill,” Ethan said, his voice gravelly and his eyes downcast. “But it may as well.”
    “Oh no,” Julia moaned, remembering the vision she had seen in Angie’s basement. Brian had become a monster, but she hadn’t believed it could happen. He had never been mixed up with the magic before. “The venom will turn him Scylla.”
    “Scylla,” Kaitlyn murmured. “Are those the ones with claws and seaweed hair and a mouthful of fangs?”
    Julia’s heart pounded like it would break her ribcage open. “If Brian turns into one—”
    Angie cut her off in a hushed tone, her gaze flitting to Ethan. “We will find a way to save him.”
    “We have to,” Kaitlyn added, her eyes narrowing on Brian’s unconscious form. Her whisper hissed against Julia’s ear, making her flinch as she continued. “Do you realize the advantage the Sorceress will have if she takes Ethan’s brother? Ethan will never fight him, and our power can’t kill creatures.”
    The thought of Brian as a creature made Julia feel sick. She realized Ethan watched them. She shifted uneasily.
    Julia chewed on her lip. She remembered the icy, claw-like hand on her leg, the glimpses of serpentine eyes. She had seen enough gorgons and minotaurs to know that creatures were nothing to mess with. If Brian had been bit by one, they had to act fast.
    “Why would the creatures be able to come now?” Kaitlyn asked.
    “I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is, the Sorceress has already gained so much power in another timeline, that she was able to open a portal. Unless… maybe this has to do with the nymphs and Scylla, who have been warring each other for centuries. I wish I could speak with the nymphs and get more information.”
    Julia’s eyes remained transfixed on Brian. Whatever was going on with the Scylla and nymphs would have to wait. The black lines beneath Brian’s skin crept and curled up his neck and down his right arm, causing alarm bells to sound in Julia’s mind. “It’s getting worse,” she said. “There has to be something we can do.”
    “Even if your magic alone can’t help him, we need to get him back to the surface,” Ethan said. “Nymphs aren’t exactly on our side.”
    Confusion cast a shadow over Julia’s thoughts. “But… they saved him.”
    “ Meliah saved him,” he said, casting the mergirl—the nymph—a meaningful glance. “That doesn’t mean she has her people’s approval.”
    “Meliah?” she echoed. How did Ethan know her name?
    The nymph… Meliah… glanced at the doorway as a low voice sang out. She frowned slightly but moved past them to brush aside the veils, revealing another sea person. His body glowed faintly, like all the other nymphs’ bodies did. Julia almost believed the underwater world was lit by them.
    His perfect, chiseled face looked at them with disapproval before he turned to Meliah, speaking in a deep song that sent shivers up Julia’s spine. The sound was like music, like what she imagined angels would sound like. The girl began answering before the man finished his